What is Digg?69 Comments
- shinynew, on 10/12/2007, -7/+106geocities sites go DOWN!
Full text, sorry for the length bury me if you want.
Introduction
A mythtv setup consists of one or more servers (PCs with video cards), and one or more clients. I have a mythtv server and a couple of clients running on PCs. The main problem is to fit a Mythtv client in a typical media center, where you don't want to have a large noisy PC running. So the XBOX is a perfect fit, it's really a PC but without a noisy fan and it fits in a typical media center shelf. The XBOX isn't powerful enough to be a Mythtv server, and there's no (easy) way to
install a TV card in the XBOX. But it should work ok as a client.
Mythtv is a Linux application, so we'll install Linux on the XBOX, and then we'll install Mythtv.
Prerequisites
1. A running Mythtv server and a LAN with sufficient speed, either a fixed LAN or a 54Mbps or better wireless network. I used a 54Mbps wireless network. I originally set up my Mythtv on Ubuntu using this HOWTO: http://www.quietglow.com/docs/ubuntumythtv.html
2. An older XBOX, not XBOX 360, but the older kind. Stay away from the newest versions. I bought mine on Ebay for $110 or so.
3. The MechAssault game for XBOX, the original, not the platinum version. I bought mine on Ebay for < $10.
4. A linksys wireless game adapter WGA54G (Ebay $60 or so).
5. A special USB to XBOX cable. I bought mine on ElectricQuarter.com for about $6.00
XBOX USB cable, Wireless adapter, MechAssault
Preparing the XBOX
I used the "software" method to prepare the XBOX for Linux. You can see a detailed HOWTO here.
But here is what I did:
Download the "MechInstaller" savegames. Go to
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=54192&package_id=91497&release_id=177464
and choose to download MechInstaller-1.0-FATX-Images.zip (use the latest version). I use Ubuntu,
so after the download I used FileRoller to extract the MechInstaller-1.0-FATX-128MB.img file.
My USB memory stick is a 128MB stick.
Plug in your USB memory stick and install the MechInstaller image on the USB disk with the
following command:
sudo dd if=MechInstaller-1.0-FATX-128MB.img of=/dev/sdb
/dev/sdb may not be the right device for you. Find out the right device first by choosing
System->Administration->Disks.
Connect the USB memory stick to your XBOX using the special usb/XBOX cable and start the XBOX
without a CD in the drive. Copying is done by using the savegame management features on the
original Xbox Dashboard. You will need to navigate to your USB stick and copy each savegame on
it one by one to your HDD. The MechInstaller savegames should have little penguin icons on them.
Now restart the XBOX with the MechAssault game in the CD drive. Then choose "CAMPAIGN", and then
"Install Linux". This will take some time. Afterwards, your Xbox is fully Linux-compatible,
and there is an item "LINUX" in the Dashboard main menu which boots a minimal Linux system.
You are done with the preparation phase!
Preparing the wireless game adapter (WGA54G).
Connect the game adapter to any PC using the LAN cable that came with it. Configure your LAN
interface with a fixed IP in the 192.168.1.X subnet (X can be anything you want except 5 or 250).
Point your browser to http://192.168.1.250 and you should get a prompt to logon to the
configuration page. Use the password "admin" with no username.
If you can't get this to work then get a paperclip, unfurl it and use it to press the reset button
on the game adapter. Push and hold for a few seconds until the lights flicker to show that the
game adapter is reset. Then try the admin page again.
When you get into the admin page make sure you connect to your wireless network. I configured a
fixed IP address of 192.168.1.5. When you're done connect the LAN cable to back of the XBOX.
Installing Linux
I used Xebian. The complete howto is here. Download Xebian from here. Use the latest available
version. I chose
dist-1.1.4-xbox.tar.gz.
Extract the .iso file:
tar xzvf dist-1.1.4-xbox.tar.gz
The .iso file is dist-1.1.4-xbox/1.1.4-xbox.iso.
Use the .iso file to burn a DVD. The XBOX prefers DVDs. If you don't have a DVD burner you could
try a regular CD-R, but I don't know if this will work. Stick a blank DVD+R or DVD-R in
the drive, Right mouseclick on the .iso file and choose "write to disk".
Power on the Xbox without a disc in the drive, wait for the Dashboard to appear, and then insert
the Xebian disc. My XBOX has a Thompson DVD drive. You can find out which DVD drive your XBOX has
by going to this page.
My Thompson drive refused to read a standard DVD+R disk so I then tried to use a CD-RW, and this
worked. In theory Thomson drives should read DVDs fine, but this seems to be a case where you need
a bit of trial and error.
