Logitech Media Server / Raspbian

[foolonthehill]

While using allthingspi's binaries is certainly the easiest option for getting LMS running happily on the RPi, I've written a short tutorial for those who want to compile the necessaries for hard-float Perl themselves: http://www.imagineict.co.uk/squeezier-pi

The svn source from Logitech actually makes it very easy, as the build scripts that are provided all work fine, and the only patch needed is to make the bootstrap file recognise the architecture as different from armel, and therefore use the appropriate modules. For anyone thinking of trying it out, I would say that LMS on the pi is very fast under armhf-Raspbian - certainly way, way faster than my old Linkstation Pro.

foth

[journeyman]

I've been running LMS via allthingspi's binaries and instructions for a few weeks now, and it's been working well, for the most part. I installed the latest OS update for the RPi and am now using the built-in overclocking to specify the "Turbo" mode, where the RPi can boost itself from 700MHz to 1GHz, when needed. This has made a big difference in LMS performance. Playlists load much more quickly, and I can load and shuffle 500-track playlists now without problem.

One issue I have been seeing consistently before and after the upgrade is that the "squeezeboxserver" process's memory use keeps growing over time. I've taken to re-starting the server via cron at night to work around this but am going to just let it grow and see what happens.

Has anyone else seen this? It seems like a memory leak to me.

Many thanks to allthingspi and everyone else who's aided in getting LMS working for the RPi!

[castalla]

As a noob, can you explain what are the differences between your install and the squeezeplug version?

[Paul Webster]

I presume that the biggest difference is that Squeezeplug has not yet made the leap to Raspbian (although it looks like it is close).
So general speed of the RPi if being used for other things (while music playing) should be better.
However, I presume the Squeezeplug not moved yet because of stability.

[truehl]

I presume that the biggest difference is that Squeezeplug has not yet made the leap to Raspbian (although it looks like it is close).
So general speed of the RPi if being used for other things (while music playing) should be better.
However, I presume the Squeezeplug not moved yet because of stability.

Hi Paul and all the others,
yes, you are right. SqueezePlug in version 4 is still based on Debian Squeeze Softfload! The new version will be based on Debian Wheezy Hardfload! That will be a massive improvement in performance. And there will be a lot of other cool things in the new version. Right now I'm fixing the last bugs and I'm very close to a release! I hope I'll be ready in about one week!

Have fun,
Thomas

[ski522]

Just wanted to offer thanks for the info on how to get this going. Now my old Roku Soundbridge can play all those CD's I ripped into FLAC many moons ago! If I could also stream Pandora this way I'd be even more happy, but that doesn't look like its possible.

[foolonthehill]

@castalla The key difference is that SqueezePlug is a "distribution image" rather than an application, ie it provides an image for the whole of an installed system, which includes LMS/Squeezeplay/other media-type applications. It is based on Debian Squeeze, but truehl has done all the work for you in getting the applications installed.

The equivalent that allthingspi and I use is Raspbian, the recommended base image for the RPi (also based on Debian but a more recent version and using hard float). Our tutorials are simply methods for installing LMS/Squeezeplay on top of Raspbian, keeping in place any other software you already have installed.

(At least, this is my understanding of SqueezePlug - anyone who knows better is welcome to correct me!)

[truehl]

Yes,
SqueezePlug is a distribution platform for Media-Servers. LMS is only one of various Media-Servers you get with SqueezePlug. Also various Media-Clients are available.

I first developed SquezzePlug for SheevaPlug, then for Dockstar, then for GoFlex Net and now for Raspberry Pi! All these devices are based on ARM processors. On all devices Debian Squeeze Softfloat ist installed, so on Raspberry Pi right now. Now Debian HF is supported by Raspberry Pi, I also will use this in the upcoming version of SqueezePlug. That will give us a massive improvement in performance!

The idea of SqueezePlug is to use a Linux based device as a Media-Server and Client on a cheap, tiny, robust devices with verry less power consumption. So Raspberry is a perfect device for SqueezePlug. The other mayor goal is to run this device without any Linux knowledge. So everything should be as simple as possible for users. You don't have to mess around with cryptical Linux commands, you can yust choose an option from a graphical interface. The third aim is to run this all headless, without any monitor connected. You have to do some initial steps to get it running and then you can forget the device. For steering you can use devices like smartphones, I-devices, other computers or properitery remote controls e.g. for Logitech Squeezeboxes.

I'm very close for a new release based on Raspbian! If you like you can be a beta tester. Please send me a PM with your name, your eMail and your Skype name! I will contact you and send you a link for the download! I promiss you to have a beta version ready on next Sunday! That only makes sense if I get your Skype name, because I like to get a direct feedback, I hope you understand this!

The new version will include:
- LMS
- SqueezeSlave
- SqueezePlay
- MiniDLNA
- Twonky
- MPD
- MediaTomb
- DAAPD
- Shairport
- Crashplan
- Owncloud
And a lot of features to make it very easy to use!

