AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

[LTG2010]

43 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

There seem to be also somewhat some more hf noise coming from the mobo usb. 

I need to do some more listening and also try to use the tx usb ultra after the mobo usb. 

I made up a USB connector from a cheap cable to connect to my txUSBHUB-in, (in effect a txUSBUltra). Even with this cable the sound gets smoother and more focused and image improves, so I need a proper cable made up.

[jean-michel6]

I will try that too , the usb câble between mobo and tx usb ultra is much less sensitive than the one from tx usb ultra to dac. 

[clipper]

On 1/6/2019 at 2:25 AM, BigAlMc said:

 

Thanks @clipper,

 

I haven't specified anything so guess I'm getting default.

 

How do I specify front once I've checked the available options?

 

Cheers,

Alan

In my case, I just type:

squeezelite -o front &

at the command line.

 

The & sends the command to the background so you can get the command prompt back...

[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.

 

 

[Miska]

19 hours ago, bobfa said:

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.

 

macOS comes with ssh built-in... Is there a reason to use something else?

 

[lmitche]

11 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

macOS comes with ssh built-in... Is there a reason to use something else?

 

Termius runs on my Android tablet, which probably has a built in ssh as well, and it's kinda slick with easy to resize text, good keyboard, easy to setup hostname and security details.

 

Recommended for Android!

[bobfa]

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

[Miska]

7 hours ago, lmitche said:

Termius runs on my Android tablet, which probably has a built in ssh as well, and it's kinda slick with easy to resize text, good keyboard, easy to setup hostname and security details.

 

Android doesn't have ssh built in, so you need some third party solution. I know some people use JuiceSSH.

 

I'm just personally fairly reserved about possible security of non-original ssh implementations... Not so easy to get implementation right and secure... IIRC, now Microsoft is also adding the "original" OpenSSH to Windows.

 

Would be interesting to know if those third party ones use original OpenSSH code or something else. I know PuTTY on Windows has it's own implementation because I've made my own version of it with some security improvements.

 

Also the Windows Git client comes with ssh, which I believe is version of OpenSSH.

[zizione]

Since version 0.7 I'm using the shellinabox feature that works very well ! No need for an additional SSH terminal.

 

[rettib2001]

Does the option within the dsp settings "parallelize sigma delta modulator" option disappear when using a nuc server+endpoint configuration (roon server + roonbridge)?

 

I relied on it to help upsampling to dsd512 as that's what's my Dac (lks 004) responds best to.

 

[rettib2001]

A second question then I'll leave everyone alone... 

 

I can play upsampled to dsd512 tracks from tidal via the above setup when my switch is set to 1000mbps but I get the dreaded tidal 'network slow' error message and the accompanying track skips when I set the ports of the switch to 100mpbs (which I find sounds better). 

 

Same issue with a cisco 2960 8tc l switch, which obviously only has 100mbps ports so it's not a switch specific issue. 

 

As far as I understand dsd512 shouldn't put an unsustainable strain on a bandwidth of 100mbps as the data rates should be just under 50mbps.

 

Unless I'm wrong... Which happens... A lot. 

 

 

[seatrope]

Wanted to share a phenomenon powering the i7 NUC (DNBE) with the LPS1.2. I've noticed a "warm up" effect in terms of how tolerant the LPS1.2 is with power hungry options.

 

I had the NUC running on AL ramroot, extreme 2, 4 cores active, low power mode which was stable and going for days (perhaps 1.5 weeks). Then we had a power outage so the NUC was off for a few days (including after power outage). When I restarted the NUC it would not boot despite trying 10+ times to boot, with the exact same settings.

 

The only way I could get it going was by going 1 core active, AL normal BFQ (no extreme). Gradually after the LPS1.2 warmed up, I added back the other options one by one until I was back to where I was before the power outage.

 

@Superdad is there any documented increase in LPS1.2 current output as it warms up?

 

Yeang

[austinpop]

Can someone clarify my understanding of SpeedStep and Turbo mode, and correlate it with the Governor settings in Audiolinux?

 

As many have found, turning off turbo mode and speed step in the BIOS can improve SQ. But what does this mean from an OS perspective? Let's break this down. With the NUC7PJYH, the processor,  Pentium J5005 has a base frequency of 1500 MHz and a burst frequency of 2800 MHz. 

