Log files / Navigating on Commandline

When you have problems with your system, you will need to have to search through the log files. Maybe you find the problem for you own, or have to search for help in a forum. In both cases it's necessary to study the log files. Usually the location of logfiles on Linux systems is /var/logs. Also on Fedora (Vortexbox).
Some useful log files are:

• When upgrading vortexbox, the logfile you see on the webinterface is located under:
  /var/log/vbupgrade.log
  
  
• Any loginfo of the Squeezebox server is stored in the sbs log-files. There are a couple of them located under:
  /var/log/squeezeboxserver
  These log files were very useful for me when I had the problem with the Youtube Plugin.
  
  
• If you configure a samba share, and the config file has an error, you can see the log in this file:
  /var/log/samba

 
This brings me to an idea for the next post. A short simple guide, how to add a samba share to your vortexbox.

If you need some help in Linux command line navigation, following links are helpful:
Edit files on command-line
Navigate through directories

Youtube Plugin - Settings

Because the Settings are hidden a little bit here an extra post. Just go to the SBS Settings - Advanced. In the left dropdown list select "Youtube". Here you can set that a video is always streamed to your box in the lowest resolution to save bandwidth.

Youtube Plugin on Squeezebox Server

In my opinion this is the best plugin for your Squeezebox Server. With the Youtube plugin you have a nearly infinite music collection. It's very simple to use and works great. You can search what every you want on Youtube. The Youtube songs are handled by the player like songs on your local HDD. So it is no problem to add Youtube songs to playlists (also mixed with local tracks).

The list for top rated, most popular and favorite music are queried from the youtube API.

• Top Rated Music - It should be equal to the filter "Most Liked" for "All time"
• Most Popular Music - Special Youtube algorithm
• Favorite Music -This feed contains videos most frequently flagged as favorite videos
• Youtube Search - Same output as the search on Youtube
• Music Search - Search on Youtube in the category music
• Channel Search - Searching in channels
• Playlist Search - Searching in playlists
• Recently Played - Songs you have recently played via the Youtube plugin
• Youtube URL - Add a direct Youtube URL

More infos can be found in the Youtube API: http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/2.0/developers_guide_protocol.html

The Youtube plugin streams the whole video but only plays the audio track. So you have to pay attention if you have some limitations on your Internet connection. But there is a setting that videos are streamed in low resolution.

Problems with the Youtube Plugin

I tried the Youtube Plugin in the version 0.12. With this version and the Squeezebox Server Version 7.6.0 - r32859 I had the problem that it was only possible to play 15 songs from youtube. After playing them allways an error was displayed:

problem: can't connect to server for <youtube://....>

After restarting I had the same problem again after 15 songs. I updated the plugin to version 0.13, but without success. It helped to update to the latest Squeezeobx Server Version 7.6.1 - r33149.

Squeezebox Server Plugins

To add more functions to the Squeezebox Server, Logitech provides a lot of plugins which you can install. You can also add 3rd party plugins to your SBS. They are not officially from Logitech but some of them are really good. My favorite plugin is the Youtube Plugin. With this one you can search for songs on youtube play it on your box. Because the plugin is as good, I think I will make an own article about it. :-)

The plugins can be installed in the Settings of the Squeezebox Server in the Tab Plugins. To activate 3rd party plugins from the squeezebox community you need to scroll down to the bottom, tick the checkbox (accept the security warning) and apply it to the server.
Maybe you also have to restart the server, I don't remember exactly. But at least after this reboot, all available 3rd party plugins should be listed. Infos and support for 3rd party plugins can only be found in the Squeezebox Forum.

There is also a possibility to add 3rd party plugins from a user defined repositorie.

Short introduction to Squeezebox Server

With the server you can control all Squeezeboxes in your network. It's usually made to manage hardware Squeezeboxes (the current models can be found here ).
But the Vortexbox crew did a great job an implemented the Vortexbox Player. It's a software solution and runs on Linux. Because it's pre-installed and configured so you can just plug your box to a Hi-Fi, visit the Squeezebox Server webinterface (192.168.x.x:9000) and use it as a jukebox.

The media library is also stored on the server and therefore is always available on every computer. They can be accessed from any network device that support Samba shares or from a DLNA compatible device.

If you need help or have any questions related to the Squeezebox Server you can check the Squeezebox Forum.

Here you can see how the webinterface looks like: