Thinking about getting up a new feed computer...

[whgwvscanner]

Hey All,

I am thinking about changing feed computers to a linux based system that will ONLY provide the live feed and nothing else. My question to any of you running Linux based systems is do you forsee any issues or problems? Any OS better then the other?

I see there are quite a few applications to use for Broadcasting the stream - any other better then the other?Alternative Broadcasting Software and Clients - The RadioReference Wiki

The reasons I want to move it:
- Get it off of my computer so I don't have to worry about knocking my live stream off-line.
- Linux will be a light weight computer - I can put it in a dark closet and let it run forever.

Cons:
- I wouldn't put it on a battery backup - my internet is not on a battery backup so if it goes down....everything will go down.
- I wouldn't record 24x7 audio while its sending to RR.

Thanks for any input!

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

If you look around Newegg you can build a nice little microATX machine that is more than enough to be a stream server.

Here is a link to what I built about a year ago some of the parts are no longer available but there is probably similar stuff available for <$200 total

Also see my link on the poormans SSD

I run Xubuntu Linux, DarkIce and Icecast on this providing two feeds to RR and I also host the two feeds directly from this computer and a website for my feeds.

Linux can seem daunting at first glance but if you stick with the Ubuntu variants it's an easy installation.

 

[Rob_K]

How hard is it to get the feeds online using Linux? Do you use a gui or is it cli? I have the hardware, just don't have an OS.

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

How hard is it to get the feeds online using Linux? Do you use a gui or is it cli? I have the hardware, just don't have an OS.

I just use Darkice and the command line.

Installing Darkice is easy, use Synaptic or apt-get.

The Ubuntu-Darkice How To while written for Ubuntu 9.04 is still valid and is fairly straight forward. I had some problems at the beginning but it turned out the be something I messed up in the darkice.cfg file.

I can post my darkice.cfg if you have problems with it later.

I am using Xubuntu 10. something mainly because it is a lot lighter weight then Ubuntu and I hate the new Ubuntu "Unity" interface. Also I think because Darkice needs OSS and newer Ubuntu variants have switched to ALSA. I will have to go back and look so don't hold me to that.

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

So I went back and looked at my setup. I am using Xubuntu 10.04 because it has OSS (Open Sound System) and Darkice works better with OSS. Actually Xubuntu 10.04 has both OSS and ALSA...

Ubuntu 10.x and other Ubuntu derivatives have dropped OSS for ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture).

Anyway it is possible to get Darkice to work with ALSA but it's not as easy as OSS.

I guess you could always install OSS too but I have not tried it as what I have is working.

 

[whgwvscanner]

Thanks for your responses. I just got my box on order - mini of course - and when it gets here I will look at that Distro.

I think its going to be a smart upgrade. Of course I am running a Stereo feed if that matters...

 

[W2IBC]

use xubuntu (ubuntu with XFCE desktop xubuntu.org )

install darkice

sudo apt-get install darkice

in your home folder create a darkice.cfg file in that file add the following

[general]
duration = 0
bufferSecs = 10

[input]
device = pulse
sampleRate = 22050 # sample rate in Hz. try 11025, 22050 or 44100
bitsPerSample = 16 # bits per sample. try 16
channel = 1 # channels. 1 = mono, 2 = stereo

[icecast2-0]
bitrateMode = cbr
format = mp3
bitrate = 16
channel = 1
lowpass = 5000
sampleRate = 22050
server = audio#.radioreference.com
port = 80
password = password
mountPoint = mountpoint
name = feedname

now create a file called darkice.sh in that file add the following

#!/bin/bash

darkice -c darkice.cfg

then rightclick the darkice.sh file click on properties then go to permissions check the box allow this file to be run as a program.

then when you have your scanner hooked to the machine. and its connected to the net all you have to do is go to your home folder and right click the darkice.sh file and execute and it starts darkice

 

[whgwvscanner]

Thanks for the help! Did you also know there is a GUI for it also? Darksnow?

