Linux Mint 8 (Ubuntu Karmic) SABnzbd+ Install and Configuration Guide
Posted: December 13th, 2009, 9:24 pm
Edit 5/29/2010: I have done a major update and rewrite to my guide. It can now be found here: http://www.ainer.org/?p=698. I have also updated my old guide with a link to the new.
Cheers!
Edit 3/8/2010: I have done an incremental update to this guide. It is hosted at my website ainer.org the direct link is http://www.ainer.org/?p=94. I will also be posting my future guides to the above site.
Originally posted here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=37791.
A big thanks to JCFP for updating his PPA to 0.5 beta 3 (been waiting for this)!
Introduction
Welcome! This is my little (but long!) write up on how to install and configure SABnzbd+ 0.5.x (I pronounce this, likely incorrectly, as "sab-newzbin-plus") under Linux Mint 8.
This should work pretty well for Linux Mint 7 and probably for Linux Mint 9, changing the relevant repositories as necessary (for LM 7 use "jaunty" in place of "karmic" and for LM 9 use "lucid") and will also probably work for SABnzbd+ 0.4.x, but I strongly suggest you use 0.5.x instead.
For this tutorial I'll be sticking to the GUI as much as possible to make it easier for new GNU/Linux users. We'll only hop onto the terminal for one command and only then so we can open up a GUI text editor. However, if you know a quicker way to do any of the below steps via the CLI please improvise as you will.
Just as a bit of clarification about myself, I am by no means an expert in computers or GNU/Linux, and I am not affiliated with SABnzbd+ or Linux Mint. This is just an average user attempting to be of help to other users (and myself if I forget any of this in the future). With that said, I take no responsibility if things go awry while you follow my words below.
However, these are the exact steps I followed to setup SABnzbd+ 0.5.0 beta 3 on a fairly fresh Linux Mint 8 x86 and I experienced no problems.
I welcome any constructive critiques (on content or format) keeping in mind that this is GUI orientated as stated above.
Cheers and I hope this is helpful!
Tutorial:
Pre-Installation
While SABnzbd+ is in the official Linux Mint 8/Ubuntu Karmic repositories I strongly recommend adding the PPA by a fella name JCFP (this is the gentleman who got SABnzbd+ added to the official repository) as it is generally more up-to-date than the official repository and rock solid in my experience.
JCFP's PPA can be found at: https://launchpad.net/~jcfp/+archive/ppa. For Linux Mint 8 (Ubuntu Karmic) add the following to your Synaptic Package Manager repository list:
If you're unfamiliar with how to do this do the following from your desktop:
Installation
In the Quick search field type in sabnzbd and hit enter. This should bring up about half a dozen or so options in these find sabnzbdplus, right click and select Mark for Installation. This will also mark several recommended packages for installation, you should approve this when prompted.
Optional: If you wish you may also want to mark the sabnzbdplus-theme-mobile and/or the sabnzbdplus-theme-iphone packages but these packages are currently outside the scope of this tutorial (mainly as I do not use them).
Now, hit the Apply button and approve any actions and wait for the process to complete.
Okay, so we have everything installed, and we can close out of Synaptic Package Manager but we really want this to auto-run when the system starts and to have it shut down clean when we shut down the system (or I do and I'll assume you do as well) so we're not quite set yet.
To achieve this we need to do a little post-installation configuration, and for this bit we're going to pull up the terminal but only just for a moment.
(If you really do not want to have SABnzbd+ auto-run you can skip the next section and just type sabnzbdplus in a terminal window and you should be set. I do not recommend this and I will not offer any help on such setups)
Auto-run
From the desktop go to the LM Menu and under the System section click on Terminal. In the terminal copy and paste the following:
Now, hit enter and type in your user password if prompted and hit enter once more. This will open up gedit with a configuration file. In this file we need to add some information so the startup script will execute properly.
First find the section that says USER=. Now, immediately after the equal sign (no spaces) type in your exact user name just like so (using "adaemox" as an example username):
Now, we need to find the section that says HOST= and PORT=. For the host put in 0.0.0.0 and for the port put in 8888 (if you have other services running that will conflict with this port use something different!). When you're done it should look like this:
Now, click save at the top of the gedit window and reboot your system.
As your system reboots, take a breath and hope for the best, if everything works out we'll continue on to configuring the program.
However, if you run into any problems see the Troubleshooting section at the bottom, failing that check the SABnzbd+ wiki and forum (linked in the credits section towards the bottom), failing that shoot me a PM or respond below (but, again I'm just your average user, no super powers here).