 

Assertion 1: by turning turbo mode off, the max frequency the OS can set the CPU is the base, i.e. 1500 MHz. Is this correct?

 

However, when I boot up Audiolinux, and run 

• pstate-frequency -G

I get this:

pstate-frequency version 3.10.0
    pstate::CPU_DRIVER   -> intel_pstate
    pstate::CPU_GOVERNOR -> performance
    pstate::TURBO        -> 1 [OFF]
    pstate::CPU_MIN      -> 53% [800000KHz]
    pstate::CPU_MAX      -> 100% [1500000KHz]

 

This suggests that while turning off turbo in the bias limits the frequency to a max of the base (1500), it does not preclude the OS from lowering it.

 

Aha! So it that what Piero's CPU Governor setting is? Let's try it tout-de-suite. I set "21. Set CPU Governor to MAX". Now I see this:

pstate-frequency version 3.10.0
    pstate::CPU_DRIVER   -> intel_pstate
    pstate::CPU_GOVERNOR -> performance
    pstate::TURBO        -> 1 [OFF]
    pstate::CPU_MIN      -> 99% [1485000KHz]
    pstate::CPU_MAX      -> 100% [1500000KHz]

 

Which looks promising, except for a question that hopefully Piero @hifi25nl can clarify. The governor setting doesn't persist across reboots. Can it be made to be permanent?

 

On my Dell machine, which is my Roon Server, I have a different issue: for some reason, even if I set Turbo and SpeedStep to Disabled in my BIOS, Audiolinux seems to re-enable it.

pstate-frequency version 3.10.0
    pstate::CPU_DRIVER   -> intel_pstate
    pstate::CPU_GOVERNOR -> performance
    pstate::TURBO        -> 0 [ON]
    pstate::CPU_MIN      -> 20% [800000KHz]
    pstate::CPU_MAX      -> 100% [3900000KHz]

 

Note how TURBO is ON, and CPU_MAX is 3900 MHz which is the burst frequency of the i7-4770 CPU.

 

Is there any way I can get the kernel to respect the BIOS setting?

 

[hifi25nl]

You can try to disable  the systemd service pstate-frequency:

systemctl disable pstate-frequency 

Configuration can be found at /etc/pstate-frequency.d/

Wiki about CPU frequency scaling: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CPU_frequency_scaling

[austinpop]

9 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

You can try to disable  the systemd service pstate-frequency:

systemctl disable pstate-frequency 

Configuration can be found at /etc/pstate-frequency.d/

Wiki about CPU frequency scaling: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CPU_frequency_scaling

 

Thanks for the pointers Piero.

 

I've played a little with it, and I think the key parameters are actually:

PLAN_CPU_MAX=100

PLAN_CPU_MIN=100

PLAN_CPU_PSTATE_GOVERNOR=performance

PLAN_CPU_TURBO=off

 

The above essentially runs the CPU at the base frequency (no turbo boost, no lowering of frequency). @hifi25nl - could you confirm my understanding that:

• pstate-frequency settings affect the CPU frequency
• while the EXTREME2 parameter idle=poll affects whether the CPU goes into the HALT state during idle?

The combination of the above essentially removes variance, at the cost of very high temperatures (potentially).

 

If the above was a bunch gobbledygook for you, here's the key thing to look at: go into menu > Status > CPU Frequency

1. What is the frequency, Kenneth? Make a note.
2. Look up the frequency spec of your CPU. For example, the Pentium J5005 has a base frequency of 1500 MHz and a burst frequency of 2800 MHz. 
3. If the frequency listed above is very close to the base frequency, you are all set!

Do the above check when the system is completely idle - turn off all audio services, then wait a couple of minutes. If the frequency doesn't change, then you don't need to mess with any of this Governor stuff.

 

[hifi25nl]

5 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Thanks for the pointers Piero.

 

I've played a little with it, and I think the key parameters are actually:

PLAN_CPU_MAX=100

PLAN_CPU_MIN=100

PLAN_CPU_PSTATE_GOVERNOR=performance

PLAN_CPU_TURBO=off

 

The above essentially runs the CPU at the base frequency (no turbo boost, no lowering of frequency). @hifi25nl - could you confirm my understanding that:

• pstate-frequency settings affect the CPU frequency
• while the EXTREME2 parameter idle=poll affects whether the CPU goes into the HALT state during idle?

