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Building a Linux home media center
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CommentsMy LHMC would have to interface with my existing home configuration via a wireless network with WPA security enabled and output to my television's S-Video or composite inputs, and it would have to connect to my media server via NFS.
For my LHMC hardware I choose the MSI MEGA 180. One of its main attractions was that it is based on a Linux-supported Nvidia chipset and video card. The video card in this model has S-Video and composite outputs. The box has frontal USB and a built-in 6-in-1 media card reader. The MEGA 180 comes as a barebones product. I purchased one in an online auction with an AMD Athlon 2400+ processor, 60GB hard drive, and DVD player for about $350.
I choose to install Ubuntu Linux on the LHMC because, thanks to its Debian roots, Ubuntu is easy to update and manage, and has a wide range of software available. The low maintenance overhead it provides makes the LHMC behave as reliably as an embedded system. And the Ubuntu community offers many solutions and guides in its wiki and forums.
The Ubuntu installation detected all of the MEGA's hardware correctly. The only thing that was configured incorrectly after the installation was the default screen resolution. To configure the video, Ubuntu needed to be configured to get sources from the universe and multiverse repositories. This allowed for the installation of the binary Nvidia drivers. X.org needed to be set up to output through S-Video so it could display to my television. This process is well documented on Ubuntu's wiki. The Nvidia driver is also able to output in multiple HD standards.
Configuration of the wireless card was not as simple. The wireless card that comes with the MEGA 180 is an Ralink RT2460. Ralink makes some of the most open source-friendly wireless chipsets in existence, yet the rt2400 driver doesn't support WPA. I worked around this by using the ndiswrapper driver, which can support WPA though wpa_supplicant. I configured ndiswrapper with the Windows version of the Ralink drivers. To prevent the rt2400 driver from loading at startup and conflicting with the ndiswrapper kernel module, I created a file named wlan under /etc/modutils and entered the line alias rt2400 ndiswrapper.
The configuration of WPA is well laid out in an Ubuntu howto. Because I was using ndiswrapper, the interface name of the card was wlan0. wpa_supplicant must be configured to use the ndiswrapper driver, so the /etc/default/wpasupplicant file needed to have OPTIONS set like this:
OPTIONS="-i wlan0 -D ndiswrapper -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"
With hardware setup nearly complete, one thing still bugged me. The MEGA's LED display shows the hardware clock's time, but Ubuntu defaults the hardware clock to UTC, so the MEGA's clock was always off by the difference between my local timezone and UTC. By grepping though the etc directory for the string "UTC," I discovered that the configuration option was in the file /etc/default/rcS. Changing the line UTC=yes to UTC=no resolved the issue.
All of my digital media is stored on an NFS share. To enable NFS mounting in Ubuntu, I installed the portmap package. I added the line mediaserver.example.com:/home/media /home/media noatime,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,bg 0 0 to /etc/fstab so that the media library would be mounted to /home/media at system startup.
Now that the LHMC had access to the media library, it was time to install the packages to enable playback of media: Rhythmbox for audio and Totem for video.
To configure Totem to play video, I installed the totem-xine package. The default backend, GStreamer, is automatically removed when you install the totem-xine package.
Audio playback was next. My Ogg music files played out of the box. The key to getting MP3 playback to work was installing libmad. I installed both libmad0 and gstreamer0.8-mad, and was able to play MP3 files. To fill any gaps that might come up, I also installed the gstreamer0.8-plugins-multiverse package, which includes all of the GStreamer plugins.
The LHMC has been rock solid since I set it up. It has handled all of the tasks that I planned to use it for and then some. The wow factor that I get when people visit is nice too.
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2. Remotely through VNC and SSH
3. I am working on getting the remote that came with the unit working, but I don't know if it's possible yet.
However it is not an easy install. It took me two full days of work to get myth and lirc running on ubuntu Hoary with a Huappage 150 MCE card. I have been using linux since 96, and although not an expert, I am handy with the command line and even did a successful stage 1 gentoo install at one time.
So be prepared to invest some time...
KnoppMyth may be great and easy with the right hardware, but not everything would work correctly with some of the odd components of the old machine I had scrounged together.
I tried Ubuntu (which I think was Hoary at the time, but may have been the preceding version), but I had problems with it also, including some LIRC issues.
What ended up being easiest for me with this hardware was a Slackware base and then following the documentation from MythTV (which means compiling everything yourself -- I use checkinstall to make packages). Of course, now the power supply is burned out on that computer, after I had been distracted from the rest of the project, but I have just started considering reviving it to get back to setting up my media the way I wanted.
So if you can use a fairly automatic way to get MythTV working, it's probably not a bad idea, and should be possible with the right hardware. If, however, you are determined to make it work without the ideal hardware setup and you run into a snag, or you want total control over the setup, then you might want to consider using Slackware or possibly Gentoo or Arch.
