Yet another yocto image

Posted on by

Introduction

I am pleased to announce that a new yocto based image (v0.0.4) with my newest XBMC for iMX6 is now available.
I would like to thanks all people who helped me to improve the current state of XBMC.
This image is an update of the previous one and is built in a similar way (Thanks to yocto dora)
Note that this image is rather for advanced users who want to give a try at the current state of XBMC for iMX6. Many users will prefer other well packaged distros like geeXboX or openelec.

The image is currently available for the following devices :

  • Wandboard Dual and Quad
  • Utilite : I have a pro model but it may work on other variants (untested for now)
  • udoo Dual and Quad

What’s new

This image packages XBMC Gotham Alpha 11 (12/31/2013) with my specific changes for iMX6.
The biggest changes compared to the previous one are :

  • Full liveTV support (with support for hardware deinterlacing)
  • Solve issues with some videos which were jerky
  • The “noise” on SPDIF is worked around
  • Kernel configuration also enablse many new options and drivers (especially most DVB USB drivers)

Resources

Here are the files :

Installation

I have updated the website to provide direct access to frequently used instructions.
For installation, you can refer to this page (It is also available in the menu header->howto->installation)

Also for liveTV, note that all XBMC clients are packaged.

If you want to plug a tuner on your target itself, most kernel USB DVD drivers are available.
Firmwares are not available by default in the Root FileSystem but the command :

get_dvb_firmware

will enable to download firmware for common devices..

tvheadend is running but you have to configure it a first time. To do so :

killall tvheadend
tvheadend -C

Then connect to you web interface : http://yourip:9981

Known issues

  • Some interlaced H264 1080p streams @50fps or @60fps are not played smoothly
  • HDMI passthrough for HD audio does not work
  • lirc is not properly configured to function properly “out of the box”
    Yet everything is available if you have a working driver (the driver for cheap IR receiver is available in wandboard image)
    You can launch lircd that way :
lircd -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lircd.conf –output=/dev/lircd

And then xbmc that way,

/imx6/xbmc/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin -l /dev/lircd

At last, the Smart packages updater has a few issues in this release :
If the update command

smart update

does not work in spite of working internet connection, then, issue the following commands :

rm -rf /var/lib/smart/
smart channel --add wolf_repo type=rpm-md baseurl=http://www.stephan-rafin.net/rpmhf2

For obscure reasons, smart is fooled in thinking that some basics packages are not installed (while they are ) and fails when it tries to reinstall them…
As a workaround, when you install a package, use the stepped option :

smart install --stepped your_package

and refuse installation of already installed packages…

Bugs Report

I have created a forum to discuss issues.
Please use it instead of comments as it should be more appropriate…

Conclusion

Lots of work has been addressed since the previous version.
I hope you will be able to witness the improvements and to enjoy liveTV.
Please understand that I cannot dedicate too much time for the packaging itself as I still have to focus on XBMC development and improvement…

Donate Button

175 thoughts on “Yet another yocto image”

  2. are you planning releasing a wandboard build?
    if so it would be great if you could integrate ipv6 support.

    thank you

    Reply ↓

        • Yes it should
          It is untested (as I have not modified my board) but I have updated the CEC driver with my changes and configured KEYROW2 as CEC signal
          Regards
          Stephan

          Reply ↓

          • Hi Stephan
            I have just tested the wandboard quad image and CEC successful.
            But i have an issue while playback.
            There is a vertical stripe in the middle of the screen which is flickering. Sometime its ca 1 to 2 Pixel wide and sometime its 1cm wide. And from time to time its barely visible
            Any thoughts about that?
            Regards
            Chris

            Reply ↓

  4. Hi stephan

    Fantastic work you’re doing!
    I’ve one question. Is it possible to use sickbeard and transmission with your yocto built? And to autostart it?
    I can’t run sickbeard (I copied the user files from a Ubuntu computer) because There isn’t python-cheetah.

    Reply ↓

    • Hi,
      transmission is already included in the image.
      its configuration file is / home/root/.config/transmission-daemon/settings.json
      You can launch it automatically at startup by creating a dedicated systemV init script to launch transmission-daemon or by adding it in /etc/rc.local

      Unfortunately for sickbeard, there are a few missing deps yes.
      I am currently experimenting a proper way to to give you access to it and more…
      Regards

      Reply ↓

    • Hi,
      Sorry, I have no plan for sabrelite (I don’t have this board and nor do I believe it is attractive)
      But The RFS is compatible, you just have to use a sabrelite kernel 2.6.35_4.1.0 and to apply my few specific patches (filter my commits on a kernel I support like utilite or udoo to get them all) and it should work fine.
      If you don’t have a cooler on your imx6 (unsure this board provides one), you should add one before testing xbmc…

      Stephan

      Reply ↓

  7. Hi,
    at the moment, I have only copied imx6 folder to older image 0.0.3. Nevertherless, it is working and I can see huge improvement for 1080p videos, which are now playing smoothly. I have still several videos, which dont play at all.
    Are the some big changes in RFS or kernel comparing to 0.0.3 image? I dont want to lose all changes I made on system..

    Reply ↓

  8. Hi Stephan, LiveTV works very well so far 🙂
    Is there a way to change from 60Hz to 50Hz? (Entry in uEnv.txt didn’t work…)

    Thx & greetings!

