ATTENTION Current Mac mini/A+ users: Boot Mavericks from an SD card, load a RAMdisk, dismount your internal SATA drives, and pour a drink for the musicians walking out of your speakers!

[Le Concombre Masqué]

Thanks for clarifying that. I had not thought to try HQP desktop without the CAD script minimizations. I'm puzzled as to what would make it sound better without it (i.e. what launch agents/daemons make SQ better when they stay loaded), but I am nothing if not open-minded. Since you are familiar with the benefits of the CAD script with Amarra, I take your comment more seriously.

 

But having now heard the glory that is NAA, I am pretty hooked on that. Time to register my copy of HQ Player. Sadly, at present it is a step backwards in terms of player functionality--at least for the way I use it. Playlists don't even list album name. Clicking on a column heading does not sort the playlist by that column. It won't open exported iTunes playlists (unless I first open/resave them with Audirvana). And the NAA is only recognized if I plug the Ethernet cable directly into my DSL modem--it won't get its DHCP address from my Cisco Ethernet switch. All pretty basic stuff.

Yet I am as we speak making a bootable USB stick for NAA (to skip the CD ROM drive).

 

Cheers,

AJC

 

hi Alex, I understand that 2 machines is the way to go with our friend Miska's HQP. Nowadays, thanks to you, I reboot my MBP on a sd card then create ram disks etc ; if I was to try HQP I suppose I would use the MBP to do all the heavy lifting thus bot from its ssd, but then I suppose I would still want the usb connected to my dac machine to run on a sd card, wouldn't I ? Would a second hand mac mini do ? without screen and keyboard ? which year to get the most bang for the bucks ? thanks

[AnotherSpin]

Alex, may I join Le Concombre Masqué and ask for a guidance about using NAA for dummies - I speak about myself only :-). Is it possible with a single mac mini?

 

I listen HQP right now with CAD enabled. Yes, I could agree it probably makes sound "honest", not as "sweet" and enriched as no-script option in my setting.

[pofonso]

+1

[Superdad]

Hello Gentlemen:

 

So you want an easy route to running a Mac as an NAA for HQ Player? Don't we all! While it is true that I have gotten it working--relatively painlessly thanks to Miska--there are still some kinks to work out and I am also in discussion with him on the best way to approach and document the process. I promise to keep you all posted if I find a way to make it easy.

 

I may also purchase a CuBox i2eX for $100 to use as an NAA. I think Miska can provide a preconfigured ISO image for the OS and NAA for CuBox, and with a good power supply there is a chance that it might sound as good or better than a Mac NAA. You know I will compare and report. It will be pretty funny, powering a tiny $100 cube computer with my $925 JS-2 LPS!

 

Ciao,

--Alex C.

[tranz]

Positive, per conversation with the owner of BJC (his name escapes me at the moment). The BJC Cat6a is shielded--but the shields are not attached to the shell of the RJ-45. I am not sure if the drain wire for the shield is attached to some other pin at one end, but I doubt it.

 

So aside from their use of the expensive and difficult to obtain particular Belden 10GX, their Cat 6a is different than others in that its shield is unterminated. It is easy to see on the cable itself since with the BJC/Belden Cat 6 (which I also have a 25-ft of but have not tested) one can see the convolutions of of the wire telegraph through the jacket--whereas the uber-thick 6a is smooth.

 

Thanks! That is very interesting.

 

Hopefully this does not mean the shield is just an antenna for noise that can't go anywhere but crosstalk.

[AnotherSpin]

I promise to keep you all posted if I find a way to make it easy.

I will wait patiently...)

[Le Concombre Masqué]

+1!

[AnotherSpin]

I now have only a couple of small additions. Here they are, with comments:

 

Remove Spotlight icon from menu bar:

sudo chmod 600 /System/Library/CoreServices/Search.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Search

 

killall SystemUIServer

 

 

Turn off Spaces:

Defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces -bool false

 

killall Dock

 

 

Turn off Safe Sleep (prevent background copying of RAM contents to boot drive file):

Google about it and you will see that the sleep file is mostly an a vestige of the past, and was meant for laptops.

 

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

 

Actually, the above command is part of the CAD 1.2.2 script, but the below two are not.