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If so the 11Mb/s rate is the "raw" radio rate (on air) and in practice you cannot get more than 4-5Mb/s of real data. Just try to benchmark it yourselves with iperf or similar network bandwith testing SW..
Remember that the radio also need to do signalling over air (ACK for received data packets, retransmits of lost/malformed packets), plus the modulation in 11b is not as efficient as the one used in 11g/11a.
Ofcourse it helps a lot to have a good signal between the two WLAN radios.
VNC/SSH not so convient either as you need goto other computer.
A remote would be cool.
A game controller would be cool too.
It works like a keyboard by default and requires much less tweaking than an IR remote.
It works much better than an IR remote too.
2. Linux does not need to be rebooted every 5 minutes like windows.
3. Windows is fricken expensive for a dedicated media server.
Linux also lacks decent drivers for more recent hardware, such as my Canon Pixma IP5000 printer and Creative Webcam Pro.
2. Linux does not need to be rebooted every 5 minutes like windows.
Apparently Windows 95 is the last version you ever used if you seriously believe that. Windows XP Professional is rock solid - my PC has run for months without a reboot.
3. Windows is fricken expensive for a dedicated media server
You get what you pay for.
However, to be fair, I will add this shortcoming of Windows XP - if you are an ignorant careless n00b you are far more likely to be infected by viruses/spyware/malware. However, for those with a little common sense and an arsenal of a few free/open-source applications, this isn't a problem.
Linux means freedom of choice, and historically Linux brings a revolutionary approach into software which is more than worth it to use and contribute to. If you care anything about freedom, your personal freedom and that of others you'd be critical what this little company from Redmond is doing.
Diverse opinions are welcome, but truthfully, what are you doing here? You seem lost, or came to troll.
FWIW I am a Linux BSD and Windows user. I use what I find to be the best tool for the job AND what satisfies my technical itch to learn.
Would you huff and puff to a carpenter how it's a waste of time to learn his craft, and just go to Ikea. Have some appreciation that some folks just UNDERSTAND this geeky stuff better than you, and consider that knowledge a plus.
Driver's are not that great on Windows either. You are at the driver maker's mercy. Case in point: I spent $1800 on a wide-platform UMAX SCSI scanner, and 3 years later UMAX declined to make 2000/XP compatible drivers. Running Windows 98 was NOT an option since the memory management (important for large scans) was always crap. UMAX would not even reply to inquiries -- just respond with form letters.
Had the specs been open for this scanner, 'someone' (not me) would have maintained the driver. This is true for any OS, but in Linux most hardware drivers are open sourced. Some hardware is still closed, and limps along in some manner, but you're not screwed into paying for a new hardware.
I've been using Linux since before kernel 2.0. There is NOT a lot of hardware which was discontinued to force you into an upgrade.
Windows Media Center is in large part a DIRECT response to innovation by MythTV. Who cares if some off the shelf hardware chooses not to have drivers for Linux. Why would you waste time posting a concern for this? Linux is open... I don't know too many people who get far scripting their Windows boxes. Not everyone wants to be forced into expensive microsoft development tools, which is why most cool gizmos for Windows are closed source shareware (and why Windows people spread viruses everywhere running stupid 'date cracks' for their stolen software).
Never used a webcam so can't say. HP printers are all I've ever used with windows or linux, at least since I had a dot-matrix printer anyhow, and I've never had a problem with those. If canon couldn't be stuffed writing linux drivers tho I guess you're stuck in that regard.
"Apparently Windows 95 is the last version you ever used if you seriously believe that. Windows XP Professional is rock solid - my PC has run for months without a reboot."
And mine was lucky to run for a day without needing a reboot, before I installed ubuntu on it. Grats on picking a hardware/software configuration that doesn't make Windows fall over so often like my installation of it did. I'll stick with the easier option tho thankyou.
"You get what you pay for."
Yeah.....but I don't really think that nice looking box is really worth that much...
"However, to be fair, I will add this shortcoming of Windows XP - if you are an ignorant careless n00b you are far more likely to be infected by viruses/spyware/malware. However, for those with a little common sense and an arsenal of a few free/open-source applications, this isn't a problem."
Can you say Blaster? Fortuantly I wasn't still using Windows when that thing hit. Had to lend my computer to a couple of friends so they could look up Blaster fixes online tho, so I guess in that way you could say Blaster did affect me lol
Although this is my opinion.
I've been using slackware exclusivly for over 4 yrs now but i don't dare giving slackware to my little sister yet. I can set it up alright but the headaches of questions like: Why can't my stupid macromedia based comic game work, why can't i install, wtf is cedega, wine,<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... let the closed source crapware that windows is, conquer her box
Don't get me wrong Unix is simple. But you first have to learn a lot of rules!