    Reply ↓

    • which target do you use ?
      No image I distribute uses directly uEnv.txt (they use boot.scr)
      Are you sure your file is taken into account ?
      issue command
      cat /proc/cmdline
      to be sure about the kernel parameters which are currently in use…
      Regards

      Reply ↓

      • i’m using wandboard.

        the hint with boot.scr/cmdline was very helpfull, made my own with mkimage und now i have 50Hz.

        next step is TSOP4838…..
        i have signal with irw (example: 000000037ff07bde 00 KEY_RIGHT mceusb),
        but xbmc doesn’t recognize it 🙁
        [also with Lircmap.xml]

        Regards

        Reply ↓

        • if irw works then lirc and kernel drivers are fine which is a good thing…
          Try to add option “-l /dev/lirc0” when launching xbmc
          (it is in /etc/rc.local)
          If you still have issues, have a look at the log file /tmp/temp/xbmc.log
          Stephan

          Reply ↓

          • got it.

            had to start lirc with ouput option:
            lircd -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lircd.conf –output=/dev/lircd

            and then xbmc:
            /imx6/xbmc/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin -l /dev/lircd

            maybe someone needs this too 🙂

            Reply ↓

    • I have the same problem … Where can you change the parameter to.
      I got me a boot.txt with:
      “Console = ttymxc3, 115200 root = / dev/sda2 rw video = rootwait mxcfb0: dev = hdmi, 1920×1080 @ 50, if = RGB24, bpp = 16 console blank = 0 cm_fx6_v4l DMFC = 3” but I have no mkimage to generate the boot.scr

      regards Ralix

      Reply ↓

  9. Brilliant !!!!!
    runs much better and faster !
    very nice work.
    now, the question is, can i use the MCE remote with it?….if yes, then how?

    Reply ↓

  10. ok, a little update….
    i have tried to install few third party addons and most says “incompatible”….wont install…
    why?

    Reply ↓

    • Hi
      Have a look at the log file /tmp/temp/xbmc.log to get the full error message
      My xbmc is based on gotham_alpha11, some addons are not compatible with this dev version, it is out of specific imx6 scope…
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

  11. Well done. Really responsive interface. Runs v hot (138F) compared to last image. SPDIF and HDMI work OK no output from analog.

    Reply ↓

      • Sorry for delay in responding and for initial lack of information.
        Board:wandboard quad.
        I know the analogue audio is not a hardware fault because the reference Ubuntu image analogue audio works OK. Update, actually audio is being output bit at extremely low level. Need to put av amp full volume and volume amplification to maximum sound is just audible.
        I did resize the partition using gparted to fill a 8gb sd card.
        Regards

        Reply ↓

  12. hi, me again 🙂

    i have a pinnacle 460e dvb-s2 device, but it’s not recognized –> is it possible that you provide the module for it? (em28xx_dvb)

    Greetings

    Reply ↓

  13. Many things do work far better. Ive noticed zeroconf works now but i am still getting stutter in my playback of 1080p movies(roughly 8GB to 15GB files video files). Will the add-ons compatability eventually work Stephan? Or will that be permanent?

    Thx again!

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Lloyd,

      Could you please send to me an extract of files that are not perfectly played ? It is the best way that I quickly investigate and solve the problem. For now I know there are some issues for specific H264 interlaced streams @50fps or @60fps.
      But it is the only issue I am aware of and your description does not seem to match these criteria…

      For addons as I explained there might be several reasons : A dependency may be required (and that can be quickly and easily solved) or there might be a deeper incompatibility because my xbmc build is based on a very recent development version of XBMC (gotham_alpha11).
      Please tell me which addons are very important for you and I will check if I can help for them…

      Reply ↓

      • Hi again

        The add-ons I have had issues with are the Aeon MQ5 skin(when i try to enable the skin it seems to be unsuccessful in switching over and reverts back to the default confluence skin immediately).

        The other add-on is’sports-a-holic’ found in the Mash2k3 repository which i installed via a zip file. This add-on works fine on my raspberry pi.

        With regards to my 1080p movies which stutter: What kind of extracts might be able to help you? To provide you more info about the files: One is a 12GB 1080p x264 mkv with DTS. It is the film Prometheus.When i call up details of the file as it plays it says h264 under video.
        I also see h264 when playing the other file which gives me problems: the film Vicky Christina Barcelona 1080p(about 7GB)

        Does thia information help you at all?

        Reply ↓

  14. Hi Stephan.

    I’m attempting to build from source with your latest code and I have a small issue. The do_configure step for avahi is failing.

    It seems that the SRC_URI in sources/meta-stef/recipes-connectivity/avahi/avahi_0.6.31.bbappend completely replaces the value in sources/poky/meta/recipes-connectivity/avahi/avahi_0.6.31.bb rather than appending.

    If I put a merged SRC_URI in sources/meta-stef/recipes-connectivity/avahi/avahi_0.6.31.bbappend that looks like this:

    SRC_URI = “http://avahi.org/download/avahi-${PV}.tar.gz \
    file://00avahi-autoipd \
    file://99avahi-autoipd \
    file://initscript.patch \
    file://avahi_fix_install_issue.patch \
    file://fix_for_automake_1.12.x.patch \
    file://out-of-tree.patch \
    file://avahi-daemon.conf \
    ”

    Then avahi configures and compiles.

    Thank you for your hard work. It is greatly appreciated.

    Shaun.

    Reply ↓

    • ho thanks for reporting, I will have a look
      the bbappend seems to behave properly on my side, I wonder why it does not for you…

      Reply ↓

          • Hi again Stephan.