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

Thanks for the help! Did you also know there is a GUI for it also? Darksnow?

I tried Darksnow but could never get it working and it seemed to crash a lot.

Once you have your darkice.cfg setup and working it's really not that hard to launch it from the command line. I just open a console window and hit the up or down arrow to scroll through the command history until the right commands come up.

In reality you do not need a GUI (X-windows) at all if you want to go really thin.

 

[whgwvscanner]

Thanks for the heads up. It honestly doesn't seem to bad at all. I can't wait till this new build comes in....I'm sure pictures will follow.

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

Here are the pertinent details of my icecast.cfg

Most of it comes from the RR wiki :wink:

RR wants mono feeds to be in this format
16 bit
22050 Khz
cbr (Constant Bit Rate)

# this section describes general aspects of the live streaming session
[general]
duration = 0 # duration of encoding, in seconds. 0 means forever
bufferSecs = 10 # size of internal slip buffer, in seconds
reconnect = yes # reconnect to the server(s) if disconnected

# this section describes the audio input that will be streamed
[input]
device = /dev/dsp # OSS DSP soundcard device for the audio input
sampleRate = 22050 # sample rate in Hz. 22050 is the RR Standard
bitsPerSample = 16 # bits per sample. 16 for mono feeds, 32 for stereo feeds
channel = 1 # channels. 1 = mono, 2 = stereo

# ****** RadioReferece Feed Details******
[icecast2-1]
# The audio format to encode to, we're using mp3 here
format = mp3

# The bit rate mode to use, the commented out lines are for a fixed bit
# rate "constant bit rate" at 16 bits. I prefer the variable bit rate
# for the sound quality it has and the throughput is very similar on avg

#bitrateMode = cbr (do not use vbr)
#bitrate = 16 or 32 (16 for mono feeds, 32 for stereo feeds)

bitrateMode = cbr
bitrate = 16

# Quality at .1, max is 1.0, but as you increase, so does the bandwidth
# used. For mono scanner audio .1 is totally fine.
quality = 0.1

# Takes the input and mixes it down to a mono output for the feed.
channel = 1

# Cuts frequency response over 5kHz. For scanner feed this mostly
# eliminates hiss and harshness on paging tones. Saves a bunch of
# bandwidth as well.
lowpass = 5000

# Server shown on your RR feed owner page that hosts your feed
# You need to log in to RR, go to Account -> My Live Audio Feeds ->
# click the feed owner page icon at the far right of your feed listing.
# Then you will see all this information.

# From Feed Technical Details, the "Server"
server = audio3.radioreference.com

# From Feed Technical Details, the "Port"
port = 80

# From Feed Technical Details, the Password exactly as shown
password = *your password here*

# From Feed Technical Details, the mount...remove the leading "/", it's
# not needed in this file. So if it is /999999 make it just 999999
mountPoint = *your mount point here*

 

[W2IBC]

I tried Darksnow but could never get it working and it seemed to crash a lot.

Once you have your darkice.cfg setup and working it's really not that hard to launch it from the command line. I just open a console window and hit the up or down arrow to scroll through the command history until the right commands come up.

In reality you do not need a GUI (X-windows) at all if you want to go really thin.

prob I had with just running it in console is I had to leave the console window open all the time.

using the shell script all you do is right click execute.

 

[W2IBC]

Here are the pertinent details of my icecast.cfg


# this section describes the audio input that will be streamed
[input]
device = /dev/dsp # OSS DSP soundcard device for the audio input
sampleRate = 22050 # sample rate in Hz. 22050 is the RR Standard
bitsPerSample = 16 # bits per sample. 16 for mono feeds, 32 for stereo feeds
channel = 1 # channels. 1 = mono, 2 = stereo

on ubuntu 12.04 /dev/dsp in the device never worked.. I had to change it to pulse.

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

prob I had with just running it in console is I had to leave the console window open all the time.

using the shell script all you do is right click execute.

