AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

[hifi25nl]

 I am uploading just now last headless version made on a 16 GB  USB stick. It should be ready in 30 min. !

[bodiebill]

4 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

 I am uploading just now last headless version made on a 16 GB  USB stick. It should be ready in 30 min. !

 

Thanks Piero!

 

Would it hurt to use this image also for larger sticks?

If not, eventualy it could be the only image?

[cat6man]

burning 16G image now.

 

the confusing part was that the old (32G?) image could be burned successfully (it fit) onto a 16G usb stick but would not run AL

[cat6man]

7 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

 I am uploading just now last headless version made on a 16 GB  USB stick. It should be ready in 30 min. !

gracie

[cat6man]

Having some trouble with the 16G image on a 16G USB, not sure why, but I'm moving ahead testing with the old image on a large USB stick (256G) that does seem to take the image copy properly, creating 2 partitions and a large leftover space.  With the 16G or 32G image on a 16G USB, i get no partitions created, just 16G unallocated............but i'll defer that until later.

 

I have AL running nicely off of the 256G USB stick,  enabling HQPlayer-embedded and an external HDD mounted at /media/linux1 with 6TB of music.  This creates about a 12MB library.xml file.

Running remote control from HQPDcontrol on an android phone and the system is complete............and there is music.

 

Next step:  running in ramroot.......which seems to load ok but does not yet play music.  using the same HQPDcontrol app as above,

I can synch the library file but cannot get music to play (behavior is similar to past testing when the library file doesn't point to the correct location).  Is there some additional step related to either the library.xml file or its location that needs to be adjusted in ramroot mode?

 

Suggestions?

 

 

[cat6man]

anyone using the new 16G image successfully on 16G usb stick?

[lmitche]

32 minutes ago, cat6man said:

anyone using the new 16G image successfully on 16G usb stick?

AL only takes 2 partitions of approx. .5 and 6 gb. You should have plenty of space left free on a 16gb USB stick.

 

What am I missing? How are you making these images?

[cat6man]

27 minutes ago, lmitche said:

AL only takes 2 partitions of approx. .5 and 6 gb. You should have plenty of space left free on a 16gb USB stick.

 

What am I missing? How are you making these images?

 

I wish I knew what I was missing and why a separate 16G image was needed.

 

I'm on Ubuntu 18.04 and using Balena Etcher to burn the image.

I see no partitions created and just a large unallocated disk (16G usb)

 

When burned the image to a 256 USB, I got the 2 partitions and a lot of space left free.

No idea why

 

edit:  was using balena-etcher 1.4.9, will try again with 1.5.56

 

[lmitche]

4 minutes ago, cat6man said:

 

I wish I knew what I was missing and why a separate 16G image was needed.

 

I'm on Ubuntu 18.04 and using Balena Etcher to burn the image.

I see no partitions created and just a large unallocated disk (16G usb)

 

When burned the image to a 256 USB, I got the 2 partitions and a lot of space left free.

No idea why

 

I have no experience with Etcher so can't help you there. These days I tend to manually create partitions using parted on new USB sticks and then dd the two partitions over. This could be done from your 256 gb stick. You will need to learn parted, which isn't rocket science. Starting blocks and sizes can be found using existing sticks that are properly formatted.

[cat6man]

7 minutes ago, lmitche said:

I have no experience with Etcher so can't help you there. These days I tend to manually create partitions using parted on new USB sticks and then dd the two partitions over. This could be done from your 256 gb stick. You will need to learn parted, which isn't rocket science. Starting blocks and sizes can be found using existing sticks that are properly formatted.

 

thanks.  i actually started to do that last night before going to bed.  i manually created the partitions but wasn't sure how to dd the partitions...........will have to research that if updated etcher doesn't work.

 

edit:  from etcher developer:

The way that Etcher works is that it copies an image byte by byte to the drive, without doing any manipulation to it. The result is that the partition table from the image is copied as-is to the drive

[lmitche]

14 minutes ago, cat6man said:

 

thanks.  i actually started to do that last night before going to bed.  i manually created the partitions but wasn't sure how to dd the partitions...........will have to research that if updated etcher doesn't work.

 

edit:  from etcher developer:

The way that Etcher works is that it copies an image byte by byte to the drive, without doing any manipulation to it. The result is that the partition table from the image is copied as-is to the drive

Just dd by addressing the partitions level device like: /dev/sda1 . Use lsblk to find the device names and block sizes.

[cat6man]

lsblk gives 488M and 5.4G, looking at usb drive in disk app gives 512M and 5.8G for partition sizes.

 

also, what do you select as partition type when creating the two partitions? (FAT and ext4)

does any partition need to be made bootable or does the dd take care of that?

[lmitche]

Yes fat32 and ext4. And yes, dd takes care of that.

 

Type print all in parted and duplicate the start and length(size) from another working stick. Duplicate flags as well.

[cat6man]

thanks lmitchie!

i did all of that before except for duplicating explicitly the start and length.

(i used gparted)

 

in any case, i give up for now.

i went out and purchased a 32G usb stick and burned the old image with etcher, and everything works.

no idea what the issue was burning to a 16G usb.

 

onward to testing ramroot next

 

[cat6man]

still, no music in ramroot mode.

 

i wonder if this could be the fingerprint issue?

 

(from pink faun thread)

"The licensing mechanism in HQPe isn't 100% compatible with ramroot on Audio-Linux and likely any other variant of Arch Linux.  The code detects a change significant enough to regenerate the fingerprint for the license code.  I've been through 5 license codes from Jussi..."

