How to convert any old LCD / LED / Plasma TV into a featured SMART TV

Aim of Tutorial: To convert any LCD/ LED / Plasma Television into a smart television with built in multimedia applications using Raspberry Pi.

Required:
1.> An Internet connection and a LAN Cable.
2.> Raspberry Pi Computer and case.
3.> A standard micro USB mobile charger (5V, 700-1000 ma).
4.> At-least a 4GB SD card or micro-SD card with adapter.
5.> USB Card Reader if no laptop.
6.> HDMI Cable

Download:
1.> Win32 Disk Imager application
2.> Raspbmc_latest.torrent or Direct download raspbmc_latest


[PART-1]: Installing Raspbmc onto Raspberry Pi.

1.> Connect the SD card to a computer using a card reader.

2.> Run Win32 Disk Imager as administrator and browse the raspbmc-2013-12-23.img file.

3.> Now select the appropriate removable disk drive letter from the drop down list (be careful) and press the "Write" button.

4.> After the process of writing completes, safely remove the USB card reader and the SD card and plug it in the raspberry Pi.

5.> Connect the LAN, HDMI, USB Keyboard and Mouse to your Raspberry Pi computer, and power up the system.

Note that, you can use TV's own USB port to power up your Raspberry Pi, in case you do not have any USB port, you can use a standard MicroUSB mobile charger to power up your Raspberry Pi.

6.> In the initial setup, you will be greeted with  completing configuration menu from step 1 to 2. your raspberry pi will restart several times to finally show the welcome screen.



7.> Select appropriate language and locale, if you miss out you can change it later from settings menu.

 8. > You can change any settings related to your Video / Audio output from "Settings" menu, also if you need to tweak your raspberry pi's performance, it can be done from additional settings under "Programs" menu. (though its not necessary until you are geek)

9.> The best thing about Raspberry Pi is that it comes with HDMI-CEC technology, which allows you to remote control the Raspbmc operating system and TV with help of your TV remote simultaneously.

[Part-2]: Navigation using the TV Remote / SmartPhone.

1.> The Directional keys can be used to navigate through menus in XBMC
2.> The Exit button can be used to return to the previous menu.
3.> The Play, Pause, Forward, Reverse and stop buttons can be used to control all your media playback.
4.> The Power button will turn off Raspberry Pi and the TV simultaneously.
5.> The volume button can be used to increase the volume of the playing media.

You can refer to my other post where, I have explained how you can use your smartphone as a Wifi Remote for your Raspberry Pi XMBC media center.

How to setup Raspberry Pi computer for Torrent downloading and Network Added Storage.

Aim of tutorial : How to setup Raspberry Pi for downloading Torrents and NAS.

This setup will allow one to access their hard disk drive connected to raspberry pi as a network share in windows or an android phone and also enable raspberry pi to download torrents from the internet and automatically share it on the network.The tutorial is divided into 2 Parts as follows:

1.] Installing Samba server.
2.] Installing the Transmission Torrent Client.

Login to your Raspberry Pi as default user: pi user and password: raspberry
Use "sudo" with every command.

Type the following commands:

[Part 1]: Installation of Samba and Mounting an external USB Hard Disk Drive.

1.> Install SAMBA on Raspberry Pi:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install samba samba-common-bin
sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.copy

2.> Add support for NTFS drives:

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g
sudo fdisk -l

>> Note down the drive name ( my 1TB drive was listed as: /sda1)

3.> Mount the harddrive and setup mount points:

sudo mkdir /media/WD1TB
sudo mount -t auto /dev/sda1 /media/WD1TB


4.> Configuring SAMBA:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Look for ############Authentication############## line
under which you need to remove the # symbol from the line: 

security = user 

and also copy paste the following lines at the end of the file:

[WD1TB]
comment = Backup Folder
path = /media/WD1TB
valid users = @users
force group = users
create mask = 0660
directory mask = 0771
read only = no

Use "ctrl+x" and then "y" and then "Enter" keys to Save and close the configuration file.

