Discussion:
[slim] prioritizing softsqueeze on Fedora
Ben Klaas
2005-01-22 20:29:11 UTC
Permalink
hi all-

I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly processor
intensive like loading images into a web browser, the music skips.

I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and found I
could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from a perl script
that automatically "niced" the process to give it kernel priority. Has
anyone experimented with nicing softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be
renicing softsqueeze or slimserver (they are running on the same
machine)? I've experimented with both and neither seemed to work (I
could be doing something wrong). Also, is there another way to
workaround this issue?

cheers,
#!/ben
Robin Bowes
2005-01-22 20:59:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly processor
intensive like loading images into a web browser, the music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and found I
could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from a perl script
that automatically "niced" the process to give it kernel priority. Has
anyone experimented with nicing softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be
renicing softsqueeze or slimserver (they are running on the same
machine)? I've experimented with both and neither seemed to work (I
could be doing something wrong). Also, is there another way to
workaround this issue?
Ben,

I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming music is
in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc. so giving it
higher priority won't help.

If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver script then
you could add a different nice value immediately after the "daemon"
line, e.g.:

daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS

R.
--
http://robinbowes.com
Chris O'Shannassy
2005-01-22 22:02:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly processor
intensive like loading images into a web browser, the music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and found
I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from a perl
script that automatically "niced" the process to give it kernel
priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing softsqueeze/slimserver?
Should I be renicing softsqueeze or slimserver (they are running on
the same machine)? I've experimented with both and neither seemed to
work (I could be doing something wrong). Also, is there another way
to workaround this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming music
is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc. so giving
it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver script
then you could add a different nice value immediately after the
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;

I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff gets
configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the priority...
(mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help, (I don't have any
issues at all anymore) though I guess it depends how fast your machine is.

SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5

(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it positive
will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll do the library
rescans at a higher priority as well, which you don't want. Maybe
that's something the software guys could look into?

Chris
Ben Klaas
2005-01-22 23:50:53 UTC
Permalink
Chris, Robin,

thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.

I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan in
the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...

thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Post by Chris O'Shannassy
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly processor
intensive like loading images into a web browser, the music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and found
I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from a perl
script that automatically "niced" the process to give it kernel
priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing softsqueeze/slimserver?
Should I be renicing softsqueeze or slimserver (they are running on
the same machine)? I've experimented with both and neither seemed to
work (I could be doing something wrong). Also, is there another way
to workaround this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming music
is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc. so giving
it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver script
then you could add a different nice value immediately after the
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;
I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff gets
configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the priority...
(mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help, (I don't have any
issues at all anymore) though I guess it depends how fast your machine is.
SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5
(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it positive
will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll do the library
rescans at a higher priority as well, which you don't want. Maybe
that's something the software guys could look into?
Chris
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Robin Bowes
2005-01-23 11:41:26 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan in
the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Ben,

This is actually one of my hobby horses - I recognised some time ago
that it would require an overhaul of the slimserver architecture to
solve this problem. Sure, the DB backend will improve things slightly,
but to really crack this issue will require breaking each task out into
a separate process - either through use of threads, or separate programs.

I've heard some rumours that the slimdevices team are looking at this,
but not heard anything official yet.

R.
--
http://robinbowes.com
dean blackketter
2005-01-23 22:57:01 UTC
Permalink
The groundwork for this has been completed by Dan Sully. SlimServer
6.0 can run as two processes, one that doesn't do any scanning and one
that only does scanning. This hasn't been rolled into a standard
configuration, but it will likely be before we release 6.0.
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan in
the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Ben,
This is actually one of my hobby horses - I recognised some time ago
that it would require an overhaul of the slimserver architecture to
solve this problem. Sure, the DB backend will improve things slightly,
but to really crack this issue will require breaking each task out
into a separate process - either through use of threads, or separate
programs.
I've heard some rumours that the slimdevices team are looking at this,
but not heard anything official yet.
R.
--
http://robinbowes.com
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Marc Sherman
2005-01-24 13:13:04 UTC
Permalink
The groundwork for this has been completed by Dan Sully. SlimServer 6.0
can run as two processes, one that doesn't do any scanning and one that
only does scanning. This hasn't been rolled into a standard
configuration, but it will likely be before we release 6.0.
How about web serving? Has that been pulled out into a seperate process
as well? Really, I think the line should be drawn at "one process that
only does _streaming_, and one or more processes that do everything
else". That way, the streaming can be run with a negative nice level,
and everything else can take a back seat.

