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brAzzi64 · 2014-05-25, 02:52

Without intentions of hijacking the thread, I'm trying to run XMBC on an Arch Linux on the Chromebox. I been struggling with several issues along the way, hope I had found this thread before ^^. I posted my current issue on a separate thread here.

Did anybody have any experience with it?

I had to wipe out the whole SSD to make my installation work, so I'll definitely give this script a try after I make my arch installation work, hoping to end up with a dualboot system.

Thanks!

Matt Devo · (This post was last modified: 2014-05-25, 20:07 by Matt Devo.)

(2014-05-24, 16:25)Kietunes Wrote: Hi Matt,

Firstly apologies, I've tried everything I think of to sort the issue but I just haven't had any joy.

I followed the instruction in the original post, I made sure I followed the Device Prep section, downloaded & ran the script no problem.

I was then able to install the Coreboot firmware, I didn't backup a copy as I had already done so using the ChromeOS Recovery Tool.

perhaps I need to make this more clear in the OP/script. The recovery media created by the Google ChromeOS Recovery Tool will allow you to restore the ChromeBox provided you are running the stock firmware. The Recovery button operation/function is part of the stock firmware. Without it, the recovery media is useless. That's why you need to back up your stock firmware.

Now, the stock firmware is also contained within the recovery media image, but it's a bit of a pain to extract it, and it's not an exact copy since it doesn't contain your unique serial number, etc. But it's enough to get the box back running ChromeOS.

Quote:If I try to recover my firmware using my recovery stick it just hangs on a black screen with a load of text...sometimes it stops at the line;

"[3.315732] drm_kms_helper: panic occurred, switching to text console"

other times it stops at

"[3.348785] ---[ end trace 0a86c12e100920cd]

As per above, the recovery media is useless without the stock firmware.

(2014-05-25, 02:52)brAzzi64 Wrote: Without intentions of hijacking the thread, I'm trying to run XMBC on an Arch Linux on the Chromebox. I been struggling with several issues along the way, hope I had found this thread before ^^. I posted my current issue on a separate thread here.

Did anybody have any experience with it?

I had to wipe out the whole SSD to make my installation work, so I'll definitely give this script a try after I make my arch installation work, hoping to end up with a dualboot system.

Thanks!

looking at the other thread, seems like you got the issue sorted.

This script will only run on a ChromeOS (or ChromiumOS) system. The dual boot setup is only meant for dual-booting ChromeOS, trying to use it for anything else will only cause problems to the degree the script runs at all.

tetsuya · (This post was last modified: 2014-05-25, 21:21 by tetsuya.)

(2014-05-25, 02:52)brAzzi64 Wrote: Without intentions of hijacking the thread, I'm trying to run XMBC on an Arch Linux on the Chromebox. I been struggling with several issues along the way, hope I had found this thread before ^^. I posted my current issue on a separate thread here.

Did anybody have any experience with it?

I had to wipe out the whole SSD to make my installation work, so I'll definitely give this script a try after I make my arch installation work, hoping to end up with a dualboot system.

Thanks!

Since your using Arch minimal for xbmc, I assume you want to run ChromOS (or ChromiumOS) as a dual boot.
You can forgo a dual boot and have ChromiumOS run as an independent display manager on any VT.
Chromium OS UI ('official' prebuilt snapshot), display manager session

brAzzi64 · 2014-05-25, 23:46

Wow, wait. I don't think I completely got it. But first:

I originally wanted to ran a dual boot ChromeOS and minimal Arch with XMB, but had trouble trying to get grub installed on the GPT partitioned drive and decided to start off by getting an Arch running by itself in the entire drive, which I have working now.

What you're saying here is that I could install the Chromium OS "desktop" on my current Arch, along with XBMC? That sounds really interesting. If that's the case, how do you run XMBC? Can you switch between one "desktop" or the other (XBMC/ChromiumOs) on the fly, without restarting the system itself, or how would it work?

brAzzi64 · 2014-05-26, 00:19

Matt Devo: I see that you mention:

Quote:Install Linux to partition /dev/sda7, and the grub bootloader to /dev/sda.

But while I was trying to install grub, I got something like:

Code:
warn : This GPT partition has no BIOS Boot partition; embedding wont be possible!.

warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup using blocklists.

However blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged.

error: if you really want to use blocklists, use --force.

I was not sure if I needed to mark one of the (many) existing GPT partitions as "BIOS Boot partition" and install my new OS on /dev/sda7 or what exactly. Have you tried to install grub along with ChromeOS?

tetsuya · 2014-05-26, 00:58

(2014-05-25, 23:46)brAzzi64 Wrote: Wow, wait. I don't think I completely got it. But first:

I originally wanted to ran a dual boot ChromeOS and minimal Arch with XMB, but had trouble trying to get grub installed on the GPT partitioned drive and decided to start off by getting an Arch running by itself in the entire drive, which I have working now.

What you're saying here is that I could install the Chromium OS "desktop" on my current Arch, along with XBMC? That sounds really interesting. If that's the case, how do you run XMBC? Can you switch between one "desktop" or the other (XBMC/ChromiumOs) on the fly, without restarting the system itself, or how would it work?

I haven't tried it myself yet, but basically it would run on a second X server (:0.0 xbmc and :1.0 ChromiumOS)
on another tty(ctrl-alt-F?) that you assign it. You would just switch to the tty it's running and back to xbmc
when your done with it. If you shut your box off, you can run it as a service and it'll load both X-servers up,
or you could start and end the second X-server when you needed it.

To load it up on tty2 (ctrl-alt-F2)

Code:

systemctl start [email protected]

mikeporetti · 2014-05-26, 01:19

If id like to run openElec ONLY, do i need to install the firmware in the script? (option 4)

i have a problem, i insert a usb and run option 5. When it reboots i get "booting from hard disk" and nothing happens.
I check to see if any data has actually been stored on my usb by putting it in my laptop and nothing is there.

any suggestions?

Matt Devo · (This post was last modified: 2014-05-26, 01:29 by Matt Devo.)

(2014-05-26, 00:19)brAzzi64 Wrote: Matt Devo: I see that you mention:

Quote:Install Linux to partition /dev/sda7, and the grub bootloader to /dev/sda.

But while I was trying to install grub, I got something like:

Code:
warn : This GPT partition has no BIOS Boot partition; embedding wont be possible!. warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup using blocklists. However blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged. error: if you really want to use blocklists, use --force.

I was not sure if I needed to mark one of the (many) existing GPT partitions as "BIOS Boot partition" and install my new OS on /dev/sda7 or what exactly. Have you tried to install grub along with ChromeOS?

/dev/sda12 should already be marked as the BIOS boot partition; that's what boots when you do a legacy boot [CTRL-L].

the ChrUbuntu script, which installs Ubuntu in a dual boot setup with ChromeOS, does exactly what I describe: installs itself to /dev/sda7, and installs grub at the root of the device/volume (/dev/sda). I'm not familiar enough with grub to know why you are getting that error or how to mitigate it.

Also, I'm not sure why you'd want to dual boot ChromeOS + Arch/XBMC. I don't see any advantage to the latter over OpenELEC for instance, but then again I'm not that familiar with Arch linux.

(2014-05-26, 01:19)mikeporetti Wrote: If id like to run openElec ONLY, do i need to install the firmware in the script? (option 4)

i have a problem, i insert a usb and run option 5. When it reboots i get "booting from hard disk" and nothing happens.
I check to see if any data has actually been stored on my usb by putting it in my laptop and nothing is there.

any suggestions?

you won't be able to install OpenELEC without first flashing the firmware in option 4 - the script literally tells you this when it's finished creating the OpenELEC installer:

Quote:Creation of OpenELEC install media is complete.
Upon reboot, press [ESC] at the boot menu prompt,
then select your USB/SD device from the list.

If you have not already done so, run the Standalone setup option before reboot.

Press [Enter] to return to the main menu.

if you're getting an error creating the OpenELEC install media using the script, then report it here so I can fix it. You can also just download OpenELEC from their site and make the install media that way - which is exactly what the script is doing.

mikeporetti · (This post was last modified: 2014-05-26, 01:43 by mikeporetti.)

okay ive installed the firmware. and emptied the new contents of the usb(the firmware backup) onto my laptop for safe keeping. Now it wont allow me to get the the command prompt, and thus i cannot reinstall openElec as i had before. Did i miss a step?

It goes straight to "boot from hard disk" and says, "no bootable drive" (usb is empty)

may i go to this link http://openelec.tv/get-openelec/viewcate...ric-builds load up the installer onto the usb and try again?

pretty desperate been at this for 8 hours now

Matt Devo · 2014-05-26, 01:44

(2014-05-26, 01:40)mikeporetti Wrote: okay ive installed the firmware. and emptied the new contents of the usb(the firmware backup) onto my laptop for safe keeping. Now it wont allow me to get the the command prompt, and thus i cannot reinstall openElec as i had before. Did i miss a step?

if you've already rebooted the ChromeBox after flashing the firmware, then no, you won't be able to use my script to create the OE install media. So just download it from the OE website and use their tool / follow their instructions to create the USB installer - just like you would on any other PC.

mikeporetti · 2014-05-26, 01:58

hey guys i got it working, just so for the sake of others id like to report what i did. After i installed the core firmware i could not enter the script anymore, so i then simply followed these steps and voila.
http://geekfreely.blogspot.ca/2014/04/op...mebox.html
Yay i am so happy! Smile

Matt Devo · (This post was last modified: 2014-05-26, 02:21 by Matt Devo.)

