XBMC + Desktop, Spotify & Internet Browser

Hi

So I've got XBMC (XBian), a desktop (LXDE), Spotify (despotify) and internet browser (Chromium) all working very nicely on the Pi.. I've added some tweaks to use runlevels to allows the ability to just click an icon to flick from XBMC to Desktop and back.. Meaning no terminal commands are needed (well apart from despotify).. This was for the little lady after all, so needed to be simple..

I searched round for a while trying to work out the best way to do this.. I have tried a few ways.. I think this seems to be the best... I only install what I need to keep the footprint and boot times minimal with a focus on XBMC for performance..

As it took me a while to tweak to my liking and because I now have a script that I can just run on a new image.. I thought I should share the instructions.. So I will break down my script to try and help you out, if this is what you are after anyway...

So first off grab XBian from here http://xbian.org/. I use the XBian 1.0 Alpha and have incorporated many of the fixes they have posted to be initially called by my script, so it takes the 1.0 Alpha image and upgrades it. I am not going to list all them, have a look on github https://github.com/Koenkk/Xbian/issues?state=open. If you are unsure just use the latest stable release. Currently XBian 0.8.3.

So once you have your image burnt to SD card, set it up how you want... I have some extra partitions, using a 16GB card. It is not required.. You will obviously need a way to type into terminal, either keyboard or ssh... If you chose the Alpha, check their wiki and upgrade and put any fixes you may need. You want to know XBMC is working don't you?

Also good idea to update/upgrade etc now:

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sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Now we have XBMC (XBian) we need to get a desktop environment we can get to, so....

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echo "Installing xorg...."
sudo apt-get install xorg -y
echo "Installing LXDE......."
sudo apt-get install lxde-core --no-install-recommends -y
# To be able to reboot from logout menu we need
sudo apt-get install upower -y
sudo apt-get install lxde-icon-theme -y
echo "Adding lxterminal.........."
sudo apt-get install lxterminal -y

Now we should have a Desktop environment... To get to this you need to exit XBMC and type 'startx' in terminal screen.. Of course there isn't a lot that can be done with it... So choose what you want to add, this is just what I added but you can add what you like..

So I wanted a browser.. I like Chromium (thanks to Hexxeh http://hexxeh.net/), enables sync with Google account... But you can install whatever you want..

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echo "Installing Chromium browser"
## This is NOT my work, it is Hexxeh - http://hexxeh.net/
sudo apt-get install -y --force-yes libnss3 libxrender1 libxss1 libgtk2.0-0 libgconf2-4
sudo mkdir -p /opt/google/
cd /opt/google
sudo wget http://distribution-eu.hexxeh.net/chromium-rpi/chromium-rpi-r22.tar.gz -O chromium-rpi.tar.gz
sudo tar xvf chromium-rpi.tar.gz
sudo chown root:root chrome/chrome-sandbox
sudo chmod 4755 chrome/chrome-sandbox
sudo rm -rf /usr/bin/chrome
sudo ln -s /opt/google/chrome/chrome /usr/bin/chrome

I tried a couple of others, iceweasel and midori.. midori is probably the quickest.. But any browser is going to be slow..

So now, spotify... Again great work from Hexxeh http://hexxeh.net/... Although there are some pre-requisites, as just trying to make from his instructions errors as we are missing things.. Of course we don't even have 'make' yet.. So here we go:

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## Pre-requisites
#Need Make
echo "Installing despotify pre-requisites..."
sudo apt-get install make gcc -y
# Make the libs
cd /opt/vc/src/hello_pi
sudo make -C libs/ilclient
# Make audio
cd hello_audio
sudo make
# symlink libs to correct place for hexxeh's despotify
cd /opt/vc/include/interface/vcos
sudo ln -s ./pthreads/vcos_platform_types.h
sudo ln -s ./pthreads/vcos_platform.h
cd /opt/vc/src/hello_pi/libs/
sudo ln -s ./ilclient/ilclient.h
sudo ln -s ./ilclient/libilclient.a

Now we have the pre-requisites Hexxeh's instructions will work..

