login in fo an Illiterate

[Fischer]

Hi All,


I'm a complete novice at computers. I can manage email and finding info and sites and I can type OK and that's about it. I had a music PC just built and had the builders install Vortexbox. Now it's home and I'm stumped. I couldn't even get a KVM switch to work and gave up, but then I remembered that I had a laptop. So now I have both the new music PC and my laptop up and running and I'm stumped. So if anyone could walk me through this I'd be much appreciated.


I will be glad to call you via phone or do this over my email, whichever works out best for you.




Right now I have a screen on the music pc that says


vortexbox login:




What next?


My email is yacantbuycool@comcast.net, and I'll check back frequently for the next hour, or later on tonight after 6pm pacific coast time.




Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

[andrew]

Lets start with what you want to do with your VortexBox. You must of had an idea of what you wanted it for. Do you have a SqueezeBox or some other music player?

[Fischer]

Yes, I have a Logitech Transporter and a squeezebox. I want to get rid of all my cds and place them in storage. I have a 1 TB hard drive in the music pc and a 1 TB external for backup.

[Fischer]

It's now 4:15 pacific time US. Anyone advise? Thanks

[Fischer]

So far I've opened up my pc and it says




for web access to you VortexBox web GUI use this URL


http://192.168.0.105


vortexbox login:




and then it has the little underscore flashing.--what goes next?

[andrew]

Read documentation


http://vortexbox.org/documentation/ok-i-installed-it-now-what/


next


1. Put a music CD in the drive


2. connect the transporter to your network


3. play the music from the VortexBox on your transporter




if you want to make playlists etc using the SC web interface type http://192.168.0.105 (http://192.168.0.105/) into your web browser

[Fischer]

Thanks Andrew




I have a black screen that says




Welcome to VortexBox


For web access to you VortexBox web GUI use this URL


http://192.168.0.105


vortexbox login:




I've tried typing in my user name and password, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Like I said, I don't know jack about computers.




I'm not using windows, I just had the builder load vortexBox without any other operating system.

[Fischer]

So I tried to put in a cd and the black screen now reads


vortexbox login: end-request: I/O error, dev sr0 , sector 0


Buffer i/O error on device sr0, logical block 0


repeats to block 9 and then it


sr 2:0:0"0 (sr0) unaligned transfer


etc


etc


etc


end-request:I/O error, dev sr0, sector 0

[andrew]

Did it eject the disk when it was done?

[Fischer]

I didn't load the disk. I had the builders install the vortexbox.




Should I try and reload?

[Fischer]

The cd that I tried to burn did not eject by itself. I got the error report that was listed in the previous post.




I was wondering if I should just insert the vortexbox cd and start all over? I don't know if they (the builder) inserted a password or user or anything actually.

[Fischer]

Ok. I just turned the music pc back on. It says




Welcome to Vortexbox


For web access to you Vortexbox web DUI use this URL


http://192.168.0.105


vortexbox login:




I don't know what the login is?


I don't know what the password is. How do you set it up.




So this is why I'm wondering if I should just put the VB cd in the pc and start over using the guide?

[Fischer]

This is my system








Processors
2


Model
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+


CPU Speed
2.71 GHz


Cache Size
512.00 KB


System Bogomips
10833.53


PCI Devices




-
Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RS780 Azalia controller


-
Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia


-
Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller


-
FireWire : JMicron Technologies, Inc. Device 2380


-
Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map


-
Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller


-
Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration


-
Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control


-
Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge


-
IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 IDE Controller


-
ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller


-
PCI bridge: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 9602


-
PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge


-
(2x) PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge


-
SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [IDE mode]


-
SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller


-
(2x) USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller


-
(2x) USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller


-
(2x) USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI1 Controller


-
USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller


-
VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon HD 3200 Graphics






IDE Devices
none


SCSI Devices




-
ASUS DRW-2014L1T (CD-ROM)


-
ATA WDC WD10EACS-00D (Direct-Access)






USB Devices




-
(5x) Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub


-
(2x) Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


-
Microsoft Corp. Wireless Optical Mouse 3.0


-
Zippy Technology Corp. EL-610 Super Mini Electron luminescent Keyboard

[andrew]

yes I would recommend a reinstall. That way you will know the password. But once the system is working you shouldn't need to login to the console at all. You can manage the system from the web interface.


Just follow this doc to reinstall.


http://vortexbox.org/documentation/vortexbox-quick-install-guide/

[Fischer]

I got my son to reinstall it. It works very well. It's going to take me some time to learn the ropes, but after a few minutes it's pretty easy, and extremely fast.


A couple of questions for you.


This is a dedicated music pc. It has no other functions and only needs to be on when playing from my library. How should I turn it off?




I have the external hard drive attached via esata cord. Should the external hard drive be left on at all times that the music pc is on?




Should it be set to mirror or is ther another way that backing up files should be handled?


When I look at the monitor that is hooked up to the music pc right now, there is a whole bunch of error codes, but it works just fine. Is that normal or is it comparing my discs with others via the net?




Anyway, I'm very pleased wtih this and so was my son. We'll be working on it tomorrow and will advise you. I wish I was a little more adept at computers, but after having this set up I congratulate you on a fine product.




Thanks




Fischer

[andrew]

Glad you got it working.


The best way to turn it off is to type “poweroff” at the command prompt. You can also just power down the system. it should be fine.


For backups the best way is to attache the external drive to another computer and copy the files over the network.


You will see errors from time to time you can ignore most of them. The error you listed in your last post is caused by VortexBox trying to read the CD before it has spun up.

[MikeDC]

I have the VB Appliance and I was going to backup the music files by simply copying them to an external drive connected to my laptop. When I tested this, I found that if I deleted the file on the backup drive, it also deleted it on the VB Appliance.


Is this not a viable solution? Are the two drives somehow synched?

[andrew]

That should not happen. Drag and drop the files from //vortexbox/music/flac to your external drive. This will backu pyour files. //vortexbox/music/flac is read-only you can not delete the files from there.

[MikeDC]

Should I backup the files in the "files" directory or the "music" directory, or both?




THANK YOU!