5.> Save and restart SAMBA service:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

6.> Add Unix users:

sudo useradd softwareking -m -G users
sudo passwd softwareking

Enter the password twice to confirm.(Entered password will not be shown)

7.> Add SAMBA Users:

sudo smbpasswd -a softwareking

Enter the password twice to confirm.(Entered password will not be shown)

8.> Setup hard disk to mount automatically even if Raspberry Pi restarts:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Enter the following line in the last and Save:

/dev/sda1 /media/WD1TB auto noatime 0 0

9.> Restart Raspberry pi:
      
sudo shutdown -r

By entering the samba user id and password in windows network, you should now be able to access your hard drive connected to raspberry Pi.
[PART 2]: Installation of Transmission torrent client and configuration

10.> Installing Transmission Torrent downloader:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install transmission transmission-daemon transmission-cli

11.> Configuring Transmission:

sudo service transmission-daemon stop
sudo nano /etc/transmission-daemon/settings.json

Edit the following lines to your needs:

“rpc-enabled”: true,
“rpc-password”: “qwerty”,
“rpc-port”: “9091”,
“rpc-username”: “softwareking”,
"download-dir”: “/media/WD1TB/Torrent_Downloads”,
”incomplete-dir”: “/media/WD1TB/Torrent_Downloads”,
”incomplete-dir-enabled”: true,

Use "ctrl+x" and then "y" and then "Enter" keys to Save and close the configuration file.

12.> Creating a Downloads directory for Transmission:

cd /media/WD1TB
sudo mkdir Torrent_Downloads

13. > Start the Transmission daemon service:

sudo service transmission-daemon start

Test if the port 9091 is open:
sudo netstat -antup | grep 9091

14.> Adding Transmission to start-up automatically when raspberry pi starts:

sudo apt-get install chkconfig
sudo chkconfig --add transmission-daemon
sudo /sbin/chkconfig --levels 2345 transmission-daemon on

Restart Raspberry Pi.

sudo shutdown -r

15.> Accessing Transmission Webpage:

From any device connected to your same network,
open a browser and type:

http://192.168.2.100:9091

This will open Transmission Web-page where you can add, control and monitor your torrents.
Click on the wrench Icon at the bottom to open settings, Network and edit the port to 9092, save.

16.> Configuring Wifi-Router to forward ports for Transmission torrent downloader.

Check how to forward ports in wifi router here: Port Fowarding

Port forward ports 9091, 9092 for RPC(webserver) and Torrent respectively.

Restart the router if necessary and Raspberry Pi

After the download completes, they will automatically show up in the Network share we created in Part-1 of the tutorial.

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How to access Windows LAN Shared drives or folders on your Android device.

Want to add more gigabytes or terabytes of storage or Stream Videos and music without saving to your Android device ?

Here is the following method to do so.

Requires:
1. WiFi Router (My Router's IP address: 192.168.0.1).
2. Desktop / Laptop Computer.  (whose drives or folders will be shared)
3. Android Phone/ Tablet/ Camera, WiFi enabled and connected to router.

Steps:

1.> Install "ES File Explorer app" on your Android device.

2.> Setup a password protected User or Admin account on Windows PC. (mine is User Account name: Varun, Password:123456)

3.> Now suppose, I want to share whole E: drive of my PC with my android Phone. 

        Right Click on the E: drive.
        Select "Share With >> Advance Sharing".

4.> Click on "Advance Sharing button"

      Tick "Share this Folder"
      Click "Permissions" button
      Tick "Full Control"
      Click "Apply" button
      Click "OK" button

Window closes...

Again Click Apply and close buttons respectively for remaining window.

5.> Open ES file explorer app on android device.

Under "Network" select "LAN"
Press "Search" (magnifying glass icon)

6.> It should show up that PC with an IP address (Say 192.168.0.100) OR you can add it manually and put entries as follows:

7> All right, Now you can access, Read, Write, Stream Files directly from your PC without having to download to your Android device first.

Note: Ignore the drive letters shown as "$D" or "$E" these are shown to indicate these drives are present in your PC but not shared.

A review about Windows Phone 8 and 7.8 Mobile OS based smartphones.

The following review is with respect to Nokia Lumia Phones running Windows Phone 8 and 7.8.

Display: Super smooth touch, colour reproduction, sharp and bright display.

User Interface: Unique Metro Styled-Tiled User interface but has less support for Landscape use. You will always have to hold the phone to Portrait mode for most tasks. Has no option for customizing screen or Phone book Font size or even locking to Portrait and landscape due to above reason.

Applications: Most use-less apps from unknown developers, you will ever find on this smart phone's Windows Phone Market place. You are likely to crave for good applications.

