GentooPlayer

[chipvn]

I have just realized that my USBridge Signature always has very high IRQ/s (>11,000 IRQ/s) even when I only switched it on and having a Mytek Brooklyn Bridge connected to it via USB without playing anything. I have disabled almost all softwares and only let either Roon Bridge or HQP NAA running.

Below is a typical screenshot of below configuration:

 

GentooPlayer V.2.15

Kernel 4.19.106-GentooPlayer-Min-EUP

Profile 1

RamSystem 2

 

I'm not sure if this very high IRQ/s is abnormal. If it is, could this be one of the reason why I could not run any RT kernel without distortion.

 

[chipvn]

29 minutes ago, Zauurx said:

What is the command to have this information ?
I'm in the same situation. I could not run any RT kernel and with rare click or dropout with NAA.

You can get these information by using the bcmstat in the web interface.

 

https://sites.google.com/view/gentooplayer-documentation/web-interface/bcmstat

 

 

I don't have any issue on click or pop after using none RT kernel in combination with either Profile 2 or Profile 1.

I'm just trying to understand if there is any issue with high IRQ or not.

 

[chipvn]

7 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

the advice is not to use an RT kernel with USBridge Signature...if you have click...

it is normal to have more interrupts with the RT kernel.....
if the clicks you get are related to that I don't know...

Thank you for the response.

It is very strange that on the same hardware or the USBridge Sig but some can run RT kernel and some cannot.

If the number of interupt is normal, might be the reason of the click is due to some USB receiver don't implement well the feedback mechanism to control the USB frame sending speed from the USB Signature which cause the over / under flow at the buffer.

[chipvn]

@antonellocaroli:

 

Is there a way to customize a bit further on what will be loaded in Ramsystem?

For example, I only run either Roon Bridge or HQPlayer NAA at a time on my USBridge Signaure. So might only need to load 1 of them to Ramsystem at boot to save time and RAM.

Thanks

[chipvn]

2 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

No, it is not possible.
But if you want to speed up loading and ram usage, you should first delete all the software that does not interest you.
Update/Switching/Remove > Software Remove

Between loading roonbridge only or both roonbridge and networkaudiod, almost nothing changes.

Thank you,

 

I'll remove unused softwares then.

 

Best Regards,

[chipvn]

@antonellocaroli: I have re-flashed to V3.61 and realized there is Min-Nograph-Test Kernel. Profile 2 works with this kernel on USBridge Signature at DSD256 without pop / clicking noise.

Under this Kernel, look like Real Time Clock is enable and GPkernel1 is also enable. Does it mean that this Test kernel work as Real Time kernel?

 

Since V3.5 til 3.61, I could not run bcmstat successfully via Web-interface. Below are the error messages:

 

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/usr/bin/bcmstat.sh", line 1793, in <module>

main(sys.argv[1:])

File "/usr/bin/bcmstat.sh", line 1621, in main

find_vcgencmd_vcdbg()

File "/usr/bin/bcmstat.sh", line 359, in find_vcgencmd_vcdbg

if vcgencmd("get_mem reloc_total") != "0M" or vcgencmd("get_mem reloc") != "0M":

File "/usr/bin/bcmstat.sh", line 365, in vcgencmd

return grep("", runcommand("%s %s" % (VCGENCMD, args)), 1, split_char="=")

File "/usr/bin/bcmstat.sh", line 334, in runcommand

return subprocess.check_output(command.split(" "), stderr=subprocess.STDOUT).decode("utf-8")[:-1]

File "/usr/lib/python3.8/subprocess.py", line 411, in check_output

return run(*popenargs, stdout=PIPE, timeout=timeout, check=True,

File "/usr/lib/python3.8/subprocess.py", line 512, in run

raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,

subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['/usr/bin/vcgencmd', 'get_mem', 'reloc_total']' returned non-zero exit status 255.

 

Is there any reason for this issue?

 

Thanks

[chipvn]

7 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

 

MIN-NOGRAPH-TEST is a low latency kernel, but not RT.

bcmstat does not work with MIN kernels.

 

Thank you

[chipvn]

Hi @antonellocaroli ,

 

I saw there is version when checking new in GentooPlayer web interface.

I have not seen any official update in your website.

Is this V4 official update?

Is there any way to update to V.4 from V3.61?

 

Thanks

[chipvn]

10 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

Hi,
I had to change a few things in the image structure recently.
Things that, unfortunately, cannot be replicated in an update, which is why there is no version update.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

I think it is quite troublesome for us to do a fresh flash quite regularly like this since the V.3. It took me quite a fair bit of time to flash, adjust and fine tune the system every time.

 

Hopefully there is way to minimize it (for example only major version change from V3.x to V.4.x required fresh flash but from V.3.0 to V3.x.x can be done via gpupdate, etc.)

 

I'll wait few days more to confirm it is stable before flash it, then.

 

Thanks, 

[chipvn]

On 1/29/2021 at 11:50 PM, antonellocaroli said:

wait V5

I have flashed and run V.5 for 2 days on USBridge Signature with default Min-Nograph-Test Kernel (low latency). It is stable so far with Profile 2 / Ram System 2

Might spend time to test some real time kernels to see if it could work with USBridge Signature this time or not. 

[chipvn]

@antonellocaroli:

I realized that V5.10 come with 5.10.14 standard kernel.

However, it is also come with 5.4.65 test kernel.

 

Has the low latency under 5.4.65 been implemented as standard in 5.10.14 yet?

Also, do you have any latency value to compare between the 5.4.65 test kernel vs 5.10.14 standard kernel vs RT kernel?

 

Thanks

[chipvn]

6 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

*RT* kernels have a lower latency.

Yes, understand cause RT is real time.

 

How about the difference between test kernel with timing patch vs the standard kernel? Is there any improvement in latency?