I'm still searching for people join the project, so if you are interessted, give me a sign.

I'm looking forward for your PMs.

Greetings,
Thomas

[avise]

hi - can anyone help? - since moving to the new version of squeezeplyg - the Triode app doesnt work - the helper app wont load.

any ideas?

[Robbe]

hi - can anyone help? - since moving to the new version of squeezeplyg - the Triode app doesnt work - the helper app wont load.

any ideas?

Hi!
I would also like to run the Triode plugin in LMS on the Raspberry. Do i have to install squeezeplug 4 in order to be able to do that? Or is it possible in a way with version 5?

I have read that Triode's plugin only works with armel soft float..

[jorritarntzen]

Same problem here. Can not run the third party Triode Spotify plugin in the new squeezeplug 5. Does anyone have a link to the squeezeplug 408 image? Or is there a solution for the squeezeplug 5 image?

[mikebainbridge]

Just another 'triode's spotify plugin helper app doesn't start' on Squeezeplug5.02' posting.

Just got a brand new 'Model B" - Downloaded and installed v5. Updated to 5.02 hooked up to ReadyNAS Ultra through CIFS manually (Indexed 25,000 files in 1hr50). Squeezeslave working fine. down the HMDI, BBC radio plugin players working fine. Ipeng works fine too. Web interface while not breathtaking is certainly acceptable and much better than what you get our of a ReadyNAS Duo for example.

2 issues I'm wrestling with at the moment.

1. Triode's 3rd party Spotify plugin won't run the helper app. - reading the lists this seemed to be ok in v4 - I'll try triode over on the Logitech list. Anyone had any luck ? I'm currently not even seeing any log files.
2. I can connect my Logitech receiver and it plays fine. However, I can't connect either my controller or the ipeng players (2 iphones and 1 ipad) or indeed softsqueeze on the macs...On the web interface they don't appear (but do appear as available to the ReadyNAS Ultra). If I try to move them with the ipeng interface they just go back to the ReadyNAS.

Hopefully I'm missing something obvious..

[jorritarntzen]

Triodes plugin does not work on armhf because of the Hard Float. So you have to revert to squeezeplug 408.

[mikebainbridge]

Thanks for the response - I found this posting on the Spotify list (http://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify ... i-p/140972) which is kinda hopeful..

"by iKenndac 2 weeks ago
Options
Hi guys,

Just to let you know - we're aware of the need for a hardfp build of libspotify and we're looking into it. Unfortunately, for various reasons it's more involved than a simple recompile and we're not able to promise anything just yet. Hang in there!"

Now to find a copy of Squeezeplug 4.08 !

Mike

[truehl]

Now to find a copy of Squeezeplug 4.08

If someone needs a copy, tell me by PM, I'll give you a link for download!

[rens]

Hi,

Hopefully someone can help with getting the LMS running on the Raspberry Pi... after spending all day downloading packages, updating files etc. it is not working. First I tried Squeezeplug with the result that LMS is continuously restarting, then installed everything by hand which gave the same result.

So at the moment starting the server in debug mode I get the following output:

Code: Select all

The following CPAN modules were found but cannot work with Logitech Media Server:
  Image::Scale:
Can't load '/usr/share/squeezeboxserver/CPAN/arch/5.14/arm-linux-gnueabihf-thread-multi-64int/auto/Image/Scale/Scale.so' for module Image::Scale: libjpeg.so.8: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory at /usr/lib/perl/5.14/DynaLoader.pm line 184.
 at (eval 102) line 2
Compilation failed in require at (eval 102) line 2.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at (eval 102) line 2

This is way above my knowledge unfortunately, all input is welcome
Cheers!

[milhouse]

Hi,

Hopefully someone can help with getting the LMS running on the Raspberry Pi...

I guess you haven't followed the instructions in this blog? You need to install the libjpeg library, amongst others.

The following should get LMS 7.8 up and running on stock Raspbian:

Code: Select all

sudo su -

wget http://downloads.slimdevices.com/nightly/7.8/sc/6ae78d4/logitechmediaserver_7.8.0~1346674706_all.deb
wget http://allthingspi.webspace.virginmedia.com/files/lms-rpi-raspbian.tar.gz

apt-get -y install libjpeg8 libpng12-0 libgif4 libexif12 libswscale2 libavcodec53 lame

dpkg -i logitechmediaserver_7.8.0~1346674706_all.deb

service logitechmediaserver stop

tar -zxvf lms-rpi-raspbian.tar.gz 
patch /usr/share/perl5/Slim/bootstrap.pm lms-rpi-bootstrap.patch
mv arm-linux-gnueabihf-thread-multi-64int /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/CPAN/arch/5.14/
mv libmediascan.so.0.0.0 libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib
mv /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux/faad /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux/faad.old
mv faad /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2
ldconfig

chown -R squeezeboxserver:nogroup /usr/share/squeezeboxserver /var/lib/squeezeboxserver

service logitechmediaserver start

[rens]

Hi milhouse,

Thanks for your quick response!