The combination of the above essentially removes variance, at the cost of very high temperatures (potentially).

 

If the above was a bunch gobbledygook for you, here's the key thing to look at: go into menu > Status > CPU Frequency

1. What is the frequency, Kenneth? Make a note.
2. Look up the frequency spec of your CPU. For example, the Pentium J5005 has a base frequency of 1500 MHz and a burst frequency of 2800 MHz. 
3. If the frequency listed above is very close to the base frequency, you are all set!

Do the above check when the system is completely idle - turn off all audio services, then wait a couple of minutes. If the frequency doesn't change, then you don't need to mess with any of this Governor stuff.

 

 

Yes, this is right.

pstate-frequency set the processor frequency,

intel_idle.max_cstate=0 processor.max_cstate=1 idle=poll set the CPU "sleep states"

[Miska]

13 hours ago, austinpop said:

Can someone clarify my understanding of SpeedStep and Turbo mode, and correlate it with the Governor settings in Audiolinux?

 

As many have found, turning off turbo mode and speed step in the BIOS can improve SQ. But what does this mean from an OS perspective? Let's break this down. With the NUC7PJYH, the processor,  Pentium J5005 has a base frequency of 1500 MHz and a burst frequency of 2800 MHz. 

 

With Turbo Boost, some cores can run at higher frequency than others as long as the total TDP is not exceeded. This is helpful for cases where core load is uneven, some cores at lower load than others.

 

Thermal management in Linux moves uneven loads from core to another to reduce uneven thermal stress on the processor.

 

[austinpop]

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 successfully, the side benefit was my notes, which resulted in a HOW-TO Guide, included below.

 

Please note: 

1. this is for people comfortable with operating on the Linux command line, and editing files, etc - i.e. power users. I've tried to make it fairly cook-book-y, but use at your own peril. I cannot provide tech support! This assumes you've already installed the Optane stick into the M.2 NVMe slot of your box.
2. I don't claim this is the best or most optimal way to achieve this outcome. @hifi25nl please advise if there are any easier ways.

 

How to setup a Roon Server to boot from and persist data to an Optane SSD

 

by @austinpop

Phase 1: Clone the USB boot stick onto the Optane SSD

• Boot from the USB stick (do not load into RAM). Leave stick in the box.
• su to root privileges
• ramroot remove
• Run lsblk to find the device name of the stick and SSD on your system. Example:
  
  NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
  sda           8:0    1 59.5G  0 disk
  ├─sda1        8:1    1  488M  0 part /boot
  └─sda2        8:2    1  5.4G  0 part /
  nvme0n1     259:0    0 27.3G  0 disk
  
  Now you know the USB stick is /dev/sda
  Similarly, you know the SSD is /dev/nvme0n1
• Run parted
  • Should default to USB stick. Just to be sure:
  • select /dev/sda
  • print to look at start and end sizes for / and /boot on the USB drive. Example output:
    (parted) print
    Model: SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 (scsi)
    Disk /dev/sda: 30.8GB
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
    Partition Table: gpt
    Disk Flags:
    Number  Start End     Size File system  Name Flags
    1      1049kB  513MB   512MB   fat32           boot, legacy_boot, esp
    2      513MB   6280MB  5767MB  ext4
    
    From the example above:
    /boot start is 1049KB and end is 513MB
    / start is 513MB and end is 6280MB
  • select /dev/nvme0n1
  • print to look at partitions. If this is a fresh SSD, there will be no partitions, just free space
  • If there are existing partitions, and you want to start over, remove all existing partitions using:
    • rm 1
    • rm 2
    • etc.
  • mklabel gpt
  • mkpart to enter interactive prompts to create a partition. First, the boot partition
    • Partition name: boot
    • Filesystem type: fat32
    • Start: 1049kb
    • End: 513mb
    • set 1 boot on
    • set 1 legacy on
    • set 1 esp on
  • print - you should now see the boot partition listed.
  • mkpart - now the / (or root) partition
    • Partition name: audiolinux
    • Filesystem type: ext4
    • Start: 513mb
    • End: 6280mb
  • print - you’ll now see 2 partitions listed
  • mkpart - finally, create a data partition for the rest of the SSD
    • Partition name: data
    • Filesystem type: ext4
    • Start: 6280mb
    • End: 100%
  • print - you’ll now see 3 partitions listed, consuming the whole SSD
  • quit
• Now on command line, clone the / and /boot partitions from the stick to the SSD.
  • dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/nvme0n1p1 bs=64k conv=noerror,sync status=progress
  • dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/dev/nvme0n1p2 bs=64k conv=noerror,sync status=progress
• Run blkid . Example output:
  
