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geoSlack
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8 Posts

Posted - 04/26/2005 :  5:17:51 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Does the neuros really work on Linux? If so can anyone help me start to untangle my problems?

I am running Slackware 10.0 with a custom compiled 2.6.11 kernel. usb-storage support is included in the kernel and I normally have no trouble mounting and using usb mass storage devices - even the ipod shuffle with it's proprietary database system.

I can sometimes mount the neuros, but only as root. I have tried sorune, positron and NMDB, and I have managed once early in my attempts to write the first few seconds of a couple of mp3's to the neuros. But otherwise it hangs on synchronizing, or can't be mounted, or just doesn't respod to button pushes. Most recently I managed to get NMDB to rewrite the database and - I thought - load a few songs. But when I tried to play them there was nothing on the actual device. I've tried re-formatting with 1-5-play. And remounting with various options. But I just can't get the seemingly simple routine of mounting, adding songs and synchronizing to work.

Is there anything I need to have in my kernel configuration in order to get this thing to work??

I've already been through one DOA unit - though I have to say the customer support did get me a replacement quickly, and don't want to have to return this one too. :(

-geo

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noiz
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Posted - 04/26/2005 :  9:42:12 PM  Show Profile  Visit noiz's Homepage  Send noiz an AOL message  Send noiz a Yahoo! Message  Reply with Quote
what is your /etc/fstab entry look like?
what does dmesg say when you plug in the unit?

-noiz

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geoSlack
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Posted - 04/26/2005 :  9:55:00 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi, Thanks for the reply.

my line in fstab: /dev/neuros /mnt/neuros vfat noauto,sync,users 0 0

the reason for the "/dev/neuros" is because I have a udev rule to create a symlink to /dev/neuros - that way I don't need to worry about what number the kernel assigns to the device.

But I have been typically most successful in mounting it when I comment out that line in fstab and type in a terminal:

mount -t vfat -o sync /dev/neuros /mnt/neuros

I know the kernel is seeing it when "tail -f /var/log/messages" reads:

Apr 26 18:04:10 slack kernel: usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
Apr 26 18:04:11 slack usb.agent[3757]: ... no modules for USB product 451/5409/1
Apr 26 18:04:11 slack kernel: scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: Vendor: NEUROS Model: dig. audio comp. Rev: 1.00
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack scsi.agent[3797]: how to add device type= at /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/host3/target3:0:0/3:0:0:0 ??
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: SCSI device sda: 507552 512-byte hdwr sectors (260 MB)
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: sda: assuming Write Enabled
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: SCSI device sda: 507552 512-byte hdwr sectors (260 MB)
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: sda: assuming Write Enabled
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: sda: sda1
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack kernel: Attached scsi generic sg0 at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 0, type 0
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack udev[3825]: configured rule in '/etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules' at line 12 applied, added symlink 'neuros'
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack udev[3825]: configured rule in '/etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules' at line 12 applied, 'sda1' becomes '%k'
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack udev[3825]: creating device node '/dev/sda1'
Apr 26 18:04:16 slack udev[3841]: creating device node '/dev/sg0'
Apr 26 18:04:17 slack udev[3817]: configured rule in '/etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules' at line 12 applied, added symlink 'neuros'
Apr 26 18:04:17 slack udev[3817]: configured rule in '/etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules' at line 12 applied, 'sda' becomes '%k'
Apr 26 18:04:17 slack udev[3817]: creating device node '/dev/sda'


Maybe the "no modules for USB product" line is a clue??


-geoSlack

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Osiris
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3 Posts

Posted - 04/27/2005 :  08:38:00 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Howdy,

I have no problems getting the neuros to mount in Linux - using Slackware 10.1, but 10.0 also works.

As a suggestion you could try a couple of things...add the rw option to fstab, and have you tried using /dev/sda1 as the device instead of /dev/neuros? I know you have a rule in there, but you never know...!

Osiris.

