Trying and trying to make this work on Linux first time

[Anne]

Hello there everybody,

I'm not new in the computer branch but trying to turn my home in a centralized TV, Movie, Music and photo system. I don't have much to spend and what i have is all old treats, left overs from the past so no new stuff.
As i'm still working on an old compaq EN Pentium III with only 512 Mb on board, i'm trying first to change the IP, did that, works almost ok and if i put myself in 10.11.10 - range, i can open the adminpage and so on.
I also changed the password for the admin, or first user (They really should think of a better way doing that ) and think that i might ask you here for the real problems i can't figure out.
After a while i found that the only way in properly setting the IP was via the webadmin page. It might have something to do with the age of the pc, i don't know, but i really would like to know if anyone else faced this.
Also changing the admin password was a search and i did that also via the webadmin page i got there, done that. What i can't figure out is something you might help me with:

1)Adding a Media Director, i could not find a way to it. I must have overlooked it, and really would like to see it work. Thanks for helping me on this...

2)The next problem i face is media. Movies, mp3 photo's, how can i access it if my livingroom screen in orbiter is empty, only the telecom section and security which i don't have.

3)The last is that all media i have is in the server room, server w2003 with 8 tb, holds movies, tv shows and music, a terastation 1tb with foto's in subdirs and a copy of movies and mp3 on a open filer system.
How can i add my W2003 server in the core and make them available for the other rooms.

Well, that's it for now, i can't think of anything else, but i'm going to try and find it myself in the mean time.
Thanks for response..

Anne

[Aviator]

1) To add a media director, first you will need to SSH into the core, putty works well for this if you are using Windows.  You can also use the KDE desktop on the core and pull up a terminal session. From the terminal, run sudo /usr/pluto/bin/Diskless_CreateTBZ.sh - this sets up the MD image.  Next, go into the web admin and choose Media Directors from the left hand column. Scroll down and click the Add Device button.

2) You should have audio and video options available in the core's onscreen orbiter.  You will need to use UI1 on that hardware.

3) Share your media folders on the 2003 server and the core should find them automatically as long as the 2003 server is connected to the core's internal NIC (I'm assuming you have 2 NIC's in the core?).  Once you have entered the credentials for the share, the media will be available to the core and all MD's.

Is the P3 your core or your MD?

Hope this helps and welcome to LinuxMCE!

[Anne]

Whoa   man! what a smooth answer, other forums they first nag at you, then they nag about the nagging   and then after some explaining etc there is slightly an answer, but most of the other forums i've been to people always, almost always tell to RTFM or forum.  
So, i'm happy that you gave me this answer.
Yes, the P3 is a test core machine, this weekend i pick up another very much newer pc at my father-in-law's house and bombard this one to Core or central unit. The W2003 server i have holds those 8 TB (RAID 5) with some windows shares, but it did not said it found one of them. I shared Films and Music as i use an A.C.Ryan mini-HD connected in my bedroom and via that device i can watch media, for now without a problem, i log in and i can watch. So, the tips you gave, i'm gonna try, but first i want an answer about something weird.
I used for years in my home the ip range 10.11 class B 16 bit subnetmask and i had my core's both networkcards steered to 10.11.10.209 and 10.11.10.210
Now i can't always communicate fluently with it via DHCP on my W2003 server, dealing 10.11.11 adresses. So i changed subnet from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.0.0 but i still think it can't connect so good. (the orbiters and webpage i mean) That's for later. Now i'm first gonna try to Putty...
Thanks so far, i'll contact here if i get stuck.
Anne

Putty did not work, i guess it does not like me, i used ROOT, LinuxMCE, anne and all were not accepted on the internal lan ip. Now you are gonna tell me that i need External lan hey?
So, gonna go to the core upstairs and try it through KDEdesktop.

[bongowongo]

To what are you trying to connect using putty?

[Anne]

To 10.11.10.209 and/or 10.11.10.210
209 is internal and 210 is external. Am i doing it the wrong way?
Sorry, my bad
EXTERNAL_IP 10.11.10.209
EXTERNAL_NETMASK 255.255.0.0
EXTERNAL_DHCP 0
INTERNAL_IP 10.11.10.210
INTERNAL_NETMASK 255.255.0.0
GATEWAY 10.11.10.201
DNS1 10.11.10.201
DNS2 10.11.11.1
Nope, still no luck on this. Gonna try the other way, to the core!

[tkmedia]

You need to have two different networks and have lmce be the dhcp server for the internal network.

The best is to use the default ip and dhcp address range for the internal network. 192.168.80.x

and have your media directors as well as file servers on that network in order for them to work pnp.


