AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

[bobfa]

Getting setup for NUC testing.  I have the NUC7i7DNBE  board on order from SimplyNUC (I hope) and the Asaka X7D is also ordered. I have the license for AL... I wanted to ask about RAM for Headless endpoint. I have not ordered it yet. I have seen a couple of references to 4GB and some that say 16Gb.  I am slightly confused.  I also need some USB sticks just to be safe.  32gb overkill?

 

The plan is to test A/B with my UltraRendu.  I will be using my JS-2 Power supply and if I need I have an LPS-1.2.  

 

This feels like we need an AL/NUC Wiki???  I can try to host one if we need.

[bobfa]

1 hour ago, rickca said:

@bobfa you should probably specify what audio software you plan to run on your NUC.

Roon Bridge

[bobfa]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

 

Bob,

 

Here's the rationale about RAM:

• More memory consumes more power
  • more noise
  • more demand from PSU
• Roon Bridge seems to run fine on just 4GB RAM, even with AL booted into RAM
• I use 8GB, because it enables me to experiment with up to 4GB of buffer space for squeezelite
• I see no reason to go beyond 8GB for an endpoint for now.

As for USB sticks, yes definitely get a few spares. I have had good luck with these: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Flair-Flash-Drive/dp/B015CH1JIW

 

I look forward to your findings! Please post your listening impressions comparing with the UR over on the novel thread.

 

Rajiv,

Thanks for the info.  I am finishing up my Amazon order now. 

 

I will report over on the SQ thread.  I am excited about this.  

 

Bob

[bobfa]

I have a NUC7i7BNH that was a ROON ROCK server at one point it is now on Windows 10.  I am going to use it to build up my AL setup and test the basics.  Should help me fill the space while waiting for my NUC/Endpoint hardware to arrive.

 

I will also use it as a AL ROON server testBED.

 

Updating BIOS and Windows now....

[bobfa]

In this crazy update mode, we are in personal version control is hard.  I have only made a couple of small changes and I am keeping a "log" in an Apple Note.  I was thinking about moving to Evernote to share stuff with others.  When I get my new NUC I will have to add BIOS change log to that.

 

I am still thinking of a WIKI.  I will go over to my A2 hosting panel and see what I can install quickly.

 

 

 

[bobfa]

Found an interesting SSH program

 

https://www.termius.com/#terminals

 

Just played a little bit on my Mac.  Seems to work.  Need to understand the configurations better.  You can run without an account on their syncing service.  Small print on the startup dialog.

 

 

[bobfa]

Nice GUI saved sessions. Some other stuff I have not explored 

[bobfa]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

I was helping out @bobfa to get his Roon Server to boot off of an Optane NVMe SSD. Since he was able to get it done succesdfully, the side benefit are my notes, which resulted in a HOW-TO Guide, included below.

I am looking into having two NUC machines running Audio Linux in my system, server, and a network bridge.  Both are running Roon software.

 

Rajiv sent me his document to kick off my idea of taking my NUC network bridge and turning it into a Music server.  It did not sound like it would be hard just challenging as I am not fluent in Linux.    First I had to upgrade the NUC with an Optane Stick.

 

 

 

I purchased a 32Gb stick to install in the Akasa NUC

 

 

As I showed in the initial build, there are four screws to take the top off of the case.  The NUC7i7DNBE has two M.2 slots.  The one closest to the board is for the Intel WiFi/Bluetooth radio card.  The slot that is further away is the 80mm long slot for PCIE NVME SSD, and it is Optane ready.  There is a small screw that holds down the end of the card.  Make sure to use proper anti-static precautions here.  Remove that little screw.

 

 

The plug the card into the M.2 slot and replace the screw holding down the M.2 card.

 

 

Here is the overall picture of the inside of the case with the Optane card installed.

 

 

I the BIOS I had to turn that M.2 slot back on.

 

Notice that the BIOS shows that there is a card in the slot.  Just check the box shown and save the BIOS and exit.

 

 

It took me some time to work through the process that @austinpop provided.  I had to relearn some stuff and LEARN some more stuff.  The drive and partition ID scheme is Linux is a bit different that MacOS and Windows.  I made a couple of typing mistakes and had to redo a couple of steps!  I had a couple of stumbling blocks, but we worked those out.  Oh and one email to @hifi25nl when I got desperate, but Rajiv had already solved it!

 

The NUC is setup on my test bench and connected to the network along with a keyboard and display.  I did most of the work on my 27in screen iMac so that I could have the document and a shell into the NUC side by side.  I found that the nano editor works fine for me but it was not working right in Termius so I just opened the Unix Terminal on the Mac and SSHed into the NUC.  

 

I have my music library stored in three places for "safety." My Sonic Transporter has it stored internally, and it is on my QNAP NAS.   I setup Roon on the NUC server to access the library from the NAS.  Roon is still crunching in the background fingerprinting the music.

 

I have one more step on the bench to complete.  I am setting up a network bridge on AL so that I isolate the main stereo endpoint.

 

The NUC server will be on my basement equipment rack with the NAS.  Both will be powered by the HDPLEX 200.  I will be testing with a couple of network bridge endpoints shortly.

