[bossanova808]

Whats standard? Ubuntu does much in an not "standard", "own" way... You can see this here in forum, much Howto's, much hacks needed for anything to get work with ubuntu. The most of this things works in OpenELEC.tv without hacking anything. And if you are looking at all the helper scripts etc which XBMC live uses... all not really "standard".

Well standard is what the donwload link on the front page comes up with, for me, I guess. It gives a standard shared platform as a base I can't see the point in using another one unless it adds something missing or distinctly improves performance. I am sure in some context small and fast makes a big difference but on the Shuttle with a 60GB SSD in it it doesn't make much difference to me.

The problem here: there are true MCE remotes which uses the mceusb lirc or mceusb kernel driver, ad there are MCE called remotes, they looks like MCE remotes, but are not really MCE remotes. The HAMA MCE remote is not compatible with an true MCE remote.

See that I get - works/not works makes sense. It's 'works better' that I didn't get...are you jsut using the newer lirc mceusb instead of the mceusb2 thingy?

Anyway to each their own for sure, I just think the easiest path is to use the XBMC live as it means you can have an easy dialogue with the forums when you want to fix/tweak things - everything is in the 'right' place but it surely has its own quirks as well.

[heldchen]

Re" OpenElec - does it add anything functional? The standard boot is maybe 15 seconds with an SSD and if you use suspend/resume you only boot every now and again anyway, so I'm not sure I see the point in using a non standard package although I am sure it has its uses. I can't see how an MCE remote can 'work better' than it does by default in Beta3?

openelec plays 6.1 audio properly, whereas i wasn't able to get that to run on ubuntu's alsa. in addition to that, i have a 30fps file that plays absolutely bad under ubuntu (stuttering), but works fine in openelec. why? no clue.

[cowbalt]

No, the difference in brightness is to do with nvidia driver versions not b2/b3- the 260 drivers are MUCH better in this regard, no need for studio levels or brightness/contrast hacks.

All of the above is kind of overcomplicated for the Shuttle - you really just need to install B3 and add the network driver - at that point EVERYTHING works well (sound, suspend/resume, remote, video res switching, smooth ui & playback etc) - personally I think updating nvidia drivers is a good plan as the colour issues go away but it's not really essential.

(The shuttle can definitely boot from a USB stuck and pretty sure it does by default if you pop one in...but it's also v. easy to just burn a disc and boot off that).

Re" OpenElec - does it add anything functional? The standard boot is maybe 15 seconds with an SSD and if you use suspend/resume you only boot every now and again anyway, so I'm not sure I see the point in using a non standard package although I am sure it has its uses. I can't see how an MCE remote can 'work better' than it does by default in Beta3?

Hey Bossanova,

Maybe this post can convince why there is openelec, and why people use. Maybe in the end it will convince you too. However, obviously you are free to use whatever you want...

http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=619...tcount=525

Cheers,
Cowbalt.

[twinflower]

you need to format it to fat (can be done by the windows formater), then use the boot stick creation tool of your choice to put the iso onto the stick. unetbootin for example does the job.

That did the trick. thanks.


What did you do when the installer starts nagging about cd-drive and drivers? I tried copying the drivers from the shuttle driver CD to the usb-stick, but the ubuntu installer never found them. I dont know how or where it searched either.

I feel like a numbnut here.

[grouper]

I also saw someone (bossanova808) mention about some differences in the brightness of the image between b2 and b3. Is it better in b3, much better?

Actually there Beta3 is worse, after updating the Nvidia Driver it was back to Beta2 Level.

At the moment I am on Openelec.tv latest release, boots within 13-14 secs (HDD, no SSD) and does everything out of the box. No stutters, all smooth and no hassle to install,One-Confirm-Installer.

[froggit]

No, the difference in brightness is to do with nvidia driver versions not b2/b3- the 260 drivers are MUCH better in this regard, no need for studio levels or brightness/contrast hacks.

Thanks, so it's worth getting the 260 NVidia drivers.

I saw some reports that when navigating the UI when watching a movie with b2 that the UI was slow, clunky or even locked up. Has this been fixed in b3? (Not that I ever saw this problem in b2 personally)

All of the above is kind of overcomplicated for the Shuttle - you really just need to install B3 and add the network driver - at that point EVERYTHING works well (sound, suspend/resume, remote, video res switching, smooth ui & playback etc) - personally I think updating nvidia drivers is a good plan as the colour issues go away but it's not really essential.

Yep, so for new installs go with b3, fix network driver, get 260 Nvidia driver if you feel like it and all is good -- certainly much less bother than b2 was to get working

For now I'll stick with b2 as it seems to work fine for me, but hopefully in the main Dharma release they'll have sorted out the network driver issue and perhaps updated the video drivers...