  /dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID="9913-922E" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="24749f11-45ea-4c47-bad8-aa20da9832a0"
  /dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL="audiolinux_mini" UUID="63e1e2ac-109d-46c2-80a6-bdc4b5e390aa" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="adca1e52-6f59-48e9-86d7-dbb2604b9071"
  /dev/nvme0n1p3: UUID="8d2ad706-b716-47d8-a164-68a351dbbf8b" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="48306461-aae1-41be-b4e9-44fcc2d2f595"
  /dev/nvme0n1: PTUUID="765ab813-3bec-4807-b824-b0bf5cd5af26" PTTYPE="gpt"
  /dev/sda1: UUID="9913-922E" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="52959088-5904-415f-b64c-14bd755c42f5"
  /dev/sda2: LABEL="audiolinux_mini" UUID="63e1e2ac-109d-46c2-80a6-bdc4b5e390aa" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="166ad16d-098d-4453-ab07-7c5255b4d451"
   

• note that because we cloned the sda1 and sda2 contents to nvme0n1p1 and nvme0n1p2, these partitions now have the same UUID (in blue), but different PARTUUID (in green and red).

• Note (copy) the PARTUUID of the /dev/nvme0n1p2 partition. This is the / or root partition on the Optane SSD. We need to fix the PARTUUID in the boot loader entries.

• mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /media/linux1 - Let’s mount the boot partition temporarily to fix loader entries

• cd /media/linux1/loader/entries

• Edit all 6 of the *.conf files in this directory

  • Change the PARTUUID from 166ad16d-098d-4453-ab07-7c5255b4d451 to the PARTUUID noted above. In this example, it would be adca1e52-6f59-48e9-86d7-dbb2604b9071

• Finally, create a filesystem on the data partition
  • mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p3
• sudo reboot, then remove USB stick

Phase 2: Boot from Optane SSD and configure Roon data to be persistent

• During reboot, go into BIOS to put the NVMe Optane SSD as the first boot device
• At the prompt, do NOT boot into ramroot mode - just this time, because we want to edit the /etc/fstab file
• Once you are booted up...
• su for root privileges
• systemctl stop roonserver - make sure Roon is not running
• mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /media/linux1 - Let’s mount the data partition temporarily to copy over existing Roon data
• cp -rp /var/roon/* /media/linux1
• umount /media/linux1
• rm -rf /var/roon/*
• blkid to get UUID of the /dev/nvme0n1p3 partition
  Example:
• /dev/nvme0n1p3: UUID="8d2ad706-b716-47d8-a164-68a351dbbf8b" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="48306461-aae1-41be-b4e9-44fcc2d2f595"
• Edit /etc/fstab and add the line (change UUID to yours):
  • UUID=8d2ad706-b716-47d8-a164-68a351dbbf8b /var/roon ext4 nofail,noatime,rw 0  2
• Then mount /var/roon  Now the contents of /var/roon live on the Optane data partition, and are persistent, even during ramroot.
• Now reboot, and this time, allow boot into RAM.
• Start Roon Server from the menu, go forth and prosper!

Final notes:

• This configures the Roon database to be persistent, so if you make library changes, like adding albums, or editing etc, there is no need to do a ramsave
• The Roon executables, however, continue to live in /opt/RoonServer/ which is still in the root partition and gets loaded into rmroot. So if you do a Roon update, those changes will occur in RAM, and will not persist unless you do a ramsave after the update is finished.
• While it is possible to put the Roon executables on the SSD, I have found SQ to be better if the executables reside in RAM. YMMV.

