Hello folks,
I have finaly started making progress wit my htpc. I had been playing with peppermint which was very appealing but nothing seemed to really work and I couldn’t get xbmc to install.
I have now ended up with xbmcbuntu which seems just like peppermint but works. But it is ugly!
It appears to be an lxde set up, are there any downloads to improve the appearance or themes?
Only other thing I think I need now is configurable dual screens.
Can anyone please help?
Smiler.
There is a ton of themes and things you can download.
Check out Deviantart. I’ve linked you to the Linux themes section.
Which graphics card/drivers are you using?
sudo lshw -C display
sudo lshw -C pci
@BkS … Unless this is a different system, lshw said (at link below) that it was an Intel graphics card using the i915 driver.
See here:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=9932.msg71492#msg71492
@Smiler … Starting a new topic like that make thing svery hard to follow 
My fault though … I should have asked you to start a new topic called something like “Dual monitor setup on Zotac H67-ITX Motherboard” or similar, once the “Pining to taskbar” question was resolved … Note to self:- I really should be promoting proper structure on this forum. C:-)
OK, never tried XBMCbuntu, but if its an LXDE DE I’m guessing this will translate from Peppermint.
Preferences>Customise Look and Feel for themes, but don’t expect the same amount of customisations as in Gnome.
Dual monitors … it REALLY would have helped if you had an NVIDIA card which has its own control panel with a lot of configuration options.
But here goes …
BE AWARE … You are going to be working from the commandline with no GUI for part of this, so write this down, or better yet print it off.
(and remember Linux commands ARE case sensitive)
You’re going to want to create an xorg.conf file whilst both monitors are attached and switched on …
Reboot and hold the Shift key as soon as you BIOS POST screen disappears till you are at the GRUB boot screen.
Select “Recovery Mode”, and hit enter.
When you are offered a load of options, use the Tab key to select “Cancel”
You should now be asked to log on … enter your username and hit enter.
enter your password and hit enter.
You should now be at a normal $ prompt.
Run:
Xorg -configure
then
sudo mv -v /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
then
sudo cp -v ~/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
When that finishes, reboot with:
sudo reboot
With a bit of luck, when you are back at your normal desktopboth monitors will be available in Preference>Monitors
If your system refuses to boot …
Reboot and hold the Shift key as soon as you BIOS POST screen disappears till you are at the GRUB boot screen.
Select “Recovery Mode”, and hit enter.
When you are offered a load of options, use the Tab key to select “Cancel”
You should now be asked to log on … enter your username and hit enter.
enter your password and hit enter.
You should now be at a normal $ prompt.
Run:
sudo mv -v /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.broken
Then reboot with:
sudo reboot
Hello Mark, sorry for thread hoping.
I have managed to make it look a bit re presentable so thanks for that.
I shall have a go a sorting the second screen as soon as my HDMI cable arrives which should be tomorrow. I’ll of course let you know how I get on.
Yet again Mark you appear as my saviour and show me the guiding light!
Cheers.
Yet again Mark you appear as my saviour and show me the guiding light!
Heh … You’ll be wandering around carrying boxes of gold, frankincense, and myrrh next 
Yeh, let us know.
Nothing arrived today, if it comes tomorrow it’d better fit through the letter box or I’ll be paying a trip to the post office collections on wed.
Hello, back again at last after a little hiccup from the ISP.
My HDMI lead has arrived and is installed and at the moment both screens are working in mirrored mode.
I had a go with the above instructions but I am presently on auto-login thanks to a bit of code that I typed into the terminal. I don’t know how to disable this yet. I have Xterm and UXterm terminals on this version of linux, does that mean anything to you?
I used one of these and try’d the code but it didn’t like it. I shall try again in a bit incase it was me getting it wrong.
I have found a ‘build plate’ on the system and it turns out it’s built on ubuntu 11.10
Off to have another go now, and to make a list of the other ‘challenges’ I’m currently attempting.
Many thanks,
Smiler.
I’m baffled by what you mean by “build plate” ?
What is the output from:
cat /etc/*-release
and
uname -a
What are the contents of your xorg.conf file:
gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
?
As for auto-login, it would be helpful if you could say what you originally did to enable it.
By build plate I meant an info page I somehow managed to find.
Results as requested are:
DISTRB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_ELEASE=11.10
DISTRB_CODENAME=oneiric
DSTRIB_DSCIPON=“Ubuntu 11.10 - XBMCbunttu”
Linux Awesome1 3.0.0-16-generic-pae #29-Ubuntu SMP Tue Feb 14 13:56:31 UTC 2012
i686 i6886 i386 GNU/Linux
Final request brings up an empty xorg.conf box.
As for what I did to enable auto login, it was some command through the nal.
By the way, I only have XTERM and UXTERM terminals, are these suitable?
I shall try to dig out the thread where I got the instruction to enable auto-login.
Yes they are fine … ANY terminal app will do.
If you don’t have an xorg.conf file … you obviously haven’t followed my instructions in this posting yet:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=9943.msg71610#msg71610
the bit after the Be Aware is the bit you need to be looking at
No I haven’t yet, I think I might need to disable the auto-login as it doesn’t seem to work. If only I could find what I did to enable it! Still looking!
I’ll have another go and see what happens.
Oh, also got a shiny new lidles wireless keyboard and mouse so I’m sorry about the missing letters in that previous post!
Cheers,
Smiler.
You shouldn’t need to disable auto-login (login actually occurs MUCH later in the boot process) … just hold SHIFT as you turn on the system … eventually you should be presented with the GRUB menu.
Yep, that works. It loads up in a slightly lower screen resoloution. I then open up a terminal and follow the commands you gave.
As this thread is starting to wander a bit and I keep forgeting what the title is, I’m going t confuse everyone by starting a new thread particularly for this request.
I’ll hopefully see you in the new thread.
Smiler.
Ta very much! ;D