Ubuntu 8.0.4

Features of the image

• Ubuntu 8.0.4 LTS (currently End of Life)
• Kernel version: 2.6.24-26-generic
• A streamlined mach_kernel
• atvclient LIRC control
• NVIDIA 100.14.19 Drivers (allows HDMI sound)
• ALSA 1.0.19
• Automatic updates
• Username: atv, Password: atv
• XBMC Eden or Dharma
• USB Automounting
• PVR Support
• AirPlay
• AirTunes
• AFP, NFS and SMB support
• Completely revertible

Image Structure

Partition Type	Partition Size	Partition Position
Recovery	~35MB	/dev/sdx1
Swap	512MB	/dev/sdx2
Linux	~3GB	/dev/sdx3

Setup

Setup is a simple process and can be done by using the Linux or Windows UI installers.

First Boot

The first boot will be a lengthy process. For absolute freshness, no CrystalHD driver or XBMC installation is distributed with the image. Therefore, Ubuntu will grab the latest stable versions from the repositories, which could take a few minutes. This is part of the automatic update service, which can be disabled with ease. After this process has completed, the system is ready to be used.

Post Installation Steps

Disabling updates, changing passwords etc.

If you would like to make some changes to your system, such as changing your default password, regenerating a new SSH key for security or disabling updates, then a full list of commands can be seen with the ./info command through SSH.

XBMC: Sound

There are a few things that should be done in XBMC to get your experience as smooth as possible. Firstly, you should configure the audio codecs that your receiver is capable of receiving under Settings > System > Audio Output. This is the main reason why users claim they cannot hear sound properly, if at all. Make sure that XBMC is aware if you have a AC3 (DD) or DTS receiver.

Next, it is important to ensure that XBMC outputs sound to the correct device. This Ubuntu distribution will support TOSLINK and HDMI output. For HDMI output (menu sounds now work out of the box — July 2011), it is necessary to go to Settings > System > Audio Output and select the use of a Custom Device (obviously enabling Digital Sound Output), the custom device must be entered exactly as: plughw:0,3.

Users not using HDMI should run the following command over SSH: sudo rm /etc/asound.conf

XBMC: advancedsettings.xml

As of July update, most of this is done for you

The following adjustments, while not necessary, are recommended to enhance your performance. They can be added to your advancedsettings.xml file. This will not exist yet, so you can create one over SSH quite simply:

#to edit, run nano or vi
sudo nano /usr/local/share/xbmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml

1. Clean your library on startup.

<videolibrary>
<cleanonupdate>true</cleanonupdate>
</videolibrary>

2. DDS fanart (after your library is processed speed is greatly increased)

<advancedsettings>
  <useddsfanart>true</useddsfanart>
</advancedsettings>

3. GPU temperature:

(install nvidia-settings with sudo aptitude install nvidia-settings first. Might need to install aptitude first with apt-get install aptitude)

<gputempcommand>echo "$(nvidia-settings -tq gpuCoreTemp) C"</gputempcommand>

Don’t do this. Users have reported issues with booting after installing nvidia-settings!

So, it should look something like this:

<advancedsettings>
 <useddsfanart>true</useddsfanart>
 <gputempcommand>echo "$(nvidia-settings -tq gpuCoreTemp) C"</gputempcommand>
 <videolibrary>
 <cleanonupdate>true</cleanonupdate>
 </videolibrary>
</advancedsettings>

FAQ

Q: What version of XBMC and CrystalHD are included?

A: No specific version is bundled. The distro will automatically fetch the latest versions.

Q: First time boot is slow. Why?

A: Ubuntu is setting up a fresh XBMC and CrystalHD install for you. This shouldn’t take long, and only occurs when updates are pushed.

Q: Booting is not very fast, how can I improve this?

A: Booting is slowed down by the fact that on boot the distribution runs an apt-get update command which refreshes the entire source list. To speed up boot times significantly, one can disable updates, with the following command:

./disable_updates

Note: after the May 2011 update, this causes little effect on boot time due to the update system having been made more efficient already.

Q: Is HDMI audio supported?

A: Yes. See the post-installation instructions.

Q: How can I auto mount USB drives?

A: As of the June 2011 update, this is done automatically for you and will show up in XBMC by default.

Q: Can I update the kernel?