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geoSlack
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  09:26:44 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Osiris,
Thx for the suggestions. I tried them and can mount the neuros without a problem (as /dev/neuros or /dev/sda1), but then none of the programs (sorune, positron or NDBM) can find the neuros. Looking at the files in the neuros I see another clue - they are all shortened to 8 characters in the M$ DOS way with tildes to shorten the names. After previous reformats and attempts at synchronization they were all in capitals. Is this a problem with the way VFAT file systems are recognized by Linux??

-geoSlack

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Sean Starkey
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  11:25:24 AM  Show Profile  Send Sean Starkey an AOL message  Send Sean Starkey an ICQ Message  Click to see Sean Starkey's MSN Messenger address  Send Sean Starkey a Yahoo! Message  Reply with Quote
Make sure you have mounted as vfat and not msdos.

What does your fstab entry say?


Sean Starkey / Neuros Database Manipulator (NDBM) - http://neurosdbm.sourceforge.net / Open Source Neuros Firmware - http://neuros-firmware.sourceforge.net

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geoSlack
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  11:55:35 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I did mount as vfat, fstab reads:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/neuros vfat rw,noauto,sync 0 0

-geoSlack


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geoSlack
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  12:14:04 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Well, I spoke a little too soon. Even though that was my fstab entry it was still being mounted as msdos. I could only get it mounted as vfat by spelling it out in the mount command:

mount -t vfat -o sync /dev/sda1 /mnt/neuros

So I opened up sorune, it said that the databas needed to be rebuilt, so I did that successfully and tried to add a small mp3 file. OK. When I go to "synch" it maxes out my cpu and hangs for at least 5 minutes - with the nueros screen saying "synchronizing do not disconnect."

Eventually I get:
Error: Could not create directory /mnt/neuros/woid_db/audio: No such file or directory
Error: Could not create directory /mnt/neuros/woid_db/failedhisi: No such file or directory
Error: Could not create sorune directory.

The problem is that those databases exist but are spelled in all caps, and I guess sorune can't find them.

Unfortunealy this is not progress, since this is the same exact problem I had when I first got it to this stage three days agi. I am getting close to returning the thing and asking for my money back. It shouldn't be this hard to use. :(

Thanks for everyone's help though, and if someone can suggest other things to try I will gladly try them.

Cheers,
geoSlack

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Sean Starkey
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  1:27:04 PM  Show Profile  Send Sean Starkey an AOL message  Send Sean Starkey an ICQ Message  Click to see Sean Starkey's MSN Messenger address  Send Sean Starkey a Yahoo! Message  Reply with Quote
Do a rm -rf /mnt/neuros/woid_db and do a rebuild.

See if this helps things.



Sean Starkey / Neuros Database Manipulator (NDBM) - http://neurosdbm.sourceforge.net / Open Source Neuros Firmware - http://neuros-firmware.sourceforge.net

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geoSlack
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  1:41:10 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Nope.

I did as you suggested and on rebuilding the woid_db was lower case, but adding a song now results in the first error message from above:

Error: Could not create directory /mnt/neuros/woid_db/audio: No such file or directory
Error: Could not create sorune directory

After trying to synch when I exit sorune ls /mnt/neuros returns nothing....

WOID_SYNCH is also upper case should I rm -rf that one too?

Thanks,
geoSlack

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Sean Starkey
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  2:05:05 PM  Show Profile  Send Sean Starkey an AOL message  Send Sean Starkey an ICQ Message  Click to see Sean Starkey's MSN Messenger address  Send Sean Starkey a Yahoo! Message  Reply with Quote
I don't know much about Sorune. I can't help you there.