Linux logins run as limited privledge users -- not root.
In XP, all users are ROOT including your 6 year old. Sure, there's a Limited Mode login for XP... don't expect anything to run however.
As a MCP, MCSA, and MCDST I'll admit openly that I use SuSE Linux at home for all things. I receive the Action Package at work and that is where it stays, I don't want any of there OS/Applications near my PC.
Reason-being, I like to know what I'm installing and running, and like to know what is going on at a kernal level. Windows operating systems are also dependant on drivers for communication to devices, linux is not. An installation of of linux does not need any third party drivers installed (unless you want 3D), I use an AM2 4800+ with a 7900GTX 512MB at home, with Linux the only problem I have had is in regards to my on board wireless, the hardware needed some ASUS drivers to be modified to use 801.11s/x, to which I just bypassed everything and installed XSupp; problem solved.
I think you should investigate your claims a little more before making generalisations about an open source alternative, then maybe you could substantiate your claims a little more strongly than to call people n00bs. From where I stand my only reasoning for your view is that you have installed an older Linux distro once (probably from the cover of some porrly written PC mag.) and found that doing things from the command line melted your brain.
Also the MCSA "Vista" pre-release has shown that "Vista" is going to be just as troublesome if not moreso than that of XP, and it has also shown that M$ has taken a look at Linux due to it's new file structure/hierarchy. I'd also stay the hell away from "Vista" due to the fact that "Windows Explorer" and IE7 are litterally the same "explorer" and as such "explorer" has no alternative but to leave holes into your systems for intrusion. Add to it that "Vista" also has an open port/embedded user for government departments to inspect users systems, anti-trust at it finest, and sooner or later someone is going to find there way in via. said hole.
Windows contains a huge amount of sloppy code and kludgey design, which results in an extremely glitchy and buggy end product. (A good example of sloppy programming is buffer access, which is routinely left unchecked in release versions of all Microsoft products. As a result of this amateur approach, Microsoft products are riddled with buffer overrun vulnerabilities. Of course buffer overruns don't only occur in Microsoft products but are also found in other software on other platforms. But the difference is in the numbers.) Bloated code has made Windows' efficiency the lowest in the market, requiring more resources and yielding less performance than any other OS in existence. (case in point the 30% frame rate increase I recieve from using Linux)
With all that said I'd also like to add that for someone who bases the sum of their user experience on being able to "point and click" you must see the irony in calling all *nix users noobs.
"Windows [n.]
A thirty-two bit extension and GUI shell to a sixteen bit patch to an eight bit operating system originally coded for a four bit microprocessor and sold by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of competition."
(Anonymous USEnet post)
Whats a printer? oh ya...
-Apparently Windows 95 is the last version you ever used if you seriously believe that. Windows XP Professional is rock solid - my PC has run for months without a reboot.
Windows 3.1, Windows 95, windows 98, windows 98se, windows me... windows NT, window 2000, windows xp, windows vista....
Months ey? Oh.... thats right.. When your using windows you have to reboot sometimes. Thats cute. Does rebooting fix your problem? Probably does i bet.
Heres a good comparison i like to make. Windows is the bitch. Linux is the man.
Windows complains for no apparent reason whenever it feels like it... And no matter what you try to do for it the problem doesnt go away... Then.. when you reboot it for no apparent reason the problem is gone.. until it feels upset again.
Linux hardly ever complains.. but when it does theres usually a good reason for it and rebooting never solves it. The problem is here to stay until you fix it. And of course... theres a logical way to fix it. Unless of course.. your some pewb like like this guy.
-You get what you pay for.
In most cases this is true. Computer hardware, hookers, sandwhich spread. But not this time.
"This messy crap" is a viable alternative. When Microsoft realizes that, they need to make their software better to compete.
You're welcome<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
As for why I went with Linux; I thought it was fun.
There is no point in using closed source drivers when free drivers are available.
The rt2x00 driver is available, and the authors have asked for help using and debugging their driver on the very same Wiki the author is referring to.
I haven't said "open-source or nothing". I use some closed source stuff myself, but only where its absolutely unavoidable. For a public tutorial about "Building a Linux home media center" on linux.com, I'd prefer a non-tainted solution.
If 1000 readers follow this tutorial, 1000 readers will be locked into closed-source drivers unnecessarily. OTOH, if 1000 readers help beta testing the free rt2x00 driver and wpa_supplicant,
we'd have a nicely working open source driver in no time.
Btw, the "tainted" messages aren't there for nothing. It is very obvious that the kernel developers community is turning more and more against closed drivers. While that's not my personal attitude, it is reasonable to warn that close-source driver users may find themselves abandoned sooner than they expect.
"Use what works" is too simplistic. If that's your attitude, you'd better buy your media center in the supermarket.