I started from scratch again by downloading the latest wheezy image, the nightly build of LMS as you suggested and this extra libraries. It works perfectly now!

I did follow the instructions from 'all things pi': http://allthingspi.webspace.virginmedia.com/lms.php
but I probably made a mistake some where, although I couldn't discover what exactly.

Cheers,
Rens

[phbcanada]

I've been running the server for a while now after following the install instructions (thanks Steve). I was a bit worried about installing mystery patches from an unknown source but sometimes you have to take risks.

Anyway, I'm seeing that SBserver is constantly running in the background consuming about 1-2% cpu and about 20% of available memory. Is there a way to configure it to stay more idle and perhaps have a smaller resident footprint?

I've also recently started running "mpd" for playing music locally off the rpi. Does anyone know if there's any efforts underway to have a sqeezebox player interface to mpd instead of the SBserver? Or maybe the SBserver itself could be simplified to use mpd?

Cheers.

[milhouse]

Anyway, I'm seeing that SBserver is constantly running in the background consuming about 1-2% cpu and about 20% of available memory. Is there a way to configure it to stay more idle and perhaps have a smaller resident footprint?

Do you have players such as a Squeezebox or Controller on your network, as these will be communicating with the server continuously for display purposes (date, time, maybe weather if you've got plugins etc.) which would keep LMS ticking over.

[phbcanada]

Do you have players such as a Squeezebox or Controller on your network, as these will be communicating with the server continuously for display purposes (date, time, maybe weather if you've got plugins etc.) which would keep LMS ticking over.

Ah, that would explain it! I have a squeezebox. Do you know if there's any control over the polling of the server that the player does?
Thanks!

[milhouse]

Ah, that would explain it! I have a squeezebox. Do you know if there's any control over the polling of the server that the player does?
Thanks!

Other than switching it off (ie. pulling the plug out of the back), I don't think so.

Given the nature of Squeezebox (made by a company formerly called "Slim Devices" - clue in the name ), the clients/players are not that intelligent, offloading much of their functionality to the server so fairly frequent contact with the local server is essential for normal activity.

It's not something I use, but switching the Squeezebox from your local LMS server to mysqueezebox.com/SqueezeNetwork (ie. internet-based server) might prevent further contact with your local server, however I'm not sure how much longer the Squeeze Network will be maintained given recent Logitech announcements. And while it might eliminate the 1-2% CPU load it's unlikely to reduce memory consumption much, if at all.

There's also a Wake-on-LAN feature built in to the Squeezebox firmware, not sure if you could somehow make use of WOL so that LMS is started when the magic packet is received, and then shut-down LMS when not required (again using the magic packet). You'd need a daemon "listening" for the magic packet (assuming this is possible), then start/stop the LMS service as required. Assuming you can listen for magic packets, it's probably quite do-able as long as you don't mind the long-ish delay while LMS starts up.

[antonholmstedt]

Hi,

Hopefully someone can help with getting the LMS running on the Raspberry Pi...

I guess you haven't followed the instructions in this blog? You need to install the libjpeg library, amongst others.

The following should get LMS 7.8 up and running on stock Raspbian:

Code: Select all

sudo su -

wget http://downloads.slimdevices.com/nightly/7.8/sc/6ae78d4/logitechmediaserver_7.8.0~1346674706_all.deb
wget http://allthingspi.webspace.virginmedia.com/files/lms-rpi-raspbian.tar.gz

apt-get -y install libjpeg8 libpng12-0 libgif4 libexif12 libswscale2 libavcodec53 lame

dpkg -i logitechmediaserver_7.8.0~1346674706_all.deb

service logitechmediaserver stop

tar -zxvf lms-rpi-raspbian.tar.gz 
patch /usr/share/perl5/Slim/bootstrap.pm lms-rpi-bootstrap.patch
mv arm-linux-gnueabihf-thread-multi-64int /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/CPAN/arch/5.14/
mv libmediascan.so.0.0.0 libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib
mv /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux/faad /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux/faad.old
mv faad /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2
ldconfig

chown -R squeezeboxserver:nogroup /usr/share/squeezeboxserver /var/lib/squeezeboxserver

service logitechmediaserver start

Is this all commands that is needed to get LMS up and running? I'm running raspbmc but since its based on raspbian I suppose it should work anyway.

[milhouse]

Is this all commands that is needed to get LMS up and running? I'm running raspbmc but since its based on raspbian I suppose it should work anyway.

On Raspbian, yes. On Raspbmc, you tell us.

You could run XBMC on Raspbian if it doesn't work...

[antonholmstedt]

Is this all commands that is needed to get LMS up and running? I'm running raspbmc but since its based on raspbian I suppose it should work anyway.

On Raspbian, yes. On Raspbmc, you tell us.

You could run XBMC on Raspbian if it doesn't work...

Tried and yes, working great on Raspbmc! Haven't got Squeezelite to work yet though but will look into that tonight when my gf falls asleep