Hi group
My VDR box currently starts up like a regular Fedora Core user, auto-logs-in and starts xine - much like I expect most of you do.
I'm looking for a way to make all the X startup and log in invisible to the user. This is where my knowledge of X and gnome falls down.
Ideally, once the initial kernel messages have completed I'd like a VDR splash screen (maybe even a progress bar) as things start up.
How do I do this? I've been looking at modifying xinitrc and xinitrc-common to remove the desktop manager, but this seems a bit brutal.
Any ideas or thoughts?
Thanks Simon
"Simon Baxter" linuxtv@nzbaxters.com wrote:
How do I do this? I've been looking at modifying xinitrc and xinitrc-common to remove the desktop manager, but this seems a bit brutal.
not at all. this is the way it is supposed to be. i would edit /etc/initd.d/xdm (or whatever it is called on your system) to execute startx instead of the display mangager.
a more clean solution is to remove /etc/initd.d/xdm and write a new script to start X though, you get the idea.
then edit /etc/X11/xinitrc to contain "exec /usr/local/bin/runvdr". YMMV.
best regards ... clemens
On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 9:57 AM, Jean-Claude Repetto jrepetto@free.fr wrote:
I think most VDR users are using a full featured DVB card, so they don't need X.
There are very many users who do not use a full featured card! Please don't discourage him from finding answers to his questions!
"VDR User" user.vdr@gmail.com writes:
On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 9:57 AM, Jean-Claude Repetto jrepetto@free.fr wrote:
I think most VDR users are using a full featured DVB card, so they don't need X.
There are very many users who do not use a full featured card! Please don't discourage him from finding answers to his questions!
I own both, and i would love to swap my ff card for a budget one. At least budget cards don't crash ! :)
To go back to the subject, gdm and kdm allow you to autologon an user. The next step would be to run vdr from .xsession for ex.
To go back to the subject, gdm and kdm allow you to autologon an user. The next step would be to run vdr from .xsession for ex.
I use kdm and kde with autologon.. Starting "needed" stuff (like vdr-sxfe) in directory ."kde/Autostart/". vdr-sxfe starts at first desktop in fullscreen mode and rest of programs (like web browser and few xTerms) at other virtual desktops.. So, when I need to "do something" with that computer (hey, it's HTPC not only VDR) I just "jump" to some virtual desktop to do.. When I jump back to desktop 1, I can continue with TV..
Here is something about my HTPC setup, hopefully gives some help or food for thought to set up your system
syrius.ml@no-log.org wrote:
To go back to the subject, gdm and kdm allow you to autologon an user. The next step would be to run vdr from .xsession for ex.
For gdm, add these lines to gdm.conf to login vdr automatically
AutomaticLoginEnable=true AutomaticLogin=vdr
I'm using vdr (sxfe frontend from xinelibout plugin, xine plugin can be used identically) from Matchbox window manager. It provides user experience kind between set top box and normal Linux desktop. All applications are full-screen and all wm operations are possible from keyboard that can be mapped to be controlled from lirc with irxevent. In addition to vdr it's nice to run e.g. Google Earth for couch traveling or Gcompris for kids. Those require a RF keyboard/mouse joystick for controls.