            I’ve another build issue I’m not nearly smart enough to fix myself.

            The task “xbmc_git.bb, do_configure” fails with the error:
            | checking for gawk… yes
            | checking for gperf… yes
            | checking for unzip… yes
            | checking for zip… no
            | configure: error: Could not find a required program. Please see the README for your platform.
            | WARNING: exit code 1 from a shell command.
            | ERROR: Function failed: do_configure (log file is located at /var/lib/building/udooyocto-xbmc/xbmc-bsp/build-1391308762/tmp/work/udoo_quad-poky-linux-gnueabi/xbmc/git-r4/temp/log.do_configure.2203)

            I ran bitbake all the way through with a -k and then repeated hoping that whatever was missing might just be happening too late but, alas, no joy.

            Thanks again.
            Shaun.

            Reply ↓

  15. I have tried the new image, but I am now getting following error during boot:

    PU: Freescale i.MX6Q rev1.2 at 792 MHz
    Reset cause: WDOG
    Board: Wandboard
    DRAM: 2 GiB
    MMC: FSL_SDHC: 0, FSL_SDHC: 1
    *** Warning – bad CRC, using default environment

    When I issue the commands from boot.scr manually over serial console, the system boots without problem:

    => fatload mmc ${mmcdev} ${loadaddr} /uImage
    reading /uImage
    3557816 bytes read in 184 ms (18.4 MiB/s)
    => setenv bootargs console=ttymxc0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rootfstype=ext4 consoleblank=0 video=mxcfb0:dev=hdmi,1680x1050M@60,if=RGB24,bpp=16 dmfc=3 quiet
    => bootm
    ## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 12000000 …
    Image Name: Linux-3.0.35-4.1.0-wandboard+gb8
    Image Type: ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
    Data Size: 3557752 Bytes = 3.4 MiB
    Load Address: 10008000
    Entry Point: 10008000
    Verifying Checksum … OK
    Loading Kernel Image … OK

    Starting kernel …

    I am using custom kernel (modified mxc_hdmi.c), I have created the kernel image using “bitbake linux-wandboard -c compile -f” . Maybe I am missing some step?

    Reply ↓

  16. Hello, do you think if is possible to create a standalone package of xbmc to install in others root file systems ? Yocto is too limited to install others apps.

    Reply ↓

    • It is not the best approach in my mind because I have to provide the kernel and lots of libraries to ensure proper behavior of my XBMC build…
      It is untrue that yocto is limited and prevents to install other apps : What I provide using yocto is limited but it is not an issue with yocto itself which can build many apps and allow to install many apps. It is even the most powerful build system available.
      But that’s another story and I think I understand your concern and may propose a way to solve this quite soon by allowing to use another distro side by side with my yocto one…

      Regards
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

      • I understand your point and I respect that.
        About yocto, I am only able to install apps available in your repository, in other words, apps you compile if a recipe is available. That is my big concern about yocto.

        I tried many times to build an image with apt support, to be able to try to use any other repository ( at least to try to use) , but I always stuck with the same error. And no one in yocto community is able to help.

        Anyway, I will wait for your future work. Thank you for hard work and for your time.

        Reply ↓

          • Hi crux,
            I thank you for pointing it and for sharing your own package.
            Of course, I cannot address all available distro.
            But, by not only my source code but also how I build this yocto image is fully available to ease that kinf of approach…
            A little warning for users who would like to do the same : when you target a different distro, you should adopt my own kernel or at least apply my patches as they improve the decoding or solve issues in XBMC…
            Best regards
            Stephan

            Reply ↓

  17. Are there then any reasons for the iMX6 player and codec code not being submitted upstream into XBMC.org mainline repository yet?

    It would help get more developers onboard with this development if all the work was merged into their master on GitHub.

    A similar example would be similar to how AMLCodec was recently implemented in upstream mainline for decoding on AMlogic hardware, and other examples was how OMXPlayer for OpenMAX and CrystalHD for Broadcom was implemented in upstream before.

    All those was initially developed separately in forks by third-parties at first just like your, but have since they was merged into upstream mainline master repository gained much more traction and seem much development. And same have been seen with other major non-playback features that did not pick up more developers and more active developments until they were merged upstream into mainline. In short, mainlining is very important to take development of this project to the next step.

    I am sure that if you submitted all your code for i.MX6 playback as pull requests for patches upstream to XBMC.org’s master repository for xbmc on GitHub then Team-XBMC would also ask you Stephan if you wanted to officially join Team-XBMC as primary maintainer of that code too, because if they are going to accept something into mainline then they also want a primary maintainer for that as well.

    Having this code in mainline would not only benefit the specific platforms you are working on also other development project that uses XBMC on similar i.MX hardware. Otherwise it is sad to see fragmentation between different forks of XBMC working on the same problems with others knowing about it, which causes unnecessary reinvention of the wheel and other issues when several people are working on the same problems without collaborating.

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Harley,

      The reason is mainly that I wanted to reach some kind of maturity before submitting this code.
      Generally speaking, I fully agree with your post and I have already expressed my mind about it (here and here for instance)
      At this stage, a large part of the work I wanted to address has been done. I would only like to clean rendering path and to solve an issue with interlaced streams @50/60fps. And then, I think I will be ready to try to upstream it.
      Note that I also regularly sync my branch with upstream so that I won’t be faced with a difficult and risky merge at the end.