 

Delete existing Safe Sleep file (file is at least half the size as your system RAM; so for my 16GB machine that's an 8GB file written!):

sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage

 

Keep it from coming back after restart:

sudo ln -s /dev/null /var/vm/sleepimage

 

This last command was a new addition last week. Despite the fact that the "sudo pmset -a hibernate mode 0" is supposed to permanently (for that boot drive) keep the giant, useless sleep image from coming back, it does come back after every reboot--unless you run this last command. It is odd, because I don't think that problem existed with my 10.9.0 version of Mavericks, but since my new up-to-date install on my new machine, it was coming back.

 

 

Wow, this commands do wanders with my Transcend 16GB card, which previously refused to re-boot at all with fresh OS install. Now it boots, and it boots in 45 sec after chime! Alex, to whom should I pray your ideas would end never?...)))

[alsterfan]

...Now it boots, and it boots in 45 sec after chime!...

And does it sound different?

Regards,

Uwe

[Superdad]

Wow, this commands do wanders with my Transcend 16GB card, which previously refused to re-boot at all with fresh OS install. Now it boots, and it boots in 45 sec after chime! Alex, to whom should I pray your ideas would end never?...)))

 

I assume it is the Sleepimage commands that are helping you. Glad they worked so well for you. I can't take credit for them since discussion of Sleepimage issue is pretty wide on the net. Although I always thought it was a feature just for laptops (to preserve work in case the battery runs completely down), just this morning I found an explanation as to why Apple still implements its on some desktop machines:

 

"...a new feature was introduced to enter safe sleep after four hours of the computer being connected to AC power. This is an effort to comply with the European Energy Standards (ErP Lot6). This will only occur if there is no wireless or Ethernet activity and no activity from external devices such as USB storage devices.

This is normal behavior for the following models:

 

MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 and later)

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012 and later)

MacBook Air (Mid 2012 and later)

iMac (Late 2012 and later)

Mac mini (Late 2012 and later) "

 

Anotherspin: How much RAM does your machine have? There is conflicting info on the web about how large the Sleepimage file is. Some say it is always the same size as the amount of RAM installed (never bigger), but others like myself experience it as exactly half the size of RAM. So before I stopped it, my 16GB 2012 i7 Mac mini with Mavericks was creating an 8GB Sleepimage. But maybe an 8GB machine would also have an 8GB image or perhaps a 4GB file.

 

I can certainly understand what you had a massive difference in usability since your SD card is only 16GB. Depending upon the size of your RAM and your Sleepimage, that SD card probably was getting VERY full. And we all know that OS X can come to a crawl when boot disk space runs low.

This is why I have generally recommended 32GB SD cards for music server booting.

 

Regards,

ALEX

[Superdad]

And does it sound different?

Regards,

Uwe

 

Well it must since it would not boot for him previously. Any music playing must sound better than the spinning gear of the boot screen!

[alsterfan]

Well it must since it would not boot for him previously. Any music playing must sound better than the spinning gear of the boot screen!

1:0 for you!

Uwe

[AnotherSpin]

Anotherspin: How much RAM does your machine have?

(...)

I can certainly understand what you had a massive difference in usability since your SD card is only 16GB.

(...)

This is why I have generally recommended 32GB SD cards for music server booting.

 

Late 2012 Mac mini, 16GB, i7.

 

Actually, I have two similar Sandisk 32GB 80MB/sec cards, which I use for each of my preference players, Amarra Symphony and HQPlayer. It seems these two players have some compatibility issue, I decided to keep them separately.

 

The third card, 16GB Transend 300x I was using for comparison, because of discussion here. I was not able to boot it initially with fresh OS install, but I was able to boot and run it with OS cloned by Carbon Copy Cloner. While comparing the sound from 16GB Transcend with cloned OS to the sound of 32GB Sandisk I didn't hear much difference.

 

Now, to the most unexpected part. After absolutely identical OS installation routine plus removing languages, running CAD and sleep image commands, I did listening test of two cards, 16 GB Transcend and 32GB Sandisk. Both cards had only OS from installer and Amarra Symphony's latest build. And, I should admit, SQ from 16GB Transcend beats the one from 32GB Sandisk in my system. The sound from Transcend is big, fast, and natural, while from Sandisk it is somewhat muffled, top compressed and artificial. Tommorrow I'll get another 16GB Transcend to check it with HQPlayer.

[AnotherSpin]

And does it sound different?

Regards,

Uwe

It does, Uwe! In my system I prefer the sound after installation from OS installer to the sound after CCCloning without doubt.