(2014-05-26, 01:58)mikeporetti Wrote: hey guys i got it working, just so for the sake of others id like to report what i did. After i installed the core firmware i could not enter the script anymore, so i then simply followed these steps and voila.
http://geekfreely.blogspot.ca/2014/04/op...mebox.html
Yay i am so happy!

the steps in that link reference an outdated version of my script and should not be followed. which part did you follow, just the creation of the OpenELEC install media? If so, then you should have just downloaded the official version of OpenELEC like I said to. There's no advantage to using that older build with the custom bootloader; it's not needed with the new Coreboot firmware.

denrock · 2014-05-26, 02:55

hey matt, great job with the script. I'm pretty much an amateur with this stuff since mostly what I do is just put different linux distros on a couple of old laptops, but I was able to follow your directions and have openelec/xbmc up and running in about half an hour. So thanks for taking the time to do all the work and share it and answer questions.

Unfortunately, a couple of my usb drives that I keep my media on are only recognized about 90% of the time, a couple of others are only recognized about 50% of the time, and the rest (the majority) aren't recognized at all. So, it's pretty much useless to me as a media center. It's a shame because xbmc runs really great on it! Are there anymore firmware tweaks you're working on that might help this usb problem?

If not, I made the backup of the original firmware per your directions in your original post. But how do I flash it back? Thanks for any help.

Matt Devo · 2014-05-26, 03:00

(2014-05-26, 02:55)denrock Wrote: hey matt, great job with the script. I'm pretty much an amateur with this stuff since mostly what I do is just put different linux distros on a couple of old laptops, but I was able to follow your directions and have openelec/xbmc up and running in about half an hour. So thanks for taking the time to do all the work and share it and answer questions.

Unfortunately, a couple of my usb drives that I keep my media on are only recognized about 90% of the time, a couple of others are only recognized about 50% of the time, and the rest (the majority) aren't recognized at all. So, it's pretty much useless to me as a media center. It's a shame because xbmc runs really great on it! Are there anymore firmware tweaks you're working on that might help this usb problem?

If not, I made the backup of the original firmware per your directions in your original post. But how do I flash it back? Thanks for any help.

these USB flash drives aren't recognized by OpenELEC? As long as they are FAT/FAT32/ExFAT they should be readable - not sure about NTFS though.

It's possible to restore your stock firmware by booting up ChromiumOS on USB, then using flashrom to flash the stock firmware file.

I'm unable to reproduce this issue here myself, so somewhat difficult to troubleshoot.

denrock · 2014-05-26, 04:44

Yeah, the usb drives with all my movies and music are formatted NTFS. It's weird, in XBMC for the drives that do get recognized some of the time a message will pop up saying it was mounted but it's nowhere to be found. If I reboot sometimes it'll show up then, sometimes it will just do the same thing saying it mounted the drive but it won't show up. It seems like it's similar to problems other people were having in other comments where they mentioned certain usb drives or sticks were working and others not working.

Do you know of any walkthroughs of how to reflash the rom with the method you described? Thanks for any help.

(2014-05-26, 03:00)Matt Devo Wrote:
(2014-05-26, 02:55)denrock Wrote: hey matt, great job with the script. I'm pretty much an amateur with this stuff since mostly what I do is just put different linux distros on a couple of old laptops, but I was able to follow your directions and have openelec/xbmc up and running in about half an hour. So thanks for taking the time to do all the work and share it and answer questions.

Unfortunately, a couple of my usb drives that I keep my media on are only recognized about 90% of the time, a couple of others are only recognized about 50% of the time, and the rest (the majority) aren't recognized at all. So, it's pretty much useless to me as a media center. It's a shame because xbmc runs really great on it! Are there anymore firmware tweaks you're working on that might help this usb problem?

If not, I made the backup of the original firmware per your directions in your original post. But how do I flash it back? Thanks for any help.

these USB flash drives aren't recognized by OpenELEC? As long as they are FAT/FAT32/ExFAT they should be readable - not sure about NTFS though.

It's possible to restore your stock firmware by booting up ChromiumOS on USB, then using flashrom to flash the stock firmware file.

I'm unable to reproduce this issue here myself, so somewhat difficult to troubleshoot.