      At last, I would like to underline that I never wanted to create fragmentation : I have publicly exposed my work and I have answered to all developers emails regarding this work in progress…

      Best regards
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

  18. Hi Stephan,

    I was wondering what was the username and password to access the wandboard over wind windows network via smb?
    I have tried root as user, but I don’t have access…

    Thanks
    Emmanuel

    Reply ↓

      • It is not really an issue but a feature : you have to create your smb users before using it 😉
        Thanks for pointing it …

        Reply ↓

      • Hi,
        I have problem with samba user creation.
        When I add user with “smbpasswd -a user” it is working ok but after reset the user do not exist.
        I found that the file /etc/samba/private/secrets.tdb is not created. Maybe someone had a similar problem and found a solution?

        Reply ↓

        • In fact it is a subtle issue : the samba password database is stored by default in /var/lock
          In my RFS /var/lock is a symlink to /run/lock and /run is a tmpfs (a ramdisk !)
          So your passwords database is not really stored in the sdcard and is lost…
          To prevent this you can add an entry in /etc/samba/smb.conf file
          In the global section , just add an entry :
          state directory = /var/samba/
          for instance and create the folder :
          mkdir /var/samba
          Of course you can choose any folder as long as it is on the sdcard and not a tmpfs…
          That way you will keep your users…

          Regards
          Stephan

          Reply ↓

  19. Is it possible that you provide the driver for RTL2832U with tuners FC001x?
    It is very common chip especially it is used for sdr.
    I compiled it on ubuntu i downloaded code from git clone git://linuxtv.org/media_build.git , but i cannot do this here, I have neither kernel src nor git.
    I am using udoo board.

    Reply ↓

    • OK I will try to provide you with this driver
      But above all I will write a little howto regarding kernel compilation (in fact you have everything to rebuild it by yourself whether natively or by cross compiling. You are just not fully aware of it as I have not documented it…)
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

  20. Hello,
    I’m trying to use the preinstalled mariadb.
    but i cant figure out how to set a user password.

    the result of all I tried is a user without password and my webapplications cant log in.

    so could you tell me please how to set up a mysql user with password?

    thank you for your great work.

    Reply ↓

    • ok found the solution.
      I used the wrong query.

      the right syntax is:

      GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER ON mydb.* TO ‘myuser’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘mypassword’; //here you can set the desired password

      Reply ↓

  21. Great!
    This is the first time, that I can use youtube or radio station ( addons ) and also the first time, that the movies and episodes informations are loaded. I’m using a wandboard quad.

    Once again: Great job!

    I hope, you are planing in future some more new releases…

    Reply ↓

  23. Hi Stephan, thanks for the new image. Unfortunately the Wandboard Quad image only gets as far as the Wandboard logo and hangs there forever (well, at least the hour I left it on). Am I using the correct image for my Zealz GK802? Or have I gone and (typically) done something dumb?

    Thanks in advance! 🙂

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Frank,
      the wand board quad image runs quite fine. There is no wand board logo while booting. Are you sure you put the ad-card into the socket on the cpu-board(under the heatsink)?
      regards
      Chris

      Reply ↓

      • Okay I’ve tried re-seating the SD card in the internal slot several times, re-writing the image onto the card twice, and I’m pretty much at a loss now. I’m using WinImage to write the image onto the card, and it claims to succeed, but then I look at the SD on my card read and it shows an 8K device called “boot wandbo” containing “boot.scr” and “uimage”. Does that seem right?

        Through all my attempts all that ever happens is it goes to a Wandboard boot logo and just sits there. I had it booting fine into one of Stefan’s older Yocto images, and I wrote the image the same way with WinImage, so I’m a bit confused and stumped now.

        Reply ↓

  24. I really think your work is great and thank you.

    But I am stuck in between where I want XBMC but I also want to use my utilite as a desktop for simple tasks. Your image gives me the XBMC, and if I put Ubuntu I get the other side. I am not fully able to install XBMC on ubuntu still.

    Would you be able to make your linux version with more functions? at least a web browser? Is that possible? And do you know how to install XBMC on Ubuntu ?

    Reply ↓

    • I’m curious about this too. Love the work you’ve done on this but I’m curious if there’s a way to run XBMC on top of ubuntu (or other linux distro) so that a full desktop environment could be utilized also. Do any of the XBMC-arm releases support freescale iMx6? Or is your yocto embedded solution the only option at the moment?

      Reply ↓

      • Im playing around with gstreamer right now… its no fun especially if you are new to it. I wish someone can point me in the correct direction.

        Reply ↓

  25. Hello, it’s me again with a problem.
    I tried to install youtube and southpark.de addon. after that I rebooted the wandboard and now wanted to use xbmc but its not working anymore.

    the gui simply hangs and nothing is working. The system is running and i can ssh into it but using xbmc is not possible.

    Is there a way to only restart xbmc from ssh?

    I have to say my wandboard boots your image from Sata (SSD) so that I dont have to use the sdcard anymore 😀 except for booting

    Reply ↓

    • hi
      You should try to remove the plugin you have just installed : odds are high it will enable to boot again.
      An even more drastic method would be to move /home/root/.xbmc to start again with a totally fresh install.
      You can perfectly relaunch xbmc from a ssh session : there is even an alias in .profile. simply issue :
      x &
      Best regards

      Reply ↓

      • thank you very much.

        if I issue this line: x & I will get a lot of errors….
        root@wandboard-quad:/# libpng warning: iCCP: known incorrect sRGB profile
        libpng warning: iCCP: known incorrect sRGB profile
        […]

        is it normal? or is something wrong with my setup?