Wizard (SABnzbd+ >0.5.x only)
When your system loads back up launch your browser. I recommend Firefox (or, what I use, Swiftfox and I sometimes have problems with Opera) and go to the following URL: http://localhost:8888. This should bring you to http://localhost:8888/wizard.
Run through the wizard choosing your preferred language (I use English, if you were wondering), your preferred interface (I recommend and will be assuming the default smpl for the rest of this tutorial). On step two I leave everything at their defaults, but if you're going to want to connect to SABnzbd+ from the internet you will likely want to enable HTTPS and setup a user name and password (as well as setup port forwarding on your router or firewall, but that's outside the scope of this tutorial).
On the server details page (step three) fill in the relevant information (if you don't have a server see this link for recommendations: http://www.newsgroupservers.net/usenet- ... server-faq). Once that's done hit the test button and you should be golden.
Step four, fill in your Newzbin (the original, and my preferred Usenet index site), or nzbmatrix (up-and-comer, preferred by some, no invitations needed) account information if you want to. I recommend not checking Automatically download bookmarked posts at this time. Especially if you will be changing the default download location.
SABnzbd+ will now restart, with any luck it you'll be presented with a few links to use to access the web ui. I recommend bookmarking at least one of these!
However, if you do not, or if lose the bookmark and cannot remember how to get back to the web ui http://localhost:8888 or https://localhost:9090 should get you there.
Configuration
I'll only hit on some key points here, and I strongly recommend you visit the wiki at http://wiki.sabnzbd.org/ and follow it as you go through all the configuration sections on your installation of SABnzbd+.
Some of these will be personal preferences, and others will be dependent on the hardware and configuration of the system you're using as well as what you'll be downloading.
After you finish each page remember to save, and it's probably best to restart SABnzbd+ (from the link on the left hand column) after you're all done.
General
I switch the Web Interface: from smpl - white to smpl - black here as the white kills my eyes.
I add 128M to the Article Cache Limit: as I have 4GB of system memory, and I prefer to use RAM as cache over the HDD. If you have less memory, you may consider using 70M or leaving this blank. See the wiki for more details.
I don't use .sfv files and I don't like to keep the .nzb files that often get downloaded when using index sites so I add both of these to the Cleanup List: like so:
Check the wiki and change whatever else you care to here, when you're done, hit save. If you changed the web interface restart SABnzbd+ so it'll take effect now.
Folders
I have a hard drive I use exclusively for downloading to (this reduces disc thrashing, and reduces the chance of write errors to my archival drives). I change Temporary Download Folder: and Completed Download Folder: to point to this drive instead of to the default paths.
You may want to do the same, or you may not, just depends on your setup, but be aware that wherever you point to may get filled up real quick like and will likely see a lot of disk activity (though SABnzbd+ 0.5.x should throttle this fairly well!).
With that said you may want to set Minimum Free Space for Temporary Download Folder: to about 1-2 times the biggest thing you might download (I generally use 10G or 20G) so that anything you download will either pause before it completes or it will be able to successfully extract once it finishes downloading.
Again, adjust anything else you may want to, save and move on to the next section.
Switches
I set Extra PAR2 Parameters: to -t0 though I don't think this has any effect under GNU/Linux (but it doesn't hurt anything either), see the wiki for more information.
And as above I set the IONice Parameters: to -c2 -n4 though also I don't know if this has any affect by default and I don't think it's necessary any longer (waiting for the wiki to be updated fully for 0.5.x before I change my ways).
I enable Sort by Age: to make sure the oldest posts get downloaded first and set Ignore Samples: to Delete after download as I don't use sample files but I don't want them to cause an otherwise unnecessary repair.
The rest I leave at their defaults, see the wiki, adjust as you see fit, save, and continue on (believe it or not we're over the hump here!).
Servers
Servers we can skip unless you need to add any backup servers or need to fix anything on your server that you may have entered wrong during the setup wizard.
Scheduling
RSS
Email
I don't use any of these, which is not to say they're not useful. Check them and the wiki and configure them to fit your needs if relevant.
Index Sites
Here we can now enable Automatically retrieve jobs from your bookmarks if we're signed up with Newzbin and are happy with our Folders configuration.
I leave the rest of these at their defaults. You know the drill, moving on.
Categories
I don't change anything on this page.
Sorting
I Enable sorting and renaming of episodes and then hit the 1x05 Season Folder button, as this is my preferred episode naming scheme. I then remove the show and season folders so that all I have in my Sort String: is this:
In the end my example looks like this:
I do this as I use TVRename to manage my television episode collection (I may do a guide for this program in the future).
