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- | + | Knots is a Media streaming application for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and FreeBSD. It allows you to access your desktop computer media collection from anywhere with a browser or using the client available for [[Nokia N900]] and N8x0 internet tablets. | |
+ | Media streaming and transcoding is handled by the excellent [http://www.videolan.org VLC]. Adobe Flash-plugin or VLC browser plugin is needed for browsers that don't support Theora video codec. | ||
- | + | Please note that transcoding requires a lot of cpu power and enough memory, especially if source material is high definition quality. If your cpu has several cores and decent amount of memory, you may be able to view 1080p material on your Nokia without the need to re-encode them first. | |
- | + | [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-b-IvYH7Sc Server setup video on Youtube] | |
- | = | + | [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg77WQzG5D4 N8x0 and N900 clients video on Youtube] |
+ | = Features = | ||
* Fully thumb driven UI | * Fully thumb driven UI | ||
* Stream videos with on-the-fly transcoding to a Knots client or to a remote computer via the web-frontend. Seeking is supported when possible. | * Stream videos with on-the-fly transcoding to a Knots client or to a remote computer via the web-frontend. Seeking is supported when possible. | ||
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* Additional info for movies, provided by http://themoviedb.org | * Additional info for movies, provided by http://themoviedb.org | ||
- | + | = Quick setup guide = | |
+ | * Download and install VLC media player and the server software (see below). | ||
+ | * Start the server | ||
+ | * Open a browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, not IE) and enter address http://localhost:1978/ | ||
+ | * Click on status tab and make sure VLC is running. If it isn't, make sure the path to vlc.exe executable is correct under 'settings' tab. Save settings and restart server. | ||
+ | * Click on 'collection' tab, add the folders that contain your media to the list and click on 'update collection' button. Wait until scan is finished. | ||
+ | * Install client and start it. You should be automatically connected and able to listen/view your media. | ||
- | + | '''If you want to be able to view media outside your home through 3G for example, do the following:''' | |
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- | + | * Click on settings tab and add a new user. Click on the username that appears on the list, set role to admin, add a password and save the user. Then set "Use authentication without SSL" to yes and save settings. Enter your admin username and password to login. | |
- | + | * Click on settings tab and enable remote discovery. You can use the same username and password you used to authenticate to server if you wish, but they can differ. | |
- | + | * Once you have enabled remote discovery, you need to open access to your computer. If it's directly connected to internet, open ports 1978, 19780-19790. If you use a wireless router or similar, consult the manual on how to do port forwarding. Forward ports 1978 and 19780-19790 to your computer. | |
- | + | * Once you have opened access to your computer, you can playback a video using the browser, click on the 'Hide window' button, click on settings tab and click on 'Check server accessibility from the intenet' button. You should see a message saying everything is setup correctly if all is ok. | |
- | + | * Then finally open the client, click on window title bar, click on 'Remote discovery' and authenticate with your remote discovery username and password. If authentication succeeds, you should be able to access your computer automatically from outside your network even if your computer has dynamic ip address. | |
- | + | * Please note that for watching video through 3G you need to lower the video quality a lot. You can try the Nokia N8x0 profile first and lower bitrate and resolution until it plays without glitches. You also need to have enough upload speed on your internet connection. | |
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+ | =Installation= | ||
To get Knots running, some dependencies have to be met. After that, the server package and the tablet client must be installed. The following steps will guide you in those tasks. | To get Knots running, some dependencies have to be met. After that, the server package and the tablet client must be installed. The following steps will guide you in those tasks. | ||
- | + | ==Dependencies== | |
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Knots server uses [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ VLC] for streaming and [http://www.ffmpeg.org/ FFmpeg] for screenshots and media info. The following steps explain how to setup those dependencies. | Knots server uses [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ VLC] for streaming and [http://www.ffmpeg.org/ FFmpeg] for screenshots and media info. The following steps explain how to setup those dependencies. | ||
- | + | ===Linux=== | |
- | ==== | + | This instructions are for Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10) 32 and 64 bit. Other Debian derivates might use slightly different package names, but the general concept of the install is the same for all distros. |
