[Announce] 'MediaServer' *certified* Alexa skill for LMS

[Paul Webster]

I'm pretty sure I had ngrok auto-running and updating on pCP - i think it is why I was using the Perl updater (because Perl was on the pCP machine to run LMS).
I don't have that set-up now though.

[wtnh]

You do know that ngrok can run on any machine in your LAN and point towards LMS on pCP ? Any Windows, Mac or Linux box can proxy over to that pi for you.

Yes - unfortunately, my home network setup no longer has an "always-on" network server (we now just use laptops and my old Windows deskside machine is usually asleep).

I may build one from an unused Pi since it could serve other purposes as well, but other projects are priorities right now. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[philchillbill]

The instructions for setting up the skill have been refreshed with a new look and feel. Here's an example:



Hope it's deemed an improvement by all

Also, some people with slow hardware and/or poor internet speeds have been triggering unhandled timeouts lately - this should now error out more gracefully when it happens.

[chill]

I have a 4th Gen Echo Dot on the way, specifically so that I can try out this skill - I'm looking forward to having a bit more voice control over LMS than I get through Siri by having iPeng running.

I've been running through the ngrok setup on a pCP device in preparation for the Dot arriving. So far so good. I now want to automate the updating process, using the Python or Perl scripts on the setup page, but unfortunately the links don't seem to work:
Python: https://mediaserver.smartskills.tech...ads/updater.py
Perl: https://mediaserver.smartskills.tech...ads/updater.pl

I did do a bit of a search on this thread, but it's a long thread and 'updater.py' generates a lot of hits! Is there somewhere else to get these scripts?

[philchillbill]

I have a 4th Gen Echo Dot on the way, specifically so that I can try out this skill - I'm looking forward to having a bit more voice control over LMS than I get through Siri by having iPeng running.

I've been running through the ngrok setup on a pCP device in preparation for the Dot arriving. So far so good. I now want to automate the updating process, using the Python or Perl scripts on the setup page, but unfortunately the links don't seem to work:
Python: https://mediaserver.smartskills.tech...ads/updater.py
Perl: https://mediaserver.smartskills.tech...ads/updater.pl

I did do a bit of a search on this thread, but it's a long thread and 'updater.py' generates a lot of hits! Is there somewhere else to get these scripts?

I’m not home now but will check in 30 mins why they disappeared.

EDIT: Fixed. An issue with relative vs absolute paths. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[chill]

EDIT: Fixed. An issue with relative vs absolute paths. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Great, thanks.

[philchillbill]

Great, thanks.

If you note any specifics for pCP that are different to a normal Debian install, I'd appreciate a summary so it can be added to the docs.

[chill]

If you note any specifics for pCP that are different to a normal Debian install, I'd appreciate a summary so it can be added to the docs.

I'm still hacking my way around to get a feel for what needs to be done to get it working and then redone after a reboot. So far I have it set up such that pCP runs a script at startup (via the built-in 'User Command's' tweak) e.g. /home/tc/.ngrok2/ngrok_startup.sh, which starts ngrok and then finds the URL via that curl command. grep in Busybox doesn't have the -P option, but I can get to the url with a bit of awking:

curl -s http://localhost:4040/api/tunnels | awk -F"https:// {'print $2'} | awk -F" {'print $1'}

I haven't attempted to make it a service, because this User Command script seems sufficient - I can run the script manually if I ever need to run it without a reboot, but since this RPi3 is currently dedicated to ngrok only, a reboot is fine.

I haven't got the python script working yet - it's failing at 'import requests' and I can't see whether that, or json or urllib.parse, are included in any of the python packages that are available for pCP. To be investigated later if necessary.

I have installed the Alexa app on my iPhone and MediaServer is one of 'my' skills, and seems to have linked successfully, but since I don't have a device yet I can't test it any further. And I also can't tell what the final step of the python script should be doing, once it's recovered the url. Maybe I can do that too with simple shell scripting, but I need to find out what the python would do first.

[philchillbill]

I'm still hacking my way around to get a feel for what needs to be done to get it working and then redone after a reboot. So far I have it set up such that pCP runs a script at startup (via the built-in 'User Command's' tweak) e.g. /home/tc/.ngrok2/ngrok_startup.sh, which starts ngrok and then finds the URL via that curl command. grep in Busybox doesn't have the -P option, but I can get to the url with a bit of awking:

curl -s http://localhost:4040/api/tunnels | awk -F"https:// {'print $2'} | awk -F" {'print $1'}

I haven't attempted to make it a service, because this User Command script seems sufficient - I can run the script manually if I ever need to run it without a reboot, but since this RPi3 is currently dedicated to ngrok only, a reboot is fine.

I haven't got the python script working yet - it's failing at 'import requests' and I can't see whether that, or json or urllib.parse, are included in any of the python packages that are available for pCP. To be investigated later if necessary.

I have installed the Alexa app on my iPhone and MediaServer is one of 'my' skills, and seems to have linked successfully, but since I don't have a device yet I can't test it any further. And I also can't tell what the final step of the python script should be doing, once it's recovered the url. Maybe I can do that too with simple shell scripting, but I need to find out what the python would do first.

Would the Perl not be easier than Python, given that pCP needs Perl itself? All the script does is a HTTPS GET to a specific url with some url parameters filled out. It can be done from any language. If it helps you at all, I have a tiny sh script that does it too. pCP has sh available.

[chill]

Would the Perl not be easier than Python, given that pCP needs Perl itself? All the script does is a HTTPS GET to a specific url with some url parameters filled out. It can be done from any language. If it helps you at all, I have a tiny sh script that does it too. pCP has sh available.

I've just been trying the perl script. I first installed LMS, so as to get all the associated perl modules, but running updater.pl gives me a similar missing module error:

tc@pCP:~$ perl updater.pl
Can't locate LWP/UserAgent.pm in @INC (you may need to install the LWP::UserAgent module) (@INC contains: /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.32.0/aarch64-linux-thread-multi /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.32.0 /usr/local/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.32.0/aarch64-linux-thread-multi /usr/local/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.32.0 /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.32.0/aarch64-linux-thread-multi /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.32.0) at updater.pl line 8.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at updater.pl line 8.

That tiny sh script would be very useful, thank you. Yes, pCP has sh. I've tried to figure out, from both the python and the perl, what those specific url parameters are for the https get, but haven't managed it.