I had to choose once in manual login for vdr from gdm login menu other desktop than Gnome/KDE. Successive logins use this setting. ~vdr/.xsession: --- #!/bin/sh exec matchbox-session
---
~vdr/.matchbox/session: --- #! /bin/sh
## Nvidia settings #/usr/bin/nvidia-settings -l
## Start Matchbox RANDOM_IMAGE=`ls /usr/local/share/Backgrounds/*1080*jpg | rl -c 1` matchbox-desktop --icon-size 128 --icon-padding 64 --bg $RANDOM_IMAGE & /etc/init.d/irxevent.sh restart exec matchbox-window-manager -theme expose ---
The Menu structure is defined in ~vdr/.matchbox/vfolders. I have created custom menus to avoid all debian stuff to show up. It is quite easy generate open desktop configuration files by hand. Top level menu is defined with these two files. Root.directory: --- [Desktop Entry] Name=Programs Name[fi]=Ohjelmat Comment=Programs menu Comment[fi]=Ohjelmat-valikko Icon=htpc-folder.png Type=Directory Match=HTPCRoot ---
Root.Order: ---- HTPC-main HTPC-internet HTPC-games HTPC-system ---
Desktop icon to launch sxfe is on the top level of matchbox-desktop (/usr/share/applications/htpc-vdr-sxfe.desktop) --- [Desktop Entry] Name=VDR (Sxfe Xv) Comment=Watch digital TV, or play films and songs Exec=/usr/local/bin/htpc-vdr-sxfe.sh Icon=vdr-logo.png Type=Application Categories=HTPCMain,HTPCRoot ---
/usr/local/bin/htpc-vdr-sxfe.sh --- #!/bin/sh NOW=`date "+%Y%m%d_%H%M%S"`
## Stop irxevent /etc/init.d/irxevent.sh stop
## Run vdr-sxfe /usr/local/bin/vdr-sxfe xvdr://localhost --lirc --audio alsa --video xv --fullscreen --nokbd > $HOME/vdr-sxfe-$NOW.txt
## Restart irxevent /etc/init.d/irxevent.sh start ---
BR, Seppo
Seppo Ingalsuo schrieb:
Here is something about my HTPC setup, hopefully gives some help or food for thought to set up your system
syrius.ml@no-log.org wrote:
To go back to the subject, gdm and kdm allow you to autologon an user. The next step would be to run vdr from .xsession for ex.
For gdm, add these lines to gdm.conf to login vdr automatically
AutomaticLoginEnable=true AutomaticLogin=vdr
I'm using vdr (sxfe frontend from xinelibout plugin, xine plugin can be used identically) from Matchbox window manager. It provides user experience kind between set top box and normal Linux desktop. All applications are full-screen and all wm operations are possible from keyboard that can be mapped to be controlled from lirc with irxevent. In addition to vdr it's nice to run e.g. Google Earth for couch traveling or Gcompris for kids. Those require a RF keyboard/mouse joystick for controls.
Sounds better than sxfe only without login
Regarding Fullfeatured card if i would have a LCD/TFT TV and would start now with vdr i would think hard about which way to go :)
Yours with the added value, possibility to run emulators, games etc or having unproblematic and superb picture quality with the TT FF card (which got cheaper lately btw) (no hassle with deinterlace/scaling) Guess this depends on the main use of the box - and if you want to go for hdtv ....
Matchbox looks really interesting ! Looks like even a OnScreen Keyboard is included :) Why did i never heard about it before ?
:D
Steffen
Hi
Look at http://freevo.sourceforge.net/ - it is the frontend for home cinema linux PC. It starts Xserver itself, you don't need gdm, gnome etc... I'm using it and Im very glad :). I removed freevo TV config and I set xine for VDR as a "external command" in freevo. It works nice and looks very good.
Boguslaw Juza
Boguslaw Juza bogdan@uci.agh.edu.pl writes:
HiLook at http://freevo.sourceforge.net/ - it is the frontend for home cinema linux PC. It starts Xserver itself, you don't need gdm, gnome etc... I'm using it and Im very glad :). I removed freevo TV config and I set xine for VDR as a "external command" in freevo. It works nice and looks very good.
then you should have a look at the vdr plugin for freevo. It adds a new "watch tv" menu entry and forwards key/lirc events to xine.
Simon Baxter wrote:
Hi group
My VDR box currently starts up like a regular Fedora Core user, auto-logs-in and starts xine - much like I expect most of you do.
I'm looking for a way to make all the X startup and log in invisible to the user. This is where my knowledge of X and gnome falls down.
Ideally, once the initial kernel messages have completed I'd like a VDR splash screen (maybe even a progress bar) as things start up.
How do I do this? I've been looking at modifying xinitrc and xinitrc-common to remove the desktop manager, but this seems a bit brutal.
Any ideas or thoughts?
I know my solution isn't optimal, but I think it is good enough for me and easy to set up: I run VDR as a daemon, which I start from an init script. Additionally I have set up kdm to autologon the vdr user and start up a fluxbox session. The fluxbox session runs a start up script which starts vdr-sxfe, which connect to the xineliboutput plugin.
