Topic: Media Server on Linux (Read 3775 times)

Buddy213 · « **on:** April 13, 2004, 02:12:04 am »

Another request for possibly deaf ears..... Please port Media Server to LINUX. Myself, I am running RedHat 9. I'm not overly concerned with MediaCenter, just the Server.

I have all of my mp3 files on the linux server, and currently I have Media Server via MC10 running on WinXP looking at the mp3's via a mapped network drive. Works well enough except when I turn my WinXP off, which is often. RedHat never gets shut down.

In the meantime, while JRiver is busy working on this request, what are my options for serving mp3 on linux? I'd rather not have a constant stream/radio station, but rather, have the same thing that MC/iTunes provides... a library where I can pick and choose what song to play.

gpvillamil · « **Reply #1 on:** April 13, 2004, 03:30:39 am »

Since the MP3s are on a mapped network drive which is available to your Windows machines, why not point the MC clients directly at the network drive?

Of course, this means each client would maintain a separate copy of the library.

JustinChase · « **Reply #2 on:** April 13, 2004, 10:28:15 am »

Quote from: gpvillamil on April 13, 2004, 03:30:39 am

Since the MP3s are on a mapped network drive which is available to your Windows machines, why not point the MC clients directly at the network drive?

Of course, this means each client would maintain a separate copy of the library.

That's what I do. i'm told, however, that if more that one person makes changes to the tags, it will corrupt the files/database, so I make sure the other listeners don't make any changes.

Please work on making server work with LINUX, please

Buddy213 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 13, 2004, 11:24:51 am »

gpvilla,
i have one windows machine, and one linux machine at home. that's all. But, I also have a winXP machine at work. I have MC installed on it, and I connect to my Media Server at home via a url, thus the work machine wouldnt be able to see the mapped drive. I don't use the Server when I am at home, I do what you suggest above. But when I am at work, I need to leave both of my home machines up&running, simply because there is no Media Server for Linux.

Casting a double-vote for MediaServer on RedHat 9!!!

JustinChase · « **Reply #4 on:** April 13, 2004, 11:52:59 am »

Buddy,

I have sort of the opposite situation. My LINUX server is at the office, and I sometimes take my laptop home. I just connect to the office via VPN, and then force the connection to the server in windows by double-clicking the mapped drive, it then verifies the connection (also my password), and then i can listen to my music at home even though it's on the server at work.

This will not work with large files, i.e. .ape files, but it streams the mp3s just fine. Maybe a similar setup (in reverse) will work for you.

With that being said, i still want MC to port server to LINUX, but in the meantime...

salsbst1 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 13, 2004, 01:35:01 pm »

Porting the Media Server means essentially porting the whole application. Guess what: it ain't gonna happen.

Instead, simply separate out the serving of the Library from the serving of the Media files. That way, one of the Windows machines (presently a Client) would become the library server, and all machines could read the media files directly from the linux file server.

This solves the dangerous situation of multiple instances accessing the library directly, and the problem of piping all media streams from the linux file server through one of the windows machines to each client.

gpvillamil · « **Reply #6 on:** April 14, 2004, 03:42:13 pm »

Aha - I see. You want to be able to stream music over the Internet, so access to a network drive is not possible.

You could try the free Slim Server for this:

http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html

It will run on Linux, is open source, and will stream files in various formats over the Internet. You can use MC as a client via the Web Media interface, I guess.

What would be really cool is MC support for the Slim Server interface on both the client & server side. ie if Media Server presented the Slim Server interface, then the Slim Devices MP3 player could connect to Media Server. Alternatively, if MC could use the Slim Server instead of Media Server with full functionality, then you could use that on the Linux server, and run MC and Slim Devices as clients.

As I mentioned before the Slim Server is open source, so it should not be difficult for J River to get the info to make this happen.

salsbst1 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 14, 2004, 04:55:14 pm »

Thanks for the suggestion! But, no, I'm not interested in streaming anything over the internet. Access to a network drive is available and desired. The only problem with the way MC currently works is that if forces you to stream media from the server that acts as the Media Server, rather than letting clients read the media files directly from the network share.

