Quick start for Rivendell on debian/ubuntu

What is the simplest Rivendell setup ? You need :

 any recent computer

 any sound card supported by alsa
 in our case, a debian or ubuntu
 something like gnome and kde
 five minutes

Objective : a first sound in Rivendell :

Step 1 : Install mysql-server-5.0

Rivendell uses mysql, you need a mysql server :

apt-get install mysql-server-5.0

Choose a mysql root password .. and don’t forget it. It will be needed in few minutes.

Step 2 : Install the Rivendell package for your distribution

 Add debian.tryphon.org to your sources.list

 Don’t forget apt-get update
 Install package : apt-get install rivendell
 Important : skip package configuration proposed by the package

Step 3 : Setup your user

To test easily Rivendell, use your regular user account. For that, you need to be a member
of group rivendell :
sudo adduser alban rivendell

This group needs to use realtime threads. Edit /etc/security/limits.conf and add :

@rivendell - rtprio 99
@rivendell - memlock 250000
@rivendell - nice -10

You need to logout and restart a new Gnome/KDE session to make effective these changes

Step 4 : Setup alsa

Edit (or create) /etc/asound.conf with :

pcm.rd0 {
type hw
card 0
}
ctl.rd0 {
type hw
card 0
}

Rivendell uses alsa card rd0 (rd1, ..) when available.

Step 5 : Setup rivendell

Create a file /etc/rd.conf with :

[Identity]
AudioOwner=alban ; < - your login
AudioGroup=rivendell

[mySQL]
Hostname=localhost
Loginname=rduser
Password=letmein
Database=Rivendell
Driver=QMYSQL3

[Logs]
Facility=Syslog

[Alsa]
PeriodQuantity=4
PeriodSize=1024

[Tuning]
UseRealtime=Yes
RealtimePriority=9

[Format]
SampleRate=44100
Channels=2

Setup 6 : Initialize Rivendell

Start rdadmin.

As database doesn’t exist, it will ask the login for mysql : use root and the root mysql
password :

After this success message :

rdadmin should started “normally” and ask you to login (with a rivendell user) :
The default rivendell administrator user has the login admin and no password.

If rdadmin doesn’t start as expected, something goes wrong. A small visit on rivendell irc
channel is certainly the best solution.

Setup 7 : Start rdairplay for a first sound

 Click on “Main Log” button (on bottom right)

 Click on Add button (on bottom left) to add a first Cart in this empty Log
 Double click on the first (and single) Cart “Test tune” :

 Click on the yellow “Where” button of the first Log entry :

 The Log is no longer empty. Click on green “Start” :

  Your first sound in Rivendell

This is not a production environment. But you can start your first tests with a such setup.

Welcome in the Rivendell user community