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HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer v0.93 for Ubuntu 12.04 > 14.04 - [4/19/2014] - Printable Version

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HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer v0.93 for Ubuntu 12.04 > 14.04 - [4/19/2014] - Hack_kid - 2014-03-15

XBMC UbuntUniversal minimal installer v0.93!

NOTE: 99% of this post is just a copy and paste from bram77's post as its a perfect guide for installing minimal ubuntu

Because I've done this a few times myself and I've encountered several people asking about it I figured it would be worth the effort to document the required steps. I've cut it into two main steps.

1. Installing Ubuntu minimal (this post)
2. Automated Ubuntu preparation and XBMC installation (post #2 in this thread)

This guide uses a very minimalistic and efficient approach. After a clean installation it takes my relatively old machine only 12 seconds to boot. From pushing the button to the xbmc home screen.
I'm running xbmc on a Asrock ION 330HT with 3GB ram and an SSD drive.

If you're an experienced Linux user you can probably skip to section two because the fisrt step is just a regular Ubuntu minimal installation with only the OpenSSH server as extra module.

You will need to use xbmc for the username of the installation. Otherwise the script won't work!

For this method of installation to work you need to have your HTPC connected to the internet! This needs to be a wired connection for now.


1. Installing Ubuntu minimal

1.1 Download the latest ubuntu 12.04 to 14.04 minimal installation ISO from

1.2 Download and install unetbootin or burn the downloaded ISO to a writable CD

1.2.1 Windows
1.2.2 Ubuntu
  • You can install it straight from the Ubuntu repository:
Code:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unetbootin

1.2.3 Creating the bootable USB stick
  • Insert an USB drive into an USB port and delete all it’s content or format it (FAT32)
  • Open unetbootin, select “Diskimage” and select the mini.iso file you’ve downloaded in step 1.1
  • Make sure the correct USB drive is selected and click “OK”
  • When the bootable image is written successfully to the USB drive close unetbootin without rebooting


Now you have a bootable USB drive containing the minimal installation requirements for Ubuntu 12.10 or 13.04. During the installation process the minimal installation will download more required packages. The advantage of using the minimal installation is that no more then absolutely required for you installation will be downloaded and installed. Resulting in a fast and responsive XBMC installation.



1.3 Installation

Every * stands for at least one installation screen in most cases
  • Take the USB drive and insert it into one of your HTPC’s USB slots
  • Make sure your HTPC can and will boot from the USB drive. You can do this from the BIOS of your machine. In most cases no BIOS adjustments are required. Most computers have an option to press a specific key at boot time which will give you a screen where you can select the drive you want to boot from.
  • Unetbootin has added a screen to your bootable USB drive from which you can choose different ways to start the Ubuntu minimal installation. Choose “Install” in this screen.
  • In the next screen choose your preferred installation language. Preferrabely English because that’s the language I’ll be using in this in this howto. You’ll be able to choose your preferred language in XBMC later on.
  • Choose the country you reside in (other -> Europe -> Netherlands in my case)
  • Choose your ‘locale’. This determines some predefined variables. For me the best choice is United States. The best option for you might be the one that’s pre-selected
  • In “Configure the keyboard” select “No” and manually choose the keyboard type you use (English (US) with Euro on 5 in my case)
  • Ubuntu will automatically configure you DHCP (ip address) settings. AFter this has succeeded you know you’ll have a working network connection. If the network has a working internet connection your HTPC will have access to it.
  • Enter the HTPC’s host name (I use “xbmc”). Make sure there are no other computers with the same hostname on your network. If that's the case... choose a different one.
  • Confirm the next two screens with Enter (Ubuntu repositories mirror, default is ok)
  • If you use a proxy server, please enter the proper configuration in the related screen. Otherwise skip this option by pressing Enter
  • Enter xbmc in the Fullname and Username screens! Using xbmc as the username is required! The script won't work if you choose a different one.
  • Choose a password. You’ll need this password several times later on so remeber it or write it down
  • Do not encrypt your home directory unless you really need to (impacts performance a bit in a negative way)
  • Confirm or change your timezone
  • And now for partitioning. To keep it simple I’ll asume you have one HDD in your HTPC and want to use it’s entire capacity. If not... google it Smile. Choose “Guided - use entire disk”
  • Make sure you choose the right disk (not the USB drive)
  • Confirm to write the changes to your HDD with “Yes”
  • Now the installation will start partitioning your HDD and after that copy and download the absolute minimum of required files. This might take a little while.
  • When asked for management upgrade plan select “No automatic updates”, after which the installation process will continue for a while
  • In the “Software selection” screen only select “OpenSSH server” using your arrow keys and the space bar. PRESS ENTER TO GO TO THE NEXT INSTALLATION STEP. I’m choosing not to use Samba since we can access the entire machine remotely using SSH and SFTP with only the OpenSSH server. As minimal as possible is what I want! The installation will continue after you've press enter.
  • Confirm installation of GRUB to the “Master boot record” with “Yes”
  • Confirm that the system clock is set to UTC with “Yes”
  • When finished remove the bootable USB drive and press Enter to reboot the machine.


RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - Hack_kid - 2014-03-15

This script will only work properly on Ubuntu Minimal and Ubuntu Server installations! Do not use it on an Ubuntu Desktop installation because it will break stuff!!

2. Automated Ubuntu preparation and XBMC installation

The script assumes you chose "en_US.UTF-8" as your locale! It might work if you chose a different one, but I haven't tested that.
Please be patient during the installation process. Some elements will take some time to finish!

Login to your htpc with ssh and execute the following commands...

BETA v0.9 [nvidia, ati(fglrx and oss) and intel video drivers support
Code:
wget https://github.com/Albinoman887/xbmc-ubuntu-minimal/raw/master/12.10/xbmc-ubuntuniversal-minimal-installer.sh
sudo su
bash ./xbmc-ubuntuniversal-minimal-installer.sh

yes i know that says "sudo su" in later ubuntu versions i was having issues with the script constantly pausing asking for password. this will make that not an issue. and dont worry about permissions. they are set accordingly (i.e. .xbmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml is saved as xbmc for owner not root)

Gotham: if you want it to install gotham not frodo just choose xbmc unstable ppa when prompted. but be aware these are unstable builds

Rough Changelog (off the top of my head, check git for details)

April-19
* Added option for XBMC unstable PPA (Use at own risk)
* More fixes for Ubuntu 14.04 (still untested!!!)
* More RadeonOSS fixes. Hopefully we have it right now
* Added fix for tearing on Ubuntu 14.04
* Removed option for different nvidia drivers as it just seems to cause issue. We'll stick with 304.xx

* Added Radon-OSS/VDPAU support
* Changed PPA to offical XBMC ppa
* Fixed superuser and permissions issue
* Fixed apparmor removal
* NVIDIA: added dialog box to pick between the 3 driver versions
* Fixed usage for Ubuntu 13.10
* Added Ubuntu 12.04 LTS support
* If running Ubuntu 12.04 script will ask at the end of installation if you want to enable the LTS Enablement stack with the 3.8 kernel or keep the 3.2 kernel
* Sensor detection is now automatic (no pressing ENTER)
* Cleaned up the startup script (i wrote it after all Tongue) to fix the nice limit as well as remove the X cursor so it doesnt show on bootup (it is always in the middle of the splash and is ugly. This is okay since XBMC has its own cursor
* Added option to install nfs-common (OS NFS kernel support) as I find it more reliable and then the whole OS can see the mounted shares not just XBMC
* Fixed alsa from not always installing
* Purged dirty region setup as its obsolete in most cases
* will now modify /etc/default/grub so the system will boot after a dirty shutdown/startup (i.e. when there is a power-loss during boot-up)
* Will set /tmpfs to be mounted to ram. Any system over a GB of ram should have this. with a minimal install we are using so little ram it seems stupid not to mount /tmp here. is allows for faster booting.

That's it. You should have XBMC up and running after the automatic reboot, with nothing installed that isn't absolutely required! This installation boots super fast (comparable with OpenElec, quite a bit faster then XBMCbuntu). It provides a very smooth XBMC experience because there are almost no extra processes running in the background. No more then required anyway.

Please let me know if you run into problems.

and special thanks to bram77 for the script to work from
to mods: couldnt post in the how to section so had to post here. could it be moved?
also could i get my username changed to albinoman887 its what i use on github and xda. I dont know how to PM to make this happen

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - squareatom - 2014-03-15

Thanks for this. Just in time for install on my NUC.

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - earthlyreaper - 2014-03-15

I send a pullrequest of how I ran the installfile.
It is because I use generic users all across my XBMC machines and it made it a lot easier for me to use the current user instead of the xbmc one

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - Hack_kid - 2014-03-15

your commit doesnt modify the correct file
(2014-03-15, 19:07)earthlyreaper Wrote: I send a pullrequest of how I ran the installfile.
It is because I use generic users all across my XBMC machines and it made it a lot easier for me to use the current user instead of the xbmc one

you will need to edit /etc/init/xbmc.conf as well to launch with the correct user...

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - FishOil - 2014-03-15

Nice

One suggestion, To help people with wireless, Sometimes XBMC starts too quickly for wireless to actually connect to the accesspoint.

In /etc/init/xbmc.conf

change

Code:
start on (filesystem and stopped udevtrigger)

To

Code:
start on (started dbus and started mountall and net-device-up IFACE!=lo)

This will make sure XBMC only starts in there is a network connection.
In my case XBMC is useless without a network connection. I dont have a single video on any of my XBMC machines.
In addition every video addon is also useless.

