Dear all,
Checking out an 8GB RAM server on a LMCE 10.04 w/RC, dmesg prints the following:

Code:

[    0.000000] Initializing HighMem for node 0 (0002effe:0007f800)
[    0.000000] Memory: 2005284k/2088960k available (4699k kernel code, 46060k reserved, 2128k data, 664k init, 1283128k highmem)

This does not appear correct, (shouldnt 32bit see up to 4GB RAM?) and it seriously cripples a large system... (at a point, it was using 5GB of swap..)
I did some research and the only solution appears to use a PAE-enable kernel.

So I tried installing one with:

Code:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-server linux-image-server linux-server

And indeed, I could see the entire memory:

Code:

dcerouter_1032148:/var/log/pluto# top
top - 17:39:06 up  2:29,  2 users,  load average: 0.64, 0.71, 0.72
Tasks: 273 total,   1 running, 272 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s): 13.1%us,  5.2%sy,  0.6%ni, 68.6%id, 12.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.5%si,  0.0%st
Mem:   8201900k total,  5062680k used,  3139220k free,   314256k buffers
Swap:  5907448k total,        0k used,  5907448k free,  3420992k cached

The only problem so far is that HAL kept dying, which is not really convenient (for an LMCE server, that is..)
Any recommendations? Should HAL die because of this could there be another issue with it?

Thanks,
Ted

[apache2ctl restart]

Dear all,

It seems that lately I am stretching the LMCE to its limits!
I decided to help a friend that fell in love with LinuxMCE (but has no technical knowhow whatsover...) to install a large system (>10 MD's) at his home.
(see post http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php/topic,12986.msg93795.html#msg93795 for some of the issues I have experience so far)

During the installation of the 16th MD, the LMCE web admin screen seemed unable to register any of the changes performed on the last MD. (I had to manually create it, since it had a Realtek 8168 card...).

After a number of attempts, i discovered the following error message:

Code:

[Mon Jan 21 20:41:57 2013] [error] [client 192.168.1.83] PHP Warning:  Unknown: Input variables exceeded 1000. To increase the limit change max_input_vars in php.ini. in Unknown on line 0, referer: http://192.168.1.30/lmce-admin/index.php?section=mediaDirectors&msg=The%20devices%20were%20updated&error=
[Mon Jan 21 20:41:57 2013] [error] [client 192.168.1.83] PHP Warning:  Unknown: Input variables exceeded 1000. To increase the limit change max_input_vars in php.ini. in Unknown on line 0, referer: http://192.168.1.30/lmce-admin/index.php?section=mediaDirectors&msg=The%20devices%20were%20updated&error=

Solution is to insert the following, in /etc/php.ini

Code:

max_input_vars = 2000

(Dont forget to reload apache after this, with: apache2ctl restart)

I am not sure what the consequences of this are (memory wise), but this is the only way I managed to have a working LMCE admin interface again.

Hope its useful to someone,
Ted
 

A little something from me.

Spread the word guys, and keep up the good work.

Thanks,
ted

Entire setup is on a hybrid, updating it once in a while to keep current.

w32codecs is already installed (also tried removing and reinstaling it), and 20 (something) snapshots ago it used to play WMA.
Now it cannot stream with windows format, nor play WMA encoded files.
All else plays ok.

thanks,
ted

Indeed it works.
Thanks l3mce.
All is left is WMA playback.. wouldn't care if it weren't for the streaming radio stations...

ted

[05 11/20/12 23:02:34.884 Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1002) <0xb6d77b70>05 11/20/12 23:02:34.885 Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() ended for filename: /home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma with stream 0xb6200940. <0xb6d77b70>]

l3mce,
Thanks for your help but I cannot get WMA and surround sound to work.
I tried all 3 options for AlternateSC but I see not difference.

This a dump of the Xine player log.. It looks as if playback starts and stops immediately, but media appears as if its streaming. (and remote will show the file in playback.)