Regardless, that's great news to hear that scanning's been pulled out
into a separate process.

- Marc
Ben Klaas
2005-01-24 20:01:00 UTC
Permalink
rats, I spoke too soon.

I reniced slimserver to -11 and, just for good measure, did the same for
the java softsqueeze process. I checked top to make sure both processes
were running at the new priority. The music cuts out whenever any other
kernel intensive process happens. This, to me, doesn't make sense with
the renicing of the processes, but my ears are not deceiving me.

I'm about to scrap the idea and go back to streaming through xmms, which
is fine. I just thought softsqueeze seemed like a cool way to do it,
plus it would force me to learn navigating the squeezebox remote better.
Alas, my anti-java bias grows...

#!/ben
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan in
the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Post by Chris O'Shannassy
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly processor
intensive like loading images into a web browser, the music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and
found I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from a
perl script that automatically "niced" the process to give it kernel
priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing
softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be renicing softsqueeze or
slimserver (they are running on the same machine)? I've experimented
with both and neither seemed to work (I could be doing something
wrong). Also, is there another way to workaround this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming music
is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc. so giving
it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver script
then you could add a different nice value immediately after the
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;
I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff gets
configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the
priority... (mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help, (I
don't have any issues at all anymore) though I guess it depends how
fast your machine is.
SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5
(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it positive
will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll do the
library rescans at a higher priority as well, which you don't want.
Maybe that's something the software guys could look into?
Chris
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Richard Titmuss
2005-01-24 20:16:16 UTC
Permalink
Hi Ben,

Sorry I am joining this discussion late, we got a new puppy in the
house last weekend and spare time has dropped to zero at the moment!!

I think that your problems are more likely to be with Softsqueeze, not
the slimserver. Could you let me know what version of Java and
Softsqueeze you are using. You may find some improvements upgrading to
Softsqueeze 1.16. Also in the Softsqueeze preferences what audio mixer
is selected, and what other options do you have? And final what spec is
your PC?

Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
rats, I spoke too soon.
I reniced slimserver to -11 and, just for good measure, did the same
for the java softsqueeze process. I checked top to make sure both
processes were running at the new priority. The music cuts out
whenever any other kernel intensive process happens. This, to me,
doesn't make sense with the renicing of the processes, but my ears are
not deceiving me.
I'm about to scrap the idea and go back to streaming through xmms,
which is fine. I just thought softsqueeze seemed like a cool way to do
it, plus it would force me to learn navigating the squeezebox remote
better. Alas, my anti-java bias grows...
#!/ben
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan in
the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Post by Chris O'Shannassy
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly
processor intensive like loading images into a web browser, the
music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and
found I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from
a perl script that automatically "niced" the process to give it
kernel priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing
softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be renicing softsqueeze or
slimserver (they are running on the same machine)? I've
experimented with both and neither seemed to work (I could be
doing something wrong). Also, is there another way to workaround
this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming
music is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc. so
giving it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver script
then you could add a different nice value immediately after the
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;
I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff
gets configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the
priority... (mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help, (I
don't have any issues at all anymore) though I guess it depends how
fast your machine is.
SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5
(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it
positive will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll do
the library rescans at a higher priority as well, which you don't
want. Maybe that's something the software guys could look into?
Chris
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Ben Klaas
2005-01-24 20:35:43 UTC
Permalink
hi Richard-

thanks for the input. here's my info--

Softsqueeze: 1.15
Java: 1.5.0_01

Audio mixer: AudioPCI
MP3 Decoder: Java MP3 Plugin

PC: somewhat ancient Gateway PIII running at about 800mHz with 512MB
RAM. Running linux kernel 2.6.9-1.681_FC3.