If you get the XBOX to boot off the Linux installation image, you'll eventually get to a screen
with icons etc. This is the fluxbox desktop which is the default in Xebian.
This is just Xebian linux running off the LIVE-CD, it's not installed on the HD yet.
Now you'll need a way to logon to the Xebian system and enter commands with a normal keyboard,
(don't try to do it with the game controllers etc.).
You could simply try to connect a USB keyboard to the USB cable you have. I prefer to use a laptop
and a crossover cable. You could just plug the XBOX into your network router, but I have a
wireless LAN so did the following:
Connect a laptop to the XBOX using the crossover cable.
Configure the LAN adapter in the laptop with a fixed IP address:
IP address: 192.168.0.11
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
This means your laptop is using 192.168.0.11, whereas the XBOX is 192.168.0.10.
If your laptop is using Linux, then use ssh to logon, If you're using Windows then download PuTTY
and use this instead.
ssh root@192.168.0.10
Password: xebian
You should get in and get a # prompt. Now type XBOXLinuxInstall and press Enter.
Now you'll get a series of questions:
I installed Linux inside the Gamesave partition (E:). I chose a root filesystem size of 1990MB
instead of the default value of 2000MB. and I chose the defaults for all the rest. I did this
to stay within the total size of E: which is 2250.5MB. Swap by default is 250MB.
This runs for some time, and you'll see the list of files being copied from the CD to the hard
disk. At the end of the script you'll be prompted for the network configuration. I used:
IP address: 192.168.1.10
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.10
This is now a fixed ip for use within my wireless LAN, where we already set up
the wireless game adapter. Now the script is finished.
Type
# reboot
and the XBOX will reboot, take out the CD and choose "Linux" in the Dashboard. This will boot
the new Linux system from the hard disk.
Plug in the game adapter to the XBOX using a normal LAN cable. Try to ping 192.168.1.5 (the
game adapter itself) from another PC on the local wireless network. If this doesn't work then
repeat the section about configuring the game adapter. When you get this to work then try to
ping 192.168.1.10.
If you're security concious, then follow the Xebian post-installation instructions.
You are done with installing Linux!!
Installing the MythTV client.
There is a very good easy MythTV on Xebian HOWTO. In my case all the assumptions held for going
ahead with this HOWTO. I already have a couple of PCs running mythtv clients on my network, so
MySQL etc. is set up to accept connections over the network.
Here's what I did from my Ubuntu PC:
ssh root@192.168.1.10
Login with the root password.
vi /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following lines to the end of the file:
deb http://alexfisher.me.uk/debian sarge main
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org sarge main
Save the file.
tzconfig
Set the timezone of the XBOX.
apt-get update
apt-get install ntp-simple ntp-doc ntp-server
/etc/init.d/ntp-server start
cd /etc/rc2.d/
ln -s ../init.d/ntpdate S24ntpdate
Now we're ready to install MythTV:
# There's a bug here in the installer
mkdir /etc/mythtv/
chmod 777 /etc/mythtv/
apt-get install mythtv-frontend
This prompts for the host of the MySQL server. I typed the Ip address of my MythTV/MySQL server:
which is 192.168.1.4.
I'm just going to use the default "live" username on the xbox to run mythfrontend.
I want to start the frontend now to test it but to start the frontend I need to be able to
control the desktop. So I'm going to use VNC:
# apt-get install x11vnc
# su - live
$ x11vnc -display :0
Then on your local (ubuntu) system type:
$ vncviewer 192.168.1.10
Now you get a window containing the fluxbox desktop. Now just click on the "Terminal"
icon, start a terminal session and type
$ mythfrontend
This will fail. Just ignore the errors and exit. Now try
$ cd .mythtv
$ vi mysql.txt
Edit this file and make it look exactly like the one on your other mythtv clients.
I just use a hardcoded ip address in mine for the server name.
Now try
$ mythfrontend
Again. This time enter the language and then you'll see the main mythtv menu!
To setup your DVD remote to work with mythtv do the following (as root):
cd /tmp
mkdir lirc_temp
cd lirc_temp
wget http://bit.blkbk.com/mythtv-xbox.0.4.5-beta.tar.gz
tar xpzvf mythtv-xbox.0.4.5-beta.tar.gz
cp live/lircrc /home/live/.lircrc
ln -s /home/live/.lircrc /home/live/.mythtv/lircrc
To set up autostartup of myth and the vnc server do this (from the HOWTO):
Add the following lines to /home/live/fluxstartup.sh file:
# Disable dpms (EnergyStar) features
/usr/bin/X11/xset -dpms
# Disable screensaver
/usr/bin/X11/xset s off
# Start VNC server
x11vnc -display :0 &
# Start the mythtv frontend
mythfrontend &
NOTE: This fluxstartup.sh file is a little different from the guide I mentioned above. I think
they have an error in their guide.
