Thursday, March 29, 2012

Install Zenbound 2 on XBMCbuntu Eden


Zenbound 2 is a great little game I got as part of the latest Humble Bundle, it's surprisingly fun and a very innovative style of game play, unlike anything else I have played in fact.  Anyway i figured it would be a good game to have on my media center so here are the instructions for installing it on XBMCbuntu.

First you need to download the .deb file for Zenbound 2, once you have the .deb file you need to copy it to the home folder of your XBMCLive installation.  For instructions on this follow my guide "Copy files to XBMC with Filezilla"

Then open a terminal or SSH into your XBMCbuntu box and run the following commands:

sudo dpkg -i zenbound2_20120325-1_i386.deb

mkdir scripts

cd scripts

nano zenbound2.sh

Now copy in the following text(it's ctrl + shift + v to paste at the terminal)


#!/bin/bash
openbox &
/usr/games/zenbound2
killall -9 openbox

and save the file(ctrl + x and then y to confirm)

chmod +x zenbound2.sh

Now you need to use "Advanced Launcher" addon to create a shortcut to start Zenbound 2 from within XBMC.  Simply create a new launcher and point it as the zenbound2.sh file you created above(should be /home/xbmc/scripts/zenbound2.sh)

and that's it, have fun!



Installing And Yet It Moves in XBMCbuntu Eden

And Yet It Moves is a really fun physics indie game which I purchased as part of a Humble Bundle in 2011.  The following is a short guide to installing it on XBMCbuntu Eden, for instructions on installing it on XBMCLive Dharma check out my old guide here.

First you need to download the .deb file for And Yet It Moves, once you have the .deb file you need to copy it to the home folder of your XBMCLive installation.  For instructions on this follow my guide "Copy files to XBMC with Filezilla"

Then open a terminal or SSH into your XBMCbuntu box and run the following commands:

sudo apt-get install libtheora0 libopenal1 libsdl-image1.2

sudo dpkg -i andyetitmoves_1.2.2-1_i386.deb

mkdir scripts

cd scripts

nano andyetitmoves.sh

Now copy in the following text(it's ctrl + shift + v to paste at the terminal)

#!/bin/bash
openbox &
/usr/games/AndYetItMoves
killall -9 openbox

and save the file(ctrl + x and then y to confirm)

chmod +x andyetitmoves.sh

Now you need to use "Advanced Launcher" addon to create a shortcut to start Osmos from within XBMC.  Simply create a new launcher and point it as the osmos.sh file you created above(should be /home/xbmc/scripts/andyetitmoves.sh)

The first time you run the game you will probably want to go to options and set it to use fullscreen mode.

and that's it, have fun!

Install Osmos on XBMCbuntu Eden

Osmos is a really fun and addictive indie game which I purchased as part of a Humble Bundle in 2011.  The following is a short guide to installing it on XBMCbuntu Eden, for instructions on installing it on XBMCLive Dharma check out my old guide here.

First you need to download the .deb file for Osmos, once you have the .deb file you need to copy it to the home folder of your XBMCLive installation.  For instructions on this follow my guide "Copy files to XBMC with Filezilla"

Then open a terminal or SSH into your XBMCbuntu box and run the following commands:

sudo apt-get install libopenal1

sudo dpkg -i Osmos_1.6.1.deb

mkdir scripts

cd scripts

nano osmos.sh

Now copy in the following text(it's ctrl + shift + v to paste at the terminal)


#!/bin/bash
openbox &
/opt/Osmos/Osmos
killall -9 openbox

and save the file(ctrl + x and then y to confirm)

chmod +x osmos.sh

Now you need to use "Advanced Launcher" addon to create a shortcut to start Osmos from within XBMC.  Simply create a new launcher and point it as the osmos.sh file you created above(should be /home/xbmc/scripts/osmos.sh)

and that's it, have fun!

Install Minecraft in XBMCbuntu Eden


To run Minecraft you on XBMCbuntu Eden will first need to install Sun's Java JRE, you can my simple step by step guide here.

Now either SSH into your XBMCbuntu box or open a terminal on it and run the following commands:

wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/MinecraftDownload/launcher/minecraft.jar

mkdir scripts

cd scripts

nano mincraft.sh

then paste(ctrl + shift + v at the terminal)  this in and save(ctrl + x and then y to confirm)

#!/bin/bash
openbox &
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java -Xmx1024M -Xms512M -cp ~/minecraft.jar net.minecraft.LauncherFrame
killall -9 openbox

then run:

chmod +x minecraft.sh


Now in the XBMC "Advanced Launcher" addon simply create a new launcher that points to the new minecraft.sh script(located at /home/xbmc/scripts/minecraft.sh).

Note: Minecraft is a resource hog and on my Acer Revo 1600 the performance was terrible, I also tested on an older desktop with a decent graphics card and it ran like a dream so if you're running XBMCbuntu on a small nettop don't expect great performance.


Install Sun Java JRE on XBMCbuntu Eden

While XBMCbuntu comes with OpenJDK pre-installed you may need to install the Sun Java JRE for some apps(like minecraft) to function correctly.  To install sun-java6-jdk in XBMCbuntu SSH into your XBMCbuntu box and run the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ferramroberto/java

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-plugin

During the install you will be prompted to agree to the java terms of service(hit Tab to highlight the ok button)

If you want to make Sun Java the default java for your system run this command:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

Alternatively if you want to leave OpenJDK as the default but run specific programs with Sun's java then run:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java

Note: if you are still using the older XBMCLive Dharma you can follow this guide to install java


And that's it, have fun!


Launch Chromium in fullscreen in XBMCbuntu Eden

On my new XBMCbuntu install the "Advanced Launcher" addon had a "chromium-browser" launcher configured by default.  Unfortunately when running the launcher chromium started but was only taking up half the screen(the maximise button was also missing and keyboard shortcuts would not increase the window size).  After some googling and no success I decided to roll my own solution which is as follows:

First SSH into your XBMCbuntu install and enter the following(if you are not comfortable using SSH simply log out of XBMC and log into openbox from the login screen then open a terminal and follow these steps)

mkdir scripts

cd scripts

nano chromium.sh

then paste(ctrl + shift + v at the terminal)  this in and save(ctrl + x and then y to confirm)


#!/bin/bash
openbox &
/usr/bin/chromium-browser
killall -9 openbox

then run 

chmod +x chromium.sh

Now in XBMCbuntu go to the "Advanced Launcher" and right click the "chromium-browser" launcher and select "Edit Launcher" then select "Advanced Modifications" then "Change Application" and select the script you made in the previous steps which is located at /home/xbmc/scripts/chromium.sh