Setting up a Touch without connecting to mysb.com

[cliveb]

I am a long time SB user (since 2005) but have never owned a Touch. Nor have I ever used mysb.com. I use a local library and occasionally listen to some internet radio via the local LMS (version 7.6.1). Given the recent news from Logitech, I'm contemplating buying some backup players for the time when my existing players (Transporter, SB2, Duet) might die. And of course my only option appears to the Touch.

Reading around, it seems that the simplest way to set up a Touch is to connect it to mysb.com.

So, some questions:

1. On initial setup, can a Touch be connected to a local LMS rather than mysb.com? If so, how?

2. If a Touch is connected to a local LMS, does that local LMS provide the necessary Touch firmware, in the same way it does for the older players?

3. If the answer to Q2 is no, my understanding is that the firmware can be downloaded onto a USB stick and loaded from there. In whcih case:
a). What version of the Touch firmware would be appropriate for LMS 7.6.1? (I don't see any reason to change the version of LMS I run).
b). Where can I find instructions on loading the firmware onto the Touch?

4. Are there any other reasons why a Touch needs to be connected to mysb.com that I have missed?

[Atlantic]

1. On initial setup, can a Touch be connected to a local LMS rather than mysb.com? If so, how?

2. If a Touch is connected to a local LMS, does that local LMS provide the necessary Touch firmware, in the same way it does for the older players?

3. If the answer to Q2 is no, my understanding is that the firmware can be downloaded onto a USB stick and loaded from there. In whcih case:
a). What version of the Touch firmware would be appropriate for LMS 7.6.1? (I don't see any reason to change the version of LMS I run).
b). Where can I find instructions on loading the firmware onto the Touch?

4. Are there any other reasons why a Touch needs to be connected to mysb.com that I have missed?

Good questions. I don't yet have a Touch (and there aren't many left) but I did find this post:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...l=1#post451474

But I don't know whether this 'actually works' - I thought it seemed just to be a proposal.

regards, Atlantic

[JohnSwenson]

I am a long time SB user (since 2005) but have never owned a Touch. Nor have I ever used mysb.com. I use a local library and occasionally listen to some internet radio via the local LMS (version 7.6.1). Given the recent news from Logitech, I'm contemplating buying some backup players for the time when my existing players (Transporter, SB2, Duet) might die. And of course my only option appears to the Touch.

Reading around, it seems that the simplest way to set up a Touch is to connect it to mysb.com.

So, some questions:

1. On initial setup, can a Touch be connected to a local LMS rather than mysb.com? If so, how?

2. If a Touch is connected to a local LMS, does that local LMS provide the necessary Touch firmware, in the same way it does for the older players?

3. If the answer to Q2 is no, my understanding is that the firmware can be downloaded onto a USB stick and loaded from there. In whcih case:
a). What version of the Touch firmware would be appropriate for LMS 7.6.1? (I don't see any reason to change the version of LMS I run).
b). Where can I find instructions on loading the firmware onto the Touch?

4. Are there any other reasons why a Touch needs to be connected to mysb.com that I have missed?

The easiest way to bring up a Touch is to connect it to the internet so it starts up going to mysb.com, this will load the latest firmware (7.7.2 these days). Go ahead let it do that. Then connect to your local 7.6.1 SBS, this will change the firmware to the right version for your local server.

If you buy some backup Touches, do that with all of them while mysb.com is still up and running, from then on you can run without having anything to do with mysb.com. the indications are that mysb.com is going to be around for quite sometime, but may not last as long as the hardware does.

You CAN load firmware from a USB stick or SD card ( old firmware versions are at http://update.slimdevices.com it might not be a bad idea to go grab the firmware for all your existing devices as well as the Touch just in case these web sites don't stick around). The Touch uses fab4xxxx.bin the radio is babyxxxxxx.bin the controller part of the duet is jivexxxx.bin. I think the firmware for the SB2/3 and player in the duet is squeezebox2xxx.bin.

