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Messages - phenigma

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1726
Users / Re: 0810 dvd installer status
« on: September 13, 2009, 09:47:48 pm »
Thank you.  I've thought about putting a switch and an old server on the internet side of lmce and caching there - is that how you do it?  Do you have a recipe that folks can follow?
thanks,
joseph

That's exactly what I've done.  Keep in mind that this is not supported.  It works for me and has significantly reduced bandwidth usage while speeding up installation of lmce or any ubuntu/debian based distro you use regularly.

I have an old pc I use for various purposes that sits on the internet side of the lmce core.  It's running Ubuntu 8.10 and I installed apt-cacher-ng on it using aptitude.

Code: [Select]
# aptitude install apt-cacher-ng

Then when I install lmce on my core I follow the instructions on the wiki for installing the Alpha, except that before I execute the pre-install-from-repo.sh script I make a minor modification to the pre-install-common.sh script.  The line I change is:

Code: [Select]
    echo 'Acquire::http { Proxy "http://localhost:3142"; };' > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02proxy

I change the word localhost and put the IP of my outside server instead.  I save the modified script and proceed to run the pre-install-from-repo.sh script to begin the lmce installation.

The first time you install after performing these steps will take the same length of time it always has.  On subsequent installations any unchanged packages will be grabbed from your cache rather than the lmce repository.

90-95% of the lmce install now uses the cache on my outside server rather than the lmce repository.  All repository downloads go through the outside server and only new/changed/updated packages are fetched from the lmce repository whenever aptitude/apt-get are used.  All of my mds automatically use my outside server's repository cache as well with this method.

J.

1727
Users / Re: 0810 dvd installer status
« on: September 12, 2009, 12:05:52 am »
The number of times I'm re-building my core, I too would LOVE a DVD or even a way of setting up a local copy of the repository.

The repository can be cached .  This can be accomplished by setting up apt-cacher-ng on a seperate machine outside the lmce network.  The install script must then be altered each time a new install is attempted.

I have been doing this for a few months as I was exceeding my ISPs DL caps and needed to reduce my usage.  I now point all of my ubuntu machines to my cache.  LMCE installs are a little quicker at 100Mbs.

J.

1728
Feature requests & roadmap / Re: ASUS EeeTop PC ET2002T Ion and Touchscreen
« on: September 02, 2009, 08:01:40 pm »
I've been waiting for an nvidia graphics based touchscreen.  It is exactly what my wife wants for the kitchen.

1729
Installation issues / Re: Squeezeslave On The Core - Referrencing The Wiki
« on: September 02, 2009, 07:57:24 pm »
I believe the command you want is 'update-rc.d ....'.

J.

1730
Installation issues / Re: alpha 2.28 issues
« on: August 14, 2009, 10:08:10 pm »

There seem to be an issue with new-installer.
It do not contain apt-cacher-ng stuff.

Gonna solve that asap.

/niz23

Awesome, thanks.

1731
Installation issues / Re: alpha 2.28 issues
« on: August 14, 2009, 07:15:02 pm »
I had a problem with new mds not connecting and rebooting after I performed and aptitude dist-upgrade on my core to alpha 2.28.  Re-installing the core seems to have fixed that issue and my mds are created just fine now. 

Apt-cache-ng will not save you DLing the 400 mb video file because you are re-installing (erasing) the machine which would have the cache on it (the core).  It will only save bandwidth when updating MDs.

I use apt-cache-ng on a machine outside the LMCE network and point apt on my core to it.  That caches apt on all of my other ubuntu/debian machines as well.

As a side note, apt-cache-ng doesn't look like it installed on my core during my fresh alpha 2.29 install yesterday.

1732
Installation issues / Re: WiiMote
« on: August 14, 2009, 07:06:51 pm »
The Wii sensor bar is nothing more than 2 IR Leds.  There are various 'wireless' sensor bars available for purchase which are battery powered.  Some people have cut a USB extension cable and use it to supply power to these 'wireless' units rather than using batteries.

1733
Users / Re: Playstation 3 through LinuxMCE
« on: August 12, 2009, 11:05:21 pm »
There is a review of a few products which will take IR commands and broadcast the bluetooth commands for controlling a ps3 at remotecentral.com.

The actual article is:
http://www.remotecentral.com/reviews/ps3_control_roundup/index.html

1734
Developers / Re: Discussion on true Multi-room Solution (continued)
« on: April 24, 2009, 05:19:29 pm »
Not so sure that xine is going to be the issue, that seems to be transparent. The device template could certainly easily setup the basic parameters needed for PulseAudio to initialise in a basic sense..... however, I think that the PulseAudio device will likely need to be a DCE device so that it can respond to commands coming from the media plugin telling it to bifurcate and sync a stream... media plugin is the source for that coordination, not xine... it will effectively take the problem out of the hands of xine, and handle the audio at the virtual "hardware" layer, and so need to respond to some kind of DCE commands from media plugin... which in turn will need to be mod'd to know to actually send those commands to the PulseAudio device in the first place... that being said, all seems very possible and very interesting..... :)

There is development information available for building PulseAudio clients and modules that interface directly with PA rather than through the command line interface, this would be the ideal way to implement PA as a DCE device.  All stream syncing is taken care of by PA when you choose multiple outputs (local or networked).  Things should be transparent to the media application.  PA sinks (outputs) can be looped back as a source (input) which could be sent to a squeezebox simultaneously, although I don`t know if sync between PA and the squeezeboxes would be possible.  

Development information (much of which is above me) for PA is available at: http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/DeveloperDocumentation

With inexpensive MDs (My Eee Box B202 was $313.00 CDN) costing the same as a squeezebox ($299 US List), it would be great to have the functionality without the need to purchase an additional proprietary device (especially when the MD supports video output).

J

1735
Developers / Re: Discussion on true Multi-room Solution (continued)
« on: April 24, 2009, 04:53:37 pm »
Sorry I was assuming you knew what I was saying when I was refering to Modulators

In the cable industry a modulator usually takes in Composite Video and Left/Right Audio in order to pump its signal to a specific channel frequency.  It the case of a computer a 1/8 stereo mini headphone plug which is Y split out to RCA style plugs.

Sorry Perplexus, I do understand the modulator and how it works in the cable industry for Audio-Video distribution.  This device works the same way only it simply modulates audio, no video, onto an FM radio frequency rather than a television channel frequency. 

My point was that there are likely more appropriate devices to use within a home as the device in question uses a 12V power source and has an antenna connector which is designed to plug directly into a car stereo, it is not a standard coax connection, hence the need to alter the device.  This is possible but I believe there are more appropriate devices to use within a home.

This is probably getting off-topic now for discussion within the dev section for multi-room audio within LMCE, I`d be happy to continue discussing this under another topic.

J

1736
Developers / Re: Discussion on true Multi-room Solution (continued)
« on: April 24, 2009, 04:47:12 am »
Possible Idea:

If a core computer had multiple Audio cards within it... could it do audio switching.  Does Linux allow for multiple audio cards at once to within one computer?  Would they be at almost perfect sync?

If this is possible I could assign an audio card to a particular room and viola I could have a multi-room controller built within the Core.
I wouldn't need to have a bunch of cheap media directors to play audio only within them.

PulseAudio can do this.  The functionality is available in Ubuntu.

1737
Developers / Re: Discussion on true Multi-room Solution (continued)
« on: April 24, 2009, 04:06:59 am »
Quote
Is it possible to do this within a core or a media director?

No.  It takes an RCA style input, not implementedable within LinuxMCE.

These devices are intended to be plugged directly into a car stereo and would require modification to use otherwise.  It's not meant meant for home system use, there are devices for that purpose, such as amplified matrix distribution systems.

1738
Developers / Re: Discussion on true Multi-room Solution (continued)
« on: April 24, 2009, 01:25:03 am »
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_142FMMOD02/Scosche-FM-MOD02.html?tp=1701

Link for what I am talking about... obviously this is made for a car so range could be an issue. I will try to find some specs.

These are great devices, I have one of these in my car.  I does not broadcast an FM signal though, it is simply a modulator, not a transmitter.  It would allow you to modulate an audio signal onto an FM carrier frequency which you could then connect to the FM Antenna input on a receiver, this could probably be distributed through coax cable and a couple of splitters.  As a minimum it would allow a single FM radio device with an external antenna input to receive an audio signal from a single device with RCA style outputs.  These devices are not regulated because they do not 'broadcast' their signal through the air, only within a wire.

FM transmitters are limited in power (and therefor range) by broadcast regulators (CRTC here, FCC in the US, etc..).  Without a licence from a regulatory body FM transmitters are limited to the approx. 10' you've mentioned.  I've used some that will do 20' on fresh batteries.  These devices can sometimes be modified for higher broadcast power but you are then in violation of FCC/CRTC regulations.  I've not seen an FM transmitter that does not run on batteries (I assume for transmit power purposes) because they are usually intended to be portable, like for your car.

J

1739
Developers / Re: Discussion on true Multi-room Solution (continued)
« on: April 24, 2009, 12:26:12 am »
I have not yet had time to investigate this further, for synchronization accuracy, but the claim is that it is perfect.  I really think PulseAudio (http://pulseaudio.org/) is a viable option for multi-room audio playback.  There are many features which could be desirable to LinuxMCE users:

- It will output synchronous audio to multiple networked computers
- It will output synchronous audio to multiple sound card outputs in a single computer
- It will output individual sound sources to different sound card outputs in a single or multiple computers (this allows it to operate like a matrix switch without latency issues with multiple sound card outputs from a single pc)
- It allows you to use remote inputs (microphones) as local devices (baby monitor?)
- It uses a timer based method of synchronizing audio across networked pcs
- It is already incorporated as the default sound system in (k)Ubuntu 8.04 and up
- It uses zeroconf (avahi) for auto-discovery of networked pulseaudio systems (easily discoverable like remote shares...)
- It has a command line interface for all functionality (looks fairly easy to interface with...)

Why re-invent the wheel?  It is already the default sound system in Ubuntu...

Example: From the PulseAudio FAQ (http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/FAQ):
Quote
Is PulseAudio capable of providing synchronized audio playback over the network for movie players like MPlayer?

Yes! Unless your network is congested in some way (i.e. transfer latencies vary strongly ('jitter')) it works perfectly. ...

I'm still working my way through understanding the entire system but my understanding is that a device template could be written to use PulseAudio sinks (outputs) similar to how squeezeboxes are implemented.  I don't know how this would be done.

Many linux distros use PulseAudio (windows support as well)  XBMC also uses PulseAudio now.  Many options for network capable audio players open up by incorporating PulseAudio support.

My 2 cents.  :)

J.

1740
Users / Re: Would you buy EEEbox for MD (199€)?
« on: April 23, 2009, 10:06:11 pm »
phenigma,
thanks for the rundown.  seems like there's hope for the PSS on the eeebox yet.  Did you happen to notice any performance difference between 2.1.1 and 2.4.1 other than those related to the PSS?

Alex

No I did not notice any other differences in performance.  I *think* that media playback worked fine with the menus but I don't remember.  I am planning on investigating further but havn't had the time yet.

J

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