Topics

31

Developers / Fixing Rip Quality/Format Settings Usage Bugs

« on: November 15, 2007, 06:34:22 am »

I want to fix bugs Bug 3495 "DVD Changer rips CD's only with OGG" which might be related to Bug 3637 "Disk ripping does not use Quality setting information set via admin page". Both bugs are failure of the ripping script in ripDiskWrapper.sh to use the settings stored for format and quality. Zaerc has reported fixing 3637. I'd also like to add a "Rip All" button to the Admin website interface.

Where are the settings stored, and which executables call the ripDiskWrapper.sh script, in both the rip all and rip (single disc) use cases?

32

Users / Specifying CD Rip Format?

« on: November 14, 2007, 05:29:34 am »

I have ripped CDs from my VGP-XL1B CD/DVD jukebox. But the rips always produce OGG files. Where can I select the output format, like WAV?

I searched the forums and the wiki, but couldn't find where to set the format. I did see the posts discussing the bug that doesn't apply quality settings to the rips. And I see in the ripping script that it can take a paramater specifying the format. But I haven't seen where to set the format.

33

Feature requests & roadmap / Is There a Roadmap?

« on: November 13, 2007, 11:30:01 pm »

This forum is full of interesting feature requests. And it looks like "the end of November" is the target date for a new release. Which will reportedly upgrade Kubuntu to 7.10, MythTV to the latest version as of at earliest 10/07, and presumably all the patches made by sometime in November. Those changes alone will probably be quite a lot of good ones.

But is there an actual roadmap somewhere? Where new features are prioritized into expected upcoming milestones, with expected dates (or ranges, or offsets) assigned to them?

34

Developers / Port DB layer to Postgres?

« on: November 13, 2007, 11:13:11 pm »

LMCE runs MySQL as its database server. I have an existing Postgres installation, and I'd rather not DBA two different databases. The PHP scripts seem to use ADO to connect to the DB, which might mean only the datasource has to be changed, but that's usually just wishful thinking. And there's lots more glue than in the PHP.

I see that there is a documented technique for distributing the MySQL server across the network, rather than running on the core localhost. But it seems untested, and just a hint at using a different RDBMS entirely.

Has anyone investigated or documented what it would take to port LMCE from MySQL to Postgres? Any notes on any dependencies of LMCE on MySQL specifically, either SQL syntax, or features, or some other constraint? OTOH, is anyone running LMCE on Postgres already?

35

Users / Changing CORE IP#?

« on: November 09, 2007, 09:40:56 pm »

When I installed LMCE, I accepted its offer to run a DHCP server, even though my LAN already has one running, and the LMCE PC has only one ethernet port, which is connected to that LAN. Now I can't ping between the LMCE host and other hosts on the LAN. Or to the router on the LAN (so, eg. (apt-get update) fails to connect).

How can I make the LMCE PC use the LAN DHCP? Is its IP# stored anywhere but in its own DHCP config (and its DHCP client's cache, which seems to be pointing at its own DHCPd)? If I just remove the DHCPd startup from the Kubuntu startup scripts, can I just expect the LMCE to start up, use its DHCP client to get an address from my existing LAN DHCPd, and count on the IP# to propagate throughout LMCE properly?

I'd prefer to use an LMCE UI to fix this, but I'll use the Kubuntu desktop (and its commandline shell) without reservation if that's the only way.

36

Users / Ripping from Jukebox Not Working

« on: November 09, 2007, 06:58:36 pm »

I installed LMCE (dedicated/hybrid) on a machine with a Firewire card, as UI1, single room, single user, no TV or other media features - the most minimum config I could. After installation was complete, I plugged my Sony VGP-XL1B changer into the firewire port, and LMCE reported it found a DCERouter device, offered to install it. That was repeated something like 3 or 4 times, though I expected only at most two (drive and changer), and asked me to set it up as a Windows Share. I've loaded a few CDs into the drive, and I want to rip them to harddrive, but LMCE doesn't seem to really recognize/control the jukebox.

When I go to Home... Media... More... Manage Drives... I get a "Disc drives" screen with a "Bedroom" blue bar overlaid with "Rip", "Play" and "Eject" buttons.

Clicking "Play" gives me only:

I cannot play this media. Perhaps there is not a valid device in this entertainment area capable of playing it.

and an "OK" button.
After a few minutes I get a box overlaid in the upper left corner of the screen reporting. Clicking "OK" takes me back to the "Disc drives" screen.

1889 Existing device already enabled
DCERouter
DCERouter
Done with existing fileserver

Clicking "Rip" gives me a screen with a default name to save the media, recommending [CORE #1], the words "unknown disc" above the onscreen keyboard, and offering a button "Save as public", which I just immediately click. That gives me a blue screen with:

There's a problem ripping this media. please check the logs or contact tech support.

and an "OK" button. Clicking it takes me back to the Home screen.

Going back to the "disc drives" screen, clicking "Eject" gives me a screen with:

Closing tray...

and an "OK" button. After about 10 seconds, the screen changes back to the "Disc drives" screen (without my clicking OK).

The jukebox itself doesn't seem to react at all (though the DCERouter message appears on my screen, as I mentioned). Nor does the PC's internal CD-ROM seem to react, like ejecting (in case perhaps I was pointing LMCE at a different CD/DVD device).

Maybe I installed the jukebox wrong. Is there a list of specific instructions for installing the jukebox for just that scenario, ripping its contents to harddrive? If I should reinstall, how do I uninstall the bad configs? And does LMCE even support automated ripping the full contents unattended, as I've seen mentioned in some comments on this website?

37

Developers / LMCE v0710 on PS3?

« on: November 03, 2007, 06:41:28 pm »

I was glad to see LMCE announce it is releasing an upgrade based on Gutsy/7.10. Playstation3 is officially supported by Ubuntu, and 7.10 (their second PS3 release) had some real improvements on the PS3 platform. Is there any specific work in the LMCE project that targets the PS3 specifically?

The PS3 has unusual HW (that has meant some bugs in its Ubuntu distro) not limited to its unique Cell CPU, but also its Blu-Ray player, builtin Bluetooth, WiFi, HDMI output, and limited RAM. Its RSX graphics chip is locked out from Linux access by the Hypervisor virtualization container (in which either GameOS or Linux runs), and very little is yet exploiting the Cell's primary resource, it's SPUs (DSPs) that are the reason it's in the PS3. So all graphics is running on the same 3.2GHz PPC as is running the rest of the OS - ie. no HW graphics except the conversion of the framebuffer memory to HDMI output. Combined with the limited RAM, that bottlenecks multimedia very slow when running code not built or highly configured to work around the PS3 limits, to exploit its balancing strengths. And conversely, the multimedia processing slows the rest of the OS. For now, anyway, while Linux and the PS3 HW still are barely fitted together.

PS3 would be perhaps the perfect multimedia hub for LMCE, in no small part because it's subsidized by Sony to sell for only about $500, and has extremely consistent (if unique) HW, like any "game console". Also because it's got HW for LMCE features built in, including Blu-Ray etc. If LMCE can work around the limited RAM, and perhaps exploit/assist the existing independent projects to port functions (like OpenGL) to the SPEs, it would have functions available only in custom high-end PCs costing $3000, probably more.

So is there any work in the LMCE project that's making LMCE run on PS3 as best it can?