26 (edited by Dennis 2008-04-13 10:50:08)

Re: SlimServer client

I figured I might as well share what I have now, since I will not be able to work on this for a while.

This widget is slow, partly due to my code and partly due to the nature of squeezecenter's XML api. I will try
to optimize it in the coming weeks. Is is also a bit of a hack to get running, since it has to be run as a local widget for now.

This is how you make it run on your chumby:

1. Download and unzip the zip file and open profile.xml with your favorite text editor.

2. Change the parameters so they suit you:

The "player" parameter should contain the ip of your chumby (you could also try to put the IP to your real squeezebox here if you have one, theoretically the chumby should then work as a remote for the real Squeezebox. But I don't have a squeezebox, so I haven't tried it..).

There is also a server_url parameter that should point to the url of your squeezeserver.

The auth_string parameter must contain a key parameter that Squeezecenter uses to authorize the requests. Here is how you find it:

Use a web browser and go to this url: http://<insert slimserver url here>/xml/status.xml?p0=pause. Then you should get a 403 forbidden page, where you should se a link looking something like this:

http://nas:9000/xml/status.xml?p0=pause&;cauth=e9b744923e6b36047a02624ed027f742

copy the string after cauth= to your profile.xml file.

3. Copy profile.xml and SqueezeRemote.swf to the root a usb stick and connect it to the chumby. The Squeezeremote widget should appear alongside your regular ones.

4. Create a playlist in the squeezecenter web interface and connect to it as usual with the chumby control panel. The widget should now show what's currently playing.

/ Dennis

Download it here

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/2571/squeezeclient2bw8.th.jpg1


Disclaimer: this works for me, and if it works for you, I'm happy for it. There is no warranty whatsoever, if it blows up your chumby, destroys your marriage or kills your cat, don't blame me for it.

Re: SlimServer client

Works here. It is a bit sluggish, but it works!

Thank you very much!

I suspect I can remove USB stick and the widget will stay.

Another question regarding slim server support - I'm running slim server on Netgear ReadyNas Duo. I have noticed that on a huge playlists, Chumby will stop playing after one song. I need to reconnect to the slim server in order for it to start again, only to stop again after another song. For small(er) playlists, it works fine. Any ideas?

Re: SlimServer client

No problem, glad it worked for you!

Yup, it is slow, especially when you change songs and stuff, that could probably be made a bit faster.

I have some ideas how to optimize it, will try that when I get time. Will also try to find some way to get just parts of the Slimservers status.xml file, as it is now I have to ask for that complete file on every update, even though I don't use that much of the data.

Or I may decide to try to compile squeezeslave that is discussed in another thread, and make the widget interface with this instead, this might just be a better and faster way than using the XML api.

/ Dennis

Re: SlimServer client

Works good here.  Thanks man.  Anyone know how to get pandora working on it through the squeeze center?

30 (edited by heyartlady 2008-06-20 11:03:41)

Re: SlimServer client

Can one of you come over to my house and hook me up? I know its there. I'm tiring of Shoutcast and it is so frustrating, knowing it's there and there's not a darn thing I can do about it, and when I saw this thread I was sooooooo excited that I would finally be able to do it and then I started reading...and I don't know WTHeck any of you are talking about. (That is NOT a complaint. This is my issue not yours; you are all explaining it very well for each other, but alas, I am a dyslexic art teacher and this will never come to me but I sure enjoy trying!) I'm more of an, "I'm desperate for the music but the puzzles and the whales are nice too!" sort of girl. Oh well, I'm glad the puzzles and whales are fun, I KNOW how to install those! :-)

Re: SlimServer client

Oh Noes!

The download link is broken....

Re: SlimServer client

Am I misunderstanding this thread?  It says on this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlimServer

A Chumby can play SlimServer streams.

Or is that incorrect?

Re: SlimServer client

cbreeze wrote:

Am I misunderstanding this thread?  It says on this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlimServer

A Chumby can play SlimServer streams.

Or is that incorrect?

Yes, it can. It can play internet radio or music off you library. You just have to make sure it's MP3 formate. If it's WMA, the Chumby will just sit there and look stupid at you.

34 (edited by hpmoon 2008-10-10 10:19:39)

Re: SlimServer client

I am "bumping" this thread, believing that it's the best-titled one for discussing the biggest hole in Chumby development, controlling a SlimServer from a Chumby.    The widget a few posts above provides limited control, but does not appear to facilitate browsing an entire library.

Did development halt on this?  http://www.brendandawes.com/sketches/browsebox

Is there any hope?  This thread suggests that v7.0 added an API, which would seem to overcome the closed nature of the SlimServer.

Re: SlimServer client

Folks, alas I need your help connecting my Chumby to my Squeezebox.

Here's the situation

1) Sometimes my squeezecenter server can see the Chumby. The Chumby comes up as 'Neptune' on the web page. Sometimes the Squeezebox server doesn't recognize the Chumby. All in all, this connectivity is very frustrating.

2) When SQserver can connect, I go to "Play" and can see the Chumby saying "Current: Squeezecenter; Streaming 192.168.x.x...."

But, nothing comes out of the Chumby...

When I go back the web page control 127.0.0.1:9000, and I select Neptune, I still can not play anything. I'm hitting the play button and nothing goes...

Has anyone else experience this problem???

Thanks
SF

Dear Chumby Team: Here's a small suggestion (that may have already been posted). I'd love nothing other than to have the Chumby default to the radio when I turn it on to a preset radio station.  This is why I bought the Chumby and the main purpose. Going through the menus is cumbersome every time... If I have the Radio Paradise channel come up on the screen as my only channel, is it not possible to have the Radio default to the station as well???

