[wolfgar]

Hi,

Here is an updated image which includes my latest development for XBMC (Video decoding and audio sync are now OK for most H264 vids and I have tested and I have tested a few dozen ;-) )

Many other improvements :
- The CPU temperature is now displayed in the system menu
- The network manager addon is installed and enables to setup the wifi connection
- If you plug a USB-Ethernet adapter then it will automatically tries to retrieve its IP configuration by DHCP
- The partition size is now something around 2GiB so that programming the sdcard will be faster

Installation notes are the same as for the first image
Still plug a heatsink otherwise the gk802 which is SO badly designed regarding thermal dissipation will get too hot

Enjoy


Regards
Stéphan

[imonlinux]

@wolfgar thanks for all your work on this project. Let me know if/where you may have a donation link as I would donate if possible.

Latest image is working much better than previous. Really like the network config working with network-manager within XBMC.

I do have a question, are you having issues with some of the addons not being able to connect to the internet. I have a few that work (Break.com, eBaumsWorld.com, LiveLeak) without issue. Most though complain that they can not connect to the remote server.

Thanks again.

[wolfgar]

Hi imonlinux,

First thank you very much for your feedback.

Regarding your addons connection issues, I think I have just reproduced and understood the issue : Many addons depend on BeautifulSoup module to parse html
And BeautifulSoup depends on sgmllib which is not installed on my image : I will provide a solution very quickly...

Regards
Stephan

[wolfgar]

I am back,

Here is a way to solve the "can not connect to the remote server" error for users who know how to use a ssh client...
- First, get the IP address of your gk802 device (you can have a look at your DHCP server logs or you can enter the system info menu in XBMC to read this address)
- Then use a ssh client to connect to your device (on windows you can use putty, on linux, well if you are a linux user, you already knows about it lol)
use login=root and password=xbmcpoc to log in your device using ssh

Then on the device, enter the following commands :

Code:

zypper refresh

Answer "yes" to the question "File 'repomd.xml' from repository 'tom' is unsigned, continue?"

Code:

zypper in python-html python-sqlite3 python-netserver

That's it !
You now have the required python modules to use your addons...

Of course next image will have these modules pre-installed to avoid this extra step

Best regards
Stephan

PS : If this way of installing an additional module is too complicated, please tell me and I will release the updated image tomorrow night...

[wolfgar]

I have generated a new image with the missing python modules so that most addons now work properly ...
new full image

Best regards
Wolfgar

[imonlinux]

@wolfgar
I applied the packages that you identified and it has improved several of the addon's that were failing previously. There are a few others that are still failing.
Dump.com
Wimp.com
Are a couple that I have identified initially.

How are you determining the missing libs or dependencies? I may be able to help in the troubleshooting.

[wolfgar]

Hi imonlinux,

For your 2 remaining addons you also need :

Code:

zypper in python-shell python-textutils

To understand the issue, just have a look at the log file /home/root/.xbmc/temp/xbmc.log (while the target is running with a ssh client for instance. The file is in fact stored in a tmpfs mount to avoid to write too much on the sdcard, so do not expect to find this file if you extract your sdcard...)

Here is an instance of what you can find in this file :

Code:

22:01:48 T:1183839328   ERROR: EXCEPTION Thrown (PythonToCppException) : -->Python callback/script returned the following error<--
                                             - NOTE: IGNORING THIS CAN LEAD TO MEMORY LEAKS!                                                                      
                                            Error Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>                              
                                            Error Contents: No module named shutil
                                            Traceback (most recent call last):    
                                              File "/home/root/.xbmc/addons/plugin.video.wimp/addon.py", line 20, in <module>
                                                from xbmcswift2 import Plugin                                          
                                              File "/home/root/.xbmc/addons/script.module.xbmcswift2/lib/xbmcswift2/__init__.py", line 65, in <module>
                                                from xbmcswift2.storage import TimedStorage    
                                              File "/home/root/.xbmc/addons/script.module.xbmcswift2/lib/xbmcswift2/storage.py", line 18, in <module>
                                                import shutil                                                                      
                                            ImportError: No module named shutil                      
                                            -->End of Python script error report<--

Best regards
Stephan

[Toverkwark]

Hi Stephan,

Excellent work! I so much like that I finally have a linux based xbmc running on this cheapy stick now on the bedroom TV. I wish I could do this kind of hacking myself.
I have two questions. First, it seems that somehow the app I use on my android phone, yatse, doesn't recognize this particular xbmc set up while it did recognize the android version and the default ubuntu version I have running in the living room, any ideas as to why that is?
Secondly, how do I install extra programs on this linux distro? It doesn't recognize apt-get install kind of features and the zypper tool doesn't 'see' most of the tools I'd like to add.
Just to name two that I was trying to add were nano and synergy (the latter being more important, since it'd allow me controlling the keyboard and mouse from the stick using my laptop and hence make that I can completely hide away any cables and stuff near that TV.
I'd understand if this doesnt have your priority, so thanks anyway for the work done so far, but if you'd see some time to answer these things too, it'd be much appreciated.

