OLD: mpdPup - Simplified MPD Music Server/Jukebox - v0.9.2

For talk and support relating specifically to Puppy derivatives
Message
Author
multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#321 Post by multiblitz »

Guys, your support is highly appreciated, thanks a lot.

I feel really lost.

To answer your questions: The PC had its LAN-Connection during setup. Nothing has change.

I put the IP-Adress into GMPC manually. Nothing, eventhough I can see the PC with this Ip-Adress in the Router.

i2k:
Thanks for the hints. Tried that with no success:
- mpc listall: Connection Refused.
- ls /mnt/music: Nothing comes back
- Putty: Screen opens, no reaction on anything, after 5 -10 sec: Cennection terminated.

PET-240
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue 22 May 2012, 17:38

#322 Post by PET-240 »

Just to confirm, you have a windows pc and a separate "pc" that has mpdpup installed or booting from USB? Both with separate LAN connections etc?
Apologies for the silly question but just following along and getting a touch confused.
For clarity can we call the windows machine the main pc and the Linux mpdpup machine something other than pc please? The WHS 2011 is self explanatory. And I have one. Not setup for music though. Mebbe I should try!

multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#323 Post by multiblitz »

Yes, Sir this is exactly right.

A linux machine with mpdpup booting from usb, a whs2011 and a windows pc to avoid any softwareissues with mpad for the moment. Target is though to use the ipad

ldolse
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri 23 Oct 2009, 16:33

#324 Post by ldolse »

i2k's guess is right - mpd isn't starting because the WHS server share isn't being mounted - if it was you would show something under /mnt/music and mpd would be starting.

You need to figure out what's causing the mount to fail - you could tell us what you see on the last line if you type:

Code: Select all

cat /etc/fstab
Also the results of this command:

Code: Select all

mount -a
Odds are something there was defined incorrectly.

Either that or DHCP is failing for you every time, and if it's not joining the network then it definitely won't be able to mount the share. I'd set up a static IP when the setup wizard asks you whether you want to do that, it would at least eliminate that variable.

Edit - after re-reading your last post where you collected stats for i2k, I'm 90% sure that DHCP is failing every time for you. Wish I knew what the cause was, but the most reliable fix will be to set a static IP, which the setup wizard will allow you to do. If you're at the cli just type 'startx' and the GUI wizard will launch automatically with Xwindows.

multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#325 Post by multiblitz »

I am back at home and want to try to get it to work this weekend...so, started to enter the static Ip as suggested.

in MPDwizard"save and exit"

under winx, told him to reboot

After reboot: No connection, static IP-Adressed NOT saved...so, how do I get him to remember ?

After reboot:

mount - a: network not reachable

After I manually entered the ip-adress /(which will get loss after next reboot): no return.

ldolse
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri 23 Oct 2009, 16:33

#326 Post by ldolse »

The static IP address is saved in a text file. It's stored under /etc/network/interfaces/<mac address>.conf.

At this point all I can assume is you have a motherboard with very poor Linux support. What specific board are you using? Your first post mentioned the chipset and the CPU, but not the actual board...

multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#327 Post by multiblitz »

This is a Asrock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 Board...updated the bios...no success...

So, I finally took an old Via Board out of the shelf....no problems ! Even MPad works nicely. Wow.

Only thing: No music yet...I think there was something written about that it is by defoult muted ? Not sure what to do, need to search again...Input is intp xmos with BIII-DAC behind it....cant wait to listen to it and see how it perfroms against W7/jriver...

RayCtech

#328 Post by RayCtech »

Removed - possibly OT
Last edited by RayCtech on Tue 28 Aug 2012, 04:44, edited 1 time in total.

multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#329 Post by multiblitz »

Found the unmute Avise...Post nö 2...Shame on me....

everything Works like a Charme...

Sound...Just the first initial impression....very natural, but a bit less transparent than what i am used to....some air is missing...i guess i need to go immediately into the tweaker corner and start to work on the tweaks you guys mentioned.

Besides that, the sound is very natural, very organic....the opposite of technical...some would say analogue I guess...but for tht I need more air and more attack....so let get into tuning tomorrow....

I am using an old cmp via board with an old dual core and the sotm usb card...normal silent psu from silverstone, which will be removed tomorrow against a lt1084 plus miniitx psu...

which board works best with a modern i5 cpu ?

ldolse
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri 23 Oct 2009, 16:33

#330 Post by ldolse »

@RayCTech, good stuff - that seems to corroborate some of the work phofman was doing on one of the other boards - curious to hear how things go if you build the kernel to support larger numbers - still debating whether I should make that level of kernel tweaking a priority.

@multiblitz, glad the older board is working better. Not sure what to tell you in terms of board recommendations - if you read back through the thread a couple different boards are mentioned. The most popular board is the Alix, but that's an entirely different class of CPU vs. what you seem to be after.

Regarding tweaks, there are really only three that have been discussed that multiple users have gotten behind. Tweaking the buffer time and period time in mpd and changing the usb audio nrpacks setting. Add these two lines to the mpd.conf sound output configuration for buffer & period (at the end of the file)

Code: Select all

        period_time        "8192"
        buffer_time        "131072"
You can change nrpacks by issuing the following commands:

Code: Select all

modprobe -r snd-usb-audio
modprobe snd-usb-audio nrpacks=20
But to make that permanent you need to add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Code: Select all

options snd-usb-audio nrpacks=20

multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#331 Post by multiblitz »

I have modded the mpd.conf and alsa-base.conf as described here (THANKS A LOT Guys !!!!)...

Everything worked with nano like a charme. Result: Air, Power, Precison and Naturalness. The OS seems to disappear...each little Bios-Change becomes visible / audible...Each little characteristic of the recording is sudenly there and presented, there is no signature added...one rcording is warm and full and the next analytic etcetc.

So....mission achieved ?

Not yet. Now the hardware is on review. Currently am am running a Biostar's P4M900-M7 with an old Dual Core @ 1 ghz. Need to tune the memory which is running at 400 mhz, but the timings I have to look into.

On this board I see a couple of electrolytics which you be exchanged against Oscons...not sure If this board is worth the hassle.

On the Bench: The Z68, which is not working....wondering which I5 Boards you guys are using (RayCtech ?)...

An Intel 2550cc-Board is sitting and waiting to get tested...wondering if the here mentioned Asrock 525 is an older, but better alternative...

...and the Alix as well, which I will Mod, but where I am searching (not yet found) for a MINIPCI to PCI Adapter to use the fabulous sounding SOTM USB-Card which is powered directly by a discrete PSU....here I need to learn what the SSH-stuff is all about

PSU...today I will build my discrete 12V-PSU and will combine this with Minit-Itx...

Thanks a lot for this great work again ! Wich the right motherboard it is working like a dream !!! Would be good to get some of the after-glive-mods in the next release (like the unmute-thing, the performance-tweaks etc)

By the way: I assume a lot of you work with a NAS / Network...has anyone played around with the buffers of the network-card ?

Update:
I Started to install to the Intel 2500cc....Big Problems. Winx does not start...dhcp does not work...no mounting etc.

so, i guess, it would be the right thing to start to list the motherboards which really work with mpdpup and which dont...I tried now three and only one which you cant buy anymore works...

RayCtech

#332 Post by RayCtech »

Removed - possibly OT
Last edited by RayCtech on Tue 28 Aug 2012, 04:43, edited 1 time in total.

ldolse
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri 23 Oct 2009, 16:33

#333 Post by ldolse »

It seems that a lot of hardware vendors don't spend much time on Linux compatibility, so choosing brand new boards with cutting edge chipsets can often bite you. Choosing boards based on older chipsets that are on long term support roadmaps is generally the safest route. Since MPD's hardware requirements are negligible there's nothing wrong with choosing tried & true older hardware.

I'm not sure if moving to a 3.0 kernel from 2.6.39 would help a lot with this situation, but it may since that's where new driver development is happening now.

The next release will have the latest Intel Graphics drivers, and the wizards will be able to do the tweaks mentioned earlier along with mpd buffer configuration. Beyond that there are a lot of bug fixes and the ability to install some php clients and GMPC. It looks like I'll still be defaulting to mpd 0.16.x though - I was just trialing 0.17.1 on my main system and I'm not very happy with it - lots of drop-outs and one or two instances where the audio devolved into static. I guess 0.17.x isn't quite ready for prime time. I might include an option where a user can swap between them though.

i2k
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri 22 Jun 2012, 16:14

#334 Post by i2k »

For your reference, the boards I've tested :
Intel D410
MSI E350IA-E45
JW 2500

Issues discovered :
  • Graphic driver problem on the JW as mentioned by Idolse, not an issue for me as mostly I use CLI.

    On one of them I had a problem with DHCP (between the Intel & MSI, I don't remember which one) and it only happened once and I was not able to reproduce the problem. The solution was to start the network config wizard.

    On the MSI, I cannot use the CF-SATA adapter but booting from USB works just fine.
Apart from those small issues, I don't have anything to complain.

TOINE
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat 07 Jul 2012, 22:40

Last (?) Hardware Question

#335 Post by TOINE »

@idolse I saw that the motherboard you mentioned earlier in this thread: Intel D945GSEJT, is still for sale in my town. Is it a faster and or better alternative for the alix board? And do you know weither or not there are problems with saving playlists with this version of mpdpup or mpd? Kind regards: Toine

ldolse
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri 23 Oct 2009, 16:33

#336 Post by ldolse »

Hi Toine, the D945GSEJT is a great board, I think Intel sort of treated it as a reference design around the Atom N270 & the 945GSE chipset, and a lot were made, which is why you can still find it today. In terms of comparison with the Alix, it's a lot more powerful, probably 3-4x more powerful, but it also draws about double the power (though 10-12 watts is still quite low). The extra horse-power won't buy you a lot - if you're actually interacting with the system it definitely feels snappier, but for playing back music the difference doesn't really matter. I sort of doubt it's sufficiently powerful for tasks like real-time high-quality sample rate conversion, but I haven't really explored that.

In terms of compatibility with mpdPup - it's still my reference board, and I won't release an update that I'm not confident works flawlessly my own kit :D . I'm not sure what playlist problem you're referring to - I haven't had any problems with saving/using playlists, so probably not an issue.

multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#337 Post by multiblitz »

Ok guys...I learned from this discussion that the Asrock AD525PV3 should be a good choice....so I ordered it, just fired it up...and it looses the network setting in the same way as the Z68-Board or the Atom 2500cc board.

If you made this work, please tell me your trick.

I tried as well the Alix-Board with booting from the stick only (not CF-card). Well, that one does not apear on my router, no Ip-Adress...so HAS the Alix to be booted from CF-card in anyway ?

I have a lot of respect for this special effort to put mpdpup together. But this bug that it does loose the network-adress or Auto-DHCP not working...this one really needs a fix. I tried now 4 boards, only one is working...

ldolse
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri 23 Oct 2009, 16:33

#338 Post by ldolse »

multiblitz wrote:Ok guys...I learned from this discussion that the Asrock AD525PV3 should be a good choice....so I ordered it, just fired it up...and it looses the network setting in the same way as the Z68-Board or the Atom 2500cc board.

If you made this work, please tell me your trick.

I tried as well the Alix-Board with booting from the stick only (not CF-card). Well, that one does not apear on my router, no Ip-Adress...so HAS the Alix to be booted from CF-card in anyway ?

I have a lot of respect for this special effort to put mpdpup together. But this bug that it does loose the network-adress or Auto-DHCP not working...this one really needs a fix. I tried now 4 boards, only one is working...
Hi Multiblitz, really sorry you're having so many issues, you're the first person to have this many issues getting the basic network up and running. I don't see where anyone mentioned that the AD525PV3 is a good choice. The Ethernet chipset it uses is the Atheros AR8151 which seems to be problematic on many variants of Linux, e.g.:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=77947

If the GUI is coming up you can try and launch the network wizard to try and get an IP or even see if the interface is even being discovered - a little more troubleshooting detail would help to give you advice.

Regarding the Alix board, you probably need the Compact Flash, not sure what the BIOS default is, but it's likely that it's not looking at the USB at all. You'd need an RS232 cable to change the BIOS unless you got the Alix with VGA.

multiblitz
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat 28 Jul 2012, 17:52

#339 Post by multiblitz »

Douwe01nl wrote:Thanks Idolse, I can check nrpacks now, great!
In the mean time i switched from Alix 3D3 to Atom board (Asrock AD 525PV3) and from battery to a hybrid linear/switching PSU (12v linear + pico-psu). Both brought me more detail and musicality. Douwe
...sounded like that...

...I did already exactly what you suggested, it will than find the connect in the mpdwizard....but forgets everything after the re-boot.

will follow on the Alix tomorrow...

PET-240
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue 22 May 2012, 17:38

#340 Post by PET-240 »

Hey mulitblitz,

I think I was one of the first that ran the Alix, I followed the instructions on the first post with using netbootin and putty. The cf works. And works well. Haven't tried the USB. Reason- I want nothing but the USB card on the bus. My thoughts would be to follow the netbootin via a cf card on the Alix, use the Ethernet closest to the power socket. Takes about a minute to boot. Set a static ip via the wizard. Reboot, then look on the router. If no joy, try the other Ethernet port. Or perhaps into a switch, I have had routers where one port would not address.
Have a crack at the cf card. Worth the try!

Drew.

Post Reply