AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

[greenleo]

22 minutes ago, mourip said:

 

I am curious about that. Is it because of ground currents?

Quite a few of the gurus here mentioned that.  I've forgotten the reason but sounds like the ground loop or something similar. 

 

Not sure if it's still relevant for the PCs with floating ground.  Just stated the good advices that I've received in the past.

[greenleo]

25 minutes ago, BigAlMc said:

 

DNBE as the endpoint and DNKE as the server.

 

Figured if I'm trying to equal or beat my Zenith then I should be bold.

Differences between DNBE and DNKE?

 

We should be bold.  

 

Cheers.

[greenleo]

Just now, rettib2001 said:

Since a couple of nuc/AL users have reported being pleased with the results of using a wifi connection I'd like to give it a go, if for nothing else than the peace of mind that I've tried all options I have immediately available (LPSU powered/ground shunted  Netgear switch and CIsco 2060 switch).

 

Is there a guide for establishing a wifi connection?

 

Piero's site just has a link to the archlinux wiki with a brief mention that some wpa_supplicant will need to be installed and configured.

 

iwconfig returns a 'command not found' error so I presume, by default, certain dependencies aren't included as standard in audiolinux?

 

 

 

I tried to set up a WiFi bridge (as in the OG ) but failed in AL.  However, enentually, I managed to connect through wifi to my router with Piero's help (many thanks Piero) and the reading.

 

To setup a WiFi link is relatively straight forward but still pretty laborious for a Window guy.  Basically you need to install the driver for the WiFi adapter 1st.  Then follow the WPA_supplicant web page (which is manageable but not easy, at least I found it not too easy).  I would not go into the details.  Complications may  still arise like the adapter may not be able see all the APs, difficulty in using 802.11x, ...etc.   No intention to frighten you but as a friendly reminder/warning.

 

If money is not a concern, using a switch may provide equal or better SQ, my speculation.  I recall Larry mentioned he may try the EtherRegen which I'm eagerly waiting as well.  For great switches already available, search Roy's or Rajiv's posts may help.

 

Hope this helps.

[greenleo]

49 minutes ago, rettib2001 said:

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm inevitably going to buy the EtherRegen too, I was just curious about wifi.

 

With all the vast-to-minute tweaking we're all doing at the moment I thought it was perhaps shortsighted not to at least try.

 

Might roll up my sleeves and give it a go anyway.

Thank you for the reply.  

 

Please try and let me know if you can setup the WiFi Network Bridge, the thing I  actually need but have been defeated.

 

Regards.

[greenleo]

11 hours ago, Johnseye said:

the SOtM switch and have it connected to my REF10. I'll post in the other thread soon. 

What's the other thread?

11 hours ago, Johnseye said:

see if the sCLK helps the NUC, something I'm very hesitant on doing 

Why the hesitation?

[greenleo]

10 hours ago, Middy said:

The start of my very very basic questions... pre AL

Do i need a network switch for my celeron and I3 NUCs. I hoped it would be just an Ethernet cable between them.

Aiming for local files on I3 only.  No tidal Qubuz ect. 

Bleeding easy over bleeding edge...

My CV lacks: was data manager at Google deep mind....☹

 

Middy,

 

It depends on your configuration and the simplest is the star topology with both the Celeron and the i3 connected to a router.  You may want to check the diagram that I posted before.

 

I'm using HQP (lxqt control PC) to NAA (headless audio PC) and a direct connection could be very unstable.  I tried the config that with only 1 LAN port in each of the computers.  In principle it should work but in practice the links breaks occasionally and regularly.  I'm still trying to solve this problem.  It seems that the problem is from multicast NAA and I stand corrected.

 

If the endpoint(the audio PC) may be referenced by IP address, then you may set up the ip addresses of both of the PCs manually and correctly.  It should work.

 

Given that switches does not necessarily provide DHCP, connect both PC to a switch without the switch connected to a DHCP server (say a router, which usually provides DHCP) may give you trouble.

 

Buy a cheap router, say $15 (WiFi no need) and use the star topology may be the simplest way to go.  Even better is to ask friends for old routers that are collecting dust to save the $15?

 

[greenleo]

13 hours ago, Middy said:

Thanks Leo, ive been reading the complications of connection especially people buying expensive aquavox box's and additional power supplies to avoid more noise in the chain.

With people holding out for Uptones ether regen. tm

I hoped 1 Audioquest pearl 1m ethernet cable would connect both. Cheap and simple as i dont require an internet connection for streaming .

Just load my PCM flacs onto a usb and copy them to the 'NUC server i3'  Wifi looks very complicated as does most of this.

Very clever knowledgeable people are doing good work.

I want roon on 2 boxes.

Al running on both hopefully in RAM

A simple request when writing but the fear of God in me.

Plus i want to be as near as possible completed before troubling our Italian AL expert. 

A cheap router suggestion would be welcome as i think i can manage to plug it in...?

I do really know nothing and need baby steps. So i am asking the basics, think grand mother than grand master..