 

MANY MANY thanks to @austinpop

 

 

 

 

[bobfa]

I forgot that.I will add it.

[bobfa]

42 minutes ago, bobfa said:

I am looking into having two NUC machines running Audio Linux in my system, server, and a network bridge.  Both are running Roon software.

 

Rajiv sent me his document to kick off my idea of taking my NUC network bridge and turning it into a Music server.  It did not sound like it would be hard just challenging as I am not fluent in Linux.    First I had to upgrade the NUC with an Optane Stick.

 

 

 

I purchased a 32Gb stick to install in the Akasa NUC

 

 

As I showed in the initial build, there are four screws to take the top off of the case.  The NUC7i7DNBE has two M.2 slots.  The one closest to the board is for the Intel WiFi/Bluetooth radio card.  The slot that is further away is the 80mm long slot for PCIE NVME SSD, and it is Optane ready.  There is a small screw that holds down the end of the card.  Make sure to use proper anti-static precautions here.  Remove that little screw.

 

 

The plug the card into the M.2 slot and replace the screw holding down the M.2 card.

 

 

Here is the overall picture of the inside of the case with the Optane card installed.

 

 

I the BIOS I had to turn that M.2 slot back on.

 

Notice that the BIOS shows that there is a card in the slot.  Just check the box shown and save the BIOS and exit.

 

 

It took me some time to work through the process that @austinpop provided.  I had to relearn some stuff and LEARN some more stuff.  The drive and partition ID scheme is Linux is a bit different that MacOS and Windows.  I made a couple of typing mistakes and had to redo a couple of steps!  I had a couple of stumbling blocks, but we worked those out.  Oh and one email to @hifi25nl when I got desperate, but Rajiv had already solved it!

 

The NUC is setup on my test bench and connected to the network along with a keyboard and display.  I did most of the work on my 27in screen iMac so that I could have the document and a shell into the NUC side by side.  I found that the nano editor works fine for me but it was not working right in Termius so I just opened the Unix Terminal on the Mac and SSHed into the NUC.  

 

I have my music library stored in three places for "safety." My Sonic Transporter has it stored internally, and it is on my QNAP NAS.   I setup Roon on the NUC server to access the library from the NAS.  Roon is still crunching in the background fingerprinting the music.

 

I have one more step on the bench to complete.  I am setting up a network bridge on AL so that I isolate the main stereo endpoint.

 

The NUC server will be on my basement equipment rack with the NAS.  Both will be powered by the HDPLEX 200.  I will be testing with a couple of network bridge endpoints shortly.

 

MANY MANY thanks to @austinpop

 

3

The

42 minutes ago, bobfa said:

 

 

 

Folks I forgot to add the heatsink to the Optane SSD!!  Using the pad attach the heatsink to the SSD!

 

 

 

[bobfa]

Roon audio device issue with two AL machines in the same network. @hifi25nl any ideas?  Anyone else? @austinpop 

 

I have one AL NUC machine running Roon Core. 

I have a Sonic Transporter running  Roon Core 

I have a second AL NUC  running RoonBridge

 

• When the Sonic Transporter is the Roon Core the NUC running roonbridge shows the DAC hooked to the USB port in Roon Audio Settings
• When the NUC AL machine is the Roon Core the same NUC endpoint does not show the DAC hooked up to the USB port in Roon  Audio Settings.
• ALSO when the two NUCs are running the devices "Connected to CORE" do not show up at all.  If I shut down the NUC running roonbridge the "connected to Core" devices appear.

 

This is weird to me.  Of note that both of the AL machines are built from the same download of AL and have been updated online.  (I should be properly licensed to run two)

 

NOTE: I built a new USB stick today for the roonbridge machine just to test. 

 

 

[bobfa]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

On the 2 AL machines:

• stop Roon Server or Bridge as the case may be. You can use the menu option to STOP and disable all running audio services
• (as root) rm -f /var/roon/RAATServer/Settings
• Now start Roon Server or Bridge as the case may be. 

I deleted the file unique_id in that settings folder on the bridge and everything is working.  I did not change it on the server yet. 

 

If someone else has this problem remember to fix it on real media if you are running in RAM

 

[bobfa]

More to play with I am off to build a Master USB stick with this version.

 

 

[bobfa]

Looking for a quick way to swap between Wireless (internal) and Wired on a NUC running Roon endpoint.  I have both installed and I would like to be able to power the radio on and off without a reboot. 

