Ubuntu / Xubuntu for the O2 Joggler.

General discussion relating to the O2 Joggler, from the default O2 setup, to alternative operating systems and applications.
photor

Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by photor »

BuZz wrote:
photor wrote:I had successfully installed v1.6.1 and made it work fine for me after many tweaks, but just now I learned that v1.7 had come out.
So, is there any method that I can smoothly upgrade to this new version without a fresh reinstall?
not really - i dont have time to track every change i make, nor for example package up every little change to the ppa. You can of course backup your settings etc though and then restore etc.

oh and 1.7.1 is out soon. then im giving it a rest ;-)
That's bad news.
But is it possible to download the new 2.6.37 kernel to upgrade my 2.6.34 kernel?
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BuZz
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

gegs wrote:Is anybody having problems with USB sound on the new images?

After applying the two suggested tweaks for USB audio output (creating the etc/asound.conf file mentioned in this thread and commenting out the PulseAudio line in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf - mentioned on the download page) I was able to get great USB sound output on the previous image - btrfs uncompressed. I was enticed by comments of greater speed to try out the new image but now USB audio isn't working for me, even after applying the previous tweaks that made it work before.

I have tried btrfs compressed and uncompressed and also ext4 on an external USB hard drive but still no joy. Does anybody have any idea what might be wrong?
Not much info to go on. Anything logged ?

If people want me to test usb sound with a release, they are welcome to post me a USB soundcard of course :)
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dwl99
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by dwl99 »

Any chance of including gparted in the next release? I think most other distros have it includud.
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BuZz
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

but it seems ubuntu maverick doesn't by default. I could add it but i just generated the images for the next release and im not sure i want to regenerate them now.
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dwl99
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by dwl99 »

No worries, it only takes a second to add it in later!
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BuZz
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

New versions of all Linux images (again)

* Use NOOP io scheduler by default that should be faster on USB flash devices
* Shutdown/Reboot should be more reliable
* Use text splash screens on boot

More info and downloads from http://joggler.exotica.org.uk/
gegs
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by gegs »

BuZz wrote:
gegs wrote:Is anybody having problems with USB sound on the new images?

After applying the two suggested tweaks for USB audio output (creating the etc/asound.conf file mentioned in this thread and commenting out the PulseAudio line in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf - mentioned on the download page) I was able to get great USB sound output on the previous image - btrfs uncompressed. I was enticed by comments of greater speed to try out the new image but now USB audio isn't working for me, even after applying the previous tweaks that made it work before.

I have tried btrfs compressed and uncompressed and also ext4 on an external USB hard drive but still no joy. Does anybody have any idea what might be wrong?
Not much info to go on. Anything logged ?

If people want me to test usb sound with a release, they are welcome to post me a USB soundcard of course :)
My question was really if anybody else was having the problem. If so, maybe a fix might be needed for the next release, if not it's probably a local config problem that I can try to fix myself. I'm not sure what logs would be needed anyway.

With regard to the USB sound card, PM me your address and I'll send you the same one I use in the kitchen. Don't get too excited though, it was very cheap.
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

gegs wrote: With regard to the USB sound card, PM me your address and I'll send you the same one I use in the kitchen. Don't get too excited though, it was very cheap.
How cheap? I mean if you have that one in use, I guess I could order one. It would be only something I use for testing on releases as I use the built in speakers on my jogglers, so not too much excitement there :)

In regards to audio changes from previous releases - I did upgrade the kernel (including parts of alsa) - but changed nothing on the distribution level. You can probably follow some troubleshooting guides online to see if the card is detected properly etc and so on.
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by gegs »

You really should try the USB sound out. It's great! I bought a second Joggler to hitch to my hi-fi for Squeezeplay and can now play my Spotify playlists with great sound (premium account users only for the Spotify plugin).

I had a "eureka" moment earlier this evening and have fixed my problem. Previously I created the etc/asound.conf file in 'gedit' using the following steps:
Create new file > paste in the USB soundcard code (found at the beginning of this forum thread) > save as 'etc/asound.conf'.

The above steps worked in the previous image but not this one; then I thought that the character encoding might be wrong and, sure enough, the file was not the same as other 'conf' files. I then noticed that XBMC, was playing through USB and it has its own 'asound.conf' file at /usr/share/xbmc/system/asound.conf. I copied this file to /etc, opened it (sudo gedit), deleted the xbmc code, pasted in the USB soundcard code and saved.
Voila! USB sound working in Squeezeplay after a re-boot.

