AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

[bobfa]

41 minutes ago, drjimwillie said:

 How do I load the driver for my Holo spring DAC?

 

I have seen a lot of examples showing how to install the software but I have not seen examples of how to work with it. 

 How is the experience different between the headless and the lxqt?  

 With the lxqt  you can attach a monitor to the actual computer and with the headless you have to remote into the computer, but you’re still doing the same tasks. I assume the Lxqt has a few more menus or scripts? 

 Can somebody show us some graphics of  A day in the life of a headless user, please?

 

 

 

“That Depends”

 

Well not really.  Headless does not mean you cannot have a head, you can.  My AL devices all have display ability.  You most likely need a display, keyboard and mouse for BIOS settings.  When I built my NUC endpoint and Xeon server I have the display hardware setup.  When AL headless boots up it will present you with the AL menu as you have seen in these various threads here.  Once you have it running you can grab the IP address of the device and SSH into it from just about anything to get you to that menu!  And of course command line as needed.

 

On Roon you should not need a driver for a DAC.  I do not know yours to be sure. With my NUC endpoint there is no display desired so I SSH into it as needed.  I have found very little for anything more over time.   Take a look at my NUC build thread starter to see if that helps!

 

 

 

Bob

[bobfa]

3 minutes ago, tapatrick said:

I'm running Roon on my NUC AL server and it also hangs when I pull out the USB stick.

I leave it in as I have an auto save on the roon database every hour because I add a lot of tracks to playlists in a listening session...

Did you move the Roon database off of the USB stick into optane memory or something?

[bobfa]

1 hour ago, tapatrick said:

No I have database on the USB stick - no other drives attached....

Tapatrick

 

I am thinking you may have a couple of problems here.  

 

1.   Trying to run Roon Server out of only 4GB of RAM. 

2.   I have not seen others run  Roon Server off of a USB stick and them loading into RAM.  

 

When I built my server I boot off of an Optane SSD and then load into RAM.  During setup, I moved the Roon Database to a separate partition on the Optane.  The music is on an external drive.

 

 

[bobfa]

When I did my server build I said I would publish more of the setup process.  I have not done that.  Here is just the uncleaned up section for building the basic Optane Roon stick.

 

After the hardware is all installed boot from a USB stick with the latest AL headless.  Follow just the section in @austinpoppost below that builds the partitions the Optane stick.  (The rest of what he did here is now automated in Audiolinux menus.)

 

Then return back into the menu system and run #14 to Copy /Backup the current install to another drive.

 

After that is done shut down and remove the USB stick.  Then you can power up from the Optane boot.

 

When you get into the menu, then select #1 configuration  menu and select #5 that will transfer the Roon database to another drive which would be the second partition on the Optane.

 

 

Here is what my server booted into RAM with an external drive for music looks like:

********************************************

              

              Welcome to

         AUDIOLINUX HEADLESS

             version 1.0

             

    https://www.audio-linux.com

 

      [email protected]

      

For configuration menu type "menu"

 

For poweroff type "sudopoweroff"

For reboot type "sudo reboot"

 

********************************************

[audiolinux@FairXeon ~]$ lsblk

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT

sda          8:0    0  7.3T  0 disk

└─sda1        8:1    0  7.3T  0 part /media/BobMusic

zram0       254:0    0   15G  0 disk /

nvme0n1     259:0    0 27.3G  0 disk

├─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0  488M  0 part /boot

└─nvme0n1p2 259:2    0 26.8G  0 part

[audiolinux@FairXeon ~]$

 

 

[bobfa]

1 minute ago, austinpop said:

Hey folks, 

 

I just wanted to give kudos to @hifi25nl for his responsiveness to ideas and suggestions for improvement.

 

Earlier this week I tried to setup a new server using the "Copy/backup to... another drive" and "Transfer Roon database to another drive" options. It didn't quite do what I want. I suggested to Piero that what we really wanted was to clone the boot USB stick to the target drive (in my case, Optane SSD), but use the extra space for a 3rd partition on the target for "data," specifically the Roon DB. I also sent him some script suggestions.

 

Well here it is barely days later, and he's delivered it already in menu version 107! 

 

If you're thinking of setting up a new system with Roon server, booting off an Optane (or other) SSD, and putting the Roon DB on this drive in a separate partition, please test 107. You should be able to do all of this now from within the menu without having to drop into the command line.

 

That is GRRRREATTTTTT!

 

I need to go back and re-do my from 0 to ..... setup stuff.  There are so few steps now to get started.  Hi FIVE to @hifi25nl!

 

 

[bobfa]

11 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

That would be great, as I don't have a spare system on which I can quickly test this.

If I order an Optane stick I can test on my server quickly.  I have Eypuony on an NVMe stick.  I could dual boot that with no issue.  

 

Always something more to test.

[bobfa]

1 hour ago, Johnseye said:

 

Curious to why you're using Optane and not loading into RAM from the USB stick.

We all seem to conclude that we have heard no difference if the Roon Database is on Optane so that makes Roon Server and the owner a lot happier.

 

[bobfa]

12 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Actually the content in sticky up top was created by @bobfa, so I'd as him to consider the changes you recommend. 

 

(The AS topic owner actions have some quirks, so the sticky shows the owner to be whoever originally created the message, not who last edited it.)

I am on a very poor internet connection.  I will try to figure this out when I am in better cover coverage

[bobfa]

7 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

I see. You should put image in the folder and make this folder accessible to Terminal. Honestly I don't remember how I did it, maybe google will help here. As a result, in folder menu you should see "open in Terminal", go from here.

No it is simpler

 

Etcher does it all.  I will create a short screen video.

 

Plug in USB stick, run etcher, select download, select USB, select write....

[bobfa]

I think you do not need to bother.  They are not “running”.