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How do you access the package manager from QNAP
05-06-2018, 09:56 (This post was last modified: 05-06-2018 09:57 by Jack42.)
Post: #1
How do you access the package manager from QNAP
I have finally scraped together enough money to buy a QNAP NAS and I was delighted to see that MinimServer is one of the applications which is supported on their "dashboard". It was unbelievably easy to install. There is one trick you have to know, even though the QNAP file station application will tell you that your music is in Multimedia you have to artificially add the prefix /share/ to the name of the folder. Then it will work.

I have been a happy MinimServer user for a couple of years and one of the wonderful features that you can use is the "MinimStreamer" plugin to transcode from FLAC or Apple Lossless to WAV, which for some DACS sounds better.

According to the new documentation, if you search around you will find this: "From 0.8.1 onwards, MinimServer and MinimWatch have a package management system for installing and removing packages that extend the functionality of the original download. To install and remove packages, select the Packages tab of the Properties dialog. The Packages tab also shows you what packages you currently have installed and what packages are available for installation. After installing or removing a package, you need to select Relaunch from the Packages tab for the change to become effective."

I have looked long and hard through all the QNAP interfaces and I simply can't find the Properties dialogue or the package manager. Has anyone successfully located either of these? I would love to know how to finish the job and get MinimStreamer working on the QNAP.

Cheers,
Jack
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05-06-2018, 14:37
Post: #2
RE: How do you access the package manager from QNAP
Thanks for the positive feedback.

MinimServer should set /share/Multimedia as the default value for the content directory if your NAS uses this as its multimedia folder. Didn't this happen as intended when you installed MinimServer? Which model of QNAP NAS do you have?

The need to add /share to the content directory setting when entering this manually is explained on this page (see step 3).

To install MinimStreamer on a QNAP NAS, you need to be running MinimWatch on another computer (PC, Mac or Linux) on your local network. See this section for details. I will update the User guide to clarify this.
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11-06-2018, 07:27
Post: #3
RE: How do you access the package manager from QNAP
Hi again, it is a QNAP TS-431P which is a four drive unit. When you install the MinimServer the content directory field is blank. If I had seen the /share/ already I would have been good to go. With all the different models it doesn't surprise me that the auto populate feature of your installer didn't work.

I have successfully installed Minim Watch and when I start it up I get a half note icon for the local server. If I start it up again I get another one and I can see that it is connected to the QNAP (as per your documentation)

I would like to set the System | stream.converter value to /Applications/Utilities/ffmpeg/ffmpeg and the stream.transcode values to alac:wav,flac:wav as before but unfortunately the new System field doesn't contain those values any more. Can you tell me how to set the stream converter and transcode values in the new software?

As a comment, the specifications of the QNAP lead me to believe that it would be technically possible to run stream conversion and transcoding onboard without relying upon an external computer. What do you think?
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11-06-2018, 09:57
Post: #4
RE: How do you access the package manager from QNAP
The contentDir field should be populated if the /share/Multimedia folder exists when you install MinimServer. If you have "Disable and hide the home/multimedia features" enabled on the QTS System Admininstration page (the default setting), the /share/Multimedia folder doesn't exist and contentDir won't be populated. Perhaps this is what happened. It doesn't depend on what model of QNAP NAS you are using.

To enable transcoding, you need to use MinimWatch to install MinimStreamer from the Packages tab of the Properties page. After doing this and relaunching MinimServer, you will see the stream.transcode and stream.converter fields on the System tab. The stream.converter field should have the value 'ffmpeg' and you should leave this value unchanged.

You are correct in thinking that your NAS is capable of doing transcoding itself and this is what MinimServer and MinimStreamer do when installed on a NAS.
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23-06-2018, 07:36
Post: #5
RE: How do you access the package manager from QNAP
Hi again,

The QNAP App Centre doesn't list minim watch so you can't install minim watch onto the QNAP. Unless there is some undocumented backdoor to install apps on the QNAP I'm pretty much stuck at this point. Of course you can install minim watch onto your Mac but it doesn't do you any good over there since you want it running on the QNAP along with Minim Streamer (because the Mac goes to sleep and the QNAP doesn't)

I have the feeling that I'm missing some critical piece of information to understand what you just told me.
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23-06-2018, 09:28
Post: #6
RE: How do you access the package manager from QNAP
You need to install MinimServer on the QNAP and install MinimWatch on your Mac. MinimWatch provides a control and configuration interface for MinimServer.

When you have done this, you can use MinimWatch to install MinimStreamer on the QNAP. MinimStreamer is not a QNAP package and can only be installed using MinimWatch.
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