Basic Instructions for installing AlienBBC on DS-106

[John E Boy]

Hi All.

I've just got myself a Synology DS-106 and have managed to install SlimServer 6.5.0 following FlipFlip's instructions and SSODs dist. Thanks FlipFlip :D

I'm now attempting to install AlienBBC on the DS-106.
(I've managed to get it all working on a XP machine).

My problem is I haven't used Unix for many years let alone Linux and so don't really know where to start.

I've installed FlipFlip's patch to enable telnet access to the DS-106 but have stopped there after a quick connect and poke around the directories.

I've downloaded the linux tarball of the latest AlienBBC dist (1.06).

I've searched this forum and the 3rd party plugin forum and Goggle for basic instructions for installing AlienBBC but there don't seem to be any that are basic enough.

Please can someone post me a walkthrough - assume I know nothing please. I know I have to get Lame, MPlayer installed and working then the AlienBBC player then edit some config files but exactly how to do that is getting me lost.

I have tried reading and starting to follow the instructions here: http://www.ripcaster.co.uk/node/18 but they talk about installing AlienBBC on Fedora Core which I presume is a different version of Linux than the Diskstation uses. Also these instructions are slightly old and mention old version of the Lame, MPlayer stuff. There are many different versions of Lame available here: http://dag.wieers.com/packages/lame/ but I don't know which to choose (if any).

If there are simple (English) instructions somewhere - can someone point me in the right direction (and no - sorry I cannot read German).

Thanks.
John

[John E Boy]

I've sorted the problem having reread the SSODS readme and finding a thread related to a similar problem.

I'd delete this thread but I can only edit it.

Sorry for wasting bandwidth :(

[bpa]

I don't have a DS-106 so this is an educated guess at the steps.

1. If you have an Sb2/3 you don't need lame - SS will stream in Flac to your SB.
2. Mplayer is already installed as part of SSODS but it is a special version called mplayer-stdout. Check mplayer-stdout is installed by typing "mplayer-stdout" at a shell prompt - you should get a banner. If OK continue.
3. To uinstall AlienBBC - first stop slimserver.
a. cd to the slimserver directory which has the file slimserver.pl
b. Extract the AlienBBc files using the command with the relevant filename of the downloaded file.
tar xvf <yourAlienBBCtarfilename>

4. Read the SSODS README and find the section about editing the AlienBBC file

If you have installed the 6.5 version then cd to the Plugins/Alien directory and edit the convert.conf file.
If you have installed the 6.3 version - edit the slimserver-convert.conf file.

Edit the file according to the SSODS README (i.e. replace lines for RTSP-WAV, RTSP-FLC and RTSP_MP3 to use mplayer-stdout instead of mplayer.sh)

5. Restart slimserver.

[flipflip]

SSODS comes with mplayer(-stdout), lame, flac, shorten, etc. etc. etc. Just download AlienBBC and copy the Alien-Folder to \\diskstation\SlimServer\Plugins (remember to give write permissions to the share using the DS admin interface, see README.ssods). Then edit custom-convert.conf in the Alien folder as described in the README.ssods. Restart Slimserver, adjust "File Types" I you want (default is "convert to FLAC" for Alien, I think).

That's it.

flip

[toddel68]

SSODS comes with mplayer(-stdout), lame, flac, shorten, etc. etc. etc. Just download AlienBBC and copy the Alien-Folder to \\diskstation\SlimServer\Plugins (remember to give write permissions to the share using the DS admin interface, see README.ssods). Then edit custom-convert.conf in the Alien folder as described in the README.ssods. Restart Slimserver, adjust "File Types" I you want (default is "convert to FLAC" for Alien, I think).

That's it.

flip

Wenn ich danach die Häkchen bei *.aac und *.wma für den Output als Mp3 setze bekomme ich folgende Meldung:

Ausführbare Datei wurde nicht gefunden: [mov123] $FILE$ | [lame] --resample 44100 --silent -q $QUALITY$ -b $BITRATE$ -r - -
Ausführbare Datei wurde nicht gefunden: [wmadec] -r 44100 -b 16 -n 2 $FILE$ | [lame] -x --resample 44100 --silent -q $QUALITY$ --abr $BITRATE$ - -

