Episode Butler Install, Setup, & Configuration Guide for Ubuntu & Linux Mint

Introduction

Greetings, this is a companion guide for my SABnzbd+ guide. I’ll be updating this guide for Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) and Linux Mint 9 but it should be pretty much the same. This will also likely work well on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) and Linux Mint 7. I’ll be installing this program to the home folder for an easy install and also so that if your OS has issues you wont lose your episode database (assuming you have your Home directory on a different drive or partition, like me )

Episode Butler is simply awesome and it’s currently the application to use for Usenet and episodic content. Basically, it’ll make Usenet as convenient (if not more so) than a cable/PVR set-up. Specifically, it will automatically keep you up-to-date on your favourite episodic content while helping you build your collection with little to no hands on (after this initial set-up & configuration).

Episode Butler can be very selective in what it downloads for you. For instance, you can set it up to download only the superior x264 encoded files that have English audio.

This guide is written in fairly plain English and is meant for anyone that has a functional knowledge of computers. As with my SABnzbd+ guide I’ll stick to the GUI as much as possible so if you know a faster CLI route please improvise as you will. This guide is designed using Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) but will likely work (with varying levels of adaptation) with other GNU/Linux distro’s like Linux Mint 8, Sidux, and Debian.

A brief disclaimer, I accept no responsibility if you hose your system or lose any data as a result of following any of my guides, but these are pretty much the exact steps I used to set it up on my system.

Also this software does appear to be closed source. If you have qualms about that I suggest you keep an eye on Sick Beard and maybe try the alpha if you’re brave and want to build from source.

Before continuing on, please be aware of this sites CC BY-SA license and disclaimer, both of which can be found at the bottom of this (or any other page).

Tutorial

Pre-Installation

For this guide you are going to need a premium Newzbin account (I cannot help with invitations) and an already installed and configured SABnzbd+. You will also need to download the latest version of Episode Butler from their site here (I am using v0.9 build 65 for this guide).

You will also need to install Java Runtime 6 from the Ubuntu Software Center. This may appear to hang during the install but it has likely popped up a window in the background asking you to accept the license agreement. If you want to continue on with this guide you’ll need to accept and let the install finish.

If you’re not sure how to do this just click on your Application or Ubuntu menu and click on the Ubuntu Software Center. Once this loads click on Get Free Software and then in the top right text box type in Java Runtime. Now, click on Sun Java 6 Runtime, click the arrow pointing to the right then click Install on the next page.

Installation

Once you have downloaded Episode Butler v0.X for Linux extract it to an easily accessible location. Once extracted you should have a folder named episodebutler. Take this folder and cut it and paste it into your /home/USER directory where USER is your Ubuntu user name (for example /home/ainer for mine).

Now rename the folder by hitting F2 (or right clicking and selecting Rename) and add a period to the front of the folder name, so it will now be .episodebutler. This will make the folder hidden, and it will likely disappear after you rename it (but don’t worry about it we shouldn’t need to access it).

Note: If you do end up needing access to it just enable Show Hidden Files under View in Nautilus.

That’s it, it’s installed. Easy eh? You could simply run it from the command line any time you wanted now but that’s no fun and not very convenient so we’re going to take this a step further and add an auto-start/stop script.

If you’re lazy you can skip the next section, but I don’t recommend it and I wont provide support for such a setup.

Auto-run

Now we’re going to set-up the start and stop script for Episode Butler. This will provide a clean start-up and shutdown of Episode Butler just like we have with SABnzbd+.

The original script was provided by tret at the SABnzbd+ forums. I have modified it mainly to remove the unneeded SABnzbd+ portions of it and also to make the default variables better match a standard install.

To set-up this script we’re going to open up the terminal and type in sudo gedit /etc/init.d/episodebutler.sh. This should open a text editor with nothing in it. If so, copy the below text into it.

#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: episode butler
# Short-Description: start/stop episode butler web interface
# Copied by Ainer.org from http://forums.sabnzbd.org/index.php?topic=2013.0
# Written by tret on April 17, 2009
# Modified for Episodbutler only by Ainer on March 26, 2010
### END INIT INFO

USER="USERNAME"
HOME="/home/USERNAME"
BUTLER_IP="localhost:8077"
BUTLER_USER=""
BUTLER_PASS=""

case "$1" in
start)
  echo "Starting Episode Butler."
  /usr/bin/sudo -u $USER -H $HOME/.episodebutler/./episodebutler &
;;
stop)
  echo "Shutting down Episode Butler."
  /usr/bin/wget -q --delete-after --post-data=username=$BUTLER_USER\&password=$BUTLER_PASS "http://$BUTLER_IP/quit"
;;
*)
  echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
  exit 1
esac

exit 0

Once copied click on the bottom right where it says Plain Text and change that to sh. This will provide some formatting that should make navigating the text a bit easier. The colors should be consistent throughout the script. If anything looks askew try re-typing the quotation marks.

