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Element 1.1 for home theater PCs

Element is a lightweight Linux distribution for use on a home theater PC (HTPC). It comes with most of the same video-playback applications one would find in a modern desktop distribution, but the development team has put considerable effort into wrapping the applications in an environment that is easy to navigate from across the room, and comfortable for non-multimedia-hackers. Tough challenges still remain for any HTPC distribution at the hardware and configuration level, but Element's results are definitely an improvement over basic Linux systems in setup, application integration, and usability.

The distribution project started in April of 2009; the current release is version 1.1, from March 24, 2010. The release is available as a CD-sized ISO image via direct download or Bittorrent. The Element team supports its development through affiliate sales of HTPC hardware, and is pursuing web ad sales and OEM installation deals as additional revenue sources. Element is based on Xubuntu, but with a heavily modified front end. From developers' comments on the support forum, the version of the Xfce desktop environment shipped is stripped down, the xfwm window manager has been replaced by Metacity, the login manager has been replaced by SLiM, and a modified version of the wbar dock/launcher is used to present a simplified interface to launch the main media applications.

Other work has gone into tweaking the settings of the desktop to achieve the "ten-foot interface" designed to make the desktop itself more usable from across the media room. The Metacity window manager uses an add-on called maximus to keep application windows maximized and remove their title bars. The GTK+ and Firefox themes are designed with high-contrast icons and colors, the application fonts are both large and readable, with adequate padding on all sides, a detail that some purely cosmetic widget themes never consider. The desktop panel incorporates easily-accessed corner buttons for volume, application menus, and returning to the desktop.

The interface is very clean, and is consistent across almost all applications. Just as importantly, it starts up quickly and consumes less RAM than a full-sized desktop distribution. The developers claim that it has a lower footprint than standard Xubuntu, and on their test machines takes around 15 seconds to boot up, and requires just 104MB of memory.

At the lower levels, Element retains Xubuntu 9.10's core components: kernel 2.6.31, GCC 4.4.1, X.org 7.4, Xfce 4.6.1, Firefox 3.5, and Python 2.6.4 (which is used for several custom configuration applications). The built-in media offerings include FFmpeg, the XBMC media center front-end, the Transmission Bittorrent client, Decibel audio player, and the VLC, Totem, and GNOME-MPlayer video players.

By default, Element does not install the binary-only NVIDIA graphics card drivers, but they are available for installation through the administration menu. This is important because of two features often discussed in the forums. First, several of the media player applications support GPU-hardware acceleration during playback on NVIDIA hardware, but only when used with the proprietary video drivers. Second, the latest NVIDIA releases finally add Linux support for overscan correction, in which the driver can compensate for edge-cropping that is automatically performed by most consumer TV hardware. Correctly installing and setting up these functions is critical to HTPC users.

Applications, add-ons and desktop usability

Considering that Element ships the same media applications as virtually all HTPC Linux distributions, there are very few surprises to be found. The emphasis is on XBMC, which focuses its feature set on web video playback and local media collections (both on-disc and shared over the local network). The XBMC version included does not have content plugins or scripts installed however; for those the user must visit the XBMC site.

Interestingly, two applications are built-in the program launcher that open proprietary streaming video sites in the browser: YouTube XL and Veoh TV. Both sites can run in full-screen mode, but do not do so by default. At the same time, the Element site offers a small selection of additional apps for manual installation, including the XBMC derivative Boxee, the Moovida media center front-end, and the Hulu Desktop player. Boxee and Moovida both include links to commercial video sources among their built-in shortcuts, and distribution deals may preclude Element from including them in the downloadable ISO image, but the Hulu Desktop player itself is nothing more than a single-site Firefox launcher. Hulu has taken an antagonistic stance towards other ways of connecting viewers to its content, including actively preventing Boxee users from viewing the Hulu site, even though Boxee renders the same content the same way as the Hulu Desktop player — through its browser.

Commercial services aside, web-based and local file-based content are the only content sources covered by Element's applications — there is no DVR functionality, and enabling DVD playback requires fetching an add-on package from the Element site. The Decibel music player supports network shares in addition to local storage, but the emphasis is clearly on providing a rich video environment, not a rich audio environment.

Element users that do enjoy XBMC will appreciate the wbar-based launcher, but others might be surprised to find that it is not user-configurable. Even after installing the Boxee or Hulu Desktop applications, they cannot be added to the launcher without consulting the user forums for tips on locating and altering hidden configuration files.

The missing pieces

All things considered, the usability factor of Element is high. However, on those specific points where it falls short, it can be maddening. For example, in my tests I could not configure Element to use the optical out on my M-Audio audio card, which is connected to the stereo receiver. The card itself was correctly detected, but I could neither enable the correct output, nor even find the appropriate setting to enable it manually. Similarly, I could not get LIRC to recognize my remote control (nor the ancillary front-panel buttons, nor LCD panel output itself). Other users seem to have had success with both tasks, which makes it more frustrating.