Now kill the /usr/bin/X11/X process and let the desktop restart. This will automatically bring up
the mythtv frontend, and you'll also be able to use the vncviewer remotely. I found that after
a while I don't really use the vncviewer, so I commented it out from the file. This will save
some precious memory resources on the xbox.
To configure the system to shutdown from the frontend, do this (as root):
# chmod +s /sbin/halt
Then from the mythfrontend go to Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> General -> (Hit three times)
And enter the "Halt command:" as /sbin/halt
Now the shutdown should work even though you run as "live".
I also use some additional mythtv plugins, so I did this (as root):
apt-get install mythvideo
apt-get install mythmusic
apt-get install myththemes
I have my music and video on an NFS share. So I did this:
vi /etc/hosts
Add the host gct3102 and it's ip address to the list.
mkdir /gct3102
vi /etc/fstab
Add the following line:
gct3102:/usr/local/archive /gct3102 nfs rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=14,intr
This specifies the NFS mountpoint /gct3102 which is the same as local directory /usr/local/archive.
Now try this:
mount /gct3102
ls /gct3102
You should see the files on the remote server. I use /gct3102/Video and /gct3102/Music to store my
video (including video grabbed from video podcasting) and music. To view them in MythTV
go to:
Main Menu -> Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> Media Settings -> Music Settings
-> General Settings
And set the "Directory to hold music" to /gct3102/Music (or whatever you use).
Then instead of "Music Settings" go to "Videos Settings" -> General Settings.
And set the "Directory that holds videos" to /gct3102/Video (or whatever).
To make sure mplayer plays most media files do this (as root):
vi /etc/modules.xbox
Comment out the joydev line. We're not going to use the joystick in linux and this module makes
the most up to date mplayer crash on startup when initializing lirc.
rmmod joydev
apt-get install mplayer-386
apt-get install w32codecs
cd /tmp
wget ftp://mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/all-20060611.tar.bz2
bunzip2 all-20060611.tar.bz2
tar xvf all-20060611.tar
mkdir /usr/lib/win32
mv all-20060611/* /usr/lib/win32
vi /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf
Change the sound driver setting from alsa to oss. This will prevent problems when playing some
windows media files. Comment out the old setting and add a new line to specify oss:
#ao=alsa
ao=oss
This should let you play lots of different formats. Also since you upgraded to the newest mplayer
you'll get a working DVD-remote when using mplayer from MythTV.
Install mythgallery if you want and use the flickr download in a cronjob as described here.
Now you can just shutdown, install the XBOX in your cabinet below your TV,
hook it to your main TV and use it with the DVD remote.
You're done! - wastern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34why in the bloody hell would you create a blogspot with nothing in it but a single link to another site just to post it here.
then go ahead and post the direct link in the comments before anyone even bitches about it
and why wouldn't you mirror it on the blogspot page to make it worth a *****, knowing full well the ***** site would go down the second it hit the front page. that would make it somewhat useful - dnthomps, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26Direct link above... Why the hell would you direct us to a second link. Not even any candy coating ***** even.
- grakker, on 10/12/2007, -4/+24http://geocities.com/karlsson/XBOX_Mythtv_HOWTO.html
- MiloMindrbindr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19can media center play every type of media you can "acquire" online? thats a good enough reason for me to install mythtv
- wastern, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16not everyone has an xbox 360, richie rich
- mkjones, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15XBMC > MythTV
- fapestniegd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12XBMC does not require a mod chip. x-boxes can be software modded.
- iamsojelin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I softmodded mine following this, and it was so damn easy. http://www.productwiki.com/microsoft_xbox/article/how_to_go_from_xbox_to_xbox_media_center_in_30_minutes.html
- teckjunkie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Wow I remember when people made webpages on geocities. I havent seen the geocities side page ad in ever.
I'm guessing this will need a mirrior also. Great article though, however I'll stick to xbmc easy install with X-disk cause I'm damn lazy. - Stalks, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Alternatively skip reading all that copy and pasted info, and head on over to http://www.xbox-linux.org for an in-depth step-by-step guide and full featured wiki.
- mzkw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Linux on XBOX:
http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Software_Method_HOWTO
MythTV on Xebian:
http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/MythTV_on_Xebian_HOWTO - oceanplexian, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Why this instead of XBMC ??!!