        Reply ↓

        • Don’t worry it is only a warning issued by this version of libpng which is little too verbose 😉
          You redirect stderr to avoid to pollute your output …

          Reply ↓

  26. Hi Stephan,

    I have been struggling with DTS and DD 5.1 passthrough on S/PDIF output which did not work out on my Wandboard-Quad.
    Now I found a solution: The S/PDIF mode has to be set explicitly to “non-audio”. This can be done using iecset from alsa-utils:
    $ iecset -c 1 audio 0
    Adding this to rc.local solved my problems with S/PDIF surround sound (and stereo output is still working).
    According to ALSA documentation the mode should be selected automatically – I don’t know why this does not work…

    Regards,
    Peter

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Peter
      Thanks a lot for sharing this setting with us. I guess it will be useful to other users who reported some troubles with passthrough …
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

    • It should be easy to port on this board yes..
      As soon as you have a 3.0.35_4.1.0 kernel you can use mostly use the RFS as it is…

      Reply ↓

  28. is it possible to have this rom with XBMC Frodo…
    my plugins in my existing units are all Frodo compatible and none of those works with Gotham build….please help if you can.

    Reply ↓

  29. Hello Stephan,

    it’s me again. This time with a question instead of a problem. How do I go about pairing a device via bluetooth with my wandboard quad? Is that even possible without the antenna? I looked for my home wireless network in the settings and found it. The signal strength wasn’t the best, but good enough.

    Thank you again for your excellent work!

    Kevin

    Reply ↓

  30. Hi Stephan,
    Great work once again on this new release. Most things work a lot smoother and I managed to set up live tv, using the tvheadend and oscam software you packaged on this release, with very little effort.
    However, I do have a couple (I think 2) issues with it:
    1. On free-tv, I get not completely fluent viewing, although sound seems to remain in sync. I also see frames being dropped. In the log, I think I see a line like the following for pretty much every frame dropped:
    NOTICE: VpuDeQueueFrame – Release expired buffer – idx : 7
    Every now and then I get some ERROR: GetPicture – player is ahead of time errors
    2. On decoded tv, through oscam, things start out well, but soon audio starts to run out of sync and the log is absolutely flooded with the ‘player is ahead of time errors’.
    It does feel like it is not an oscam or tvheadend problem because when I play the same channel on my linux laptop over WiFi (so, much slower), things seem absolutely fine.
    I hope you can help.
    Best, Bastiaan.

    Reply ↓

  31. Hey there, just installed xbmc on my new udoo quad.
    works pretty fine, but ftp and cec (lg tv) arent working :/

    is there any way of getting an ftp connection at the moment?

    cheers

    Reply ↓

      • Okay installed FTP 🙂
        I will look for the CEC-Stuff in the ErrorLog. But another Problem came up…. Im trying to mount a smb/cifs share provided by Openmediavault-Server, but when I try to mount with “mount -t cifs //Server/Dir /media/mov blablalba” its gives me Wrong fs type error. Cant find any cifs util on your uploads page.,,, any guess?

        Cheers

        Reply ↓

  32. for me Wandboard is a total waste, nothing from the manufacturer…
    Raspberry PI is a lot better choice, with openelec, its The Best !
    it looks like it will take years for Wandboard to run XBMC properly.

    Reply ↓

    • Here is a lame comment from a clueless user who does not respect the work of people who strive to improve the situation.
      As a matter of fact, it is wrong : xbmc behaves already better with many streams on imx6 than on Rpi. Not to mention it is able to render a 1080p where Rpi does not and upscale.
      At this time, the true issue is that there is not yet well packaged distro for end users and getting the best from a wandboard requires some knowledge
      I cannot tell for wandboard but I can ensure that imx6 integration in XBMC is on the way and even if it will hit the features freezes for gotham , a semi official support has just been put in place here https://github.com/xbmc-imx6/
      But again it is for developers and not for grumpy users who come with hasty conclusions due to their ignorance…
      Regards.

      Reply ↓

      • dude, get over it….your works is useless if it does not work as good as even the most pathetic RPi board….
        and my comments was only about the wandboard and RPI comparison….not about any of “whatever you are doing”…..
        you can stay pissed about my comments for what i care

        Reply ↓

        • If you want to speak about wandboard lack of support why do you post here ? Just go to their forums/group…

          I let your comments instead of censuring them so that my readers can appreciate your words and see how opensource contributors are treated from time to time…

          Reply ↓

      • Yes, the new builds of xbmc are very stable. The gpu still hangs (and sometimes recover itself) but its far less than 3 weeks ago.

        My only regret is to be unable to compile using debian. I need to use arch linux to compile xbmc and I hate that systemd thing arch linux.

        Reply ↓

        • HI Leo,

          In fact you can use debian…
          I know that a user has just written the whole procedure on his wiki to do so and he is about to publish it.
          I will drop a note as soon as it is available so that you can have a look at it…
          Regards

          Reply ↓

  33. well, on that you right….i should have posted those comments on Wandboard forum (i will)
    but, i bought the Wandboard “after” looking at this blog….thought it will work pretty good….
    anyway, when you will do something like OpenElec, you will be swamped with appreciation from every one in the world….but, till then its just R&D.
    maybe good maybe not…but, definitely not something you can “set it and forget it”…yet.