[rickca]

On 12/28/2018 at 1:37 PM, rickca said:

I made a copy of my USB stick on a hard drive of my Windows 10 machine by using ImageUSB.  It has an option that says 'Create image from USB drive'.  It actually creates a .bin file that is the size of your USB flash drive.  You can then use ImageUSB to create a new USB flash drive ... that's how it's supposed to work, I haven't tested my backup procedure yet!

I tested this backup procedure today and it works perfectly.  Although it copies the entire USB flash drive (not just allocated space) it is actually quite fast.  On my i7-6700K a 64GB USB 3.0 stick took less than 10 minutes to 'create image from USB drive' and again less than 10 minutes to 'write image to USB drive'.  You can probably cut the time in half by using a 32GB USB flash drive.  Note I got these results with a USB 3.0 Sandisk Extreme.  

 

Given the reliability of USB sticks I always make a backup after any significant changes that I want to preserve going forward.  You never know when your USB stick is going to fail or get corrupted.  Yet another reason to put your Roon database on an Optane SSD.

[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

 

 

 

 

[greenleo]

4 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

 

 

 

 

There should be a heatsink kit that comes with the Plato X7D for the NVME SSD.

[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!

 

 

 

[hifi25nl]

8 hours 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 successfully, the side benefit was my notes, which resulted in a HOW-TO Guide, included below.

 

Please note: 

1. this is for people comfortable with operating on the Linux command line, and editing files, etc - i.e. power users. I've tried to make it fairly cook-book-y, but use at your own peril. I cannot provide tech support! This assumes you've already installed the Optane stick into the M.2 NVMe slot of your box.
2. I don't claim this is the best or most optimal way to achieve this outcome. @hifi25nl please advise if there are any easier ways.

 

How to setup a Roon Server to boot from and persist data to an Optane SSD

 

by @austinpop

Phase 1: Clone the USB boot stick onto the Optane SSD

• Boot from the USB stick (do not load into RAM). Leave stick in the box.
• su to root privileges
• ramroot remove
• Run lsblk to find the device name of the stick and SSD on your system. Example:
  
  NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
  sda           8:0    1 59.5G  0 disk
  ├─sda1        8:1    1  488M  0 part /boot
  └─sda2        8:2    1  5.4G  0 part /
  nvme0n1     259:0    0 27.3G  0 disk
  
  Now you know the USB stick is /dev/sda
  Similarly, you know the SSD is /dev/nvme0n1
• Run parted
  • Should default to USB stick. Just to be sure:
  • select /dev/sda
  • print to look at start and end sizes for / and /boot on the USB drive. Example output:
    (parted) print
    Model: SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 (scsi)
    Disk /dev/sda: 30.8GB
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
    Partition Table: gpt
    Disk Flags:
    Number  Start End     Size File system  Name Flags
    1      1049kB  513MB   512MB   fat32           boot, legacy_boot, esp
    2      513MB   6280MB  5767MB  ext4
    
    From the example above:
    /boot start is 1049KB and end is 513MB
    / start is 513MB and end is 6280MB
  • select /dev/nvme0n1
  • print to look at partitions. If this is a fresh SSD, there will be no partitions, just free space
  • If there are existing partitions, and you want to start over, remove all existing partitions using:
    • rm 1
    • rm 2
    • etc.
  • mklabel gpt
  • mkpart to enter interactive prompts to create a partition. First, the boot partition
    • Partition name: boot
    • Filesystem type: fat32
    • Start: 1049kb
    • End: 513mb
    • set 1 boot on
    • set 1 legacy on
    • set 1 esp on
  • print - you should now see the boot partition listed.
  • mkpart - now the / (or root) partition
    • Partition name: audiolinux
    • Filesystem type: ext4
    • Start: 513mb
    • End: 6280mb
  • print - you’ll now see 2 partitions listed
  • mkpart - finally, create a data partition for the rest of the SSD
    • Partition name: data
    • Filesystem type: ext4
    • Start: 6280mb
    • End: 100%
  • print - you’ll now see 3 partitions listed, consuming the whole SSD
  • quit
• Now on command line, clone the / and /boot partitions from the stick to the SSD.
  • dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/nvme0n1p1 bs=64k conv=noerror,sync status=progress
  • dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/dev/nvme0n1p2 bs=64k conv=noerror,sync status=progress
• Run blkid . Example output:
  