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## This is NOT my work, it is Hexxeh - http://hexxeh.net/
echo "Installing despotify....."
cd ~
sudo apt-get install libtool git libssl-dev libmpg123-dev libvorbis-dev libncursesw5-dev -y
git clone git://github.com/Hexxeh/despotify.git -b raspberrypi
cd despotify/src
sudo make

That should be it.. Go to Hexxeh's blog to look at spotify options - you MUST have a premium account..

So exit XBMC and type 'startx' to get to desktop..
On your desktop you can add icons for spotify, chromium etc..
Reboot from desktop and you should find yourself back in XBMC..

I have scripted all my customisations.. They run after the stuff I explain above.

I change XBMC to only run in the default runlevel (2)
I use advanced launcher to call a script which updates inittab to change the defaul runlevel (to 5) and then reboot the machine..
Added a script that is setup to only run in runlevel 5, which auto launches the desktop and updates inittab back to runlevel 2.
So then when I reboot from desktop I am back in XBMC..
A few tweaks to desktop:
added spotify desktop icon, which runs a script in background to auto log in
added a chromium desktop icon so can disable ipv6 and have google as home page

I also created a MySql server on my windows machine so the database is centralised for any XBMC... Also put the thumbnails all there too, so my Movies, TV & Music database is just one centralised.. Only got two XBMC's running at the moment, but they are in sync and I will add more.. I like the ability to stop on one and continue where you left off in another room..

Next - I may look to change memory split as part of the switch to desktop.. maybe speed it up a little, but remember to change it back for XBMC

Simples...

The runlevels stuff only works in Alpha as 0.8.3 used profile rather than runlevels (although its still possible with 0.8.3 - i had it working there first)..

If people are interested I can add extra details for what I do with the runlevel for ease of switching.. There are other ways to do it though..

Erm, that's it.. I am a bit of a noob to all this, so hope it is of interest/use to someone.. Post and let me know if so.. It is my first post/blog after all...

North3221

Thank you very much for this. This is exactly what I want to do, and your post came at exactly the right time.

I am assembling a raspberry pi for my neice and nephew to be used for xbmc to play movies, but also for software like gcompris. I tried an install of xbmc on rasbian but the xbmc in it wasnt nearly as good as xbian.

I am following your instructions now. I would be very interested in knowing how you switch between desktop and xbmc simply(without using the console)

Hi

Glad to help.. I looked round for a while.. a couple of guys have xbmc on full Raspbian but I like the minimal approach and dev going on with XBian.. Also there seemed to be memory leak issues with the others, which so far seem to be solved with this approach..

The Alpha has still got some bugs, but is definitely usable and means I can keep updating to their new code..

Let me know how you get on.

OK I will get round to adding the instructions for the switching if people are using this.. Only just posted this so looks like you are the first to try it...

This is exactly want I've been looking for as well, and like you making it easy for the lady is a big thing for me as well

Will now follow your instructions and see if I can get it to work.

Thanks a lot!

isnt despotify just terminal based? or do you use some sort of web or gui interface?

HOW TO GET FROM XBMC TO DESKTOP AND BACK WITHOUT TERMINAL

OK - It doesn't seem to let me edit my post so I'll add the details of how to switch between here..

NB - Exit XBMC BEFORE doing any of this - including the initial post

Also TAKE A BACKUP - incase this goes wrong!!! I am taking this from my script, I already have all the other scripts created that we make here, so I could have missed something. Backup is your friend!

I use runlevels - for XBian this only works on the new vesion 1.0 (the Alpha) or above.. That's not to say you can't do it with the stable 0.8.3, as I did it there first, just needs to be done differently.

So what I do is change the runlevel in /etc/inittab. The default is 2, so I leave that to boot into XBMC (XBian) and I want to use runlevel 5 to boot into Desktop (LXDE). If you want to know more about runlevels, do a google search, but I'll walk you through what to do..

