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Build the perfect HTPC with Boxee and the Dell Zino HD

Ryan — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:12:28 +0000

If you are looking for a great HTPC then you should look no further than Boxee on the Dell Zino HD. For those of you that don’t know, Boxee is a free software program that you install on your computer that allows users to watch internet movies and TV shows, listen to online radio and music, play your local digital music and movies. The Boxee software turns your HTPC into a social media and home theater media center.

Boxee allows users to watch and listen to their local media, as well all access movies on Netflix, internet radio on LastFM and Pandora, and TV shows through NBC, FOX, ABC, and HULU. Boxee is diverse in its functionality and continues to evolve quickly.

Once installed boxee will start scanning your local Movies, Music and Pictures folders automatically. Boxee will attempt to bring artwork, reviews, cast, etc. for your media, so browsing your library becomes more useful and fun than looking at a list of files. Boxee is based on the XMBC media center.

You can buy a specific Boxee “Box” or build your own by downloading the free software .deb package and installing it on your own Ubuntu (or Windows/Mac) based Linux PC. Sorry but there is no love for Fedora or other RedHat distributions at the moment.

Here is a view of the Boxee home screen.

As far as hardware goes you can’t go wrong with the Dell Inspiron Zino HD. This little PC is powerful and keeps a very low profile in your home theater.

The Zino HD starts at $299 and you get is a CD/DVD combo drive, integrated graphics, integrated 2.1 Hi-def audio, and a dual core AMD processor. All models come packed with multiple USB ports, eSATA, HDMI, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, analog audio in/out, SPDIF, and a 4-in-1 media card reader, so connectivity is covered. With an HDMI cable and an HDTV, you could have your Boxee HTPC up in no time.

Optionally you can upgrade to THX 7.1 audio, integrated WiFi, discrete graphics cards, Blu-Ray drive, or a quad core Phenom processor.

The Zino HD packs quite an affordable punch. Installing Linux was hassle free as all devices were correctly detected and the proper drivers were installed.

You could control this HTPC with a full sized wireless keyboard but this guide wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Logitech diNovo Mini. This little remote device has the perfect blend of portability, functionality, and ease of use. It is a handheld wireless bluetooth keyboard with an integrated trackpad that’s designed to perform all of the functions necessary to effectively control an HTPC from the comfort of your couch.

The diNovo Mini has full functioning keyboard and trackpad but also comes with media keys to control playback and the backlight which is invaluable at night. One of my other favorite things is that it comes with an integrated USB bluetooth dongle that can plug into any PC that doesn’t natively support bluetooth.

You can usually find this for under $100 USD online.

Installing Ubuntu 9.10 on the Dell Zino HD

Ryan — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:46:24 +0000

The Dell Inspiron Zino HD is the perfect machine if you are looking to build an Ubuntu Linux based HTPC. At the time of this post the Zino can be purchased with either Windows 7 or Ubuntu linux 9.04. I decided to go with Windows 7 and install Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit karmic on my own in a dual boot configuration. This article will cover all the steps necessary to get Ubuntu up and running.

The easiest way to setup a dual boot configuration is to reinstall Windows 7 first with the included OS DVD and then Ubuntu second. When installing Windows 7 make sure to leave space for your Ubuntu installation. Repartition the drive so that Windows 7 only uses a small chuck and leave the rest of the space unallocated. The good thing about reinstalling Windows is that it gets rid of all the extra 3rd party junk that comes preinstalled.

You can install Ubuntu through the HDMI but on some TVs the HDMI port may display incorrectly until the ATI drivers are correctly installed. If this occurs to you switch over the the VGA port until you have completed the installation.

The only other pitfall of this installation is that the default Ubuntu installation doesn’t recognize the wireless card (in my build it was the Broadcom wireless b/g card). All this means is that you need to have the wired ethernet connection until you update the system and download the appropriate wireless driver.

Once you have completed the initial installation and made sure you have a working network connection you should update your system.

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade

Next you need to find and install your hardware drivers. Go here:
System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers

It should find the Broadcom STA wireless driver for your wireless, and the FGLRX ATI/AMD driver for your video card. Download and activate both of them. You should now be able to connect with wireless and use the HDMI port if you experienced display issues with it during the installation.

If your display resolution if incorrect. Go here:
System -> Administration -> Display

Configure your sound to work over HDMI. Go here:
System -> Administration -> Sound

In the Output tab select HDMI. You can go to the Sound Effects tab and select a sound to test that it works.

You should now a fully functional system up and running with Ubuntu, but you may want to install some packages that will make your make your life easier. Here are my suggestions:

ubuntu-restricted-formats
ssh
nfs-common
sshfs
vim

mythtv
boxee
xbmc

Enjoy your new Zino HTPC!

Enable HDMI output on Dell XPS M1530/M1330 with Ubuntu

Ryan — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:45:15 +0000

Hardware support in Linux, specifically Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) for the Dell XPS M1530 and M1330 is very impressive. However in certain cases the process is not as straight forward as it could be, and it takes a bit of tinkering in order to get it to work. In this article I will go through how to enable audio and video through the HDMI output.

The first step is making sure that the HDMI cable is connected between the computer and external monitor, HDTV, etc.

Video Support

To enable the video you need to go to your NVIDIA X Server Settings manager. This of course assumes you are using the NVIDIA driver on your system.

System -> Administration -> NVIDIA X Server Settings

Select the X Server Display Configuration. Click the Detect Displays button and you external monitor should be displayed. Click on the external screen so that it becomes selected and click the Configure button and select the TwinView option.

Once this monitor is enabled a Position dropdown box should appear. It is best in most cases to select Clones.The screen output will be duplicated on both devices.

Select the Apply button for these changes to take effect.

If your external monitor has a lower resolution than your laptop screen it may help to disable the laptop screen so that maximized video won’t go beyond the borders of your external monitor. To do this click the laptop screen so that it becomes selected, click the Configure button, and select Disabled.

Audio Support

Open the Volume Control manager, usually ou can click on the volume applet on the top GNOME panel.

Make sure your device is set to HDA Intel (Alsa Mixer).

Select the Switches tab and put a check mark next to IEC958. Selecting this enables audio output over the HDMI connection.

If you want to disable audio output through your laptop speakers you can disable them. Go back to the Playback tab and mute the Front channel.

Bugs

1) Enabling the laptop screen as well an external monitor through HDMI can cause X to freeze with certain Compiz-Fusion effects such as desktop switching. Disabling Compiz-Fusion or disabling the laptop screen while operating in this mode fixes this issue.

2) Disabling the laptop monitor will not correctly resize the GNOME desktop to match the resolution of the external monitor over HDMI. However video playback will still be correctly maximized.

3) Audio output over HDMI connection may not work for a specific program even if everything has been configured correctly. Restarting this program usually fixes this issue.

Fix Skype audio on Ubuntu with Dell XPS M1530/M1330

Ryan — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:29:32 +0000

To get Skype audio working with Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (Ubuntu 8.10) and Dell XPS M1530/M1330 requires a few changes to the standard install.

Make sure you have added the medibuntu repository and installed Skype.

You need to enable the embedded microphone. Go to Volume Control by clicking on the volume icon. In Preferences select Digital Input Source. This will enable the Digital Mic 1 option which you should select.

Now launch Skype and go into Options -> Sound Devices. Select “HDA Intel (hw:Intel,0)” for Sound In, Sound Out, and Ringing.

Go ahead and make a test call to verify that everything is working correctly.