AlienBBC v0.91 - fixed Windows version,and minor tweaks to Linux version

[Jules Taplin]

Right. Sorry 'bout that folks. So far... in all of slimserver-dom, only
one user managed to battle their way through all the deliberate mistakes
we put into AlienBBC v0.90, and was rewarded by it working on Windows
(nice work, Raul!)

However... we now feel that perhaps we set the bar a little high, so
we've relented, and released a beta version with a makerelease script
written by somebody with a brain slightly larger than a grape. Maybe
you'll all find this one a trifle easier.

It's bumped to version 0.91 so you can tell the difference, and it has
the '.ra' filetype added, which will help with most of the 'Other
Streams' menu, too. That's fixed on both Linux and Windows packages. And
I've updated the install docs to remind Windows users that we like
codecs if we're to get any sound out.

So. If you've still have the energy, see if that one treats you any
better.

As ever, AlienBBC is available from: http://www.mrtickle.org/alienbbc.html

Oh. And finally - Daniel has kindly provided smoe more comprehensive
v0.12 MacOS/X install instructions. I've not had time to format them
nicely, so blame him for that, not me. They're on the site, though, so
people can get to them if they're keen enough!

-- Jules

[Bill Burns]

Jules Taplin wrote:
> Right. Sorry 'bout that folks. So far... in all of slimserver-dom, only
> one user managed to battle their way through all the deliberate mistakes
> we put into AlienBBC v0.90, and was rewarded by it working on Windows
> (nice work, Raul!)

With one last hint from Adrian (to install the missing custom-types.conf
file) I have it working too on 5.4, WinXP. Nice work, developers!

As soon as 6.0 includes slim.exe in the nightly release again, I'll try
your new script with an installation on my test machine.

--
Bill Burns
Long Island NY USA
mailto:billb (AT) ftldesign (DOT) com

[Jules Taplin]

Hehe.

Groovy. Sorry if I robbed you of your glory, Bill.

And yes... it was all my fault. As Triode handed the changes to me...
they would have worked. My attempts to 'simplify' it just cocked the
whole thing up


-- Jules

Bill Burns wrote:

> Jules Taplin wrote:
>
>> Right. Sorry 'bout that folks. So far... in all of slimserver-dom,
>> only one user managed to battle their way through all the deliberate
>> mistakes we put into AlienBBC v0.90, and was rewarded by it working
>> on Windows (nice work, Raul!)
>
>
> With one last hint from Adrian (to install the missing
> custom-types.conf file) I have it working too on 5.4, WinXP. Nice
> work, developers!
>
> As soon as 6.0 includes slim.exe in the nightly release again, I'll
> try your new script with an installation on my test machine.
>

[Stuart Hickinbottom]

Thanks very much for the update - seems much neater than the old one
(the one with the transcoder).

One point for the installation instructions - they should really point
out that it will overwrite your local "slimserver-convert.conf" file
when you untar it. I checked the archive prior to unpacking it and so
moved mine sideways, but others may not and once you've worked out a
magic incantation for that file you don't want to have to work it out again!

One question - do you know how the SlimServer knows how to look in the
"Bin\i386-linux-thread-multi" directory? Mine couldn't find the
"mplayer.sh" script because of this, so I created a temporary softlink
to it in /usr/bin, which works fine for now but doesn't seem like the
right solution. My machine is running Gentoo Linux on a "Via Samuel 2"
(which is something like a VIA C3, I believe), so I wonder whether the
search path is related to that?

Almost working perfectly!
Stuart

Jules Taplin wrote:

> Right. Sorry 'bout that folks. So far... in all of slimserver-dom,
> only one user managed to battle their way through all the deliberate
> mistakes we put into AlienBBC v0.90, and was rewarded by it working on
> Windows (nice work, Raul!)
>
> However... we now feel that perhaps we set the bar a little high, so
> we've relented, and released a beta version with a makerelease script
> written by somebody with a brain slightly larger than a grape. Maybe
> you'll all find this one a trifle easier.
>
> It's bumped to version 0.91 so you can tell the difference, and it has
> the '.ra' filetype added, which will help with most of the 'Other
> Streams' menu, too. That's fixed on both Linux and Windows packages.
> And I've updated the install docs to remind Windows users that we like
> codecs if we're to get any sound out.
>
> So. If you've still have the energy, see if that one treats you any
> better.
>
> As ever, AlienBBC is available from:
> http://www.mrtickle.org/alienbbc.html
>
> Oh. And finally - Daniel has kindly provided smoe more comprehensive
> v0.12 MacOS/X install instructions. I've not had time to format them
> nicely, so blame him for that, not me. They're on the site, though, so
> people can get to them if they're keen enough!
>
> -- Jules
>

[Stuart Hickinbottom]

To follow up my own post, I've checked "perl -V" and it says
"archname=i586-linux", which I think is the problem.

