Zotac ZBOX-AD02-U - Configuration

[jonathanoe]

I was running XBMC on Win7 on my ZBOX-AD02-U.
I would see performance issues after long uptime and was not happy with time to reboot, etc., decided it was time to try something lighter.
XBMC-Live was still heavier than I was hoping.

I found OpenELEC last evening and am fully transitioned after only a few hours (and an overnight library scaping).
This is a very impressive solution packaging, and the OpenELEC team should be very proud.


What I did and how:


[Hardware]
Computer: ZBOX-AD02-U, 2GB RAM, no hard drive (it's still in there, has Win7 on it but not in use at the moment)
Boot device: Patriot Xporter Mini 8GB Flash Drive (PSF8GMUSB)
Speakers: Logitech Z 5500 5.1 Speaker System
Display: Sony Google TV
Remote: RC6 MCE Remote

[Media collection]
Shared via SMB from fileserver

[Installation]
Used OpenELEC-Generic.i386-1.0.2
Installed to Patriot Xporter Mini 8GB Flash Drive (PSF8GMUSB)

[Configuration]
Remote - RC6 MCE Remote just worked, no changes necessary

Sound - I use HDMI for Video and Optical output for Audio, had to make the following changes:

~/.config/asound.conf

Code:

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
# pcm "hw:1,0" #delete the first hash for sound over analog
pcm "hw:1,1" #delete the first hash for sound over optical
# pcm "hw:0,3" #delete the first hash for sound over hdmi
# rate 48000
}
}

System Settings - My speakers support Dolby and DTS Passthrough, these settings worked.
Sound output: Optical
Channels: 5.1
Audio output device: Defaults
Passthrough output device: HDA ATI SB iec958

Media Sources - configured media sources via smb:// paths and set media types and scanned

[Builds]
Using the 'Update' folder smb share, I tried the Generic Build, the Fusion Build and even a Daily Eden Build.
The Generic 1.0.2 build gave the best overall performance.
I was astounded by how easy it was to change between builds by simply copying two files and rebooting -- that is really cool.


[Suggestions]
Expose the asound.conf modifications via the application interface (via plugin?).
Publish device-specific guides via editable wiki the way dd-wrt does.
Put nano in the builds.