    Reply ↓

    • There is a big misunderstanding regarding my work.
      My main contribution is related to software development which enables XBMC to use iMX6 hw decoding (the VPU)
      I distribute images as a proof of concept to demonstrate this development status by the time my work is packaged in major distro may they be specialized like openelec of generic like ubuntu and others. (and it is hapenning more and more with debian on udoo, archarm linux on utilite, openelec on cuboxi…)
      So your comparison is again inappropriate…

      Reply ↓

        • He ist German. you could simply see it at his webpage and now be patient and dont make stephan angry.

          He is doing really good work and why dont you simply compile your own software?

          Im a linux beginner too and wanted xbmc and owncloud at the same time on my wandboard so I started to study and compiled all on my own.

          It takes much time and you have to read many webpages, error reports and bugfixes but you learn how to help yourself.

          Knowledge is priceless and no one can take it from you 😉

          so start learning and stop moaning.

          Reply ↓

  34. ok, let me appreciate your efforts – seriously
    please email me your shipping address, i will ship you this Wandboard Quad complete in a box with wifi antenna to you….free of cost.

    Reply ↓

  35. Hello, its me again.
    I did the HDMI trick with the wandboard.
    XBMC says: connected to TV
    TV says: Device found “recorder”
    But its not possible to establish a connection.
    Do I have to do something else to get it working? do I have to set an option in xbmc?

    thank you.

    cec-client gives me this:

    root@wandboard-quad:~# cec-client
    No device type given. Using ‘recording device’
    CEC Parser created – libCEC version 2.1.3
    no serial port given. trying autodetect:
    path: /dev/mxc_hdmi_cec
    com port: i.MX

    opening a connection to the CEC adapter…
    DEBUG: [ 174] unregistering all CEC clients
    DEBUG: [ 174] Broadcast (F): osd name set to ‘Broadcast’
    ERROR: [ 175] could not open a connection (try 1)
    ERROR: [ 175] Close: Unable to stop device
    […lots of errors…]
    NOTICE: [ 10179] connection opened
    ERROR: [ 10179] could not start CEC communications
    unable to open the device on port i.MX

    Reply ↓

  36. ok. hmm yes looks like it has been installed correctly
    root@wandboard-quad:~# md5sum /usr/lib/libcec.so.2.0.1
    80b0705863c38482f3ad05866b9ea486 /usr/lib/libcec.so.2.0.1

    So the other problem is that this doestn fix my problem with cec connection.
    came back home and started my TV but XBMC is not recognized.

    its annoying^^ everytime I have to restart xbmc.

    So one question: I have to restart xbmc with “x &”. If I do so I cant close the shell on which I executed the command. so I have to reboot my server or cant shutdown my Notebook while watching South Park.

    Reply ↓

    • Hmm sorry your description seemed very similar to an issue that was supposed to be solved…
      for your shutdown issue try to launch:
      nohup /imx6/xbmc/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin

      Reply ↓

      • okay xbmc.bin is the working executable.

        tried nohup x & but this istn working.
        thanks for your help.

        I thought the problem was my very old Samsung LCD TV but with other Devices it is working correctly.

        maybe the wandboard protocol has a little difference so that TV and Wandboard cant communicate flawlessly.

        Dont know but doesnt bother me because restart with
        nohup /imx6/xbmc/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin
        is working correctly.

        thank you

        Reply ↓

  37. Ok I thought its all working but it isnt 🙁

    nothing is working anymore. restarted xbmc today for trying and no CEC anymore.
    Even the logo that pulse eight lib is loaded within xbmc isnt popping up anymore.

    it looks like libcec will not be used from xbmc.
    My TV doesnt recognize anything.

    now im frustrated 🙁
    so much time and now nothing working after applying this package :/
    rebooted the server a few times but nothing

    root@wandboard-quad:~# cec-client -l
    WARNING: [ 2] libCEC has not been compiled with detection code for the Pulse-Eight USB-CEC Adapter, so the path to the COM port has to be provided to libCEC if this adapter is being used
    Found devices: NONE

    Reply ↓

    • okay im trying again tomorrow. im totally tired and happy that cec is working again. (fixed manually so rpm is moaning if I try to install you patched package again)

      will try it tomorrow. maybe the problem isnt the package you uploaded.
      I think the problem is my self compiled lib I instralled befor you posted the package.

      Reply ↓

      • confusing but im tired now.

        root@wandboard-quad:/apache/libcec# rpm -e libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm
        error: package libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm is not installed
        root@wandboard-quad:/apache/libcec# rpm -e libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm
        error: package libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm is not installed
        root@wandboard-quad:/apache/libcec# rpm -i libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm
        error: Install/Erase problems:
        package libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon is already installed
        root@wandboard-quad:/apache/libcec# rpm -i –force libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm
        […]

        root@wandboard-quad:/apache/libcec# rpm -e libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm
        error: package libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm is not installed
        root@wandboard-quad:/apache/libcec# rpm -e libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm
        error: package libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm is not installed
        root@wandboard-quad:/apache/libcec# rpm -e –force libcec-git-r1.cortexa9hf_vfp_neon.rpm
        rpm: only installation, upgrading, rmsource and rmspec may be forced

        Reply ↓

    • I’ve added the console’s output to the thread (in Utilite’s forum).
      I think the image is problematic for some reason, and it is not a hardware failure.
      I appreciate if you can look at it.

