FAQ

[All Platforms] The APT repository at xbian.brantje.com seems to be unreachable

To fix the problem, you need to manually replace the APT repository.

1. Open a SSH connection to your XBian machine like this except the default login and password is xbian / raspberry.
2. Then run the following command. When you are asked for a password, enter raspberry again.

sudo -s
echo "deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbian.list

3. Then run these command:

apt-get update; apt-get install --reinstall lsb-release xbian-package-repo; apt-get update

and you're done correcting the APT repository list. After this finishes you can again use any of the usual ways to update your XBian installation.

Finally, your apt source files should look like this:

Raspberry Pi: /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/ jessie main contrib non-free

Raspberry Pi2/Pi3 / CuBox-i / Hummingboard: /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://http.debian.net/debian jessie main non-free

Raspberry Pi: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbian.list

deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     stable   main    rpi-jessie
### deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     staging   main    rpi-jessie
### deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     devel   main    rpi-jessie

Raspberry Pi2/Pi3: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbian.list

deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     stable   main    rpi2-jessie
### deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     staging   main    rpi2-jessie
### deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     devel   main    rpi2-jessie

CuBox-i / Hummingboard: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbian.list

deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     stable   main    imx6-jessie
deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     staging   main    imx6-jessie
### deb mirror://apt.xbian.org/mirror.txt     devel   main    imx6-jessie

This ONLY applies to RPi B+, RPi 2 and RPi 3

If the coloured square is rainbow coloured, then this means you have low power to your RPi.

Solutions include, checking that the PSU is at least 1A(1000mA) for the RPi B+,  2A(2000mA) for the RPi 2 and 2.5A(2500mA) for the RPi 3 .

It could also be possible that your power supply (MicroUSB)cable is not of a good quality (i.e. One designed for small phones, where only 500mA is required) or it is of poor quality.

As this display only happens on later models of the RPi it is quite possible on previous models that you suffered the same problem but had no display to show it.

So it's no use saying “but it worked before.....”

If the coloured square is red, then this means the RPi is overheating.

Solutions include, moving the RPi to a cooler spot, removing the case (if any) or more sophisticated solutions like installing a heat sink, or attaching a small fan.

This is the default cmdline.txt as supplied.

All models

telnet zswap.enabled=1 zswap.compressor=lz4 sdhci-bcm2708.sync_after_dma=0 dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootflags=subvol=root/@,thread_pool=2,autodefrag,compress=lz4,commit=120 rootfstype=btrfs rootwait smsc95xx.turbo_mode=N logo.nologo quiet noswap loglevel=0 mod_scsi.scan=sync partswap startevent=mountall splash nohdparm --startup-event mountall

This is the default config.txt as supplied.

RPi A,B and B+

initramfs initramfs.gz  0x1000000
gpu_mem_512=144
gpu_mem_256=100
initial_turbo=3
hdmi_ignore_cec_init=1
disable_overscan=1
disable_splash=1
arm_freq=840
core_freq=320
sdram_freq=400

RPi 2 (where the above is supplied, for the best results these should be changed to)

gpu_mem_1024=320
initial_turbo=3
hdmi_ignore_cec_init=1
disable_overscan=1
disable_splash=1

A comparison of CPU speeds for all XBian supported models.

The comparison was run using a linux bench mark tool called “sysbench” and the command used was (where x is the maximum number of threads):

sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 --num-threads=x run

For comparison:

Intel i5 3.3Ghz 4 core.
total time:      5.9029s

XBian supported models

Hummingboard ie2x
total time:     308.9665s

Hummingboard i1
total time:     604.6664s

Cubox i4 pro
total time:     155.7358s

Raspberry Pi A,B and B+
total time:     1496.4562s

Raspberry Pi 2
total time:     196.5245s

For more information see Forum Thread

On XBian the SSH daemon runs behind inetd. That's why you have to change the listening port in /etc/services instead of in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. Alternatively you can configure SSH to start in standalone mode - that way you can still use the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the port.

Changing SSH port when using inetd

Edit /etc/services with your preferred text editor and find the following 2 lines:

ssh 22/tcp # SSH Remote Login Protocol
ssh 22/udp

Then change ”22” to your desired port. Afterwards restart inetd to apply the change:

$ sudo restart openbsd-inetd

Changing SSH port when using standalone mode

To enable the standalone mode, remove the line ”manual” from /etc/init/ssh-hid.override. You can now change the port in /etc/ssh/sshd_config and then start the service with

$ sudo start ssh-hid

The easiest way to do so, is editing the file /etc/rc.local. In this file you can put in any command you want to run at startup. There are three important things you have to consider:

• your command must be put before the line exit(0)
• by default commands in /etc/rc.local are executed as root
• to keep the command running in the background you have to end the command with an &

Example:
If you want to run the script as user xbian and keep the script running in the background, you have to add a line like this:

su xbian -c "/path/script &"

before the exit(0) line in /etc/rc.local.

If you want to run the script as root, adding the part in the quotes (/path/script &) is already enough.
If it's a command which shouldn't stay running in the background, you have to remove the & sign at the end.

If you are using one of these adapters, you may need to change the lines in /boot/boot.src.txt file from:

setenv baseconfig ahci_imx.hotplug=1 raid=noautodetect telnet root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 video=mxcfb0:dev=hdmi,1920x1080M@60,if=RGB24 rootwait consoleblank=0 selinux=0 nohdparm splash

to

setenv baseconfig ahci_imx.hotplug=1 raid=noautodetect telnet root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 video=mxcfb0:dev=hdmi,1280x720M@60,if=RGB565 rootwait consoleblank=0 selinux=0 nohdparm splash

If you video mode is incorrect, it can result in a reboot loop.

To enable the serial console, add

console=ttymxc0,115200

to the command line, after

setenv baseconfig

The third line in /boot/boot.src.txt should look something like this:

setenv baseconfig console=ttymxc0,115200 coherent_pool=1M
rw ahci_imx.hotplug=1 raid=noautodetect telnet
root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 video=mxcfb0:dev=hdmi,1920x1080M@60,if=RGB24
rootwait consoleblank=0 selinux=0 nohdparm splash dmfc=3

Run

/boot/mks

to activate the change.To enable a terminal on the serial console, copy the file

/etc/init/tty1.conf

to

/etc/init/tty3.conf

Edit the last line in the new file, replace tty1 with ttymxc0, and 38400 with 115200. It should look like this:

exec /sbin/getty -8 115200 ttymxc0

Edit the /boot/boot.src.txt and run