Squeezebox 7 on a Mac: what to do?

[whitman]

Hmm, apparently an exciting new piece of software has arrived ... and there's no mention of how you install it.

Or am I missing something obvious? Or am I really at sea with a load of nerds?

I have a Mac and am happily running 6.5.4. Anyone care to help by telling me how I get 7 on to my machine, and if it's worth it? Will it keep me plug-ins, for example, especially my beloved (and carefully constructed) AlienBBC?

Have pity on a poor wee non-techie, please, chaps.

[danco]

Installation is same as for earlier versions. That is, the downloaded item is a .dmg . Double-click on it (it is a disk image) and run the installer.

It's very different from the old SlimServer in its design. Most plugins for 6.x won't work on 7, but many of them have new versions for 7.

I have been playing with it, not on my main machine, and only using SoftSqueeze - so I don't run into changing the firmware on my Squeezebox while I am just experimenting.

I haven't got AlienBBC to work yet. I suspect it is something simple with permissions.

I would recommend waiting for a few days. I do have the feeling that the new version is better and easier to use. But I think there are some issues that are not bugs but more a matter of getting an installation right.

As for other plugins, look at the ones you use and go to the plugins pages to see if there are new versions.

[danco]

I have already run into a couple of problems, and also worked out what seem to be solutions for them ("seem to be" rather than "are", because I would like to run things more than once to be convinced, and I am almost asleep now).

Initially I couldn't get SqueezeCenter to run at login (installed for one user only - there are slightly different issues if one installs for all users and wants to run at startup) and I couldn't get AlienBBC to work.

Look at my other posts in this and the plugins forum for details of what seems to solve the problems.

[Creeky]

I've been using SC7 (originally in beta) for a month or so now, and it's been rock solid. The improvements in stability and usability definitely make it worth upgrading in my opinion. I've had no problems with AlienBBC, but I did clear out all traces of 6.5.4 before installing, which may make a difference.

Here's some notes I made on how to install SC7 and the plug-ins I use:

Upgrading from SlimServer 6.5.4 to SqueezeCenter 7.0.0 beta on OSX 10.4 did not work correctly for me (SqueezeCenter does not start). See mario21's instructions here for removing all traces of 6.5.4 first: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41407. To install SC7 go here: http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html to download and then install like any OS X app. To get SC7 beta to run correctly I had to select 'SqueezeCenter preference pane for this user only' during install of SC7 and selected 'start SqueezeCenter on log in' in the preferences pane. This may have improved for the final release, but I'm using the same settings anyway as they work for me

New versions of plug-ins are needed for SqueezeCenter 7.0. I use ExecuteScript, SqueezeScrobbler and AlienBBC.

AlienBBC: http://www.x2systems.com/AlienBBC/installation.html.
For the OSX version see bottom of that page. As suggested in the instructions, I downloaded the new version of Mplayer. I'm using an Intel based Mac, and it all worked first time for me.

SqueezeScrobbler 1.1: http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...roup_id=105780.
Download SqueezeScrobbler_v1.1.8.zip (bottom of page), open, and copy Squeezescrobbler directory into <username>/Library/Application Support/SqueezeCenter/Plugins
SC7 has a built-in plug-in to submit tracks to Last.FM, called Audioscrobbler, but SqueezeScrobbler also enables you to play Last.FM radio streams. Stop AudioScrobbler submitting tracks if you want to use SqueezeScrobbler (SqueezeCenter web pages->Settings->Advanced->Last.FM AudioScrobbler->No, do not report tracks to Last.FM)

ExecuteScript: http://code.google.com/p/kdfplugins/downloads/list
Download, open, and copy ExecuteScript directory into <username>/Library/Application Support/SqueezeCenter/Plugins
Put your script files in <username>/Library/Application Support/SqueezeCenter/script.
I set the Mac's energy saver settings to standby after 20mins of being idle, and use the Squeezebox's wake-on-lan ability to wake it up by pressing the power button on the Squeezebox remote. To stop the Mac going to sleep whilst playing audio I use the ExecuteScript plugin to run a script (Jiggle.sh) on file open and play, and another script (Unjiggle.sh) on stop and power off events (which scripts are called on which events can be selected in the Squeezecenter web pages settings->advanced->executescript).

Jiggle.sh (create file and put in scripts directory):
#!/bin/bash
osascript -e 'tell application "Jiggler" to activate'

Unjiggle.sh (create file and put in scripts directory):
#!/bin/bash
osascript -e 'quite application "Jiggler"'

Jiggler is an application which pretends to do some user activity to stop the machine going to sleep: http://www.sticksoftware.com/software/Jiggler.html
Thanks to danco for the tip A couple threads which might be useful w.r.t. this:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40906

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41941 (kdf kindly fixed the OS X related issues with executescript and it works great now)

[whitman]

Thanks Creeky, but - crikey - I think I might follow danco's advice and wait a bit. Much as I'd like to enter the fabulous new world of Squeezecentre, I might just follow the if-it-ain't-broke maxim. Or am I missing out, people? Is Squeezecentre 7 really that great, or has the change of name fooled you into thinking it's a big change?

[Creeky]

If there isn't a bug fix or enhancement you've been waiting on, then there's no compelling reason for you to upgrade to SC7 at the moment. I can't think of any major new features in SC7 that I use that weren't available with 6.5.4.

The clincher for me was getting hold a firmware enhancement for getting wake-on-lan to work over a wireless bridge; SC7 was required for that firmware revision.

Having upgraded though, I'm glad I did

[radish]

I can't think of any major new features in SC7 that I use that weren't available with 6.5.4.

Really? Here's a few off the top of my head:

Much improved web UI
Much improved player sync
SqueezeNetwork integration including Slacker, Pandora, Phapsody etc
Support for the SBC

[danco]

I think I know why SqueezeCenter was not starting at login although "start at login" was shown as selected when I opened the preference pane.

My guess is that it picked up "start at login" from the SlimServer 6.5 installation, and had never actually done the procedure to put an entry in the login items.

At a guess, switching to Never, and then switching back to Start at Login will get it to work ok. I haven't actually tried it yet, though.

[whitman]

Really? Here's a few off the top of my head:

Much improved web UI
Much improved player sync
SqueezeNetwork integration including Slacker, Pandora, Phapsody etc
Support for the SBC

Hi ho Radish.
Item 1, I don't use the browser bit of Slimse... sorry, Squeezecentre much.
2. What does that mean?
3. How do you mean 'integration'?
4. What's SBC?

[smc2911]

Hi ho Radish.
Item 1, I don't use the browser bit of Slimse... sorry, Squeezecentre much.
2. What does that mean?
3. How do you mean 'integration'?
4. What's SBC?

1. The web UI is nicer: e.g. drag and drop to rearrange tracks in the current playlist.
2. If you have multiple players (or one player and SoftSqueeze) you can have them playing the same thing at the same time in sync. This feature now works better.
3. You can play Music Services (i.e. Pandora, Rhapsody, Slacker, etc) while connected to the SqueezeCenter rather than having to disconnect and connect to SqueezeNetwork. Also various preferences are synchronised between your local SqueezeCenter and SqueezeNetwork.
4. SqueezeBox Controller (the new remote with a screen).