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More as an experiment than for immediate production use, I havin installed MinimServer under Ubuntu Linux . I can get it working, thanks to the customarily clear installation instructions, but, with my very basic knowledge of Linux, have encountered a couple of issues.

The machine I am using is a dual boot Windows 8/Ubuntu desktop, and the main music folder is on the NTFS Data drive also used by Windows 8. It can be accessed quite normally in Linux. However, when I first started MinimServer, the folder id logged as invalid. Here is a typical log.

MinimServer 0.8.2 update 42, Copyright © 2012-2014 Simon Nash. All rights reserved.
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_55-b14)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.51-b03, mixed mode)
Platform default charset is UTF-8
Language setting is 'eng'
starting MinimServer[Wootton-Ubuntu]
MinimServer: content directory is not valid: /media/david/Data Drive/Music
Language setting is 'eng'
starting MinimServer[Wootton-Ubuntu]
MinimServer[Wootton-Ubuntu] is running

The only thing that happened been the unsuccessful start and the successful one was that I accessed the music folder (without difficulty) in the Ubuntu File manager. What was happening was that the NTFS drive was not mounted by default at boot time, but was only mounted when the file manager accessed it. Fortunately, there is a very good Ubuntu help page on this issue, and with that and a bit of patience, I was able to get the drive to mount automatically on startup, and so resolve the problem. In the course of this process the drive mount point (which is essentially a file path) changed slightly, so I changed the contentDir setting in MinimServer to suit. MinimServer now boots with Linux, and can be accessed through MinimWatch on other machines on the network. So that problem is solved; I mention it in case someone else encounters similar difficulties.

My other problem is probably even simpler to fix, but I haven't figured it out yet. Initially, I decided to run MinimServer 'headless' under Linux (to simulate what I would do if I built my own server). I would now like to use startd rather than startc, but I haven't worked out which configuration file I need to change. The minimserver/bin/setup program simply says that desktop integration is not available, and does not give an option to change this. I'd be grateful for a pointer on this one.

David
(07-09-2014 22:43)DavidHB Wrote: [ -> ]My other problem is probably even simpler to fix, but I haven't figured it out yet. Initially, I decided to run MinimServer 'headless' under Linux (to simulate what I would do if I built my own server). I would now like to use startd rather than startc, but I haven't worked out which configuration file I need to change. The minimserver/bin/setup program simply says that desktop integration is not available, and does not give an option to change this. I'd be grateful for a pointer on this one.

David

Enabling desktop integration for MinimServer under Ubuntu is tricky because MinimServer starts before the desktop is available. During startup, it will try to display the tray icon and this will fail, so it will fall back to nongraphical mode.

It would be possible to set things up so MinimServer starts when you login to the desktop. This isn't ideal because MinimServer won't be running if you haven't logged in. It also raises the question of what should happen if you logout and then login again. It should be possible to keep MinimServer running after you logout but it wouldn't be possible to reconnect it to the desktop when you login again.

The solution could be some mechanism to inform an already running headless MinimServer instance when you start the desktop so that it can create a tray icon at that point. This mechanism doesn't currently exist and making these changes is likely to be a moderately complex task. I will give this some thought.

As a temporary workaround, you could run MinimServer as headless (with automatic start) and manage it using MinimWatch. It shouldn't be too difficult for me to enable Ubuntu desktop integration for MinimWatch. Would this meet your needs?
(07-09-2014 23:44)simoncn Wrote: [ -> ]The solution could be some mechanism to inform an already running headless MinimServer instance when you start the desktop so that it can create a tray icon at that point. This mechanism doesn't currently exist and making these changes is likely to be a moderately complex task. I will give this some thought.

I've started looking at this and it might not be as difficult as I was expecting. I'll do some experiments and let you know what happens.
Thank you Simon. I was not aware of the issues you describe; I'm sorry if I missed something in the MinimServer documentation.

(07-09-2014 23:44)simoncn Wrote: [ -> ]The solution could be some mechanism to inform an already running headless MinimServer instance when you start the desktop so that it can create a tray icon at that point. This mechanism doesn't currently exist and making these changes is likely to be a moderately complex task. I will give this some thought.

Thank you. I could not ask you to devote significant effort to support what is essentially an experiment at my end, but if the effort is worthwhile for you, that would be good news. Your subsequent advice that implementation may not be unduly difficult is correspondingly welcome.

Having been used to controlling MinimServer through MinimWatch, I tend to think of the system as having two separate components (server running in the background and user interface), and it is easy to see that the separate elements might need to relate to the underlying OS somewhat differently.

Do you think that, over time, you might wish to 'split' MinimServer, even on GUI-based systems which host both the server and the user interface? In that scenario, MinimWatch (or whatever it becomes) would provide control for all Minim-servers on the network, including those hosted locally. This might also provide a consistent means for users to deal with multiple instances of MinimServer on the same machine, which is a feature you have said you are considering, and which I would welcome.

(07-09-2014 23:44)simoncn Wrote: [ -> ]As a temporary workaround, you could run MinimServer as headless (with automatic start) and manage it using MinimWatch. It shouldn't be too difficult for me to enable Ubuntu desktop integration for MinimWatch. Would this meet your needs?

