XBMC on Joggler - tweaks and suggestions

[gegs]

I haven't tried the wired option yet but the iPlayer BBC live streams were better at 1500kbit last night. Sound and picture were in sync but there were occasional re-buffering pauses (only every 15 mins or so and only for a couple of seconds). 800kb live streams played very well and the quality was indistinguishable from 1500kbit at any practical viewing distance.

I've stopped a couple of processes running at startup (like update manager) to make the system as lean as I can to run the only two apps I'm really interested in - Squeezeplay and XBMC. This might have made a difference but it could be due to bandwidth restrictions at peak times. Last night I was watching from about 8pm to 9:30pm - the sync problems I mentioned previously were experienced while trying to watch the BBC 6'o'clock news. I'm pretty sure there's a lot more demand around 6'o'clock.

[xoom450]

hi i got the xbmc working but cannot connect to my wifi any suggestions from you guys please help

[BuZz]

hi i got the xbmc working but cannot connect to my wifi any suggestions from you guys please help

Some detail on what exactly isn't working. the step you are taking etc will help

[xoom450]

whats happening is ive got xbmc on usb stick it boots ok but not sure how to get wifi running theres network settings but im no expert. maybe someone will know . i was assuming it would be simple like in jolicloud it asks for wep key etc
thx 4 replying

[BuZz]

which distribution are you running ? i mean as the joggler distribution of jolicloud includes xbmc you could just use that ?

[gegs]

whats happening is ive got xbmc on usb stick it boots ok but not sure how to get wifi running theres network settings but im no expert. maybe someone will know . i was assuming it would be simple like in jolicloud it asks for wep key etc
thx 4 replying

You've got a little work to do, I'm afraid. The default connection for the standalone XBMC uses ethernet by default. You can change this by following Swifty's instructions below:

To switch between WLAN/Wired edit '/etc/network/interfaces' and comment out either 'auto eth0 or auto ra0' depending on which one you _don't_ want to use.

I found the easiest way to do this was to load Ubuntu from a stick, insert the XBMC stick, open a terminal and run 'sudo gedit' - then edit 'etc/network/interfaces' on the XBMC stick according to Swifty's instructions. The next time you load XBMC from the stick you will be able to connect wirelessly (after adding your connection details to the XBMC's system setup).

-----EDIT-----
I almost forgot this bit:

To configure WLAN enter 'wpa_passphrase yourssid yourkey' and copy the results into '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' then save the file.

You will need to run 'sudo gedit' or another editor with superuser privileges to edit either the above file or 'etc/network/interfaces'
-----------------------------

Why do you want to run the standalone program from a stick? Is it more stable than running it on top of one of BuZz's excellent distros? If not, it's not worth the hassle. BuZz's distros all have XBMC pre-loaded and all will connect wirelessly without editing config files.

[xoom450]

hi thx for reply today i put linux mint on usb and xbmc is on there but i am still having the same problem cannot connect to my wifi even though linux mint is connected. i will try and do the edit above but just cant understand why if it comes with linux mint it dont just have a path already put there . i installed spotify via wine and that connected etc..
surely someone could edit xbmc to get around this.. i will try askin xbmc site see what they offer. i put xbmc on my pc and it runs smoothly and downloads etc..
come on guys even entering commands in a terminal is a bit outta my league at times lol. but i gotta admit for a novice i brought my joggler back from the dead one time ago. cheers for reply and patience

[BuZz]

If you use ubuntu/linuxmint/jolios, you just use network manager in the task traY (botton right on linux mint, top right on ubuntu/jolios) - to connect to your wireless network. make sure it is all working with a web browser. once it is connected, you can use xbmc normally and it will use your connection.

[xoom450]

ok buzz i will try that one but i was connected to wifi on linux mint and it didnt connect before. thx for the time.
once you click weather it says you need internet connection etc..
cheers guess this is what forums are all about

[xoom450]

i can access wifi and use web browser in linux mint,jollicloud and unbuntu on the joggler but no wifi connection found in xbmc , this is gettin to the giving up point but nah i will plod on ....thx i await any help

[BuZz]

did you mess with any network settings in xbmc? make sure you didn't enable the proxy etc. if you can access the internet through a browser, xbmc should also work fine to grab weather feeds etc and so on. If you post an xbmc debug log I could take a look. you could also take this up over at xbmc.org perhaps and see if they can help. Not seen this issue myself though (I run xbmc on jolios on my joggler)

[gegs]

i can access wifi and use web browser in linux mint,jollicloud and unbuntu on the joggler but no wifi connection found in xbmc , this is gettin to the giving up point but nah i will plod on ....thx i await any help

This is really bizarre!