Now we’ll need to change some variables in this script. By default we’ll need to change USER and HOME by replacing both the USERNAMES’s with our Ubuntu username (for example ainer). Once this is done these will look like this:

USER="ainer"
HOME="/home/ainer"

The rest should be fine as is. But if you add a username or password for Episode Butler you’ll need to add those here and if for some reason port 8077 is already in use on your system you’ll need to adjust that here as well.

Once you’re done, save and close out of the text editor.

The next two steps are easiest done via the command line. So, if you’ve closed the terminal open it back up and copy paste the following two lines (one at a time). (These were taken almost directly from tret’s post with the above script, so a big thanks to him!)

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/episodebutler.sh
sudo update-rc.d episodebutler.sh start 30 2 3 4 5 . stop 14 0 1 6 .

Now, if both those lines entered properly, reboot your system. When your system comes back up open up Firefox (or your preferred browser) and go to http://localhost:8077. If everything is shiny this should load the web interface for Episode Butler.

If not retrace the above steps and see if there are any obvious mistakes. You can test the script without rebooting by running the following commands from the terminal.

sudo /etc/init.d/episodebutler.sh start
sudo /etc/init.d/episodebutler.sh stop

Running the first command should start Episode Butler if your script is setup correctly. If not, it will provide some more information as to what might be causing problems.

Additionally you can run Episode Butler directly from the command line (by passing the script) like so (replace USERNAME with your login name):

sudo /home/USERNAME/.episodebutler/episodebutler

Running this command will give you even more information to work with if you’re having problems. If none of the above works see the Trouble-shooting section toward the end of this guide and, if nothing else, create a comment below (I may or may not be able/have time to help you!).

Configuration

Newzbin

When you have Episode Butler loaded up, at the top of the web interface click on Config and then onto Newzbin. Here set your Newzbin Username and Password. If you’re using Supernews or another quality Usenet server set your retention to max otherwise adjust accordingly.

For the Newsgroups section you will most likely want to expand this. If you want copy and paste what I have below to set yourself off on a better foot (this is not exhaustive, but should provide the bulk of x264, and most other, content).

alt.binaries.ath
alt.binaries.bloaf
alt.binaries.boneless
alt.binaries.cores
alt.binaries.custard
alt.binaries.ghosts
alt.binaries.hdtv.x264
alt.binaries.mom
alt.binaries.multimedia
alt.binaries.nl
alt.binaries.teevee
alt.binaries.test
alt.binaries.town
alt.binaries.tv
alt.binaries.tvseries
alt.binaries.U-4all
alt.binaries.uhq
alt.binaries.usenetrevolution
alt.binaries.warez
alt.binaries.x

If you’re not sure what groups to add here browse Newzbin for the type of content that you will have Episode Butler monitor. Click on a post and copy the newsgroups to this list (one per line).

For the Search Parameters you can just use the check boxes below to automatically set them in a more user friendly manner. Or, if you want to use what I use, copy and paste the text below (this will give you the defaults along with x264 and English language).

ps_rb_video_format = 131072
ps_rb_language = 4096
fpn = p
sort = ps_edit_date
order = desc
u_completions = 1

Once you have the Newzbin page configured hit the Save button at the bottom and move on to Sabnzbd.

Webserver

I don’t change anything here. If you will be using Episode Butler from the Web you may want to setup a Username and Password (don’t forget to modify the start-up/shut-down script!). You will also need to setup port-forwarding on your router, but that is outside the scope of this guide. And remember, Episode Butler does NOT use SSL so nothing you send to it will be encrypted (including your Episode Butler username and password). So it may be best to use it on the local network only.

Sabnzbd

Put a check mark in Enable. If you have followed my SABnzbd+ guide you will need to change the Port here to 8888. Further, if you have enabled SSL or are using a Username and Password with SABnzbd+ you will need to enter those here.

After getting the above entered in load up SABnzbd+ and go to the General Config page and copy your API Key.

Now paste your key into the API-key text field in Episode Butler.

I leave the rest of the options here at their defaults, if you have reason to modify them do so now and hit save.

Ninan
NzbGet

I don’t use these (they’re different, and less supported, Usenet clients).

File saver

I believe this saves nzb files for the any episodes Episode Butler downloads. I don’t use this but if you want to use it set up a Targetdir (Target Directory) and set this to Enabled now.

That’s it for the general configuration, not all that much harder than the initial installation. When you’re done click on Home at the top of Episode Butler and click on Search now. You should get NO errors regarding connecting to newzbin (or anything else). If you DO go back and double check your Newzbin Username and Password (and everything else).

Episodic Content

Adding Episodic Content

Now that we can actually use the program we can input the episodic content we want it to track. To do so we’ll click on Shows which, is at the top of, once again, Episode Butler!

Here you’ll be presented with a search box. Type whatever specific episodic content that you want to add here and click Search for show. This will search TVRage for any known episodic content under that name. If you find the one you want click on Add this show or if you’re unsure click on TvRage info to open a new tab or window at TVRage with the episodic content’s information.