- neko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@Grim: No, it only plays WMV, MPEG-1 & 2.
http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/Xbox360/video.html - extreme101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6yes you can still play your games.
but i got to agree XMBC is enough for me.
also links are down! - BillDoE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Hackwrench: Does this make the XBox unusable for playing XBox games?
No, you can play games. However, if you have Xbox Live you will be kicked for modding. You'll need a switched Modchip or a Softmod that can be turned off to play games online.
All you need to know: http://xbox-scene.com/ - MarkByers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If you *really* want us to use Media Player, go write a guide on how to install Media Player and get it working with ogg files. I'm sure someone would be interested.
- LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Alternatively, mod your box doing this:
I present Krayzie's Ndure Softmod 1.1 pack (here's the one for 007: http://rapidshare.de/files/25389504/udata.zip.html - If you want it for another game, check out the #xbins channel on irc.efnet.net like it says in this tutorial: http://www.techfreaks.org/articles/modxbox.shtml and use their FTP server).
Put that gamesave on a memory card using pro action replay (or another modded box), then save it to your xbox and remove the memory card. Start the game up, start a new game and quit it (this is essential if you're using 007 or you'll just get a black screen), then load the gamesave. The installer will walk you through just about everything that you need, and it really is foolproof. After you do that, head on over to http://bitspace.dyndns.org:6560/ and pick up the newest version of XBMC (released every Saturday night), and FTP that over to your xbox in the E:Apps directory (user: xbox, pass: xbox, port: 21).
If for any reason you need to run the exploit again, say you want to remove it, or your get the extras pack (found here: http://rapidshare.de/files/25389808/Extras.zip.html) so you can dualboot xbl dash safely and modded, if you're using the 007 gamesave, it's under E: SLASH udata SLASH 4541000d. Hope that works for you! I've done this on four friends boxes so far, and no problems on any of them.
Then install the MythTV script for XBMC. - mkjones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4No it wont give you PVR options on the actual xbox, but you should be able to shedule items remotely from a PC running myth.
- slackerbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"Why not install linux and have it front-end for your MythTV box."
Because XBMC boots up so much quicker, and is much more fully featured! - ShyGuy91284, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Or (legalities of the use of the XDK aside) put XBMC on it, and install the MythTV plugin. Haven't had a need for a MythTV server in a while, so I didn't try it out fully, but the interface seems pretty nice, so it just may work....
- Settra, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6^ what he said. Some people are so smart..
- m00nstone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It can't be said enough. XBMC must be experienced on the xbox before you do anything else with it.
Running a Myth box somewhere in your house is also a good idea... - hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Does this make the XBox unusable for playing XBox games?
- Jaymoon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You delete the XBMC folder on the hard drive... Simple as that.
- plankmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I use XBMC but it doesn't have PVR (personal video recorder) functionality. Will this MythTV setup give me PVR functionality or will it just setup something similar to XBMC? If so then I'll stick to XBMC its got all you could possibly need.
- Krondor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The XBOX with the HD pack you speak of is capable of native 720P .... although it doesn't really have the processing power to deliver that. There are numerous threads about 720P playback failing. However, 540P and 1080i work fine.
Most people can't tell the diff between 1080i and 720p or 1080p for that matter (with HD broadcasts being what they are presently). As the content gets better that will probably change (though the difference between each incarnation of HD is gradually less noticeable). Think of the improvement from standard tv to DVD. DVD to Progressive DVD (480p) then to HDTV 540P or 1080i. From there it's only a 33 percent improvement to 720p and 25 percent to 1080p. - puneypunk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4xbmc all the way! You can use it as a mythtv frontend as it is, and you can use your control pads and/or dvd remote to much better effect
- thund3rstruck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is just a MythTV frontend, not the backend. You need a complete working MythTV PC setup before you begin... LAME.. anything can run as a frontend (knoppMyth, etc). Keep your XBOX for XBMC..
- jweis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This sucks. I was looking to read the link and now the geocities thing is down. All we get is the cheapass empty blog.
- Massif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I should really do this after I make the jump to next gen. I'm currently using the same box for a client and server and it is the noisiest thing in my room. The sad thing is, once I stuff it away in a closet I probably won't be able to sleep without the noise.
- abid786, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2how can you uninstall xbmc if you dont like it?
- iamsojelin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I do the exact same thing, and it's so damn easy. It reads every file under the sun, so basically it acts as a PVR (sort of) since I just download what I want via BIt Torrent anyway. In any case, it's easy, it's slick, and it does everything I want it to.
- doolittle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you have a myth server to connect to you get the full PVR function, with timeshifting and all. That is the only time to make this a media center / player replacement.
