Hi, I’m a noob in Linux and in english too :-).
Recently I have discovered the distribution Openelec 5.0 and I like it. It’s lite and very fast to boot. But I don’t know how make blinkstick work with it. Previously I was on Windows 7 and blinkstick with boblight was just amazing.
If someone could help me to make Blinkstick working with Openelec.
Thank you in advance to any one who can help me.
Hey.
Openelec is a special media center distro. Are you going to install it on a Raspberry?
Without any linux knowledge it could be hard. As far as I know Openelec does not offer a packet manager so you have to install anything manually. So in my eyes linux knowledge is essential.
But wait a bit for Arvy, maybe he has an idea.
Hey p0ke,
I have two installations one on a Raspeberry (bedroom) and the other on an HTPC (living room). It’s on the HTPC that I want to plug the Blinckstick (Ikea Dioder Hack). I found on the Openelec forum that I need to compil Openelec with the python package of Blinckstick but I don’t know how to do that.
Waiting for Arvydas…
@helldarkmonster I have a solution for XBMC/Kodi on Linux. It involves compiling and installing an updated Boblight daemon which is available here:
Follow the instructions for Linux and if you get stuck anywhere just let me know.
Once you have boblight daemon running, you can make it start automatically using this.
To finish the setup, install boblight XBMC plugin and BlinkStick with IKEA DIODER should light up.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for your reply Arvydas.
But in Openelec I don’t have an Linux environnement to make any modification.
I found two solution on Openelec forum:
- create an blinckstick add-on to Openelec and install it with the xbmc interface
- compiling Openelec with the python package of Blinckstick
I don’t know how to do that two things.
I have tried to install Kodibuntu witch have a Linux interface but I have an error at launch “kodi needs hardware accelerated opengl”.
I don’t know why my configuration don’t seem to be too old
My configuration : - ASUS P7H55D-M PRO
- Intel Core i3-540
- 8 Go DDR3 SDRAM
- ATI Radeon HD 5750
Kodibuntu is install on an external usb flash drive 16 Go
Once again if you can help me, I’m addicted to blinkstick 
Oh… didn’t check that Openelec is slimmed down custom distro Ok, in that case it’s going to be interesting to implement BlinkStick support for it. I’m certain that it’s going to be more than just packaging BlinkStick Python package. I’m currently busy with a complete rewrite of BlinkStick Client application and I will look into Openelec once I have a beta release of Client application ready.
I have BlinkStick running as ambilight on my Kodibuntu installation flawlessly with the instructions I’ve written for my patched version of Boblight. I think this is what you should focus on.
The error message you are receiving is probably due to ATI drivers not being loaded or installed. Do you have ATI driver installed and working as expected?
If you could implement Blinkstick on Openelec it will be FANTASTIC.
I don’t know if I have ATI driver installed. I just have burn the kodibuntu x64 .img and make an install on my HTPC. The intallation works fine but at the end when I reboot I have this message error “kodi needs hardware accelerated opengl” and a black screen, I can’t do anything.
Maybe it will be better if I choose the 32bits version of Kodibuntu ?
Yes, trying a 32 bit version is a good place to start. I’ve had quite a few headaches with ATI drivers on Linux. One way to quickly access shell on Linux is with the Ctrl+Alt+F1 key combination. You can log in and run command line shell there to install additional ATI drivers:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Ubuntu%20x86%2032
I think you can try to install on the current 64 bit version of OS too:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Linux%20x86_64
If it’s too much trouble for you, I can set up an SSH tunnel where you could connect from the PC and I could install and set everything up for you. Send me a private message if you are interested.
Hi
I have solved my problem with Kodibuntu making a fresh install.
But now I have an other problem with samba. When I share a disk with permission to anyone I have access with my laptop on Win 7 but when I restart Kodibuntu I don’t still have the access with my laptop.
What’s wrong, any idea ?
This afternoon I will try to install blinkstick on Kodibuntu. I will know you if I succeed or not.
About the distro I prefer Openelec, it’s start more faster and no need any configuration for the graphic card or samba. So I will be waiting for your implementation of Blinkstick in Openelec.
Oncre again thinks for your help.
I have solved my samba problem too, like a big boy
@arvydas
Again I have a problem. I have install boblight following your instruction GitHub - arvydas/boblight
But when I want to start it I have a message error
Error device 1 : error opening device, error -3 libusb_error_access.