So I think its best to start by setting up what boots in each runlevel. OK lets remove XBMC from all but runlevel 2

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echo "Changing xbmc to ONLT runlevel 2...................."
sudo sed -ri 's/# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5/# Default-Start:     2/' /etc/init.d/xbmc
sudo sed -ri 's/# Default-Stop:      0 1 6/# Default-Stop:      0 1 3 4 5 6/' /etc/init.d/xbmc
sudo rm /etc/rc3.d/*xbmc /etc/rc4.d/*xbmc /etc/rc5.d/*xbmc
cd /etc/rc3.d
sudo ln -s ../init.d/xbmc K01xbmc
cd /etc/rc4.d
sudo ln -s ../init.d/xbmc K01xbmc
cd /etc/rc5.d
sudo ln -s ../init.d/xbmc K01xbmc
sudo update-rc.d xbmc defaults

That has updated our runlevel for XBMC, this wont have affected anything as it, currently, only ever runs in runlevel 2. So nothing will be broke. Try rebooting if you don't believe me.

OK what we need now is a script which can change the runlevel to 5. Easy 'init 5' does that. But I change the default runlevel instead and add a reboot because then I know any memory etc is cleaned and it boots into Desktop. It is possible to do without a reboot if you really want.

Create a file called chginit5, I put it in /usr/share/scripts

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sudo mkdir /usr/share/scripts
sudo touch /usr/share/scripts/chginit5

In there we want the following code

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#!/bin/bash
sudo sed -ri 's/'id:2:initdefault:'/'id:5:initdefault:'/' /etc/inittab
sudo shutdown -r now
exit
#EOF

so

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sudo nano /usr/share/scripts/chginit5

and paste it in.

We also need a script which will change the default run level back to runlevel 2 and boot Desktop (LXDE). Simple, reverse the code above and startx... So

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touch /usr/share/scripts/lxde

use nano to edit

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sudo nano /usr/share/scripts/lxde

and paste this:

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#!/bin/bash

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          startx
# Required-Start:    $all
# Required-Stop:     
# Default-Start:     5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 2 3 4 6
# Short-Description: startx through init, on runlevel - changing runlevel back to 2
# Description:
#
### END INIT INFO

case "$1" in
  start)
   sed -ri 's/'id:5:initdefault:'/'id:2:initdefault:'/' /etc/inittab
   startx
   #./GmoteServerLinux2.0.0/GmoteServer.sh
   ;;
  stop)
        stopx
   ;;
  status)
       
esac

exit
#EOF


Now we need to get this all working. We need to make the scripts executable:

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sudo chmod 755 /usr/share/scripts/*

Then we need to update init to run our lxde script on run level 5. I already added the header for this in the code above, so we just need the update init:

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echo "Putting LXDE into run level 5............................"
ln -s /usr/share/scripts/lxde /etc/init.d
cd /etc/rc2.d
sudo ln -s ../init.d/lxde K01lxde
cd /etc/rc3.d
sudo ln -s ../init.d/lxde K01lxde
cd /etc/rc4.d
sudo ln -s ../init.d/lxde K01lxde
cd /etc/rc5.d
sudo ln -s ../init.d/lxde S99lxde
sudo update-rc.d lxde defaults

One final thing we need to do is ensure that xbian user can sed and shutdown without a sudo password, because XBian logs into XBMC as xbian not root:

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#if you are not root already, become root
sudo su
#then enter your password
#then run
echo "xbian ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/sed, /sbin/shutdown" >> /etc/sudoers
#if you were not root and now want to come back out from root
exit

You need to reboot for that to take effect.

That should be it, you can test it. Log into pi via ssh as xbian and run this

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sh /usr/share/scripts/chginit5

Assuming that now reboots into desktop. On desktop click the logout button (bottom right) and then reboot. Because the script that launches desktop also changes the default runlevel back to 2, when you reboot it will auto launch back into XBMC.
So the final piece is to configure advanced launcher to call our chginit5 script. I found that the version of advanced launched in the xbmc addons to be out of date (as version 1.7 or something, you want 1.10). So install the repo for advanced launcher.