I've had configuration problems running the standalone version of XBMC but the one included on BuZz's distros has always worked straight away (and I have played around with all of them). I've only ever had to add extra plugins.

I can only suggest taking your Joggler round to a good friend's house and asking to use their wireless connection for testing. If it works there, the problem is probably with your router's wireless configuration (assuming you haven't meddled with the XBMC setup). Other than that, I'm stumped.

[xoom450]

hi again ive just put the latest version of linux mint on usb with xbmc thats already in linux mint, i added no internet settings to it.
linux mint is connected to wifi and i can browse the internet but when i click on xbmc that came with linux mint it wont connect to my wifi, i click on weather it says you need internet connection , i click on downloads or add ons and they dont download. i will try and get a report when i can if i can fathom out how to. thx for your patience. i just wondered is there a firewall stoppin it from connecting or should i be puttin some settings in the internet options or http or pnp.
i also have gforums software on there and that runs like a dream. maybe something installed is blockin me accessin the wifi with xbmc oh well. i put spotify on via wine and that accesses the wifi and works ok, squeezeplay works ok too , so im baffled. i dont think takin my joggler to a mates house would solve anything, xbmc is workin on my pc on my wifi so i think this is a mystery. someone mentioned access via terminal to input certain lines but couldnt there be a line written in the next versions of linux mint or jolicloud that adds xbmc to my wifi connection just like linux mint. ps im a novice so bear with me

[gegs]

My suggestion about using a mate's wireless connection was just for testing purposes. If it works OK on another connection you can eliminate the Joggler as being at fault and examine your router's network/firewall settings to see if anything is blocked. If the same problem occurs on another connection you can start looking at the Joggler's settings.

Just because something is working on your PC doesn't mean it will work on another device. Your PC may have a wired connection to your router. Have you tried a wired connection to your Joggler? If XBMC works using ethernet, you may have some tweaking to do to your wireless settings and device permissions.

I installed the 1.9 version of Ubuntu Maverick yesterday and initially had problems with loading xbmc plugins - i.e. they wouldn't download and install. Later they installed fine and I discovered that the likely cause of my earlier problem was Ubuntu's Update Manager running in the background. As soon as it stopped scanning the system for updates everything was hunky dory.

[xoom450]

hi again and thx for everything i redid the latest linux mint and added the unofficial repositories from xbmc via a zip file and now its picking up my wifi and adding updates etc .... phew thats that sorted . a big thank you for your help guys..

[gegs]

Glad you've got it sorted. I only really discovered XBMC on the Joggler (I knew about it but hadn't tried it before) and it's awesome! I'm also thinking about getting Apple TV, jailbreaking it and adding XBMC to that. You can get one for about £90.

[xoom450]

ok thx 4 everything . xbmc is a nice interface well worth addin to the joggler and the inclusion in linux mint is brill .
least whilst i was tryin to get xbmc workin i stumbled upon linux mint which i think is a really great os run from a usb flash drive... take care

[truxntrax]

Hi all, using latest joli Os. Anyone else found that the tvcatchup plugin for xbmc isn't working anymore? Can anyone else test please. Many thanks

[BuZz]

I used it a day or two ago. worth going to a terminal (alt+f1) and doing sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade to make sure you have the latest xbmc.

make sure you have the latest tv catchup also.

[edit] ok they are not working - see http://forums.tvcatchup.com/showthread. ... nnels-work

also worth noting, there is not really much different with xbmc on the joggler from linux, so the main xbmc forums etc might be better places to look for answers for xbmc specific issues.

[BuZz]

I posted this in another thread but it should be here really:

a little tip to try with xbmc - by default the new "dirty region" handling isn't enabled, so the whole gui is rendered the whole time. for less cpu usage, and better gui performance you can add a file "advancedsettings.xml" to ~/.xbmc/userdata/ with the contents

Code: Select all

<advancedsettings>
  <gui>    
    <nofliptimeout>1000</nofliptimeout>
    <algorithmdirtyregions>1</algorithmdirtyregions>
  </gui>
</advancedsettings>

more details on http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Ad ... ttings.xml - ive not tried the algorithmdirtyregions = 2 yet, but certainly when switching on debugging, fps went up when in the gui. Let me know how it works for you.