B.

[wolfgar]

Hi Toverkwark

I am also a user of this great remote "yatse" and it just works with my current build !
Yet, you have to enable the option "Allow programs on other systems to control XBMC" in the remote control options. Have a look at this wiki which explains the required setting...
Second, this image is a custom distro (built with a kind of factory called yocto which enables to build tailored distro with full control on the build process for embedded systems)
As you have remarked the package tool which is used is "zypper" (this tool is also used by opensuse by the way) and not apt-get.
The available packages are the ones I have built on my own server

For nano, I have just built and added the package, just run :

Code:

zypper refresh
zypper install nano

And you will have your favorite editor ...

At last, I will have a look at synergy : Using this software is a really good idea (for now I am unsure it will be able to run as a client on my image but I will check for sure !)

Best regards
Stephan

Edit : I had a look at synergy : Well it relies on Xwindow to handle mouse/keyboard events and I don't use Xwindow... But it provides a convenient uclient library that I should be able to plug on Linux uinput so that I would get it to work fine out of the X world... If my explanations make no sense, no problem : It means that I need to develop a little piece of code but that I am confident I can make a synergy client run on my target

[imonlinux]

Thanks Stephan,

I have been able to identify these additional python modules for various other addons. Primarily the ones that come from xbmchub.com.

python-compression
python-email
python-robotparser

I have found that

Code:

tail -f /home/root/.xbmc/temp/xbmc.log | grep error

works very well for identifying when there is an issue.

I will add any additions module dependencies as I find them.

[wolfgar]

Hi

@imonlinux, thanks for your feedback, I will add these other modules in official image. And the command you quote is definitively the kind of command that always runs in a shell when I test xbmc

@Toverkwark and all the others : I have developed a first tiny synergy client using linux uinput (for now I handle only mouse but keyboard support is coming too) which is already working fine on my image with xbmc ! This weekend I will add support for keyboard and release a new image with explanations about setup...

Regards
Stephan

[Trozmagon]

Hi Wolfgar,

I understand that this would be a priority but will you be able to add support for HDMI-CEC?


Thanks,

[Trozmagon]

I've just installed your latest image and I can't get either of my 2 keyboards, 2 mice and air remote to work, is there something that needs to be done to enable control?

And SSH is saying the device doesn't exist when connected via Ethernet but it does show up as connected on my router but I do have access to the file system using Ubuntu.

I'm still playing with it and will let you know what I find Wink.

[wolfgar]

Hi trozmagon

- Were you able to install nano and to use yatse ?
- Regarding CEC, it is not available in my current XBMC build but I am aware of it and it is on my todo list for sure
- Regarding your last post :
I don't exactly understand what you mean : No mouse nor keyboard work when you plug them ? Are they USB devices that you plug using a USB hub ?
Definitively, it should work and it does work with my install but you may experience issues related to power supply. How do you power your board ? Have a look at this thread. You may experience a similar issue...
So, I don't think it is software related but to be sure, just connect using ssh, plug a mouse on the device and type in the ssh session

Code:

dmesg

then post me the output (using a online copy/paste service...)
At last, I don't understand your report regarding ssh : A ssh server is running and you can use a ssh client to connect to your device (several users have proved to be to able to use it) What do you mean by "the device doesn't exist" ?

Regards
Stephan

[Trozmagon]

Hi wolfgar, thanks for your response,

CEC news is great to hear .
With the SSH I actually made a mistake, I mistook my TV's IP address for the GK802 seeing as they were both named unknown on my router but as it turns out it wasn't connected at all so I'm looking in to that now, I'm sure once I have that sorted SSH will work just fine.

With the Keyboard and Mouse I don't have any issues when running Android but I'm currently downloading a copy of the stock Ubuntu image and also Jas's version of 12.04 to see if they work on those images so I will post back when I have finished that.

I've tried each individually plugged directly in to the GK802 and using an unpowered USB hub (I don't have a powered one) with no luck.

Now that I know I have a network issue with it and once I have that sorted out I'll be about to SSH and see what's happening there too.