Audiolinux Server configurations, Software, Hardware, and Listening Impressions

[lmitche]

14 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

 New menu version 114. The crazy update never finish...

 

*** Version 114 update warning: Before rebooting, please go to Configuration Menu --> 20 SET boot to Extreme, Extreme2 or Standard and set your boot option, since this action will reconfigure some default settings. From now on if you select standard, extreme boot or isolated cores you must always boot with the option audiolinux (the other will not work correctly). The scripts will change the parameters of this boot option accordingly. I think this way is simple and more elegant.

 

Now the system is compatible with both kernels RT 5.x and RT-BFQ 4.19.x and you can switch easily from one to the other with the new kernel update script

For kernel RT 5.x you should make a full system update before installing it

Wow, you have been busy. Many thanks for the effort.

 

While I expect to have lots of questions, the first thoughts are about your warning. With the prior dedicated core function the core allocation and boot mode are set in a single script. Are you saying that those are separate functions now? And that after installing the new menu, the boot mode can be choosen and stored without the need to run the dedicated core menu script?

[rickca]

6 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

 New menu version 114. The crazy update never finish...

 

*** Version 114 update warning: Before rebooting, please go to Configuration Menu --> 20 SET boot to Extreme, Extreme2 or Standard and set your boot option, since this action will reconfigure some default settings. From now on if you select standard, extreme boot or isolated cores you must always boot with the option audiolinux (the other will not work correctly). The scripts will change the parameters of this boot option accordingly. I think this way is simple and more elegant.

 

Now the system is compatible with both kernels RT 5.x and RT-BFQ 4.19.x and can switch easily from one to the other

For kernel RT 5.x you should make a full system update before installing it

I'm confused.  I'm already set up to boot Extreme, I did it long ago.  Is this Configuration Menu 20 something new?  Sorry I haven't been keeping up.  I don't understand your comment that you must always boot with the option audiolinux.

 

What is the difference between kernels RT 5.x and RT-BFQ 4.29.x?  If you update the kernel using the menu, which one do you end up with?

[hifi25nl]

I will try to explain. Before at boot you had

 

audiolinux

audiolinuxBFQ

audiolinuxBFQjail

etc.

 

Now you should use only audiolinux, the scripts will change the parameters of that boot option, stored in /boot/loader/entries/audiolinux.conf

I you have isolated cores already configured, you should run it another time to add the parameters to audiolinux.conf

The good about this is that now for isolated cores you can set Standard, Extreme or Extreme2 outside of the script, much more easy for the user.

[hifi25nl]

For the kernel now you have a choice, the kernel script is new:

 

What kernel do you want to install/update?
This will take some time. Don't shut down the system!
1 - Audiolinux RT
2 - Audiolinux RT BFQ

?

 

Personally I would stick to RT BFQ 4.19.x, but I have at least one customer with Audiolinux lxqt that can boot only with 5.x kernel because of a very recent CPU.

 

About the difference you can find some documentation with Google if you search for BFQ patch. Both are realtime.

 

 

 

[rickca]

26 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

For the kernel now you have a choice, the kernel script is new

OK but you just said to only use audiolinux, not audiolinuxBFQ.  So why is there an option to install the AudioLinux RT BFQ kernel?  Clearly there's something here I don't understand.

[hifi25nl]

It is only a name...

 

If you have installed RT BFQ inside the file /boot/loader/entries/audiolinux.conf there will be the right configuration for BFQ, if you have chosen RT you will have RT configuration. The same for Standard, Extreme, Extreme2, isolated cores.

 

The name is the same, the content different

 

If all is working, in /boot/loader/entries/ you can delete 

/boot/loader/entries/audiolinuxBFQ.conf

/boot/loader/entries/audiolinuxEXTREME.conf

/boot/loader/entries/audiolinuxEXTREME2.conf

/boot/loader/entries/archlinux.conf

 

and  maybe change title in /boot/loader/entries/audiolinux.conf

from

title   Audiolinux (if installed)

to

title   Audiolinux

[JohanJ]

21 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

Now the system is compatible with both kernels RT 5.x and RT-BFQ 4.19.x and you can switch easily from one to the other with the new kernel update script

For kernel RT 5.x you should make a full system update before installing it 

 

Did I miss RT 5.x? I thought RT-BFQ 4.19.x is the latest version of 12/04/2019 .The one without NUMA. Did I miss a kernel or is this RT5 a special version?

