Slimserver 6.5 and Terastation: is it possible ?

[johnme]

I am using Slimserver 6.2.2 on a Terastation (ppc) since more than a year without any problems of installation and use ?
I would like to upgrade to slimserver 6.5 but I've red all the topics in this forum about this upgrade and I wonder if it is possible ?
Could somebody who has done that explain step by step what we have to do ? Could we have like others have already ask the ppc version of this 6.5 version ?

[Dogmatix]

If this is a Buffalo TeraStation, it's possible. I'm currently running slim 6.5.1 with my music collection parked on a 1TB Buffalo TeraStation Pro.

If you're still interested, PM me here or email dogmatix AT adelphia.net [please put Terastation or squeezebox in the subject so I can easily spot it through the spam] and I can walk you through the tweaks you'll likely need to do in order to get it to work.

Only problem I've had thus far is the problem with blank iTunes playlists that have plagued many here since iTunes 7 and SS 6.5.1 were released (personally haven't had time to troubleshoot it).

I should note that I'm running all of this on XP SP2. I suspect that the same tweaks I had to make under XP will have to be made under MacOS. I know little about Linux configurations, particularly with a NAS, so I'm no help there.

[TiredLegs]

I might be mistaken, but I think the original poster was asking about running the actual Slimserver 6.5 application (Linux) on the Terastation, rather than running Slimserver on a PC accessing files on the Terastation.

[lordboots]

[QUOTE=Dogmatix;153077]If this is a Buffalo TeraStation, it's possible. I'm currently running slim 6.5.1 with my music collection parked on a 1TB Buffalo TeraStation Pro.

If you're still interested, PM me here or email dogmatix AT adelphia.net [please put Terastation or squeezebox in the subject so I can easily spot it through the spam] and I can walk you through the tweaks you'll likely need to do in order to get it to work.

-----

I'm having the same troubles with 6.5.1 on the Terastation. I'll pm you and see if you can help.

Dave

[daipat]

Dave / Johnme,

Any luck in running SS 6.5 on the Terastation?

Best,

Pat

[Laird_Williams]

I am VERY close to having this working.

I have SlimServer 6.51 installed and running on a Terastation Pro. I have some file permission and transcoding issues that I hope to resolve shortly.


I had do do a lot of legwork.

1) Downloaded a minor customization of the tspro firmware that has a telnetd implementation and a pre-defined account with root priveleges.
2) Acquired and installed the generic tarball PPC Linux (not an installer) for MySql.
3) Snagged the static busybox implementation from the NLS2 project and installed it.
4) Grabbed the PPC Tools release from the linkstation wiki and installed it.
5) Grabbed the perl 5.8.5 PPC implementation from the linkstation wiki and installed it.
6) Grabbed the expat source release from source forge and built/installed it.
7) Grabbed the 6.5.1 slimserver and installed it
8) Rebuilt the perl modules for slimserver
9) Fixed a problem with an include file in one of the packages that the slimserver rebuild needs
10) Re-rebuilt the perl modules for slimserver
11) Customized slimserver to make use of the existing mysql rather than its embedded copy
12) Installed my various plug-ins (Sirius, XM, WeatherTime).

I have run the program by hand from telnet and have seen the following work:
a) the server successfully scanned my library
b) the web pages are available from the browser on my pc
c) the unit is visible to my SB3 and the WeatherTime plugin works
d) the SB3 was able to update its firmware from the server
e) I am able to log into Sirius and XM
f) I am able to browse all the music on the box

When I try to play a music file (all Apple Lossless - which I suspect is the issue) I get a "can not access file" error.

When I try to play a station on Sirius or XM, I get a transcoding error for WMA streams - which is not a surprise.

That is current status as of about 2 hours ago.

[Laird_Williams]

Ok,

For the WMA streams coming from the XM and Sirius radio plugins,
I simply had to enable the built-in Windows Media stream in SlimServer.
So now all 3 of my plug-ins are working.

Now I have to decide...
Do I take all my ALAC stuff and move it to FLAC?
Or do I build the ALAC transcoder recommended by Slim?

Does anyone have an opinion as regards the Terastation Pro's CPU horsepower
and its ability to transcode on the fly?
If it can't hack an ALAC transcode, then the decision is made for me.

Thoughts anyone?

-Laird

[Laird_Williams]

Hey folks- it is all done now.

I am presently streaming some flac'ed Alan Holdsworth to my Terastation to my SqueezeBox v3. Not pops, glitches, or drop-outs. It sounds great.

It was a real challenge the last 3 days getting this to go. There is VERY good information out there to help make this happen - but to my knowledge I am the first to manage putting ot all together on this platform with a 6.5 rev of SlimServer. If you want to try it, here are a few pointers.

1) I started by getting a customized build of the TSPro firmware from here:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/itimpi/buffalo.htm.
These versions have an accessable root-privileged account and a working telnetd. Aside from that, they are the same builds as the ones provided by Buffalo. I used the 1.05 release.

2) Get the STATIC linked PPC BusyBox implementation from here:
http://downloads.linkstationwiki.net/terastation/uploads/
You will not get far without this, as the busybox implementation provided with the Terastation is missing commands that you MUST have in order to do some of the rebuilds that are necessary later. You can follow the install instructions provided with each package.