aside from going to softsqueeze 1.16 (my apologies, didn't see there was
a new version...should have tried that first), anything else blaringly
obvious in my setup? Should I be using javasound for the audio mixer?

thanks again
#!/ben
Post by Richard Titmuss
Hi Ben,
Sorry I am joining this discussion late, we got a new puppy in the house
last weekend and spare time has dropped to zero at the moment!!
I think that your problems are more likely to be with Softsqueeze, not
the slimserver. Could you let me know what version of Java and
Softsqueeze you are using. You may find some improvements upgrading to
Softsqueeze 1.16. Also in the Softsqueeze preferences what audio mixer
is selected, and what other options do you have? And final what spec is
your PC?
Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
rats, I spoke too soon.
I reniced slimserver to -11 and, just for good measure, did the same
for the java softsqueeze process. I checked top to make sure both
processes were running at the new priority. The music cuts out
whenever any other kernel intensive process happens. This, to me,
doesn't make sense with the renicing of the processes, but my ears are
not deceiving me.
I'm about to scrap the idea and go back to streaming through xmms,
which is fine. I just thought softsqueeze seemed like a cool way to do
it, plus it would force me to learn navigating the squeezebox remote
better. Alas, my anti-java bias grows...
#!/ben
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan in
the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Post by Chris O'Shannassy
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly
processor intensive like loading images into a web browser, the
music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and
found I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from
a perl script that automatically "niced" the process to give it
kernel priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing
softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be renicing softsqueeze or
slimserver (they are running on the same machine)? I've
experimented with both and neither seemed to work (I could be
doing something wrong). Also, is there another way to workaround
this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming
music is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc. so
giving it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver script
then you could add a different nice value immediately after the
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;
I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff
gets configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the
priority... (mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help, (I
don't have any issues at all anymore) though I guess it depends how
fast your machine is.
SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5
(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it
positive will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll do
the library rescans at a higher priority as well, which you don't
want. Maybe that's something the software guys could look into?
Chris
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Ben Klaas
2005-01-24 20:48:21 UTC
Permalink
extra info:

downloaded softsqueeze 1.16
tried running through both java sound engine and audiopci mixer

no change in behavior...
Post by Ben Klaas
hi Richard-
thanks for the input. here's my info--
Softsqueeze: 1.15
Java: 1.5.0_01
Audio mixer: AudioPCI
MP3 Decoder: Java MP3 Plugin
PC: somewhat ancient Gateway PIII running at about 800mHz with 512MB
RAM. Running linux kernel 2.6.9-1.681_FC3.
aside from going to softsqueeze 1.16 (my apologies, didn't see there was
a new version...should have tried that first), anything else blaringly
obvious in my setup? Should I be using javasound for the audio mixer?
thanks again
#!/ben
Post by Richard Titmuss
Hi Ben,
Sorry I am joining this discussion late, we got a new puppy in the
house last weekend and spare time has dropped to zero at the moment!!
I think that your problems are more likely to be with Softsqueeze, not
the slimserver. Could you let me know what version of Java and
Softsqueeze you are using. You may find some improvements upgrading to
Softsqueeze 1.16. Also in the Softsqueeze preferences what audio mixer
is selected, and what other options do you have? And final what spec
is your PC?
Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
rats, I spoke too soon.
I reniced slimserver to -11 and, just for good measure, did the same
for the java softsqueeze process. I checked top to make sure both
processes were running at the new priority. The music cuts out
whenever any other kernel intensive process happens. This, to me,
doesn't make sense with the renicing of the processes, but my ears
are not deceiving me.
I'm about to scrap the idea and go back to streaming through xmms,
which is fine. I just thought softsqueeze seemed like a cool way to
do it, plus it would force me to learn navigating the squeezebox
remote better. Alas, my anti-java bias grows...
#!/ben
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan
in the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Post by Chris O'Shannassy
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my FC3
machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly
processor intensive like loading images into a web browser, the
music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and
found I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms from
a perl script that automatically "niced" the process to give it
kernel priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing
softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be renicing softsqueeze or
slimserver (they are running on the same machine)? I've
experimented with both and neither seemed to work (I could be
doing something wrong). Also, is there another way to workaround
this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming
music is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc.
so giving it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver
script then you could add a different nice value immediately after
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;
I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff
gets configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the
priority... (mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help, (I
don't have any issues at all anymore) though I guess it depends how
fast your machine is.
SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5
(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it
positive will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll
do the library rescans at a higher priority as well, which you
don't want. Maybe that's something the software guys could look into?
Chris
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Richard Titmuss
2005-01-24 21:09:17 UTC
Permalink
OK, that all looks fine. The audiopci mixer should be better than the
java sound engine. Could you enable the 'Java Sound (Verbose)' debug in
Softsqueeze and play a few tracks. When you look back in the
Softsqueeze console it will show the buffer how full the java sound
audio buffer is before a write, you need to look for 'available=xxx' on
the end of the line. Playing back now on my mac this settles at 24%
available, e.g.