A: Yes — but any kernel changes will require you to recompile the mach_kernel. To do this, checkout the atv-bootloader source code, replacing the initrd.img and vmlinuz with that of the new kernel. Then run the make command after ensuring you have Darwin Cross Tools installed.

Q: Can I install to the internal drive, and secondly will it use all the available space?

A: Yes to both. Use the UI installer.

Q: Can I make XBMC automatically restart when it closes or crashes?

A: As of the June 2011 update, this is done automatically after the system restarts. The restart is done to free any consumed memory and in hope of restoring system performance.

To regain access to the TTY session at any time, remove the reboot command from /etc/rc.local over an SSH session.

Q: How can I get S-Video or Component out?

A: You need to make modifications to your xorg.conf file, which can be done with sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf. See atvdisplay

Q: Where is XBMC installed to?

A: Binaries are available in /usr/local/bin/xbmc, the user folders are available in /usr/local/share/xbmc. This is different to /usr/bin/xbmc and /usr/share/xbmc — the change took place after the May 2011 update.

Q: What is the root user and password?

A: There isn’t one. In Ubuntu, the root account is disabled by default. To enable it you can run sudo passwd root, and specify a password. However there is no need for this, as you can just prefix your commands with sudo to run them with elevated privileges.

Q: Why does AirPlay not work?

A: Enable it under System > Network > “Allow XBMC to receive AirPlay content”

Q: How do I revert back to Dharma?

A: Very simple. Exit XBMC, SSH in and run the following commands:

1. sudo -s
2. wget http://download.stmlabs.com/bin/builds/xbmc-atv/builds/xbmc-10.1-10062011.tar.gz
3. tar -xzf xbmc-10.1-10062011.tar.gz
4. cp -R usr /
5. rm -rf usr
6. rm advancedsettings.xml
7. mv /root/.xbmc/userdata/advancedsettings.old.xml /root/.xbmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml

Q: Aside from PVR builds, do you offer XBMC nightlies?

A: Yes — 7 days of nightlies can be located here, and they are built straight from the XBMC git head. Please see the forum for a full chroot build environment, the commands used to build and any issues. Installation is similar to that of Dharma, and should be followed as such (exit XBMC first):

1. sudo -s
2. nightlyname=’put tarball from nightly dir’
3. wget http://download.stmlabs.com/bin/builds/xbmc-atv/builds/nightlies/${nightlyname}.tar.gz
4. tar -xzf ${nightlyname}.tar.gz
5. cp -R usr /
6. rm -rf usr

Q: My screen is pink using HDMI output, how do I fix this?

A: This issue occurs because your system is outputting YPbPr (Component Video) via HDMI. This is because it has been configured this way in the native Apple operating system which has changed this setting in the video bios. Crystalbuntu can read but not change the video bios. You need to go back to the original OS and change video output to RGB High or RGB Low.

Q: Why can’t I turn off Apple TV or standby it? I can in frontrow.

A: Frontrow just turns the screen black. The AppleTV can’t be turned off properly because it lacks ACPI support — there is no power switch. For pseudo-standby support, set a screensaver to dim the screen in XBMC. This combined with current standby mechanisms such as spinning down the HDD will save power, reduce heat output.

Q: If I install Crystalbuntu to the internal drive, can I reinstall the Apple OS at a later date?

A: Yes — run the Windows or Linux installer, insert a USB and select Original Apple OS. You will then be able to perform a ‘Factory Restore’ on your AppleTV.

Q: What’s the difference between AirTunes and AirPlay support? I only see “Crystalbuntu” on my device.

A: The July update only offered video streaming, but the August update also brings audio streaming. Both daemons are given the same name so they only occupy one device listing on your iDevice. However it is possible to choose between speaker or video streaming. For example, if wanting to stream only music from YouTube.app, you can lock the iDevice, double tap home, press on the triangle and Crystalbuntu will have a speaker icon next to it, indicating that it is an AirTunes client. However, if you press the triangle while the video is playing on your screen, you will see a TV icon, indicating Crystalbuntu will receive video as well as audio. By supporting both forms of streaming, you can then stream pretty much anything to your device (be it Music from iPod.app or Videos)

Changelog

January 2012 Update

System Changes

• Delete x86_x64 shared objects.
• Install libusb
• Install libCEC
• Add 4therecord addon.

