SqueezePlay OS for Joggler

[BuZz]

im not sure ext4 without journal will be that robust - I have found it worse as no journal to replay - but why not ext4 with journal, but set FSCKFIX=yes in /etc/default/rcS which will be default on my next releases. that way the fs will do a check if needed without user interaction on boot?

Interesting.. Okay, I'll have a play with that and see how I get on. I was going for it as barriers are on by default in ext4. And it's newer. But that doesn't always mean better!

I was only referring to ext4 with and without journal. I'm assuming you used ext3 or something before? anyway, journal on is better for stability but worse for flash wear.

[alcoheca]

You could try a read only rootfs in this setup. I've found flashybrid to be very stable on another debian install of mine. RW directories like /tmp and /var are ram mounts, synced back to flash or trashed on reboots.

Its also dead easy to switch to rw mount for apt'ing and the like..

[roobarb!]

Updated to v1.52 - there's a little announcement on the SqueezePlay for Joggler thread. The update contains the 'Network Mount Point' feature, so it's really just for you sqpOS guys out there!

Please let me know how you get on with it. The only thing that's important to note is that the mout point location is /srv/media, so point your LMS install at the appropriate contents in there. Oh, and you must specify a username and password if you're using SMB. It won't mount without it, unless you install smbfs. But I didn't want to do that. Adds weight.

[themystical]

Another Hard Drive mounting issue (despite Roobarbs latest efforts)
My BT Infinity hub has a USB socket to which I have connected a 2TB hard drive containing amongst other things my music library. This USB port is visible to all of the network without any usernames or passwords and the whole family uses it for back-up etc.
I can manually mount this hard drive to the LMS Server using the following command:
sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.254/USB_Disk /mnt/music -o guest
and that is fine until I reboot when I loose the mount.
I have tried to edit /etc/fstab with different variations of the command but simply cannot get the hard drive to mount automatically. The many variations are along the line of:
//192.168.1.254/USB_Disk /mnt/music cifs username=guest,password=,_netdev 0$
//192.168.1.254/USB_Disk /mnt/music cifs guest,_netdev 0$
//192.168.1.254/USB_Disk /mnt/music cifs username=guest,password=guest,_netdev 0$
All of the above come up with a "Bad line in FStab" message
//192.168.1.254/USB_Disk /mnt/music cifs,_netdev 0$
behaves slightly differently - doing a mount -a instruction results in a request for a password and if I type in "guest" it mounts. However, on a reboot the Joggler freezes on an O2 screen, presumably because the system awaits a password to be input before moving on with the rest of the boot requiring a reflash.
All the above is with smbfs installed.
Whilst the Joggler does not get switched off very frequently so I could live with a manual mount, it would be good to get an automatic mount sorted. Does anybody have a definitive line for fstab which would mount unsecure shares? Any other ideas as to how I could make an automatic mount work?

[mashton]

Notwithstanding the fact that the latest release should solve this issue for you, I think i can help.

I know very little about fstab syntax, but did find that the samples up in the thread seemed to have typos in that meant they did not work.

To make it work on my system, I had to omit the underscore before "netdev" and the dollar sign after "0".

My, functional, entries look like this:

//192.168.0.16/music /mnt/music cifs user=admin,password=foobar,netdev 0

Good luck

[mashton]

And back to my problems.

Even after reinstalling onto an internal USB stick, I am totally plagued with dropouts, pauses, rebuffering and eventually stopping of playing. To simplify, I will simply say that this happens when listening to live BBC stream using triode's BBC iPlayer plugin. (in actual fact I get it with Spotify to some extent as well as with local music.)

I have tried fiddling with radio timeout settings as well as buffering durations - no effect.

I have invested in a total of four jogglers, a donation to roobarb (whose efforts are truly awesome) as well as countless hours of time, to end up with a system that basically doesn't work. I am really disappointed.

I have a fast, reliable, cable internet connection and all of my jogglers are connected by ethernet, using a poweramp mains network (I get the same using wi fi as well).

I am increasingly suspicious that the issue is with LMS which runs on one of the jogglers. CAn anyone please help me with how to diagnose the problem. What logging should I turn on and where?

Please help.

[dwl99]

A few things to try which will at least narrow things down -
1. Start LMS with no extensions running
2. Try the Plug & Pimp version of LMS / Squeezeplay to see if you still have the problem
3. Try installing LMS on a PC & point Squeezeplay at it to see if you still have the problem
4. Try a couple of different USB sticks & try them in the external USB port
5. Apply the thermal trip point tweak (see wiki) in case your Joggler is being throttled

I'm sure that this problem is fixable

[themystical]

Notwithstanding the fact that the latest release should solve this issue for you, I think i can help.

I know very little about fstab syntax, but did find that the samples up in the thread seemed to have typos in that meant they did not work.