15010 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15326 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15375 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15686 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15731 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%

Does yours stop at a constant number, or go up and down? It would be
useful to see this log during a skin.

Also looking back at your original post I notice that you said that the
music skips when loading images into a web browser. Is this images from
any site, or from the slimserver?

Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
downloaded softsqueeze 1.16
tried running through both java sound engine and audiopci mixer
no change in behavior...
Post by Ben Klaas
hi Richard-
thanks for the input. here's my info--
Softsqueeze: 1.15
Java: 1.5.0_01
Audio mixer: AudioPCI
MP3 Decoder: Java MP3 Plugin
PC: somewhat ancient Gateway PIII running at about 800mHz with 512MB
RAM. Running linux kernel 2.6.9-1.681_FC3.
aside from going to softsqueeze 1.16 (my apologies, didn't see there
was a new version...should have tried that first), anything else
blaringly obvious in my setup? Should I be using javasound for the
audio mixer?
thanks again
#!/ben
Post by Richard Titmuss
Hi Ben,
Sorry I am joining this discussion late, we got a new puppy in the
house last weekend and spare time has dropped to zero at the
moment!!
I think that your problems are more likely to be with Softsqueeze,
not the slimserver. Could you let me know what version of Java and
Softsqueeze you are using. You may find some improvements upgrading
to Softsqueeze 1.16. Also in the Softsqueeze preferences what audio
mixer is selected, and what other options do you have? And final
what spec is your PC?
Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
rats, I spoke too soon.
I reniced slimserver to -11 and, just for good measure, did the
same for the java softsqueeze process. I checked top to make sure
both processes were running at the new priority. The music cuts out
whenever any other kernel intensive process happens. This, to me,
doesn't make sense with the renicing of the processes, but my ears
are not deceiving me.
I'm about to scrap the idea and go back to streaming through xmms,
which is fine. I just thought softsqueeze seemed like a cool way to
do it, plus it would force me to learn navigating the squeezebox
remote better. Alas, my anti-java bias grows...
#!/ben
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan
in the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm
concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Post by Chris O'Shannassy
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my
FC3 machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly
processor intensive like loading images into a web browser, the
music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and
found I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms
from a perl script that automatically "niced" the process to
give it kernel priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing
softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be renicing softsqueeze or
slimserver (they are running on the same machine)? I've
experimented with both and neither seemed to work (I could be
doing something wrong). Also, is there another way to
workaround this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming
music is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc.
so giving it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver
script then you could add a different nice value immediately
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN
$SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;
I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff
gets configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the
priority... (mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help,
(I don't have any issues at all anymore) though I guess it
depends how fast your machine is.
SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5
(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it
positive will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll
do the library rescans at a higher priority as well, which you
don't want. Maybe that's something the software guys could look into?
Chris
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Ben Klaas
2005-01-24 21:21:41 UTC
Permalink
it seems to be quite stable at the same percentage on my system.