      Reply ↓

  41. I have a problem. In Live TV some channels (HD) aren’t playing.
    Is this a codec problem? Can it be solved?
    BR
    Frank

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Frank,

      Which board do you use ?
      Could you have a look at the logs please to check if there is any hints ?

      Stéphan

      Reply ↓

  42. Hi,

    r there some updates so far?
    Problems of the current version:
    * heat @ 70°C .. mb this is the cause of that 1080p 24fps stuttering which appears sometimes ?
    * 1080p h264 sometimes stutter
    * if i have watched 1 movie .. i have to restart the whole device .. cauz the menu wont disappear if you select another movie.

    Greetings
    Nexxy

    Reply ↓

  43. Hi Stephan

    many, many thanks for your great work.
    I also have many problems with the udoo quad. It gets very hot and after 30min of playing it just freezes. Putting an fan on the cooler it helps a bit, but after 1h i have the same problem.

    OpenElec are working with Solidrun to bring an image for their CuBox. I guess it would be economical to join forces and just switch the boot loader and some board specific things instead of developing everything from scratch.

    How is your build for the CuBox going? in special for the CuBox-i2ultra

    cheers from Vienna
    Daniel

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Daniel,

      I have a new image based on the very last source for udoo quad [here](https://stephan-rafin.net/owncloud/public.php?service=files&t=f16ab77c975ecaa5c225202672ff507c)
      I have no specific temperature issue with my own model.
      Have you checked the core temperature ? Issue the command
      cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
      to get it…

      Regarding distro : I encourage people to use polished distros such as geexbox, openelec, arch linux ARM, or build their own debian.
      For udoo you can have a look at this [wiki](https://github.com/aureq/udoo-recipes) for instance
      I will not publish a specific build for cuboxi (it is a very nice product by the way) because there are already nice distro (including geexbox and openelec) which package imx6 xbmc
      Nobody has developed from scratch : I have helped and collaborated with all people who wanted to in the imx6 xbmc ecosystem.
      It is my choice to use yocto to develop and I have not found equal solution to cross compile and generate full featured SDK. But again, I do not even communicate regarding my latest builds (such as the one I have just mentioned in this post) because I think third parties distro are available and more fitted for end users…

      Best regards
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

      • Tested .your last build .. same problems like the last version.

        * Playback cant resumed after returning into mainmenu while watching a 1080p movie.
        * after about 15mins .. temp @ 80°C (Celcius not Fahrenheit) it starts stuttering and freezing.
        -> cooling helps to large the freeze gaps.
        * new version sometimes doesnt boot up completely 🙁

        Greetings
        Nex

        Reply ↓

        • Hi,
          – This version packages a lot of improvements among them a smoother experience when browsing the GUI during movie playback and I don’t really understand this first issue as I often do this without trouble (maybe related to the global overheating issue ?)
          – OK this is definitively an overheating issue : above 80°C you will quickly experience frequency throttling to avoid to damage the soc..
          – At which step does it hangs ? Do you have traces on the serial link ?

          Regards
          Stephan

          Reply ↓

          • Hi,

            * yep the gui is much much much smoother that is awesome !!
            * yep its far too hot .. i cool the whole udoo quad with an 120mm fan 🙂 .. @ 32°C
            but even with that temperature .. its impossible return into gui and start a different movie .. returning into gui would work .. but playback is kind of strange then .. i hear the sound the gui is still infront of the video :/
            * i think xbmc didnt start up .. ssh and linux was booted completely.

            Keep up the good work.
            Regards
            Nex

            Reply ↓

  44. Hi, thanks for the good work, XBMC runs great on my Utilite pro.
    I have a question though; how can I configure everything so that my audio output is always redirected to the stereo output?

    I use utilite as an HTPC, but I don’t want to have my screen on all the time if I’m just playing music for example, and obviously is I connect my speakers to the screen, when it’s off there’s no sound…

    Reply ↓

      • Hi Stephan,
        Your Image works really good, much better than the 0.04 version.
        But there are two things:
        – CEC is not working
        – its not possible to shutdown the Board via xbmc
        The option is missing in the “shutdown-Menu”
        If you try to shutdown via timer, the board will freeze

        It would be really great if you can fix that.

        Greetings
        Chris

        Reply ↓

        • Hi Chris :

          Thanks for you feedback
          I may have forgotten to update support CEC driver on wandboard as it basically broken at hardware level : you have modified your board right ?
          I am unsure I can do something really useful for the shutdown issue : Apart from XBMC are you able to shutdown your board ?

          Best regards
          Stephan

          Reply ↓

          • Hi Stephan
            Thanks for the fast answer.
            I digged a little deeper.
            If i kill xbmc.bin, cec-client is working and recognizing input from the tv remote. So on the hardware side everything works.(with your Image 0.0.4 cec has been working well).
            In the xbmc.log i found the following:
            ERROR: CecLogMessage – Write: sent command

            Does this help you cec-wise?

            Shutdown:
            If i enter ‘shutdown -h now’ the yocto screen appears, the bar on the bottom fills white and the System stops but does not shut down the HDMI port so the yocto screen stays there forever. However the USB Power is cut off.

            Greetings
            Chris

            Reply ↓

  47. Hi Stephan,
    CEC is working now.Thanks for that.
    But i have problems with shutdown. In the libcec menu within xmbc i configured the board to shutdown when tv is turned of. But it seems only to freeze. No reaction on the remote, mouse keyboard. Do you know if libcec shuts down the board by itsself of does it just execute shutdown command on the console?
    I will try to flash a original Wandboard Image to see if its a hardwareproblem.