The good about MC Server mode: it centralizes access to the library files, protecting them from corruption due to simultaneous writes.

The bad about MC Server mode: it forces you to choose one of two bad choices (bad for users with Linux file servers):
a) store your media somewhere other than on your file server (since MC doesn't run on linux)
b) make two network hops for every packet that is involved in playback

Buddy213 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 14, 2004, 05:21:14 pm »

Sal, I didnt really understand your library server suggestion.

gpvilla, perhaps "stream" is the wrong word here. I don't want to have my own radio station, I just want jukebox-style access to my collection. Here's my scenario:

HOME:
:::WinXP - MC10 running Media Server on port 81, Library points to mapped drive which is the linux machine
:::RedHat9 - 600 mp3 files stored here

WORK:
:::WinXP - MC10 installed

If I leave both my Windows AND Linux machine running, then when I get to work I can launch MC10 and use Library Manager to connect to insertmywebsitehere.com:81 ... Then I can pick and choose which of my mp3 songs I want to listen to. And my friends who have MC10 can also connect to my server.

The *only* reason I would leave my Home WinXP running is for media server. I *never* shut down the linux box, because it has my website, ftp server, telnet, ssh, etc. Thus, it would be better if I could serve mp3 from the linux box. I like Media Center, so I would prefer to use it; but, it doesnt seem to want to help me (us) out here...

salsbst1 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 14, 2004, 05:25:59 pm »

I guess we're talking about different issues. Sorry for the confusion.

gpvillamil · « **Reply #10 on:** April 14, 2004, 05:34:37 pm »

The Slim Server does provide jukebox style access. After all, its mission in life is to support jukebox style access on remote music players.

On other platforms, the jukebox is not controlled not directly from the client software, but via a web interface. It may be extremely simple to incorporate the control functionality into MC, so that it can drive the Slim Server directly.

It's free, and runs on Linux, so why not download it and try it.

Rob L · « **Reply #11 on:** April 14, 2004, 05:56:40 pm »

I did think about trying to get Media Center running on Linux using Wine... but not for long. I figured the chances were pretty slim.

Supposedly there is a version of Musicmatch that will run under Linux :-/

I guess maybe you could get it running using something like Bochs, but that seems a bit overkill :-)

Buddy213 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 15, 2004, 04:03:06 am »

Quote from: gpvillamil on April 14, 2004, 03:42:13 pm

Alternatively, if MC could use the Slim Server instead of Media Server with full functionality, then you could use that on the Linux server, and run MC and Slim Devices as clients.

gp, yes that would be ideal. I d/l SlimServer for Linux. I've never seen anything install and work that fast before. I'm very handy with perl, so I may get my hands dirty with it.

Here's the catch about their "jukebox" setup. SlipStream is a streamer, pure & simple. In Media Center, you say "File... Open URL..", and point it to the SlipStream stream. (inserthosthere:9000/stream.mp3) The jukebox comes as a web interface (inserthosthere:9000), and I can pick and choose a playlist which will get streamed. So, this is fine if its just me as a client. But, if my friend, and girlfriend, and her friend, etc., want to listen... they can, but they have to listen to the stream that I choose. They can't pick and choose which song they want to listen to, unless they go to the 9000 website and change the playlist. Thus, changing *everybody's* stream.
Still, its a pretty cool little program. Thank you for sending it my way. I am finding that it skips, hops, and hiccups quite often, but I haven't looked into that yet. Could be one of my settings somewhere.

Cheers

hit_ny · « **Reply #13 on:** April 15, 2004, 06:25:34 am »

Quote from: Buddy213 on April 15, 2004, 04:03:06 am

Here's the catch about their "jukebox" setup. SlipStream is a streamer, pure & simple. In Media Center, you say "File... Open URL..", and point it to the SlipStream stream. (inserthosthere:9000/stream.mp3) The jukebox comes as a web interface (inserthosthere:9000), and I can pick and choose a playlist which will get streamed. So, this is fine if its just me as a client. But, if my friend, and girlfriend, and her friend, etc., want to listen... they can, but they have to listen to the stream that I choose. They can't pick and choose which song they want to listen to, unless they go to the 9000 website and change the playlist. Thus, changing *everybody's* stream.

