[Tutorial] Complete Walkthrough - Acer Revo, Stripped Linux Install

[bignickel]

I followed the guide above and have a few comments:

1) I had choppy video playback until I installed libvdpau1 AND changed the hardware acceleration to VDPAU in Boxee settings.
2) I can't get the sound working over HDMI, but I haven't spent a lot of time with it. It definitely didn't work out of the box for me.
3) I'm impressed you can get Gnome running in 58 MB of RAM. I was up around 500. I recommend using fluxbox, it will cut down on the overhead, especially if you're only using the Revo as an HTPC.
4) I'm limited to 720p output. It looks great, but it would be nice to be able to run at 1080p.

I'm really happy with the install, but I would like to get the sound working properly. I was running Boxee on an Apple TV (under Linux) and it was pretty painful. The Apple TV had 256 MB of RAM compared to the Revo's 4 GB.

[Silverlock]

2) I can't get the sound working over HDMI, but I haven't spent a lot of time with it. It definitely didn't work out of the box for me.

Audio over HDMI on a 3610

AC3/DTS takes further oddball tweaks, and getting it to work causes other things not to work, at least for me.

[bignickel]

Thanks Silverthorn, that worked for me.

Now I'm wondering if it's possible to get audio out through *both* the HDMI and analog stereo outputs. I like to be able to listen to music through my stereo without the TV on.

[bignickel]

I did get both analog and HDMI audio working. I followed the directions on this xbmc forum.

In a nutshell, I set my asound.conf as follows:

# ~/.asoundrc or /etc/asound.conf
# ALSA configuration file

##### USAGE #####
# Save this file as "~/.asoundrc" (for user-specific sound configuration) or
# "/etc/asound.conf" (for system-wide sound configuration) and specify ALSA
# device names ad described in the next section.


##### DEVICE NAMES #####
# This configuration file defines four devices for use by the user.  Those
# devices are "analog", "mixed-analog", "digital", and "mixed-digital".  The
# user may also re-define "default" to be identical to one of the above-named
# devices (i.e. to send all sound output to the digital output unless otherwise
# specified).  Use the device names as described below:
#  - "analog" outputs to the analog output directly and (at least on software
#  sound cards) blocks other audio output.  After playback completes, "queued"
#  sounds are output in sequence.
#  - "mixed-analog" mixes audio output from multiple programs into the analog
#  output (so you can hear beeps, alerts, and other noises while playing back
#  an audio stream).
#  - "digital" outputs to the digital output directly.  Since most (all?)
#  digital outputs expect 48kHz PCM audio, this may not work for some playback
#  (i.e. CD's--which are 44.1kHz PCM audio--or 32kHz audio streams from TV
#  recordings, etc.).
#  - "mixed-digital"

# All other devices created within this file are used only by the configuration
# file itself and should /not/ be used directly.  In other words, do not use
# the devices "analog-hw", "dmix-analog", "digital-hw", or "dmix-digital".


##### IMPORTANT #####
# To make this ALSA configuration file work with your sound card, you will need
# to define the appropriate card and device information for the "analog-hw" and
# "digital-hw" devices below.  You can find the card and device information
# using "aplay -l".

# Alias for (converted) analog output on the card
# - This is identical to the device named "default"--which always exists and
# refers to hw:0,0 (unless overridden)
# - Therefore, we can specify "hw:0,0", "default", or "analog" to access analog
# output on the card
# - Note that as of ALSA 1.0.9, "software" sound card definitions redefine
# "default" to do mixing, meaning this device is different from "default" and
# allows playback while blocking other sound sources (until playback
# completes).
pcm.analog {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "analog-hw"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Analog Output - Use analog outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.analog {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for (converted) mixed analog output on the card
# - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and convert to the rate
# required for the dmix plugin (in this case 48000Hz)
# - Note that as of ALSA 1.0.9, "software" sound card definitions redefine
# "default" to do mixing, meaning this device is identical to "default" for
# "software" sound cards.
pcm.mixed-analog {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmix-analog"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Mixed Analog Output - Use analog outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary. Allows mixing with system sounds."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.mixed-analog {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for (converted) digital (HDMI) output on the card
pcm.digital {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "digital-hw"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Digital Output - Use digital outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.digital {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for mixed (converted) digital (HDMI) output on the card

pcm.mixed-digital {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmix-digital"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Mixed Digital Output - Use digital outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary. Allows mixing with system sounds."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.mixed-digital {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# The following devices are not useful by themselves.  They require specific
# rates, channels, and formats.  Therefore, you probably do not want to use
# them directly.  Instead use of of the devices defined above.

# Alias for analog output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.analog-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
  device 0
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.analog-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for digital (HDMI) output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.digital-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
  device 3
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.digital-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for analog output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.dmix-analog {
  type dmix
  ipc_key 1234
  slave {
    pcm "analog-hw"
    period_time 0
    period_size 1024
    buffer_size 4096
    rate 48000
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.dmix-analog {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for digital (S/PDIF) output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.dmix-digital {
  type dmix
  ipc_key 1235
  slave {
    pcm "digital-hw"
    period_time 0
    period_size 1024
    buffer_size 4096
    rate 48000
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.dmix-digital {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Make joint analog/HDMI the default
pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm multi
    rate 48000
  }
  ttable.0.0 1.0
  ttable.1.1 1.0
  ttable.0.2 1.0
  ttable.1.3 1.0
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card 0
}

pcm.xbmc {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm multi
    rate 48000
    channels 4
  }
  ttable.0.0 1.0
  ttable.1.1 1.0
  ttable.0.2 1.0
  ttable.1.3 1.0
}


ctl.xbmc {
  type hw
  card 0
}

pcm.multi {
  type multi
  slaves.a.pcm "analog-hw"
  slaves.a.channels 2
  slaves.b.pcm "digital-hw"
  slaves.b.channels 2
  bindings.0.slave a
  bindings.0.channel 0
  bindings.1.slave a
  bindings.1.channel 1
  bindings.2.slave b
  bindings.2.channel 0
  bindings.3.slave b
  bindings.3.channel 1
}

ctl.multi {
  type hw
  card 0
}

Then I set the sound to Analog stereo out in Preferences -> Sound, and set the Boxee audio to analog with device xbmc.

[theoperator]

I've been using a system set up this way for a long time now, and have been happy with it after a LOT of tweaking and fiddling to get it working properly. In recent months it's gradually degraded as a system due to bits of the OS being updated and breaking compatibility (first Samba, now more recently Lirc) so I find myself dumping this Ubuntu setup and going for a Windows 7 one. Thanks for all the help on here guys, I might come back if things shape up a bit.

[sjude68]

I booted from a Ubuntu Server 10.04 CD then installed Server on a USB 2GB Flash and followed the procedure.

Boxee runs when booted on Laptop Acer Extensa 4230 and also I tried on a Toshiba Satellite Laptop.


Now I have a portable Boxee on a 2GB USB Disk.

I tried booting my Dell Latitude with the USB disk but it seems that the network drivers did not load. How do I load the network drivers manually. Also the Nvidia drivers are different from the one in Acer. The procedure System->Administration->Hardware Drivers did not show any drivers to be activated but in Dell it showed. I could not Activate because the Internet connection was not available.

I am also not getting the network working. From terminal prompt if I do a "sudo shutdown 0" then select "shell prompt with networking" I get the network working with DHCP client ip address. What command to network on the default xwindows screen.