To make it work on my system, I had to omit the underscore before "netdev" and the dollar sign after "0".

My, functional, entries look like this:

//192.168.0.16/music /mnt/music cifs user=admin,password=foobar,netdev 0

Good luck

Well thanks for that. That worked!!
The line that worked in fstab was:
//192.168.1.254/USB_Disk /mnt/music cifs guest,netdev 0
I had previously tried this line with the previous syntax for netdev and it had come up with "bad line in fsatb" error.
I had also previously tried out the latest Roobarb release automated network mountpoint wizard and that had not worked despite installing smbfs.
Anyway it is all working now so thats great!!!!

[Fishy]

A few things to try which will at least narrow things down -
1. Start LMS with no extensions running
2. Try the Plug & Pimp version of LMS / Squeezeplay to see if you still have the problem
3. Try installing LMS on a PC & point Squeezeplay at it to see if you still have the problem
4. Try a couple of different USB sticks & try them in the external USB port
5. Apply the thermal trip point tweak (see wiki) in case your Joggler is being throttled

I'm sure that this problem is fixable

I'm suffering similar issues to "mashton".
Have LMS on Joggler running SqPOS on 8GB flash stick pointed at LaCie ethernet attached hard drive.
Have 2 other Jogglers running PnPIII v3.048; sound out via USB to Behringer UC202.
Fast BT Infinity BB connection; everything linked via ethernet using powerline adaptors.

Finding that sound suddenly stops completely after about 15 mins of continuous playing.
Happens on everything, SqueezePlay, iPlayer, Pure radio, etc.
On Pure radio or Triode's BBC iPlayer radio for SqueezePlay there are no messages about rebuffering (as sometimes happens on other occasions) so have ruled that out.
Can only get it back by exiting whatever application is in use back to screensaver clock then reloading application.
This restores the sound, ie no need for mains disconnection/reboot.

Did think at one time could be caused by electrical spiking because sometimes it seemed to coincide with cooker hood or oven being turned on/off but bought an anti-surge plug and it's still happening.
It's a real shame because it is rendering a fantastic set up almost useless.
Are there any other sound settings for me to tweek?

Your comment 3 - Did originally have LMS on laptop before finally finding how to run it on a Joggler.
Must admit don't remember sound stopping then so will revert to that and see.

I'm also interested in your comment 5 re thermal trip point.
Have noticed Roobarb has referenced to this in his build notes.
What's the issue? Could it cause the problems me & mashton are having?
I haven't changed anything in this respect from standard download settings.
Is there a tweek here that I need to make?

Any help appreciated - thanks!!

[JimbobVFR400]

That sounds more like an issue with pnp3 and your soundcard to me. Does it happen on the SqPOS running joggler at all?
Might be worth trying SqPOS on a USB stick and see if it still happens on your pnp'd jogglers.

What version of squeezeplay are you using? I seem to remember several versions ago sound disappearing was an issue but should be fixed in more recent versions.

[Fishy]

SqPOS 1.07 & PnP 3.048.
Drop out is happening on kitchen one which is PnP.
The SqPOS/LMS one is in the dining room and doesn't get used as much - will set it going tonight when I get home and see if same thing happens!

[dwl99]

The thermal throttling thing isn't something that normally affects the native OS or PnP, only the newer Linux-based distros such as JoliOS, Ubuntu, SqpOS etc.

[themystical]

The thermal throttling thing isn't something that normally affects the native OS or PnP, only the newer Linux-based distros such as JoliOS, Ubuntu, SqpOS etc.

I believe that SqPOS already includes a 80oC thermal point (rather than the 70oC on stock) but I don't believe that the PNP3 OS does. If the drop-outs are only occuring on the PNP3'ed Jogglers, then it might be an issue but this wouldn't be my my prime suspect as I have Squeezeplay running fine on both SqPOS and PNP3.

[roobarb!]

The thermal throttling thing isn't something that normally affects the native OS or PnP, only the newer Linux-based distros such as JoliOS, Ubuntu, SqpOS etc.

You'll not see any trouble with it on sqpOS - the trip is adjusted to 80 degrees (and it uses nowhere near enough CPU time to get near it). But of course you know that from the warning on the download page.

Actually, if you give the native OS enough work to do you will see the thermal protection cutting in and slowing the show down. It's just that there's usually very little going on, so it's not a problem. It's the full desktop setups where you'll really notice it, as the Joggler is having to deal with a whole lot more.

[roobarb!]

That sounds more like an issue with pnp3 and your soundcard to me. Does it happen on the SqPOS running joggler at all?
Might be worth trying SqPOS on a USB stick and see if it still happens on your pnp'd jogglers.

What version of squeezeplay are you using? I seem to remember several versions ago sound disappearing was an issue but should be fixed in more recent versions.