I've created "i586-linux" as a softlink to "i386-linux-thread-multi" in
the Bin directory and now everything seems fine.

I wonder if this is a known issue or if I've misconfigured my perl (at
least as far as SlimServer is concerned)?

Stuart


Stuart Hickinbottom wrote:

> Thanks very much for the update - seems much neater than the old one
> (the one with the transcoder).
>
> One point for the installation instructions - they should really point
> out that it will overwrite your local "slimserver-convert.conf" file
> when you untar it. I checked the archive prior to unpacking it and so
> moved mine sideways, but others may not and once you've worked out a
> magic incantation for that file you don't want to have to work it out
> again!
>
> One question - do you know how the SlimServer knows how to look in the
> "Bin\i386-linux-thread-multi" directory? Mine couldn't find the
> "mplayer.sh" script because of this, so I created a temporary softlink
> to it in /usr/bin, which works fine for now but doesn't seem like the
> right solution. My machine is running Gentoo Linux on a "Via Samuel 2"
> (which is something like a VIA C3, I believe), so I wonder whether the
> search path is related to that?
>
> Almost working perfectly!
> Stuart
>
> Jules Taplin wrote:
>
>> Right. Sorry 'bout that folks. So far... in all of slimserver-dom,
>> only one user managed to battle their way through all the deliberate
>> mistakes we put into AlienBBC v0.90, and was rewarded by it working
>> on Windows (nice work, Raul!)
>>
>> However... we now feel that perhaps we set the bar a little high, so
>> we've relented, and released a beta version with a makerelease script
>> written by somebody with a brain slightly larger than a grape. Maybe
>> you'll all find this one a trifle easier.
>>
>> It's bumped to version 0.91 so you can tell the difference, and it
>> has the '.ra' filetype added, which will help with most of the 'Other
>> Streams' menu, too. That's fixed on both Linux and Windows packages.
>> And I've updated the install docs to remind Windows users that we
>> like codecs if we're to get any sound out.
>>
>> So. If you've still have the energy, see if that one treats you any
>> better.
>>
>> As ever, AlienBBC is available from:
>> http://www.mrtickle.org/alienbbc.html
>>
>> Oh. And finally - Daniel has kindly provided smoe more comprehensive
>> v0.12 MacOS/X install instructions. I've not had time to format them
>> nicely, so blame him for that, not me. They're on the site, though,
>> so people can get to them if they're keen enough!
>>
>> -- Jules
>>

[mherger]

[..]
> I've created "i586-linux" as a softlink to "i386-linux-thread-multi" in
> the Bin directory and now everything seems fine.

Same for me - except that my VIA C3/800 needed i386-linux...

This low performance CPU even managed to play three different streams
(DRS1/2/3) on three different devices (2x SB, 1xSS)! It averaged at about
65%, and any other cpu intensive task would make the music stutter. But
normally I only use one device at a time.

One problem though: AlienBBC does not like my SliMP3 (and slimp3slave
;-)). The processor goes to 100% and the devices display flickers some
messages. I think it's alternating the plugin's text and the "connection
lost" message. I had to power-cycle the device to calm down slimserver...

Did anybody have success running the AlienBBC plugin with an mp3 stream
(SliMP3, software player other than SoftSqueez)?

> I wonder if this is a known issue or if I've misconfigured my perl (at
> least as far as SlimServer is concerned)?

....or it's our CPUs.

--

Michael

-----------------------------------------------------------
Help translate SlimServer by using the
SlimString Translation Helper (http://www.herger.net/slim/)

[Jules Taplin]

Hmmm. Is your machine man enough to transcode to mp3 normally? To run to
slimp3, it'll need to transcode the data, and that'll take more work.

