Network

[dilligas2u]

Anyone use a laptop to play the jukebox on another pc? The pc that has the jukebox program on is in my bar room downstairs. We like to sit out back a lot and I have a set of speakers outside. Can I network the pc and have it let me select songs from the pc inside. Hope you all can understand what I want to do.

[coffee]

Freebox has a networking feature were you can have freebox(the interfase with one queue) on 2 pc's linked and using one database, but Barry is busy testing it 'cause there seems to be a bug now.
As I understand you, if you just want to use freebox on one pc with a network setup and the database on another PC, that is working right now. I even use a wireless network drive for my database and that works fine as long as the database is not to big and you also need to remember that freebox tend to be a bit slower over a network.

[Barcrest]

You can store the music elsewhere and map the drive to your laptop and build the database against that. It will work fine over a wired connection however it can be slow over wireless.

If you want to be able to select the tunes on 2 or more machines then you need to use the terminal/master settings in freebox. This is a little more in depth to set up. You need to set up as follows.

Media Files
These need to be on a share availble to all computers/terminals with the same drive letter. Even if this is stored locally ont he master it needs to be set to the same drive letter on all machines. On my master machine i have share the music and then mapped it on the master as drive Z:\ You then build the database against that mapped drive on the master machine.

Computer 1 (Master)
You need to share the directory freebox is installed in. In the freebox options you need to set this as the master machine.

Computer 2 (Terminal)
You need to have the Masters install directory mapped i have it mapped as F:\ and as the F:\ goes straight to the directory where the E-touch.exe is on the master in the path box i only need to enter F:\ you need to make sure that when you shared it on the master machine you gave full permissions so the terminals can write to that folder. You will also need to have mapped the media to the same drive as the master Z:\ and build the databases agains that however as the letter is the same you can save time by copying the REC and CVR from the master to the E-Touch install folder on the termial.

You should now be able to pick tunes on either the master or the terminal and they will be played by the master. The master is the only machine that keeps track of the queue and can show now playing information. You will not see what is playing or queue details on the terminal and this is probably and area that will need upgrading in the future.

[dilligas2u]

Thanks
For right now I'm just wanting to get ready to set this up. Way to cold out for me to be outside this time of year. But I have some get togethers at my place for horseshoes and a little drinking and it would be nice to keep the bums out of the house,
Thanks again
Tom

[Rob_Hendley]

Yeah I do this - I actually keep my mp3s in order using itunes from my laptop over the wifi

[WYC]

HI
read earlier in the post that E-Touch works over the network which is really cool.
but that the now playing and queue don't show up on the terminal machine.

was wondering if any progress had been made in getting these screens up on the terminal machine.

another thought was does the terminal output any sound at all. or does it just browse.

cheers,

[Barcrest]

The terminal does show the now playing and queue. All the music is played by the master machine which also handles the queue. This feature is for having more input machines with one queue.

[MacGyver]

Nice explanation, Barry. Can this be over to the "Tutorial" section for safe keeping and ease of access at a later date?


Mac

[Rob_Hendley]

I use a similar setup for different reasons.

I network the lappers to the juke and use all my mp3 utilities from the lappers to organise my collection.

The MP3s are stored on the juke.  I use file sharing to share the "Music" folder over the network and run itunes on the lappers.  If I wanted to, I could play the music from my garden by taking the lappers outside.

The only problem I (think) I have is that updating tags over the network is slower than having them on the PC ur working on.  Also, when I add new tracks to itunes on the lappers, it takes a little longer for itunes to organise the files - copying them over to the juke.

It works for me though.