[chipvn]

On 10/20/2020 at 1:33 AM, antonellocaroli said:

there is software specially designed for testing...

here are some examples on usb bridge:

 

with governor set to performance  (the last column is important)

 

 

 

with governor powersave

 

 

 

this with an RT kernel

 

 

 

but sure latency has a certain importance in audio production, in reproduction instead it has never been demonstrated that it can be important, that's why my question, since many people tend to reduce the working frequency of the cpu, I wondered if it is done because we notice some improvements in listening? I don't think...

 

3 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

it's the same in practice.

 

ex. Rpi3

 

 

 

 

The standard 5.10.14-GentooPlayer-MIN-NOGRAPH result on your recent RPi3 is really good and almost the same as the RT kernel your test before on USBridge Signature.

 

Does the 5.10.14-GentooPlayer-MIN-NOGRAPH standard kernel behave the same on USBridge Signature?

Sorry cause I don't know how to test it myself. :(

[chipvn]

1 hour ago, antonellocaroli said:

yes

That's great new. I have tried to us RT kernel many time on USBridge Signature without success.

This new 5.10.14 standard kernel (as well as the 5.4.65 standard test kernel) could achieve almost similar latency to the previous 4.xx.xx RT kernel.

This should be one of the best result for USBridge Signature.

[chipvn]

@antonellocaroli I have tried 5.10.33- CK-Min-Nograph kernel on my USBridge Signature and it works well. Might find sometime to compare with the standard Min-Nograph kernel to see if I could detect any sound difference or not (which I believe will be very subtle if there is any).

 

Understood CK kernel latency is lower than standard kernel, have you test the CK kernel vs ST and RT kernel yet?

[chipvn]

@antonellocaroli 

 

I have successfully upgrade from 6.0 to 6.10. 

However, when I flashed a fresh 6.10 image, I could not remove un-use software (even with default kernel, default profile, no ram system).

Below is the error message:

 

!!! /etc/portage/make.profile is not a symlink and will probably prevent most merges.

!!! It should point into a profile within /var/db/repos/gentoo/profiles/

!!! (You can safely ignore this message when syncing. It's harmless.)

 

!!! Your current profile is invalid. If you have just changed your profile

!!! configuration, you should revert back to the previous configuration.

!!! Allowed actions are limited to --help, --info, --search, --sync, and

!!! --version.

 

 

Not sure what is the issue. 

[chipvn]

37 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

emerge --sync
solved ;)

Thanks for the extremely fast solution.

 

Successfully uninstalled un-used softwares after an gp-update. :)

[chipvn]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:26 PM, antonellocaroli said:

No longer since version 6.40....

I have been using 6.4 (fresh flashed) with rhe CM4 USBridge Signature and it work well and fast with RT kernel, profile 2 and Ram system 9.

However, I have just realised that I could not change Kernel any more after switched to RT kernel.

Click "Select kernel" result with error:

"Failed to load script info. Try to reload the page. Error message:

Failed to connect to the server"

 

Remove RAM system, change to standard profile did not help.

 

Is this a known issue?

[chipvn]

19 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

doesn't the page update solve? the full update?

example:

 

Chrome: Shift + Reload Button or Shift + F5
IE: Ctrl + F5 or Ctrl + Reload Button
Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + R or Shift + Reload

if it does not solve it is probably an error in the script...
can you post the system-info?

Refresh / update the Web browser or using different WEB browser did not help.

 

I have just PM you my system configuration.

 

Thank you

[chipvn]

2 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

gp-update  should solve...

Thank you,

 

After gp-update, the script works.

 

 

1 hour ago, stefano_mbp said:

are you sure it is the CM4 version? Where did you find it? 

 

This is a modified version using a CM3 to CM4 adapter.

You can take a look at some latest posts about the required modifications on the Allo USBridge Signature topic from the link shared above.

[chipvn]

@antonellocaroli: do you have any information on the new 3 kernel: -4, -8, -17?

I saw these 3 options available on different Kernel group.

[chipvn]

@antonellocaroli

 

I had issue with version 6.5 on my CM4 USBridge Signature using USB DAC.

I use it only as NAA (enable only NAA and Web interface).

After every boot, I can play any album without issue from Roon --> HQPlayer --> NAA up sampling all to DSD256 as long as Roon maintain the the data flow.

As soon as I change the track manually (click next, change album, etc.) The system will just generate a loud white noise continuously. Stop playing will stop the white noise sound but any effort to play (continue the track, select new track, ...) will generate the same loud white noise.

The only way I can play again is to reboot the USBridge Signature. (reboot Roon Server or HQPlayser server did not help)

 

It seem like version 6.5 did not recognize the DAC correctly so it could not maintain the data sending to my USB DAC with correct format.

With version 6.4 and previous version, my DAC max buffer size was detected as 131072.

However, with v6.5, my DAC max buffer size was detected as 500k+

Not sure if this is the issue or not.

 

 

 

Switched back to V6.4 work smoothly without issue.

 

[chipvn]

58 minutes ago, altsouza said:

Are there CM4 Allo USB Signature??? I understand that it is CM3 module based!!! (Pi3 based)

Or maybe I am unware of this release!!

Antonio

This is a modified one.

 

I have started doing it in this post.

 

 

You can refer to those discussion on page 49 to page 51 there for more information.

[chipvn]

6 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

can you try this image?

rpi4

Thank you for the quick update.

This version recognized my DAC max buffer size correctly but the issue remain the same.

[chipvn]

4 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

mhhh...then I suspect that something in the new kernel versions has problems...I don't know if only with your specific dac....

you can downgrade the kernel, installing version 5.10.33-210509 

Update/install/remove> kernel SW/UP

Thanks. Let me find sometime this weekend trying to downgrade the kernel.