160631 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
160897 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
160920 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
161273 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true

as far as the "loading images from a browser" comment, I just gave that
as an example of the type of activity that would cause softsqueeze to
skip...it will skip when anything remotely processor-intensive takes
place...reloading nytimes.com has been what I've been using to test this
issue, but I can reproduce the softsqueeze skips by just running a perl
script that does some number crunching.
Post by Richard Titmuss
OK, that all looks fine. The audiopci mixer should be better than the
java sound engine. Could you enable the 'Java Sound (Verbose)' debug in
Softsqueeze and play a few tracks. When you look back in the Softsqueeze
console it will show the buffer how full the java sound audio buffer is
before a write, you need to look for 'available=xxx' on the end of the
line. Playing back now on my mac this settles at 24% available, e.g.
15010 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15326 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15375 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15686 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15731 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
Does yours stop at a constant number, or go up and down? It would be
useful to see this log during a skin.
Also looking back at your original post I notice that you said that the
music skips when loading images into a web browser. Is this images from
any site, or from the slimserver?
Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
downloaded softsqueeze 1.16
tried running through both java sound engine and audiopci mixer
no change in behavior...
Post by Ben Klaas
hi Richard-
thanks for the input. here's my info--
Softsqueeze: 1.15
Java: 1.5.0_01
Audio mixer: AudioPCI
MP3 Decoder: Java MP3 Plugin
PC: somewhat ancient Gateway PIII running at about 800mHz with 512MB
RAM. Running linux kernel 2.6.9-1.681_FC3.
aside from going to softsqueeze 1.16 (my apologies, didn't see there
was a new version...should have tried that first), anything else
blaringly obvious in my setup? Should I be using javasound for the
audio mixer?
thanks again
#!/ben
Post by Richard Titmuss
Hi Ben,
Sorry I am joining this discussion late, we got a new puppy in the
house last weekend and spare time has dropped to zero at the moment!!
I think that your problems are more likely to be with Softsqueeze,
not the slimserver. Could you let me know what version of Java and
Softsqueeze you are using. You may find some improvements upgrading
to Softsqueeze 1.16. Also in the Softsqueeze preferences what audio
mixer is selected, and what other options do you have? And final
what spec is your PC?
Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
rats, I spoke too soon.
I reniced slimserver to -11 and, just for good measure, did the
same for the java softsqueeze process. I checked top to make sure
both processes were running at the new priority. The music cuts out
whenever any other kernel intensive process happens. This, to me,
doesn't make sense with the renicing of the processes, but my ears
are not deceiving me.
I'm about to scrap the idea and go back to streaming through xmms,
which is fine. I just thought softsqueeze seemed like a cool way to
do it, plus it would force me to learn navigating the squeezebox
remote better. Alas, my anti-java bias grows...
#!/ben
Post by Ben Klaas
Chris, Robin,
thanks much...spot on, as usual from this list.
I'll have to figure out a workaround for the scanning taking high
priority. Isn't it possible to configure slimserver to only rescan
in the middle of the night? That'd do it as far as I'm concerned...
thanks again for the rapid response, team.
#!/ben
Post by Chris O'Shannassy
Post by Robin Bowes
Post by Ben Klaas
hi all-
I've just been playing around with running softsqueeze on my
FC3 machine. It plays fine, but whenever I do anything mildly
processor intensive like loading images into a web browser, the
music skips.
I had previously had this trouble with xmms on this machine and
found I could get around it by writing a hack to launch xmms
from a perl script that automatically "niced" the process to
give it kernel priority. Has anyone experimented with nicing
softsqueeze/slimserver? Should I be renicing softsqueeze or
slimserver (they are running on the same machine)? I've
experimented with both and neither seemed to work (I could be
doing something wrong). Also, is there another way to
workaround this issue?
Ben,
I don't think it will make any difference - the code streaming
music is in the same thread as music scanning / web server, etc.
so giving it higher priority won't help.
If you're running slimserver from the /etc/init.d/slimserver
script then you could add a different nice value immediately
daemon +5 --user $SLIMSERVER_USER $SLIMSERVER_BIN $SLIMSERVER_ARGS
R.
Hi;
I used to have the same problem, on my setup there's an
"/etc/conf.d/slimserver " file where some slimserver daemon stuff
gets configured, look for the "SLIMSERVER_OPTS" line and add the
priority... (mine cut&pasted below) It should definately help,
(I don't have any issues at all anymore) though I guess it
depends how fast your machine is.
SLIMSERVER_OPTS="--daemon --prefsfile=$SLIMSERVER_CFG
--logfile=$SLIMSERVER_LOG --priority=-5
(Negative values mean higher priority too btw, making it
positive will make things worse) The only downside is that it'll
do the library rescans at a higher priority as well, which you
don't want. Maybe that's something the software guys could look into?
Chris
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Richard Titmuss
2005-01-24 22:02:46 UTC
Permalink
Hmm. To be honest I am not sure what to suggest from here (other than
using xmms again :( ). If the java sound buffer is being kept at least
75% full then really the music should not skip. On Windows I had found
a similar problem when loading the Sourceforge site, then the java
sound buffer was not constant and could get very low. This was fixed a
couple of versions ago, and it does not look like the same problem
here.