05      11/20/12 22:49:00.416           Xine_Player::GetConfig default zoom 100 <0xb7779ab0>
05      11/20/12 22:49:00.421           Warning: libxine.so.1 is not loaded yet (?) <0xb7779ab0>
05      11/20/12 22:49:00.421           Custom xine functions status:  xine_seek=(nil), xine_start_trick_play=(nil), xine_stop_trick_play=(nil). Trickplay and seeking support: absent <0xb7779ab0>
05      11/20/12 22:49:00.494           Count of screens at this display: 1 <0xb7779ab0>
05      11/20/12 22:49:00.520           XMapWindow returned: 1 <0xb7779ab0>
05      11/20/12 23:02:32.565           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() called for id 1002 filename: /home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma () <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:32.583           Xine_Stream_Factory::GetStream streamID is 0 <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:33.873           Created new stream with ID=1002 deint 0  100 0 <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:33.873           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() set stream 1002 as last rendering to screen. <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:33.873           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() called for id 1002 filename: /home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma () with corresponding stream 0xb6200940. <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:33.874           Opening media without chapters/title position: 'file:///home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma'  <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.880           Visualizing plugin not enabled <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.881           Xine_Stream::changePlaybackSpeed no running seekers found <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.881           Xine engine set new zoom level to X:100, Y:100 <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.884           Read media A/V information: [MS Windows Media Audio 2 (ffmpeg)]/[] => [pcm]/[] <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.884           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1002) <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.885           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() ended for filename: /home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma with stream 0xb6200940. <0xb6d77b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.889           Read media A/V information: [MS Windows Media Audio 2 (ffmpeg)]/[] => [pcm]/[] <0xb1446b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.890           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1002) <= AV info <0xb1446b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.890           Read media A/V information: [MS Windows Media Audio 2 (ffmpeg)]/[] => [pcm]/[] <0xb1446b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:34.890           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1002) <= AV info <0xb1446b70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:35.787           [ID: 1002]  CHAPTER:0 POS:0 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:222165 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 0 freq 1, <0x488bb70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:36.790           [ID: 1002]  CHAPTER:0 POS:0 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:222165 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 1 freq 1, <0x488bb70>
05      11/20/12 23:02:37.792           [ID: 1002]  CHAPTER:0 POS:0 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:222165 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 1 freq 1, <0x488bb70>

If you have any ideas or need a log, please let me know.

Thanks,
ted

Thom, Mike, thanks for your input. I had to visit my friend to check out the config.
The system has
- 2x Intel Gigabit nics
- 2x 3.5 500GB SATA disks in RAID 1 configuration (1U in size, so disk replacement is difficult) on IBM server M1015 controller
- 4GB RAM (although LMCE reports 2GB total..)
- each media box has 4GB ram as well
- All is connected in 48 port Cisco SF-200 48x10/100 + 2x1000 ports (eth1 of linuxmce + ReadyNas Ultra6 connected)
I also tried a Procurve 1810-24G (24 port gigabit managed switch) that gave much better results in booting times (since the media boxes have gigabit adapters on them) but the same results (as far as number of ACTIVE media boxes concurrently).

I will try your suggestions once I have sometime to play with the system. So far, the only way to have a working installation is to power off any media box that is not needed, keeping a maximum of 6 powered on at all times.
If you remember, when the 7th or 8th (random) is powered on, the system starts to behave erratically upon attempting media/audio playback (continuous reloading of the core, DCE router dies and the proxy orbiter collapses). Even if DCErouter is forcefully restarted, proxy orbiter never wakes up.

Please let me know if you need any logs or what you need me to provide. After your helpful suggestions of monitoring iotop, i recorded the following session upon booting. Notice that even though all 10 media directors fired up, only 8 nfsd sessions were active.

Code:

dcerouter_1032148:/home/linuxmce# iotop
Total DISK READ: 2.85 M/s | Total DISK WRITE: 1459.94 K/s
  TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN     IO>    COMMAND
  387 be/3 root        0.00 B/s   91.01 K/s  ?unavailable?  [jbd2/sda1-8]
 1766 be/4 root      538.47 K/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 1767 be/4 root      307.16 K/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 1768 be/4 root      174.43 K/s    3.79 K/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 1769 be/4 root       64.46 K/s   60.67 K/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 1770 be/4 root      492.97 K/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 1771 be/4 root      728.07 K/s   11.38 K/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 1772 be/4 root      420.92 K/s   30.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 1773 be/4 root      193.39 K/s    3.79 K/s  ?unavailable?  [nfsd]
 2048 rt/4 asterisk    0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  asterisk -p -U asterisk
    1 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  init
    2 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [kthreadd]
    3 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [migration/0]
    4 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [ksoftirqd/0]
    5 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [watchdog/0]
    6 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [migration/1]
    7 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [ksoftirqd/1]
    8 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [watchdog/1]
    9 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [migration/2]
   10 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [ksoftirqd/2]
   11 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [watchdog/2]
   12 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [migration/3]
   13 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [ksoftirqd/3]
   14 rt/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [watchdog/3]
   15 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [events/0]
   16 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [events/1]
   17 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [events/2]
   18 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [events/3]
   19 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [cpuset]
   20 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  [khelper]
CONFIG_TASK_DELAY_ACCT not enabled in kernel, cannot determine SWAPIN and IO %

