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WeakATV · 2010-01-13, 19:55

I have read that some of you mention that performance on the ATV is better when using Linux.

Can anyone elaborate on some specific advantages? My main gripe is that navigating is sluggish (Fan art, etc). Also, are they any pro's/con's in 1080p playback using the Crystal HD card under Linux or OSX?

Thanks

pin87a · 2010-01-13, 20:28

From what i've seen:

Linux Advantages:
Slightly faster interface (still probably too slow for enabling fanart)
Full 1080p output

Apple TV OS Advantages:
HDMI Audio works perfectly all of the time (it's flaky under Linux).
Easy access the Apple Store for movie rentals
Easy access to Boxee
Easier to install/update (thanks to the Launcher App)

For actual video playback they are pretty much the same when using CrystalHD.
Under the AppleTV OS 1080p videos are scaled to 720p. I can't see a difference, but I'm sure some people can.

tuckbodi · 2010-01-13, 22:40

I'm hoping TechnoJnky comes up with bootable linux thumbdrive as mentioned in this thread. Then, when I want to boot into just XBMC I plug in the drive and when I want to boot into go old regular ATV OS X I just unplug it.

banan · (This post was last modified: 2010-01-14, 00:36 by banan.)

I prefer linux..

pros:
- Much faster interface
- Seems to be utilizing network card (wired) better (faster ftp, nfs)
- Able to use lirc (mce remote = more buttons!)
- Linux base system (flexibility)
- Direct boot to xbmc
- Using less ram than OSX with xbmc running (to run apps/daemons)

cons:
- can't see any

Try it, you will be surprised how slow xbmc on atv osx feels in comparison Smile

edit: haven't tried hdmi audio, so that is a potential "con" if it's "flaky" as stated...

WeakATV · (This post was last modified: 2010-01-14, 01:10 by WeakATV.)

banan Wrote:I prefer linux..

pros:
- Much faster interface
- Seems to be utilizing network card (wired) better (faster ftp, nfs)
- Able to use lirc (mce remote = more buttons!)
- Linux base system (flexibility)
- Direct boot to xbmc
- Using less ram than OSX with xbmc running (to run apps/daemons)

cons:
- can't see any

Try it, you will be surprised how slow xbmc on atv osx feels in comparison

edit: haven't tried hdmi audio, so that is a potential "con" if it's "flaky" as stated...

Can you paste the output of top while just sitting at the menu idle? I would appreciate it.

Also, how is the performance when using Fan Art?

banan · 2010-01-14, 01:17

Code:
top - 00:03:44 up  3:09,  3 users,  load average: 0.36, 0.19, 0.12

Tasks:  76 total,   2 running,  74 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie

Cpu(s):  7.6%us,  0.7%sy,  0.0%ni, 91.4%id,  0.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.3%si,  0.0%st

Mem:    247080k total,   215356k used,    31724k free,     6356k buffers

Swap:  1115096k total,     5276k used,  1109820k free,    99636k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                        

7002 xbmc      20   0  155m  60m  23m S  8.0 25.0   0:05.72 xbmc.bin                       

7022 xbmc      20   0  2340 1128  884 R  0.7  0.5   0:00.03 top                            

    1 root      20   0  2520  668  552 S  0.0  0.3   0:01.04 init                           

    2 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kthreadd                       

    3 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/0                    

    4 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.03 ksoftirqd/0                    

    5 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/0                     

    6 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.06 events/0                       

    7 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 cpuset                                            

xbmc@appletv:~$ free -m

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached

Mem:           241        210         30          0          6         97

-/+ buffers/cache:        106        134

Swap:         1088          5       1083

xbmc@appletv:~$

As you see, not that bad..

Idle with Alaska skin.. Actually when I think about it, the alaska skin have a shifting image for all the menu-buttons, so it might not be the most "idle" skin to test with.. I have disabled fanart in the scraper settings, so it's to much hassle to test with that.

atv is running base-install (minimal) of ubuntu 9.10, with vsftpd, opensshd, fail2ban, nfs, avahi and netatalk in background..

WeakATV · 2010-01-14, 01:42

Nice! thanks for the reply...

If anyone is curious for comparison... ATV OS, Alaska skin, idle at menu

Code:
Processes:  34 total, 3 running, 31 sleeping... 127 threads            18:41:20

