Galicaster is based on Open Source technologies.
Before starting the installation process, please make sure that:
- Your equipment meets Galicaster's Hardware Recommendations.
- You are running a Linux-based OS. The recommended distribution is Ubuntu 10.10 .
- Your capture devices are configured as indicated in the Cookbook.
The installation process consists of six steps:
- 1. Install dependencies,
- 2. Check the configuration,
- 3. Download Software,
- 4. Configure Galicaster,
- 5. Check Matterhorn Core connection,
- 6. Test it.
1.- Install dependencies.
Galicaster requires the following software to be installed:
- Gstreamer
- python-setuptools and pip
- iCalendar
- pyCurl
- Capture card configuration tools
In ubuntu 11.04 and above, installing v4l-utils is recommended instead of ivtv-utils.
$ sudo apt-get install \ gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-alsa gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse \ gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps gstreamer0.10-plugins-good \ gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse $ sudo apt-get install python-pip python-setuptools $ sudo pip install icalendar $ sudo apt-get install python-pycurl $ sudo apt-get install v4l-conf ivtv-utils guvcview
2.- Check configuration.
Run the following commands in a shell in order to verify that all dependencies are installed:
$ python --version Python 2.6.6 $ python -c "import pygtk; pygtk.require('2.0')" $ python -c "import pygst; pygst.require('0.10')" $ python -c "import pycurl" $ python -c "import icalendar" $ gst-launch-0.10 videotestsrc num-buffers=25 ! video/x-raw-yuv,width=800,height=600,framerate=24/1 ! ffmpegcolorspace ! xvimagesink $ gst-launch-0.10 videotestsrc num-buffers=25 ! video/x-raw-yuv,width=800,height=600,framerate=24/1 ! ffmpegcolorspace ! x264enc pass=5 quantizer=22 speed-preset=4 profile=1 ! queue ! avimux ! filesink location=out.avi $ file out.avi out.avi: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 800 x 600, ~24 fps, video: H.264 X.264 or H.264 $ rm out.avi
3.- Download software
Download the software from this site.
Uncompress it using tar:
$ tar xzf galicaster-1.0.0-rc1.tgz $ cd galicaster-1.0.0-rc1
4.- Configure Galicaster
Galicaster configuration is in the file conf.ini. All the application parameters can be set up in this file, such as:
- Operation mode of the application: I.e. whether Galicaster will work as Galicaster Class, designed to be used in a classroom environment, or as Galicaster Mobile, a portable recording station.
- Devices used in the capturer, and their configuration.
- Server information to ingest.
- User privileges to control the recorder.
The simplest way to get started with Galicaster is dowloading any of the pre-existing conf.ini files for any of the reference configurations proposed:
- Operation mode Galicaster Class:
- Operation mode Galicaster Mobile:
In the Section Galicaster configuration you will find a description of all section of conf.ini file.
5.- Opencast Matterhorn connection
One of the key features of Galicaster is the connection to the publishing platform. Then it's important to your configuration that your Galicaster unit is working as Matterhorn Capture Agent. Some tips to do so:
- Your Galicaster unit need access to your Matterhorn Core network.
- Use a valid host URL. The IP address is suitable too.
- Include the port on the URL, if it's not a default one (for instance host:1234)
- Your Matterhorn account should allow Digest, a regular account won't work.
- Remember to activate the connection (config file, section ingest, value_ active_).
- A wrong workflow will raise an error, so check it too.
- Once running, check if your Galicaster unit is registered as a Capture Agent, on the admin tools of the Matterhorn worker.
- The log (in /tmp/galicaster.log) would record if any trouble connecting to the Matterhorn server, too.
If your Galicaster is registered as a Capture Agent you should be able to receive the scheduled recording, if any, and ingest whatever you want. If not, review all the steps above and retry.
6.- Running
Galicaster Class is launched with the command:
$ ./run_galicaster.py
The User Guide section contains Galicaster's user manual. Should you have any questions, please visit the F.A.Q. section where some common questions are already answered.