GeeXBoX - A Complete Multimedia System

[Solomon]

GeeXBoX

GeeXboX is a free Linux distribution providing a media center software suite for personal computers. GeeXboX uses MPlayer for media playback and is implemented as a Live CD. As such, the system does not need to be permanently installed to a hard drive, as most modern operating systems would. Instead, the computer can be booted with the GeeXboX CD when media playback is desired. This is a reasonable approach for those who do not need media playback services while performing other tasks with the same computer, for users who wish to repurpose older computers as media centers, and for those seeking a free alternative to Windows XP Media Center Edition. An unofficial port of GeeXboX also runs on the Wii.

GeeXboX comes with a utility called generator, which allows the user to customize the GeeXboX discs. The following options are configurable:

Include your movie(s).
Add non-free extra codecs.
Add non-free firmwares for your drivers.
Add extra fonts for Asian users.
Add extra themes.
Configure the network settings.
Configure audio related options.
Configure video related options.
Configure the remote control and receiver to be used.
Configure an LCD display.
Change theme, fonts and charset encoding.
Choose the services to be started with GeeXboX (like UPnP and SHOUTcast).
Modify MPlayer's startup options.

GeeXboX is a free embedded Linux distribution which aims at turning your computer into a so called HTPC (Home Theater PC) or Media Center. Being a standalone LiveCD-based distribution, it's a ready to boot operating system than works on any Pentium-class x86 computer or PowerPC Macintosh, implying no software requirement. You can even use it on a diskless computer, the whole system being loaded in RAM.

Despite his tiny ISO image size, the distribution comes with a complete and automatic hardware detection, not requiring any driver to be added. It supports playback of nearly any kind of audio/video and image files and all known codecs and containers are shipped in, allowing playing them through various physical supports, either being CD, DVD, HDD, LAN or Internet.

GeeXboX also comes with a complete toolchain that allows developers adding easily extra packages and features but that might also be used to give birth to many dedicated embedded Linux systems. Despite his tiny ISO image size, the distribution comes with a complete and automatic hardware detection, not requiring any driver to be added. It supports playback of nearly any kind of audio/video and image files and all known codecs and containers are shipped in

[Solomon]

Downloading the ISO images :

GeeXboX 1.2.1 for 32-Bit Processors [x86] (PC, Mac-Intel)

GeeXboX 1.2.1 for 64-Bit Processor [x64] (PC, Mac-Intel)

GeeXboX 1.2.1 for PowerPC (Macintosh)

For Older Releases

Burning the ISO images :

• Use your Favourite CD Burning Software. For more details Click Here
  
• Now Once the ISO image is burnt to disc, Restart the computer and set the boot device to CD-ROM [or DVD-RW whatever is your optical drive].
  
• Boot the computer with GeeXBoX CD.
  
• You're Done...!

[Solomon]

You Get a complete Graphical User Interface. Some screenshots show below :

[Solomon]

Playing Music :

Playing Video :

Viewing Images :

[Solomon]

At the time of the first development releases in December 2002, it was only capable of playing DivX movies, but now, nearly every kind of media file can be played with GeeXboX, with the OS supporting :

• MPEG 1/2 movies (MPG files, VCDs, DVDs ...)
• MPEG 4 movies (DivX, XviD, H.264 ...)
• RealMedia and Windows Media movies.
• OggMedia streams
• Matroska streams
• Audio streams like : MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, WAV (AudioCD), AC3, DTS, MusePack (MPC), FLAC ...
• Network streams : WebRadio and WebTV through SHOUTcast.
• Watching analog TV and digital DVB
• Playing analog Radio streams.
• Playing files from your local network (LAN) through remote NFS, Samba (i.e. Windows) or UPnP shares.

How To Boot :

Booting on Intel based machines is easy and explained in the second post.


Booting on Mac :

Booting from CD on a Mac is also easy : Just hold the 'c' key at boot time. Same goes for network boot, but with the 'n' key instead.

Now, if you want to use a Mac as a GeeXboX only computer, it's a pain to have to hold a key at every boot. The solution is then to setup the boot-device open-firmware variable.

There's at least two easy ways to do it:

• From a MacOSX shell, you can use the following command:
  

  sudo nvram boot-device='cd:,\\:tbxi'

  Note : that you can also display variables content with:
  

  nvram -p

• Directly from the open-firmware prompt (by pressing command-option-O-F at boot time):
  

  setenv boot-device cd:,\\:tbxi

  Note that you can also display variables content with:
  

  printenv

• Some of the possible boot-devices are :
  CDROM boot :

  cd:,\\:tbxi

  Hard Disk boot :

  hd:,\\:tbxi

  Network boot :

  enet:,

[Solomon]

GeeXBoX Installer :

GeeXboX maybe is a LiveCD but it can also be installed on disk (only on x86_32 for now). Then, you're able to quickly and easily install the system on any IDE/SATA hard disk, SD Card, Compact Flash or USB keys (check that your motherboard's BIOS support boot from USB-HDD). You can install GeeXboX on a new disk (standalone partition) or on an empty partition from your current disk. All you need is a partition with at least 128 MB of disk storage.

Installation is not at all difficult, simply booting on the GeeXboX CDROM. At the IsoLinux prompt menu, just choose the installation item. The GeeXboX will now load on a menu for disk install.