Sean Starkey / Neuros Database Manipulator (NDBM) - http://neurosdbm.sourceforge.net / Open Source Neuros Firmware - http://neuros-firmware.sourceforge.net

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darren
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  8:03:32 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Something to try: mount -t vfat -o sync,umask=0 /dev/sda1 /mnt/neuros

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geoSlack
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Posted - 04/27/2005 :  8:31:10 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Darren,
thx for the suggestion. I can definitely mount it that way and I even manage to get NMDB to see the device, but I still always get stuck on synchronizing. Either files not found, or input/output errors. All I have yet managed to do is to get 10 seconds of a song into the device.
-geoSlack

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darren
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62 Posts

Posted - 04/27/2005 :  9:23:50 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'm not familiar with Slack, but it could be a driver problem. You might want to try the IRC channel (irc.sorune.com) and see if anyone can help. Unknown_lamer is pretty good at diagnosing Linux problems.

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Osiris
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Posted - 04/28/2005 :  08:33:44 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
GeoSlack,

From what I can see your system is trying to use msdos instead of vfat for some reason.

Change your /etc/fstab for the neuros to this...

/dev/sda1 /mnt/neuros vfat user,noauto,rw 0 0

Then do the usual, mount /mnt/neuros (or /dev/sda1) and run Sorune.

This is my entry and works with my Neuros under Slackware & I have successfully used it to transfer with Sorune as well.

Osiris.

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geoSlack
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Posted - 04/28/2005 :  11:16:37 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Osiris,
I appreciate your suggestion, but as you can see from an earlier post, mounting as vfat is not a problem for me as long as I don't rely on fstab to do it. When I have the exact same entry as you have in your fstab in mine the machine still mounts it as msdos. I can only get it to really mount as vfat by entering the command:

mount -t vfat -o sync,rw /dev/sda1 /mnt/neuros

I can at this point mount the thing and even have a look at what files are in there with a file manager. Once the device is mounted however, I hit a wall. I can rebuild the database from sorune or from NDBM and add songs to the list. But when I try to synch, my cpu goes ape**** and it takes at least five minutes before the software gives up trying to get its point across to the neuros and I get all kinds of errors. Like, file not found, unable to write, blah, blah blah. To avoid permissions issues I am trying all of this stuff as root - mounting as root, running sorune as root, etc. Probably a bad idea from a linux standpoint, but I am trying to get this thing to work.

I even tried, unsucessfully, to connect it to my winxp box at work. When I run NSM it can't even find the device.

Regards,
-geoSlack

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blata
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Posted - 05/25/2005 :  10:49:49 PM  Show Profile  Visit blata's Homepage  Reply with Quote
So has there been a resilution to this problem. I have a neuros 256 and am experiancing vertualy the same problme on Fedora 2.6.11.

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gpittman(at)iglou.com
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Posted - 05/27/2005 :  7:50:11 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'm using Fedora 3, and I think there is some funkiness with udev and the handling of USB connections.

I have found with the Neuros and with memory sticks you need to edit fstab yourself to give it the settings you want, to make sure you have somewhere to mount to.

The last time I hooked up my Neuros, it wouldn't synch right, at least according to the Neuros screen. Nonetheless, I could mount it and use positron without problem. After I umounted, it still wouldn't settle down, so I had to do a hard shutdown on the Neuros (UP + Play).

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blata
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Posted - 05/30/2005 :  10:03:36 PM  Show Profile  Visit blata's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I also am using fedora 3 and the only way I can get my neuros working agian after pluging it into my server is to reset it (up + power). but since it refues to sync any way I'm not sure what it matters. I will try a hardcoded fstab entry and stop udev/hal from touching it and see if that gets me anyware.

Ipsa scientia potestas est

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Adam9
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Posted - 01/13/2006 :  11:11:41 PM  Show Profile  Send Adam9 an AOL message  Reply with Quote
It's an old topic, but I was also plagued with the same issue. I'm on Gentoo with kernel 2.6.13-gentoo-r5. I have an ancient Neuros 128mb (no HD). First of its kind. I love my Neuros. Anyway, here's how I got it to work:

1. Use an external USB hub
2. Use this mount syntax:
mount -t vfat -o sync /dev/sda1 /mnt/neuro

sda1 may be different for you. I put that info in my fstab and now my Neuros works great

Also, a new version of Sorune is out, and it's pretty good:
http://development.sorune.com/

Enjoy!

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