UTC versus local time and daylight saving time
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 14, 2006 06:42 PMIn UTC there is no switch to daylight saving time.
Here in europe we switch into daylight saving
time end of march and back to so called winter
time (normal time) end of october.
The switch occurs at 2am or 3am resp.
A media center pc is normally switched off
during the switch. (global warming, you know!)
I use a Linux based PC since 2001 as a digital
video disk recorder to perform recording of
DVB-S television satellite broadcasts.
For programmed recordings a system clock with one hour off due to a missed switch between day light saving and normal time is a really bad thing.
So I recommend to keep the RTC in UTC.
Re:UTC versus local time and daylight saving time
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 14, 2006 08:29 PMIt's great.
I read news online. Stream for the <a href="http://www.nrk.no/" title="www.nrk.no">NRK archive</a www.nrk.no> and get weather reports online. Also RSS stream support.
It also supports streaming any radio stream.
I keep my mediafiles on a filserver and use the XBMSP protocol to stream between the XBOX and the fileserver. It's fast and stable
Needs a hacked xbox classic!
It connects to the linux server using Samba and it works perfectly, as you can use the xbox remote to navigate from the comfort of your sofa.
No component/DVI
No HD (high definition)
Ever heard of mythtv ? <a href="http://www.mythtv.org/" title="mythtv.org">http://www.mythtv.org/</a mythtv.org>
No component/DVI - Can be added via the AGP slot
No HD (high definition) - Read the article
Ever heard of mythtv ? - Yes. It wasn't part of this stage of the project. There's already enough howto's for that anyway.
I think you mean 20th (or 21st?) Century. In the 19th Century TV's (1800's) and computers didn't exist.
mkv is an <a href="http://www.matroska.org/" title="matroska.org"> open source wrapper</a matroska.org> so it should be fine as well.
Since I'm using xine-lib to play video <a href="http://xinehq.de/index.php/features" title="xinehq.de"> this is a good place to look for supported formats</a xinehq.de>.
MythTV is easier if you don't need the PVR stuff.
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 15, 2006 08:11 AM--
John Sturgeon
<a href="http://www.sturgeonfamily.com/mythtv.php" title="sturgeonfamily.com">http://www.sturgeonfamily.com/mythtv.php</a sturgeonfamily.com>
<a href="http://freshmeat.net/projects/ost-box/" title="freshmeat.net">http://freshmeat.net/projects/ost-box/</a freshmeat.net>
Note: for the MediaMVP device to operate, the PC must be turned on, running Windows, and running the MediaMVP PC Server application.
The MediaMVP Media Center (mvpmc) is a media player for the Hauppauge MediaMVP. It is a total replacement for the Hauppauge software, and can be booted onto the MediaMVP via tftp.
It supports mpeg1 and mpeg2 video, as well as mp3, ogg, wav, and ac3 audio. It can play recordings off MythTV or ReplayTV digital video recorders, as well as audio files and internet radio via SlimServer. It is also capable of playing audio and video files via NFS, or off a Windows fileserver.
Check it out here:
<a href="http://mvpmc.sourceforge.net/idx.php?pg=main" title="sourceforge.net">http://mvpmc.sourceforge.net/idx.php?pg=main</a sourceforge.net>
There are a few other projects out there to do all kinds of things with the MVP. Google it.
Consider a 2 GB movie that is an hour and a half long (5400 seconds). The speed requirement for this is 2000 MB / 5400 seconds or<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.37 MB/s or ~3 Mb/s. 11Mbps provides almost 4 times that speed.
If the signal quality of the wireless was lower, the wireless transmission rate would drop and skipping would be a possibility.
From Rt2x00Wiki
Q. How can I get the wpa_supplicant to work with RT2400, RT2500 or RT2570?
A. wpa_supplicant is not supported for the old RT2400, RT2500 or RT2570 modules.
RT2400 only supports WEP, while RT2500 and RT2570 support WEP & WPA. All encryption is handled by the driver itself.
Is this information outdated? Or are you the misinformed one?
I saw the FAQ (all you need is follow that link right?). Not my point.
The rt2x00 driver ought to support WPA (through wpa_saupplicant, like any other card). The Rt2x00 Wiki is outdated in this respect. Granted, rtx200 is still beta. But the Author would have done a much better job by trying it instead of going for ndiswrapper directly.- the author had been specifically looking for hardware to run Linux on. So why didn't he by a board with onboard Wifi that works 100% with free drivers?
That's a pretty poor choice.
Why didn't you try the new rt2x00 driver which does support WPA?
I hope readers won't follow this part of the HOWTO.
Check it out..
<a href="http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_mediamvp.html" title="hauppauge.com">http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_medi<nobr>a<wbr></nobr> mvp.html</a hauppauge.com>
Sound
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 12, 2006 06:02 PM#