config phase
notes
Operating software chosen is the XBMC Live - Atlantis Beta 2 stored on a 2gb USB stick which is bootable.
The default skin for XBMC is called Project Mayhem III and the PAL Standard Def version is used as a base skin
to be modified with Dalek imagery and a simplified menu system. Some of the features enabled as default in this
skin were removed, such as Script access, in light of keeping the unit as a domestic device that could be
operated by someone with basic DVD/Video player experience, ie not computer literate.
A lot of the other skin modifications centered around the idea of a simple interface without a lot of clutter
that is the result of the many controls and functions available in this powerful package. There were a few other
skins that looked great and had simple controls but they all seemed to favour display on a widescreen format which
isn't possible at this point in the build. For the main its just a matter of getting photos of Daleks into the
interface somewhere and everywhere.
Running the XBMC software on the VIA motherboard presented a few problems the greatest of which was getting the
onboard Unichrome chipset to work nicely with the underlying Linux kernel. The other candidate OS for the Dalek
was one called Geexbox and their forums had much to say on the problems with VIA releasing Linux drivers for their
hardware, etc, etc. With danger of stalling the build for considerable time it was decided to purchase a generic
Nvidia graphics card that would be installed in the one PCI slot available. This changed the power consumption,
the heat generated and the dimensions of the unit to be housed.
Two USB headers are used for the Infra-Red receiver and the OS stick both mounted at the front grill of the Dalek.
The IR remote and receiver also posed a few problems in getting the keymapping to work with LIRC where a few
versions of Xbox or MS Media Center keymaps were trialled with only the latter working for just the main cursor
keys and a few other function keys. The On Screen Keyboard is yet to function so most configuration commands are
issued via SSH using PuTTY. File transfer is done using FileZilla over the local network.
The XBMC has a built in web server that has some API documentation but is a bit obscure so a bit of time and
experimenting will been done to get things functioning as planned. So far the XBMC Remote is working through
both the local computer browser and a mobile phone browser but full file access of the media directories is
needed and this will be looked into over the remainder of this phase.
The DalekTV has been installed in the lounge room and run for a few months probably every day for many hours
and all thats been noticed so far is a freeze when trying to stop music playing and when photo thumbnails are
drawn when browsing large photo file folders. The freeze problem was alleviated by adding a stop button to the
music OSD that would then return to menu. The thumbnails will be turned off when time is found to do so.
The only other quirk of note is that the unit does not shut down completely insofar as the XBMC software does
but the motherboard stays powered and a linux prompt is present on screen. Manually pressing the on/off button
is only way to get complete shutdown and this is only safe to do so after the OS has finished writing to the
USB stick, hence the need for the USB status light to be visible at the front of the Dalek.
