2008-10-06, 04:30
I built a media centre PC specifically to run XBMC on Linux. I'm using the PPA's on Hardy Heron (8.04). Since this box is only going to run XBMC, I thought I'd get it to power up, log in and fire up XBMC automatically.
Keep in mind that these steps are for Ubuntu. Other distro's may differ.
Login as the user who installed XBMC. I find it easier to do all this from my laptop, ssh'd in to the XBMC box.
Using your favourite editor, create a file in your home directory called .xinitrc that contains the following:
Make .xinitrc executable:
Edit your .bashrc and add the following as the last line:
Install rcconf:
Run rcconf and turn off gdm:
Install mingetty:
Edit /etc/events.d/tty1:
Change the line:
to read:
where uname is the user who installed XBMC.
Reboot to test.
With this setup, you're not loading gdm or gnome. You're not loading a window manager. The load will be lighter and the boot process will be faster.
Please let me know if there are any questions! Thanks to AlTheKiller for some pointers.
Keep in mind that these steps are for Ubuntu. Other distro's may differ.
Login as the user who installed XBMC. I find it easier to do all this from my laptop, ssh'd in to the XBMC box.
Using your favourite editor, create a file in your home directory called .xinitrc that contains the following:
Code:
#!/bin/bash
exec /usr/bin/xbmc --standalone
Make .xinitrc executable:
Code:
chmod +x .xinitrc
Edit your .bashrc and add the following as the last line:
Code:
startx
Install rcconf:
Code:
sudo apt-get install rcconf
Run rcconf and turn off gdm:
Code:
sudo rcconf
Install mingetty:
Code:
sudo apt-get install mingetty
Edit /etc/events.d/tty1:
Code:
sudo vi /etc/events.d/tty1
Change the line:
Code:
exec /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
Code:
exec /sbin/mingetty --autologin uname tty1
Reboot to test.
With this setup, you're not loading gdm or gnome. You're not loading a window manager. The load will be lighter and the boot process will be faster.
Please let me know if there are any questions! Thanks to AlTheKiller for some pointers.