notes from creating a media server

Creating a Media server for use in social spaces.

Why do it?

How to take a big hard drive and a linux box and create a Video archive for use in a public access social centre or resource centre.

Issues:

* Current sources of creative commons videos
* How best to label these videos and provide useful resources with them.
* How to network new content between different users of the network of films
* How to set up the linux box most flexibly to best allow access of the public to those video files.
* What media players to install.
* How to allow browsing streaming across a network

You will need

* a machine with a big hard drive and network card and DVD drive/ burner
* an install disk of linux here we use are using Ubuntu dapper as a base.
* a network with DHCP installed and maybe the possibility to create DNS entries on that network
* lots of media files!!

You need to install

Proftp
Apache
A media Player like Mplayer

To install Proftp follow this link
http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/228

Then users can log in anonymously from the network and upload and download files.

example
Ftp: 192.168.100.134
user: anonymous
pass: *blank*

to install apache to allow users access via their web browser follow this link
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper#How_to_install_Apache_HTTP_Server_for...

To install Mplayer on the Dapper Ubuntu box try this
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=187709

To allow people on the network with windows to be able to stream windows media stuff, you need to add the wm mime types to the apache server config files

here is a link how to do it
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmt/h...

here is a summary:

1. Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not have these privileges, ask your server administrator to update these MIME type extensions.
2. Change directories to /httpd/conf.
3. Edit the file srm.conf.
4. Add the following lines to the end of the file, or to where the other AddType video/* entries are found:

AddType video/x-ms-asf asf asx
AddType audio/x-ms-wma wma
AddType audio/x-ms-wax wax
AddType video/x-ms-wmv wmv
AddType video/x-ms-wvx wvx
AddType video/x-ms-wm wm
AddType video/x-ms-wmx wmx
AddType application/x-ms-wmz wmz
AddType application/x-ms-wmd wmd

If you add these to the end of the file, make sure that the file ends with a blank line.
5. Save changes and quit the editor.
6. Restart the Web server.

you may want to mount an ntfs drive on the server, to transfer data

this is a helpful page of how to do it.
http://wiki.linux-ntfs.org.nyud.net:8080/doku.php?id=ntfsmount

Notes
(maybe it's better to have one small hard drive for the operating system and one big hard drive for the media files so you can take it out and share it)

you can install gparted to format hard drives

'''Media Servers For Social Centers'''

* MickFuzz: Ubuntu Media server.

He gave the example of the computer put together for this conference - an old computer made from components put together from a collection of old computer. Large harddrive for media files. Used Ubuntu to get a latest Debian-based GNU/Linux system.

Has a CD/DVD creator application , works out of the box.
Installed proftpd/apache - easy to do with cmd line (apt-get) or synatpic. Configured proftpd for anonymous write access, and apache to serve web page listings for the contents.

This combination of anonymous ftp, and web downloads, is a easy way to serve a internal network at a social centre a shared media space.

Media can be browsed on the web site, without previews of the content [ without using more web-based program ] . It can be previewed using mplayer/vlc , if you use the machine can be used directly.

* Rama: Presented BurnStation http://www.burnstation.org/

Software to implement a public station of music browsing (listening audio) and CD burning. It has a client-server model to allow a kiosk style situation. Multiple PCs can connect to the main media server, download the data via a Samba server and finally burn the CDs.

Uses jinzora for the audio CMS.

Needs a video CMS, and some development, and can be used to burn video CDs.

One idea is to make sure metadata is attached to video files as they are distributed around. Eg RDF document (in a common rdf schema) describing the media file.

Subtitle files need to be located easily with each media.

* Installing BurnStation on Ubuntu

add the repositoary url into /etc/apt/sources.list
you need to install openssh-server, python2.3-mysqldb
currently, ubuntu latest version has python2.4-mysqldb
need to install burnstation-client, burnstation-server, burnstation-images

Posibility to share content with a burnstation network

Currently, the project gives away FTP space. As new media is uploaded, the system has a way to update its database of available content.

One idea is a to allow RDF based updates , i.e a remote update service. You could upload an RDF description of the media and the system will import the media into its db.

Join the burnstation dev mailing list - burnstation (a.t) listas.xicnet.com

You need at least a 500Mhz , minimum 10Gb hdd . The UI uses a html widget renderer which slows down the display.

Their is a client server communication via a SMB share. Client dls media ,ie accesses it via the smb share. The client needs at least 1Gb space to decode the files , and make the ISO image.

* Ideas for further development:

Categories could be developed into the system for browsing by different categories/genres.

Export Functionality - you chould choose to copy the entire contents onto an attached hdd, usb disk, or choose to rsync it to another burnstation!

The burnstation could facilitate sharing between users , via their usb sticks or hdds.

* Rama: Trafffic Shaper

Setting up a traffic shaper for a shared network link for social centres can make life much happy for all users. :)
Need a link here to documentation..

* Pinna: Media Centre experience

In Italy, people have been suggesting to social centres to use KDE and amarok , and provide the copyleft media content, for a media server. They K3B (which is integrated with amarok , ie can use its playlist) . There isnt any sharing of music between media stations yet.

* Jaromil: Dynebolic

Using Dynebolic as a system for multimedia workstation under GNU/Linux

Works as a live CD, can be 'docked' into a pre-existing system.

mkdir /dyne
mount -o loop dyne-2.0.iso /mnt/dyne
cp -rav /mnt/dyne/dyne /
vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
possibly necessary to do ln -s /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/grub.conf
You can use a grub example conf from /dyne/grub.conf
boot into new dynebolic!