I am also attaching the result of dmesg I gathered from the server in case it helps.

This behavior, was never noticed in LMCE 8.10. Although it is the first time I attempt to install such a huge system (up to now the largest number of  remote boot MD's I have installed was 8, without any issues on 8.10), I really hope someone has a clue....
All ideas welcome, I will try to implement mike's comments and report back.

Thanks again for your help,
ted
 

Thanks man.
I have never tried that but I think its a good time to do so.
(with a small SSD disk inside things could be very fast)
To make my life easier, when I first started designing the project specs, I was planning to install Linuxmce 810 final, but (on installation time) it would not see the IBM controller (serveraid M1015)..
Anyway, will keep all posted on how it goes.

Thank you.
ted

Dear community,
Here's something that I never saw before... After convincing a friend to go the linuxmce way (instead of going AMX/Crestron/Vantage), i help him setup 10 rooms and a hybrid/core as a server.
Installation was successful (system will be used for A/V distribution only and all mediaboxes are in the dedicated computer room), and systems one after the other were configured successfully.
When the last one finished, the whole system was powered down and the hybrid/core was powered on first. After a while, WOL kicked in.
This is where the things start to get strange:

• out of the 10 media boxes, 5 booted normally and 5 were stuck to the "Mounting root file system. What was amazing was that (even though all booted at the same time through WOL, first one was ok, second was not, third was ok, etc).
  
• after having booted successfully the five of them, i started to (manually) close and boot each one. The sixth came out ok. When the 7th was booted, performance started to degrade considerably, and then all hell broke loose. Core started to reload continuously, proxy&web orbiter crashed whenever the room was selected, etc
• When the 7th media director was powered down, everything was normal again!

Now you might say that 6 is my lucky number, but is there anything I can do to enhance/correct NFS performance (as to allow for all 10 media box to boot concurrently)? Is this the problem or should I be looking at anything else?
Hybrid/core is an IBM x3250m3 with 4GB ram, media directors are Xsrteamer Ultra boxes with 2GB each and all are connected on a 24-port gigabit ethernet switch.
Any ideas?

Thanks,
ted

Hi l3mce

Tsoukas there are now 3 audio setups iterated as AlternateSC = 0 1 or 2 in /etc/pluto.conf

No such configuration option exists in my /etc/pluto.conf
This is the result of the lspci command:

dcerouter_1031877:/home/linuxmce# lspci -nn|grep VGA
00:12.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation C68 [GeForce 7050 PV / nForce 630a] [10de:053b] (rev a2)

Let me try all three options (and reboot in between) and i'll get back to you.
Thanks for your help.
ted

Newguy2,
this is where I get my streams:
www.listenlive.eu

One of the streams that works (and listening to it as I write this) is
91.132.6.21:8003/listen.pls (with http:// in front)

Try one of them, preferrably broadcasting in winamp/shoutcast formats.

Unfortunately, the directions in the previous message do not solve the problem for me. Running the AVWizard, i noticed that AC3 playback/passthrough does not function as well. Where before the amplifier would change to Dolby Digital/DTS formats (in the surround steps of the AVWizard), now it is always stuck at PCM (even though surround sound is heard through the speakers)

thanks,
ted

No problem, all of us are in it for the trip and not the destination.
How do I upgrade ? Through apt-get update/upgrade or is there any other way?

Thanks,
ted

Hi cfernandes,

Thats the thing. A 6 month old installation I had was working ok (in fact this is the one that I check out internet radio on).
When I dediced to reinstall after a core collapse from multiple updates (messages from hybrid/core that HAL device died, etc) everything was ok but WMA playback. Cant seem to figure out why.
MP3's play ok, winamp-based radio sites play ok. Nothing with WMA though (or windows codec v2 as xine reports it)

The only inconsistencies I discovered (and reported on my previous message) were concenrning the ffmpeg library mismatch.
After replacing (symlink) all ffmpeg-related files with pluto-ffmpeg binaries, the same problem persists.