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mkdir /home/xbian/xbmc-addons
cd /home/xbian/xbmc-addons
# Angelscry Add-ons   Host of the Advanced Launcher Add-on
wget http://xbmc-advanced-launcher.googlecode.com/files/repository.angelscry.xbmc-plugins-1.2.1.zip

in case you are interested here are the other ones I put on - you dont need them to make this work

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# nibor - Home of 4od and Demand5 addons
wget http://nibor-xbmc-repo.googlecode.com/files/repository.nibor.zip
# TV Catchup
wget http://plugins.tvcatchup.com/~xbmc/addons/repository.tvcatchup.addons/repository.tvcatchup.addons-1.0.3.zip
# Hitchers Repo   Host of 'Alaska Revisited', 'XeeBo' and 'Foundation' skins, plus the iPlayer video add-on
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19745842/Repo/xbmc.repo.hitcher/xbmc.repo.hitcher-3.0.1.zip
# ITV Player plugin
wget http://xbmc-itv-player.googlecode.com/files/plugin.video.itv_1_0_9.zip

so then in xbmc go to system>addons>install from zip and install the advanced launcher repo. then go to the repo and install advanced launcher (if you already had advanced launched it should update).
Go to programs>advanced launcher and configure new launcher. Do a standalone and point it at your script '/usr/share/scripts/chginit5', make sure you delete the default commands in the launcher. You can cancel all the rest of the pop ups. Once created click it, the screen should go quarter size, then maybe back full screen. Then system reboots, it should open back in Desktop. As before just reboot from desktop will boot back to xbmc.

Assuming it works add the advanced launcher you created as a favourite, then you can get to it from home screen by clicking the star. You can add your own thumbnail, I use the Raspberry Pi logo.

If it didn't work, make sure you definitely have the latest version of Advanced Launcher. Make sure you can run the script as 'xbian' as mentioned above.

Hope that helps

isnt despotify just terminal based? or do you use some sort of web or gui interface?

Yep but I add a desktop icon that auto logs in so all you need to type is 'list' then 'list #' and then play #..

Not too bad

At "sudo echo "xbian ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/sed, /sbin/shutdown" >> /etc/sudoers" I get access danied, any idea why?

Great guide by the way!

At "sudo echo "xbian ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/sed, /sbin/shutdown" >> /etc/sudoers" I get access danied, any idea why?

Great guide by the way!

Sorry yeah I run everything as root so have tried to write this guide for those that may not be.. But to update sudoers you have to be root, you should use visudo but I wrote this all in an auto script, hence echo the line in.. Anyway gain root first

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sudo su

then type your password and retry

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sudo echo "xbian ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/sed, /sbin/shutdown" >> /etc/sudoers

I've managed now to boot into the desktop using ssh, and back to xbmc by restarting in desktop mode. But, when using advanced launcher (latest version, dubbel checked) the size gets to a fourth and back as described but then nothing more happens.

So, when running the script in ssh it restarts to desktop, but when trying to launch it through Advanced launcher nothing happens. Just to be clear, should "Application arguments" be blank as well? It says "%rom%" as standard but I deleted that.

I understand it must be hard to know what exactly is the problem here, but any clues would be very appreciated

Edit: access denied in ssh, must have used root before, will try again

I've managed now to boot into the desktop using ssh, and back to xbmc by restarting in desktop mode. But, when using advanced launcher (latest version, dubbel checked) the size gets to a fourth and back as described but then nothing more happens.

So, when running the script in ssh it restarts to desktop, but when trying to launch it through Advanced launcher nothing happens. Just to be clear, should "Application arguments" be blank as well? It says "%rom%" as standard but I deleted that.

I understand it must be hard to know what exactly is the problem here, but any clues would be very appreciated

Yeah app arguments should be blank... Erm OK

1 - what version advanced launcher is it?
2 - when you ssh in are you ssh as xbian? or root? should be xbian to test this..
- if xbian - does it ask for a password when you run the script?

I've managed now to boot into the desktop using ssh, and back to xbmc by restarting in desktop mode. But, when using advanced launcher (latest version, dubbel checked) the size gets to a fourth and back as described but then nothing more happens.

So, when running the script in ssh it restarts to desktop, but when trying to launch it through Advanced launcher nothing happens. Just to be clear, should "Application arguments" be blank as well? It says "%rom%" as standard but I deleted that.

I understand it must be hard to know what exactly is the problem here, but any clues would be very appreciated

Yeah app arguments should be blank... Erm OK

1 - what version advanced launcher is it?
2 - when you ssh in are you ssh as xbian? or root? should be xbian to test this..
- if xbian - does it ask for a password when you run the script?