[Superdad]

It does, Uwe! In my system I prefer the sound after installation from OS installer to the sound after CCCloning without doubt.

 

I'll give that a try. I have a USB thumb drive with current Mavericks installer on it. Although the factory Mavericks install that came on my new 2102 i7 (now just one of 5 HD partitions) weighs in at 33GB, I am sure that is because it came with with all the iLife and iWork apps. The installer I downloaded recently (to do a clean install for the 2010 mini handed down to my son) is likely to have a smaller installation footprint.

 

I have still sealed super fast Toshiba Exceria 32GB sitting here. I think I'll first compare it to my 32GB Transcend Class 10 by using the clone method I outlined in post #414. After that I'll erase one (not sure if I should erase the winner or the looser) and do a clean install directly from the USB flash installer.

 

None of that will happen for at least a week as I have already been wasting too much time playing around with Linux, HQPlayer and the NAA, and writing long e-mails to Miska. And I have a pile of Mac mini DC-conversion/Linear Fan Controller Kits to prepare and ship out. Got to write and video the installation procedure!

 

Ciao,

AJC

[AnotherSpin]

I'll give that a try. I have a USB thumb drive with current Mavericks installer on it. Although the factory Mavericks install that came on my new 2102 i7 (now just one of 5 HD partitions) weighs in at 33GB, I am sure that is because it came with with all the iLife and iWork apps. The installer I downloaded recently (to do a clean install for the 2010 mini handed down to my son) is likely to have a smaller installation footprint.

 

Alex,

 

Install OS X Mavericks.app which I have is 5.34 GB. I believe I downloaded it from AppStore some time ago. When you click download button it asks you whether you want to download it despite it is already installed in the computer and you can go with updates as well. if you select "continue" you will get installer app downloaded.

[Superdad]

Alex,

 

Install OS X Mavericks.app which I have is 5.34 GB. I believe I downloaded it from AppStore some time ago. When you click download button it asks you whether you want to download it despite it is already installed in the computer and you can go with updates as well. if you select "continue" you will get installer app downloaded.

 

Thanks. I do already have the Install OS X Mavericks app (the most recent 10.9.3 in fact, downloaded for other use just last last month) on a flash drive. You are right, the installer weighs in at under 5.5GB, but I am pretty sure it expands a bit when actually installed. No problem though.

 

I also have the installer for the latest Yosemite beta, but again, no more time to fuss around this month.

[Daudio]

... OS X Mavericks app (the most recent 10.9.3 in fact...

 

Alex,

 

Mavericks is up to 10.9.4 now. I was just working on a system-to-clone a couple of days ago, and downloaded the latest install app. It weighs in at 5.34 GB.

 

And while I'm here... I was wondering about what Apple apps one can safely delete to trim down the OS footprint. I recall some mention of deleting some apps to save space, but not which specific ones

 

I'm pretty sure a dedicated audio OS wouldn't need apps like:

Calender, Chess, Contacts, Facetime, Game Center, iBooks, Image Capture, Mail, Maps, Notes, Photo Booth, Reminders, Stickies,

 

But OTOH, I not sure about apps like:

Automator, Dashboard, Dictionary, Font Book, Launchpad, Messages, Mission Control, Safari, Time Machine

 

They might be too tightly integrated to disappear gracefully ?? Anyone care to jump in here with a 'safe to delete' app list ?

 

I have already deleted iTunes 11 with AppZapper, since I downgraded to 10.7, and dumped unnecessary languages, so it is tempting to go further in slimming down this special purpose OS, even through I shouldn't really have a problem on my 32GB SanDisk Extreme SD card (bought on close-out !).

 

TIA

[Superdad]

Alex,

 

And while I'm here... I was wondering about what Apple apps one can safely delete to trim down the OS footprint. I recall some mention of deleting some apps to save space, but not which specific ones

 

I'm pretty sure a dedicated audio OS wouldn't need apps like:

Calender, Chess, Contacts, Facetime, Game Center, iBooks, Image Capture, Mail, Maps, Notes, Photo Booth, Reminders, Stickies,

 

But OTOH, I not sure about apps like:

Automator, Dashboard, Dictionary, Font Book, Launchpad, Messages, Mission Control, Safari, Time Machine

 

They might be too tightly integrated to disappear gracefully ?? Anyone care to jump in here with a 'safe to delete' app list ?