 

 

Hi Middy,

 

As stated in my post before, without knowing what software/system that you'll be using, no further concrete help may be provided because that is software and then hardware settings specific.

 

For the physical network connection, just buy a cheap router that provides DHCP (I guess now all routers do), connect your PCs to the LAN ports of the router will do.  The rest depends on your software.

 

For examples,

HQP need not internet to play local files.  Hence the above network configuration should work.  Hence the WAN port of the router may left open.

 

For ROON (up to my knowledge) Internet is needed.  Hence the WAN port of the router should connect to the Internet.  And the details depends on the hardware of your home, usually a router is connected, through the WAN port, to a modem provided by your ISP.

 

Hope this helps.

[greenleo]

8 hours ago, Dutch said:

absolutely, it uses less than 2GB of memory in that config

@rettib2001, I

 

I concur with Dutch that 4GB works and 2 GB would be enough currently.  But 4GB RAM should be used in case the size of the headless is increasing in future or the user wants to add further to his/her own headless AL.

 

[greenleo]

6 hours ago, rickca said:

Thanks.  I used etcher to create my flash drive from the download.  Seems easier than rufus.

I just tried the Etcher.  The interface looks nicer/simpler (but not as informative as the Rufus which users usually don't care).  The mandatory validation provided is very nice and Rufus may do it with a click.  

 

Actually Etcher is now mentioned in the official website and links are provided.

 

1st choice for new comers.

[greenleo]

1 hour ago, wildsam said:

I am running the lxt GUI version with jriver and it sounds great!

Does anyone know if it’s possible to run jriver server with the headless version? 

I see from the headless menu that there is options for the other players but not jriver. 

Hi,

 

Any idea if JRiver in lxqt may output to headless endpoint?

[greenleo]

3 hours ago, wildsam said:

I am running jriver on a windows server core and use the audiolinux nuc with jriver as a renderer endpoint.

jriver can run as a GUI or as a server process.

So yes, jriver running on lxqt can output to a headless endpoint via DLNA 

I'm thinking buying JRiver in Win10 as well.  Would you mind telling me how to configure your system?

 

Regards.

[greenleo]

i7DNBE powered by LPS-1.2

Thank you very much (in alphabetical order) Alan (@BigAIMc), Larry (@lmitche) and Rajiv (@austinpop) for your helps.  After lots of tries and heroic  measures, eventually I may boot the NUC7i7DNBE using the LPS-1.2 

 

For the readers, only 1 core was being used, and it does not always work in the sense that after pressing the power button sometimes the power light not on, sometimes went off after sometime, sometimes it hanged during boot.  So the best strategy is to leave the NUC on once it's on, No kidding.

 

Chassis: Asaka Plato X7D

 

My UEFI setting.

USB: I count the USB being used and disable the rest.

SATA: disable everything.

PCI: nothing

Performance:

CPU: use only 1 core

Memory: underclock to 16 in my case

Please see the images attached.

 

Final thoughts:

1. I'm using a 2.1 to 2.5 adapter for the NUC.  A better DC cable may provide better results.

2. If the cores may be underclocked, all the cores migth be used?

 

I'll post an SQ impression of this config in the other thread later.

[greenleo]

14 minutes ago, rickca said:

What's the point of buying a quad core and using only 1 core?

It seems the SQ when powered by the LPS-1.2 > using 4 cores and the SMPS.

[greenleo]

8 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

System Cloning / back up your USB - dd method

 

To backup / clone your AL USB to a new USB the system should not be cloned 'within' (your mounted USB)
To make it easier to identify my USB keys  I loaded an AL lxqt 3.0 headless OS in RAM, then took out the USB.
Open console as root (su) in this example I logged in remotely using putty.
Type> blkid you should see /dev/zram0 (your ramdisk)
Place in the USB you wish to clone, in this example I put in a AL v5 headless 16gb USB.
Type> blkid again, now we get /dev/zram0 plus 2 AL partitions from the AL5 USB in this case /dev/sda1 & /dev/sda2
Now plug in the empty formatted target USB leaving in the source USB.

Type> blkid and in this case I got /dev/sdc1 (plus the above discs)
So now we have identified the source USB /dev/sda =if and the target USB /dev/sdc =of,  dont mix up your if's and of's as you'll wipe your original disc.
also ignore the partion numbers 1 & 2 as we are cloning the entire disc.
we input> 

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdc bs=64K conv=noerror,sync status=progress 

(replace sda & sdc with your own USB's id)
For a 16GB disc it takes approx 25 minutes (double for 32GB)

Hi LTG,

 

Thank you for the post.

 

Any method to back up a USB disk in DD like what Piero gave us?  I've V2.2, V3.0 and V3.02, all with some settings changed.  But I don't have so many USB disk to backup them up.

 

Regards.

[greenleo]

13 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

I just tested in my running system whilst music playing, but in theory it should work in any AL setup, changing setting shouldn't matter as we want to backup those changed settings I suppose.