I don't use any of the other features on this page.
Make sure to hit an easily missed save button at the very bottom one last time, and we're done!
If you want, restart SABnzbd+ now.
Closing
And there you have it, with any luck you should now have a fully installed and fully configured SABnzbd+ Usenet client. You're now ready to hop on your favorite index site to grab some nzb files (such as for the latest and greatest Linux Mint iso!), but anything other than the client configuration is way out side of the scope of this tutorial and is likely not proper on this site so please do not ask inappropriate questions here.
I may add screen shots in the future (depending on what feedback I get) and I will likely update this once 0.5.0 goes final and maybe once LM 9 hits the streets.
Cheers!
Credits
http://www.sabnzbd.org/ -- The source of this great Usenet client, and the wiki and forum from which I learned the groundwork to do this guide.
https://launchpad.net/~jcfp/+archive/ppa -- The PPA for JCFP the man who brought SABnzbd+ to the official Linux Mint/Ubuntu repositories and the maintainer of the great PPA which makes this installation so painless (trust me, without this it'd be a lot harder)!
http://linuxmint.com/ -- The easiest and neatest distro I've laid my hands on to date. Based on the breadth of Debian, and the sheer force that is Ubuntu, but with a great user orientated community and a whole slew of improvements that make it my choice in terms of out of the box ease of use, feature completeness, and general awesomeness.
Trouble-shooting
I had problems with connecting to SABnzbd+ when I didn't change the HOST and PORT. My logs didn't report any problems, but I simply could not get Swiftfox to connect to the web ui. Once I changed the host and port and rebooted everything went smooth from there on out.
If, after following all of my guide, you are unable to connect to the web ui open up the process manager and verify that sabnzbdplus is running. If it is not, check the logs (found in a hidden folder in your home directory) and see if it's complaining about anything. If it's a port conflict change the port as described under the Auto-run section and reboot and try again. Failing that, take your logs to the SABnzbd+ forum and seek help there.
If you are unsure of your username go the the LM Menu and type in user in the filter field. Click on Users and Groups and verify your login name (not your full name name!)
Edit History
1) Somehow managed to duplicate sections of the tutorial twice, everything was exactly the same so trimmed it and everything was set.
2) Edited for content, grammar, and spelling.
3) Added trouble-shooting section.
Cheers!
Edit 3/8/2010: I have done an incremental update to this guide. It is hosted at my website ainer.org the direct link is http://www.ainer.org/?p=94. I will also be posting my future guides to the above site.
Originally posted here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=37791.
A big thanks to JCFP for updating his PPA to 0.5 beta 3 (been waiting for this)!
Introduction
Welcome! This is my little (but long!) write up on how to install and configure SABnzbd+ 0.5.x (I pronounce this, likely incorrectly, as "sab-newzbin-plus") under Linux Mint 8.
This should work pretty well for Linux Mint 7 and probably for Linux Mint 9, changing the relevant repositories as necessary (for LM 7 use "jaunty" in place of "karmic" and for LM 9 use "lucid") and will also probably work for SABnzbd+ 0.4.x, but I strongly suggest you use 0.5.x instead.
For this tutorial I'll be sticking to the GUI as much as possible to make it easier for new GNU/Linux users. We'll only hop onto the terminal for one command and only then so we can open up a GUI text editor. However, if you know a quicker way to do any of the below steps via the CLI please improvise as you will.
Just as a bit of clarification about myself, I am by no means an expert in computers or GNU/Linux, and I am not affiliated with SABnzbd+ or Linux Mint. This is just an average user attempting to be of help to other users (and myself if I forget any of this in the future). With that said, I take no responsibility if things go awry while you follow my words below.
However, these are the exact steps I followed to setup SABnzbd+ 0.5.0 beta 3 on a fairly fresh Linux Mint 8 x86 and I experienced no problems.
I welcome any constructive critiques (on content or format) keeping in mind that this is GUI orientated as stated above.
Cheers and I hope this is helpful!
Tutorial:
Pre-Installation
While SABnzbd+ is in the official Linux Mint 8/Ubuntu Karmic repositories I strongly recommend adding the PPA by a fella name JCFP (this is the gentleman who got SABnzbd+ added to the official repository) as it is generally more up-to-date than the official repository and rock solid in my experience.