 

Well I did a lot of careful manual trimming of apps, utilities, and items related to same in the 3 Library folders. Most of that I had to perform while booted from another partition as OS X will not let you get rid of a lot of apps in the partition you are booted into. But afterwards I discovered that some things I deleted--possibly some apps or some Calendar or Spotlight-related items--cause my slimmed OS to have runaway consumption of CPU by the "disnoted","fontd" and one other process. That upset me and I almost started all over, but for the heck of it I then ran the CAD script and it ran perfectly (see my slightly more detailed account of this in post #114). And I have found this to be consistent. If I run the CAD Reset script, then my manually slimmed OS will again show very high CPU usage (50%+) by "disnoted" and "fontd".

 

So I really can not give you an accurate list of what is expendable. Besides, what really matters to SQ is how many active processes and threads your machine runs at idle, and the newest CAD script (the one where they also to Launch Agent unloads, not just Daemons) goes a long way in reducing them. There are probably more that can be cut (using a utility like Launch Control or just the command line will show you what is still running), but I don't have the time or patience to further unload/test one by one to see what makes functioning break.

 

To answer your question though: I think I got rid of all the apps you listed except FontBook and Safari.

[Daudio]

Alex,

 

Well I did a lot of careful manual trimming of apps, utilities, and items related to same in the 3 Library folders... I think I got rid of all the apps you listed except FontBook and Safari.

 

Ah, thanks for the info on your experiences. It makes sense to me that some apps are too interwoven to play nice without their friends, but if you kill them all anyway it doesn't matter

 

...the newest CAD script... (see my slightly more detailed account of this in post #114)

 

I had copied your additions, and looked over the script, so I'm ready to put it in action soon. As a matter of fact, I think I should test my 'new' system before ripping all those apps out. Good procedure never hurts.

 

Most of that I had to perform while booted from another partition as OS X will not let you get rid of a lot of apps in the partition you are booted into.

 

Yep, I have 3 partitions to play around with in addition to my main boot volume and the SD card, so easy to do, through AppZapper is even easier.

 

But while I am coping with these conditions, I am an unhappy camper with Mavericks restrictions and intrusions. When I first installed it, it really pissed me off. I've accommodated, but it will never be my friend !

[Superdad]

But while I am coping with these conditions, I am an unhappy camper with Mavericks restrictions and intrusions. When I first installed it, it really pissed me off. I've accommodated, but it will never be my friend !

 

What, you mean you don't just ADORE Notification Center?!

 

EDIT: I just realized that THING is there in Mountain Lion as well.

[alsterfan]

But OTOH, I not sure about apps like:

Automator, Dashboard, Dictionary, Font Book, Launchpad, Messages, Mission Control, Safari, Time Machine

TIA

Perhaps my screenshot helps to see what I have done. Apart from that I used Mavericks Cache Cleaner to delete languages (leaving de and en in my case - en always has to remain, no matter what main language you use. Otherwise my OS did not boot). In addition in the Library --> fonts folder only 4 fonts remained. So far I have not been bold enough to touch the Systems --> Library --> fonts folder as well. All in all this lead to an OS with a 5.5 GB footprint.

Regards,

Uwe

[AnotherSpin]

Sirs,

 

A certain question has been lingering in my mind. Is it safe enough to cut off parts of OS, even if it is something like Chess app? Who knows what Easter eggs it contains that may be indispensable for overall integrity and stability of the system? If Apple keeps it why shouldn't we?

[alsterfan]

Is it safe enough to cut off parts of OS, even if it is something like Chess app? Who knows what Easter eggs it contains that may be indispensable for overall integrity and stability of the system? If Apple keeps it why shouldn't we?

I thought I had given one possible answer to your question (#472). The attached picture shows, which apps have remained in my OS leaving me all I need to have a properly working Music OS on my SD card.

Regards,

Uwe

[AnotherSpin]

I thought I had given one possible answer to your question (#472). The attached picture shows, which apps have remained in my OS leaving me all I need to have a properly working Music OS on my SD card.

Regards,

Uwe

 

Uwe, I was not clear, my fault. I am not inquiring whether Mac OS or particular music player will work if we delete some items which system contains. I am guessing will system pertain its integrity if we're cutting something what we may think is deletable. But what I am really want to know, is this integrity important for SQ?