Admittedly, LIRC is a pain to configure for everyone, and is probably long overdue for an overhaul. Element is right to discourage the casual user from having high expectations — those interested much fetch the LIRC setup package from the Element web site, then track down missing package dependencies. Likewise, as a MythTV user, I do not expect a new HTPC distro to install and correctly configure a MythTV Backend; it is an arduous and confusing process that continues to throw curve balls even at veterans by changing its configuration in arbitrary ways with each release. MythTV Frontend setup is slightly better, but still should not be done without a browser open for hunting down questions and explanations.

However, the sad truth is that in the present, broadcast TV, cable, and satellite are still where the majority of the video programming in the world comes from. The Boxee team is adamant that Internet video delivery is the wave of the future, and that may be correct, but for the majority of users, a DVR is the critical HTPC component. Omitting one is even ironic in a free software system that supplies numerous avenues for viewing commercial web video, because a DVR's primary purpose is to put the user back in control of when content is viewable.

A few other disappointments popped up during testing — no automatic login, incorrect keyboard detection, etc. — but none so serious that someone who was familiar with the idea of a basic Linux installation could not easily overcome them. Perhaps a bigger issue is that Element's discussion forums are hosted at GetSatisfaction, which does not support full-text searching nor, evidently, allow Google indexing. That borders on unbelievable in 2010.

The future

The Element team is active on the forums, and from their comments a few things are clear about where Element is heading. First, they are aware that the traditional six-month Ubuntu update cycle may not appeal to all HTPC users, and are preparing to base Element 2.0 on the next Long Term Support release of Xubuntu (10.04). Next, they are responsive to users' calls for additional applications. Apparently the approval process for adding additional applications involves Element-specific modifications to the interface to comply with the "ten foot interface" UI guidelines. MythTV may be a possibility, but would require Element collaborating with a MythTV developer for testing.

DVR support is a major undertaking, not just because of MythTV's own peculiarities, but because it means supporting a vast assortment of special-purpose hardware. In contrast, video playback is a software-only problem much smaller in scope. The same can be said of the other major sticking points in Linux HTPC Land: where hardware is concerned, the problem is difficult, whether it is audio configuration, hardware-accelerated video drivers, DVD codecs, or infrared remote control detection and setup. In an ideal world, a distribution would correctly detect all of this hardware and either auto-configure it or step the user through the process. That is still a long way away, but hopefully the community doesn't use that as an excuse for not trying — writing a kernel from scratch isn't simple either, and distributions have made big strides in wireless networking and X configuration recently.

Compared to those tasks, the work involved in building a consistent, easy-to-use HTPC desktop environment may seem like low-hanging fruit. But Element 1.1 is surprisingly good in this regard; a noticeable improvement over the MythTV-centric media distributions. Many choose cosmetically "HTPC like" interfaces, but do not put the same amount of work into window behavior, task switching, application access, and other usability points. It is good to see someone tackling them. Element's low-resource-usage model is also a welcome feature; MeeGo purports to have set-top boxes on its roadmap, but Element is a reminder that a lot of the optimization can be accomplished today. The final word on Element is the same as on other HTPC distributions — your choice must be driven by application support. If you need MythTV, you should look elsewhere. XBMC and Boxee are excellent options for those interested in Internet-accessible video, however, and if you are building a set-top box to run either of those front ends, Element looks like an excellent choice.

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New Releases

The first MeeGo release

The first release of the MeeGo distribution (formerly known as Maemo and Moblin) has been announced; this is also, they say, the beginning of a more open approach to MeeGo development. "What are we opening? The MeeGo distribution infrastructure and the operating system base from the Linux kernel to the OS infrastructure up to the middleware layer. The MeeGo architecture is based on a common core across the different usage models, such as netbooks, handheld, in-vehicle, and connected TV. The MeeGo common core includes the various key subsystems including the core operating system libraries, the comms and telephony services, internet and social networking services, visual services, media services, data management, device services, and personal services." There are downloadable images for Nokia N900 phones and Intel-based netbooks.

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openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 4 has been released

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RHEL 5.5 released

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Red Hat Announces Beta Availability of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2

Red Hat has announced the beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2. "It's been four months since the November 2009 release of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers, our new virtualization product that includes a standalone hypervisor based on Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology and comprehensive server virtualization management tools. Since then, customers have been deploying Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization as a high-performance, scalable, reliable alternative to other products on the market."

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SliTaz 3.0 released

Version 3.0 of SliTaz - a distribution which focuses on working entirely from removable media with low resource usage - has been released. Changes include moving to Midori as the default browser, virtualization with lguest, much faster booting, and, they say, a strong and growing community of contributors. "SliTaz 3.0 has around 2300 packages in the database. A wide variety of packages have been committed and the Tazpkg package manager can now convert deb/rpm/arch/slackware/ipk packages to Slitaz native format (.tazpkg). A lot of time was also spent maintaining professional grade software such as OpenERP, MySQL, GLPI."

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Distribution News

Debian GNU/Linux

Bits from the dpkg team

Click below for some bits from the Debian dpkg team. Topics include a call for testers, Team Status and News, Plans and roadmap, Tracking development, Downstreams, Global changes, Documentation, Lots of code refactoring and cleanup, and more.

