X meets Windows

This is a short HowTo about the new Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Xming, the X-server for Windows. This HowTo refers to Windows 10 (build: 1703) and Xming Version 6.9.0.31 (x64). You can download the Xming for free, just use your search engine.

I will describe how you can set up Xming in order to start it from “Start” menu. This HowTo won’t describe how to install WSL. This is already hone here very well. In short I will tell, how a simple Window Manager for X (openbox) is installed  and how you can launch it, too.

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HowTo: Installation of an Ubuntu Cloud Image at Home (on a Xenial – 16.04)

This HowTo describes an installation of an Ubuntu Cloud Image on a home-server running Ubuntu Xenial (16.04 LTS) with qemu-kvm. This will be done without the help of libvirt, which comes with an additional abstraction layer I don’t really need. This blog post is more about basic understanding of virtualization and how it is set up in a more or less simple way – unfortunately it’ll be more complex than I initially thought. But with this HowTo this shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

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DVBSky S952 Installation on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) HOWTO

DVBSky-S952The DVBSky S952 is a very popular Twin-DVB-S2 card on a budget which is often used in HTPCs or in Linux boxes with Kodi and/or VDR. Even Technotrend seams to produce this card as a de facto OEM version (TT S2-4200) now, which will be supported in kernel 4.7. Since Linux kernel 3.19 (e.g. used by Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet)) the DVBSky S952 is also supported by the mainline v4l tree, so it should work right away after installation. This sounds good, but it has not to be like that. I’m using kernel 4.4.0 (16.04 (LTS); Xenial Xerus) and this card didn’t work for me out of the box. So what are the options to make this card work for You? Continue reading “DVBSky S952 Installation on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) HOWTO”

omxplayer for MMS on Raspberry Pi

omxmplayerSince mplayer doesn’t support accelerated video playback on Raspberry Pi, we have to use omxplayer. This HowTo describes how you can make omxplayer work for MMS on a Raspberry Pi, since MMS won’t handle the omxplayer very well. Actually MMS wasn’t designed to use Mplayer (at least in my constellation). But luckily it’s not that hard to make it work, although I didn’t tested it very thoroughly yet.
Basically it needs three steps to make it work:

  • Create a omxplayer launch script
  • Reflect this change in the /etc/mms/MplayerConfig file
  • Create a key-config file, so you can control omxplayer from within MMS

Read the details below:
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MMS@RaspberryPi

MMS on Raspberry Pi 2 Here we go with MMS on a Raspberry Pi 2. Like in the last post, you have two possibilities to install mymediasystem (MMS) onto a Raspberry Pi. The Raspi is running a Raspian 8 (Jessie), which I pulled directly from the Rapsberry Pi site.Download the Debian-Package or compile it yourself. This blog-post describes shortly how to install MMS, but won’t cover much the topic about configuration. This is because I didn’t tried a lot.
Here is the Debian package and the source files:

Download

  • MMS Debian Package for Raspberry Pi 2: [link] (15MB)
  • MMS source files for Raspberry Pi 2: [link] (47MB)

Read how to install or compile it for your Raspberry Pi 2. It might also work for All Raspberry Pi models, but you won’t line the compile time an a Raspberry Pi 1 đŸ˜‰
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MyMediaSystem (MMS) on Xenial Xerus (16.04-LTS) HowTo

MMS on Ubunut Server 16.04 LTS Since I couldn’t convince my environment to use Kodi or whatever I had to build a new MMS for Xenial Xerus (Ubuntu Server 16.04_x64_LTS). This blog-post describes the installation and setup of an Ubuntu server and the configuration of MMS (MyMediaSystem). There are two possibilities to install MMS:

  • from a .deb file [link] (18MB)
  • do it your own (build it with g++) [link] (47MB)

The howto will also cover an installation and configuration of openbox as a simple windows manager and a few basic configurations of your server (autologin with systemd) and MMS.
The focus was to make MMS use the new ffmpeg version, since the old one is heavily outdated. I’ve even removed the old intern ffmpeg sources to save space. The compiler is: $ gcc version 5.3.1 20160330 (Ubuntu 5.3.1-13ubuntu3). The configure file was fixed quick and dirty for this compiler version. Don’t expect clean code – nowhere! I don’t have much time.
Read the installation howto after the break.
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MyMediaSystem 1.1.1 on Ubuntu Server 12.04 (Precise)

mms-yr-weatherThis HowTo describes the compilation and installation of mms-1.1.0-2296 on an Ubuntu Server 12.04 (Precise). Actually there’s much more to it, since I’ve done major changes in some places. E.g. the core of the weather plugin is completely rewritten. Since Google abandoned its weather-API, I’ve been forced to look for a new weather source. Continue reading “MyMediaSystem 1.1.1 on Ubuntu Server 12.04 (Precise)”

An Administrator has installed Google Chrome on this system…

Google Chrome Error Message

After an installation of Google Earth on a Windows 7 x64 I’ve been getting “An Administrator has installed Google Chrome on this system…” after every reboot. I’ve replaced the old desktop shortcuts and also replaced the taskbar shortcut. I’ve also reinstalled Google Chrome (uninstall and a fresh install), but the message kept coming back.
Finally I’ve found a workaround for this annoying message. Continue reading “An Administrator has installed Google Chrome on this system…”

Mplayer-vaapi on Oneiric (Ubuntu 11.10) for AMD/ATI HowTo

Mplayer-vaapi is an official branch from the mplayer project team and can be checked out via subversion. VAAPI is an video output device for hardware accelerated HD content playback (VC1, H264). VLC, Mplayer and maybe one day Xine can make use of it.
I’ve bought a ATI/AMD Redeon HD 5450 graphics card on a budget (35€/40$) so I can test the newest development going on. Installing Ubuntu 11.10 Server (Kernel 3.0.0.4-14-server) with openbox as window manager, I’ve been able to make mplayer-vaapi work, but don’t ask me how long it took me. If you know what to do, it’s quite simple. Actually the only thing one has to know is, that the current libva1 (version 0.32) driver is broken. And the ATI/AMD’s fglrx driver version 8.88.7 makes mplayer crash after a while. These two simple facts took me a few evening to find out.
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iGo Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard on Android

HID support on Cyanogenmod makes Stowaway connects to your deviceFew years ago I’ve bought a really nice Bluetooth keyboard for a Windows Mobile 2003SE device. It’s really a little masterpiece and I still love this nifty gadget very much. The same day I’ve bought an Android device last year, I’ve paired this keyboard with my brand new HTC Desire, but it didn’t work.
After rooting became almost a piece of cake [1], I took all my courage and finally rooted my HTC Desire. The best about the Cyanogenmod 6 was, it has HID support built in. That means you can use things like standard Bluetooth mice and keyboards. But it turned out most of very basic keys weren’t mapped properly – especially the German umlauts. But what I’ve really missed was the Escape key for vi (best editor in world đŸ˜‰ ).
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