I'll have a think about this, and let you know if I come up with some
other ideas.

Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
it seems to be quite stable at the same percentage on my system.
160631 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
160897 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
160920 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
161273 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
as far as the "loading images from a browser" comment, I just gave
that as an example of the type of activity that would cause
softsqueeze to skip...it will skip when anything remotely
processor-intensive takes place...reloading nytimes.com has been what
I've been using to test this issue, but I can reproduce the
softsqueeze skips by just running a perl script that does some number
crunching.
Post by Richard Titmuss
OK, that all looks fine. The audiopci mixer should be better than the
java sound engine. Could you enable the 'Java Sound (Verbose)' debug
in Softsqueeze and play a few tracks. When you look back in the
Softsqueeze console it will show the buffer how full the java sound
audio buffer is before a write, you need to look for 'available=xxx'
on the end of the line. Playing back now on my mac this settles at
24% available, e.g.
15010 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15326 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15375 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15686 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15731 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
Does yours stop at a constant number, or go up and down? It would be
useful to see this log during a skin.
Also looking back at your original post I notice that you said that
the music skips when loading images into a web browser. Is this
images from any site, or from the slimserver?
Regards,
Richard
Ben Klaas
2005-01-24 22:12:59 UTC
Permalink
Richard-

no problem. I really appreciate the time you spend to help people
running softsqueeze. It's a cool app, and FWIW I run it without issue on
my windows laptop.

