This tutorial aims to aid users into setting up JRiver Media Center 25 onto computers running the following Debian-based GNU/Linux operating systems/distributions/variants (others listed here *may* work, but your mileage may vary!);
Debian
Ubuntu
Linux Mint
Recommended distros/versions:Debian 10.x Buster
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Bionic Beaver
Ubuntu 19.10 Eoan Ermine
Linux Mint 19.2 Tina
Ubuntu Studio and Linux Mint Debian Edition have not and likely will not be tested! Again, your mileage with those may vary. There *may* be issues with Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS too (e.g. segfaults) so unless the issue(s) aren't identified and corrected, you might want to consider upgrading to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS as soon as possible once it's released to avoid any possible issues.NOTE: This tutorial does borrow ideas and parts done by InflatableMouse and his excellent Debian Wheezy tutorial found
here, so please thank him.
Before we continue, please note the following;
-
Media Center 25 for Linux is developed on Debian Jessie/Stretch - support for distros other than Debian Jessie/Stretch, e.g. like Ubuntu and Linux Mint are not officially supported!- This tutorial will focus on the operating systems above, any others you're on your own with.
- This *should* also apply to Ubuntu/Mint derivatives like Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Linux Mint (MATE), Linux Mint (Xfce), elementaryOS, etc. However, extra steps may be required!
- Before installing, please read the
outstanding issues topic! Many of the issues noted for Debian also apply to Ubuntu/Linux Mint!
Step 0 - Debian Only - Adding yourself to the required groups:NOTE: If you're indeed using Debian, you'll likely will need to install
sudo and add your user account to the sudo group
FIRST as explained in this tutorial before proceeding with this tutorial:
http://milq.github.io/enable-sudo-user-account-debian/This step is for Debian only - you can skip this step if you're using Ubuntu/Linux Mint! Got sudo installed and your user account added to the sudo group already? If not, read the note above! If you do, let's begin then! By default on Debian user accounts aren't automatically added to the
adm and
audio groups upon creation of the account (like with the case of sudo). This is absolutely required if you're running Debian Jessie or Debian Stretch! Okay, in a detailed nutshell we're going to set your user account as an administrator, add your user to the sudoers file and add your user to the audio group. Fortunately, all of this can done in just two simple steps! If for whatever reason you're using the root account on Debian or again you're using Ubuntu/Linux Mint/etc., you may skip this step.
First, open a Terminal (by either pressing CTRL+ALT+T or by searching for the terminal in your desktop environment) then type the following command and press Enter.
You WILL be prompted for the root password!su
Next, either type the following command or copy and paste the command into the Terminal and press Enter.
Be sure to change youruser to the name of your user account you chose when installing Debian!usermod -a -G adm,audio youruser
If the command was successful, it's time to reboot the PC to make sure the changes above are applied properly. You can probably just log out of the account and log back in, but to be safe it's easier to just reboot the PC.
That's it! Proceed to step 1!
Step 1 - Add the JRiver APT Repository:The APT repository is required to install Media Center 25 and keep Media Center 25 updated with every new release. There's three available repositories; Latest, Stable and Beta. Decide for yourself which one you want to use - descriptions of each are below.
Choose and use only either the latest or stable repo - you *can* use the beta repo alongside either the stable or latest repos!First, open a Terminal (by either pressing CTRL+ALT+T or by searching for the Terminal in your desktop environment) and either type the following command or copy and paste the command in and press Enter (you *may* be prompted for your password);
wget -q "http://dist.jriver.com/mediacenter@jriver.com.gpg.key" -O- | sudo apt-key add -
Next, with the Terminal still open, we need to download and add the correct mediacenter.list file to the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory. Also, you can pick which repository you want to use (Latest, Stable or Beta - choose either the latest or stable repos, but the beta repo can be run alongside either one!) so either type one the following commands or copy and paste the command in and press Enter;
Media Center 25 (Latest) Repository:This repository is using the latest up-to-date release of Media Center 25. There *may* be instability issues!
NOTE: I'd personally recommend using the latest repo
unless you're intending to run a "stable" system (e.g. HTPC or a Raspberry Pi).
sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter25.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter25.list
Media Center 25 (Stable) Repository:This repository is using the latest stable release of Media Center 25. It may be out-of-date compared to the Latest repository and is updated every few months (so you might have to wait for bug fixes), however these builds have been thoroughly tested and are considered stable.
sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/stable/mediacenter/mediacenter25.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter25.list
Media Center 25 (Beta) Repository:This repository is for beta builds - not intended for users who prefer stability! These builds are likely buggy, may crash, etc. But this repo can be used alongside either the stable or latest repos!
sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/beta/mediacenter/mediacenter25.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter25beta.list
And that's it for adding the repo(s). Proceed to step 2!
--- Edit by JimH --- Start here the next time you install. ---
Step 2 - Updating the packages list:After adding the repository, we need to reload/refresh the packages list. This step is absolutely
required or the next steps will NOT work! With the Terminal still open either type the following command or copy and paste the command in and press Enter;
sudo apt-get update
That's it! Proceed to step 3!
Step 3 - Installing Media Center 25:It's finally time to install Media Center 25! First, open a Terminal (by either pressing CTRL+ALT+T or by searching for the Terminal in your desktop environment) or re-use the Terminal from the previous step. Next either type the following command or copy and paste the command in and press Enter (you *may* be prompted for your password);
sudo apt-get install mediacenter25
During this process it should say something along the following;
The following extra packages will be installed:
lame libcue1 libreplaygain1 musepack-tools vorbis-tools
The following NEW packages will be installed:
lame libcue1 libreplaygain1 mediacenter25 musepack-tools vorbis-tools
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
However, if you receive an error like;
dependency problems prevent configuration of mediacenter25:
mediacenter25 depends on ....
This means all dependencies have not been met. Don't fret, this can usually be taken care of by using the following command in the Terminal by either typing the following command or copying and pasting the command in and press Enter;
sudo apt-get install -f
It'll show you the missing dependencies, after looking them over just press enter to install them. Now assuming all dependencies are met, you've been successful at installing Media Center 25 in Ubuntu/Mint/etc! However, I recommend rebooting since this will allow MC to load up fonts correctly - otherwise if you run MC without rebooting first, fonts may look pretty horrendous!
Now, after rebooting you can start Media Center either go into the GNOME menu, Xfce menu, Unity dash, KDE menu, LXDE menu, Cinnamon menu, MATE menu, etc. and search for Media Center 25 or you can run it from the Terminal by either typing the following command or copying and pasting the command in and press Enter;
mediacenter25
Now, we're going to cover installing the license for those who have purchased in step 3!