December 2011 Update

System Changes

1. Install ncurses-term, dialog
2. Install libbluray
3. Install BCM43228 driver
4. Non-relative python path for xbmc notification system.
5. Install configuration utility

October 2011 Update

System Changes

1. Remove Shairport
2. Remove libao2
3. Remove custom Perl
4. Update NFS library
5. New libraries: AFP, libshairport, jpeg turbo
6. Remove Shairport initialisation from rc.local
7. Fix machine-id in dbus
8. Fix hosts having the wrong host name after changing in Sep. update

September 2011 Update

System Changes

1. Remove APCore, libsmbclient, xbmc-eventclients-common, pybonjour, tornado
2. Symlink Python 2.6.7 as default Python interpreter
3. XBMC build with Python 2.6.7 interpreter as default.
4. Install new libplist, libsmbclient
5. XBMC uses integrated AP interface.
6. Change hostname to Crystalbuntu
7. Configure XBMC eventclient for Py 2.6.7
8. Reconfigure AirTunes to broadcast at XBMC@Crystalbuntu to match XBMC AirPlayer broadcast so they show as one device.

August 2011 Update

System Changes

1. Disable reverse DNS lookups (faster SSH login)
2. Install libnfs
3. Install pre-2.4 RTMP for Hulu
4. Install Avahi utils
5. Install minimal Perl (compiled from Natty perl base with diff gzip)
6. Configure Shairport
7. Hold back dangerous apt upgrades.
8. Send host name dhclient option to expose Crystalbuntu to dhcp or router
9. Change rc.local to initialise Shairport and to run hdparm statement in background, so users without an internal drive do not hang.
10. Update /etc/net/issue

July 2011 Update

System Changes

1. Install cpufrequtils libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 avahi-daemon ruby xbmc-eventclients-xbmc-send
2. Configure a CPU governor: conservative with 600-1000Mhz range.
3. Install Python 2.6.7, SQLite 3.7.7.1, Boost 1.4.6.1 and yajl-17b1790 for pre-Eden
4. Install SetupTools, Pip, Pybonjour, Tornado, SimpleJSON for AirPlay.
5. Install AirPlayer to /home/atv/scripts/apcore
5. Desymlink Python 2.6.7 so 2.5.2 is still default; ldconfig
6. Change swappiness back to 15
7. Disable mark messages in syslogkd for better IO
8. Change the welcome banner
9. Get rid of contents of /usr/share/doc; /usr/share/man
10. Fix HDMI sound globally (bugfix)
12. Update rc.local with hdparm to standby drive, airplayer startup.
13. New CrystalHD update script

XBMC Changes

1. Install an XBMC notification system to inform user when updates occur.
2. New PVR builds.
3. New AdvancedSettings.xml: Enable DDS fanart, dirty regions, cleaning on update.

June 2011 Update

System Changes

1. Changes to fstab: enable noatime for less unnecessary IO
2. Change swappiness to 1 in /etc/sysctl.conf – better memory handling
3. Add options ide_core ignore_cable=0 to /etc/modprobe.d/options — allows CF cards to operate in UDMA100
4. New mach_kernel to accomodate the new ramdisk from above change
5. Install hfsprogs
6. Install nvclock
7. Set clock speed of 7300 Go to 760 (memclk) and 200 (nvclk), register as mobile device
8. New rc.local with shutdown command, nvclock command
9. Install hald, policykit
10. Implement auto-mounting
11. Fix nano history bug by chowning atv’s nano history

Synchronisation system changes

1. Piping all rm references to /dev/null to silence any non-existent file deletes.
2. Amend May 2011 update to no longer reboot as the June 2011 one will do so before initialisation of XBMC.
3. Check for network connectivity, otherwise boot directly to XBMC.
4. Improvements to tarball handling
5. Quieter CrystalHD updating

May 2011 Update

XBMC Changes

1. XBMC now installed via tarballs, not apt.
2. XBMC dependencies updated via tarballs and not apt (in future builds)
3. XBMC devs no longer support Ubuntu 8.0.4, all builds are being compiled by Sam Nazarko.
4. Availability of XBMC updates checked with version number

System Changes

1. rc.local changed to run XBMC from /usr/local.
2. Faster boot as apt update no longer done at boot (dependencies resolved manually and only when update is available)
3. Quieter boot through wget -q parameter.
4. Fixed tty1 respawning bug