I am interested, since I am currently setting up a myth box and would be nice to have it in the basement - but have no xbox (yet). - luservegas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes... The plugin for XBMX works much better. It's just some Python scripts, but you've got virtually the same controls as the MythTV frontend. You can change some of the job tasks or tweak it too much, but it's great for playing back Recorded Shows. For programming, use the web interface, and if you really need to tweak something, just VNC into the Myth Backend computer and change whatever you want.
The one thing that this guy doesn't tell you is that the Xbox doesn't deal too well with is the default mp4 encoding alogrithm. At least with the Myth plugin. I left everything MPEG2 (I've got a hardware encoder so less processor load) and it works great. - LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For Mark:
I present Krayzie's Ndure Softmod 1.1 pack (here's the one for 007: http://rapidshare.de/files/25389504/udata.zip.html - If you want it for another game, check out the #xbins channel on irc.efnet.net like it says in this tutorial: http://www.techfreaks.org/articles/modxbox.shtml and use their FTP server).
Put that gamesave on a memory card using pro action replay (or another modded box), then save it to your xbox and remove the memory card. Start the game up, start a new game and quit it (this is essential if you're using 007 or you'll just get a black screen), then load the gamesave. The installer will walk you through just about everything that you need, and it really is foolproof. After you do that, head on over to http://bitspace.dyndns.org:6560/ and pick up the newest version of XBMC (released every Saturday night), and FTP that over to your xbox in the E:Apps directory (user: xbox, pass: xbox, port: 21).
If for any reason you need to run the exploit again, say you want to remove it, or your get the extras pack (found here: http://rapidshare.de/files/25389808/Extras.zip.html) so you can dualboot xbl dash safely and modded, if you're using the 007 gamesave, it's under E:udata4541000d. Hope that works for you! I've done this on four friends boxes so far, and no problems on any of them. - veza, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Does XMBC require a Mod-chip .. ? I'm totally newbie with this
- bone450, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1XBMC is great, and I used it for a long time. and still use it to play content stored on the xbox. If you don't want liveTV or PVR functionality, then use XBMC.
But I still think mythtv on the xbox is 10 times better than XBMC. LiveTV, PVR functionality. Why do you think the guys who started XBMC now went to a PC based PVR called mediaportal, because PC based PVR's are getting really popular and they knew the xbox alone couldn't do it. With mythtv-frontend installed it can do everything except HD.
Everyone who has used only XBMC can keep making these crazy statements that XBMC is better, but those who have used an xbox mythtv-frontend know the truth. - PURDooM, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2No modchip needed, done it tens of times. Look into something called UXE on www.xbox-scene.com . People generally install it via a mechassult saved game or by hooking the ATA hard drive to a PC while the hard drive is still running (hotswap)
- phi0x, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2 it wont play your HD shows. it might play scaled down HD such as those tv shows you download that are around 700-900mb each episode and 900 something x600 something res. what you want best for your time/buck is xbox/softmod or hard mod/xbox media center(not the microsoft one) the xbox homebrew media center plays about every file type. i can play scaled down HD tv shows on it. :) but you need a HD conversion pack on your xbox to be able to actually view HD shows in somewhat HD on your HD tv otherwise it plays the scaled down HD show in 640x480 res.
- Tanglefuzz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0for Mark:
http://digg.com/software/M4a_Flac_Ogg_Ape_Mpc_for_MCE_and_xbox_360 - thorbergdt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ive been wanting to setup MythTV also as i have a MCE2005 pc running at the present and its just fine. But the kicker i dont think it works with ATI's all in wonder cards or does it?
- tanman223, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Dude, the link doesn't work
- TomP, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Hang on wont you have MS on your ass??
- jeppof, on 01/13/2008, -0/+0Can anyone tell me where to find a x-disk download? I don't understand why there is such a unwritten code to all this xbmc stuff. Nothing is spelled out clearly.... Frustrated Noob.
- Mudhoney, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1XBMC is good at what it does, but I think a lot of you are missing the point of MythTV. It's a media player plus PVR, among many many other things with plugins.
- 3-6-0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1would this technique work if I had xbox live updates?
- TylerDurden0, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Guess if we want HD, we need to configure the PC? I wish there was an HD card that can be retro'd for the Xbox.
- vibez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I just setup a smb share on my windows box for torrenting TV shows and have xbmc mapped to that pc and then watch the shows over the network.
- PURDooM, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1The only thing missing from XBMC IMO is built in torrenting of TV shows from RSS feeds. If someone did something like this, I would bear their children.
Matter of fact, I would do it. I just don't have the m$ sdk on hand. :( -
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