[Announce] Community Firmware for Squeezebox Radio/Touch/Controller and LMS 8

[mherger]

[Announce] Community Firmware forSqueezebox Radio/Touch/Controller and LMS 8

> I've upgraded the server to LMS 8.0.1 and have selected the community
> firmware plug in and enabled in 'Advanced' tab.
>
> Now on the Squeezebox Radio I've installed the 'Patch Installer' and
> attempted to select the 'compare versions check' (I understand necessary
> to correctly compute that there is a later version than the current
> 7.7.3.)

You don't need to patch your firmware if you're running the community
firmware build.

--

Michael

[slartibartfast]

Hello,

I'm obviously doing something wrong here ?

I've upgraded the server to LMS 8.0.1 and have selected the community firmware plug in and enabled in 'Advanced' tab.

Now on the Squeezebox Radio I've installed the 'Patch Installer' and attempted to select the 'compare versions check' (I understand necessary to correctly compute that there is a later version than the current 7.7.3.)

However I'm met with this patch is not 'compatible with server 8' (sorry from memory)

I've seen a thread here: https://bit.ly/2X2XGw5

So am I correct I need to temp' connect the radio first to an earlier LMS (than 8) in order to first install the patches ? It's sort of contrary to the initial intro to installing the updated radio firmware if I'm now correct.

Thanks in advance.

Have you tried "Settings-Advanced-Software Update" on the Radio?

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[MPO]

I found this

https://www.max2play.com/en/forums/topic/restoring-lms-settings-to-new-installation/

I do think the M2P have dropped the ball of late (well for quite a while actually )

I would suggest:

Mahe a copy of your current install using Win32Disk Imager, Apple piBaker or even install Raspberry PI OS on a spare card and use the Image copier facility

Use the method described by garym, elsewhere to copy your "favs and prefs" just incase.

Whenyou have a copy of the OS you are now using, burn that to a spare card (maybe Santa left a few) for the exercise.

Good Luck

ronnie

Great thanks, will proceed once I find the time

[ralphy]

I don't see this mentioned in the changelog, but would the new firmware improve synchronization for Duet Controllers used as players? That wasn't working (or not implemented) with the official firmware, but maybe now it is?

There has been no effort to address this in the Community Firmware. Playback on the controller is the same as the Logitech firmware.

I don't have a controller, so can't comment beyond that.

[mrw]

I don't see this mentioned in the changelog, but would the new firmware improve synchronization for Duet Controllers used as players? That wasn't working (or not implemented) with the official firmware, but maybe now it is?

Blimey, I've never thought to try that.
I have just synchronized my Controller (used as a player), with a Radio. It seems to work. But not as a result of the new firmware. So I don't know what problem you see.

[slartibartfast]

Blimey, I've never thought to try that.
I have just synchronized my Controller (used as a player), with a Radio. It seems to work. But not as a result of the new firmware. So I don't know what problem you see.

Haven't done it for a long time but does it stay in sync?

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[nenu]

I posted this a while ago (to no reaction, but I figured this might be worth to bring up again):

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?112245-Duet-Controller-sync

I'll just repeat with added emphasis:

After some years of slight disappointment and wondering if it has anything to do with my wifi or any other network issues, I finally figured out that the sync on the Controller itself just doesn't work that well. It works fine with any other combination of players (real SB, raspberry, SqueezeWRT), but still goes out of sync on the Controller.
Now I discovered that the wiki actually mentions this and there are some old threads (2008) on the forum discussing this when the 'Controller as a player beta' function was just released. Those post point to SqueezePlay being very new, but by now it has been around a while and so I am wondering if there has been any improvement since then?

So yes, it does seem to work at first, but it gets out of sync very soon.

[mrw]

So yes, it does seem to work at first, but it gets out of sync very soon.

Are there any hints in those old 2008 threads as to where the problem may lie ? Do have a reference to the WIKI page ?

I agree, my Controller does seem to play back noticeably faster than the Radio, and would need some strict measures to keep it in sync.

[Tony T]

really hard to find in the first post

Wheee? I don’t see it.

[kidstypike]

Wheee? I don’t see it.

Here!

[nenu]

Are there any hints in those old 2008 threads as to where the problem may lie ?

No, unfortunately not.

The Wiki entry is here:
Squeezebox_Controller_Audio_Playback
note at the bottom: 'Synchronization to other players not fully supported/tested'

On the Synchronisation page there is another remark on the status around that time:
'SqueezePlay, SoftSqueeze and Squeezeslave support being synchronized to a limited extent.'

I didn't save any particular forum entries. Searching for 'controller player sync beta' turns up a number of results where the comments always boil down to 'it's just beta', 'that isn't working', etc. I didn't see any mention of particular reasons why it wouldn't work fully.
For example: here, or this one (including feedback from jrichardson, apparently Logitech QA at the time).

To me it seems that the controller never tries to correct for any sync difference after it has been started.

[slartibartfast]

I have not been able to "relate" to any of that, I'm still not sensitive to the issue raised. Unless/until it can be reliably reproduced it will be rather diffult to track down. I'll keep an eye on my Controller.

I just checked my Controller again and sure enough it is back to full brightness. I haven't even touched it since I last reduced the brightness.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[mrw]

To me it seems that the controller never tries to correct for any sync difference after it has been started.

Well, it certainly does try. Unless you've set the Controller player synchronization setting to "Don't maintain synchronization".

But, of course, it is isn't entirely successful...

I'm not sufficiently familiar with the LMS synchronization processes to know where the answer lies. It would take some research. In a commercial setting I might not do that for something that is only advertised as a "beta" feature.

Are you aware of any similar issues with the Touch and the Radio ?

[nenu]

Well, it certainly does try. Unless you've set the Controller player synchronization setting to "Don't maintain synchronization".

No, it is set to maintain synchronization.
For the other players, synchronization has been working well, both wired and wireless with a mix of Radios, Touch, Pi-based, SqueezeLite, Receiver, and Squeezebox2. Even on a lowly router with OpenWRT, at least if nothing else is weighing that down. The Controller on the other hand gets out of sync even when it is just sitting by itself in the cradle, i.e. without using the buttons or dial.

I'm not sufficiently familiar with the LMS synchronization processes to know where the answer lies. It would take some research. In a commercial setting I might not do that for something that is only advertised as a "beta" feature.

Oh sure, I understand. I just though that the 'beta' implementation was probably based on an incomplete/early version of Squeezeplay and that that might have been replaced in the new firmware.

[mrw]

I just checked my Controller again and sure enough it is back to full brightness. I haven't even touched it since I last reduced the brightness.

Uptime ?
Meaning, might it have rebooted itself in the interim ? Just a wild thought.