 

Some of the best applications available are:
Nokia Drive (Offline GPS)
Nokia Maps
Nokia Music (Paid subscription)
Nokia Play to
Nokia Cinemagraph
Nokia Trailors
Microsoft Office with 360 support.
Microsoft Skydrive
Microsoft Maps
Mircosoft Zune Player
Microsoft Internet Explorer 10
Creative Studio
Lomogram
PhotoFunia
Discus
Hike
Viber
WhatsApp
Gaana
Facebook
Camera Extras
Metro Tube/ Tube Pro
In-Built support for major Email-client setups like, GMail, Yahoo, Facebook, Outlook and Custom Mail setup.

More about the Applications:

1. Zune Music & Video Player:
There are No Equaliser settings in Zune Music Player, There is one free to try application for setting equaliser settings. No 3rd party music or video player are available on market.

2. Internet Explorer 10: 
Not up to the mark when compared to 3rd party browser. UC-browser is the only 3rd party Internet Browser available in Market place.

3. Nokia Music: 
The quality of the songs is average since they are meant to be downloaded in shorter time. Also for continuing (after free subscription) you will have to pay for it later on. Note: you will have to buy the subscription from Oxigen partner and later use the key for activation.

4. Support for Google Applications:
No support for Google Products such as Maps, Drive, YouTube  Voice, Gtalk etc. except for Google Mail setup. Microsoft services are not at par with Google ones. YouTube Application on the Market Place is just a URL shortcut which will re-direct you to the IExplorer and then to YouTube mobile site and similarly for maps and other services.

5. Phone Management:
Lacks basic features for logging 3G/2G Data Usage and last call duration  though there is an app for the same called "Counters" its based on pre-inputs from user, which will require you to define your monthly limit for calls, SMS and Data Usage Manually.

6. Skype / Viber:
Skype works just fine.
You are likely to miss a few calls or messages on Viber, if you did not pay attention to your phone or Notification Bar. 

7. CinemaGraph: The most amazing app on the Market place ( Thanks To Nokia ) allows one to record a short video and allows you to specify which part you want to keep animated (moving) and which parts to be kept still along with loop time settings.
The size of each snap is hefty more than 4mb each for obvious reason being a GIF animated image.
The app is now available for IOS platform too.

8.Nokia Drive:
The best GPS application you will ever come across! why ? because it works in offline mode too ! with distance covered, trip meter settings, Voice navigation and Speed gauge. All you have to do is pre-install maps of your region and Voice files of the languages you understand.

9. Microsoft Skydrive and Office360:
They work flawlessly and are well integrated with other applications. Though there is ZERO support for 3rd party cloud storage providers such as Google drives and DropBox.

Games: 
Temple Run 1 and Mortal combat were released a few weeks before. Angry Birds Star Wars and Fruit Ninja are free to try with locked levels.
Temple Run 1 seriously ? aren't these obsolete games according to you ? Imagine Android/ IOS ppl playing "latest" & "Free" and discussing about them on playstore and Appstore and Windows phone ppl yelling and crying (including me) for apps and games.

>> Most of them cannot be played because of limited RAM of 512MB and even 1GB (For temple Run 1). 
Games will come no doubt but a price or free to try if "NEW", and 100% free If OLD.
Do not expect any new games any sooner.

Camera: Best in class even comparable to all the Android smartphones and Iphone 5 out there. Though Panorama feature is not as smooth and simple as Iphone.

Tethering support:
No USB / Bluetooth Internet sharing supported. Only WiFi internet sharing supported with which, you are likely to drain all your battery juice in a couple of minutes of use.

OS Security:
Its a very secure mobile operating system, you will not have to install an Antivirus application on this phone.

Others:
>> No file explorer  or support for exploring LAN shares on your PC. You will need to setup your own FTP or Web server and browse your files from browser only.

>> Support for SAMBA shares is also not present and is limited only from a free to try app.

>> Push SMS notifications after a call or SMS or Data Session are hardly shown. Notification Bar is faulty.

>> You cannot manage your songs, Pictures or Videos without having to install Zune Software for Windows and MAC users. Linux Users will have to rely only on Bluetooth for file sharing.

>> Lacks remote access tools like Teamviewer and Remote desktop Connection is another Paid application.

Price: Nokia have slashed prices of Lumia 820 from Rs. 27000 to Rs. 24000 in just 3 months of its release following with Lumia 920 also.Its just not for the price you will paid for it and the functionalities it will provide.