Smart Home Blog

That article can be interesting for all who would like to have budget multi-room music system. The system uses Logitech Squeezeboxes as front-end and Squeezebox server as back-end. The Squeezebox server can be run on any Windws/Linux/Mac OS X PC. So the author bought compact, low power and fanless HP T5530 Thin Client PC. Plus two flash drives – 1GB for OS and 64GB for music. Sure, 64GB is too small for the large media library. But it can be extended by internal or external HDD.

The author chose Debian as OS for Squeezebox server. It offers a simple way to install Squeezebox server from the SlimDevices repository. Everything should work out of the box – just add your Squeezebox device to the local network and specify the IP of the Squeezebox server.

Nice DIY project. I’d like to just add a few notices here. Squeezebox server can be installed on NAS or router. If you already have some you don’t need to run detached PC. Also you can use Nokia Internet Tablets – Nokia770, N800 or N810 with adopted SlimSkin to control your music system more efficient and comfortable as well as iPhone.

A new fresh version of Nokia770/N800/N810 Orbiter for LinuxMCE is available. The list of changes is not so big but the fixes are very important:

• fixed issue with wrong colors of floorplan icons (including active media directors);
• fixed issue with displaying of titles for media files in case of existing covers;
• fixed issue with initiating phone call from the Orbiter;
• disabled screen saver.

The new Orbiter for OS2007 and OS2008 (including Diablo) can be downloaded from the Maemo garage or installed/upgraded from the repository.

The next step is to fix issue with button colors and add Hildon compatibility for switching between Orbiter’s window and other applications without crash.

Finally, the repository for Nokia Internet Table Orbiter was setup (thanks to Andrew Herron from Convergent Home Technologies Ltd) to provide one click installation for Orbiter. Actually, that possibility is available for OS2008 (Chinook and Diablo) only. There is no way to specify more then one repository in Mistral (I suppose nobody use it now) and Bora (it’s used on Nokia770 only I guess). So, if you don’t have OS2008 on your device you should add Maemo and Maemo Extra repositories first.

Anyway, with new one click installation the Orbiter can be installed on your device easily and quickly.

When I played with Nokia770 under OS2005 I built the Plutohome Orbiter with OpenGL support. As result I run UI2 with overlay on Nokia770. it was completely useless because UI2 was designed for Gyration remote control or mouse pointer. So, on Nokia770 it was difficult to navigate through menu.

MCEGuru is a software for Windows Media Center users which allows to control it from several touchscreen devices. One of those device can be Nokia Internet Tablet – Nokia770, N800 or N810. Once installed on the device and MCE the MCEGuru gives you following options:

• See your photos
• List your movies and videos, with their thumbnail image
• List TV channels configured on your Media Center, as well as the program guide for them
• List all the music available on your Media Center, and even listening to it directly on your controlling device
• Manage current playlist on your Media Center
• Control the currently playing media on your TV, browse in it, etc…

To install MCEGuru on your Internet Tablet use that direct link or check the project page on Maemo site.