The version of advanced launcher is 1.10.6.

Realized now that I was in root before when trying, so in xbian i get access denied when trying with sh /usr/share/scripts/chginit5" with following lines:
sed: couldn't open temporary file /etc/sedUrcp45: Permission denied
/usr/share/scripts/chginit5: 3: /usr/share/scripts/chginit5: shutdown: not found

Ran

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sudo echo "xbian ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/sed, /sbin/shutdown" >> /etc/sudoers

before, as root.

The script has the following five lines in it, just checked through nano:

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#!/bin/bash
sed -ri 's/'id:2:initdefault:'/'id:5:initdefault:'/' /etc/inittab
shutdown -r now
exit
#EOF

Thanks a lot for helping me!

The script has the following five lines in it, just checked through nano:

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#!/bin/bash
sed -ri 's/'id:2:initdefault:'/'id:5:initdefault:'/' /etc/inittab
shutdown -r now
exit
#EOF

Thanks a lot for helping me!

There is our problem - stick sudo infront of sed and shutdown. We've added xbian to be able to sudo them but then I forgot sudo in the script.. Ooops.. That's because I had everything running as root and tried to convert for the instructions.. The two lines should change to:

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sudo sed -ri 's/'id:2:initdefault:'/'id:5:initdefault:'/' /etc/inittab
sudo shutdown -r now

Would be useful if I could edit the original post but it won't let me. If anyone knows how let me know and I'll update...

Wow man fair play!

This is a great post, I love your work. My pi is in the post and I can't wait to dive in.

I want to build a all-in-one media center for my parents for Christmas - I want to keep it simple as possible for them to operate.

I like the use advanced launcher in XMBC - i want the pi to always boot to XBMC, but i want them to have the option of opening browser session or skype.

My question - skype setup, with a camera is very important for me. Have you messed around with skype by any chance? Can I get skype and XMBC to run on boot but XMBC sits in front????

The idea is that, they can watch movies and tv shows, and receive an incoming skype call, at the same time, is this possible?

Wow man fair play!

This is a great post, I love your work. My pi is in the post and I can't wait to dive in.

I want to build a all-in-one media center for my parents for Christmas - I want to keep it simple as possible for them to operate.

I like the use advanced launcher in XMBC - i want the pi to always boot to XBMC, but i want them to have the option of opening browser session or skype.

My question - skype setup, with a camera is very important for me. Have you messed around with skype by any chance? Can I get skype and XMBC to run on boot but XMBC sits in front????

The idea is that, they can watch movies and tv shows, and receive an incoming skype call, at the same time, is this possible?

Hey, glad you like the post.. I messed around a while to get it working, so figured I should share the outcome as it works pretty well.. Hopefully save people a lot of hassle by providing the guide..

Hmm, skype.. I'm no expert but my initial thought was no way.. Thinking you'd need to be in desktop for skype.. A quick search suggests there is no desktop client for skype on pi (I could be wrong).. There is a xbmc addon, but I doubt it works on RPI, give it a go though..

Have a look at Skypekit, this guy has put a wiki up, it may be possible...
http://elinux.org/RPi_Using_Skypekit

Hopefully you got it all sorted.. the instructions have been updated (thanks ukscone) so should all be good now...

The script has the following five lines in it, just checked through nano:

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#!/bin/bash
sed -ri 's/'id:2:initdefault:'/'id:5:initdefault:'/' /etc/inittab
shutdown -r now
exit
#EOF

Thanks a lot for helping me!

There is our problem - stick sudo infront of sed and shutdown. We've added xbian to be able to sudo them but then I forgot sudo in the script.. Ooops.. That's because I had everything running as root and tried to convert for the instructions.. The two lines should change to:

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sudo sed -ri 's/'id:2:initdefault:'/'id:5:initdefault:'/' /etc/inittab
sudo shutdown -r now

Would be useful if I could edit the original post but it won't let me. If anyone knows how let me know and I'll update...

Got this all working perfectly, thanks a lot for this guide!