Habe ich da in der slimserver-convert.conf.alt (SS6.3) was falsch editiert?
Das habe ich:

rtsp wav * *
[mplayer-stdout] -really-quiet -vc null -vo null -bandwidth 10000000 -cache 128 -af volume=0,resample=44100:0:1,channels=2 -ao pcm:waveheader:file=- $FILE$ 2>/dev/null
rtsp mp3 * *
[mplayer-stdout] -really-quiet -vc null -vo null -bandwidth 10000000 -cache 128 -af volume=0,resample=44100:0:1,channels=2 -ao pcm:nowaveheader:file=- $FILE$ 2>/dev/null | [lame] --silent -r -x -q $QUALITY$ -b $BITRATE$ - - 2>/dev/null
rtsp flc * *
[mplayer-stdout] -really-quiet -vc null -vo null -bandwidth 10000000 -cache 128 -af volume=0,resample=44100:0:1,channels=2 -ao pcm:nowaveheader:file=- $FILE$ 2>/dev/null | [flac] -cs --endian=little --channels=2 --sign=signed --bps=16 --sample-rate=44100 --compression-level-0 - - 2>/dev/null

Thorsten

[flipflip]

Does Alien work or not?

RTFM. The one of AlienBBC and the SS documentation about File Types...

What is "slimserver-convert.conf.alt"? The relevant file is "slimserver-convert.conf" (6.3.x) or "custom-convert.conf" (6.5.x).

The relevant "File Types" for Alien are:

X RTSP FLAC mplayer-stdout/flac
X RTSP MP3 mplayer-stdout/lame
X RTSP WAV mplayer-stdout

SS prefers RTSP->FLAC, uncheck it if you want RTSP->MP3, uncheck that as well if you want RTSP->WAV. RTSP-FLAC is the recommended one, though, hence slimserver prefers this.

mov123 and wmadec is something different. It's unchecked by default since the binaries are not included with SSODS. If I remeber correctly, "wmadec" didn't compile and "mov123" does not really exist (or at least I don't know where to get it from and how to compile it). AFAIK you don't need these for anything.
At least you don't need these for Alien.

Well, the question still is, does AlienBBC work?

flip

[toddel68]

What is "slimserver-convert.conf.alt"? The relevant file is "slimserver-convert.conf" (6.3.x) or "custom-convert.conf" (6.5.x).


Aaargh - looks like I manipulated the wrong file... Will look into that as soon as I return home.

By the way: I've no idea why I wrote in german - must have been because I was browsing
the german forum before :-)
Thorsten

[tommypeters]

Not bad anyway - not everyone would learn German so easily, by just browsing a forum... :-)

[toddel68]

Not bad anyway - not everyone would learn German so easily, by just browsing a forum... :-)

Yeah, maybe I should change my nickname to Sir Richard Francis Burton..
;-)

AlienBBC by the way is working now. Turned out that I had downloaded the windows package of AlienBBC...

[stroom]

I have installed AlienBBC and modified slimserver-convert.conf.
AlienBBC menu is available.
However, after checking RTSP to FLAC in the File Types menu I got the following error message:

"File Format Conversions 20:
Setting was changed.
Required binary was not found: [mplayer-stdout] -really-quiet -vc null -vo null -bandwidth 10000000 -cache 128 -af volume=0,resample=44100:0:1,channels=2 -ao pcm:nowaveheader:file=- $FILE$ 2>/dev/null | [flac] -cs --totally-silent --endian=little --channels=2 --sign=signed --bps=16 --sample-rate=44100 --compression-level-0 - - 2>/dev/null
"

Playing music with AlienBBC does not give any sound because of this.
I do no find the mplayer-stdout in the /volume1/SSODS/bin/ directory. Is this normal or should it be elsewhere?

Anyone can help me with this?
Thanks.
==================
I am using the following:
Synology DS101j
Firmware Version: 2.0.3 - 0426
SSODS release: r1b4-armv5b (modified tree.conf to enable ssods menu)
Hardware: synology_ixp420_junior.
SlimServer version: 6.3.1-8476.

[flipflip]

Yes, there is no mplayer or mplayer-stdout for the DS-101j. Unfortunately the DS-101 and DS-101j have an ARM CPU which does not have enough power to run mplayer and do the on-the-fly transcoding of the real streams (lack of a FPU, a floating point unit). And I think that the codec is only availabe for x86 and PPC platforms anyway.

But there are few good Podcasts from the BBC available as mp3. The "Documentary Achive" is my favourite.

Regards,
flip

[stroom]

Allright, now I do understand why.
I read that DS101j was not recommended when using AlienBBC but I wanted to give it a try anyway.
(It might be an idea to explicitly mention that AlienBBC cannot be installed on DS101j in the readme of SSODS.)

Despite of this limitation, I am quite happy with my lo-budget NAS :-). Thx again flipflip