Ubuntu version: Edgy Eft (6.10)
Freevo version: 1.6.2
Freevo is a home theater system for Linux (think Tivo). While it is not as feature rich as MythTV, it should do everything that you would want a PVR to do. These instructions will show you how to install these packages from source, as opposed to using apt-get. If you want to do that, follow these instructions from the Freevo wiki.
Library Dependencies:
The first step is to install all the dependencies. Python 1.4 is installed by default, so we can start from there. We will first need to install the SDL bindings for python. Open a console and issue the following command:
sudo apt-get install python-pygame
Now, mmpython, which is the Media Metadata Retrieval framework for python.
sudo apt-get install python-mmpython
Now the eGenix mx extensions, we need several packages, so we’ll use a wildcard to make sure we get them all
sudo apt-get install python-egenix*
Install the Twisted service framework.
sudo apt-get install python-twisted
Now, element tree (included by default in Python 2.5 or later):
sudo apt-get install python-elementtree
And, last of all, libexif. This is used for tagging jpeg images.
sudo apt-get install libexif12
There are some dependencies not listed on the dependencies page. We’ll install them now: (Note, I added these to the dependency page)
sudo apt-get install python-imaging
sudo apt-get install python-numeric
Application Dependencies:
Freevo uses other applications to do the work of playing, viewing and recording media. Either Xine or mplayer is needed for video, so we’ll install both. Note, if you want to watch encrypted DVDs (most commercial DVDs) you are going to have to pull some tricks. Start here. For now, we’ll start with the basic applications to get you going.
sudo apt-get install
sudo apt-get install mplayer
sudo apt-get install xine-ui
sudo apt-get install mencoder
sudo apt-get install sdvd
TVTime is used for viewing live television.
sudo apt-get install tvtime
sudo apt-get install xmltv
W need lame for mp3 encoding:
sudo apt-get install lame
There are other applications that you might find useful listed on the dependencies page.
The next step is to download the latest release here. It will be a compressed archive file; for the purposes of this document, we will refer to it as freevo-1.6.x.tar.gz. After you download it, open a console in the directory you saved it and issue the following commands:
tar -xzvf freevo-1.6.x.tar.gz
cd freevo-1.6.x
sudo python setup.py install
Set it up by running:
freevo setup
For some reason or other, this doesn’t do everything you need it to. So, still in the freevo-1.6.x directory, run the following:
cp local_conf.py.example ~/.freevo/local_conf.py
You will need to edit the file ~/.freevo/local_conf.py in your favorite text editor. Now, configuration should be the same no matter what system you are using. There is loads of good info on that at the Freevo webisite.
January 13th, 2007
The KDE desktop plugin for Perlbox Voice allows you to navigate and control many parts of your desktop through spoken words. You can switch virtual desktops, invoke the k-menu, lock the screen and many other tasks that would normally require that your hands leave the keyboard and go to the mouse. This can be very useful.
Available Commands
| You Say |
Desktop Does |
| “desktop one” |
Switch virtual desktop to 1 |
| “desktop two” |
Switch virtual desktop to 2 |
| “desktop three” |
Switch virtual desktop to 3 |
| “desktop four” |
Switch virtual desktop to 4 |
| “desktop next” |
Switch virtual desktop to next |
| “desktop previous” |
Switch virtual desktop to previous |
| “desktop menu” |
Invoke the k-menu |
| “desktop exit now” |
Invoke the exit dialog |
| “desktop execute” |
Invode the ‘run command’ dialog |
| “desktop align icons” |
Align Icons to grid |
| “desktop refresh” |
Refresh the desktop |
| “desktop lock” |
Lock the screen |
| “desktop rotate wallpaper” |
Change to next wallpaper |
*Note: Must have multiple wallpapers set up in KDE for ‘Rotate Wallpaper” to work.
Open the file $HOME/.perlbox-voice/dtplugins/kde.plug in your favorite editor. This file is set up in the same way as the table above, with the spoken command on the left and the executed command on the right, separated with a colon.
Spoken Command : Executed Command
You can add as many commands to this file as you like, of any sort, but they must start with the word “desktop” as this is used as an internal trigger.
For more information on writing desktop plugins, please see this post.
January 13th, 2007
Desktop plugin support for the Perlbox Voice Application Framework was designed so that the creation and extention of plugins would NOT require a degree in computer science. The format of the plugin is very simple; a single file that stores a list of command:response pairs.
Definitions:
Command: This is what the user will ’say’ to invoke the computer’s ‘response’. There are only two basic rules for building command phrases:
1. You must use real words (including most common proper nouns)
2. The phrase MUST begin with the word ‘desktop’, this way Perlbox Voice knows what type of plugin to push the command through.
Response: This is the action that the computer will perform on hearing a valid command. As before, there are some rules for this section
1. You must use real executable system calls that are valid on the computer
2. The response must be complete, meaning there is no scripting presently (though evironmental variables should work fine).
Examples (from the kde plugin):
desktop one:dcop kwin KWinInterface setCurrentDesktop 1
The command here is desktop one. When the user says desktop one, the computer will execute the command dcop with the arguments kwin KWinInterface setCurrentDesktop 1. Dcop knows what to do with this, and the user will be switched to the first virtual desktop.
Note that the command:response pair are separated by a colon, this is not optional.
Important!
1.) All files must be named name.plug, where name is the name of your plugin.
2.) To insure forward compatability with Perlbox Voice, the first line of the file should begin with a comment describing the plugin (see the example below).
File Locations
Addon plugins should be installed in $HOME/.perlbox-voice/dtplugins/, where $HOME is the users home directory.
Example (from kde.plug)
#kde desktop plugin for perlbox-voice January 2004 by Shane C. Mason (me at perlbox dot org)
desktop one:dcop kwin KWinInterface setCurrentDesktop 1
desktop two:dcop kwin KWinInterface setCurrentDesktop 2
desktop next:dcop kwin KWinInterface nextDesktop
desktop previous:dcop kwin KWinInterface previousDesktop
desktop menu:dcop kicker kicker popupKMenu 100
desktop exit now:dcop kdesktop KDesktopIface logout
January 13th, 2007