I try echo "SUBSYSTEM==“usb”, ATTR{idVendor}==“20a0”, ATTR{idProduct}==“41e5”, MODE:=“0666"” | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/85-blinkstick.rules but I always have the same error.
Please help me
- Did you reboot after you added the rule?
- What is the output of “cat /etc/udev/rules.d/85-blinkstick.rules” without quotes?
- Try running boblightd with sudo. Do you get the same error?
That’s work ! It just need a reboot.
I test the autostart next week. I will let you know if it’s work.
Thanks for your help.
@arvydas
Hi,
Like on my windows system I necessarily need to unplug and plug the blinkstick usb at every startup to make this command working : ./src/boblight - c ./conf/blinkstick.conf
Any idea to solve this issue ?
Concerning the automatically starting boblight I also have some problems
When I execute this command $sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/boblight I have this error chmod: permissions modifications of “/etc/init.d/bobligh”: operation denied
So I do it as root with sudo -i, the command seems to work but I haven’t any confirmation in terminal.
Next I want to add it to autostart with sudo update-rc.d boblight defaults but I have this messages
update-rc.d: warning: /etc/init.d/boblight missing LSB information
System start/stop links for /etc/init.d/bobligh/ already exist
Next when I execute this command service boblight start I have a permission denied if I am not log at root with sudo -i. If I’m root it’s ok
For service boblight stop I have this error
- Stopping boblight deamon boblight
/sbin/start-stop-deamon: user ‘boblight’ not found [OK]
What can I do to make it work ?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Sorry about the delay in responding.
Would you be able to install Python pip package for BlinkStick via “sudo pip install blinkstick”? Then run a few commands and send me the output:
blinkstick --info
Run this command after you restarted your computer, but not having BlinkStick plugged out and back into USB port.
blinkstick --pulse red
That’s very strange, sudo command should provide you with permissions to modify. What is the output of the following command:
ls --full /etc/init.d/boblight
Do you have boblight installed via any package management system?
There is a missing step, you need to add boblightd user with this command:
useradd boblightd
Or you can replace the line in the /etc/init.d/boblight script:
USER=boblightd
with your user name instead of boblightd.
I’ll try to set up a kodibuntu virtual machine tonight and update the steps accordingly to ensure that everything works.
No output if I don’t plug and replug. After replug:
h2g2@Ubuntu-TEST:~$ blinkstick --info
Found device:
Manufacturer: Agile Innovative Ltd
Description: BlinkStick
Serial: BS001024-2.1
Current Color: #000000
Mode: 0
Info Block 1: BLINKSTICK
Info Block 2:
Again, nothing if I don’t unplug an replug. After replug pulse work but it’s not red it’s blue !?
Output :
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1043 2015-02-18 18:00:01.286897367 +0100 /etc/init.d/boblight
I don’t think so, it’s a fresh basic install of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS x64
I have replace with my user name.
In terminal :
h2g2@Ubuntu-TEST:~$ service boblight start
* Starting boblight daemon boblightd
/sbin/start-stop-daemon: unable to open pidfile '$' for writing (Permission denied)
With sudo -i :
root@Ubuntu-TEST:~# service boblight start
* Starting boblight daemon boblightd [OK]
root@Ubuntu-TEST:~# service boblight status
* boblightd is not running
root@Ubuntu-TEST:~# service boblight stop
* Stopping boblight daemon boblightd
No //$ found running; none killed.
Looking forward to your reply
Ok, we are getting somewhere 
First of all regarding the need to unplug and plug back in the device after you restart the computer. It’s been resolved in a 2.2 firmware update and your BlinkStick has 2.1. Could you please send me a private message here on the forum or an email to info at blinkstick dot com with your order number. I’ll send you a new chip with the updated firmware and the same serial number and your issue with having to unplug the device after reboot will be gone.
For the rest of the issues it would be best if you could wait until I properly test the setup instructions on Kodibuntu as I need a working system to find out what is not working and how the OS differs from the setup that I had when I was writing the guide.
@arvydas
Hi,
Have you test the setup instructions on Kodibutnu to find out what is not working on my config ?
Haven’t had a chance to look at this yet. This is next task on my list
Working on this now, will let you know when I have a tutorial ready today.