#!/ben
Post by Richard Titmuss
Hmm. To be honest I am not sure what to suggest from here (other than
using xmms again :( ). If the java sound buffer is being kept at least
75% full then really the music should not skip. On Windows I had found a
similar problem when loading the Sourceforge site, then the java sound
buffer was not constant and could get very low. This was fixed a couple
of versions ago, and it does not look like the same problem here.
I'll have a think about this, and let you know if I come up with some
other ideas.
Regards,
Richard
Post by Ben Klaas
it seems to be quite stable at the same percentage on my system.
160631 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
160897 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
160920 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
161273 [Player Thread-2] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
as far as the "loading images from a browser" comment, I just gave
that as an example of the type of activity that would cause
softsqueeze to skip...it will skip when anything remotely
processor-intensive takes place...reloading nytimes.com has been what
I've been using to test this issue, but I can reproduce the
softsqueeze skips by just running a perl script that does some number
crunching.
Post by Richard Titmuss
OK, that all looks fine. The audiopci mixer should be better than the
java sound engine. Could you enable the 'Java Sound (Verbose)' debug
in Softsqueeze and play a few tracks. When you look back in the
Softsqueeze console it will show the buffer how full the java sound
audio buffer is before a write, you need to look for 'available=xxx'
on the end of the line. Playing back now on my mac this settles at
24% available, e.g.
15010 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15326 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15375 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
15686 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
written=63992,open:true
15731 [Player Thread-1] DEBUG javasound.verbose - playFrame: bytes
read=63992 bufLen=63992 fillLen=63992 available=24.9937504529953%
Does yours stop at a constant number, or go up and down? It would be
useful to see this log during a skin.
Also looking back at your original post I notice that you said that
the music skips when loading images into a web browser. Is this
images from any site, or from the slimserver?
Regards,
Richard
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John Gorst
2005-01-25 19:38:35 UTC
Permalink
Post by Richard Titmuss
Hmm. To be honest I am not sure what to suggest from here (other than
using xmms again :( ). If the java sound buffer is being kept at least
75% full then really the music should not skip. On Windows I had found a
similar problem when loading the Sourceforge site, then the java sound
buffer was not constant and could get very low. This was fixed a couple
of versions ago, and it does not look like the same problem here.
I'll have a think about this, and let you know if I come up with some
other ideas.
Regards,
Richard
I get similar issues using Linux, same verson of java but the older 1.14
version of softsqueeze on Mandrake 10. Are the newer versions of
softsqueeze not being bundled with 5.4.1 nightly anymore?

I am also still getting the bug where when I start/change tracks there
is a large pause and cpu useage goes up to 100%.
Richard Titmuss
2005-01-25 21:00:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by John Gorst
I get similar issues using Linux, same verson of java but the older
1.14 version of softsqueeze on Mandrake 10. Are the newer versions of
softsqueeze not being bundled with 5.4.1 nightly anymore?
I am also still getting the bug where when I start/change tracks there
is a large pause and cpu useage goes up to 100%.
The newest versions of Softsqueeze are not included with the 5.4.1
nightlies at the moment. The slimserver 5.4 releases are only for safe
bug fixes; the recent changes I have made to Softsqueeze I think will
improve the audio playback on lower spec systems, but this is yet to be
fully proven. It all works fine for my on my PCs, but then the older
versions did as well.

It is probably worth you trying the latest version and the Java MP3
Plugin. I don't think it will help with the music skipping, but might
fix the 100% cpu problems.

Regards,
Richard
Daniel Cohen
2005-01-24 20:39:22 UTC
Permalink
I've just learned that the BBC is redesigning its Player interface,
to be launched in the next couple of days (The Independent, Media
section, Monday 24th January).

Will AlienBBC cope with this, or will it need a reworking?
--
Daniel Cohen
Jules Taplin
2005-01-24 22:45:16 UTC
Permalink
Hi Daniel.

We'll have to see. But... even if it's just a face-lift, it'll probably
need a re-work. Hopefully it won't be too much of a nightmare. My guess
is that at least the dedicated station parsers will still function.

Of course... if they really loved me... they'd ditch the current
approach, implement an XML-based schema for audio metadata, a
web-services interface for stream control, and throw out Real Audio, in
favour of a decent open codec. But I'm not at all sure they do. ;)


-- Jules
I've just learned that the BBC is redesigning its Player interface, to
be launched in the next couple of days (The Independent, Media
section, Monday 24th January).
Will AlienBBC cope with this, or will it need a reworking?
Bill Burns
2005-01-24 23:23:08 UTC
Permalink
I've just learned that the BBC is redesigning its Player interface, to
be launched in the next couple of days (The Independent, Media section,
Monday 24th January).
Here's the writeup from the BBC site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/01_january/24/player.shtml

This week, the BBC re-launches its internet Radio Player to make almost
every BBC Radio programme available live and on-demand for seven days
after broadcast, creating a massive, ever-changing library of music,
talk shows, dramas and documentaries.

Latest figures show more than 10 million hours of BBC radio is consumed
online per month and, from 25 January, the new Radio Player will offer
500 extra hours of programming and offer a range of new features.

