Fit PC

Official

Specs

Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz
1GB DDR2-533 on-board
Video: Intel GMA500, DVI Digital output up to 1920 x 1200 through HDMI connector (but no sound through HDMI)
Phoenix BIOS
1000 BaseT ethernet and 802.11g
160 Gb Harddrive with Ubuntu
6 USB2
IR receiver
6W at low CPU load, 8W at full CPU load, <1W at standby

Tips & tricks

BIOS

Latest firmware here
From linux:
Unmount completely your USB stick to be used for flashing fit-pc2, here let's say the USB stick is under /dev/sdb
You may consider backuping your USB content up to the size of the .img to be written on it first, then:

dd if=128MBDOS.img of=/dev/sdb
eject /dev/sdb

Manually unplug & replug the USB stick

cp xxxxx.ROM /media/0000-0001

Unmount and use the stick to flash the fit-pc2

Once in the BIOS you may consider activating the CPU virtual extensions (vtx)

Initial login

fit / 111111
sudo

If you don't want to re-type fit password with sudo, edit /etc/sudoers:

%sudo ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL

The uncommented line must move to the end to get priority
Then

adduser fit sudo

This will work on next login (as usual when you add yourself to a group)

Video

On my TV, 1900x1080 output with default rate was not working, I had to force rate 60Hz:
Temporarely for testing:

xrandr --output default --mode 1900x1080 --rate 60

Permanently:

System > Preferences > Display > 1900x1080 / 60

Video Acceleration API

For rendering video, it's better to use the hardware acceleration provided by the GMA500 through the VAAPI.
The box comes with a vaapi-enabled version of mplayer

VLC and VAAPI, not tested

Ubuntu

Don't forget to change your feeds if you don't want the US ones.

aptitude update

Then upgrade all packages
Change timezone:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

You may consider installing also java, openssh, synergy,...
Synergy is a great way to control the box hooked to your TV from your laptop!

Wi-Fi on Ubuntu

First time you type in your Wi-Fi credentials it will prompt for a keyring password. Don't do it if you want the box to be able to start & connect to the network automatically!
If you did so, see here:

rm -rf ~/.gnome2/keyrings/*
reboot

To use the box more or less headless you might want it to connect to the Wi-Fi before running a X session for user fit.
Remove network-manager and network-manager-gnome
Edit /etc/network/interfaces and add

allow-hotplug wlan0
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
    wpa-ssid ....
    wpa-psk ....

Multicast

In this example the wired eth0 is hooked to a multicast-aware network (IPTV)

Prepare for multicast:
Comment the following lines in /etc/sysctl.d/10-network-security.conf :

#net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter=1
#net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter=1

In some situations people need also to add this for their own IPTV network:

net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts=0
net.ipv4.conf.eth0.force_igmp_version=2

Edit /etc/network/interfaces and add

allow-hotplug eth0
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
    address 0.0.0.0
    up route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0

IR support

See IR support in Ubuntu

fit@ubuntu-fitpc2:~$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 03eb:21fe Atmel Corp.

This is in fact similar to IR receiver IgorPlug-USB

aptitude install lirc

=> choose Igor Cesko USB IR Receiver

/etc/init.d/lirc stop

To get a list of keynames (needed for next step):

irrecord --list-namespace|less

To program your remote:

irrecord -d /dev/lirc0 -f /etc/lirc/myremote.conf
cp /etc/lirc/myremote.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
/etc/init.d/lirc start

To test (press some keys on the remote):

irw

To map applications on Ubuntu, see here, not tried