How-to setup Firefly on a Synology disk station (powerpc)

[cstern]

The 207+ is based on another chip – Marvell mv5281.

To install FF on the 207+ you have to go this path:

http://www.synology.com/wiki/index.php/Compiled_programs_for_Marvell_mv5281_ARM-based_Synology_Products#Firefly.2FMt-daapd_by_Mike

Note the download link in the end of the article – you can get further help in the Synology forum on Marvell based boxes:

http://www.synology.com/enu/forum/viewforum.php?f=55

[Anonymous]

Maybe this link can help: http://www.synology.com/wiki/index.php/Compiled_programs_for_Power_PC_CPU_based_Synology_Products

Cheers, Martin

[Anonymous]

Thanks.

Is it possible to get one of You guys to make a to-do list for me (and others) on what files to install and how to install it. Im pretty new to this, so that would be a great help! TIA

/Rasmus

[Anonymous]

Rasmus, please follow the link posted – it’s a kind of todo-list!

You only need to know the type of your Diskstation (-> which CPU).

Cheers, Martin

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to post a huge thank you here to cstern for posting such clear and detailed instructions. Using them, I was able to get Firefly up and running on my Synology DS-106j quite easily.

I did find that the latest nightly build (1696) had some stability issues and crashed when accessing large playlists, so I went back to 1586, and it seems to be working fine now. (You can install an earlier version by adding the “-force-downgrade” argument to the ipkg install command noted at the beginning of this thread.)

[cstern]

Thanks for the kind words. I also had severe stability problems but they were resolved by disabling the automatic indexing (built-in function in the Syno) and by switching to sqlite3. Now it is running very stable.

Sydneyguy said:

What I did to get around the dreaded HUP problem was to rename /usr/syno/bin/synoindex to synoindex.old

It’s a heavy handed approach but it stopped the damned indexing and the HUP problems haven’t been seen since.

[Anonymous]

cstern wrote:

I also had severe stability problems but they were resolved by disabling the automatic indexing (built-in function in the Syno) and by switching to sqlite3. Now it is running very stable.

I disabled the indexing right away as you suggested in your recipe, and I’m using sqlite3. But I still am able to crash the server (in the latest nightly, 1696) with that big playlist; I’m pretty happy with the functionality in the earlier build (1586), though, even though I can’t load that playlist.

[TheDoctor77]

I too just wanted to thank cstern for this guide. I’ve got my DS207 running with this now and it did not take very long at all to do. Don’t think i would have installed Firefly without a guide like this.

Thanks again 🙂

[acc]

hi,

i am trying to install this on a dual hdd nas ,

but i get the following after doing ‘sh ds101-bootstarp etc.

creating tempory ipkg repository… success
installing DS101(g)-bootstrap package…./ipkg.sh: 1147: head: not found

Can anybody help please

Thanks

[mas]

Well I know it’s a bit off-topic and may come a bit late to those who read this, but I think that a hint should nevertheless be given. Maybe someone reads it in time.

Seeing that the price for Synologies 107+ or 207+ units (their only units that outrank a NSLU clearly) is over 200 EUR (245 EUR most vendors at geizhals.at) I have to say that in the meantime the Synologies are *clearly* overpriced.

You have to compare it to the following options:

1) NSLU, 65 EUR. Dirt cheap. Its of course slower than the newer DS107+/207+ or higher units from Synology. No discussion. But its less than a third (!) in price and it’s completely sufficient for running just mt-daapd. Installation requires one rather easy reflash to the hacked firmware but is straightforward and easy as is the install of mt-daapd. Its about the most researched platform for mt-daapd so theres a solution for almost any problem that can come up.

2) A Mini-ITX barebone. I can right now buy a barebone (thats motherboard, CPU, power and case ready assembled) for 185 EUR. Adding 20 EUR for 1 GB ram its 205 EUR for a system that also needs very little electricity, is passivley cooled with a Via C7 1GHz processor and is significantly faster than a Synology. But for less money.

Of course there remains one advantage for the Synology: They come out of the box with a nice software/OS packet. On a barebone you need to install it all on your own and on a NSLU you need to reflash at least once and then use ipkg to install. So for people that dont want to have any trouble or work at all the Synologies may be still a good choice.

But hardware-wise the Synologies seem to be quite a bit overpriced to me right now. Sure it is the sharp drop in prices for MiniITX compounds that makes em so sharply over price, but still, then Synology should lower their prices as well…

[Author]

Posts