The re-launch puts audiences in control of their listening, allowing
them to listen at convenient times, control their schedules and
fast-forward through programmes while exposing them to new shows - and
perhaps whole networks - they otherwise wouldn't come across.

The new Player provides all the programmes and benefits of the current
model - which makes many of the BBC's radio programmes available online
- but includes over 80 more programmes, making virtually all of the
BBC's national radio output available on-demand via the internet.

Newly available programmes include: Colin & Edith, Jo Whiley and Vernon
Kay (Radio 1); Steve Wright, Sarah Kennedy and Ken Bruce (Radio 2);
Morning on 3 and Performance on 3 (Radio 3); Ace & Invisible and Rampage
(1Xtra); Night Train (6 Music); Midday News (Five Live); and Drive with
Nikki Bedi and Breakfast with Gagan Grewal (Asian Network).

The new Radio Player also features live streaming of every one of the
BBC's English local radio and national stations: Radio Scotland and
Radio Nan Gaidheal; Radio Wales and Radio Cymru; Radio Ulster and Radio
Foyle; all 40 of the BBC's local radio stations.

The improvements follow 30,000 emails received from listeners about the
Radio Player since it first launched in June 2002 and record online
listening figures.

In addition to the wealth of new programming, the new Radio Player makes
it even easier for listeners to navigate, with lists of the most popular
programmes and links to allow listeners to click through to any
programme related to their favourite genre.

For the first time it will also be possible for listeners to stop a
programme at any point, switch off the computer and then resume
listening from that point at any time during the seven days the
programme is available.

It will also be possible to explore the other content on offer without
interrupting the listening experience.

The new Radio Player enhances the live listening experience by providing
details of what programme is on now and next for each station and is
integrated with the BBC's News, Sport and Weather Players, providing
one-click access to a huge range of audio and video from the BBC's News
and Sport divisions.
--
Bill Burns
Long Island NY USA
mailto:billb-+tgLd3xe5kuaMJb+***@public.gmane.org
Michael Haan
2005-01-25 15:26:49 UTC
Permalink
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Richard Titmuss
2005-01-25 21:02:54 UTC
Permalink
Ok, I understand why this has happened, but i don't know how to fix
it. I'm building a a new media box which will server as a PVR and
also run slimserver. I've already got slimserver up and running on
it. Today, when I tried to access my music through softsqueeze and
ssh, I got a warning message telling me the server had changed (which
it had, because now I'm forwarding the port to the new machine), but
it won't let me change anything, or accept the new machine. How do I
fix this?
I assume your using XP; you need to edit or delete the file C:/Documents
and Settings/USERNAME/.ssh/known_hosts. For other OS's modify the path
to suit.

Regards,
Richard
Michael Haan
2005-01-25 21:25:10 UTC
Permalink
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Richard Titmuss
2005-01-25 21:37:10 UTC
Permalink
Sorry, I was not clear. Either delete the line in the file for your
host, or just delete the file altogether. Then next time you connect
with Softsqueeze it will say something like 'A new host has been
detected. Do you want to accept the key ...'. Click yes, and then the
file will be updated with the new server key.

Regards,
Richard
Yes, the client is XP. And I've looked at that file, but I'm at a
loss as to where I should get that key from. Any ideas?
Change and Softsqueeze SSH Warning >Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 21:02:54
+0000 > >Michael Haan wrote: > >>Ok, I understand why this has
happened, but i don't know how to fix >>it. I'm building a a new
media box which will server as a PVR and >>also run slimserver. I've
already got slimserver up and running on >>it. Today, when I tried to
access my music through softsqueeze and >>ssh, I got a warning message
telling me the server had changed >>(which it had, because now I'm
forwarding the port to the new >>machine), but it won't let me change
anything, or accept the new >>machine. How do I fix this? > >I assume
your using XP; you need to edit or delete the file >C:/Documents and
Settings/USERNAME/.ssh/known_hosts. For other OS's >modify the path to
suit. > >Regards, >Richard >
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