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AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning


rickca
Message added by austinpop

Summary of useful findings and recommendations

 

This section will be a living repository of useful info from this thread. It's very similar to a wiki and will be maintained by a small group of thread moderators.

 

Before you get started please refer to the Audio-Linux website to ensure you have the latest info and the proper versions of the OS. Audio-Linux.com  

 

**** Updated for AL 1.30 menu 118 or later.

 

  "First Run" setup for headless.  

 

Setup your NUC with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the NUC BIOS settings.  From the menu note the IP address of the machine to SSH into.  From a MAC the macOS terminal program supports SSH:

324537708_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_02_19PM.thumb.png.739dc7f9cdb05e04da806c7c66877332.png

 

Then it is simpler to cut and paste into the terminal session. After entering the password for the audiolinuxuser you will be presented with the AL headless menu:

 

1518375894_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_04_18PM.thumb.png.a7b2867a163f8f014e56e52ff69f94b4.png

 

Option 8 takes you to the command line for the following basic setup.  You will need to be the Root user for this setup and the su command first:

 

su

 

Fix the time zone:  (this is my timezone - look in directory /usr/share/zoneinfo)

 

timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago
 

Setup and Start NTP daemon (to keep the system time in sync)

 

*** the config file is now properly filled in.

 

Now Start the daemon

 

timedatectl set-ntp true

 

 

NOTE: Sometimes the system takes a little while to get synced up.
 

Set hostname  (this provides a unique name for the machine on your network.  Replace <NAME> with your chosen name)

 

hostnamectl set-hostname <NAME> 
 

Once the above items are set up your machine is ready to be configured for say a Roon bridge/endpoint. That is done using the AL menu.  To return to the menu do the following commands.

 

exit

menu

 

----------------------------------

 

For most of us, the following basic settings are key.

From the configuration menu:

6. START and enable Roonbridge

15. SET Realtime Priority to extreme

16. ENABLE ramroot (reboot after)

 

Return to the main menu and reboot the NUC using 

 

11 Reboot

 

------------------

Roon Server setup is a bit more complex and we will cover it completely a bit later.  The key is where you are booting from and where the Roon database is stored.  In general; say a 32gb OPTANE "SSD".

 

  • You have to partition the SSD into a boot drive and a storage drive.  
  • The transfer the USB stick install to the boot partition.  
  • Reboot from the boot partition.  
  • Do the basic setup. Timezone and name
  • Transfer the Roon Database to the storage drive
  • Start the Roon Server
  • .....

 

----------------- 

The machine will reboot and from the display attached to the NUC you can watch it boot up and load into RAM.  Once the AudioLinux menu is showing the endpoint should be available in Roon.    This completes the basic startup sequence.  The system is ready to start testing.    

 

 

Recommended Posts

Anyone know what software works well for configuring AudioLinux as a DLNA endpoint/client?

 

I ask because I just found this great app called iEast Play, which I believe is a DLNA controller used in a number of cheap streamers including Nords new EasyStream - however it looks really super... TIDAL, Deezer Qobuz it does the lot.

 

Also, just thought I'd mention that those of you that aren't running AL headless, check out the wicd network manager - miles easier than setting up WiFi with wpa supplicant which is a pain to use.  Instructions available in this YouTube clip here.

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audiolinux0 works for me in lxqt  - in terminal type su then audiolinux0 as password.  I am also new to audiolinux (Arch Linux) and have encountered a few challenges (no sound, wpa-supplicant being a pain to configure - see my previous posts) and now uPNP functions of upmpdcli not working.  I also have intermittent nomachine access and sometimes have blank screens due to graphic display bugs (I suspect).  So anywhay, what I'm saying is that its good, espectivally for the price.  But it requires a fair bit of technical understanding & effort to get running correctly.  Piero offers top advice and assistance though if you do encounter difficulties like me.

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46 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

About WiFi in Audiolinux is very easy with WiFi script in the main menu. It can take less than 1 minute... please be sure that you don't  have other wpa supplicant links in /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants If you have because of previous configurations you must delete them with root editor (main menu)

 

UPnP for MPD is working perfectly. Just tested in the computer that I am using now yesterday. Please check that UPnP is not blocked in the router.

 

For display problems, you must tell me what card are you using. Nvidia and Intel are perfectly compatible with drivers already installed. If you have AMD graphic card you can install amdgpu

yaourt -S xf86-video-amdgpu

and reboot

 

As a final note, Audiolinux offers a lot more configuration options and possibilities at a fraction of the price of other OS based on the same archlinux framework. 

 

 

 

 

 

I should add that the 'challenges' encountered for a newbie are only around the same as what you would expect building your own PC and installing OS, drivers (in case of Windows) and software.  Sometimes everything just goes together nicely, othertimes it requires work and has a learning curve.  Using Arch Linux is a learning curve for me.  I do love what if offers though, otherwise I wouldn't still be working on it!  I do not know of anything else for $49 that offers anywhere near this level of features and performance.  It is also nicely packaged together, so I already know that alot of effort is going into it.