All this is true in the case of media directors on all my core installations (I have 3 systems running), but in all systems squeezeslaves/squeezeboxes reproduce all (mp3,wma) streams ok.

Any clues?
ted

Doesnt matter if it streams in WMA codec. In recent snapshots, WMA playback (radio& files) appears broken.
I describe some tests in this post:
(cannot post links... check latest message in "10.04.. the time has come")

Something that I forgot to add is that this is only valid for media directors. Squeezeslaves play OK, any type of stream.
Thanks,
ted

Dear all,

While I was hapily streaming radio stations for a while, in the last few snapshots wma playback seems broken.
Unfortunately, it is not confined to radio playback; any file encoded in windows codecs refuses to play.

This is the playback of a typical wma file:

Code:

========== NEW LOG SECTION ==========
1       11/03/12 12:27:01       23 (spawning-device)    Starting... 1
1       11/03/12 12:27:01       23 (spawning-device)    Found ./Xine_Player
05      11/03/12 12:27:01.765           Xine_Player::GetConfig default zoom 100 <0xb7770ab0>
05      11/03/12 12:27:01.791           Warning: libxine.so.1 is not loaded yet (?) <0xb7770ab0>
05      11/03/12 12:27:01.791           Custom xine functions status:  xine_seek=(nil), xine_start_trick_play=(nil), xine_stop_trick_play=(nil). Trickplay and seeking support: absent <0xb7770ab0>
05      11/03/12 12:27:02.050           Count of screens at this display: 1 <0xb7770ab0>
05      11/03/12 12:27:02.051           XMapWindow returned: 1 <0xb7770ab0>
05      11/03/12 12:27:08.593           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() called for id 1001 filename: /home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma () <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:08.593           Xine_Stream_Factory::GetStream streamID is 0 <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:08.845           Created new stream with ID=1001 deint 0  100 0 <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:08.845           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() set stream 1001 as last rendering to screen. <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:08.845           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() called for id 1001 filename: /home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma () with corresponding stream 0x8b05d00. <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:08.875           Opening media without chapters/title position: 'file:///home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma'  <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.759           Visualizing plugin not enabled <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.760           Xine_Stream::changePlaybackSpeed no running seekers found <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.760           Xine engine set new zoom level to X:100, Y:100 <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.761           Read media A/V information: [MS Windows Media Audio 2 (ffmpeg)]/[] => [pcm]/[] <0xb0d6db70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.761           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1001) <= AV info <0xb0d6db70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.761           Read media A/V information: [MS Windows Media Audio 2 (ffmpeg)]/[] => [pcm]/[] <0xb0d6db70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.761           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1001) <= AV info <0xb0d6db70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.763           Read media A/V information: [MS Windows Media Audio 2 (ffmpeg)]/[] => [pcm]/[] <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.763           Xine_Player::EVENT_Playback_Started(streamID=1001) <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:09.763           Xine_Player::CMD_Play_Media() ended for filename: /home/public/data/audio/Software Raid 1 [39]/ALBUMS/U2/The Best Of 1990-2000 [UK]/01 Even Better Than The Real Thing.wma with stream 0x8b05d00. <0xb6d6eb70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:10.676           [ID: 1001]  CHAPTER:0 POS:0 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:222165 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 0 freq 1, <0x56a7b70>
05      11/03/12 12:27:11.677           [ID: 1001]  CHAPTER:0 POS:0 TITLE:0 SUBTITLE:-1 AUDIO:-1 TOTAL:222165 (seek 0) t.c. ctr 1 freq 1, <0x56a7b70>

Even though playback stops for the specific filename, it appearts as if streaming continues normally.

Before I dump my problem onto you, I tried researching it a little bit.

1. w32codecs is installed (along with libdvdcss2, but thats not important here..)
2. ffmpeg results in error (WARNING: library configuration mismatch), but pluto-ffmpeg works ok (so I installed that with a symlink so it loads it by default, along with ffplay, ffserver,ffprobe)

Cant seem to pinpoint the problem though... Any clues?
Thanks for your help,
ted