It takes 20 seconds for the BIOS to do its thing and after another 15 seconds VDR itself is up. Then it takes addional 20 seconds for the fluxbox to start (including Nvidia drivers and X) and the picture to appear. The BIOS step I cannot speed up without changing the motherboard and VDR starts quite fast too, but I think one might be able to shave some seconds off from the last step.
I have two ouput devices connected, a TV and a projector. I have added to VDR's commands menu entries for running a script, which stops kdm, switches to an alternative xorg.conf and restarts kdm. This way I can select the used output device from VDR, with the necessary resolution and refresh rate.
Hope this helps.
-Petri
Petri Helin wrote:
[...] start up a fluxbox session. The fluxbox session runs a start up script which starts vdr-sxfe, which connect to the xineliboutput plugin. [...]
One general question: Is vdr-sxfe reliable enough on bad-weather-conditions? I have played around last week with VDR-1.5.18 and xineliboutputs internal display window, and it was rock-solid while in the past other solutions like xine or vdr-sxfe crashed if there was a bigger problem with the signal strength. Or do you have implemented some kind of "keep vdr-sxfe alive"-functionality? Because having to start vdr-sxfe manually again is IMHO not really set-top-box-like... :) On the other hand, I would prefer using vdr-sxfe instead of the internal x11 display because then I can release LIRC by shutting down vdr-sxfe e.g. if I want to use Elisa as second Media Center for playing back MP3s and videos in a more comfortable way than VDR can offer...
With kind regards
Joerg
On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 12:22 PM, Jörg Knitter joerg.knitter@gmx.de wrote:
Petri Helin wrote:
[...]
start up a fluxbox session. The fluxbox session runs a start up script which starts vdr-sxfe, which connect to the xineliboutput plugin. [...]
One general question: Is vdr-sxfe reliable enough on bad-weather-conditions? I have played around last week with VDR-1.5.18 and xineliboutputs internal display window, and it was rock-solid while in the past other solutions like xine or vdr-sxfe crashed if there was a bigger problem with the signal strength. Or do you have implemented some kind of "keep vdr-sxfe alive"-functionality? Because having to start vdr-sxfe manually again is IMHO not really set-top-box-like... :) On the other hand, I would prefer using vdr-sxfe instead of the internal x11 display because then I can release LIRC by shutting down vdr-sxfe e.g. if I want to use Elisa as second Media Center for playing back MP3s and videos in a more comfortable way than VDR can offer...
What I have is vdr-sxfe starting with parameter "--reconnect", which restarts vdr-sxfe in case the connection is lost. I have also set up remote control so that it has buttons for calling scripts that stop and start vdr-sxfe in case there is something wrong with it (quite seldom nowadays, but some time ago it got stuck with some recordings).
-Petri
Jörg Knitter joerg.knitter@gmx.de writes:
Petri Helin wrote:
[...] start up a fluxbox session. The fluxbox session runs a start up script which starts vdr-sxfe, which connect to the xineliboutput plugin. [...]
One general question: Is vdr-sxfe reliable enough on bad-weather-conditions? I have played around last week with VDR-1.5.18 and xineliboutputs internal display window, and it was rock-solid while in the past other solutions like xine or vdr-sxfe crashed if there was a bigger problem with the signal strength.
i also have issues with xine+xineliboutput on bad weather conditions. You could always use a 'while xine "mrl"; do sleep 1; done" or use init/upstart. (not appropriate, i read you need to quit vdr-sxfe to release lirc)
Or do you have implemented some kind of "keep vdr-sxfe alive"-functionality? Because having to start vdr-sxfe manually again is IMHO not really set-top-box-like... :) On the other hand, I would prefer using vdr-sxfe instead of the internal x11 display because then I can release LIRC by shutting down vdr-sxfe e.g. if I want to use Elisa as second Media Center for playing back MP3s and videos in a more comfortable way than VDR can offer...
I use freevo 1.x There's a plugin to integrate vdr with it. In that case freevo is the media center for playing video/music/etc... and it launches xine/vdr-sxfe when you want to watch tv.
-
Boguslaw Juza -
Clemens Kirchgatterer -
Diego Pierotto -
Jean-Claude Repetto -
JJussi -
Jörg Knitter -
Petri Helin -
Seppo Ingalsuo -
Simon Baxter -
Steffen Barszus -
syrius.ml＠no-log.org -
VDR User