Re: SlimServer client

We're seriously considering dropping SlimServer/SqueezeCenter support altogether.  It's a constantly moving target and is becoming increasingly proprietary, and therefore unsupportable for all practical purposes.  It seems that the current owner is trying to "undo" the openness and flexibility of the server, slather on the DRM, and want it to work only with their hardware.

As to why it may not be working for you - hitting "play" on the chumby merely opens the audio stream, but does not cause music to play.  You still have to select and play music from the server.  Certain audio sources will not play through the streaming interface for DRM reasons, and therefore chumby will never receive that audio.

All this assumes that the server is properly configured to support MP3 streaming.

Re: SlimServer client

Squeezebox is definitely a moving target at the moment. Even for some owners of the older models, much to their unhappiness at the moment.
With their upcoming new releases at least through the end of the year this is not likely to change.
Logitech is obviously trying to move them into the mass market with the new players. 
I ordered their new Radio as soon as they announced it, and love it.
I was hoping for Chumby integration in their Touch model, seems like a perfect fit to me, but I doubt that will happen.
The source for the server and a sofware version of the player can still be downloaded, so there is still some of the openness there.

I would  hope that Chumby continues to support being a player, and maybe support showing the currently playing  info.

Re: SlimServer client

sansfil wrote:

Folks, alas I need your help connecting my Chumby to my Squeezebox.

Here's the situation

1) Sometimes my squeezecenter server can see the Chumby. The Chumby comes up as 'Neptune' on the web page. Sometimes the Squeezebox server doesn't recognize the Chumby. All in all, this connectivity is very frustrating.

2) When SQserver can connect, I go to "Play" and can see the Chumby saying "Current: Squeezecenter; Streaming 192.168.x.x...."

But, nothing comes out of the Chumby...

When I go back the web page control 127.0.0.1:9000, and I select Neptune, I still can not play anything. I'm hitting the play button and nothing goes...

Has anyone else experience this problem???

Thanks
SF

Dear Chumby Team: Here's a small suggestion (that may have already been posted). I'd love nothing other than to have the Chumby default to the radio when I turn it on to a preset radio station.  This is why I bought the Chumby and the main purpose. Going through the menus is cumbersome every time... If I have the Radio Paradise channel come up on the screen as my only channel, is it not possible to have the Radio default to the station as well???

I have had an issue where if you *stop* the server for some reason, the chumby loses connectivity, but doesn't retry (for long) and you have to reconnect the chumby to get it to work (even if it says it is currently playing).

Also, you might try putting the ip address of your server:9000 in "my streams" and play it that way instead of using the control panel selection for SqueezeCenter or whatever its called now. I've done that and it works well.

Brian, #1 Joan Jett Fan

Re: SlimServer client

Does anyone have this control widget anymore?  I would love to use this on my chumby,.

Re: SlimServer client

I have the Chumby working with my Squeezebox server. Unfortunately, having to use the server's browser interface to do all of the navigation (except for stopping and resuming after it's started) means the Chumby doesn't work a standalone Squeezebox radio. Give it an interface like the one Pandora has, and you'll have a winner. As it is, the feature is essentially useless to me.

41 (edited by DogRat 2010-01-13 12:35:26)

Re: SlimServer client

The Logitech Squeezebox Radio can control the Chumby. This isn't a perfect alternative, but it works, and it's better than having to install the Squeezebox server on my netbook and pull it out every time I want to stream to my Chumby One. (See follow-up 3 below.)

One glitch is that the audio pauses every so often on the Chumby. So far the streams I've sent have all been 320 Kbps. Maybe it's a buffer issue? I'll trying something at a lower bit rate.

Follow-up: 256 Kbps has the same problem, but 128 Kbps plays fine, with no hiccups. Don't happen to have anything on the server yet that's encoded at another rate.

Follow-up 2: 192 K has fewer pauses than 256, but they're there. Stepping down to 128 for everything I rip isn't something I want to do.

Follow-up 3: SqueezePlay may not work yet for local PC playback, but it handles the Chumby remotely AOK, so there's no need to be sitting at a Squeezebox server. (Well, I take back the AOK. There is definitely a navigation glitch that a Squeezebox Radio doesn't have when controlling the Chumby's connection.)

Follow-up 4: Another workaround -- I have LAME on the Squeezebox server converting WMA and WMA Pro files to MP3. With LAME conversion quality set to 7 (the worst, but fastest, is 9) the Chumby isn't pausing.

42 (edited by Civuck 2011-01-03 14:07:17)

Re: SlimServer client

Can anyone fill me in on whether there is/will be support for controlling a Squeezebox Radio with a Sony Dash?  I have Squeezebox Server running on my PC and use the iPeng app iPod for controlling the radio.  It would be great to put the Dash to use as another controller too.

Re: SlimServer client

That's a question for Sony, since they have complete control over the client software on the device.  Try posting on their forum - they don't monitor this one, as far as I know.

Re: SlimServer client

Civuck wrote:

Can anyone fill me in on whether there is/will be support for controlling a Squeezebox Radio with a Sony Dash?

In addition to what Duane said above, the Sony Dash doesn't seem to support any of the Chumby easter eggs either (http://forums.mwerks.com/showthread.php … st65574352).

That means no local widgets, which is the way squeezebox controlling widgets work (due to security restrictions imposed by Flash).

I'm not near my Squeezebox setup at the moment, but a viable solution might be to create a plugin for Squeezebox Server that provides the crossdomain.xml file necessary to bypass the security restriction. With this in place, the widget can then be uploaded to chumby.com and made available that way, and therefore available to all chumby devices.

If someone else is interested, the following links seem to suggest it is possible -

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33440
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=61097

I'm a perl noob though; the cryptic syntax scares me smile