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apt-get install ruby1.8 ruby rubygems libsqlite3-ruby libopenssl-ruby vlc ffmpeg | apt-get install ruby1.8 ruby rubygems libsqlite3-ruby libopenssl-ruby vlc ffmpeg | ||
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To get the best result, ubuntu users should compile ffmpeg themselves. [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=786095 Here] and [http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6963607&postcount=360 here] are good guides, you only need to copy-paste few lines. | To get the best result, ubuntu users should compile ffmpeg themselves. [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=786095 Here] and [http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6963607&postcount=360 here] are good guides, you only need to copy-paste few lines. | ||
- | + | ===OS X=== | |
- | + | Install latest [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html VLC] and [http://www.ffmpegx.com/ ffmpegX] to ''/Applications''. | |
- | + | ===Windows=== | |
- | + | Download and install latest [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html VLC]. For easy setup, install it under ''C:\Program Files'', otherwise you will need to edit the path in server settings. | |
- | + | ==Server== | |
- | + | ===Linux / FreeBSD / OS X=== | |
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- | Install latest [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html VLC] and [http://www.ffmpegx.com/ ffmpegX] to | + | |
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- | Download and install latest [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html VLC]. For easy setup, install it under | + | |
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*nix compatible OS users can get the latest client and server with git: | *nix compatible OS users can get the latest client and server with git: | ||
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git clone git://github.com/solmis/knots.git | git clone git://github.com/solmis/knots.git | ||
or download it from [http://github.com/solmis/knots/archives/master github] | or download it from [http://github.com/solmis/knots/archives/master github] | ||
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./install/create_osx_app | ./install/create_osx_app | ||
- | + | knots2 application should appear in your home folder. You can move to that to /Applications. After running the application an icon appears in the dock which then disappears, but knots should be running. | |
There is also a prebuilt [http://nakkiboso.com/knots2/knots_osx.zip package] for OS X users (Updated 2010-06-02). | There is also a prebuilt [http://nakkiboso.com/knots2/knots_osx.zip package] for OS X users (Updated 2010-06-02). | ||
- | + | ===Windows=== | |
- | Download the [http:// | + | Download the [http://nakkiboso.com/knots2/knots_setup_2010_05_25.exe installer] (Updated 2010-05-25). Install and start the server from the start menu. Then select Configure server from the menu to configure it. |
Advanced Windows users who want fixes and features quickly can use git too. Following is required only if you want to go through the trouble of updating the server by hand from time to time and report possible bugs about the new features. | Advanced Windows users who want fixes and features quickly can use git too. Following is required only if you want to go through the trouble of updating the server by hand from time to time and report possible bugs about the new features. | ||
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git clone git://github.com/solmis/knots.git | git clone git://github.com/solmis/knots.git | ||
- | Then download the installer, install it somewhere and copy the ruby folder and all the executables and cmd files to | + | Then download the installer, install it somewhere and copy the ruby folder and all the executables and cmd files to c:\knots. Then delete the folder made by the installer and edit the Knots 2 menu items to point to c:\knots. After that you can always update the server to latest version: open cmd.exe and run these commands: |
cd c:\knots | cd c:\knots | ||
git pull | git pull | ||
- | after pulling the latest changes, run | + | after pulling the latest changes, run Migrate.cmd to migrate possible database changes. |
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+ | ===Sheevaplug=== | ||
Sheevaplug doesn't have enough power to do transcoding, but you can listen to music and watch sd material using the Passthrough profile. VLC 0.9.9 that is available by default from the Ubuntu repository works well, but you need to either compile your own ffmpeg or install these [http://ugz.ath.cx:1415/ffmpeg_4_0.5_sheeva_armel.deb ffmpeg] and [http://nakkiboso.com/knots2/x264_1_0_sheeva_armel.deb x264] packages. | Sheevaplug doesn't have enough power to do transcoding, but you can listen to music and watch sd material using the Passthrough profile. VLC 0.9.9 that is available by default from the Ubuntu repository works well, but you need to either compile your own ffmpeg or install these [http://ugz.ath.cx:1415/ffmpeg_4_0.5_sheeva_armel.deb ffmpeg] and [http://nakkiboso.com/knots2/x264_1_0_sheeva_armel.deb x264] packages. | ||
- | + | ==Setup== | |
