For several weeks now I have been running PS3 Media Server (http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/) hosted on Ubuntu 10 Desktop (http://www.ubuntu.com/), when I decided to fine tune my environment by making the system headless as I had no need to interact with a desktop environment.
Info:
PS3 Media Server is a DLNA compliant UPNP Media Server which can stream movies to a large majority of DLNA clients such as the PS3. It’s written in Java, with the purpose of streaming or transcoding all kinds of media files, with minimum configuration needs. The PS3 Media Server also runs on Windows Platforms running the latest versions of Java.
Ubuntu is a … let’s stop here, if you don’t know what Ubuntu is then perhaps you should stop reading now.
Mini How-To:
Starting off with a fresh clean install of Ubuntu Server (Linux flavor of choice) I step though the installation choosing to only install the OpenSSH Server. Once logged into the system I issue a quick sudo passwd to change the root password and activate root account. For the remainder of the install process I will use ssh to work in the CLI (command line interface) of my server install.
Step 1: Install Base OS of Ubuntu 10 Server
Install base Ubuntu Server OS, enabling SSH access, changed root password activating it.
Step 2: Install the prerequisites on the server along with updates to get that out of the way
While in the local terminal or via ssh run the following command(s) (if your logged in via root, no need for sudo)
~# apt-get install mplayer mencoder ffmpeg
~# apt-get install openjdk-6-jre-headless
~# apt-get install vlc vlc-nox
Step 3: Download Install and unpack PMS (PlayStation media server)
Now I download the latest Linux release of PMS from http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/downloads/list and extract it.
~# cd /home/<your directory of choice> *note if you are root, you can place this where ever you wish*
~# wget http://ps3mediaserver.googlecode.com/files/pms-linux-1.10.5.tgz
~# tar xzf pms-linux-1.10.5.tgz *this will extract the packaged*
Step 4: Move the PMS to a new folder location. I choose the /opt/ folder, you can also choose your own, and it’s entirely up to you.
~# mkdir /opt *if this does not exists on your system. It should in Ubuntu by default
~# mv ~/pms-linux-x.xx.x/ /opt/pms
~# cd /opt/pms
~# chmod +x PMS.sh
~# chmod +x linux/tsmuxer
Step 5: Now we create and modify the base PMS configuration file
This file hold general options used by PMS, you can change the configuration as mine are tailored for how I run PMS, these options are subject to change. *note it’s a good idea to tweak your settings for the optimal performance
~# nano PMS.conf
If the file does not exist you will have a blank page to work in.
The following are the options in my configuration file:
thumbnails = false
mencoder_ass = true
hidevideosettings = true
hide_extensions = true
hide_enginenames = true
audiochannels = 2
folders = /media/video
Step 6: Testing that PMS is working correctly.
~# ./opt/pms/PMS.sh
When this is run you will see test output from the application staring up and logging of status events.
Step 7: PMS start-up script
~# cd /etc/init.d
~# nano startpms *this will create a new file to start the server*
Inside the file contains the following information:
#!/bin/bash
cd /opt/pms
nohup ./PMS.sh &
exit
Save the file and make it executable by typing: chmod +x startpms
This can all be added to the system startup configuration; however I have no done this yet.
And now you have a running DLNA / UPNP Media Server running on a Linux box.
System Specifications:
Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS – 2.6.32-24-generic-pae
512 MB RAM
Intel 2 GHz P4
8GB (no need for this much space as media is remotely hosted on network storage). Media is hosted on remote systems and mounted to the Linux installation which uses local directory paths.
This system is hosted in a virtual machine guest under VMware ESXi, 4.0.0, 261974