Just follow the instructions and choose the hard disk on which you want GeeXboX to be installed. When you're done, you'll get a cfdisk screen which will let you partition your disk. Use the arrows to go to any partition representing Free Space and hit the New button. Then, you go choose the type of partition you want. Many filesystems are currently supported: FAT 16/32 and EXT2/3 (choose FAT16/32 only if you want to see and edit your disk from Windows). If you intend to boot from this partition, don't forget to use the Flags menu to set the bootable flag to your partition. Finish with Commit and then Quit

Choose whether ot not you want your partition to be formatted (recommanded). The GeeXboX installer will autodetect the kind of filesystem you've choosed before and format it accordingly. If you've decided to use EXT filesystem, it is recommended to format it in EXT3 for better data integrity.

Then, the installer asks you whether you want a bootloader to be installed or not (in case of removable devices, bootloader installation is automatically forced). A bootloader is software that lets you boot from a partition. GeeXboX comes with GRUB bootloader.

If you already have a bootloader on your disk, there's no need to install a new one, but you'll have to add boot arguments to it by hand to boot GeeXboX from it. Otherwise, if you have no other operating system on this disk or if you have a computer with a Microsoft Windows system, that doesn't allow multiboot, it is recommended to accept installing the bootloader. The GeeXboX installer will scan your disk for existing operating systems and create a multiboot that let you choose whether you want to be your former OS or boot GeeXboX. When done, you should be able to boot GeeXboX from hard disk just like any other system.

The next steps are optional. The GeeXboX installer propose you to configure the system the way you can have done it using the ISO generator. This is a post-install tool (also available as boot option, after installation), called configurator, that allows you to tweak many system configuration parameters.

If you really like GeeXboX and use it frequently, it would be a really good idea to install it on a hard disk. Indeed, the system can be seen as a new drive on Windows (if you'd choose to install on a FAT partition) or Linux and hence, it can be easily modified to fit your needs (changing MPlayer's configuration file, supported remote, network configuration ...) without having to regenerate the ISO and burn a CD.

[Solomon]

Editing Network Configuration :

GeeXboX 0.90-4 and above come with network support for most Ethernet cards (not all of them, unfortunately) and Samba (Windows shares) support. GeeXboX is running a DHCP client which is trying to autoconfigure your network adapter. If you do not have a DHCP server on your network, you'll have to modify the /etc/network file which contains the following lines :

• HOST="" # GeeXboX IP ("" for DHCP)
• SMB_USER="SHARE" # User Login ("" for none)
• SMB_PWD="" # User Password ("" for none)

You can easily modify the IP and Samba Login and Password. On boot, the GeeXboX checks for remote computers from a common domain and tries to automount the Samba Windows shares. Be sure that all of your computers are on the same domain/subnet in order to mount all the shares.

Editing WiFi configuration :

If you are a lucky owner of a Linux-compatible WiFi card, you will be pleased to know that the 0.97 release comes with support for it. By default, GeeXboX tries to autodetect your network settings. If you have both traditional NIC and WiFi cards, only the latter will be set up. One again, you may have to modify the /etc/network file in order to match your network's settings. In this case, 4 lines are related to wireless cards :

• PHY_TYPE="auto" # Network physical type (auto|ethernet|wifi)
• WIFI_MODE="managed" # Wifi working mode (managed|ad-hoc)
• WIFI_WEP="" # Wifi WEP key
• WIFI_ESSID="any" # Wifi SSID


These lines let you configure most of the settings. You can enable autodetection, or even force the use of ethernet or WiFi adapters. In the same way, this lets you choose between the managed and the ad-hoc mode and lets you define your WEP key and SSID.

[Solomon]

Using the keyboard :

GeeXboX can be controlled only using the keyboard. A lot of keys are bindded to many controls and the descriptions below will help you deal with it. Whatever your keyboard is (Qwerty, Azerty, Dvorak ...) it'll be seen by the GeeXboX as a qwerty keyboard and thus, the mapping may change a little bit.

Qwerty keyboard :

Azerty Keyboard :

Numpad :

[nebojsa]

Are those screenshots from Geexbox? I have burned provided ISO and menu dont look like that its just ordinary geexbox theme.

[Solomon]

Are those screenshots from Geexbox? I have burned provided ISO and menu dont look like that its just ordinary geexbox theme.

Yeah, those are from geexbox...!

[nebojsa]

Yeah, those are from geexbox...!

At geexbox forum they said its not available jet ...
Can you provide me link to the ISO with that cool menus , because I have downloaded ISO from links you have provided and geexbox dont look like that.

[Solomon]

The GeeXboX screenshots that you see in the tutorial is custom made. You will need to recompile the entire ISO using GeeXboX ISO Generator. You can download it from here :

Mac & Intel x86_32 - Download

Mac & Intel x86_64 - Download

Mac Power PC - Download

You can install GeeXboX on your computer using the windows installer :

GeeXboX Windows Installer - Download

[xaler]

I tried the 64 bit version on my amd64. I used UNetbootin and loaded GeeXbox onto a USB. When booting from the USB, it failed and dropped me on to a shell.

[SmirnOFF]

I tried the 64 bit version on my amd64. I used UNetbootin and loaded GeeXbox onto a USB. When booting from the USB, it failed and dropped me on to a shell.

I'm not sure but GeeXboX doesn't support netbooks... To be sure, just have a look at the GeeXboX website...