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[Awesome Donkey]

This tutorial aims to aid users into setting up JRiver Media Center 20 onto computers running Debian 8.0 Jessie. This tutorial does borrow ideas and parts done by InflatableMouse and his excellent Debian 7.0 Wheezy tutorial found here, so please thank him. I thought I'd take the time to create a new tutorial for the Debian Jessie release, since installing MC on Debian Jessie is easier thanks to the APT repository. Let's get started, shall we?

But before we continue, please note the following;

- If you're using a derivative of Debian, e.g. Ubuntu or Linux Mint, please read this tutorial instead!
- Before installing, please read the outstanding issues topic! Some of the issues noted might still are present in the latest build.


Step 1 - Setting up Debian Jessie for Media Center 20:

First, we need to set your user account as an administrator, add your user to the sudoers file and add your user to the audio group. Fortunately, this can done in two simple steps. If for whatever reason you're using the root account on Debian, 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!

Code: [Select]

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!

Code: [Select]

usermod -a -G adm,sudo,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 2!


Step 2 - Add the JRiver APT Repository:

The APT repository is required to install Media Center 20 and keep Media Center 20 updated with every new release.

First, open a Terminal (by either pressing CTRL+ALT+T or by searching for the terminal in your desktop environment) then either type the the following command or copy and paste the command to add the required key (it will prompt you for your password);

Code: [Select]

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 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ depending if you're using 32-bit or 64-bit so either type one the following commands or copy and paste the command in and press Enter;

If you're using 64-bit Debian Jessie:

Code: [Select]

sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20jessie.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
Or...

If you're using 32-bit Debian Jessie:

Code: [Select]

sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
Finally, we need to reload the packages list, so with the Terminal still open either type the following command or copy and paste the command in and press Enter;

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get update
That's it! Proceed to step 3!


Step 3 - Installing Media Center 20:

It's finally time to install Media Center 20! 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);

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install mediacenter20
During this process it should say something along the following;

Code: [Select]

The following NEW packages will be installed:
  lame libcue1 libreplaygain1 mediacenter20 musepack-tools vorbis-tools xfonts-unifont
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
However, if you receive an error like;

Code: [Select]

dependency problems prevent configuration of mediacenter20:
 mediacenter20 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;

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install -f
It'll show you the missing dependencies, after looking them over just press enter to install them. But thanks to the apt repository all dependencies should be satisfied upon installing Media Center 20.

Now assuming all dependencies are met, you've been successful at installing Media Center 20 in Debian Jessie! To start Media Center either go into the Activities menu and look for Media Center 20 or you can run it from the Terminal by either typing the following command or copying and pasting the command in and press Enter;

Code: [Select]

mediacenter20
Now, we're going to cover installing the license for those who have purchased in step 4!

[Awesome Donkey]

Step 4 - Installing A Media Center 20 Linux License Or Master License:

This portion of the tutorial will explain how to manually install your purchased license (either Linux licence or Master licence) in Media Center 20. Thanks for purchasing a license and supporting the development!

First, make sure MC20 is closed and either download the .mjr by either restoring the license here or if you just purchased a Media Center 20 Linux or Master license, then use the .mjr file downloaded with your purchase. After downloading your license file, open a Terminal and either type the following command or copy and paste the command in and press Enter (you *may* be prompted for your password);

If you're using a Linux license:

Code: [Select]

mediacenter20 /RestoreFromFile "Media Center20 Linux-YYYYYY.mjr"
NOTE: Replace the X's and Y's with the correct numbers from your specific .mjr file AND adjust the path to your file.

If you're using a Master license:

Code: [Select]

mediacenter20 /RestoreFromFile "Media Center20 Master-YYYYYY.mjr"
NOTE: Replace the X's and Y's with the correct numbers from your specific .mjr file AND adjust the path to your file.

If your code is located in the default downloads directory, the following command should work (remember to replace the X's and Y's with the correct numbers and change Linux to Master if you're using a Master license!);

Code: [Select]

mediacenter20 /RestoreFromFile ~/Downloads/"Media Center20 Linux-YYYYYY.mjr"
If you do not encounter an error while restoring your license from the file, open Media Center 20 up then go to the Help menu > Registration Info... - if it's registered, congratulations, your MC20 for Linux is now registered!

Additional information and discussion regarding licenses can be found in this topic.

Once you're done, you should be ready to go! Congratulations, you've successfully installed Media Center 20 on your Debian Jessie 64-bit machine! The next post contains various information and tips you may find handy.