Yeah, I just minimized the console windows as I actually have three. Darkice and two instances of Icecast running.

Does not bother me since I don't do anything else with the computer, and I can open the window to control-c them if I need to shutdown.

 

[whgwvscanner]

Ok, I am working on the feed computer and getting the error when I'm trying to start Darkice.

Using ALSA DSP input device: pulse
Using POSIX real-time scheduling, priority 98
DarkIce: DarkIce.cpp:1187: can't open connector [0]

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

Ok, I am working on the feed computer and getting the error when I'm trying to start Darkice.

Using ALSA DSP input device: pulse
Using POSIX real-time scheduling, priority 98
DarkIce: DarkIce.cpp:1187: can't open connector [0]

I never had good luck using ALSA.

/dev/dsp reference is not for alsa, that is the OSS naming

Try "default"

Or roll back to a linux that has OSS like Xubuntu 10.04

 

[whgwvscanner]

I never had good luck using ALSA.

/dev/dsp reference is not for alsa, that is the OSS naming

Try "default"

Or roll back to a linux that has OSS like Xubuntu 10.04

I'm rolling back - I can't find too much documentation on Darkice and ALSA. I will let you know if I have any issues with it. Hopefully today it will be up.

 

[whgwvscanner]

Ok, I downgraded the OS and I'm still having an issue...getting the same error.

Using OSS DSP input device: /dev/dsp
Could not set POSIX real-time scheduling, this may cause recording skips.
Try to run darkice as the super-user.
DarkIce: DarkIce.cpp:1187: can't open connector [0]

 

[Bellingham_Scanner]

Post your send me your Darkice.cfg but remove your technicals like your password and mountpoint

 

[whgwvscanner]

darkice.cfg

# this section describes general aspects of the live streaming session
[general]
duration = 0 # duration of encoding, in seconds. 0 means forever
bufferSecs = 10 # size of internal slip buffer, in seconds
reconnect = yes # reconnect to the server(s) if disconnected

# this section describes the audio input that will be streamed
[input]
device = hw:0,1 # OSS DSP soundcard device for the audio input
sampleRate = 22050 # sample rate in Hz. 22050 is the RR Standard
bitsPerSample = 32 # bits per sample. 16 for mono feeds, 32 for stereo feeds
channel = 2 # channels. 1 = mono, 2 = stereo

# ****** RadioReferece Feed Details******
[icecast2-1]
# The audio format to encode to, we're using mp3 here
format = mp3

# The bit rate mode to use, the commented out lines are for a fixed bit
# rate "constant bit rate" at 16 bits. I prefer the variable bit rate
# for the sound quality it has and the throughput is very similar on avg

#bitrateMode = cbr (do not use vbr)
#bitrate = 16 or 32 (16 for mono feeds, 32 for stereo feeds)

bitrateMode = cbr
bitrate = 32

# Quality at .1, max is 1.0, but as you increase, so does the bandwidth
# used. For mono scanner audio .1 is totally fine.
quality = 0.5

# Takes the input and mixes it down to a mono output for the feed.
channel = 2

# Cuts frequency response over 5kHz. For scanner feed this mostly
# eliminates hiss and harshness on paging tones. Saves a bunch of
# bandwidth as well.
lowpass = 5000

# Server shown on your RR feed owner page that hosts your feed
# You need to log in to RR, go to Account -> My Live Audio Feeds ->
# click the feed owner page icon at the far right of your feed listing.
# Then you will see all this information.

# From Feed Technical Details, the "Server"
server = audio3.radioreference.com

# From Feed Technical Details, the "Port"
port = 80

# From Feed Technical Details, the Password exactly as shown
password = ********

# From Feed Technical Details, the mount...remove the leading "/", it's
# not needed in this file. So if it is /999999 make it just 999999
mountPoint = *******


This is a stereo feed,,,so I thought I made the appropriate changes above.