I got some newbie questions.

I'm testing out Ubuntu to see how well MythTV works

Antec NSK2400
ABIT AN-M2HD
AMD Athlon 64 x2 5000 Brisbane
Corsair XMS2 2x1gb 4-4-4-12 6400
Segate Momentus 160 gb 2.5" Drive
Dvico Fusion 5 Lite HDTV PCI Card

The install went fine.

I'm having trouble updating the nVidia drivers.

Logged in as root, I run the nvidia downloaded driver from a command window prompt. It returns a message that I cant have any X Windows open.

At Ubuntu startup, I tried all the options that area available during startup. I get the same message.

Any help appreciated.

Strat

From a console window (it can be running inside X windows or a real VT, doesn't matter) type 'sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop'

Put your password in and it'll kill X (GDM).

Then you can run that nvidia .run file.

Make sure you have build-essential installed first though or it likely won't work for you!

-Trouble

I don't know if this works on ubuntu, but in Suse and Fedora, I just type in:

init 3

As root, of course. To restart X:

init 5

I got some newbie questions.

I'm testing out Ubuntu to see how well MythTV works


If you're using Ubuntu 7.04 - why not just enable the nvidia drivers through the system->preferences->restricted driver manager?

It'll be a lot easier then trying to install them manually :)

With the ABIT AN-M2HD, when I try that approach, It says that I do not have any restricted drivers.

I tried the following:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=514161

And when I rebooted, I ended up with a black screen.

I couldn't find any other guides regarding installing the latest nVidia drivers (100.14.11) which support the new 7050 chipset.

Found this page:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=514161

It worked great. The only problem was needing to login as root to be able to save desktop resolution settings.

glad you were able to fix it.

Keep us up to date on the performance. I'm getting ready to build an HD mythbox and have considered the same board. Assuming this will be a combined front/backend?

Anyone have opinions on the Biostar TF7050-M2, which is also a 7050PV-based board?

I am also running an AN-M2HD.

Silverstone ML01
ABIT AN-M2HD
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4000+ Brisbane
A-DATA Extreme Edition (2 x 1GB) 6400
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series 500GB
pcHDTV 5500
AMD64 Feisty with MythTV (back and frontend)

I have not bother with overclocking yet.
It's nice when things just work. :)

I'm running off the HDMI port to a 1080p Sony LCD TV (KDL-40V2500).
My audio is all routed out of the optical port (IEC958). I can't for the life of me get audio to come out of HDMI. But I am guessing that the ALSA driver hasn't caught up with HDMI audio support yet. Someone can/will probably prove me wrong. :p

As for HD playback, I have not seen any "major" issues. Some minor issues include audio going out of sync every now and again when I switch channels. But it is remedied as soon as I flip to a different channel and back which I guess "resets" the timing. Once, while watching CBS Late Night with Letterman in HD Live TV, I noticed it "hiccuped" every now and again. I have not experience this on a PBS HD channel. So it might have been the broadcast. I haven't really watched much HD tv so I can't really be certain.
During HD playback, my system load is 1.41, CPU ~12%, mem >80%.
Not sure why mem usage is so high, but I plan to buy more anyways.

I've only got this whole thing working like 3-4 days ago, so I don't have any more performance data to share. I am now at the stage of tweaking. But overall, its a pretty nice "all in one" board. Contrary to what some have said about nVidia's choice of gigabit network chipsets, I do not have any issues with it. In fact, I think it works rather well.
Other than HDMI Audio, everything else works. And in Linux no less. :cool:

As for the Biostar TForce, it was one of the first few boards to comeout (if not the first) with a "real" HDMI port that can route audio. Previous boards were just DVI outputs with an HDMI connector. And last I heard, ppl were having great trouble getting audio to work thru HDMI on a Windows setup (forget about Linux). And it doesnt have any other SPDIF output. So you are stuck with the bundles of colorcoded analog audio wires coming out the back. The TForce, imo, felt like it was rushed out to market, probably to beat ABIT to the punch.

Just my 2 cents.
:)

During my ordeal (3x installs) to get everything working, I've written (typed) down the steps it took me to get the nVidia 7050 on the AN-M2HD to work under Feisty. It is compiled from my own trial and errors as well as info from various websites that dealt with installing the legacy nVidia cards. I hope it will help someone in the future who purchased this board and wants to use Feisty.

Here goes:
D/L, md5sum, burn, etc. Ubuntu Feisty AMD64.
Boot Ubuntu CD.
Start Ubuntu in safe graphics mode (This should give you a generic 1024x768 resolution during the install process).
Double Click Install Icon on the left.
Follow wizard all the way thru (most of the time, if not all, the default option will do).
After it finishes installing and when prompted, remove CD, and reboot.
On the login screen, Login. :p
If you are connected to the internet at this point, it will inform you of updates.
Install all the updates, in the end you will need to reboot.
Once you are back... now comes the fun part.

Fire up FireFox and goto nvidia's download site to grab latest Linux AMD64 driver
Currently it is "NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-100.14.11-pkg2.run"

Open an X Terminal
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
Ctrl-Alt-F1 or Alt-F1
Log into the Console
cd to the directory where the driver file was downloaded to
ex. cd ~/Desktop/
sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-100.14.11-pkg2.run
Accept -> blah, blah, just hit enter -> When it asks about updating the X config file say "Yes" (the default is positioned at no, so you can't just hit enter)
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

If all goes well, you should now be in a high res screen.
Login
Open an X Terminal
sudo nvidia-settings
configure your preferences, change resolutions, enable monitor on HDMI port, etc.
Apply changes
Click Save to X Configuration File
Quit
Almost there, if u reboot now, X will not start!!! So don't reboot. :)

Back on the X Terminal,
sudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common
Edit in the following entry:
DISABLED_MODULES="nv nvidia_new"
Save -> Quit
The drivers should work at this point.
Try a reboot and make sure X can start back up after the reboot.
sudo shutodwn now -r

Have fun.

