Welcome to the eAR OS readme, version 1.10a, officially released June 23. 2008: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 2008: Acoustic Reality - Denmark Trademarks: eAR is a registered trademark of Acoustic Reality ApS - Denmark. Warranty: --------- All software on this disk comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY of any kind, either express or implied. Your use of the software is at your own risk. Acoustic Reality disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including without limitation, warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Acoustic Reality disclaims liability for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive or other damages, or lost profits, that may result directly or indirectly from the use of this software. This includes, without limitation, any damage to computer systems, hardware or software, loss of data, or any other performance failures, any errors, bugs or other defects that result from, or are associated with the use of this software. Credits: -------- Credits to the whole Linux community. Without their work this project would not be possible. Also credits to the designer of the eAR Operating System disk: Peter Thomsen, Acoustic Reality - Denmark Licence: -------- eAR OS is a Linux Live CD distribution using open source software. The license with which it is distributed is the GPL. For obvious Live CD disk space issues, it is only possible to offer the source code of the software comprising eAR OS for download, with execption of the application with the name eAR. Source code to eAR is included on this disk. eAR is licenced under GPL, version 2. You can obtain the source code to almost all programs with the command: apt-get source packagename It is not possible to obtain the source code to restricted hardware drivers and firmware. You are allowed to re-distribute the eAR OS Free Edition Live-CD. Information: ------------ eAR OS Free Edition is not the same as the eAR RT-OS Enterprice Edition. eAR RT-OS has much more features and a higher performance. See www.earos.dk for how to obtain eAR RT-OS. Username and Password: ---------------------- eAR OS has autologin. All user data are setup to be running out-of-the-box. You can enter a new session with the following username: username: earmusic Enter a password of your own choice during installation to the hard disk. Remember your personal password! The password of the Live CD: earmusic You can also select a user name of your own choice, but then you must run the wizard-places.sh utility, which you can see on the desktop. New Session: ------------ Press CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE or Logout to enter the GDM manager for a new session login. Wireless Internet: ------------------ The kernel has been compiled to support a 54 Mega-Bit wireless USB device. Move the mouse cursor up to the right corner and then you click on the network manager. Media files: ------------ You need materials to enjoy the eAR Media Center. Riping CD's and DVD's are easy. You should store the media files in the following folders, if not creating symlinks: 1) How to store your photos: Press places in the top bar and Home Folder. Then store it in the eAR-Photos folder. 2) How to store your music: Press places in the top bar and Home Folder. Then store it in the eAR-Music folder. 3) How to store your videos: Press places in the top bar and Home Folder. Then store it in the eAR-Videos folder. The database of the eAR Media Center is initiazed after each reboot. wizard-places.sh ---------------- You can run the utility "wizard-places.sh" and specify folders for music, pictures and videos. For example, if your media files are located on USB hard disks or network drives then you can run the "wizard-places.sh" utility to specify where your media files are located. You should alwayis initial run this utility. Tweaking the DVD drive for your hardware: ----------------------------------------- The DVD drive of your machine must be mounted correctly. If DVD playback is not working out-of-the-box, then you need to specify it: 1) Start kaffeine. 2) Go to the settings menu and enter the Xine Engine Parameters. 3) Click Media and change dvd.device to the name of your dvd drive you can see in the file: /etc/fstab Ripping CD's: ------------- Ensure your internet connection is up and running before ripping any CD's, because it will automatically pick up informations regarding the CD to be ripped from the internet. The CD ripper is setup from Factory to rip and encode to FLAC. Insert a CD. Then you will see the CD ripper program is starting up automatically. Now press extract. The content of CD is ripped and encoded to FLAC and stored in the Music folder you can see on the desktop. You can change the preferences of the CD ripper program yourself. Sound setup: ------------ Default the eAR OS Free Edition is using Alsa sound. You need to modify the alsa settings yourself to match your hardware. Screen size: ------------ Click the icon in the upper menu bar and change the screen size to match your display. How to use the eAR Media Center: -------------------------------- The eAR Media Center was originally developed for remote controllers and if you don't have a supported one there is help: 1) Use a mouse or a touch screen (left, right, up, down) 2) Left click to enter a menu or to start a feature. 3) Middle click to release the mouse navigation from the media center and iconify it. 4) Right click to go back in menues. The eAR Media Center has a build-in user guide. Just press SPACE or Z and follow the Extra Menu. 1) Use the Arrow keys to navigate (left, right, up, down). 2) Use the ENTER key to select an item. 3) Use the END or the Q key to go backward in menues and to exit Videos and TV. 4) Aspect ratio of Videos can be changed by using F2 to F6. 5) Use SPACE to activate TimeShift when watching DVB TV. 6) Insert a DVD and it will start to play automatically. 7) Use F2 to F12 to select sources directly when you are in the main menu. Volume Control: --------------- 1) Volume up: Press F 2) Volume down: Press L 3) Mute: Press M If you have a supported remote controller then you can also regulate the volume level, regardless if you run Alsa Audio or you run IEEE1394 FireWire Audio. This is possible with for example a build-in Front-End CPU for B&O remotes. Volume control is also possible with some multimedia keyboards, but not all keyboards are supported. Volume control multimedia keys does not support FireWire Audio devices, but you can control it with the F, L and M keys. How to tune in DVB-T ad DVB-S: ------------------------------ Start Kaffeine and let this program do it for you. 1) Select DVB in Kaffein's menu bar. 2) Start Scan wait until all channels are found. 3) When done, then select the channels you want. Add them to the left panel, click done and close Kaffeine. Next time you start TV from the eAR Media Center you can watch DVB TV. 4) Use the UP and DOWN keys to step or use the 1 to 9 Keys. Downloading Album Cover Arts: ----------------------------- eAR RT-OS has an almost automatic cover art downloader and also a 3D cover art downloader. This feature is not included in the eAR OS FREE edition. eAR Media Center MORE Features: ------------------------------- eAR RT-OS has many features build-in to be running out-of-the-box. Some features are now included in the eAR OS FREE edition. IEEE 1394 FireWire Audio: ------------------------- eAR RT-OS has that feature build-in to be running out-of-the-box. This feature is not included in the eAR OS FREE edition. Recovery of eAR Media Center: ----------------------------- In case of for example a power failure occur during write to the hard disk the database and options files may be damaged. Don't worry! It is not necessary to run the eAR OS Live CD again for a new installation. Just run the following command and everything will be fine: 1) Press ALT F2 2) Run the following command: /etc/ear/./ear-recover.sh We wish you all the best, Acoustic Reality - Denmark Enjoy and share the eAR OS Free Edition with all your friends :-)