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - blubyu - 2014-03-17

Will this script update me from Frodo to Gotham? Or do I have to start with a fresh install of the OS?

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - Hack_kid - 2014-03-17

(2014-03-15, 22:36)FishOil Wrote: Nice

One suggestion, To help people with wireless, Sometimes XBMC starts too quickly for wireless to actually connect to the accesspoint.

In /etc/init/xbmc.conf

change

Code:
start on (filesystem and stopped udevtrigger)

To

Code:
start on (started dbus and started mountall and net-device-up IFACE!=lo)

This will make sure XBMC only starts in there is a network connection.
In my case XBMC is useless without a network connection. I dont have a single video on any of my XBMC machines.
In addition every video addon is also useless.

i'll look into that. just so you know though if you set up nfs with the correct mount options it will mount even after xbmc has booted and no network device is up. but probably a good idea to add this anyways

(2014-03-17, 01:15)blubyu Wrote: Will this script update me from Frodo to Gotham? Or do I have to start with a fresh install of the OS?

ummm all you need to do to update to gotham is like 3 commands

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:team-xbmc/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc xbmc-bin

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - laric - 2014-03-17

I haven't read the actual script. But shouldn't you really stop using the fglrx drivers for amd and go for the opensource version as that is what is supported by the devs of xbmc. Fglrx will have no use when Gotham is out of beta.

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - Hack_kid - 2014-03-18

(2014-03-17, 11:25)laric Wrote: I haven't read the actual script. But shouldn't you really stop using the fglrx drivers for amd and go for the opensource version as that is what is supported by the devs of xbmc. Fglrx will have no use when Gotham is out of beta.


yeah i know. i havent updated it yet. its gonna be a little tricky as it only works with ubuntu 13.10 so i'm gonna make anything below 13.10 it cant do the oss drivers. plus i dont have a video card to test with the radeon-oss drivers so its gonna be a litttle harder. i know how to install it though. just the amd card i have is too old. I also merged xvba back into gotham on my git and asked wnsprix to put it on his ppa for legacy purposes. if he did i dont know.

off topic. anyone know what the started dbus run level is? i do i really need to add that to the upstart or just the start on inet interface up?

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - Hack_kid - 2014-03-18

added initial (UNTESTED) radeon-oss support. You need to be running ubuntu 13.10 for the option to come up. but if you are you will be prompted on which driver you want to install. the old fglrx or new kernel and mesa patches for the radeon oss driver.

let me know how it works

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - illiac4 - 2014-03-20

(2014-03-17, 11:13)Hack_kid Wrote: [quote='FishOil' pid='1653656' dateline='1394915791']
Nice

One suggestion, To help people with wireless, Sometimes XBMC starts too quickly for wireless to actually connect to the accesspoint.

In /etc/init/xbmc.conf

change

Code:
start on (filesystem and stopped udevtrigger)

To

Code:
start on (started dbus and started mountall and net-device-up IFACE!=lo)

This will make sure XBMC only starts in there is a network connection.
In my case XBMC is useless without a network connection. I dont have a single video on any of my XBMC machines.

i'll look into that. just so you know though if you set up nfs with the correct mount options it will mount even after xbmc has booted and no network device is up. but probably a good idea to add this anyways

Do not do that. It is not good to troubleshoot. If this parameter should really be needed make it optional but only few people will find this usefull. I think there are other ways to achieve this.

Also i would focus on the future so just move from 13.10 upwards. It is less then a month from 14.04lts so....

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - Hack_kid - 2014-03-21

anyone test the radeon-oss with latest version of the script?

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - rverdu - 2014-03-21

(2014-03-21, 09:28)Hack_kid Wrote: anyone test the radeon-oss with latest version of the script?


Hello, I am Spanish and new. Greetings to all.
My computer is HP Proliant Microserver N40L with ATI5450 and SSD.
I tested with Ubuntu Minimal 13.10 (very slow installation :-() and Ubuntu Server 13.10.
In both cases, script is installed correctly but not automatically start XBMC. Login / password appears.Huh

RE: HOW-TO: Automated XBMC minimal installer for Ubuntu 12.04 > 13.10 - azrael17 - 2014-03-21

(2014-03-21, 09:28)Hack_kid Wrote: anyone test the radeon-oss with latest version of the script?

Planning on testing today.

Did a hardware upgrade and am trying to reinstall my xbmc/nas/mysql setup. So far every other method I have tried has resulted in significant screen tearing in XBMC. I was going to try your script last night but a bug in the 13.10 mini.iso won't recognize usb keyboards so I am kind of stuck. Will your script work with the Trusty-Server daily iso (as I heard the keyboard bug MAY be fixed there)?