Hi, did you actually get your optical audio work by default?
I've been struggling with it and the optical out keeps dark...

Nevermind, dumb me, installed the mixer ui and clicked the s/pdif to work, awesome, stuffs working now :)

I've having a heck of a time getting audio to work on my an-m2hd under ubuntu.
Audio via the standard 3.5mm jacks works, but it's very, very quiet. I've tried just about everything I can think of, but cannot get audio out to work via hdmi.. has anyone got any pointers?

Thanks!

I used Envy (http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html) to install my video drivers, all went smooth and seems to be working fine. (I think I still had to enable them under the "System > Administration > Restricted Drivers Manager" but I'm not sure)

It wasn't obvious to me how to get the spdif output to work, it was "Volume Control > Switches" and check the box called "IEC958".

Now I need to get suspend to work with lirc! :)

I also have the AN-M2HD motherboard, but I'm having trouble connecting it to my TV over the HDMI. I've installed the nvidia drivers (MEPIS 7 rc1). I can't get a resolution higher than 800x600. When I try to reconfigure X it won't autodetect the display or the integrated nvidia 7050PV. It sounds like some of you have done this successfully (nadoka?) Would you mind posting an excerpt from your xorg.conf?

from my experience with the an-m2hd and linux you need to be running version 10.14.19 for 7050PV support.

tonym: from what i've read there isn't audio over hdmi support in the drivers (hopefully nvidia will correct this). for your volume levels have you opened alsamixer and adjusted the levels?

dertiger: i would recommend you run nvidia-settings as root and allow that to configure xwindows. this will also verify that the nvidia drivers are properly loaded.

RLembke: i've been using this board for around a month now without issue except for the hdmi and optical spidf ports are too close together and i had to shave the side of the plug a little (do at your own risk) so both could plug in together. Only other complaint is no serial port for an IR blaster but that looks to becoming standard on micro atx boards these days.

from my experience with the an-m2hd and linux you need to be running version 10.14.19 for 7050PV support.

dertiger: i would recommend you run nvidia-settings as root and allow that to configure xwindows. this will also verify that the nvidia drivers are properly loaded.


I verified I have that version of the driver. nvidia-settings detects the card and the TV correctly. I don't see the option to let it write my xorg.conf, though. Is it unusual for Xorg to not detect the hardware? Is there a way to use the nvidia utilities to write the file?

Were you guys able to make optical to send multiple channel ? In my case I just hear R and L channel.

I can't make audio to work (not even R&L channel) via HDMI. I installed XP on another partition and same result.

I am using FC 8 AMD64.
I have returned this board as in ABIT forum too, I hear same issue. So I think the harware itself doesn't support.

If you guys have figured out the multiple channel o/p via optical or HDMI, I will go and rebuy it. Other stuffs like video just worked fine after installing nvidia driver using yum.

Were you guys able to make optical to send multiple channel ? In my case I just hear R and L channel.

I can't make audio to work (not even R&L channel) via HDMI. I installed XP on another partition and same result.

I am using FC 8 AMD64.
I have returned this board as in ABIT forum too, I hear same issue. So I think the harware itself doesn't support.

If you guys have figured out the multiple channel o/p via optical or HDMI, I will go and rebuy it. Other stuffs like video just worked fine after installing nvidia driver using yum.


Yes I get surround out of my optical out. Not sure about under XP but under linux HDMI audio isn't widely supported. Go into alsamixer and verify that the IEC958 out is unmuted.


I verified I have that version of the driver. nvidia-settings detects the card and the TV correctly. I don't see the option to let it write my xorg.conf, though. Is it unusual for Xorg to not detect the hardware? Is there a way to use the nvidia utilities to write the file?


sudo nvidia-settings . It'll either need to run as root or you'll have to chmod the xorg.conf file so your user can write to it.

I can't make audio to work (not even R&L channel) via HDMI. I installed XP on another partition and same result.


How would you even get input into the HDMI? I mean HDMI out is on a video card, do video cards with HDMI out even have the ability to send out audio over HDMI? I kind of doubt it.

I'm just wondering out loud here, I use DVI --> HDMI so I know I have no chance at audio via HDMI, nor do I really have a use for it at current time.

How would you even get input into the HDMI? I mean HDMI out is on a video card, do video cards with HDMI out even have the ability to send out audio over HDMI? I kind of doubt it.


Actually it can do both audio/video http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI . Also the box for the Abit AN-M2HD states "HDMI delivers uncompressed HD digital video and audio in one single cable" so I bet that audio over HDMI may eventually be supported atleast under windows (sorry I run linux with this board). Why wouldn't it be able to work? Just because something is a "video card" doesn't mean it can't be designed to do other things along with displaying video especially when the standard for the technology includes these other features.

netphilic: a followup to my previous post, what's your mplayer command line when playing video?

HDMI audio is supported in Windows already.

HDMI audio is supported in Windows already.

Only on Vista. I can't make it working on windows.