JCFP's PPA can be found at: https://launchpad.net/~jcfp/+archive/ppa. For Linux Mint 8 (Ubuntu Karmic) add the following to your Synaptic Package Manager repository list:
Code: Select all
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jcfp/ppa/ubuntu karmic mainCode: Select all
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/jcfp/ppa/ubuntu karmic mainOnce this is done close out of the Software Sources window and click on the Reload button to refresh your package index.Adaemox wrote:Go to your LM Menu and select Package Manager under the System menu. Put in your password if prompted and then in the Synaptic Package Manager window go to Settings and down to Repositories and then click on the Other Software tab. At the bottom of this tab click on the Add... button and add each line one at a time (you'll click add twice, the first time paste deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jcfp/ppa/ubuntu karmic main and the second paste deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/jcfp/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
Installation
In the Quick search field type in sabnzbd and hit enter. This should bring up about half a dozen or so options in these find sabnzbdplus, right click and select Mark for Installation. This will also mark several recommended packages for installation, you should approve this when prompted.
Optional: If you wish you may also want to mark the sabnzbdplus-theme-mobile and/or the sabnzbdplus-theme-iphone packages but these packages are currently outside the scope of this tutorial (mainly as I do not use them).
Now, hit the Apply button and approve any actions and wait for the process to complete.
Okay, so we have everything installed, and we can close out of Synaptic Package Manager but we really want this to auto-run when the system starts and to have it shut down clean when we shut down the system (or I do and I'll assume you do as well) so we're not quite set yet.
To achieve this we need to do a little post-installation configuration, and for this bit we're going to pull up the terminal but only just for a moment.
(If you really do not want to have SABnzbd+ auto-run you can skip the next section and just type sabnzbdplus in a terminal window and you should be set. I do not recommend this and I will not offer any help on such setups)
Auto-run
From the desktop go to the LM Menu and under the System section click on Terminal. In the terminal copy and paste the following:
Code: Select all
sudo gedit /etc/default/sabnzbdplusFirst find the section that says USER=. Now, immediately after the equal sign (no spaces) type in your exact user name just like so (using "adaemox" as an example username):
Code: Select all
# [required] user or uid of account to run the program as:
USER=adaemoxCode: Select all
# [optional] hostname/ip and port number to listen on:
HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=8888As your system reboots, take a breath and hope for the best, if everything works out we'll continue on to configuring the program.
However, if you run into any problems see the Troubleshooting section at the bottom, failing that check the SABnzbd+ wiki and forum (linked in the credits section towards the bottom), failing that shoot me a PM or respond below (but, again I'm just your average user, no super powers here).
Wizard (SABnzbd+ >0.5.x only)
When your system loads back up launch your browser. I recommend Firefox (or, what I use, Swiftfox and I sometimes have problems with Opera) and go to the following URL: http://localhost:8888. This should bring you to http://localhost:8888/wizard.
Run through the wizard choosing your preferred language (I use English, if you were wondering), your preferred interface (I recommend and will be assuming the default smpl for the rest of this tutorial). On step two I leave everything at their defaults, but if you're going to want to connect to SABnzbd+ from the internet you will likely want to enable HTTPS and setup a user name and password (as well as setup port forwarding on your router or firewall, but that's outside the scope of this tutorial).
On the server details page (step three) fill in the relevant information (if you don't have a server see this link for recommendations: http://www.newsgroupservers.net/usenet- ... server-faq). Once that's done hit the test button and you should be golden.
Step four, fill in your Newzbin (the original, and my preferred Usenet index site), or nzbmatrix (up-and-comer, preferred by some, no invitations needed) account information if you want to. I recommend not checking Automatically download bookmarked posts at this time. Especially if you will be changing the default download location.
SABnzbd+ will now restart, with any luck it you'll be presented with a few links to use to access the web ui. I recommend bookmarking at least one of these!
However, if you do not, or if lose the bookmark and cannot remember how to get back to the web ui http://localhost:8888 or https://localhost:9090 should get you there.
Configuration
I'll only hit on some key points here, and I strongly recommend you visit the wiki at http://wiki.sabnzbd.org/ and follow it as you go through all the configuration sections on your installation of SABnzbd+.
Some of these will be personal preferences, and others will be dependent on the hardware and configuration of the system you're using as well as what you'll be downloading.
After you finish each page remember to save, and it's probably best to restart SABnzbd+ (from the link on the left hand column) after you're all done.
General
I switch the Web Interface: from smpl - white to smpl - black here as the white kills my eyes.
I add 128M to the Article Cache Limit: as I have 4GB of system memory, and I prefer to use RAM as cache over the HDD. If you have less memory, you may consider using 70M or leaving this blank. See the wiki for more details.