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Fedora

Fedora Board Meeting Recap 2010-03-25

Click below for a recap of the March 25, 2010 meeting of the Fedora Advisory Board. Topics include a Trademark matter, Diagram progress, FPL succession, Election schedule, and FESCo Update Policy.

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SWG Meeting Recap 2010-03-29

Click below for a recap of the March 29, 2010 meeting of the Fedora Board Strategic Working Group. Topics include User Base Diagram Followup, Spins, and Work on the Default Offering.

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Ubuntu family

Ubuntu 8.10 reaches end-of-life on April 30, 2010

Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" will reach its end of life April 30, 2010. The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 8.10 is via Ubuntu 9.04.

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Distribution Newsletters

DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 347

The DistroWatch Weekly for March 29, 2010 is out. "As the first components of the brand new GNOME 2.30 start to filter through to the project's mirror servers, we are happy to bring you the latest round-up of news and features from the world of free operating systems. This week's lead story is a first-look review of Igelle, an interesting new distribution built from scratch, which includes a brief interview with its creator. In the news section, Oracle makes drastic changes to Solaris licensing, OpenSolaris 2010.03 gets delayed due to show-stopper bugs, Fedora project leader announces resignation, Ubuntu founder explains the reasons behind some of the user interface changes, and Linux Mint development team hints at some of the upcoming new features in the popular distribution. Also in this week's issue, a question and answers section that focuses on complete removal of data from hard disks and a new distribution built from ground up - Cronos Linux. All this and more in this issue of DistroWatch Weekly - happy reading!"

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Fedora Weekly News 218

The Fedora Weekly News for March 21, 2010 is out. "On to FWN 218! We start this issue off with announcements including the shiny new Fedora 12 re-spin, which offers updates on this version through March 3, 2010. If you're just starting out with a new install, this will save you at least 550MB in updates over the default install! In Fedora Development announcements, notification to feature owners of the 3/23/10 Beta Freeze for Fedora 13. In news from the Fedora Planet, some outcomes from the recent Marketing Fedora Activity Day (FAD), availability of a new version of Eclipse Linux Tools, and musings on how not to run a community. In Marketing news, many pointers to the recent Marketing FAD activity and outcomes. In Ambassador news, several reports from last week's Chemnitzer Linuxtage 2010, in Chemnitz, Germany. The Quality Assurance beat brings a fresh approach, with coverage on the most recent Test Day, on Fedora 13 changes to disk management, via the udisks (previously DeviceKit-disks) backend and the Palimpsest front end. Also details on Fedora 13 acceptance testing and planning, and details on the new release process wiki documentation. This issue rounds out with Fedora security advisories released in the last week. Please enjoy FWN 218!"

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openSUSE Weekly News/116

The openSUSE Weekly News for March 27, 2010 is out. Topics include Planet SUSE status, openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 4 release, and much more.

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Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #186

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for March 27, 2010 is out. "In this issue we cover: Mark Shuttleworth: Less is more. But still less, Ubuntu Server Survey 2010 released, Ubuntu One Music Store now in public beta, Ubuntu One Blog: Updates to web contacts, Call for LoCo Council Elections, Launchpad read-only 11.00-13.00 UTC March 31st, 2010, Planning For 10.10 - Growing Our Translations Community, Ubuntu participates in Google Summer of Code, Reviewers Team - Where are we, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS - Free Culture Showcase Winners, Full Circle Magazine #35 & Podcast #3, and much, much more!"

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Newsletters and articles of interest

Cloudy with a chance of Linux: Canonical aims to cash in (ars technica)

Ryan Paul takes a look at Ubuntu on the server. "As Ubuntu's presence in the server space grows, it is showing up in some unexpected places. Weta Digital, the New Zealand company that did the special effects for Lord of the Rings and some of the 3D rendering for Avatar, reportedly runs Ubuntu on its 35,000-core render farm and virtually all of its desktop computers. The Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind the popular Wikipedia website, rolled out Ubuntu on 400 of its servers in 2008. We even use Ubuntu ourselves on several of the key servers that power the Ars Orbiting HQ."

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SUSE Studio is powerful OS instance builder (BusinessWeek)

BusinessWeek takes a look at SUSE Studio. "Today, Novell's SUSE Studio is a Web-based virtual appliance/ISO image creator using SUSE Linux. It has no parallels that we can find for building operating systems instances. Novell supplies Studio users with a 15GB online playground to make instances. You're not limited to just CD/DVD results, and you can see the work you've done online - then download it or even execute it online."

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Interviews

Interview with Amber Graner

Penelope Stowe interviews Amber Graner, leader of the Ubuntu Women Project. "AG: As the UW Project leader, it is important to me that I stay focused on insuring the direction and goals of the team are kept on track and that we as a group have continually movement. I feel strongly about making sure we have regular reoccurring meetings, helping to identify new goals for each release cycle to accomplish the long-term roadmap goals. I am also focusing on the leadership election process that will take place after UDS-M. I want to make sure the terms, responsibilities, and procedures for these yearly elections are in place. These team elections will help the UW Project identify where we can improve, and help other team members recognize their potential as leaders."

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Distribution reviews

Linux on Netbooks Reloads With Ubuntu-based Jolicloud (LinuxPlanet)

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