alien AlienBBC Installation

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Installing AlienBBC on SqueezeCenter 7.3 all operating systems

These instructions assume you are installing on to SqueezeCenter 7.3 or later

With 7.3, AlienBBC installation is supported via the new Extension Downloader included with the server. The latest version of Alien is already available via this this mechanism and you should use it to install Alien if you are using 7.3.

To install

  1. Remove any previous version of AlienBBC by deleting the Alien folder and all sub folders which you have previously installed.

  2. Go to the server settings page "Extension Downloader", this is available from the "Advanced" tab of the setting web pages.

  3. Tick the checkbox for AlienBBC and select Apply and agree to download the software. This will cause the correct version of Alien for your server to be downloaded and installed.

  4. Restart your server, i.e. actually stop and restart the SqueezeCenter application (not the browser window). On windows this can be achieved by selecting stop and then restart from the SqueezeTray icon in the windows toolbar.

Alien requires mplayer to stream Real Audio streams. It will report whether mplayer is installed and can be found by Alien on the AlienBBC setting web page once the server is restarted.

Windows

The windows version of Alien will also automatically download mplayer and install it for you when the plug-in is first installed and the server is restarted. This download comes direct from the main www.mplayerhq.hu web site. When you install Alien you may not be able to play Real Audio streams for 2-5 minutes after you restart the server until mplayer is fully downloaded. During this time the setting page will report that mplayer is downloading. Please be patient and wait for mplayer to be fully installed. If the server fails to download mplayer the first time, you may find this is resolved by restarting the server as the download is only initiated on a server restart. Please check the status of mplayer and try this before reporting a bug with Alien. (Alternatively you can manully install a version of MPlayer-v1.0rc2-4.2.1 for SqueezeCenter.) The windows settings page also includes a "test" link which allows you to test that mplayer has installed correctly and can be used to play real audio radio stations. Click "test" and it should start a new command window (which will appear minimised at the bottom of your screen) this will show the mplayer output and should after 30 seconds or so start playing Radio 2 from the speaker so your windows machine. If this does not happen then check for any error messages in the command window and post them to the forum.

Mac

Alien will not install mplayer for you. Please download and install the version of mplayer for mac available on the mplayer web site: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayerOSX_1.0rc2.dmg Alien should find mplayer if you extract the mplayer install to the standard location for mac by dragging the application into the application folder. Once you have done this you can check it is in available to mplayer by looking at the Alien settings web page.

Linux

Alien will not install mplayer for you. Please install mplayer using the appropriate method for your distribution. For example, on Ubuntu this is 'sudo apt-get install mplayer-nogui'.

Installing AlienBBC on Linux with SqueezeCenter 7.1/7.2

These instructions assume you are installing on to SqueezeCenter 7.1/7.2.

  1. Download the linux archive: http://www.x2systems.com/alienbbc/alienbbc-linux-v2.2b1-7.1_7.2.tar.gz.

  2. Extract this tar file into the main SqueezeCenter directory. This is likely to be: /usr/local/slimserver or /usr/local/squeezecenter, but will depend on how you have installed SqueezeCenter.

  3. Ensure that the included Bin/mplayer.sh is executable by the SqueezeCenter user.

  4. Ensure that mplayer is installed and available on the path for SqueezeCenter (as for previous AlienBBC versions) and has the relevant codecs available.
    If you need help with installing mplayer this may help: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=17015.

  5. Restart slimserver and see if AlienBBC appears on the web page.

  6. If you have trouble, Run './slimserver.pl --debug server.plugins' in a shell to check for error messages at startup. [or squeezecenter.pl depending on your install]

Installing AlienBBC on Windows

These instructions assume you are installing on to SlimServer V7.1/7.2 or later.

The simplest way to install AlienBBC on Windows is to use the installer.

These will install all the files you need to run AlienBBC including mplayer.

When you have run the install you will need to restart SlimServer to load AlienBBC. To test mplayer is working go to "C:\Program Files\SqueezeCenter\server\Bin\MSWin32-x86-multi-thread" and run "Test mplayer.bat", this batch file will allow you to test a few BBC stations.

NOTE: If your players include Slimp3s wireless connected Squeezeboxs with bitrate limiting set, then you need to ensure lame is installed. Extract lame.exe to the folder "C:\Program Files\SqueezeCenter\server\Bin\MSWin32-x86-multi-thread".

Extra Information

For detailed instructions on installing on windows see ripcaster's website http://www.ripcaster.co.uk/node/56.

Installing AlienBBC on the Mac OS X with SqueezeCenter 7.1/7.2

These instructions assume you are installing on to SqueezeCenter 7.1/7.2.

  1. Install SqueezeCenter 7.1/7.2. If you have not run SqueezeCenter before, start the server so that the Plugins folders are created.

  2. Download MPlayer for OS X from: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html. Install the universal package accepting the default file locations.
    Note: You may skip this stage if you already have a working version of mplayer installed from a previous alienbbc installation.

  3. Download the alienbbc distribution for linux/osx and open it to reveal the Plugins folder: http://www.x2systems.com/alienbbc/alienbbc-linux-v2.2b1-7.1_7.2.tar.gz.

  4. a) If you installed SqueezeCenter for the local user only or only want the current user to use Alien:
        - Open Finder and goto ~/Library/Application Support/SqueezeCenter/Plugins [note not plugin]
        - Drag the "Alien" folder from the alienbbc distribution to the Plugins folder in ~/Library/Application Support/SqueezeCenter/Plugins
        [note ~ represents folders within your own account, so the above relates to the Library folder within your home folder]

    b) If you installed SqueezeCenter for all users and want all users to be able to use Alien:
        - Open Finder and goto /Library/Application Support/SqueezeCenter/Plugins
        - Drag the "Alien" folder from the alienbbc distribution to the Plugins folder in /Library/Application Support/SqueezeCenter/Plugins (you may need to create this)

  5. Restart the server, Alien should now show up on the home page and player menu under Internet Radio.

Last updated: 25 January 2009