Forum - Headless mode - how to run XBMC in a Raspberry Pi but output display in a laptop

Software
XBian version: alpha5
XBMC version: 12
Overclock settings: none

Hardware
Power supply rating: it's just ok.
RPi model (model A/B 256mb/512mb): B
SD card size and make/type: 16GB
Network (wireless or LAN): Raspberry Pi connected to laptop by means of an RJ45 network cable
Connected devices (TV, USB, network storage, etc.): NONE, no keyboard. Nothing. Just power and RJ45.

Problem description: I'm trying to get XBian's XBMC displayed in my laptop screen. I've followed the guide here and been successfull up to ssh'ing into Xbian in text mode. Now, there's not way I can run XBMC either by issuing commands such as startx or xbmc start. Of course, I have followed instructions in the guide and have Xming server running and Xbian data tunneled into my lapton by enabling X11 forwarding in Putty. And still... I cannot get into graphical mode or get XBMC displayed in my laptop screen...

Any piece of advice would be of great help. I'll report progress based on your advice, have no doubt.

Regards,

@mixpc

XBMC for RPI is not running under XWindows. It is standalone application with direct access to video.

In order to achieve what you want you have to install solution like VNC server. XBian project is providing it as package xbian-package-vnb-server available on standard apt repo (wheezy/stable).

Officially it is provided for versions Beta1 and later (uses upstart for starting and has dependency to xbian-package-firmware). For use on A5 you would need to unpack it manually to system and install needed dependencies

Code:

sudo -i

cd /tmp

wget http://xbian.brantje.com/pool/stable/main/x/xbian-package-vnc-server/xbian-package-vnc-server_1.0.0-3b_armhf.deb

dpkg -x xbian-package-vnc-server_1.0.0-3b_armhf.deb /

apt-get install libc6 libvncserver0 zlib1g libjpeg8 libgcrypt11 libgnutls26 libgcc1 libgpg-error0 libtasn1-3 libp11-kit-dev

and create simple sysv script to launch it on start or start it manually

Code:

/usr/local/sbin/dispman_vncserver

also VNC server takes huge system resources - cpu power - on fullhd resolution its almost no use there, 1280x720 is better but for work with XBMC via VNC (development, maintenance etc) best way is to force resolution of 720x480 by putting "hdmi_mode=2" into /boot/config.txt line and reboot.

@mixpc just wondering, why would you do this??? you know that you can have XBMC installed on your computer under any platform?

Changed from problem to idea

Hello,

Thank you for your kind and informativ replies, indeed. I'll respons in chronological reverse order so I agree with IriDium: it's not a problem but more of an idea, a path to explore.

@rikardo1979, yes, you're truly right. I could just go on and have the Windows XBMC port installed in whatever laptop. And that would be ok, but my contention was to display Xbian capabilities regardless of a display set. I can think of many different cases where no TV set is available for Xbian to prove its power. For such cases I have opened this thread. In my case, no HDMI or RCA cable availability plus a no TV set setting made me think about having Xbian displayed on a desktop or laptop. That simple.

@mk01, your reply is truly informative. Thank you again. I'm updating to 1.0beta2 this week. I'm going to use the backup add-on to backup all my current settings and already installed add-ons and then move on to update to beta2. I'll keep you updated.

You're a great team, great support. My congratulations to you!

Depending on your set-up OS and inputs on your Laptop - you could run the HDMI output via an HDMI extender over Cat5 into your Laptop - HDMI or DVI.

Kind comments are always welcome :-)