Running Slimserver on Asus wl500g premium

[nashb]

Given: Squeezebox 3, asus wl500g premium, 200Gb Toshiba harddisk + Vipower usb box
Todo: install and run Slimserver on asus

MiniFAQ.
1. Slimserver is very heavy for asus wl500gp since it is php+mysql, but it works and is able to broadcast music continuously – only the reaction on commands is very slow. Now I'm trying to find minimalistic configuration.
2. Asus setup steps are good described at http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?p=60933
3. Don’t forget to do “flashfs save && flashfs commit && flashfs enable” or all new programs will be lost after you restart router
4.The address of my router is 192.168.24.1

Howto steps:
1. Firmware. Install Oleg’s custom firmware from wl500g.dyndns.org (forum wl500g.info)
2. Formatting. Format usb hdd drive using PQMagic (I’ve used PQMagic v.8). Make primary partition of type ext3 and linux swap partition (I’ve made 2Gb swap)
3. HDD plugging. Connect usb hdd to asus using both usb plugs and make sure that is “started” and isn’t flicking
4. Installing and configuring slimserver
Connect to asus via telnet and enter your username/password (admin/admin)

telnet 192.168.24.1

make sure that asus sees all ext3 and swap partitions:

fdisk -l

output:
Disk /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 1 11918 95731303+ 83 Linux
/dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part2 11919 24321 99627097+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 11919 12180 2104483+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part6 12181 24321 97522551 b W95 FAT32

update package installer and install slimserver (it will install additional packages such as mysql automatically):

mkdir /tmp/harddisk/opt
mount -obind /tmp/harddisk/opt /opt
mkdir -p /opt/tmp/ipkg
ipkg.sh update
ipkg.sh install ipkg-opt
ipkg update
ipkg install slimserver

I’ve used the /opt/share/slimserver dir as the slimserver user dir
make swap

swapon /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5

create and configure startup file /usr/local/sbin/post-mount (that is automatically started during router booting after it detects usb drives) to bind hdd root to /opt and to make swap after each reboot:

echo "#!/bin/sh" >> /usr/local/sbin/post-mount
echo "/bin/mount -o bind,sync,noatime,rw /tmp/harddisk/opt /opt" >> /usr/local/sbin/post-mount
echo "swapon /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5" >> /usr/local/sbin/post-mount
chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/post-mount

Save group and password of a new slimserver user

echo "/etc/passwd" >> /usr/local/.files 
echo "/etc/group" >> /usr/local/.files

save all installed programs

flashfs save && flashfs commit && flashfs enable

Make the dir “music” on usb hdd and make it accessible:
In asus interface:

USB Application | Samba: "Enable Samba Demo mode" and "Enable hidden read-write share". 
 IP Config | WAN & LAN: Host Name in LAN IP Setting “wl500g” 
Finish (Save&Reboot)

Primary partition will be available for reading using \\wl500g\share and for writing \\wl500g\share$
Make dir music in \\wl500g\share$ and copy some mp3 files there (I recommend copy only one album at first since it will take a lot of time to scan a big collection)

5. Starting slimserver:
Run slimserver

/opt/etc/init.d/S99slimserver start

After a while (about 2 minutes) you will see “Slimserver started” message
Check that slimserver is listening at port 9000

netstat -l

Slimserver is available at http://192.168.24.1:9000 (and http://wl500g:9000 also). Start it in your browser
In “Settings” field choose “Server settings” and specify there “Music folder”: /tmp/harddisk/music
6. Connect Squeezebox to slimserver :
Choose “Connect to Slimserver” on your Squeezebox and enter it’s IP address (my is 192.168.24.1)
Then you will see “Connecting to slimserver…” message on Squeezebox. It takes about 1.5 minutes to connect first time.
Then choose to play some music.

P.S.Praise to oleo who cross-compiled slimserver and made a package (my task was to configure and test it)

[pd1acf]

Hi !

I installed this slimserver version (6.5.4-10) and is does seem to work.

In installed it on a WL500gPremium with Oleg : 1.9.2.7-8


I have no GUI access to the remote site, so confirmation will follow. Also Squeezebox confirmation will follow.

Are there any discussions on working on a Squeezecenter version (Slimserver 7.x) ?

Thanks for making this work, i guess loads of people can benefit from this for their music collection.

Grtz,

ron

[nashb]

Hi!
I'm ready to test v.7.0 on asus, will ask about cross-compilation.
I hope it will be faster or might be configured in a very minimalistic manner.
P.S.Thanks, I've made a correction in howto

[pd1acf]

Hi Nash,

I have adopted the startup script from the ipkg.
What do you think ?



[root@WL500 init.d]$ cat S99slimserver_new
#!/bin/sh

# get site config
. /opt/etc/slimserver.conf



if [ -n "`pidof slimserver.pl`" ]
then
echo "Stopping slimserver:"
killall slimserver.pl

i=0
while [ $i -le 30 ]
do
if [ ! -n "`pidof slimserver.pl`" ]
then
echo "Stopped succesfully..."
exit
fi
sleep 1
i=`expr $i + 1`
echo ". ${i}"
done
else
echo "Not running..."

fi


echo "Starting slimserver:"

$SLIMSERVER_BIN --daemon --pidfile=${SLIMSERVER_PIDFILE} \
--httpport=${SLIMSERVER_HTTPPORT} \
--user=${SLIMSERVER_USER} --group=${SLIMSERVER_GROUP} \
--cachedir=${SLIMSERVER_CACHEDIR} \
--prefsfile=${SLIMSERVER_PREF} \
--logfile=${SLIMSERVER_LOG} \
${SLIMSERVER_ARGS} >> ${SLIMSERVER_LOG} 2>&1

[root@WL500 init.d]$

[dcolemanca]

This is what I get when trying to install:

ipkg install slimserver
Nothing to be done
An error ocurred, return value: 4.
Collected errors:
Cannot find package slimserver.
Check the spelling or perhaps run 'ipkg update'

I already tried to do an update so thats not the problem. How do I get the package for my router? I am willing to try out the squeezebox (v7) version if someone has built that now?

[shintomi]

Could anyone let me know if this will work on wl-hdd.. I know it would be too heavy on it, but just want to see if I can put this old wl-hdd lying idle in the attic, for better use. TIA

[devat]

Hi

I tried to install this on my Asus wl500g premium, but somehow it doesn't seem to run. I think the installation worked, but after:
/opt/etc/init.d/S99slimserver start

I get: Starting SlimServerSlimserver daemon started OK. PID is 1092.

But netstat doesn't list it. I also don't see the process with ps.

Would be great if someone could help me, as I'm not very experienced with this stuff.

Cheers