QNAP, trial: No packages...?

[Django2020]

Hi there,
very new to minimserver.

minimserver is installed, see image (2.0.12 update 162, using MinimServer-2.0.12-armv5.qpkg on a QNAP TS412, firmware 4.3.3.0644 - yes, very old).

I believed there should be another menu, showing Packages or something (I'm particularly interested in minimstreamer). But the page looks exactly as before activating trial (yes, minimserver was restarted).
minimserver is a tab on Firefox; shouldn't minimserver be a window/app on the QNAP-GUI?
JRE 8.151.2 is installed.
The profile just shows the path, which has been indexed (as I can see from the logs with zillions of errors).

minimserver-sh.log shows
/usr/local/nptl not found (no other errors).

What am I missing?

Cheers,
D.

[simoncn]

To install MinimStreamer, you need to have MinimWatch running on another computer. See the section "Configuring and managing MinimServer 2 settings using MinimWatch 2" on this page. When you have MinimWatch running, you can follow the instructions in the section "Installing MinimStreamer" on the same page.

[Django2020]

(25-10-2020 15:35)simoncn Wrote:  To install MinimStreamer, you need to have MinimWatch running on another computer. See the section "Configuring and managing MinimServer 2 settings using MinimWatch 2" on this page. When you have MinimWatch running, you can follow the instructions in the section "Installing MinimStreamer" on the same page.

Thanks, Simon. I was looking at
https://minimstreamer.com/installing.html
which does not mention minimwatch at all.

I understand that minimwatch is just an intermediate solution to install packages and change properties. minimwatch is a misleading name then.
I also understand that minim* seems to be a one-man show (by you). This is probably the reason why documentation is lacking a bit...

[simoncn]

The second paragraph of the MinimStreamer home page has a link to the Package management section, which explains how to use MinimWatch to install MinimStreamer.

Also, the Quick Start guide for QNAP contains a section Installing MinimStreamer explaining how to use MinimWatch to install MinimStreamer. All the Quick Start guides for other platforms have similar sections.

I will add more information on the MinimStreamer home page as well.

MinimWatch has been around since 2012, so I wouldn't call this an intermediate solution. I am planning to enhance the web-based confguration interface, which will make it simpler for users to install and configure MinimStreamer.

I am sorry that you consider the documentation to be "lacking a bit". For MinimServer 2, I have introduced Quick Start guides for all platforms, which provide all essential details for getting MinimServer and MinimStreamer up and running. This is a big improvement on how things were previously.

[Alandbush]

(27-10-2020 12:26)Django2020 Wrote:  

(25-10-2020 15:35)simoncn Wrote:  To install MinimStreamer, you need to have MinimWatch running on another computer. See the section "Configuring and managing MinimServer 2 settings using MinimWatch 2" on this page. When you have MinimWatch running, you can follow the instructions in the section "Installing MinimStreamer" on the same page.

Thanks, Simon. I was looking at
https://minimstreamer.com/installing.html
which does not mention minimwatch at all.

I understand that minimwatch is just an intermediate solution to install packages and change properties. minimwatch is a misleading name then.
I also understand that minim* seems to be a one-man show (by you). This is probably the reason why documentation is lacking a bit...

On the contrary
https://minimstreamer.com/installing.html
does mention Minimwatch, indirectly, together with the installation instructions IF you follow the necessary hyperlink to Package Management.

Documentation is always a work in progress but what is present still needs to be read carefully.

What alternate name would you suggest for Minimwatch?

Edit: beaten to the punch by Simoncn

[simoncn]

No punching on this forum!

MinimWatch is so-called because it creates a small icon that watches the status of MinimServer and changes colour to inform the user about any issues. Green is good, red is bad, yellow is OK but keep watching. Mac has a slightly different colour scheme.

Although the new web interface will be enhanced to provide the configuration functions of MinimWatch, I don't know of any way to make it provide the "watching" function. Suggestions are welcome.

[Django2020]

(27-10-2020 14:29)simoncn Wrote:  No punching on this forum!

MinimWatch is so-called because it creates a small icon that watches the status of MinimServer and changes colour to inform the user about any issues. Green is good, red is bad, yellow is OK but keep watching. Mac has a slightly different colour scheme.

Although the new web interface will be enhanced to provide the configuration functions of MinimWatch, I don't know of any way to make it provide the "watching" function. Suggestions are welcome.

Yeah, the packages should be maintained directly on the server, that's what I thought from the eginning (and you are working on it). I think I got the impression while reading that winimwatch covers packages <for now>.

Indicating the status of the server would probably require decoupling server and pages displayed. Some robot could show red=server not running, green=OK, yellow=server starting up, blue=indexing. This might break the minimalistic approach, though.

minimwatch: A name like minimcontrol could make this more clear. This name does not exclude watching the status of the server, nor installing packages on the server nor updating, and the icon keeps it's tasks.

Just my 2 cents from a new user with independent views. No punching

[simoncn]

How is the "robot" different from MinimWatch currently? Would it still be an icon in the system tray? Ideally, it should be somewhere that is always visible to the user.

[Django2020]

(27-10-2020 20:32)simoncn Wrote:  How is the "robot" different from MinimWatch currently? Would it still be an icon in the system tray? Ideally, it should be somewhere that is always visible to the user.

Well, the NAS (or whatever is serving) is invisibe to the user. It is just putting out titles or playlists to the renderer to be selected by the user, or album arts perhaps, and music of course. The server needs to be running. If you see minimserver or minimstreamer on the AV receiver or mobile app, you know it is running anyway. So, a separate 'watch' should be needless from that perspective.

[simoncn]

MinimWatch doesn't only tell you that the server is or isn't running. If there is a problem, MinimWatch shows a message describing the problem. It also shows you when rescanning is in progress and when it completes. All of this is directly visible on the screen without needing to open the NAS UI in a web browser. I personally appreciate the convenience of this and I think many other MinimServer users do as well.