[froggit]

Actually there Beta3 is worse, after updating the Nvidia Driver it was back to Beta2 Level.

At the moment I am on Openelec.tv latest release, boots within 13-14 secs (HDD, no SSD) and does everything out of the box. No stutters, all smooth and no hassle to install,One-Confirm-Installer.

Oh? Did you try the 260 NVidia drivers like bossanova808 mentioned?

[twinflower]

Actually there Beta3 is worse, after updating the Nvidia Driver it was back to Beta2 Level.

At the moment I am on Openelec.tv latest release, boots within 13-14 secs (HDD, no SSD) and does everything out of the box. No stutters, all smooth and no hassle to install,One-Confirm-Installer.

I just installed openELEC for the first time myself.
The whole process was very quick and easy, however I did not get any sound, and the brightness/gamma is totally out of bounds.

Any tips?

[sraue]

I just installed openELEC for the first time myself.
The whole process was very quick and easy, however I did not get any sound, ...

Any tips?

does this helps? http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=633...tcount=294

[twinflower]

No it didnt. Tried both audio output device and audio passthrough device.

I am very unfamiliar with linux, and i am wondering about how I get to the command line interface.
It appears that the brightness issue is about the nvidia driver, and that the 260-driver handles this problem.
However, I dont know how to install them.


Also, before XBMC launches, a breef error message appear: "could not open framebuffer: no such file or directory"

[sraue]

No it didnt. Tried both audio output device and audio passthrough device..

I am very unfamiliar with linux, and i am wondering about how I get to the command line interface.

you can connect via ssh to this box. Username/Password: root
but you cant do much

It appears that the brightness issue is about the nvidia driver, and that the 260-driver handles this problem.
However, I dont know how to install them.

latest nvidia driver is already installed

whats the exactly issue?

Also, before XBMC launches, a breef error message appear: "could not open framebuffer: no such file or directory"

this is only cosmetic, will be fixed. you only dont see the bootsplash

to fix this in this build:
connect via ssh to the box

Code:

mount -o remount,rw /flash
nano /flash/extlinux.cfg

add "vga=792" without quotes to the APPEND line so it looks like:

Code:

APPEND boot=LABEL=System disk=LABEL=Storage vga=792 quiet

save and reboot

[cowbalt]

No it didnt. Tried both audio output device and audio passthrough device.

I am very unfamiliar with linux, and i am wondering about how I get to the command line interface.
It appears that the brightness issue is about the nvidia driver, and that the 260-driver handles this problem.
However, I dont know how to install them.


Also, before XBMC launches, a breef error message appear: "could not open framebuffer: no such file or directory"

also let us know how you play audio...HDMI/analog/etc etc...

[bossanova808]

Thanks, so it's worth getting the 260 NVidia drivers.

I saw some reports that when navigating the UI when watching a movie with b2 that the UI was slow, clunky or even locked up. Has this been fixed in b3? (Not that I ever saw this problem in b2 personally)

Yep, so for new installs go with b3, fix network driver, get 260 Nvidia driver if you feel like it and all is good -- certainly much less bother than b2 was to get working

For now I'll stick with b2 as it seems to work fine for me, but hopefully in the main Dharma release they'll have sorted out the network driver issue and perhaps updated the video drivers...

Yes the newer nvidia drivers are worth it and produe correct colour/gamma on a calibrated Panasonic 50" V10 plasma. Most likely people finding it too bright have fudged their TV previously to cope with the over dark levels from the older drivers.

The slow UI in B2 was (for me) to do with it outputting 30hz instead of 60hz to some TVs when set to 1920 by 1080@60 for the UI. An easy fix was to set it to 50hz - which seemed to work consistently - it just made for a less silky smooth rendering.

They won't change the nvidia drivers or add the shuttle network driver for final Dharma I think, but adding them both is easy once you know how and I will do a nicer guide once it's all final and well settled. The biggest bonus was sound and suspend/resume working out of the box.

Unless you need 6.1 or other obscure things, I can't see why you wouldn't go this way (assuming you wanted the standard Live distro to be your base of course) - as it's a very smooth experience and I've tested it pretty extensively now.

[twinflower]

latest nvidia driver is already installed

whats the exactly issue?

The image is very very sharp and crispy. And too bright.


I will connect the box to the network later today and try some of the SSH stuff

[twinflower]

you can connect via ssh to this box. Username/Password: root

Seems like the wrong username/password

Code:

login as: ROOT
#######################################################
# Welcome to OpenELEC - the powerfull Mediacenter4you #
# .......... visit http://www.openelec.tv ........... #
#######################################################

[email protected]'s password:
Access denied
[email protected]'s password: