Firefly an Maxtor Shared Storage II or Buffalo LS Homes. ?

[midi]

I want to buy a NAS system to stream my WAV, FLAC and ALAC musicfiles with my Soundbridge M1001.

Two NAS devices are interesting for me:

1. the new Maxtor Shared Storage II (MSS II)
2. the Buffalo Linkstation Homeserver

I prefer the MMS II, because it´s faster and quiet.

After reading a lot of threads in different forums i´m not sure if it is possible to install and run FF on this devices without a lot of problems. I´m not a computer expert…

If it should be possible, which FF or mt-daap version is the right one ?

Thanks !

[rpedde]

@midi wrote:

I want to buy a NAS system to stream my WAV, FLAC and ALAC musicfiles with my Soundbridge M1001.

Two NAS devices are interesting for me:

1. the new Maxtor Shared Storage II (MSS II)
2. the Buffalo Linkstation Homeserver

I prefer the MMS II, because it´s faster and quiet.

I didn’t look exhaustively, but it doesn’t appear that the MSS II has hacked/optware firmware yet. The MSS+ does, but not he MSS II.

I may be wrong. If it doesn’t, then it will be difficult to get it working on the mss ii.

The linkstation appears to be a regular HG, which is a ppc device. It will (should?) run either openlink or freelink. For freelink, there are packages on the nightlies page, and it’s easy to get working assuming you know debian already. :-/

Othereise, openlink would be easier, but I don’t have a package prebuilt. I see them floating around the linkstation forums, though, so I think it’s available.

So generally, my thoughts would be that the linkstation would be more easily hackable, and if you already have linux experience and/or don’t mind hacking around on the thing, I’d go for linkstation running freelink.

If you didn’t want to mess with it, and just wanted something that would work, I might go with linkstation on openlink.

If you really, *really* wanted to hack, you could attack the mss II. Rebuild the firmware from the GPL package with backdoor, build a cross toolchain and see if you could get something compiled for the mss II.

🙂

After reading a lot of threads in different forums i´m not sure if it is possible to install and run FF on this devices without a lot of problems. I´m not a computer expert…

That’s how it read to me, too. I’d guess that would change, but right now the devices are pretty spendy, which makes people hesitate to take the risk of developing new firmware for them. They would be expensive bricks.

If it should be possible, which FF or mt-daap version is the right one ?

Thanks !

Almost all nas devices come with mt-daapd 0.2.4 built in firmware. The MSS II does, I’m not sure if the linkstation does. In either case, you reallyw ant to be running nightlies on it though, which means you’ll need to have a device that is hackable in the sense that people have already figured out a way to run custom software on them.

Which (again) makes the linkstations look more appealing.

None of them will be simple though — there’s a fair learning curve even just with regard to installing something someone else already compiled and set up for you.

If you are willing to hack on it, though, I think you’ll be happy with the results.

From a “lots of documentation” standpoint, the nslu2 isn’t a bad way to go either. With OS on flash disk and an external hdd, it’s a quiet and configurable platform.

— Ron

[midi]

First – thank you very much !

But it seems to be very difficult with the MSS II. I think i keep my hands off the MSS II.

I´m looking for a Buffalo Linkstation oder nslu2 solution.

Sadly, there are no pre-installed Firefly devices like the Freecom FSG or better the INTRADISK with Twonky on the market. So you have to put a lot of time and energy to get the systems running. And a risk is still there.

[rpedde]

@midi wrote:

First – thank you very much !

But it seems to be very difficult with the MSS II. I think i keep my hands off the MSS II.

I´m looking for a Buffalo Linkstation oder nslu2 solution.

Sadly, there are no pre-installed Firefly devices like the Freecom FSG or better the INTRADISK with Twonky on the market. So you have to put a lot of time and energy to get the systems running. And a risk is still there.

True. But there have been *lots* of people through these forums that we’ve gotten set up on nslu2+mt-daapd nightlies. Lots. It might take a weekend, but you’ll get there.

Anyway, good luck. It’s a fun trip.

— Ron

[Ted Harper]

@midi wrote:

Sadly, there are no pre-installed Firefly devices like the Freecom FSG or better the INTRADISK with Twonky on the market. So you have to put a lot of time and energy to get the systems running. And a risk is still there.

In Australia at least, there are a couple of companies offering pre-configured NSLU2+drive+Firefly. See http://www.anymedia.com.au/products_sb_NAS_Option.htm and also http://www.frequency.com.au/sales/music&audio/ (about 3/4 the way down the page). If such a pre-installed device isn’t available where you are, it would seem to be a missed marketing opportunity for an enterprising shop (and the profit would on the surface appear to be pretty good on such a pre-installed box too vs just selling the separate components as they might otherwise be doing).

ted.h.

[midi]

One more question:

My Firefly Version (svn-1417) supports FLAC and ALAC Files. Does this the newest Mt-daapd.ipk nightlie svn-1417 too ?

I´ve a Pinnacle Soundbridge M1001. Now i´ve read that thisone isn´t running with mt-daapd – is this right ? If this is right, i think a NSLU2 solution isn´t possible (or only with Twonky possible).

Thanks for your patience…

[rpedde]

@midi wrote:

My Firefly Version (svn-1417) supports FLAC and ALAC Files. Does this the newest Mt-daapd.ipk nightlie svn-1417 too ?

Yes.

I´ve a Pinnacle Soundbridge M1001. Now i´ve read that thisone isn´t running with mt-daapd – is this right ? If this is right, i think a NSLU2 solution isn´t possible (or only with Twonky possible).

Nope, the nightly version will work fine with the pinnacle. I think the confusion is that mt-daapd *is* firefly, I just kept the unix programs named “mt-daapd” to make upgrades easier. At some point, I suppose I’ll probably expunge all the mt-daapd references everywhere and make it firefly through and through.

But yeah, everything should work fine with nightlies, including transcoding and pinnacle (rsp protocol).

— Ron

[midi]

Ok – i ordered a NSLU2 with an WD My Book HD.

There are some different instructions for installing Firefly flying around in different forums. I´ve absolutely no linux experience.

Is the nightlie “mt-daapd_svn-1433-1_armeb.ipk” the right one and is it still necessary to go like that ?:

“From the telnet session “cd /tmp” and then “cp /share/hdd/data/public/mt-daapdXXXX.ipk /tmp” where mt-daapdXXXX.ipk is the specific filename of the distribution you downloaded. Then run these commands in order. “ipkg update”, “ipkg install gdbm”, “ipkg install libid3tag”, and finally “ipkg install mt-daapdXXXX.ipk” again referencing the actual filename.”

Or is it enough or right to go like this:

“ipkg update” and “ipkg install mt-daapd_svn-1433-1_armeb.ipk”

ONCE AGAIN – THANKS !

[rpedde]

@midi wrote:

Ok – i ordered a NSLU2 with an WD My Book HD.

There are some different instructions for installing Firefly flying around in different forums. I´ve absolutely no linux experience.

Hrm.

Those look to be some old instructions. 🙂

I think the fastest/best way right now is something like:

[email protected]# echo "src firefly http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb" > /etc/ipkg/firefly.conf

[email protected]# ipkg update

[email protected]# ipkg install mt-daapd

If you want to keep up with nightlies, you can do a:

[email protected]# ipkg update

[email protected]# ipkg install mt-daapd

Right now, I’m not automatically rebuilding the slug repositories whenever I release a new nightly, but whenever I get around to it. 1433 is in the slug repo at ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org, though.

— Ron

[midi]

Sorry, but i have problems…

I had no problems to install unslung. But when i try to install (Telnet is enabled but i use Putty) an use

“ipkg update”

i get this message:

LKG298063 login: root
Password:
No directory, logging in with HOME=/

Welcome to Unslung V2.3R63-uNSLUng-6.8-beta

---

NOTE: THIS SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY UNSLUNG

---

BusyBox v0.60.4 (2005.03.22-06:52+0000) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter ‘help’ for a list of built-in commands.

# ipkg update
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages
wget: ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
An error ocurred, return value: 4.
Collected errors:
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz’
#

What´s wrong ? Thanks !

[rpedde]

@midi wrote:

Sorry, but i have problems…

I had no problems to install unslung. But when i try to install (Telnet is enabled but i use Putty) an use

“ipkg update”

i get this message:

LKG298063 login: root
Password:
No directory, logging in with HOME=/

Welcome to Unslung V2.3R63-uNSLUng-6.8-beta

---

NOTE: THIS SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY UNSLUNG

---

BusyBox v0.60.4 (2005.03.22-06:52+0000) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter ‘help’ for a list of built-in commands.

# ipkg update
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages
wget: ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
An error ocurred, return value: 4.
Collected errors:
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-cSxQSR http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz’
#

What´s wrong ? Thanks !

It looks like either your default gateway is wrong on the network setting page, or your dns server entries are wrong. Have you set the thing up for DHCP, or is it static?

If DHCP, and your router is handing out dhcp, then it’s probably okay. If static, then check that your gateway and dns are set to the ip of your router, that’s probably what you should be using as a gateway and as dns.

You can verify that by checking the network settings on your pc (which presumably can get to the internet).

Do a “ipconfig /all” on the windows pc (from a dos prompt), and set your network settings for gateway and dns server based on that.

— Ron

[midi]

I use a static adress for NSLU like 192.168.xxx.xx. I disabled DHCP on my router.

Using this static adress i get the connection to the NSLU. Windows shows the NSLU and the HD under “lokal network connections”.

Should i enable DHCP on my router and on the NSLU ?

[sonichouse]

@midi wrote:

I use a static adress for NSLU like 192.168.xxx.xx. I disabled DHCP on my router.

Using this static adress i get the connection to the NSLU. Windows shows the NSLU and the HD under “lokal network connections”.

Should i enable DHCP on my router and on the NSLU ?

You need to set the gateway in your network settings on the slug in the web admin pages.

Check that the gateway IP and DNS is set to point at your router.

[midi]

I´ve set the DNS Server Primary in NSLU menu by using the ip adress of the router. Then i started get this

“# ipkg update
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages
wget: ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
An error ocurred, return value: 4.
Collected errors:
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-LmDyc2 http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-LmDyc2 http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-LmDyc2 http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-LmDyc2 http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz’
# ipkg update
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz
ipkg wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages
wget: ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz
wget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz
#ipkg install mt-daapdwget: ipkg.nslu2-linux.org: Host name lookup failure
An error ocurred, return value: 4.
Collected errors:
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-3KeDZG http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/cross/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-3KeDZG http://ipkg.fireflymediaserver.org/armeb/Packages’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-3KeDZG http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/nslu2/native/stable/Packages.gz’
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: `wget –passive-ftp -q -P /tmp/ipkg-3KeDZG http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/modules/cross/6.8-beta/Packages.gz’
# ipkg #ipkg install mt-daapd
ipkg: ipkg must have one sub-command argument
ipkg version 0.99.154
usage: ipkg [options…] sub-command [arguments…]
where sub-command is one of:

Package Manipulation:
update Update list of available packages
upgrade Upgrade all installed packages to latest version
install Download and install (and dependencies)
install Install package
configure [] Configure unpacked packages
remove Remove package flag … Flag package(s) =hold|noprune|user|ok|installed|unpacked (one per invocation)

Informational Commands:
list List available packages and descriptions
list_installed List all and only the installed packages and description
files List all files belonging to search Search for a package providing
info [pkg|regexp] Display all info for status [pkg|regexp] Display all status for download Download to current directory.
compare_versions
compare versions using <= < > >= = << >>
print_architecture prints the architecture.
print_installation_architecture
whatdepends [-A] [pkgname|pat]+
whatdependsrec [-A] [pkgname|pat]+
whatprovides [-A] [pkgname|pat]+
whatconflicts [-A] [pkgname|pat]+
whatreplaces [-A] [pkgname|pat]+
prints the installation architecture.

Options:
-A Query all packages with whatdepends, whatprovides, whatreplaces, whatconflicts
-V Set verbosity level to . If no value is
–verbosity provided increase verbosity by one. Verbosity levels:
0 errors only
1 normal messages (default)
2 informative messages
3 debug output
-f Use as the ipkg configuration file
-conf Default configuration file location
is /etc/ipkg.conf
-d Use as the the root directory for
-dest package installation, removal, upgrading.
should be a defined dest name from
the configuration file, (but can also be a
directory name in a pinch).
-o Use as the root directory for
-offline offline installation of packages.
-verbose_wget more wget messages
Force Options (use when ipkg is too smart for its own good):
-force-depends Make dependency checks warnings instead of errors
Install/remove package in spite of failed dependences
-force-defaults Use default options for questions asked by ipkg.
(no prompts). Note that this will not prevent
package installation scripts from prompting.
-force-reinstall Allow ipkg to reinstall a package.
-force-overwrite Allow ipkg to overwrite files from another package during an install.
-force-downgrade Allow ipkg to downgrade packages.
-force_space Install even if there does not seem to be enough space.
-noaction No action — test only
-nodeps Do not follow dependences
-force-removal-of-dependent-packages
-recursive Allow ipkg to remove package and all that depend on it.
-test No action — test only
-t Specify tmp-dir.
–tmp-dir Specify tmp-dir.

regexp could be something like ‘pkgname*’ ‘*file*’ or similar
eg: ipkg info ‘libstd*’ or ipkg search ‘*libop*’ or ipkg remove ‘libncur*’
#”

The NSLU menu look like this:

“Fixed IP Address (recommended)
IP Address: …
Network Mask: …
Gateway: …

DNS Server

Primary: …
Backup 1: … (optional)
Backup 2: … (optional)
DNS is required for E-mail messages”

So where can i find the “Gateway”- adress ?

[sonichouse]

@midi wrote:

I´ve set the DNS Server Primary in NSLU menu by using the ip adress of the router. Then i started get this
…..The NSLU menu look like this:

“Fixed IP Address (recommended)
IP Address: …
Network Mask: …
Gateway: …

DNS Server

Primary: …
Backup 1: … (optional)
Backup 2: … (optional)
DNS is required for E-mail messages”

So where can i find the “Gateway”- adress ?

Assuming your router is 192.168.1.1
and the slug is 192.168.1.77
then you need to have the following …

IP Address:      192.168.1.77

Network Mask:    255.255.255.0

Gateway: 	     192.168.1.1





DNS Server



Primary: 	     192.168.1.1

Best of luck.

[Author]

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