Actually, it would. As matters stand, I can happily control the Ubuntu-based instances of MinimServer from MinimWatch installed elsewhere on the network. And using MinimWatch on Ubuntu to control a local 'headless' (well, CLI-based) implementation of MinimServer chimes in with the thoughts I was offering above.

David
(08-09-2014 15:10)DavidHB Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you Simon. I was not aware of the issues you describe; I'm sorry if I missed something in the MinimServer documentation.

There is nothing about this in the documentation because desktop integration is not a supported feature except on Raspberry Pi, where these issues don't apply.

Quote:Do you think that, over time, you might wish to 'split' MinimServer, even on GUI-based systems which host both the server and the user interface? In that scenario, MinimWatch (or whatever it becomes) would provide control for all Minim-servers on the network, including those hosted locally. This might also provide a consistent means for users to deal with multiple instances of MinimServer on the same machine, which is a feature you have said you are considering, and which I would welcome.

MinimWatch and MinimServer can already do what you are describing. There is no need for any further splitting.

Quote:Actually, it would. As matters stand, I can happily control the Ubuntu-based instances of MinimServer from MinimWatch installed elsewhere on the network. And using MinimWatch on Ubuntu to control a local 'headless' (well, CLI-based) implementation of MinimServer chimes in with the thoughts I was offering above.

David

I will bear this in mind as a possible fallback if my experiments are not successful.
(08-09-2014 17:59)simoncn Wrote: [ -> ]MinimWatch and MinimServer can already do what you are describing. There is no need for any further splitting.

Fair enough. It's your call, of course.

David
There are major changes in 0.8.3 to fully support MinimServer and MinimWatch desktop integration with Ubuntu. I have been able to find solutions to the technical issues that I mentioned in an earlier post. As a result, there is no need to run MinimWatch to manage MinimServer. You can manage MinimServer from a MinimServer desktop icon just like on Windows and Mac.
(15-12-2014 01:17)simoncn Wrote: [ -> ]There are major changes in 0.8.3 to fully support MinimServer and MinimWatch desktop integration with Ubuntu. I have been able to find solutions to the technical issues that I mentioned in an earlier post. As a result, there is no need to run MinimWatch to manage MinimServer. You can manage MinimServer from a MinimServer desktop icon just like on Windows and Mac.

Thanks for this news, Simon. I've been busy updating my other MinimServer installations, and it's got a bit late. I'll update the Linux installation tomorrow, and report.

David
Hmm. I'm having difficulty making MinimServer work on Ubuntu Linux as advertised.

I'm using Ubuntu verion 14.04 LTS. Here is the sequence of commands (less a succession of attempts to discover what Linux regarded as the correct archive fle name):

david@Wootton-Ubuntu:~$ MinimServer/minimserver/bin/update MinimServer-0.8.3-linux-x64
...
Enter name of new MinimServer archive:
MinimServer/MinimServer-0.8.3-linux-x64.tar.gz
Checking for running instances of MinimServer...
Stopping MinimServer process 1785
Migrating autostart configuration
Acquiring root privilege for system configuration update...
[sudo] password for david:
MinimServer update completed successfully
david@Wootton-Ubuntu:~$ MinimServer/minimserver/bin/startd
david@Wootton-Ubuntu:~$

After the reporting of the successful update, no MinimServer icon appeared on the desktop. I then tried using the startd command directly. This exited without an error message (successful completion?), but again no icon appeared. There is no MinimServer icon in either the top or side bars of the Ubuntu desktop, but after a reboot the MinimServer log indicated that there was a normal startup, and MinimWatch on my PC can also see the Ubuntu instance running.

What am I doing wrong?

David
(15-12-2014 16:29)DavidHB Wrote: [ -> ]Hmm. I'm having difficulty making MinimServer work on Ubuntu Linux as advertised.

I'm using Ubuntu verion 14.04 LTS. Here is the sequence of commands (less a succession of attempts to discover what Linux regarded as the correct archive fle name):

david@Wootton-Ubuntu:~$ MinimServer/minimserver/bin/update MinimServer-0.8.3-linux-x64
...
Enter name of new MinimServer archive:
MinimServer/MinimServer-0.8.3-linux-x64.tar.gz
Checking for running instances of MinimServer...
Stopping MinimServer process 1785
Migrating autostart configuration
Acquiring root privilege for system configuration update...
[sudo] password for david:
MinimServer update completed successfully
david@Wootton-Ubuntu:~$ MinimServer/minimserver/bin/startd
david@Wootton-Ubuntu:~$

After the reporting of the successful update, no MinimServer icon appeared on the desktop. I then tried using the startd command directly. This exited without an error message (successful completion?), but again no icon appeared. There is no MinimServer icon in either the top or side bars of the Ubuntu desktop, but after a reboot the MinimServer log indicated that there was a normal startup, and MinimWatch on my PC can also see the Ubuntu instance running.

What am I doing wrong?

David

Have you read the updated instructions in the User guide? From these, you will see that startd is now used only to create a daemon background process. To show the MinimServer minim icon in the system tray, you need to enable desktop integration and double-click the MinimServer launch icon on your desktop.
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