 

 

[cat6man]

partial solution, or at least a workaround related to hqplayer configuration issue.

more details later as i'm busy listening to  music!!!!!!!!!!

 

bottom line:  HQPlayer-embedded with ramroot under audiolinux is the best combination i've yet heard...........and i am not using any

upsampling/filtering/dither,  just splitting server/renderer (7i7 nuc) from the NAA (opticalModule & opticalRendu).

 

still have some additional optimizations to make to audiolinux, but that will have to wait until the weekend.

also wondering how much better it could be with an SR7 versus HPLEX200 power supply on server.

 

thanks to Piero and  everyone else for help getting me up and running.

[bodiebill]

1 hour ago, cat6man said:

also wondering how much better it could be with an SR7 versus HPLEX200 power supply on server.

 

I would not assume that difference to be noticable as it concerns the server  Mine is isolated from the endpoint audio PC by fiber and I do not hear the difference between the HDPlex and a good switching PSU  I currently use a Seasonic Platinum fanless 400W to power the server. A good linear PSU for the endpoint is crucial though in my experience.

[lmitche]

In my experience the quality of the server power supply makes a difference despite a high degree of isolation between the server and endpoint.

 

Nevertheless, an Hdplex 200 watt lpsu with split rails, 12 volt to cpu and 19 volt into an Hdplex DC to DC ATX, powering a motherboard sounds great here.

 

[cat6man]

will audiolinux and hqplayer run ramroot mode in 4Gig of RAM?

 

NM:  i see 8Gig is min recommendation on AL website.

[misterspense]

1 hour ago, cat6man said:

will audiolinux and hqplayer run ramroot mode in 4Gig of RAM?

 

NM:  i see 8Gig is min recommendation on AL website.

On my system with 8GB, when I don't activate ramroot, I think 2 GB could even be enough. When you check RAM usage in the menu, it's incredibly low, especially when used as endpoint (airplay/squeezelite/Roon bridge). Mostly there is something like 400MB in use. Also LMS is not very big. It's mostly Roon server that uses a lot of resourses.

[hifi25nl]

Audiolinux 2.0 is coming 1st November with an increased price (not too much...)
Until 30 October there is a SPECIAL OFFER:
1) You will have the possibility of buying at the old price of 49 $ for the first subscription
2) All users with a subscription will have to pay 25 $ for downloading Audiolinux 2.0, but before 30 October this payment will add a year to the subscription. For example, if you have already bought it (or added extra year) in March your new subscription will stop in March 2021!
3) It is also possible to change from yearly to unlimited time support paying the difference of only 50 $
-> Note that all passwords will be reset from 1st November to a different system and next menu updates will be also password protected. Please allow up to 24 Hours to set personal password
If in doubt contact support!

 

------

 

New menu version 125  is out with

1) Switch from yaourt to a special version of pamac for install/update, since yaourt is not developed any more

2) Some fixes to kernel installation script

[mikicasellas]

I have been searching for a decent Priced NUC7i7DNH1E and i can get one NOW for 495 usd, i already have a NUC7PJYH in its AKASA case powered by a HDPLEX 200W, and i'm also waiting for my PH SR4 19v which is already shipped to my way...Do you guys think that i will be worth the 495 USD to replace my actual NUC with the NUC7i7DNH1E, or should i wait for the NEW generation ?

 

I´m also looking forward to replace my Macmini as a server for an AMD Ryzen 7 3800x...Any suggestion within your experiences?

 

Maybe my actual NUC7PJYH in its AKASA & PH SR4 19v would be enough to make a significant improve and put the money right now on the server side ?

 

Thank you in advance

 

 

 

 

[lmitche]

7 hours ago, mikicasellas said:

Maybe my actual NUC7PJYH in its AKASA & PH SR4 19v would be enough to make a significant improve and put the money right now on the server side ?

Good idea. The server improvement will dwarf the pentium to i7 bump.

 

Also consider a 65 watt Ryzen 7 2nd gen cpu. The prices are great and there is no need a 570x motherboard with a PCH fan.

[ferenc]

On 10/2/2019 at 4:55 PM, hifi25nl said:

Audiolinux 2.0 is coming 1st November with an increased price (not too much...)
Until 30 October there is a SPECIAL OFFER:
1) You will have the possibility of buying at the old price of 49 $ for the first subscription
2) All users with a subscription will have to pay 25 $ for downloading Audiolinux 2.0, but before 30 October this payment will add a year to the subscription. For example, if you have already bought it (or added extra year) in March your new subscription will stop in March 2021!
3) It is also possible to change from yearly to unlimited time support paying the difference of only 50 $
-> Note that all passwords will be reset from 1st November to a different system and next menu updates will be also password protected. Please allow up to 24 Hours to set personal password
If in doubt contact support!

 

------

 

New menu version 125  is out with

1) Switch from yaourt to a special version of pamac for install/update, since yaourt is not developed any more

2) Some fixes to kernel installation script

 

While I was trying to upgrade to the latest Kernel two days ago, it seems I lost my two Ethernet ports. 

The upgrade was extremely slow, it has taken more than 8 hours with no end and I switched my PC off. Since rebooting I could not use the Ethernet ports, none if the two I have. tried to reboot it normal and fallback mode but no success. 

Any suggestion for a quick solution?

I am using the PC only as NAA and Roon Bridge. No internal storage at all, only booting from a USB 3.1 64 GB stick. 

 

Many thanks. 

 

[hifi25nl]

Last kernel update from 4.19.x needs a full system update. I have added the recommandation to kernel update script. 

 

In your situation you can try to revert to original network configuration using the option in main menu and reboot.