Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Hi Misty. I've updated the first post with a link to the wiki page discussing enabling root on your device.

You may want to wait until some of the current issues have been smoothed out before following the instructions though, as a lot of people seem to having some trouble. Or if you have a brave and adventurous spirit try again after enabling rootsh and I'll try to help with any problems along the way!

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

I wouldn't worry about the timestamp. Try this next:

This should directly execute the iplayer-dl script and spit out some usage instructions. Previously we were using links and aliases so hopefully this should help get to the bottom of things.

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Sorry to butt in.
When you arrive at this stage, press Y and then enter. It might have aborted after a timeout if you left it a while before responding.

The terminal is asking you to confirm that you want to download the extra components needed to make iplayer work. Looks to me like your almost there. Keep at it.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

There's a difference between blunt and rude. Why would anyone even try to help you if this is what they can expect? If I were a professional tutor that you were paying to teach you "Linux for beginners" I could almost understand your response.

I will try to help you, but you're going to have to also help yourself. So, instruction 1:

Don't do anything you don't understand. If it's not clear what you're doing, either do a google search if you're impatient, or ask and wait until someone has time to answer.

In my first post I mistakenly assumed that everyone would follow this rule. My apologies again. My only defence is that my line of work is not teaching people the fundamentals of linux. I've edited now so hopefully it won't happen to anyone else.

As digbum says, you're nearly there. Type "Y" at that prompt and it should install iplayer-dl. As part of the installation, a link to the iplayer-dl executable is made in the /usr/bin/ directory.

This is a special directory, in that any executable inside it can be run from the command line from any location by typing its name. Therefore after this step you should be able to run iplayer-dl from the command line by simply typing:

If you do this it should spit out some usage instructions. Some people seem to be having problems at this stage, so if you also do, be patient while we try and work out the problem. It's difficult when things work perfectly well on your own device to troubleshoot a problem on other people's!

By default, if you type
On the command line it will download the show to your current location. Your N900's storage is split into a few pieces called partitions. It's not a good idea to fill any of these up! When you start a terminal, your starting location is in the "application storage" part, which is 2GB. Therefore if you open a terminal and just type iplayer-dl URL, it will put the show into your application storage and it will quickly fill up.

You can solve this by either navigating to the place you wish to store the file before running iplayer-dl (which would be a pain), or by use the optional "-d" flag. i.e. if you type:

it will save the video to /home/user/MyDocs/.videos, which is the best place for it. It would be a pain to type this out every time, so instead you can create an alias. In order to do this you need to put the following line into your /home/user/.profile file:

Since many people struggle with using terminal based text editors, an easy way of doing this is with the command I supplied earlier.

If you type:

on the command line all it will do is print "Big Phat Jan is great" on your screen. That is what the echo command does. If you add on a special redirection symbol, ">>" that means that the results of the command will instead be appended to the end a file that you specify after the symbol. So typing:

Is just the same as using a text editor to add the alias command to the file /home/user/.profile , but (I thought) a bit easier. This file is only read every time you start up a new terminal, hence the need to close and reopen the terminal before the new "iplayer" command will work. Alternatively, you could force your current terminal to read the file by typing:

Unfortunately it looks like you have done the echo command while still root (could be a problem with the instructions - I'll check after finishing this post), which means that "user" doesn't have the right to edit the file any more. This is bad! You can change the ownership using the following commands:

Whenever you've finished doing a command to be done as root you should type "exit" to return you to a normal non-root shell.

OK, that done, you can check the contents of this file using the "cat" command. All this command does is print the contents of a file. So typing:

Should print the contents to your screen. If you see the iplayer alias all is well. It's unclear from your message whether the alias has somehow split itself over two lines. If so, you will need to remove it and put it in again on one line. As you don't have any other aliases set up, the easiest way would be to do:

rm /home/user/.profile
echo 'alias iplayer="iplayer-dl -d /home/user/MyDocs/.videos"' >> /home/user/.profile

Making sure that the echo command is all on one line.

When you've done all of this, "iplayer URL" should work. Let me know if you have difficulting understanding or executing any of these commands.

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

To anyone having problems, I've corrected three potential sources of them in my first post. They are as follows:

1. You need to have rootsh installed or "sudo gainroot" won't work.

2. You need to be user when echoing the alias to your /home/user/.profile file, or root will own the file (which is bad!)

You can test this using:

If you see "root" there at all then you need to change this to "user" with the following command.

3. The "code" tags on this forum seem to introduce line breaks depending on your screen resolution and size! I think that this is what has caused most of the problems (and this would explain why some people are having problems and others aren't).

The "echo ..." command needs to all be on one line. If this is not the case you need to edit the /home/user/.profile file and make sure it is. If this is the only alias you have, then the easiest way would be to delete the file and then redo the command making sure there are no line breaks, i.e.

It seems that pasting the echo command outside of the code tags would solve the new line problem, so here it is:

echo 'alias iplayer="iplayer-dl -d /home/user/MyDocs/.videos"' >> /home/user/.profile

If you do have other aliases your best option would be to use a text editor to edit the file instead.

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Just a small word of warning if you are enabling Extras-dev repository to get rootsh or any other programme make sure you disable it afterwards before issuing
apt-get update
Saves a lot of heart ache.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Hi Casper,

I'm pretty sure rootsh is in Extras, not Extras-devel. At least according to the wiki it is.

It's good advice to bear in mind for extras-devel anyway, though we don't want to spook people into disabling Extras by mistake!

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Hi Jan
Thanks for all of your excellent help thus far. When I try that command it doesn't find iplayer-dl.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Guys....
I know you might be frustrated at not getting this to work but remember, people like Jan and Kaspernj are giving their precious time to help us out and very often are helping late at night. I had a reply from Jan last night that was about 1:00am ish in the morning so give these guys a break.

Unless otherwise specified the instructions and help that these guys give are are not 100% complete and error free as they are not paid support and are often responding to our questions amidst doing their own work.

Give them a break they are doing a great job and I for one value their assistance.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Thanks c-b. Can you post the exact error message?

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

hi jan

when i try to install it tells me it's already there...

/home/user # apt-get install iplayer-dl
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
iplayer-dl is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
/home/user #

then when i try
/home/user # /opt/ruby/bin/iplayer-dl
/bin/sh: /opt/ruby/bin/iplayer-dl: not found
/home/user #

i get a not found

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Thanks Jan for your informative post. When I run the echo, I am running it as a user, not as root because it says:

When I run: ~ $ cat /home/user/.profile, I get this:

When I run:

and then run cat /home/user/.profile, I get this...

I know your post was trying to help but I think I am more confused now than ever. Is it possible to erase everything I've done and start over?

Your newly edited instructions are still unclear to newbies e.g You didn't mention on first page how to run as user. I think I will sit back and be patient.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

@Gohan
As user

Then when it opens copy this into it

Ensure that they are on different lines.
Then press

Then try

The Esc key is to be pressed twice it is on the screen at the bottom.When you press it twice you will notice the curser goes to the bottom left of the screen. Hope this helps.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Gohan, this isn't responding with who you are running as -- it's listing the permissions on the file.

To find out what user the computer thinks you are operating as, use the command "id".

To make it more obvious as you're learning, here is a small exercise:

1. Start a new xterminal window from the one you have running by selecting "New" from its menus at the top of the screen
2. in that new window type "id" and hit return
3. Do #1 again
4. In this new xterm, type "sudo gainroot" followed by "id". The results should be different
5. Use the task switching of maemo to switch between these windows. Note that the you're now effectively logged in as multiple users.
6. Now that you've seen this, exit all xterms by typing "exit", and start again. Having multiple xterms logged in as different users can be handy, but when you're getting started it's just too confusing on a small screen device like the N900.
7. Start up the xterm again, fight the iplayer battle some more.

When you've won on the iplayer front, you'll also have won on the "learning the command line" front. :-)

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

What do you mean as user? I don't no if I am user or not now as cat /home/user/.profile no longer works. I did what you said, but I am so confused with all these commands. when what opens? is a new app suppose to pop up? There are only a few commands on the first page but I have over 10 written down... so confusing. Pressing esc esc doesn't bring the cursor down to the bottom left, cursor still remains at the top for me... I just want to start over. I am very stressed out lol

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Hi c-b,

First, make sure that you're not suffering from any of the potential problems i mention a few posts up.

Then try this:

And post the results here.

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

hi jan
I get this when uninstalling

Removing iplayer-dl ...
dpkg - warning: while removing iplayer-dl, directory `/opt/ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8' not empty so not removed.
dpkg - warning: while removing iplayer-dl, directory `/opt/ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby' not empty so not removed.
dpkg - warning: while removing iplayer-dl, directory `/opt/ruby/lib/ruby' not empty so not removed.
dpkg - warning: while removing iplayer-dl, directory `/opt/ruby/lib' not empty so not removed.
dpkg - warning: while removing iplayer-dl, directory `/opt/ruby' not empty so not removed.
/home/user #

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Typing ID shows uid=29999(user) gid=29999(users) which is meaningless to me. I am frustrated because there are just a few steps at the start of this thread, then a few more steps added after and now I have a dozen of things to run and I am so confused. I just want to start fresh and follow basic instructions in bullet point or list form, not going back and forth over pages of this thread, very hard work, especially on an n900 (my main PC is down)

If I have to wait for clear instructions, I will, that's no problem.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

This is all perfect!

This all expected behavour. You removed the file with "rm". Your second command just echoed the alias to the screen, you need the extra ">> /home/user/.profile" to actually create the file.

You are always user until you run "sudo gainroot". Then you're root until you type "exit" or close the terminal. As a quick reminder, if the end of the prompt is a $, you're user. If it's a # you're root.

There's only so much detail on linux fundamentals that every how-to can contain without becoming excessively long. However, there's nothing you need to undo. You're basically finished. Redo the echo command (including the ">>" bit), start a new terminal and give "iplayer URL" a try.

Cheers,
Jan

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

You may want to have a look at these guides. A lot of it is usefull for getting around in the terminal.
Tuxfiles

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Jan, here is how I read your first page instructions...

1) Add repository to catalogue then exit

2) Open xTerminal and paste in this:

sudo gainroot
apt-get update
apt-get install iplayer-dl
echo 'alias iplayer="iplayer-dl -d /home/user/MyDocs/.videos"' >> /home/user/.profile

3) Exit xTerminal, reopen and type:

iplayer URL

Didn't you or someone here say you should run the echo part as user and not root? If so, your instructions on page 1 are wrong as you said run the 3 commands and as an extra, run a 4th command (the echo) THEN exit xTerminal.

That aside I get this:

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Guys, Iv'e got it.

I had Ruby installed from App Manager as well. I uninstalled that and reinstalled iplayer and it works fine. Big thanks to everyone. Big thanks to Big Jan.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Gohan:
What happens when you type just iplayer in xterminal?

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

@gohan
That is correct. The coding that you have pasted is just the repositories updating. It does not matter if all of them do not update as there is a problem with some of them at the moment. Just leave it till it gets to 100% and the curser comes back. All the commands you have written are correct so it should install.

EDIT
It looks as though its ignoring Kaspernj repository. Are you sure its not disabled. Go into application manager then catalogues. Click on kaspernj repository and make sure disabled is not checked.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

When I run:

sudo gainroot
apt-get update
apt-get install iplayer-dl
echo 'alias iplayer="iplayer-dl -d /home/user/MyDocs/.videos"' >> /home/user/.profile

it starts timing out around 87 percent and the files at the end fail.

Now it says reading and building not found....

EDIT, the Kaspernj repository is not disabled, I just checked. This is all a giant headache, I am sorry

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

You arn't typing all the commands in together are you? do them one at a time pressing enter in between. We will get there in the end :-)

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Yes, I was... that was the impression I got when I read the instructions.... wait there, i will type the 4 commands one at a time, pressing enter after each

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Thats where its going wrong :-) hope it goes through ok.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

YES, actually downloading an iplayer video file now, it will be going to home/user/MyDocs/.which is outside my 2GB partition but what if I exit out of xTerminal and download another file later? is it just iplayer URL again or must I type in that echo command line before hand?

thanks so much all. Sorry Jan about calling your simplified instructions rubbish but I still stand by what I said HOWEVER your recent edits have been good but please may I suggest you make clear that the 4 commands be executed one at a time? To prevent idiots like me trying to run all commands at once. You grouped 3 commands together which was why I thought they must be executed together in one go.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Just type in iplayer then URL. Glad its sorted.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

I think Jan explained the echo line to me in an earlier post, I will read.

I have a problem.... the video stops downloading at 98.3 percentage and when I attempt to play the video file, it gives me a playback error. Why is this?

I will try download again.

EDIT: Re-downloaded and works now! I am sooooo pleased.... thanks all.

Question: Can I substitute an iplayer URL for a URL from 4oD, ITV Player or FIVE player??

EDIT 2: Just tried 4oD URL:

bah, I had to try though....

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

try this one
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._the_Elements/

anything ive tried to download anyway has froze in the last couple of percents

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Not sure if this is a fault with my connection but often downloading a file would stop or timeout randomly (usually around 90%) I can resume the download and carry on from where it left off but almost always this results in a corrupt file that will cut off during playback. Out of 20 attempts of downloading 5 different files, only 2 successfully downloaded and played fully but this took multiple download attempts.

When a file only playback partially, I have to delete it and re-download it but as I just said above, the download may timeout or the file may again have a different playback issue. Anwarboy11 is having the same problem.

I always get the file working 100% at the end but it's very annoying having to download the same file 5 or 6 times.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Hmmm it's interesting reading these, as so far not one download has failed (Except one time i tried on 3g - and it hit 94% and failed) - all the rest on wifi have had no problems...

could be quite a few variables causing the problems though :(

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

AAARRGGHHHH!!! It's no longer working.... I added (maemo extras-devel) and it found lots of updates including rootsh so I updated and now xterminal says:

iplayer-dl: not found

I tried reading back the last few pages to see if I can get it working but without anyluck. I just read a message on a previous page warning about what I just done:

... when I type in:

cat /home/user/.profile

it says:

but typing iplayer in says not found. I re-ran the 4 commands:

2 versions of Ruby are listed in app manager but I cannot uninstall the newest version without removing the old one first and it says the older version is dependent on iplayer-dl(0.01). What do I do? I managed to download 7 BBC videos before this happened.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

I am not the most knowledgeable on this but I removed the two ruby installs from app manager and just enabled kaspernj's repository.

I think I just went through Jan's information then and it worked.

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

This worked for me too! thanks :D

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

Thanks guyx, followed instructions and installed perfectly first time.
I tried downloading a few videos and all failed over 3G on Orange UK. switched to wifi and all worked great!

cheers

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

It won't let me remove Ruby though for reasons I gave in my last message... what a pain!

Re: iPlayer working on the N900
 

I'm using this now,
I think it is exactly the same thing as what we are accessing on the n900, but i find it much much faster to use this then transfer to the phone.
http://po-ru.com/projects/iplayer-downloader/