Are you saying that if 3 listeners had a MC client (each) they could listen to 3 separate streams from your MC server ?

Provided ur bandwidth could support it of course.

Most web-interface mp3 servers that run on linux have the limitations you mention above.

gpvillamil · « **Reply #14 on:** April 15, 2004, 10:10:14 am »

Quote from: Buddy213 on April 15, 2004, 04:03:06 am

Quote from: gpvillamil on April 14, 2004, 03:42:13 pm
Alternatively, if MC could use the Slim Server instead of Media Server with full functionality, then you could use that on the Linux server, and run MC and Slim Devices as clients.

gp, yes that would be ideal. I d/l SlimServer for Linux. I've never seen anything install and work that fast before. I'm very handy with perl, so I may get my hands dirty with it.

Here's the catch about their "jukebox" setup. SlipStream is a streamer, pure & simple. In Media Center, you say "File... Open URL..", and point it to the SlipStream stream. (inserthosthere:9000/stream.mp3) The jukebox comes as a web interface (inserthosthere:9000), and I can pick and choose a playlist which will get streamed. So, this is fine if its just me as a client. But, if my friend, and girlfriend, and her friend, etc., want to listen... they can, but they have to listen to the stream that I choose. They can't pick and choose which song they want to listen to, unless they go to the 9000 website and change the playlist. Thus, changing *everybody's* stream.
Still, its a pretty cool little program. Thank you for sending it my way. I am finding that it skips, hops, and hiccups quite often, but I haven't looked into that yet. Could be one of my settings somewhere.

Cheers

I'm sure it must be possible, since when you are using the Squeezebox player each one can playback a separate stream. So that capability must exist on the server side. Also the Squeezebox supports full navigation through playlists and artist/album/genre etc. so a non-web jukebox interface is possible as well.

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_faq.html#about-multiple

It would be a matter of figuring out how the Squeezebox communicates with the server and driving it that way. I

Buddy213 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2004, 05:46:27 am »

I couldn't get SlimServer to work out for me. I got it to work from Linux, locally, but couldnt get it pushed outside of my firewall. Tried running it on XP, the server would just hang on startup.

Alas, I did find this: http://www.turnstyle.com/andromeda/
got myself setup in 1.5 minutes

Andromeda can be installed on linux,windows, or mac. You use a web browser to download an .m3u file which then gets played in your favorite player. iTunes and WMP will work by default, I haven't had success with MC yet...

rolf_eigenheer · « **Reply #16 on:** April 22, 2004, 04:30:46 pm »

A MC server Application for Linux would be great....

Meanwhile I'm running two servers. Linux serves 1TB music, a XP workstation running MediaServer allows me to connect from my office PC. Because it takes a long time to load the library (5MB) each time, I stored a local copy at the office.
It works great.

Only one thing I miss. As for TiVo it should be possible to reencode the audio files while streaming when the stored bitrate is higher than the available bandwidth.

JustinChase · « **Reply #17 on:** April 22, 2004, 07:03:14 pm »

Quote from: rolf_eigenheer on April 22, 2004, 04:30:46 pm

As for TiVo it should be possible to reencode the audio files while streaming when the stored bitrate is higher than the available bandwidth.

I believe you can. It's in the options somewhere. Sorry, my girlfriend stole my TiVo, so I can't check now.

rolf_eigenheer · « **Reply #18 on:** April 23, 2004, 02:35:07 am »

Yes its is supported for TiVo. But I'd like to reduce the bandwith when streaming to MediaCenter connected over internet.

JustinChase · « **Reply #19 on:** April 23, 2004, 10:59:36 am »

Quote from: rolf_eigenheer on April 23, 2004, 02:35:07 am

But I'd like to reduce the bandwith when streaming to MediaCenter connected over internet.

Ah yes, many of us would love that. It sounds like it's 'under consideration' for a future release. I hope that's still accurate.

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Author Topic: Media Server on Linux (Read 3775 times)