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Just point your browser to http://localhost:1978 and add your media under settings. If you don't see the ''Update collection'' button, please make sure that both ffmpeg and VLC paths are correct. | Just point your browser to http://localhost:1978 and add your media under settings. If you don't see the ''Update collection'' button, please make sure that both ffmpeg and VLC paths are correct. | ||
[[Image:Screen shot 2009-12-22 at 10.24.11 PM.png|HTML-frontend|500px]] | [[Image:Screen shot 2009-12-22 at 10.24.11 PM.png|HTML-frontend|500px]] | ||
- | + | ==Client== | |
- | + | Client for the N8x0 (OS2008/diablo) is available from the extras-repository. | |
- | Client for the N8x0 (OS2008/diablo) is available from the | + | Client for the N900 (Maemo5/fremantle) is available from the extras-devel -repository. |
- | + | Please bear in mind that the N900 client is still unfinished. You might come across bugs and other strange behavior (like quickly draining battery ect.) since mplayer currently can't utilize the full potential of the N900's hardware. You shouldn't enable extras-devel if you don't know what you are doing. '''Please read [http://wiki.maemo.org/Extras-devel this] before installing Knots 2 for the N900''' | |
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- | You can stream videos and music from outside your home network using 3G or WLAN, but make sure you make the server more secure. Check '''Can I use the server to view stuff from the internet?''' under | + | ==Accessing the server from the internet securely== |
+ | You can stream videos and music from outside your home network using 3G or WLAN, but make sure you make the server more secure. Check '''Can I use the server to view stuff from the internet?''' under Questions & Answers on how to enable basic auth for the server. If you want SSL encryption for more secure server, you need a custom libsoup library, because SSL is not supported by libsoup by default on Maemo platform. '''We take no responsibility if it messes up other applications using this library.''' Then install the latest client and rootsh from extras(-devel) repositories. Open terminal and run these commands: | ||
'''For the N900''' | '''For the N900''' | ||
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dpkg -i libsoup2.2-8_2.2.105-4_armel.deb | dpkg -i libsoup2.2-8_2.2.105-4_armel.deb | ||
rm libsoup2.2-8_2.2.105-4_armel.deb | rm libsoup2.2-8_2.2.105-4_armel.deb | ||
+ | |||
Knots doesn't have a 3G profile currently, because the perfect quality depends on so many things, but you can create a copy of some profile like N8x0 and tune it to suit your network. | Knots doesn't have a 3G profile currently, because the perfect quality depends on so many things, but you can create a copy of some profile like N8x0 and tune it to suit your network. | ||
- | Knots now has a feature to automatically connect to your server outside your | + | Knots now has a feature to automatically connect to your server outside your lan. Go to Settings -> Remote discovery and create an account for yourself. Server will then update your server location to a remote server every 6 hours. Open client and enable remote discovery by logging in with the same username and password. Client should then automatically connect to your server no matter where you are. After enabling remote discovery you can test your server setup with a click of a button. |
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+ | =Screenshots= | ||
[[Image:Knots-0.2.6-homescreen.png|Knots2 Client Start Screen|500px]] | [[Image:Knots-0.2.6-homescreen.png|Knots2 Client Start Screen|500px]] | ||
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[[Image:Knots-0.2.6-mp3lyrics.png|Knots2 Client showing song lyrics and rating dialog|250px]] | [[Image:Knots-0.2.6-mp3lyrics.png|Knots2 Client showing song lyrics and rating dialog|250px]] | ||
- | + | =Questions & Answers= | |
- | + | ==Windows== | |
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* '''Knots finds my media, I can browse it, but everytime I click on play I get an error message saying Stream failed to start. What is wrong?''' | * '''Knots finds my media, I can browse it, but everytime I click on play I get an error message saying Stream failed to start. What is wrong?''' | ||
*:This may be caused by Windows Vista/7 UAC, that prevents VLC from starting properly. To fix this, select stop server from the menu to shutdown Knots. Then go to the directory where vlc.exe is, create an empty text file inside it with administrator rights and copy the following text to that file: | *:This may be caused by Windows Vista/7 UAC, that prevents VLC from starting properly. To fix this, select stop server from the menu to shutdown Knots. Then go to the directory where vlc.exe is, create an empty text file inside it with administrator rights and copy the following text to that file: | ||
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*:This is an issue with Ruby and Windows. It's hard to fix it in Knots so we will have to wait for Ruby 1.9.2 which fixes these issues. Until then, try to avoid non-ascii characters in filenames. Other operating systems shouldn't be affected by this. | *:This is an issue with Ruby and Windows. It's hard to fix it in Knots so we will have to wait for Ruby 1.9.2 which fixes these issues. Until then, try to avoid non-ascii characters in filenames. Other operating systems shouldn't be affected by this. | ||