I don't use .sfv files and I don't like to keep the .nzb files that often get downloaded when using index sites so I add both of these to the Cleanup List: like so:
Code: Select all
.sfv, .nzbFolders
I have a hard drive I use exclusively for downloading to (this reduces disc thrashing, and reduces the chance of write errors to my archival drives). I change Temporary Download Folder: and Completed Download Folder: to point to this drive instead of to the default paths.
You may want to do the same, or you may not, just depends on your setup, but be aware that wherever you point to may get filled up real quick like and will likely see a lot of disk activity (though SABnzbd+ 0.5.x should throttle this fairly well!).
With that said you may want to set Minimum Free Space for Temporary Download Folder: to about 1-2 times the biggest thing you might download (I generally use 10G or 20G) so that anything you download will either pause before it completes or it will be able to successfully extract once it finishes downloading.
Again, adjust anything else you may want to, save and move on to the next section.
Switches
I set Extra PAR2 Parameters: to -t0 though I don't think this has any effect under GNU/Linux (but it doesn't hurt anything either), see the wiki for more information.
And as above I set the IONice Parameters: to -c2 -n4 though also I don't know if this has any affect by default and I don't think it's necessary any longer (waiting for the wiki to be updated fully for 0.5.x before I change my ways).
I enable Sort by Age: to make sure the oldest posts get downloaded first and set Ignore Samples: to Delete after download as I don't use sample files but I don't want them to cause an otherwise unnecessary repair.
The rest I leave at their defaults, see the wiki, adjust as you see fit, save, and continue on (believe it or not we're over the hump here!).
Servers
Servers we can skip unless you need to add any backup servers or need to fix anything on your server that you may have entered wrong during the setup wizard.
Scheduling
RSS
I don't use any of these, which is not to say they're not useful. Check them and the wiki and configure them to fit your needs if relevant.
Index Sites
Here we can now enable Automatically retrieve jobs from your bookmarks if we're signed up with Newzbin and are happy with our Folders configuration.
I leave the rest of these at their defaults. You know the drill, moving on.
Categories
I don't change anything on this page.
Sorting
I Enable sorting and renaming of episodes and then hit the 1x05 Season Folder button, as this is my preferred episode naming scheme. I then remove the show and season folders so that all I have in my Sort String: is this:
Code: Select all
%sn - %sx%0e - %en.%extCode: Select all
Example: /media/DeadArch/Show Name - 1x05 - Episode Name.avi I don't use any of the other features on this page.
Make sure to hit an easily missed save button at the very bottom one last time, and we're done!
If you want, restart SABnzbd+ now.
Closing
And there you have it, with any luck you should now have a fully installed and fully configured SABnzbd+ Usenet client. You're now ready to hop on your favorite index site to grab some nzb files (such as for the latest and greatest Linux Mint iso!), but anything other than the client configuration is way out side of the scope of this tutorial and is likely not proper on this site so please do not ask inappropriate questions here.
I may add screen shots in the future (depending on what feedback I get) and I will likely update this once 0.5.0 goes final and maybe once LM 9 hits the streets.
Cheers!
Credits
http://www.sabnzbd.org/ -- The source of this great Usenet client, and the wiki and forum from which I learned the groundwork to do this guide.
https://launchpad.net/~jcfp/+archive/ppa -- The PPA for JCFP the man who brought SABnzbd+ to the official Linux Mint/Ubuntu repositories and the maintainer of the great PPA which makes this installation so painless (trust me, without this it'd be a lot harder)!
http://linuxmint.com/ -- The easiest and neatest distro I've laid my hands on to date. Based on the breadth of Debian, and the sheer force that is Ubuntu, but with a great user orientated community and a whole slew of improvements that make it my choice in terms of out of the box ease of use, feature completeness, and general awesomeness.
Trouble-shooting
I had problems with connecting to SABnzbd+ when I didn't change the HOST and PORT. My logs didn't report any problems, but I simply could not get Swiftfox to connect to the web ui. Once I changed the host and port and rebooted everything went smooth from there on out.
If, after following all of my guide, you are unable to connect to the web ui open up the process manager and verify that sabnzbdplus is running. If it is not, check the logs (found in a hidden folder in your home directory) and see if it's complaining about anything. If it's a port conflict change the port as described under the Auto-run section and reboot and try again. Failing that, take your logs to the SABnzbd+ forum and seek help there.
If you are unsure of your username go the the LM Menu and type in user in the filter field. Click on Users and Groups and verify your login name (not your full name name!)
Edit History
1) Somehow managed to duplicate sections of the tutorial twice, everything was exactly the same so trimmed it and everything was set.
2) Edited for content, grammar, and spelling.
3) Added trouble-shooting section.