Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Linux4One - Adding Custom Launchers

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At first it wasn't obvious to me how to add icons for custom applications (ones that don't automatically install their own launchers) to the excellent Linux4One launcher interface on my Acer Aspire One.

Basically, the launcher uses the underlying main application menu in Ubuntu to populate itself so all you have to do is add your custom launchers to the main menu to have them display in the launcher.

You can do this by clicking on 'Preferences' in the main application category menu on the left hand side of the Linux4One launcher and click the 'Main Menu' icon which will give you a window where you can easily add the required information to launch your custom application.

Pictured below is a screenshot of my updated Favourites pane with an added icon for Slingplayer which runs pretty well under Wine.

Custom Launcher Icon Linux4One

Howto: Install Slingplayer on Acer Aspire One Running Linux4One

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slingplayer on linux4one
It struck me that it would be really great to be able to use my Slingbox from my Acer Aspire One when on the road. Slingplayer on Linux has been covered quite comprehensively in other places at this stage but I just wanted to let those interested know that it runs without any real issue on the Acer Aspire One 8GB running Linux4One under the Windows emulation software Wine.

Note: In the commands below you should replace [user] with your own username.

Here are the steps I took.

1. If you don't already have it, install Wine.
sudo yum install wine
2. Run winecfg to create your Wine environment
winecfg
4. Close the Wine configuration window - we will return to customise it later.

5. Download Slingplayer from http://www.slingmedia.com and save it to your desktop. Thanks to Jeff (see the comments below) for pointing out that there are as yet unresolved issues with installing version 2.0 so for the time being I suggest doing what I did and choose 'Ireland' as your country on the Slingmedia download site - the default version for download here is still 1.5.

6. Download the dependencies Slingplayer requires to run under Wine from here and here and extract the files to a folder on your desktop.

7. Using your Nautilus file manager open the folder you created in the previous step and copy all the Dll files and paste them in your /home/user/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32 folder choosing to overwrite system files.

8. While still in the system32 folder choose the Terminal option from the File menu in your file manager and issue the following command to register the dll files you just added.
wine regsvr32.exe msxml3.dll qcap.dll quartz.dll
Leave your terminal window open. We will use it again in a minute.

9. Open the Wine configuration window again as you did in step 2 and click on the Libraries tab.and add the following overrides. gdiplus.dll, msxml3.dl quartz.dll. Select gdiplus.dll, click edit and set it to native only. Do the same for msxml3.dll. Click 'Apply' at the bottom of the winecfg window.

10. Click on the Audio tab at the top of the Wine Configuration winodow and select to use the ALSA driver only. Set the Hardware Acceleration option to Emulation, the Default Sample Rate to 22050 and the Default Bits per Sample to 8. Check the Driver Emulation checkbox. Click apply

11. Click the Graphics tab and check the following boxes only. Allow the window manager to decorate the window, Allow the windows manager to control the windows and Enable a virtual desktop. Enter 1024 and 760 in the Desktop size boxes. In the Vertex shader support options choose Hardware and check the box for Allow pixel shader (if supported by hardware).. Click OK to exit winecfg.

12. Now we can install Slingplayer. Go back to your terminal window and change your working directory to your desktop with
cd /home/[user]/Desktop
Then issue the following command to launch the installer.
wine slingplayerinstallerfile.exe
where slingplayerinstallerfile.exe is the name of the setup file you downloaded from http://www.slingmedia.com. Go through the installation wizard just as you would in Windows and when the installer asks you to install Wiindows Media 9 conponents, do so. Complete the installation. When the installation completes it will ask you to restart Windows. Choose to do so. Slingplayer should eventually launch but if it doesn't after a few minutes, close the installer window and launch Slingplayer using the following command from Terminal.
wine /home/[user]/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Sling\ Media/SlingPlayer/SlingPlayer.exe
13. All going well Slingplayer should launch and locate your Slingbox which you can add but before viewing you need to click on the Player menu and then choose Preferences and ensure the 2 VMR9 checkboxes are checked.

14. You may now click the Play button and start streaming. I got a notice informing me that I needed to update the firmware in my Slingbox (which was a bit odd because it ran fine under my Windows installation of Slingplayer moments earlier) and finding that I could not continue streaming without doing so, I took a chance and did without issue.

15. One final optional step enables you to add a custom shortcut to launch Slingplayer to your main menu and consequently to the launcher.

Happy viewing.