Boot script for freevo

[squeech]

Greetings all,

I come to you now with my next query in the Linux journey. I am currently working on a script that would allow me to boot my computer directly into a program called Freevo. This program allows my system to run as a standalone box for the TV, PVR, movies, music, etc.

Sort of run it in "toaster mode", as an appliance It also requires X to run the DVD and MPEG player correctly with my hardware (running it in framebuffer mode just locks the system).

Anyways, I have run into a road block. Here is what I THOUGHT I could do:

add a line to /etc/inittab like: x:4:respawn:/root/sbin/toasterX
where "toasterX" would be a script that runs X and then Freevo.
then change the initdefault line to: id:4:initdefault

Note: I realize this means running X as root, which many of you might say is not "secure". Don't worry about that plz

Then, the toasterX script would say,
[SCRIPT]
#!/bin/sh
startx
cd /usr/local/freevo; ./freevo
[/SCRIPT]
Simply starting X and then loading the freevo program. Well, to my dismay (and many of your previous knowledge I'm sure) the freevo command did not execute until after I logged out of X

Can I write a script that will execute the program after X has loaded, or is it frozen in the script until X finishes? Do I need two scripts? Plz help
sorry to the mods for excessive bold lettering.

TIA everyone!

[jkrohn]

You should be able to use ~/.xinitrc to accomplish just that

Make a file called .xinitrc in your home directory. For things that you want to launch after your environment loads, use a line like this:
sleep 1 && exec toasterX &

At the end of the file, put the window manager you want to load
exec /usr/bin/fluxbox

Make sure that the window manager is at the end of this file.
ex:

##Sets background Image
sleep 1 && exec Esetroot -center /home/Jkrohn/daneille/untitled.jpg &

##executes various programs at startup
sleep 1 && exec xchat &
sleep 1 && exec gaim &
sleep 1 && opera &
##Sets the mouse acceleration to 4 and the threshold to 1
xset m 4 1
##Runs the 1337 keyboad program so my extra buttons work
lineakd -b
##Remaps the keypad so you don't have to use Num Lock
xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

##Uncomment the next line to start KDE desktop manager
##startkde
##Uncomment this line to start fluxbox
exec /usr/local/bin/fluxbox

Any questions just let me know. Also, how do you like freevo? I have always used MythTV.

Jkrohn

[squeech]

Since I am running as root, do I place .xinitrc in /root, instead of in a user's home directory?

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Although freevo is far from perfect, I am very impressed with it. I have not used MythTV before so I can't make very educated comparison. However, the newest stable release is very solid. They just added support for playing streaming internet radio, and you can create XML playlist files to hold all of the info for a certain channel.

I think it is still infantile compared to where MythTV seems to be, but what I liked about freevo was the installation. You can download the source .tar, there are no dependencies, and a simple "./freevo setup" command and the program is running to the point that is actually needs very little tweaking (at least in my case).

What about MythTV? How's the configuration? Freevo configs through a single .py file. Myth install looks like a minor headache.