Load Avg:  1.03, 1.02, 0.84     CPU usage:  29.7% user, 20.7% sys, 49.5% idle

SharedLibs: num =  134, resident = 15.6M code, 2.39M data, 5.30M LinkEdit

MemRegions: num =  2291, resident = 72.4M + 2.47M private, 36.8M shared

PhysMem:  76.5M wired, 72.6M active, 60.7M inactive,  209M used, 46.2M free

VM: 2.54G +  122M   71941(0) pageins, 40481(0) pageouts

VM: 2.54G +  122M   71926(0) pageins, 40481(0) pageouts

  PID COMMAND      %CPU   TIME   #TH #PRTS #MREGS RPRVT  RSHRD  RSIZE  VSIZE

  218 top          8.0%  0:13.05   1    19    19   988K   400K  1.45M  27.0M

  217 bash         0.0%  0:00.06   1    14    16   212K   760K   776K  27.1M

  216 dropbear     0.0%  0:00.19   1    11    17   116K   480K   344K  26.8M

  211 XBMC        42.1%  1:04.51   5   103   453  40.6M  23.4M  58.8M   327M

  177 DiskManage   0.0%  0:00.11   1    41    44     0B   720K   124K  37.2M

  172 airtunesd    0.0%  0:00.01   3    39    25     0B   308K   104K  31.5M

  171 Finder       0.0% 12:00.24  26   294   513  5.88M  15.5M  8.65M   300M

  169 launchd      0.0%  0:00.01   1    14    16     0B   384K  68.0K  26.7M

  166 pbs          0.0%  0:00.05   2    39    39     0B   744K   124K  53.4M

  159 ATSServer    0.0%  0:00.21   2    53    49   632K  1.14M   692K  45.4M

  147 ntpd         0.0%  0:01.99   1    11    18  76.0K   348K   156K  27.1M

  145 WindowServ   0.0% 18:04.85   2    70    60   520K  2.44M  2.18M   189M

  143 loginwindo   0.0%  0:00.31   2    95    85   504K  1.48M   992K   177M

  124 Automounte   0.0%  0:00.06   3    45    41     0B   720K   120K  38.5M

  109 crashrepor   0.0%  0:00.00   1    16    17     0B   308K  68.0K  26.6M

   87 lookupd      0.0%  0:02.61   2    35    39   444K   740K   628K  28.5M

   69 dropbear     0.0%  0:00.03   1    10    16  56.0K   480K   128K  26.7M

   68 coreservic   0.0%  0:02.13   3    61    85   232K  1.45M   364K  30.2M

   65 update       0.0%  0:55.97   1    12    16  52.0K   324K   160K  26.6M

   61 DirectoryS   0.0%  0:00.30   3    59    33   344K  1.08M   744K  29.7M

   60 distnoted    0.0%  0:00.02   1    31    18  24.0K   556K   108K  27.0M

   59 notifyd      0.0%  0:00.40   2    40    20   108K   356K   208K  27.2M

   56 securityd    0.0%  0:00.43   1    81    25  92.0K   632K   272K  28.5M

   54 memberd      0.0%  0:00.03   3    22    22   156K   356K   256K  27.7M

   53 diskarbitr   0.0%  0:00.13   1    67    20   248K   648K   380K  27.1M

   52 coreaudiod   0.0%  0:01.48   1    82    46   420K   840K   592K  30.5M

   51 configd      0.0%  0:00.77   3   127    59  88.0K   576K   244K  28.9M

   49 syslogd      0.0%  0:12.11   3    35    24   212K   368K   316K  27.7M

   48 netinfod     0.0%  0:00.85   1    14    21   128K   432K   296K  26.9M

   47 mDNSRespon   0.0%  0:01.59   2    34    22   184K   812K   460K  28.0M

   40 kextd        0.0%  0:00.62   2    29    22     0B   556K  88.0K  27.6M

   36 dynamic_pa   0.0%  0:00.00   1    12    18  16.0K   308K  64.0K  26.6M

    1 launchd      0.0%  0:00.12   3   105    21   112K   384K   192K  27.7M

    0 kernel_tas   0.0% 76:43.75  41     2   352  22.6M     0B  61.7M   733M

davilla · 2010-01-14, 01:55

WeakATV Wrote:Nice! thanks for the reply...

If anyone is curious for comparison... ATV OS, Alaska skin, idle at menu

Grrrrr, there's that high sys at 20.7%, wish I could figure out why it's so much higher than under linux.

vive-moi · 2010-01-14, 17:57

Hello,

Anyone knows where I can find a good tutorial on installing linux on appleTV?

Thanks

NineT9mustang · 2010-01-15, 01:56

^ thats what im waiting for! Im hoping one is in the works soon Big Grin

I offered someone $30-$50 to write one, hopefully he will soon Smile

Raider · 2010-01-15, 08:05

pin87a Wrote:Under the AppleTV OS 1080p videos are scaled to 720p.

is this because of the bug where xbmc on appletv is running at 720p? once that gets worked out to 1080, will that resolve the scaling issue?

i mean if atv can do 1080p, and xbmc can do 1080p, why would it scale?

davilla · 2010-01-15, 08:23

Raider Wrote:is this because of the bug where xbmc on appletv is running at 720p? once that gets worked out to 1080, will that resolve the scaling issue?

i mean if atv can do 1080p, and xbmc can do 1080p, why would it scale?

If I knew the answer to this, it would be fixed or explained.

Raider · 2010-01-15, 08:30

davilla Wrote:If I knew the answer to this, it would be fixed or explained.

huh...

guess when my broadcom card gets here, I'll start doing research on how to install linux on it then...

so i guess that screenshot of the 1080p vc-1 batman is running on linux xbmc on appletv hardware, and not atv xbmc?

M.Gibs · 2010-01-15, 12:16

I only have a "HD Ready" TV.

But did you try to put the appletv os settings to 1080 ? (just to test)

eric_pwb · 2010-01-17, 01:15

NineT9mustang Wrote:^ thats what im waiting for! Im hoping one is in the works soon

I offered someone $30-$50 to write one, hopefully he will soon

Try this: Installing Linux