2010-10-23, 16:30
What does this package do?
The xbmc-diskless-server package installs the server software that is needed to let any PC boot from the network and start XBMC on that PC, the same as XBMC live.
It works by creating an image of an Ubuntu installation with XBMC on a server and having your clients boot that (read only) image. The client's configuration and media databases are stored via NFS, so they won't be lost when you reboot your client.
This brings us some nice advantages:
Installation
If you want a diskless XBMC installation, you'll need a server to host it's files. On that server, you'll install the 'xbmc-diskless-server' package. It contains some scripts to create a disk image for your clients and it makes sure the required server components get installed and update the configuration.
Follow these steps to install the server software.
Create an image
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The xbmc-diskless-server package installs the server software that is needed to let any PC boot from the network and start XBMC on that PC, the same as XBMC live.
It works by creating an image of an Ubuntu installation with XBMC on a server and having your clients boot that (read only) image. The client's configuration and media databases are stored via NFS, so they won't be lost when you reboot your client.
This brings us some nice advantages:
- no noisy harddisks in your media player is needed
- if you want to upgrade XBMC on multiple clients, you will only have to install it once to upgrade them all
- centralised configuration of all media players (think about things like having the same video database on all media players)
- any normal work pc can be turned into a media center within seconds. Just reboot it and choose "boot from network" and it's done. Nothing is changed on your harddisk.
Installation
If you want a diskless XBMC installation, you'll need a server to host it's files. On that server, you'll install the 'xbmc-diskless-server' package. It contains some scripts to create a disk image for your clients and it makes sure the required server components get installed and update the configuration.
Follow these steps to install the server software.
- open a terminal window on your server or log in via ssh
- install the server software Code:
sudo apt-get install -y python-software-properties
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:lars-opdenkamp/xbmc-diskless
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y xbmc-diskless-server - start the gui by typing This will show you the administration menu:Code:
sudo xbmc-diskless.sh
- to create or update a client's installation, choose "create" first
Create an image
- the first step shows you some general information about the process:
- press ok and you'll be asked for a distribution to use for your clients. I only tested lucid myself:
- next you can enter a PPA to use for the installation. choose 'none' if you don't want to use any PPA and 'custom' to enter your own choice:
- this script only installs the minimal Ubuntu installation and XBMC with all it's dependencies. if you want to install some extra packages, enter them in the following screen, delimited by spaces:
- enter some password for the 'xbmc' user so you can log in on the console or log in via ssh. the minimal password length is 3 characters:
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