Quote:
Originally Posted by DanGlebals  Any chance you could specify what tinkering needs to be done? |
Ah, where do I begin...
First things first - install Ubuntu 10.10 from an external CD or USB flash drive. After installation you will find the system will not shut down (need to hold down power button) - this is an issue with the wifi driver so you need to follow steps in the comments here to sort it out:
Acer Aspire Revo R3700 Desktop - Desktops | Ebuyer.com). Your wifi (and shutdown) will now work properly.
Once you have rebooted go to System - Administration - Additional Drivers to install the Nvidia Ion drivers (this had me stumped for hours - thought Ubuntu would just grab them automatically).
After that run Update Manager so everything is up to date.
Next install XBMC following instructions for Ubuntu here:
Installing XBMC for Linux - XBMC
All needs to be done from a Terminal but isn't as scary as it looks. Once that's finished you'll find it in Applications - Sound and Video. Open XBMC, go into Settings - Video - Playback and select 'Allow Hardware Acceleration (VDPAU)'. This pumps the video to the Ion.
That's it...oh, and you'll need the Flash 10.2 Beta plugin (
Adobe Labs - Adobe Flash Player 10.2) to use YouTube etc - this enables the Ion to be used but I'm still struggling to get iPlayer to work (YouTube fine though).
You also need to set up optical audio in XBMC (I'm using a Toslink cable as gave up via HDMI - I'm sure there's a fix but haven't found it).
Pleased to say it's all working, looks and sounds wonderful and XBMC is just awesome (I'm using the Aeon65 skin - example here:
YouTube - XBMC HTPC Aeon65 - Dharma Beta 2).
Hope this helps.