Once you boot into RAM then the USB partitions are 'unmounted' so input> blkid (in root) and you'll get the id of your 'source' USB then place your 'clone' USB in your machine and identify it and run the command.

I believe my English has led to the confusion.  I mean to back it up as a compressed file, like what Piero gave us for download.

[greenleo]

6 hours ago, Middy said:

@hifi25nl

 

Hi have i purchased the wrong version Piero.?

 

I just bought 0.7 headless as it was mentioned it has LXQT GUI to help set up AL before going headless later.?

 

I have no knowledge of Linux other whats been spoken of here. 

I plan to use 2 NUCS with roon later.

Server end point..

 

Can you advise if i have made a mistake...

 

Booting and typing menu is all i have managed so far.. But no LXQT option..

 

 

 

Middy,

 

I guess now you need to pay $20 extra for the LXQt, a very worthy investment in MPOV.  Please check www.audio-linux.com

 

Usually people buy the LXQt first and then upgrade to the headless.  Have you got two PC?  If yes, it's not too bad to use the headless to set up an endpoint.  If you have only one PC, CAers here mentioned that Roon servers and HQPe may be set up in the headless as well.  You need to find a control for this config, say a tablet connected to your network that connected to your headless as well.

[greenleo]

5 hours ago, lmitche said:

Nice job on 0.7 Piero! Many thanks.

 

Larry

+2 (after Rajiv). 

 

I started from LXQt 2.2 and headless 0.3.  Piero's service has been 1st class since my start up.  The SQ has been great and the menu provided by 0.7 is very helpful for newcomers.  The on the fly change of the mode (standard and extreme) is indeed useful and the monitor of temperature is very useful and practical as well.

 

As a matter of fact, I know nothing about Linux, just the commands/operations need to run AL. Lol.

[greenleo]

On 12/16/2018 at 1:39 PM, wildsam said:

Install jriver 64bit and then follow this guide to setup DLNA sharing on your network.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Server

once setup, I use JRemote app on a tablet to control playback and switch between zones. Very slick, great sound and trouble free.

cheers 

Hi Sam,

I tried to follow but haven't got the clue yet.  Would you mind telling me what are you running in the endpoint, the Headless AL.

 

Then JRiver should be installed in the server and send files to the endpoint, correct?

 

Regards.

[greenleo]

1 hour ago, hifi25nl said:

You cannot run Jriver in headless version.  Jriver needs xorg graphical drivers.

Yes, you could use some tricks and install xorg and a "dummy" driver in headless, but what for? It would have xorg... better to use lxqt version then.

Thank Piero.  I do not want JRiver in headless.  I hope that I can use JRiver in LXQt and send files to something in the headless.  Is this possible?  Just like HQP can send files to NAA in the headless.

[greenleo]

55 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

You can run it in lxqt desktop on one machine then set up the renderer as dnla endpoint will that work?

Or run 2 versions of jriver lqxt one as server one as renderer?

Sorry I can't get it due to my very limited knowledge.  How to setup the renderer as dlna endpoint?  What software do I need to run in the headless, NAA, HQPe, ...?

[greenleo]

4 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

The difference is that all 3 of the profiles - Balanced, Low, and Max - have Intel SpeedStep® enabled. See https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/mini-pcs/BIOSGlossary_NUC.pdf

 

I also had not realized this, and thought by selecting the Low power setting, I was done. It's only when I saw Leo's screenshot that I discovered that unchecking all 3 profiles revealed the Intel® Dynamic Power Technology drop down, and within it, you can turn Speed Step off.

Thank you Rajiv for the explanation.  I thought that the screen capture was self explanary enough.

[greenleo]

12 hours ago, lmitche said:

Mine runs powered from the LPS1.2 usually without fiddling.

That's what I find for the 7CJYH as well.

[greenleo]

1 hour ago, Middy said:

Going back to basics..old but new to me...

As there are going to be some unused ports and i am sure these are in the draws of a few people. Has or is anyone using these in the NUCs.

I use IFI for post PC filtering into the ISO R. Jitter bugs as mentioned below, these were used for noise on the bus internally as well as the direct chain. 

 

Side note: what is on your chain now. Added or removed. ?

 

Looking for a stocking filler that doesn't mean a divorce...

 

 

 

Middy,

 

Do you still need the Jitterbug after the IsoRegen?  You'd better try and report back.

[greenleo]

54 minutes ago, sig8 said:

Is there any other  fanless case for NUC7i7DNHE, than Akasa Plato X7D? I just got one but don't like the idea of connecting cables inside for power, USB, etc. That sort of defeats the whole idea of small footprint (that includes cables, extension wires, etc. in my mind).

I think the big footprint is for the heatsink-the chassis in this case.  Apart from the size, I quite like this chassis because it's pretty slim in terms of height.  The cooling seems well thought if you're using NVME as well.

[greenleo]

8 hours ago, sig8 said:

but if heat from CPU to contact area cannot transfer easily,

Why heat cannot transfer easily?  One should apply the thermal paste and the thermal pad.  They should be effective.