ObjectClarity.com

I've set this up before but couldn't remember just how I did it.  Instead of having to figure it out all over again next time, I thought I'd write it somewhere.

Setting the time in CPanel's Standard Cron UI is very simple so I won't bother with that but the command for triggering a web page has a few things that messed me up.

For those who don't care to read much, here's the command:

wget -O - -q -t 1 'http://www.mydomain.net/doit.php?id=12345' >/dev/null 2>&1

Or, if you're using a .htaccess usernam and password, like this:

wget -O - -q -t 1 'http://username:
 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 /doit.php?id=12345' >/dev/null 2>&1 

Of course you'll need to insert your own url but you can otherwise cut and paste the line above and start running your php script as a cpanel cron job.

Over the Christmas break, I decided it was time to investigate the possibility of using my MythTV machine as my DVD player, not just as a PVR.  My motherboard only has a toslink connector for digital audio out and as the PC is in the closet and cable runs are about 25', that's out of the question and I'm not interested to pull yet another cable throught the finished ceiling.  I rummaged around in my "hardware closet" and came up with a Creative SB Live 5.1 sound card with a SPDIF connectr on the back.  I plugged it into a spare machine - doesn't everyone have a complete 'spare'?  and it 'just' worked.  I plugged the card into my Myth box and after getting sidetracked with an nearly identical card that didn't work, I was in business.  Surprisingly all audio was directed out through the SPDIFconnector to my receiver.  Everything worked and I enjoyed my digital out - for a few days.   It took a few days before I noticed that the internal DVD player wouldn't play some DVD's and for some reason my digital audio was limited to only 2 channels.  I started messing about and din't find the problem but as was pointed out to me hours later the sound from watching TV was now only available as analog.  Without the ability to toggle from analog to digital on my receiver's remote, this is a big problem.    

After many test and trial configurations I stumbled over this post from the Ubuntu forums. 

After pasting the following into my ~/.asoundrc file, everything was back!

I'm not going to say this solution will necessarily work for you, but it works for me.

~$ cat .asoundrc
Here is the ~/.asoundrc i'm using

Code:

pcm.!default {
        type plug
        slave {
                rate 48000
                pcm "spdif"
        }
}

It forces all audio out spdif all the time. Seems to work consistently and in all apps i've tried.

 I'm pleased to report that I now have 5.1 digital audio in all apps I've tried!  Yay!