[bobfa]

9 hours ago, ray-dude said:

 

 

The ArchLinux site (linked from the audiolinux site) has lots of good info on how to setup wireless networking, but it took a long time to wade through.  I distilled down my findings into a simple recipe that I use, that may be useful to others that want to play with WLANs on their NUC (I've used this on both my NUC7i7DNKE and NUC7CJYH)

 

 

 

* Make sure WiFi on in bios

 

* Install WPA supplicant

 

pacman -S wpa_supplicant

 

 

* Find out name of wireless interface:

 

ip link

 

(mine is wlo2)

 

 

* Quick setup of WPA supplicant config file

 

wpa_passphrase MYSSID MYpassphrase > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlo2.conf

 

(use your interface name where I used wlo2, and your WiFi SSID and passphrase in plain text

 

 

* Test wpa_supplicant

 

wpa_supplicant -i wlo2 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlo2.conf

 

(again, use your interface name where I used wlo2)

 

If it connects cleanly, control C to kill.  If not, you have some digging to do to figure out why: 

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/WPA_supplicant

 

 

* Setup to start at boot, start it up, and check that it is running

 

systemctl daemon-reload

systemctl enable wpa_supplicant@wlo2

systemctl start wpa_supplicant@wlo2

systemctl status wpa_supplicant@wlo2

 

(use your wireless interface name after the @ sign)

 

 

* Create /etc/systemd/network/wl.network for your wireless interface

 

[Match]

Name=wlo2

 

[Network]

DHCP=yes

 

[DHCP]

RouteMetric=20

 

 

* If you're going to run wired ethernet at same time modify /etc/systemd/network/en.network

 

[Match]

Name=en*

 

[Network]

DHCP=yes

 

[DHCP]

RouteMetric=10

 

 

 

* Restart networkd and check:

 

systemctl restart systemd-networkd

networkctl status

 

 

* Get IP address(es) and check

 

ip a

 

You should have a different one on each network interface you set up (wired, wireless, etc)

 

ping the IP address(es) from another computer on your network

 

 

Thanks for the formula it helps. I will have to adjust  and put in the route metric. I had used what Piero put up the other day on his website.  I am going to try an experiment where I have both network interfaces active and switch playback in Roon.  This will leave the wireless radio on.  I will then disable the  m.2 slot in the BIOS and see what happens to the sound from Ethernet.    Note I will post about adding the wireless card to the hardware shortly.

 

 

 

 

[bobfa]

1 minute ago, User471 said:

Also can anyone point me to a post with the optimised BIOS settings in it?

I have some of it in my post here:

 

The basic BIOS changes for the NUC I am using are there.  Now some of the setting will change due to hardware, adding wifi or optane, etc.  I am not sure that they are fully optimal.

I will be updating it shortly for adding an internal wifi card.

[bobfa]

anyone else seeing these messages when enabling ramroot?

 

==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: wd719x

==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: aic94xx

[bobfa]

3 hours ago, tapatrick said:

had similar issues @bobfa (did you get yours working?) but after a few days back and forth with Piero, I got the network bridge working. It's worth the effort for the improvement in SQ. I did follow the instructions carefully but kept getting issues but eventually succeeded. When working it looks like this:

I have not had time to get back to testing this.  I see that the bridging scripts have been updated in the latest menu.  I will test with the and see what happens.  My current server (Sonic Transporter) is bridged and that helps.  I think we will get to a point where the setup menu system will make this accessible to everyone.

 

I left off at a point where the endpoint was not accessible and could not get an IP address when rebooted when talking to AL server in a bridge.  

 

Keep us informed as to your progress.

[bobfa]

 

@hifi25nl 

 

 

Posted January 9

Audiolinux has already a ramsave periodic option.

You can start/enable it (as root) with the commands

 

systemctl start ramsave.timer

systemctl enable ramsave.timer

 

The default is every 30 min. You can change it editing the /etc/systemd/system/ramsave.timer

•  

[bobfa]

He posted it here.   Click on the posted on date link. 

[bobfa]

There are some hints here:

 

https://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/FramesPeriods

 

I have not read very far.  This is a old link so things may have been updated.

 

Here is another indicator.

 

https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/increasing-alsa_buffer-size-4175481111-print/

 

Got to love open source.  REcompile and test!!!

 

[bobfa]

8 minutes ago, amolan said:

Hi,

 

Where did you get this unique_id ?

 

Thanks,

 

Alexandre.

This is a problem when the Roon folders are copied and you try to run two devices on the same network. Roon gets VERY confused!

 

Search for it on the forums. You shut down Roon and delete some stuff.  I would not do this on the server so you do not lose the database or anything by accident

 

[bobfa]

I started playing with processor core dedication today.  I ran the scripts while in RAMBOOT and they threw errors saying /etc folders were full.  So I rebooted into USB and the audio status menu does not display data properly it ends up blank.  So I broke something running that menu item while booted into RAM. 

 

To that end audio-Linux 1.0 with menu 100 is up on the website so I am going to reflash and start over.  Takes about 15 min to get up and running.  OH, and menu 101 appears to be up also.

 

I will see where the listening takes me after I get the USB rebuilt.

[bobfa]

6 hours ago, bobfa said:

I started playing with processor core dedication today.  I ran the scripts while in RAMBOOT and they threw errors saying /etc folders were full.  So I rebooted into USB and the audio status menu does not display data properly it ends up blank.  So I broke something running that menu item while booted into RAM. 

 

To that end audio-Linux 1.0 with menu 100 is up on the website so I am going to reflash and start over.  Takes about 15 min to get up and running.  OH, and menu 101 appears to be up also.

 

I will see where the listening takes me after I get the USB rebuilt.

I just build a new USB stick and play.  Of course, I break stuff all the time.  OH well

[bobfa]

There have been some menu changes in AL about CPU isolation.  You might want to check out the menu updates