Archive for the ‘Supplemental Usenet Applications’ tag

SABnzbd+ Install, Setup, and Configuration Guide for Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)

Introduction

This is my long time coming, (updated) Install, Setup, and Configuration guide for SABnzbd+ on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx). This guide should be easily adaptable for Linux Mint 9 (Isadora), and somewhat close for Debian Squeeze and Sidux.

This guide will be actively maintained and updated throughout the life of the Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Long Term Support release (two years). This is my supported and recommended operating system so I will not be doing specific guides for Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) or for any subsequent releases until Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (though this guide will likely be easily adaptable for the interim releases).

Since my last guide it’s become a lot easier to get SABnzbd+ up and running on an Ubuntu based system. To reflect that I’ve expanded this guide to include installing a multi-threaded par2 file checker, added a supplemental software list, and I have worked to polish up the guide even further (like adding select screen shots!).

For those that are not familiar, SABnzbd+ which, I read as “SAB-newzbin” (though “SAB-nzb-daemon plus” is probably much closer to correct!), is an Usenet client. It is highly automated, robust, and once set up can run and run with minimal user intervention.

Like my last, this guide avoids the command line as much as possible and is written in casual English in an effort to be accessible by as many as possible. I do not think Ubuntu is a nerds only operating system, and I write guides that even novices should be able to understand (see my About page for more information).

So, without further ado, lets move on to the… Read the rest of this entry »

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.

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Sick Beard Usenet PVR Preview

Briefly

Sick Beard is an application for sorting, renaming, and auto-matically downloading episodic content from Usenet and (limitedly) torrents. This program is currently in early alpha phase and I have not yet attempted tried to run it.

I am mainly posting this as it looks like a potentially promising program that could at some point become a part of SABnzbd+ and replace or complement either Episode Butler, or Series Rename, or both.

Edit: I am currently running this program and working on a complete installation, setup, and configuration guide for Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

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Episode Butler Review

Briefly

I recently revisited a program I had tried a while back called Episode Butler. This program essentially monitors Newzbin for any episodic content you want and then can pass that off to SABnzbd+ (or a few other Usenet clients) for automatic downloading.

To setup you have to input all the episodic content you want it to monitor (done via a search box) and then add each season number within the episodic content that you want to monitor (as simple as hitting “1,” “2,”…. and then enter). Any episodic content you currently have can be marked as downloaded, and any episodic content that it downloads will be marked as “downloaded” automatically.

You can configure it to search for specific formats just like you can in Newzbin (e.g.: x264, H264, divx….) as well as specific languages and subtitles. Read the rest of this entry »