[Awesome Donkey]

Setting Default Pulseaudio Device Via PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol):

When trying to use the Pulseaudio output in Media Center, you might find yourself with this type of error when trying to play music...



This means the correct output device for Pulseaudio isn't being used, thus why this error is encountered. Fortunately, there's a way to fix this. Open up a Terminal window and either type the following command or copy and paste the command in and press Enter (you *may* be prompted for your password);

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol
After installing, either start PulseAudio Volume Control by typing pavucontrol into the Terminal or searching for Pulseaudio until you see PulseAudio Volume Control. Once open, you'll want to go to the Configuration tab like seen here;



Notice how there's multiple output devices listed here? I used my old AMD machine just for this example and left onboard audio enabled for this example. As seen above, what I want to use as the default is my old Xonar STX card aka Virtuoso 100. In this example, to set this card up I setup the Configuration tab to the following...



And take a look at the Output Devices tab now. See how it's using the Virtuoso 100 as the default device?



Remember, this is an example with my old Xonar STX sound card. Please setup your device(s) accordingly for your own needs! And if desired setup your input devices via the Input Devices tab! If everything looks good, try playing music through pulse again in Media Center. If sound works, congrats, you have working sound via pulse!


How To Remove Media Center 19 and Media Center 20

If you've updated from Media Center 19 to Media Center 20, you might find yourself with two versions of Media Center installed. Since Media Center 20 is a free upgrade from Media Center 19, it's recommended you backup your settings in Media Center 19 (to somewhere you can find it, e.g. Desktop) and remove Media Center 19.

Step 1: Backup your library and settings. Read the wiki article on how to backup your library and settings.

Step 2: Open a Terminal and input the following (you *may* be prompted for your password - answer yes when it prompts!);

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sudo apt-get remove mediacenter19
Now, if you want to remove Media Center 20, just repeat step 1 and use this command instead;

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get remove mediacenter20
If all goes well, your Media Center 19/20 installation(s) should be removed.


Enabling Copy And Paste Buffers

Currently Media Center 20 for Linux supports one copy and paste buffer system (cut buffers) and it can be challenging to use. For further information please read Bob's topic about this here (I HIGHLY suggest you do!). The current downside is I've not found a working way to add these copy and paste commands to the X startup scripts for Ubuntu/Mint. I'll continue looking into this but for those who want copy and paste working only while Media Center 20 is open, this is the best way to do it.

Step 1: Close MC20 if its open and open a Terminal window and input the following (you *may* be prompted for your password);

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sudo apt-get install autocutsel
Step 2: Once this is installed, leave the Terminal open and input the following;

Code: [Select]

autocutsel -fork &
Again, make sure to leave the Terminal open and input the following;

Code: [Select]

autocutsel -selection PRIMARY -fork &
Remember to leave the Terminal with the commands running open for as long as you need copy and paste functionality. If you close the Terminal you'll lose the ability to copy and paste!

Step 3: Open MC20 and you should be able to successfully copy and paste.

Once you're done with copy and paste, close the Terminal window. To re-enable copy and paste, just follow step 2 again.


Tutorial changelog:

1.1 (06-01-2015): Updated for the new build method MC uses - 32-bit Jessie is now supported!
1.0 (05-18-2015): First version of the Debian Jessie 64-bit tutorial!

[JimH]

Thanks very much for all the documentation.

[Awesome Donkey]

My pleasure. Can you pin this topic? Thanks!

[Awesome Donkey]

Updated the tutorial to reflect MC's new build method - you *should* be able to use 32-bit Debian Jessie now!

[Wybe]

I installed 32-bit Jessie Debian on a small desktop computer, but have a hard time to run the system headless. I'll try to solve the issues one at the time using this excellent forum. In the end I like to build a completely silent (passive cooling, no fans) system based on a Streacom housing and Debian as OS. First of all, for my understanding: even Debian Jessie comes with a standard desktop enviroment. What is the main reason for installing MC20 using the Terminal? Is it to avoid future problems with headless operation? Does an installation without desktop require that much less resources, that it's the best way to install and run MC20?

[geier22]

Remember to leave the Terminal with the commands running open for as long as you need copy and paste functionality. If you close the Terminal you'll lose the ability to copy and paste!