I'd agree - could you compare the behaviour with you sqpOS system playback and the PnP system playback? It could be a misconfiguration of your audio settings in /etc/asound.conf on the native OS. Perhaps a sample rate that needs tweaking for your audio device?

The old disappearing audio bug is well and truly squashed now. Very occasionally I get an audio freeze, but that happens maybe once a month or so on my kitchen Joggler, which is connected to an external sound card. Normally a Quit > Relaunch brings it back, but it's a very rare thing. In fact, I haven't had any audio dropouts on the bedroom one for at least three months now. It just sits there, quietly waiting to play 6Music every morning.

[roobarb!]

Notwithstanding the fact that the latest release should solve this issue for you, I think i can help.

I know very little about fstab syntax, but did find that the samples up in the thread seemed to have typos in that meant they did not work.

To make it work on my system, I had to omit the underscore before "netdev" and the dollar sign after "0".

My, functional, entries look like this:

//192.168.0.16/music /mnt/music cifs user=admin,password=foobar,netdev 0

Good luck

Well thanks for that. That worked!!
The line that worked in fstab was:
//192.168.1.254/USB_Disk /mnt/music cifs guest,netdev 0
I had previously tried this line with the previous syntax for netdev and it had come up with "bad line in fsatb" error.
I had also previously tried out the latest Roobarb release automated network mountpoint wizard and that had not worked despite installing smbfs.
Anyway it is all working now so thats great!!!!

The configuration in SqueezePlay only knows how to apply settings for shares with usernames and passwords. There's no guest access, because you can't have guest 'authentication' without smbfs, and adding that throws about 25MB onto the weight of sqpOS. I've clarified that in the instructions now.

The easiest way around this is just to create a 'joggler' user with access to the share. Then you don't have to wave your proper credentials around in the fstab file.

[Fishy]

All - thanks for suggestions.

Ran a test last night with all Jogglers fired up and sync'ed - SqPOS/LMS, 2 @ PnPIII, SB Touch.
Everything fine for about 15 mins before Kitchen PnPIII dropped out; others stayed on.
Only thing different about Kitchen one is that the Behringer sound card is connected to the internal usb, (wanting to preserve clean lines (& keep Mrs F happy) I cut a hole in back of case some time ago and connected a right angle usb connector to act as a socket, Behringer connected to that).
So then ran kitchen Joggler for 1 hr with Behringer connected to external socket - stayed on, no drop-out.
Think this narrows problem to two possibilites:
1) a different config is required when connecting sound card to internal usb? - roobarb or others, would be grateful if you could give opinion on this; or
2) there's a problem with the physical integrity of the connection itself, eg fine when board is cold but then lost when board heats up and expands slightly perhaps? - space was a little tight fitting connector through hole in back of case; or connector could be duff as it came from ebay anyway!
Either way, have now fed Behringer cable in through hole in case and connected it direct to the internal usb - hopefully that will cure it; fingers crossed.

[roobarb!]

1) a different config is required when connecting sound card to internal usb? - roobarb or others, would be grateful if you could give opinion on this

Shouldn't do. Regardless of which physical bus the device is connected to, it should be enumerated in software to a location, as shown by...

Code: Select all

cat /proc/asound/cards

...and that's your lot. Use that location in your config and away you go.

2) there's a problem with the physical integrity of the connection itself, eg fine when board is cold but then lost when board heats up and expands slightly perhaps? - space was a little tight fitting connector through hole in back of case; or connector could be duff as it came from ebay anyway!
Either way, have now fed Behringer cable in through hole in case and connected it direct to the internal usb - hopefully that will cure it; fingers crossed.

You could try one of the other physical internal USB connections, as I know I've had trouble with them in the past. Memory sticks that would work perfectly in the external socket would fail miserably when installed internally. Not all of those internal connection points are the same. Some are USB2.0 only. Some are USB1.1 and USB2.0.

I use the internal USB socket (normally used for the wireless card) for a memory stick on my kitchen one and it's solid as a rock, so hopefully you'll have more luck with that!

[Mantaray]

Ever since my joggler stopped booting it's internal OS, I've tried a lot of the different flavours of the OS's available, and so far SqueezePlay is my favourite! Thank you Roobarb!

I just have one problem, and that is whatever I do I can't get the joggler to connect via wifi. Android and Jolicloud are fine but SP (and possibly XMBC) will not play ball. I have DHCP enabled on my Netgear router and the joggler is happy via ethernet cable, but wirelessly I get the message that 'No network address has been assigned to the wireless interface (wlan0).' I have the SSID being broadcast on my router, I have tried with and without WPA security, with and without MAC address filtering. Tried everything under the sun, but can't get it to connect. Anyone have any ideas? I'd be most grateful, as I'd like to use my joggler away from the router.

[dwl99]

Silly question - have you told SqpOS to connect wirelessly instead of via ethernet?