The USB sound card I use in the kitchen is this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/External-USB-7-1- ... 1c19a9d793

I don't know how it claims 7.1 sound with only a stereo jack but it works well - certainly well enough for the kitchen.
The one I use with my hi-fi was bought years ago and has SPDIF out. The optical connection to my amplifier takes Joggler sound to a whole new level. I can't recommend any USB soundcards with optical out because I can't see my old one for sale anywhere. You'd have to take your chances but anything with a C-Media chip should work (both of mine are cheap cards with C-Media chips).
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

good to know it works. The thing is, I don't have my joggler's connected to any sound system - the built in speakers are ok for my purposes :) People complain about the joggler sound quality but when I plugged in some headphones I thought it sounded ok. Maybe my hearing is bad :-)
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by gegs »

My kitchen Joggler isn't hooked to a sound system as such. I have a 4 port USB hub with the sound card in it, a wireless mouse receiver and a small USB powered speaker exactly like this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boynq-Saturn-US ... B00114UTEG

Not exactly hi-fi but much better than the tinny internal Joggler speaker.
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dwl99
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by dwl99 »

Thanks for the new image - just booted up from it & noticed that the onscreen keyboard is no longer translucent. Is there a way to change it?
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

There were a couple of minor things like that hence I pulled the images last night - but switching on compiz is very easy. go to desktop settings and turn on normal desktop effects. google could have told you this also im sure ;-)

[edit] the added bonus is i quickly added a new wireless firmware to the distributions after a pointer from someone on irc - although the driver could also probably be updated, the new firmware seemed to work better.
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by dwl99 »

Thanks, I had assumed that it was something particular to your build rather than a settings issue.

I downloaded the image last night & have done quite a lot of work on restoring my settings - were there any other changes in the newest image of compressed btrfs apart from compiz & the new wireless driver?
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

some kernel stuff, a few tweaks to some sysfs variables, text bootup etc.
cbredfred
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by cbredfred »

gegs wrote:You really should try the USB sound out. It's great! I bought a second Joggler to hitch to my hi-fi for Squeezeplay and can now play my Spotify playlists with great sound (premium account users only for the Spotify plugin).

I had a "eureka" moment earlier this evening and have fixed my problem. Previously I created the etc/asound.conf file in 'gedit' using the following steps:
Create new file > paste in the USB soundcard code (found at the beginning of this forum thread) > save as 'etc/asound.conf'.

The above steps worked in the previous image but not this one; then I thought that the character encoding might be wrong and, sure enough, the file was not the same as other 'conf' files. I then noticed that XBMC, was playing through USB and it has its own 'asound.conf' file at /usr/share/xbmc/system/asound.conf. I copied this file to /etc, opened it (sudo gedit), deleted the xbmc code, pasted in the USB soundcard code and saved.
Voila! USB sound working in Squeezeplay after a re-boot.

The USB sound card I use in the kitchen is this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/External-USB-7-1- ... 1c19a9d793

I don't know how it claims 7.1 sound with only a stereo jack but it works well - certainly well enough for the kitchen.
The one I use with my hi-fi was bought years ago and has SPDIF out. The optical connection to my amplifier takes Joggler sound to a whole new level. I can't recommend any USB soundcards with optical out because I can't see my old one for sale anywhere. You'd have to take your chances but anything with a C-Media chip should work (both of mine are cheap cards with C-Media chips).
Thank you gegs for the fix, it solved the problem I was having getting Squeezeplay to use my USB sound cards.
I have 5 USB sound cards, one of which is identical to the one you have linked to. I find it plays music in Squeezeplay too fast. Everyone is on the verge of sounding like a Disney Chipmonk!
Do you have that problem with yours?
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by gegs »

cbredfred wrote:I have 5 USB sound cards, one of which is identical to the one you have linked to. I find it plays music in Squeezeplay too fast. Everyone is on the verge of sounding like a Disney Chipmonk!
Do you have that problem with yours?
I don't have the speedy sound problem you've mentioned. I have encountered it once or twice on a couple of obscure streams but generally not. Certainly not with any of the BBC channels or Spotify, which are the things I listen to most.
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

photor wrote: That's bad news.
But is it possible to download the new 2.6.37 kernel to upgrade my 2.6.34 kernel?
I'm sure you can understand as a single person, I don't have the time to package everything up and maintain three fully auto updating distributions. Or maybe you can't.

you can get my kernels from here:

http://joggler.exotica.org.uk/packages/kernel/
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by -=xXx=- »

There is no auto mount in last version ? Plug in USB drives are not detected...
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Re: Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick ) for the O2 Joggler.

Post by BuZz »

woops. looks like some stuff that i disabled for being "deprecated" may well be in use. I got a suspicion what it is. Will get back to you once ive tested
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