[chippyash]

I thought I'd share this with with other Podcast enthusiasts.

I use GPodder for my podcatching requirements. I have set it up as follows.

1/ set up GPodder
Install Gpodder on your XBMC machine

Code:

sudo apt-get install gpodder

or via package manager in Ubuntu if you are running a window manager

If you have a window manager installed on your XBMC machine, use that LOGGED IN AS YOUR XBMC USER to fire up the GPodder GUI app

If you don't (i.e you are running a really minimal installation like me; use SSH to forward X11 to your client machine e.g.

Code:

ssh -X -l xbmc xbmc

and then start gpodder on the remote machine

Code:

gpodder

Select at least one podcast to subscribe to and then retrieve it and close down the app.

This creates the necessary folder and entries for GPodder to get started with your user.

You can use the Gui interface add further subscriptions etc to your xbmc server. You will find a new folder called 'gpodder-downloads' in your xbmc user home folder.

2/ Link XBMC to Gpodder
Simply add the new gpodder-downloads directory as a source in your music section (and/or video) of XBMC. The .m3u file you'll see is a link to the current podcast, or you traverse down the folder list to see any previous entries

3/ Auto update your podcasts
Here's the best bit. Gpodder comes with a CLI program named 'gpo'. SSH into your box as your xbmc user or open a terminal on the device itself. Type

Code:

gpo

to get a list of available commands

The ones we are interested in are the update and download commands.

You now create a crontab for your xbmc user. There are plenty of guides on creating crontabs so I don't intend repeating them, save to say you need to create a file called /etc/cron.allow (you'll need to use sudo for this e.g.)

Code:

sudo nano /etc/cron.allow

and enter a single line with the name of your xbmc user in it.

Then use

Code:

crontab -e

(nb no sudo), to edit the cron table for your xbmc user. My entry looks like the following

Code:

MAILTO=ashley@<mymaildomain>
#run at half past every hour
30 */1 * * * /usr/bin/gpo update; /usr/bin/gpo download >>/home/xbmc/cronlog/xbmc.cron.log

change the refrence to you xbmc user home directory as necessary.
Now create the log file directory (assuming you are in your xbmc user home directory)

Code:

mkdir cronlog

Bingo - you now have an auto updating podcatcher. The additional benefit is that you control contents via the Gpodder Gui or via the command line. Now, if someone can just show me how to write an addon, I'd really like to front end this so that gpodder can be controlled from XBMC. Perfect.

[pohboy]

I'm using gPodder too, though not in as fancy a manner as yourself I may have to try this out, however.....if for no other reason than to learn more about cron

One thing I'm wondering - do you have anything set up to deal with the fact that gPodder doesn't seem to "honor" ID3 tags when it's downloading podcasts? The reason I'm using it is because it's the easiest way to automate the frequency with which it will download the mp3 files. Amarok does a nice job of pulling down the id3 tags, but doesn't seem to remember to check for updates as well as gPodder does.

any thoughts?

jm

[chippyash]

if for no other reason than to learn more about cron

gPodder doesn't seem to "honor" ID3 tags when it's downloading podcasts?

jm

ha ha - cron is surprisingly easy once you get to grips with its odd command structure. There are plenty of online tools that can create the right command for you by clicking a few buttons, have a search for them.

as to ID3 tags, I can't say I've seen a problem with it (only because I haven't been looking for it :-) ), but the guys over at the gPodder site/discussion email group are a helpful bunch and that would be your best place to start an enquiry.

Cheers
A