The questions found here have all been asked quite recently. We are still taking questions and providing replies. If you do not see your question here, feel free to ask us your question directly! 

Q What is the MuNAS?
   Refer to the home page of MuNAS.

Q Why do I need to use the MuNAS?
   When you want to install a Unix-based thin-client system in which the users can execute multimedia applications in the terminal server and listen for the sound from their X-terminals, you can use the MuNAS.

Q What are the multimedia applications you mentioned in the answer for the previous question?
  Part of the  tested multimedia applications are listed below. In fact, all the OSS/Free compatible multimedia applications can be used in MuNAS.

Q Can I download the MuNAS and install it freely?
   Yes. You can use and test it with a free license for two users in the terminal server without any limitation. However, you have to purchase the license for terminal servers which have more than two users otherwise a terminal server can only transmits audio streams for two users. See the license rule of the MuNAS for details.

Q I have some problems in installing the MuNAS in the terminal server and X-terminal. Where can I ask these questions?
   Please send you questions to service@AdvancedThinTech.com. Then, you will get our reply immediately. 

Q Can I play full screen VCD movies in the terminal server and listen for the sound from a X-terminal? Do the videos and voices synchronize well?
   Yes. With the MuNAS installed, you can do it. According to our experiments (using mplayer, gmplayer, realplayer and xine), the screen updates (videos) and voices (or music) from the movie playing synchronize perfectly. If your X-terminal supports X video extension, you can see the VCD movies in full screen mode without any frame drop (100 Mbps network bandwidth). 

Q Is there any limitation for in the number of users in a single terminal server?
   No. The MuNAS is designed to work on multi-user operating systems: several users can activate the network audio system by executing their own audio applications in the same computer (terminal server) and their audio data can be forwarded to different computers (X-terminals) simultaneously. The MuNAS performs well, as indicated by its ability to send stereo, 16-bit, 44.1-kHz linear audio data to forty users in the same Linux terminal server simultaneously. However, you have to purchase the license for a terminal server which is with more than two users. See the license rule of the MuNAS for details.

Q What is the size of the program which I need to install in the X-terminal for MuNAS?
  You only have to install a program named "mrcvd" which is only about 20 KB and only need two libraries "libc" and "ld-linux". See below.
 [ghhwang@linra bin]$ ls -l mrcvd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20662 8?? 19 13:12 mrcvd
[ghhwang@linra bin]$ ldd mrcvd
libc.so.6 => /lib/tls/libc.so.6 (0x42000000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
Note that the OSS/Free device file for the soundcard in the X-terminal and two device files "/dev/dsp"and "/dev/mixer" should be set up in  the X-terminal. 

Q What kind of platforms do the MuNAS support?
   Currently, we only support Linux-based terminal servers (x86) and X-terminals (x86). For the terminal server, the versions for different Linux distributions and kernels will be available. Also, we will be delivering a program to support the Win32 platform in the X-terminal soon.

Q Our company uses the LTSP to construct the Linux-based thin-client system. Can the MuNAS be installed in LTSP environment?
   Yes, it can. See the installation guide of MuNAS for LTSP.

Q How fast the X-terminal should be to process the audio streams from terminal servers? 
   According to our experiments, a X-terminal with 200Mhz Pentium II CPU (SiS 550 Chip Set) and 64M RAM is fast enough to process the audio streams from MuNAS and videos from X protocol for playing full-screen VCD movies.

Q Can I purchase the X-terminals which are able to receive the audio streams from a terminal server with MuNAS installed?
   Yes. Currently, several manufactures of windows terminal are going to install the MuNAS in their X-terminals. See the following MuNAS complied X-terminals:

Q How do a company get the required information if it is interested to manufacture the MuNAS-compatible X-terminals?
For companies which are interested to manufacture the MuNAS-compatible X-terminals, please send mail to service@AdvancedThinTech.com.

Q Can a user execute two multimedia applications simultaneously in a terminal server with MuNAS?
If your terminal server is with aRts, then you can execute more than two multimedia applications which support aRts. Although the current version (MuNAS 1.1) supports multiple-open for  OSS/Free's device file "/dev/mixer", it does not support multiple-open for  "/dev/dsp". The second application will get a device busy error for opening "/dev/dsp"  if there is already an multimedia application which has opened "/dev/dsp" without closing it. However, we will be releasing a new version which is capable of handling multiple-open for "/dev/dsp". It will perform audio mixing for the audio streams from multiple multimedia applications automatically. 

Q What are the differences between the MuNAS and other network audio systems in Linux??


In the follows, we make a comparison for the MuNAS, eSound, NAS, and aRts.

(Last updated on 6/4/2004 )

Problems with this website? Send mail to service@AdvancedThinTech.com.