I have done autocutsel in the autostart (in KDE). When doing this, a terminal is never necessary

@Wybe
First: the use of the terminal is the same for all interfaces. When using the graphical interface,
there are big differences for each interface. The setup would have to be rewritten for each interface.

If you have added the Repo -as described above-, it should be possible to install MC with Synaptic (for example)

But it is better to install MC in the terminal, because you can see so better missing dependencies or errors.

In Debian KDE it is possible to make a lot of the steps described above with the graphical user interface.  

Only the JRiver APT repository you must add in the terminal.I've never tried to add a repository in Synaptic ,
because I do not know exactly how the key must be inserted. But probably this is also possible.

[Wybe]

I did a clean install with Debian Xfce, but got an error message when installing JRiver from the terminal: unable to locate JRiver. Problaby something with the repository. I found out that the code

sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20jessie.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list

didn't work, but did work when I removed the "jessie" part:

sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list

Did you update this tutorial and something went wrong with copy/paste, or is something else going on?

[geier22]

Unfortunately, the instructions of the sources is a bit confusing. In many threads there are different instructions

I use this (as root) and it works very well for me.

Code: [Select]

wget -q "http://dist.jriver.com/mediacenter@jriver.com.gpg.key" -O- | apt-key add -
wget -O http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20native.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
apt-get update
apt-get install mediacenter20
Here is the link to the thread :https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=95751.msg673254#msg673254

[Awesome Donkey]

Are you using 32-bit Debian Jessie? If so, the mediacenter20jessie.list won't work for it. I'll update both tutorials to handle the use of 32-bit Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Thanks for pointing this out to me!

EDIT: Updated the tutorials for 32-bit and 64-bit. Please let me know if there's any other issues, thanks!

[Wybe]

Yes, I am using 32-bit Debian Jessie. Thanks for the update!

[geier22]

Some times ago I was using the command that I gave above (.... native.list). The result was:

Code: [Select]

hans@enp2so:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
#MC
deb [arch=amd64] http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/ jessie main
Today I tried again and get the error message, the directory does not exist.

Code: [Select]

root@enp2so:/home/hans# wget -O http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20native.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20native.list: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden

The command that you specify in the tutorial above then gives the same result, as some times ago with the command "native.list"

Code: [Select]

root@enp2so:/home/hans# wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20jessie.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
--2015-07-10 10:12:40--  http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20jessie.list
Auflösen des Hostnamen »dist.jriver.com (dist.jriver.com)«... 216.14.187.181
Verbindungsaufbau zu dist.jriver.com (dist.jriver.com)|216.14.187.181|:80... verbunden.
HTTP-Anforderung gesendet, warte auf Antwort... 200 OK
Länge: 77
In »»/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list«« speichern.

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter 100%[====================================================================>]      77  --.-KB/s   in 0s     

2015-07-10 10:12:41 (10,4 MB/s) - »»/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list«« gespeichert [77/77]
Result:

Code: [Select]

root@enp2so:/home/hans# cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
#MC
deb [arch=amd64] http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/ jessie main

It's a bit confusing because the directories in the repo are not visible. In many threads people talk about the same topic. Unfortunately, you can often find only on the date which version is current.
Would not it be better to lock the Tutolials? The discussion of the issue could be made in a separate linked thread

[Awesome Donkey]

Would not it be better to lock the Tutolials? The discussion of the issue could be made in a separate linked thread

Nah, this can be considered a help topic for those trying to get it working too. I'll test the .list files once and for all when I'm back up and running in a month or so.

[audiolover]

I have just installed MC20 again after playing with another audioprogram for a long time. Installed MC20 in a 64bit Debian and asked for a registration key as I bought the program. I got the .mjr file, installed it and it says: License restored successfully from file /home/kees/Downloads/Media Center20 Linux-264104.mjr
MC20 still reports that the trial period has expired?

What can I do?

[Awesome Donkey]

Try it from the Terminal.

mediacenter20 /RestoreFromFile PATHTO.MJRFILEHERE

If it still happens, are you using Debian Wheezy, Debian Jessie or Debian Stretch?

[audiolover]

I am using Jessie 64bit

[audiolover]

I have just removed MC20 completely, including the .jriver folder and reinstalled the whole thing. Now, after installing the licence it installs properly. Lets just wait and see if it comes with the expired warning again?

[audiolover]

I have looked for a link to the latest version of mc20 for Debian Jessie 32bit but cannot find it.
Can somebody give me a link?

Or do the sources.list additions for mc20 still work?