  /dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID="9913-922E" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="24749f11-45ea-4c47-bad8-aa20da9832a0"
  /dev/nvme0n1p2: LABEL="audiolinux_mini" UUID="63e1e2ac-109d-46c2-80a6-bdc4b5e390aa" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="adca1e52-6f59-48e9-86d7-dbb2604b9071"
  /dev/nvme0n1p3: UUID="8d2ad706-b716-47d8-a164-68a351dbbf8b" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="48306461-aae1-41be-b4e9-44fcc2d2f595"
  /dev/nvme0n1: PTUUID="765ab813-3bec-4807-b824-b0bf5cd5af26" PTTYPE="gpt"
  /dev/sda1: UUID="9913-922E" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="52959088-5904-415f-b64c-14bd755c42f5"
  /dev/sda2: LABEL="audiolinux_mini" UUID="63e1e2ac-109d-46c2-80a6-bdc4b5e390aa" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="166ad16d-098d-4453-ab07-7c5255b4d451"
   

• note that because we cloned the sda1 and sda2 contents to nvme0n1p1 and nvme0n1p2, these partitions now have the same UUID (in blue), but different PARTUUID (in green and red).

• Note (copy) the PARTUUID of the /dev/nvme0n1p2 partition. This is the / or root partition on the Optane SSD. We need to fix the PARTUUID in the boot loader entries.

• mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /media/linux1 - Let’s mount the boot partition temporarily to fix loader entries

• cd /media/linux1/loader/entries

• Edit all 6 of the *.conf files in this directory

  • Change the PARTUUID from 166ad16d-098d-4453-ab07-7c5255b4d451 to the PARTUUID noted above. In this example, it would be adca1e52-6f59-48e9-86d7-dbb2604b9071

• Finally, create a filesystem on the data partition
  • mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p3
• sudo reboot, then remove USB stick

Phase 2: Boot from Optane SSD and configure Roon data to be persistent

• During reboot, go into BIOS to put the NVMe Optane SSD as the first boot device
• At the prompt, do NOT boot into ramroot mode - just this time, because we want to edit the /etc/fstab file
• Once you are booted up...
• su for root privileges
• systemctl stop roonserver - make sure Roon is not running
• mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /media/linux1 - Let’s mount the data partition temporarily to copy over existing Roon data
• cp -rp /var/roon/* /media/linux1
• umount /media/linux1
• rm -rf /var/roon/*
• blkid to get UUID of the /dev/nvme0n1p3 partition
  Example:
• /dev/nvme0n1p3: UUID="8d2ad706-b716-47d8-a164-68a351dbbf8b" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="48306461-aae1-41be-b4e9-44fcc2d2f595"
• Edit /etc/fstab and add the line (change UUID to yours):
  • UUID=8d2ad706-b716-47d8-a164-68a351dbbf8b /var/roon ext4 nofail,noatime,rw 0  2
• Then mount /var/roon  Now the contents of /var/roon live on the Optane data partition, and are persistent, even during ramroot.
• Now reboot, and this time, allow boot into RAM.
• Start Roon Server from the menu, go forth and prosper!

Final notes:

• This configures the Roon database to be persistent, so if you make library changes, like adding albums, or editing etc, there is no need to do a ramsave
• The Roon executables, however, continue to live in /opt/RoonServer/ which is still in the root partition and gets loaded into rmroot. So if you do a Roon update, those changes will occur in RAM, and will not persist unless you do a ramsave after the update is finished.
• While it is possible to put the Roon executables on the SSD, I have found SQ to be better if the executables reside in RAM. YMMV.

 

I would suggest also an alternative method.

1) Make a second USB stick with audiolinux, possibly lxqt from 3.1.x that has different UUIDs

2) Boot from this new drive

3) Attach your original USB stick with your configured installation. Don't mount it!

4) Check address of the drives with

fdisk -l

5) Clone  the original USB installation to internal drive with dd. For example, if original is /dev/sde and internal is /dev/sda

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

(pay attention to the drive names!)

6) Lauch gparted, select the new ext4 partition and extend it to cover the full hard disk size (this could eventually fix some GPT errors)

7) Once finished, poweroff detach the USB sticks and boot from the internal drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[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.