diegoap Wrote:I want to know which is the best way to install a linux on my aTV ?
I've been reading about CrystalUbuntu. Also I've been reading other threads regarding aTV, linux and Crystal HD.
Does the first post in this thread is updated ? (Last edited by Sam.Nazarko; 2010-06-10 at 13:18. ) Is this is the last version with the last working drivers ?
If not, what should I update ? Does aTV remote control works ? When it starts, does it run xbmc ?
I'm totally noob on linux but I'm going try to install a linux based OS because I've read that Crystal HD drivers works better on linux than on OSX.
The first post links to the last "released" images. There are two - Sam's is the original, and Pin's is a little smaller and seems a little more "finished". Sam's initially had trouble with DHCP networking, which Pin's cleared up. Don't know if that's fixed - I'm running Pin's version.
Yes the Linux version runs better than the OSX version. Don't know if the drivers are better, but there's certainly a lot more memory available which helps a great deal with HD playback. It's not seamless yet, but it's not a full release - it's all SVN parts.
Some people are running later versions of XBMC from the SVN server, and some people are running later versions of the CrystalHD driver. I tried this over the weekend and ran into trouble with performance, so I rolled back to Pin's image. I'll wait for a full release. You may have more luck than me. If you want to start updating the packages you'll probably want to be comfortable playing with apt-get - maybe not for a total Linux noob. The USB images, though, will just copy onto a flash drive and work. Yes, the ATV remote works, and yes they start straight into XBMC.
Anyway, you'll be wanting to get up and running!
What you need to do is download and unrar one of the images, and then write it to a USB drive. This has to be a block-level copy. Don't just copy the .img file and expect it to work - you *must* use a tool like this:
https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer.
The USB drive must be at least 4GB. Some 4GB drives are a little small, so an 8GB drive would be better - guaranteed to work.
Once the image is written to the drive, pop it in your (switched-off) ATV and start it up. It'll boot Linux straight into XBMC, grab a DHCP address from your router, and be ready to haul movies from a network share.
If you are just using HDMI, this will just work. Stop here, and go and play movies!
If you're using HDMI for video, but another connection for audio, change it in the System ->System->Audio Output->Audio Output Device. If you need the optical audio it's iec958. Remember that if you're using a surround-sound decoder, you'll want to tell XBMC what formats it'll accept (I'm set for Dolby Digital and DTS, for example), and set your passthrough device to the connection into this decoder.
If you're using component you must edit a file on the ATV. You can SSH into it over the network using a tool like
PuTTY. Username and password are both "xbmc".
Edit the xorg.conf file like this:
Code:
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
(Sudo will ask for a password - again, it's "xbmc".)
Change the "Screen" section to say this:
Code:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "TV"
Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPONENT"
Option "TVStandard" "HD720p"
Option "TVOverScan" "0.80
DefaultDepth 24
Option "NoLogo" "True"
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1920x1080" "1280x720" "1024x768" "720x480" "800x600" "640x480"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
That'll give you 720p on Component - you can edit the resolution from there. Save the file, reboot the ATV, and whilst that's starting up grab a beer and some popcorn! (Remember, you'll need to check the audio device settings, as above.)