HTH

Tim

[Anne]

Hi,

I'm not accepting it that in my line of work i'm gonna use a device, not thouroughly tested enough, replaced for thé most important DHCP server in my network .
I know, and vagely start to understand that the core's dhcp is vital for the other devices, but i can't exclude them from my existing network. I also use a clearOS as firewall/proxy, so that option i'm not gonna use either.
I think that it must be possible to alter my existing DHCP so that all devices, servers, wireless, pc's etc. are gonna benefit from it, what do you think?
A co-worker who uses distro MCE 8, saids that using one nic is possible. Mine does not have to firewall/route everything, it should be used to the best ability, namely: A media device.
I keep things this way because i'm to keen on changing everything internally, so i'm not gonna change to 192.168, simply, i can't.

[Anne]

I wish i had simple questions, but somehow i kinda make them difficult all the time... sorry.

[tschak909]

You're being bull-headed, and obstinate, and will cause yourself undue pain and anguish for yourself and everyone else helping you on this forum. This product is not for you, if all you want is media playback. It is a smart home platform.

So please, stop wasting everyone's time; including your own.

-Thom

[Anne]

So Thom, you got yourself a hang-on there, your reply is one of the most earlier spoken of bad answers.
I assume you read all my posts here, then you must have been figuring out that having an old system being replaced, just asking for flexibility within Linux MCE.
I do believe that every system, and i mean EVERY system can be adapted in any existing network. Those questions i asked came after three days searching without luck.
So do not be so short, if your world exists around this system, and it is the first in your home, i agree. Build then everything around it.
But there must be another way and i almost got there by myself, almost. So i really do not want to hear that i should change every device, webservers, NAS, TS's, file servers, mailservers, routing configuration, firewall and all loose devices to your option?
That is short minded and absolutely not the thoughts of a person who is in Linux.
As this is my first big attempt making such device working, i keep on going. Because i'm a system- and networkcontroller for many many years and not intended to give up so easily. Thank you for attempting me to throw of this project, you failed.
Anne

[maverick0815]

perhaps you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. if you want to use lmce, you have to some degree play by its rules. lmce can only find and incorporate your media, if you give it enough control about it- hence it needs to be dhcp for all the devices connected to it. So, if you think its not "fit" enough for "productive system" in your home, whats keeping you from having two separate networks for the time being...one to familiarize and test lmce and the other one for your everyday use. Once you figured lmce out for yourself, you can always make the switch. In the end, you have to find out for yourself, if lmce is for you or not. I know Thom seems to be very harsh in his answers, but try to see his point too- very, very few developers...and lots of demands on the software, some reasonable, some not.
I'm using this system since 7.10 and I wouldn't ever trade it for anything else, though I'm not a linux geek myself.
Perhaps, if you only want a media device, as you said, you should explore other things like xbmc or mythbuntu first and see, if they give you, what you want. Linuxmce is really so much more than just a media-device... in a way the "mce" doesn't really do the system justice and maybe is sometimes a bit misleading.
Look and all the functionality of it, and then think about all the things, you don't want to use..then think, if its really for you.
If you have questions about how to get the system going in a proper way, there are lots of  competent and helpful people around, who will be happy to help you

[bongowongo]

To sum it up
Abide the system rules / 2nics / nvidia / dhcp etc
or
You are on your own, and you need to dev it yourself to work. The more kudo's you get the more people will want to help you.
It is not being not nice, it is because we have very low resources to help somebody on his hobby inside a hobby project.
We need to release and support 0810 and focus on the next step (1004).

[Anne]

Thanks Maverick, it's much better to find that i did not see things completely wrong. I will try to set up this weekend version 7.10 and go with it as i can. I'm happy to get the green light in asking some 'stupid' questions, and i know you dev's meet daily people who ask silly questions, but i will first try to get it working the way i want to becaus like you said, it is a BEAUTIFULL system, and i watched on youtube all the movies about people who had it installed and kept thinking, that is what i need, that is what i want. So to make this thought reality i HAVE to make it truth.
I keep trying and hoping i find the answers to make it work.
@Bongowongo, i try to make it work the way i believe is the right way, it is surely a hard one and often i have to stop and reconcile my steps, but eventually i'm hoping that it works without your help (not that i don't appreciate, i do!) and i switch in a future stadium to the latest version. This is all a test for me just to get to know the system...
Thanks so far...
Anne

[maverick0815]

Anne, if I were you, I'd rather go with 8.10 instead of 7.10...7.10 is completely obsolote. Just think about TV-cards for example...most of that stuff is pnp in 8.10, but requires a lot of manual work in 7.10...its just not worth it.
Download the latest snapshot and you're good to go.

[bongowongo]

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Snapshot_overview