To install a firmware from USB stick, copy the fab4xxx.bin file to the root directory of the stick as fab4.bin. Unplug the Touch. Plug the stick into the Touch, reboot the Touch, durring the reboot process you should be given the option to load the firmware on the stick. But as long as the local server has the firmware it can always update the Touch without having to do that.

John S.

[cliveb]

Good questions. I don't yet have a Touch (and there aren't many left) but I did find this post:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...l=1#post451474

Thanks, but that thread appears to be about the Controller, not the Touch.

The thing is, if a connection to mysb.com is *mandatory* to initially set up a Touch, then once mysb.com is shut down (which is bound to happen in the mid-to-long term), then nobody can ever afford to do a factory reset on their Touch to try and fix problems.

There *has* to be a way to set it up without mysb.com, surely? It's just a matter of finding out what it is.

[cliveb]

John - thanks for the detailed info. Your reply arrived while I was in the middle of composing my previous follow-up.

One final question: if I were to load the correct firmware from a USB stick, does that mean it need not connect to mysb.com at all? Is there some step in the initial setup that gives you the option to skip connecting to mysb.com and go straight to a local LMS?

The reason I ask is that I have never registered on mysb.com, and it seems a bit daft to do that just to carry out a once-only setup.

Edit: just downloaded fab4_7.6.1_r9486.bin and fab4.version (from the 7.6.1 directory in update/slimdevices.com).
Have plonked them into the /var/lib/squeezeboxserver/cache/updates folder on my 7.6.1 LMS. (That's the directory where I found the firmware for my Controllers). I'm hoping that there will be a way to connect a Touch straight to the LMS and it will pick up the updated firmware from there - just like it does for a Controller. But since I don't actually have a Touch yet, I can't test it out. And I'm not even sure I am going to buy any Touches as backups, but I want to be prepared in case I do go down that road.

[Benefactor]

The easiest way to bring up a Touch is to connect it to the internet so it starts up going to mysb.com, this will load the latest firmware (7.7.2 these days). Go ahead let it do that. Then connect to your local 7.6.1 SBS, this will change the firmware to the right version for your local server.

Pardon my very dumb question, but do you mean just browse to your local music library?

I just picked up a 2 Touch units as "spares", and want to make sure they are set up correctly before I put them away for safekeeping.

[JohnSwenson]

Pardon my very dumb question, but do you mean just browse to your local music library?

I just picked up a 2 Touch units as "spares", and want to make sure they are set up correctly before I put them away for safekeeping.

That is correct, just go to the music on your local server and it will ask to install the firmware that matches the version of the server you have.

John S.

[Benefactor]

Thank you.

I was going to just leave them in their boxes, sealed.

Setting them up with the correct firmware (and also making sure they work correctly), makes a whole lot more sense.

[JohnSwenson]

John - thanks for the detailed info. Your reply arrived while I was in the middle of composing my previous follow-up.

One final question: if I were to load the correct firmware from a USB stick, does that mean it need not connect to mysb.com at all? Is there some step in the initial setup that gives you the option to skip connecting to mysb.com and go straight to a local LMS?

I've never actually tried it, but I think there are some people that have. I don't remember the results. And if it really becomes an issue the code that does the connect to mysb.com is just lua code that CAN be modified one way or another.

At boot time the Touch looks for a specific file on a USB stick or SD card, that file could contain a patch script that modifies the lua code that tries to connect to mysb.com. I don't know if anybody has actually done it, but it certainly can be done. So even if mysb.com goes down, the comminity will figure out some way to boot a Touch from scratch. (at least as long as USB sticks or SD cards exist!) (anybody rememebr 5 1/4 floppies? 8 inch floppies?)

John S.

[ply3908]

We need to figure out away to setup the Touch w/o MySB.com. Since we will need it if the Touch need to perform a factory reset.