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Running SqueezeCenter on a LinkStation Live

I’ve been running SlimServer/ SqueezeCenter for a number of years now on an old Pentium 4 box running Linux. Recently, I decided to simplify things and reduce my carbon footprint by putting SqueezeCenter on a Buffalo LinkStation Live V2. This is the second of a two-part tutorial that explains in some detail the steps taken to achieve this goal.

It should be noted that this isn’t for the faint-hearted because you can “brick” (that is, render your LinkStation useless) if you do the wrong thing. However, with the steps outlined below you should be able to revive your LinkStation since the original bootloader isn’t replaced with a non-standard firmware. Nonetheless, it is your decision to try this and your responsibility if things don’t go according to plan. Before you proceed, do your research thoroughly by reading everything here and visiting the reference sites listed.

In summary, the following needs to be done to get SqueezeCenter working on you LinkStation:

1. Update the stock firmware to the most recent version;
2. Unlock the stock firmware using a Java utility;
3. Set-up ssh, optional files and fixes;
4. Install Optware for the ARM9 processor, set-up ssh and add some start-up scripts;
5. Install SqueezeCenter.

The first two steps are addressed in part 1. The remaining steps are done using a couple of simple scripts.

It’s worth noting that performance is not as good as that of a PC, which isn’t really surprising given the processor and memory of the LinkStation, but it is satisfactory with some 500 or so albums (around 6,000) songs. Control through a Squeezebox is responsive with only a brief delay before entering the Music Library, Artists etc. The Web interface is a little slow but quite acceptable (I suspect this has more to do with the SqueezeCenter software that the performance of the LinkStation.)

Set-up ssh and install SqueezeCenter

The following steps are based in part from a instructions on NAS-Central.

What’s required:

1. A script that will make all the necessary changes to your LinkStation. Download this and save it to your LinkStation’s shared folder, e.g. \\192.168.1.150\share (wget should be available if you installed the addons package with acp_commander.)

Step 9. Using your open telnet session type:

$ cd /mnt/disk1/share
$ wget http://martinwebster.eu/projects/linkstation.sh
$ sh linkstation.sh

Check the output for any errors. You should see something along the lines of:

<abridged>
Successfully terminated.
Creating /opt/etc/ipkg/cross-feed.conf...
Setup complete.

If the script terminated correctly proceed to the next step. Note: next time you access BASH you’ll need to use ssh.

Step 10. Install SqueezeCenter:

$ wget http://martinwebster.eu/projects/squeezecenter.sh
$ sh squeezecenter.sh

Downloading and installing SqueezeCenter takes a while (around 10 minutes) so be patient. Check for errors and then proceed to the last step.

Step 11. Open your favourite Web browser and set-up SqueezeCenter:

http://192.168.1.150:9000/

Follow the start-up wizard and set-up SqueezeCenter, i.e. load your music library and playlists. That’s it!

I’ve not tested this part as fully as I’d like (ideally I’d restore the LinkStation to its factory state and start over) but reckon it works just fine. If you have any problems let me know and I’ll help out. Tested on a LinkStation Live V2 HS-DH500GL.