3) Get the PPC_Tools release (I used 2.1) from here:
http://downloads.linkstationwiki.net/development_tools/
This provides the compilers, headers, and other build-enabling facilities. Again, you can follow the install instructions as provided with the package.

3) Get MySQL binaries for PPC Linux in a tarball release (not a RPM). You can pretty much follow those instructions to install/configure/test as well.

4) Download the expat (XML Parser) source code from here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/expat/
You will then need to configure, build, and install it per the provided instructions.

5) Download the PPC release of Perl (5.8.5)from here:
http://fieldnetworks.com/slim/perl-5.8.5-linkstation.tar.gz
Again, install it according to the provided instructions.
By the way - while the instructions provided at the fieldnetworks site are a little outdated - the site is a fantastic source of insight on how to do this. I could not have managed without it.

5) Put the SlimServer release on your box. Rebuild the perl modules. It will fail and that's ok!

6) After it fails, you will have some of the downloaded modules sitting there. Go into the Compress-Zlib library and rebuild it by hand. Then rebuild the perl modules and it will work without errors.

7) Follow the instructions for using your own MySQL instance that are provided on the SlimDevices support.

Watch you permissions and cut loose!

Good luck.

-Laird

[Laird_Williams]

A few more pointers...

First: BACK UP your /bin directory to somewhere on /mnt/array1 before putting the new busybox on.

Second: When you untar MySql and SlimServer - put them somewhere on /mnt/array1 and then create links to them named, respectively, "mysql" and "slimserver" in /usr/local. This will keep you from filling the tiny boot volume with large stuff.

I am working on repeating the entire process...reflashing and everything...and writing a complete install doc. I would REALLY like to have someone test the instructions I produce before I post them however.

I will, of course, have followed and tested them myself. But I could easily leave out a detail or two that a test user would find quickly.

Any takers?

-L

[entity00]

Hi Laird_Williams,

could you please kindly give me detailed directions on how to install MySQL in a Busybox ?
I'm pretty newbie at UNIX-ish stuff...

Thanks in advance,
EnTiTy

[pkadlec]

Hi Laird Williams,

I'd be happy to assist you and check the instructions you wrote. I just happen to have a new Terastation on which I am planning to install a Slimserver. Tell me if I can help you. If you are already finished checking your instructions maybe you can give me a pointer where I can get them...

thanks,

Peter

[jimmy]

Hi.
I too am trying to get 6.5.1 working on my terastation. I have managed to download and install all dependencies but it aint working!
The output from build-perl-modules.pl and from trying to start slimserver are attached.
Please can someone help - all I wanna do is listen to some music.... :(

Thanks
Jimmy

[jimmy]

well, no-one replied so i've spent a lot of time trying to get this working. and finally, i have! using Laird Williams notes from earlier in the thread i was able to get the prerequisites sorted no problem. when it came to installing slimserver itself, i had to build each of the perl modules separately using "perl Makefile.PL" then "make" and then "make install", fixing any little niggles as they arose.
then i just had to get my permissions sorted and it all works fine now.

if anyone else has a problem getting 6.5* to work on a terastation then i may be able to help

thanks
jimmy

[livelock]

I did it on my linkstation pro (running freelink, debian), the key issue was replacing mysql with a self-compiled binary, see my other posts.

[Laird_Williams]

I did it on my linkstation pro (running freelink, debian), the key issue was replacing mysql with a self-compiled binary, see my other posts.

What made you feel that you needed a self-compiled mySql? I used the generic PowerPC Binary distribution with no problem.

[entity00]

What made you feel that you needed a self-compiled mySql? I used the generic PowerPC Binary distribution with no problem.

Can you give us directions on how to use MySQL on QNAP?

Thanks!
M

[livelock]

well, I had several crashes (connection lost during crashes), in fact mysql crashed all the time, creating a fresh binary solved it all

[Laird_Williams]

well, I had several crashes (connection lost during crashes), in fact mysql crashed all the time, creating a fresh binary solved it all

Interesting...what do you think the difference was between what you built and the generic PPC binary distribution?

[entity00]

well, I had several crashes (connection lost during crashes), in fact mysql crashed all the time, creating a fresh binary solved it all

Would you be so kind to send me a working MySQL package?
That would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Marco

[livelock]

isnt terastation ARM like linkstation is? maybe I missed that... than my replies in this thread are not relevant, because my binaries are for an ARM9 processor

[Laird_Williams]

isnt terastation ARM like linkstation is? maybe I missed that... than my replies in this thread are not relevant, because my binaries are for an ARM9 processor

That would explain a lot. The TS and TS-Pro both use PPCs, not ARMs. There is rumour of a new TS that uses ARM.

Since there is no generic mysql ARM distribution, I supposed you'd have to rebuild.

-L

[gregh]

Hi Laird,

A quick google has led me to these pages, are you still running slimserver on the Tera station and if so how is it going?

Could you let me have a copy of the install guide you mention you were writing?

Thanks alot.

Greg