Another go at AlienBBC on macos x tiger....help?

[PDE]

I've managed to get the bbc to stream through the terminal but it won't work on my slimdevice - just tries connecting over and over again, forcing me to power off and start it again.

I thought maybe I should start troubleshooting by running slimserver through the terminal, but the problem is that I don't really know unix. Can somebody get me going here by telling me how to do this? Perhaps the log will explain why it isn't working...

Thanks!

[danco]

i can't recall what the best way to log is. but in general there are three debuggibg stages.

1, getting mplayer to work using the terminal.

2. if that works ok, try running slimserver from the terminal. that is, turn slimserver off using the preference pane, then in the terminal do

perl ...slimserver.pl

and then use slimserver normally.

3. if that works ok, try normal use of slimserver.

frpm ypur post, i'm not sure if step 2 was ok or only step 1.

assuming step 2 is ok, and even if it isn't, there may well be a permissions problem. u had this issue once, found that mplayer gad both user and group set to my short bame, and all went well after cganging the group to 'admin'.

[PDE]

1 and 2 are ok. I was able to stream the bbc through the terminal. I can see alienbbc in the squeezebox, but then (as is common apparently) when I try to connect I just get "connecting...." over and over again.

Any ideas? I can't stand seeing all the goodies I might be able to get! I'm starved for the BBC.....


Thanks!

[danco]

That strongly suggests a permissions problem. What are the permissions on mplayer? You can check by using Go to Folder to open the containing folder, clicking on mplayer, and then Get Info and look at the details.

When I had problems, I found that I was the owner of mplayer, and the group was just me. Changing the group to 'admin' solved my problem, though I must admit that I didn't exactly see why this worked (maybe someone with Unix experience can explain) as 'group' and 'other' had the same permissions, so I would have expected it to run ok as 'other'.

[PDE]

I gave myself root access using netinfo manager and it seems to work, albeit with the occasional garble.

I'm excited beyond words! Thanks for your advice, I would have had no idea where to troubleshoot without it.

Very happy.

Update:

A little bummed that the garble problem is so bad. It's normal for five minutes but then becomes garbled..

I wish I had the technical skills and knowhow to fix this, but I will have to rely on the good and hard work of others I suppose...thanks to all of you who contributed to this effort.

[danco]

I gave myself root access using netinfo manager and it seems to work.

Glad that it works, and this does point to a permissions problem.

But it is generally regarded as a BAD THING to allow the main user to have root access. Ut means that any nasties (and simple mistakes) can have devastating effects.

O would very strongly recommend that you disable this, and simply set the permissions on mplayer to something suitable. "admin" for Group should work (it does for me), but if it doesn't then there are other possibilities to try.

[PDE]

I tried changing permissions just for mplayer but it seemed to constantly revert back to user. I'm not very unix savvy so perhaps there is a way to do that....

thanks for the cautioning though - I will try to change it.

cheers,

Pete

[danco]

See my earlier post. You don't actually need any Unix commands, it can be done from the usual Mac interface.

Find mplayer (using Go to Folder in the Finder's Go menu to view the folder that contains it, this is invisible normally so you have to use this method). Get Info on mplayer, and the permissions will be listed. Check 'details' to see who the owner and group are. You should be able to change the group to 'admin', maybe after clicking the lock and entering an administrator password.

Mind you, I'm not sure why it should revert back. What are the current permissions?

[PDE]

Hmm, that's what I tried to do, but it would automatically revert back to the previous settings when I close the get info window. WHen I tried to lock the settings in place, it did the same thing...

[danco]

I'm stuck then. I had no trouble making the change. I have a vague idea that I ran into something of the sort once, but can't recall under what circumstances.

Who are the current user (yourself?) and group? And what were you trying to change into (though the latter would be 'admin' if you were trying my instructions).

And, just for completeness, though it shouldn't be causing the problem, where is mplayer?