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My summer project: Linux HTPC (Part 2 - OS)

IN THE PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT, I covered my reasons and the components I used to build my HTPC. I’ll tell you: installing the CPU, formatting the harddrive, and configuring BIOS is still fun and easy. The hard part is breathing life into the thing.

First, I tried GeeXboX - the smallest Linux HTPC distribution I’ve heard of - it comes as a 8.9MB ISO that you can use as a Live CD or install on disk.

I had used it on my desktop PC before I decided to build this, and it’s a fine, fine distribution. Plays all media formats, doesn’t do much else. It’s great for use with a standard-def CRT TV.

Now that I got an HDTV, I wanted to lose as little video information as possible, so I bought a DVI-HDMI cable and tried to train the TV to accept the signal from my PC. Here is where I encountered the first major challenge. GeeXboX doesn’t do HDTV well.

Whatever I did, I ended up with either a blank screen or some ridiculous resolution like 320×240. The TV is rather picky about what signals it lets through. And when it does, it’s often scaled wrong and the picture borders overflow the screen. There is a whole site dedicated to pixel mapping on LCD TVs.

I spent several days trying to figure this out. Google, whatever their evil plans on world domination might be, was my friend. In the end, I capitulated and connected my Windows PC to the Toshiba and used PowerStrip to figure out modelines, refresh rates, and such. The TV’s native resolution is 1366×768 but the closest I got was 720p - still good enough.

At this point, I already ditched GeeXboX in favour of Mythbuntu, a Ubuntu-based MythTV-centered distribution. Being in Alpha stage, though, the distro wouldn’t install, crashing due to some undecipherable error encountered in the early stages of installation. The hacquor in me was already tired of all the hours spent so far, so instead of pushing and debugging, I did a regular Kubuntu install. Then I added a couple more packages:

  • MythTV, Freevo and their dependencies
  • Samba
  • SSH
  • codecs to play mp3, etc
  • binary Nvidia drivers

I had to go with Nvidia drivers since X.org’s own wouldn’t run with the resolution and modelines PowerStrip provided. Logs revealed that the Toshiba reported being a 50″ panel with resolution of 720×570 and the X server didn’t know better. Luckily the binary driver somehow got over that lie and - about a week after I started - I finally saw my Kubuntu desktop in all its glory.

Next: choosing between MythTV and Freevo, getting the remote control to work, and final thoughts.

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August 14, 2007 | Filed Under Me & You, But Mostly Me 

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