This is great thanks!! I take it skype probably wont work - that's fine. I wanted it for my parents as i want to give them a setup PI for christmas

Will this support the wireless drivers do you think? When i initially installed xbian, my wireless adapter was'nt detected

It's an Edimax EW-7811UN

Hi

No problem, glad you like the guide...

Erm I dont use a dongle, I have ethernet, hould work fine though.. Did you look through the fixes on the XBin github?
https://github.com/Koenkk/xbian/issues?state=closed

This is great thanks!! I take it skype probably wont work - that's fine. I wanted it for my parents as i want to give them a setup PI for christmas

Will this support the wireless drivers do you think? When i initially installed xbian, my wireless adapter was'nt detected

It's an Edimax EW-7811UN

Yeh I looked there, I think after I downloaded the lxde in your guide, the wireless worked. That must have had drivers in it - i dont think the standard xbian 1.0a2 comes with the drivers!

Another note now - i can't use my keyboard any more after finsihing this guide its a 75ma DELL - so it should work on it own (no other usb device plugged in) but it doesnt! My dell mouse works fine plugged in on its own!

also using the mouse I can view the system settings and it says the cpu is using 95-99%........is this normal?

Thanks mate!

Ahh there is an open issue around wldrivers.. Think they are adding more in Alpha 3.. Alpha 2 should have all the bug fixes for things like keyboards..

Did you try the keyboard fix? Although Alpha 2 shouldn't need it...

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sudo usermod -a -G input xbian
sudo sed -i '$d' /etc/rc.local
sudo echo -e "chmod 0666 /dev/tty0\nexit 0" >> /etc/rc.local
reboot

This is the issue with using an unstable Alpha.. If you are having major issues you could revert to the stable 0.8.3 for time being.. Just the switch to LXDE needs to be done differently by editing the /etc/profile

I haven't actually installed Alpha 2 yet.. Waiting on the little lady not needing the pi long enough.. I'm still on Alpha 1

Yeh I looked there, I think after I downloaded the lxde in your guide, the wireless worked. That must have had drivers in it - i dont think the standard xbian 1.0a2 comes with the drivers!

Another note now - i can't use my keyboard any more after finsihing this guide its a 75ma DELL - so it should work on it own (no other usb device plugged in) but it doesnt! My dell mouse works fine plugged in on its own!

also using the mouse I can view the system settings and it says the cpu is using 95-99%........is this normal?

Thanks mate!

Sorry forgot to answer cpu question.. Apparently the screen is inaccurate because it has to calculate the info.. See this thread:
https://github.com/Koenkk/xbian/issues/89

ssh in and check using top, I get just over 30% while she is watching a movie...

Thanks a lot for this post this is pretty much along the lines of what I want to do with my raspberry pi. I do have one question though I want to open up a midori browser automatically after the startx command I tried putting in the midori command with the address link right after startx in the lxde script but it doesnt seem to work. I also ended up creating a new midori script with the only difference being the startx commands replaced with the midori commands but still no success, the rpi just ends up booting into the xserver and nothing else.

Any insight on this would be extremely appreciated!

Hey north3221

I solved my issues - it was a dodgy power supply from Amazon. For anyone who wants to know - i bought the raspberry pi charger from RsComponents in the UK and it works like a boss. can run an Edimax wireless USB and keyboard at same time!

I'm now running this setup perfectly

north3221 - quick question, have you overclocked this setup???

I find the skin a little slow when moving in and out of videos and such - can you recommended SAFE overclocking settings?

Hi nvid

I think you are looking at this in the wrong way. If you want midori to start, you want that within your x-session... not called as a separate thing.. So try adding to autostart:

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nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

and add the line at the end

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@midori

I haven't got midori but whatever the command and flags you want should work, just put the @ sign at the beginning to include it..

Hope that helps

Thanks a lot for this post this is pretty much along the lines of what I want to do with my raspberry pi. I do have one question though I want to open up a midori browser automatically after the startx command I tried putting in the midori command with the address link right after startx in the lxde script but it doesnt seem to work. I also ended up creating a new midori script with the only difference being the startx commands replaced with the midori commands but still no success, the rpi just ends up booting into the xserver and nothing else.

Any insight on this would be extremely appreciated!