-- Jules

Michael Herger wrote:

> [..]
>
>> I've created "i586-linux" as a softlink to "i386-linux-thread-multi"
>> in the Bin directory and now everything seems fine.
>
>
> Same for me - except that my VIA C3/800 needed i386-linux...
>
> This low performance CPU even managed to play three different streams
> (DRS1/2/3) on three different devices (2x SB, 1xSS)! It averaged at
> about 65%, and any other cpu intensive task would make the music
> stutter. But normally I only use one device at a time.
>
> One problem though: AlienBBC does not like my SliMP3 (and slimp3slave
> ;-)). The processor goes to 100% and the devices display flickers
> some messages. I think it's alternating the plugin's text and the
> "connection lost" message. I had to power-cycle the device to calm
> down slimserver...
>
> Did anybody have success running the AlienBBC plugin with an mp3
> stream (SliMP3, software player other than SoftSqueez)?
>
>> I wonder if this is a known issue or if I've misconfigured my perl
>> (at least as far as SlimServer is concerned)?
>
>
> ...or it's our CPUs.
>

[mherger]

> Hmmm. Is your machine man enough to transcode to mp3 normally? To run to
> slimp3, it'll need to transcode the data, and that'll take more work.

Oh yes, he is! He had some "lame" excuses. I was sure I already installed
that, but nope. He's running fine now at about 35% (mplayer <10%, lame
<20%) cpu usage with one SliMP3. Don't lough about my loyal servant :-)


>
> -- Jules
>
> Michael Herger wrote:
>
>> [..]
>>
>>> I've created "i586-linux" as a softlink to "i386-linux-thread-multi"
>>> in the Bin directory and now everything seems fine.
>>
>>
>> Same for me - except that my VIA C3/800 needed i386-linux...
>>
>> This low performance CPU even managed to play three different streams
>> (DRS1/2/3) on three different devices (2x SB, 1xSS)! It averaged at
>> about 65%, and any other cpu intensive task would make the music
>> stutter. But normally I only use one device at a time.
>>
>> One problem though: AlienBBC does not like my SliMP3 (and slimp3slave
>> ;-)). The processor goes to 100% and the devices display flickers some
>> messages. I think it's alternating the plugin's text and the
>> "connection lost" message. I had to power-cycle the device to calm
>> down slimserver...
>>
>> Did anybody have success running the AlienBBC plugin with an mp3
>> stream (SliMP3, software player other than SoftSqueez)?
>>
>>> I wonder if this is a known issue or if I've misconfigured my perl
>>> (at least as far as SlimServer is concerned)?
>>
>>
>> ...or it's our CPUs.
>>
>

[Graham Scott]

Jules, you're a star!

I've been quietly waiting for this on Windows since our broadband went
in. It's the icing on the cake for the squeezebox as far as i'm concerned

If you're ever in the Granite City I'll buy you a beer or three...

Graham

p.s How do the listen again streams work for shows with mutiple days to
choose from e.g Mark Radcliffe? Might it be an option in the future to
be able to pick any of the five available shows?

Jules Taplin wrote:

> So. If you've still have the energy, see if that one treats you any
> better.
>
> As ever, AlienBBC is available from: http://www.mrtickle.org/alienbbc.html
>

[Jules Taplin]

Hey Graham.

We might have to arrange a wide-area pub crawl at this rate

As far as the 'multiple days' stuff is concerned... depending on exactly
which page it is... the multiple days probably _ARE_ selectable, but not
necessarily in a useful way. They have a habit of showing up as
programmes called 'Mon', or 'Fri', or something, completely divorced
from the actual name of the program. That's because the 'Listen Again'
parser reads the BBC Music Player menus... and looks for links to Audio
Resources. If it finds one, it names it as it's text. By the time you
see it on the Squeezebox Screen... it's completely lost the context of
the original layup. Worse still, the Listen Again parser has to not only
parse the sorts of programmes that are on the Radio 1 listings, it's
exactly the same code that does the 'BBC Asian Network' listings. So...
it can't afford to be too smart.

It's dimly possible we could try some other stuff... but for now, I
can't think of a sufficiently simple (and hence safe) approach to it,
I'm afraid.


-- Jules



Graham Scott wrote:

> Jules, you're a star!
>
> I've been quietly waiting for this on Windows since our broadband went
> in. It's the icing on the cake for the squeezebox as far as i'm
> concerned
>
> If you're ever in the Granite City I'll buy you a beer or three...
>
> Graham
>
> p.s How do the listen again streams work for shows with mutiple days
> to choose from e.g Mark Radcliffe? Might it be an option in the future
> to be able to pick any of the five available shows?
>
> Jules Taplin wrote:
>
>> So. If you've still have the energy, see if that one treats you any
>> better.
>>
>> As ever, AlienBBC is available from:
>> http://www.mrtickle.org/alienbbc.html
>>
>