- | + | ==Linux== | |
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* '''I can't view any videos.''' | * '''I can't view any videos.''' | ||
- | *:Did you install the | + | *:Did you install the -unstripped packages of the FFmpeg libs? FFmpeg in Linux is a problem because all the license issues etc. so if your distro doesn't provide unrestricted builds you need to compile your own FFmpeg with at least libmp3lame and xvid support. Run ./scripts/vlctest to check what is wrong with your VLC/FFmpeg combo. |
* '''Knots stopped working after I upgraded to VLC 1.1''' | * '''Knots stopped working after I upgraded to VLC 1.1''' | ||
*:VLC developers rewrote the telnet interface and renamed the old one. if VLC fails to start, run: | *:VLC developers rewrote the telnet interface and renamed the old one. if VLC fails to start, run: | ||
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sudo -u yourusername -H screen -d -m -S kno /home/'''yourusername'''/knots/startknots.sh | sudo -u yourusername -H screen -d -m -S kno /home/'''yourusername'''/knots/startknots.sh | ||
- | Where the | + | Where the 'startknots.sh' script is simply: |
- | + | #!/bin/sh | |
- | #!/bin/sh | + | cd /home/'''yourusername'''/knots |
- | cd /home/'''yourusername'''/knots | + | ./knots.rb |
- | ./knots.rb | + | |
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The screen session can then be resumed from a shell session by issuing the command: | The screen session can then be resumed from a shell session by issuing the command: | ||
screen -R kno | screen -R kno | ||
- | or to simplify this action further, put an alias in the file | + | or to simplify this action further, put an alias in the file /home/'''yourusername'''/.bash_aliases: |
alias kno='screen -R kno' | alias kno='screen -R kno' | ||
- | + | ==OS X== | |
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* '''Seeking freezes the video for a while and then stops it.''' | * '''Seeking freezes the video for a while and then stops it.''' | ||
*:This is a VLC issue. It seems to have problems with certain codecs, mainly xvid/divx. Try updating VLC from time to time and see if it that helps. Or better yet, issue a bug report. | *:This is a VLC issue. It seems to have problems with certain codecs, mainly xvid/divx. Try updating VLC from time to time and see if it that helps. Or better yet, issue a bug report. | ||
- | + | ==Server== | |
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* '''Page content doesn't seem to update.''' | * '''Page content doesn't seem to update.''' | ||
*:That's because most tabs keep their state. Double click on the tab to force a refresh. | *:That's because most tabs keep their state. Double click on the tab to force a refresh. | ||
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*:Sure. Edit the passthrough profile and add a value vlc to embed and save. VLC plugin doesn't seem to close properly though, so you may need to restart the browser to kill it. | *:Sure. Edit the passthrough profile and add a value vlc to embed and save. VLC plugin doesn't seem to close properly though, so you may need to restart the browser to kill it. | ||
* '''I want to use VDR / MythTV / Dreambox with Knots but can't find a setting for them.''' | * '''I want to use VDR / MythTV / Dreambox with Knots but can't find a setting for them.''' | ||
- | *:Stop the server, run | + | *:Stop the server, run "./install/vdr", "./install/mythtv" or "./install/dreambox" and answer the questions. Double click on Settings tab and you should see a button that updates them. If your VDR/Dreambox has several channels, be sure to change Capture screenshots for external urls to 0 before scanning them. Then change it back to 1 and use the Edit button to grab only the screenshots you want. Dreambox enigma1 requires the Zapstream plugin to be installed, enigma2 should work out-of-the-box. |
* '''How can I make the server output some debugging messages to the terminal?''' | * '''How can I make the server output some debugging messages to the terminal?''' | ||
- | *:Run | + | *:Run "./scripts/enable_debug true" to enable debug and "./scripts/enable_debug false" to disable it. |
* '''Can I use the server to view stuff from the internet?''' | * '''Can I use the server to view stuff from the internet?''' | ||
*:Yes, just create an admin user first. Then click on the username and set a password and save. Then enable '''Force authentication''' from the settings. If you want SSL encryption, '''enable SSL''' too. Make sure server asks for authentication and that you can login before enabling access from the internet. You need to open/forward the port you are using and then 19780 for the actual video stream (and +1 for each additional video stream). After enabling remote discovery you can check that your server is properly setup without having to use the client from outside your network. | *:Yes, just create an admin user first. Then click on the username and set a password and save. Then enable '''Force authentication''' from the settings. If you want SSL encryption, '''enable SSL''' too. Make sure server asks for authentication and that you can login before enabling access from the internet. You need to open/forward the port you are using and then 19780 for the actual video stream (and +1 for each additional video stream). After enabling remote discovery you can check that your server is properly setup without having to use the client from outside your network. | ||