    Another question. Do you have a image ready with the same version of XMBC but for a utilite(standart) box?
    Thanks for all your kind support.
    regards
    Chris

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Chris

      Nice to read that the CEC issue at startup is gone
      For shutdown : In fact the TV sends a CEC command which is interpreted by libcec which triggers the shutdown the same way as it would happen if you click the exit icon using the GUI
      So this remaining problem is not related to CEC except if you say that you can properly shutdown the board by clicking the exit button
      Again I am unsure what “shutdown” means for the wandboard. You have the right approach : Check what the official image does when you attempt a shutdown to know what you should expect at best…
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

  48. Hi Stephan,
    Do You have an actual Image for the utilite for me? With xbmc 13.1
    I have up with wandboard at the moment.
    Regards
    Chris

    Reply ↓

  49. Stephan,

    I am trying to download this file wandq_yocto_v0.0.7.img.xz, I don’t know if I have ever tried this image. Every time I go to this address https://stephan-rafin.net/owncloud/public.php?service=files&t=13d2af7a8aad7ccbc40fbc030fbe07eb, wolfgar shared the file wandq_yocto_v0.0.7.img.xz with you I hit download button it seems like its trying to load something then, the connection times out. Do I need permission to download this or am I doing something wrong. It was the file with new md5sum is 6522d5196ea427b4a9478e1639448f2a.

    Thanks
    Jim

    Reply ↓

  50. Hi stephan
    tried your last Image for the Udoo Quad and after 30min the whole device is running hot 🙁
    Also tried to mount a small fan but didn’t help.
    Any Idea where the Probblem could be?

    Reply ↓

    • how hot is it ?
      I mean what is the core temp returned by
      cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
      Stephan

      Reply ↓

  51. Hi Stephan,

    Thank you for the great work! I am using the utilite 0.0.7 image and it works like a charm.
    Anyway, if I leave it for a while it goes into some kind of suspend, and I cannot wake it up via remote, ssh, etc. Is there any way to disable the suspend behaviour?

    Thank you,
    Gustavo Pereira

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Gustavo,

      To be honest, I am unsure it is really some kind of suspend state which is triggered. It may be a crash
      Are you sure it is always after the same amount of time? do you have any other background activity ?
      Stéphan

      Reply ↓

      • I don’t know, as it usually happens when I’m not there.
        I will try to reproduce and keep track of the time.

        Thank you,
        Gustavo

        Reply ↓

        • Ok, so the problem is that the network gets disconnected after some time although I have ‘eternal’ lease on the router for XBMC at a specific IP address.
          Is there any way I can keep the connection alive?

          Thank you,
          Gustavo

          Reply ↓

  52. hello stephan,

    thank you for your great work its very much appreciated! I just send you a couple of dollars for further encouragement 😉
    v007 is much better for me the core temperature has decreased a lot for me.. Just came across that version in a comment by accident. Is there any place where i can keep track of your recent work? You dont seem to post everything in your blog.
    What is the best way to install packages in this image? opkg repos seem limited.. do i have to build everything manually? id like to setup a owncloud, nfs shares apache and some more..

    best regards from berlin,

    Kai

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Kai
      Well, in fact I keep on updating and building my images but I do not advertise them so much at the moment because alternative well packaged distros have been made available (archlinuxarm, geexbox…)
      At least what you can see for sure is the rpm updates in my repo : http://www.stephan-rafin.net/rpmhf2/wandboard_quad/
      Best way to install packages is to use smart on my repo
      No opkg is used, I use rpm which is the default for recent yocto releases
      I would recommend to use archlinuxarm if you want to use easily lots of additional packages : They package very well my work..
      Kind regards
      Stéphan

      Reply ↓

  53. Hi Stephan,

    As I read you don’t advertise your progress and images, may I ask you if have something new for udoo ?

    Thank you

    Reply ↓

  54. Hi there any command via ssh to update the version of XBMC ?

    XBMC version is 13.1 of the last image yocto

    sorry for my english

    thank you very much

    Reply ↓

  56. Hallo. Is there support for touch screen? i have wandboard quad c1 and 7” 1024x(RGB)x600 Pixel, 16:9 display with touch controller via usb. There is it (german link): http://www.pollin.de/shop/dt/NTMwOTc4OTk-/Bauelemente_Bauteile/Aktive_Bauelemente/Displays/7_17_78_cm_Display_Set_mit_Touchscreen_LS_7T_HDMI_DVI_VGA_CVBS.html
    Can i somehow add my resolution 1024x(RGB)x600. With android 4.4.2 from wandboard.org i had no luck and i find not how to add support for this resolution.
    best regards

    Reply ↓

  57. hallo,
    i have no internet conection with img 004 on wandboard quad c1. Network manager not founding any wifi device. Can i configure it manualy or something?
    thanks
    best regards

    Reply ↓

    • Hi
      Now imx6 support has been merged and improved in Kodi main branch.
      There is no doubt it can work on marsboard
      Question is what is the best way to have it properly packaged in an image for this board.
      For common imx6 based boards, some well known distros (arm archlinux, geexbox, openelec, … are available). For mars board I don’t know if one of thise easy to use solution already exists but you can very likely tweak one of this version by changing only bootloader/kernel…
      Regards

      Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *