Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Howto: Install Slingplayer on Acer Aspire One Running Linux4One

Posted by Joe at 10:55 AM

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.
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8 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 18, 2009 at 8:47 PM

    Thanks for the excellent instructions!

    However, I think the newest version of the slingbox player (2.x) will fail -- when you try and install, it says XP service pack 2 is required. I was able to hunt down the 1.5 version from http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/SlingPlayer-Download-72599.html, and it installed properly. When I did run it then, however, it complained about missing gdiplus.dll, which I hunted down on Google. Now, everything works great!! Thanks for taking the time to document.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoeMarch 18, 2009 at 10:30 PM

    Thanks for the feedback. Actually, I had forgotten about the gdiplus.dll issue - I also ran into it - it is easy enough to find a copy of it online. It also comes with the free MS Office viewers so you could install one of those under Wine first if you want to stay as legit as possible with this. I will update the post to mention the version issue though I believe there may be a method of patching which solves it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JoeMarch 18, 2009 at 10:34 PM

    Actually looking back, 1.5 was the default version I was offered for download - maybe because I am from Ireland and followed that path on the Slingmedia site.

    ReplyDelete
  4. blackwatersideApril 26, 2009 at 12:38 PM

    Fantastic! Thanks *so* much for this!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownJune 23, 2009 at 2:27 AM

    For slingplayer 1.5 downloads, follow the support link for Windows 2000, v1.5 of the player can be downloaded there...

    http://support.slingmedia.com/get/KB-005669.html

    hope this helps

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  6. JoeAugust 27, 2009 at 11:22 AM

    Thanks for that Tim, I'm sure the setup app for this version will get more difficult to get a hold of as time progresses.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownOctober 5, 2009 at 4:15 AM

    I echo the big thanks for the excellent instructions!

    I was unable to get SlingPlayer running with Win4Lin nor VirtualBox, and I was surprised to find that Wine could do it.

    I'm running it on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty). So, I used `synaptic` instead of `yum`. Only Wine 1.0.1 is supported currently with Ubuntu, but it's running SlingPlayer fine.

    Just a few corrections: in the command line "regsrv32.exe" should be "regsvr32.exe". Also, "VRM" should be "VMR".

    Once again, big thanks, you made my day!

    ReplyDelete
  8. JoeOctober 5, 2009 at 10:45 AM

    Thanks Cosmo,

    Typos corrected :)

    ReplyDelete

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