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*: Knots relies on vlc for handling the transcoding, so refer to it's [http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/ch03.html Official Documentation] for the available settings. | *: Knots relies on vlc for handling the transcoding, so refer to it's [http://www.videolan.org/doc/streaming-howto/en/ch03.html Official Documentation] for the available settings. | ||
- | + | ==Client== | |
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* '''How come the video plays fine with the client, but not when moved to the device?''' | * '''How come the video plays fine with the client, but not when moved to the device?''' | ||
*:Knots transcodes everything to a format your tablet supports. If your VLC can play it on your desktop, chances are your tablet then plays it as well. | *:Knots transcodes everything to a format your tablet supports. If your VLC can play it on your desktop, chances are your tablet then plays it as well. | ||
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gconftool-2 -s /apps/knots/sticky_server1 "My Open Server/0/1978/server_address" -t string | gconftool-2 -s /apps/knots/sticky_server1 "My Open Server/0/1978/server_address" -t string | ||
gconftool-2 -s /apps/knots/enable_discovery false -t string | gconftool-2 -s /apps/knots/enable_discovery false -t string | ||
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* '''Can I change the mplayer command used to view the stream?''' | * '''Can I change the mplayer command used to view the stream?''' | ||
gconftool-2 -s /apps/knots/mplayer_command "/usr/bin/mplayer -your custom -settings" -t string | gconftool-2 -s /apps/knots/mplayer_command "/usr/bin/mplayer -your custom -settings" -t string | ||
- | Amount of cache, | + | Amount of cache, x window id and stream address get appended automatically. |
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+ | ==Media== | ||
* '''Some of my audio/video files aren't scanned.''' | * '''Some of my audio/video files aren't scanned.''' | ||
- | *:You can add the the missing file extensions under settings and do a rescan. To keep the dependencies low, I only support | + | *:You can add the the missing file extensions under settings and do a rescan. To keep the dependencies low, I only support mp3-tags out of the box. But it doesn't mean other audio formats won't work, they just don't get tagged properly. |
* '''What about image support?''' | * '''What about image support?''' | ||
*:As a side effect, you can actually use Knots as an image viewer too. Knots will treat images as videos that will play for 5 seconds. You need to have the latest server installed for it to work. Just add jpg,jpeg,png,gif to the list of scanned file extensions in the settings. This is totally unsupported though and may cause some strange behavior. | *:As a side effect, you can actually use Knots as an image viewer too. Knots will treat images as videos that will play for 5 seconds. You need to have the latest server installed for it to work. Just add jpg,jpeg,png,gif to the list of scanned file extensions in the settings. This is totally unsupported though and may cause some strange behavior. | ||
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*:Sure. Just go to Edit media, select the album tag, then select the wrong value and rename it to the correct one. All the songs that are in that album are moved to the correct album. Do it for all the wrong names and all the songs should be in the same album. | *:Sure. Just go to Edit media, select the album tag, then select the wrong value and rename it to the correct one. All the songs that are in that album are moved to the correct album. Do it for all the wrong names and all the songs should be in the same album. | ||
- | + | =Bugs= | |
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If you come across bugs report them at the [http://github.com/solmis/knots/issues Knots bugtracker]. Please attach the necessary information (used Operating System, Tablet Revision, terminal output) and clear steps to reproduce the malfunction. | If you come across bugs report them at the [http://github.com/solmis/knots/issues Knots bugtracker]. Please attach the necessary information (used Operating System, Tablet Revision, terminal output) and clear steps to reproduce the malfunction. | ||
- | + | =Discuss= | |
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You can discuss Knots at [http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=30095 Talk]. Please submit bugs to github instead of discussion thread. | You can discuss Knots at [http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=30095 Talk]. Please submit bugs to github instead of discussion thread. | ||
- | + | =Contact= | |
- | + | Please join our IRC channel #knots at Freenode or email janne dot makinen at surffi dot fi | |
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+ | =Donate= | ||
Knots 2 is free software, but if you feel like donating, you can donate via [http://nakkiboso.com/knots2/donate.html Paypal]. | Knots 2 is free software, but if you feel like donating, you can donate via [http://nakkiboso.com/knots2/donate.html Paypal]. | ||
Learn more about Contributing to the wiki.