 

That being said, I do feel that the level of competancy is probably higher on this forum than what Joe Bloggs has.  For example, going back to the use of wpa-supplicant again, this:

 

https://www.audio-linux.com/html/wifi.html

 

is a different level of complexity compared to just entering SSID and password. 

 

I think expectations just need to be managed, especially if you're going headless.  It can be learnt and problems overcome, but as a Joe Blogs consumer a Roon ROCK is an absolute piece of cake to deploy, same goes for Euphony.   Euphony also just requires SSID and password (works well even though it's just in beta at the moment).  Of course we're talking $$$$ difference here.

 

I am continuing to use AudioLinux, so that should tell most people that I like it, despite the points I raise.

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I thought I would try the headless version of Audiolinux - guess what... everything works straight off apart from upmpdcli which fails to launch and would not reinstall.  I didn't have to do any searching for workarounds, Alsa and audio output worked first time, WiFi from the menu also worked (WiFi setup in the audiolinux menu in lxqt fails to recognise my WFi network, that's why I had to resort to installing wicd network manager).

 

So my experience with the headless version couldn't be any different, I think it's great.  I just need to get upmpdcli  working.  I also think that the lxqt version presently needs work and has the potential to cause frustrations for many.

 

My system is nuc7i7dnhe, 16 GB RAM, Optane H10 SSD.  Running Audiolinux off USB at present. Naim DAC V1.

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Login on using SSH in Terminal on a Mac as suggested by Austinpop on the sticky post of this forum works great for accessing the headless version...

 

I still can't  get upmpdcli to launch and run as a service - tried stopping all of the audio services and then restarting, but no joy.  So I tried reinstalling, but I get errors:

 

1058445451_Screenshot2019-07-20at21_30_06.png.17d4ed79560b6c5d0e051199c329bc44.png

 

Any suggestions?

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23 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Login on using SSH in Terminal on a Mac as suggested by Austinpop on the sticky post of this forum works great for accessing the headless version...

 

I still can't  get upmpdcli to launch and run as a service - tried stopping all of the audio services and then restarting, but no joy.  So I tried reinstalling, but I get errors:

 

1058445451_Screenshot2019-07-20at21_30_06.png.17d4ed79560b6c5d0e051199c329bc44.png

 

Any suggestions?

 

Answer to this is to follow the upgrading system advice:

 

For updating the system (expert users)
pacman -Syu
after this, you can update the AUR packages with
yaourt -Syua

 

Then install the package - uPNP now working!! YAY!!

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On 7/16/2019 at 8:40 AM, Gavin1977 said:

Anyone know what software works well for configuring AudioLinux as a DLNA endpoint/client?

 

I ask because I just found this great app called iEast Play, which I believe is a DLNA controller used in a number of cheap streamers including Nords new EasyStream - however it looks really super... TIDAL, Deezer Qobuz it does the lot.

 

Also, just thought I'd mention that those of you that aren't running AL headless, check out the wicd network manager - miles easier than setting up WiFi with wpa supplicant which is a pain to use.  Instructions available in this YouTube clip here.

Forget this iEast app - only works with EasyStream Systems.  Linn Kazoo working great for me at the moment for uPNP control via my iPhone to Audiolinux NUC.

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@austinpop

Could you add this to your sticky "Summary of useful findings and recommendations" as I think it would be useful for newcomers.  After much effort (and advice from Piero) I now have AudioLinux working perfectly and am very happy.  I would suggest that the following steps are therefore recommended as 'good practice' for a new installation.

 

Before your suggestion to enable RAMROOT please include the following guidance:

 

1. Exit to console and run system upgrade (network connection to internet required obviously)

For updating the system (expert users)
pacman -Syu


after this, update the AUR packages with
yaourt -Syua

 

Running the latest version will help avoid any unexpected behaviour of audiolinux (e.g. WiFi config not working correctly etc...).

 

2.  Set default soundcard, by following guidance here: https://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/Setting_the_default_device, which is:

 

Find your desired card with:

   cat /proc/asound/cards

and then create /etc/asound.conf with following:

   defaults.pcm.card 1
   defaults.ctl.card 1

Replace "1" with number of your card determined above.

 

I found this to be important as audiolinux sometimes wouldn't allow me to set and retain the desired audiocard/DAC within AlsaMixer.  This config file means that it'll always work.

 

3. Very important - only run one audio service at a time! For example don't run RoonBridge and uPNP functions at the same time as it will cause a conflict with no sound / unexpected behaviour.  Stop and disable all audio services, then select the service you want (reboot might also be required)

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1 hour ago, luisma said:

Hi Gavin, this specific file is empty in my case


cat /proc/asound/cards

[root@alsvr audiolinux]# cat /proc/asound/cards
--- no soundcards ---

 

Maybe has been moved to alternate path need to look

 

How odd - this works for me and shows me list of cards?  Since providing these instructions I have also found that Audiolinux actually contains menu options for this already (I didn't know about it due to lack of clear instructions).  Go to 4. Export menu then 6. Alsa System Wide Configuration.  

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