Once you have added some specific episodic content you will be presented with a list of all episodic content that you currently have added (just the one if this is your first). Here you can select a somewhat ambiguous Quality option and also fine tune the settings for the specific episodic content (click on the wrench icon).

I recommend using neither of these and instead specifying a video format such as x264 files as their quality is already superb. I also recommend just using the general Newzbin settings which are what get applied to all the monitored episodic content unless you specify otherwise.

In other words, unless you specifically need to change something for some specific episodic content leave the wrench as is and it’ll use the same settings as you configured under the Episode Butler Newzbin Config page.

Adding Seasons

To add specific seasons to a specific episodic content that Episode Butler is monitoring you will want to click on the show’s Name. By default Episode Butler assumes nothing and will only show upcoming episodes that have yet to be aired (since it “knows” that you don’t yet have these).

If your show has five seasons and you want to collect either all of the seasons or at least one episode in all of these seasons you will need to type in 1 and hit Add Season and then 2 and Add Season and so on up to 5.

Obviously this can become quite laborious especially for long running shows (think twenty seasons), but in my opinion this is well worth it in the long run.

When adding a large number of individual series or seasons you may start getting problems with adding more. This is caused by TVRage preventing you from overloading their system (a time out for repeat connections from the same network). If you start having problems take a break and come back to it after some time (half-hour/hour).

Episodes

For each season that you add Episode Butler will assume you have none of the episodes. If you already have some of them in your collection you will want to go through and manually check the downloaded box for each episode that you have.

This is another potentially time consuming process and is why I strongly recommend you install Episode Butler onto a separate partition from your Root directory and/or backup regularly.

Recommended SABnzbd+ Configurations

In SABnzbd+, under Categories, I recommend setting the tv Category Folder/Path to where you save your episodes. This, along with a pretty stringent Cleanup List of .sfv, .nzb, .srr, .nfo, .sub, .idx will allow you a nearly hands free management of your collection. If this is what you’re striving for I strongly suggest a similar setup.

Closing

And there you have it, you should now have a fully installed and configured Episode Butler (and SABnzbd+). Once you have invested the time in setting up the shows, seasons, and episodes you should be ready to sit back, relax and enjoy endless hours of entertainment at your finger tips.

If you have any questions or comments please do not post any specifics regarding what you may be downloading on this site. Any questionable comments will be deleted without warning (I’d rather be safe than sorry, and this isn’t 1999, the Web is no longer free or anonymous ).

If you dig this or any of my other guides consider signing up for Supernews by using my affiliate link or hitting my Amazon.com referral link and buying something by David Zindell or Robert Heinlein or some awesome shows by Josh Whedon like Firefly or Dollhouse.

And if nothing else, I always appreciate constructive criticism.

Cheers!

Credits

Episode Butler — closed source (I think!) but damn good nonetheless.

SABnzbd+ — a major part of the equation, Episode Butler finds and keeps track, SABnzbd+ does the rest.

Tret — for the startup/shutdown script.

Ubuntu — for a super-nice GNU/Linux distro.

Trouble-shooting

• If you are having trouble getting Episode Butler to start open up the terminal and type in /home/USER/.episodebutler/episodebutler and see if it launches. If not it may say you don’t have Java installed or it may give you some other indication of what the problem might be. If it’s the port try adding -p 8889 to the end of the above command to set the port to something different.
• See Episode Butler’s FAQ here.
• If you are having problems with the Auto-Run script retry it. The site’s formatting was potentially causing problems with it. We are now using a different setup for code and it should copy 1:1.
• The program’s author has posted on this site in the past. You may be able to get his attention if you make a post there.

Revision History

• 3/26/10 — Guide Written
• 4/6/10 — Guide edited for formatting and general content.

 

2 Responses to 'Episode Butler Install, Setup, & Configuration Guide for Ubuntu & Linux Mint'

Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'Episode Butler Install, Setup, & Configuration Guide for Ubuntu & Linux Mint'.

1. I can’t seem to get EpisodeButler to work. I just get “com.janoz.eb.ServiceException: Error connecting to TvRage” when trying to search for a program. Any ideas?

   

   Alex_G

   16 Apr 10 at 12:51 PM

    

2. I did have a similar problem but had to reformat my system before I was able to resolve it myself. After reinstalling I have not had any further problems. You are currently running the latest version I trust?

   Unfortunately due to the closed nature of the program and the lack of documentation it’s hard to get at what the underlying cause of the problem might be.

   Off the top of my head, I believe there are logs and you could also launch the program directly from the terminal to get some further information as to what’s going on in the program (like when the error is occurring).

   If it’s only happening some of the time, it may be a timeout imposed on your system by TVRage due to high activity.

   You may also be able to get in contact with the program’s author here.

   

   Ainer

   17 Apr 10 at 10:11 AM

    

 

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)