[hifi25nl]

RT-BFQ 4.19.x is the default Audiolinux kernel without NUMA, as installed n the last versions 1.3.0 and 3.4.0 lxqt.

RT 5.x is the last realtime kernel without BFQ patch. 

 

With the new menu, as I said before, is very easy to switch from one to the other.

However  I do recommend to use RT-BFQ 4.19.x, much stable and with long time support.  The version 5.x of this one is not yet available because the corresponding BFQ patch has not been released.

 

[renan]

Hello,

 

I installed recently audiolinux in my system. Very good works fine on one pc.

 

First on the pc player for roonbridge working with a pc with Roonserver under fedora. Works fine

 

Second, I put audiolinux on the pc server with roonserver. Server is ok if the audiolinux player is off.

 

If I use both player and server at the same time I have network issue....and the Roon server do not see roon end point while roonbridge is working on the player pc.

 

I suspect some wrong network configuration; I use fix IP address (option 2 in the menu network) for both pc underaudiolinux. I'm not in a bridge mode just the two pc connected to a switch.

 

Any idea please??

[lmitche]

6 hours ago, renan said:

Hello,

 

I installed recently audiolinux in my system. Very good works fine on one pc.

 

First on the pc player for roonbridge working with a pc with Roonserver under fedora. Works fine

 

Second, I put audiolinux on the pc server with roonserver. Server is ok if the audiolinux player is off.

 

If I use both player and server at the same time I have network issue....and the Roon server do not see roon end point while roonbridge is working on the player pc.

 

I suspect some wrong network configuration; I use fix IP address (option 2 in the menu network) for both pc underaudiolinux. I'm not in a bridge mode just the two pc connected to a switch.

 

Any idea please??

Try removing /var/roon/RAATServer/Settings/unique_id on one of the machines and restart.

[davide256]

6 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Try removing /var/roon/RAATServer/Settings/unique_id on one of the machines and restart.

use the copy feature to create a second USB stick that has different machine name as well (i.e.audiolinux2)

Removing the unique_id didn't solve the problem for me, using the copy feature from the menu did.

[Crom]

Hi all,

I've recently started to use the headless version of HQPlayer running on Audiolinux headless, running on a NUC. The NAA is running on a rasberry pi (also on audiolinux).

 

I have been trying to troubleshoot a problem in that Roon is unable to see HQPlayer:

 

This is a bit annoying as I had it working perfectly a few days ago and I'm not sure what I've done wrong!

 

HQplayer logs indicate that it can see the NAA:

 

  2019/05/04 12:03:25 asoundlib version: 1.1.8
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Found ALSA device: hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 - HDA Intel PCH: ALC283 Analog
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Found ALSA device: hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=3 - HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 0
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Found ALSA device: hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=7 - HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 1
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Found ALSA device: hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=8 - HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 2
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Found ALSA device: hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=9 - HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 3
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Found ALSA device: hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=10 - HDA Intel PCH: HDMI 4
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Network Audio IPv6 support enabled
  2019/05/04 12:03:25 Discovery from ::
& 2019/05/04 12:03:25 Discovered network audio: name='raspberry' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 3.5.6'  @[::ffff:192.168.178.189]:43210
& 2019/05/04 12:03:25 Discovered network audio: name='raspberry' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 3.5.6'  @[::ffff:192.168.178.189]:43210
& 2019/05/04 12:03:26 Discovered network audio: name='raspberry' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 3.5.6'  @[fe80::ba27:ebff:feaf:8930%eno1]:43210
& 2019/05/04 12:03:26 Discovered network audio: name='raspberry' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 3.5.6'  @[fe80::ba27:ebff:feaf:8930%eno1]:43210
  2019/05/04 12:03:27  Network endpoint: snd_rpi_rpi_dac:  (hw:CARD=sndrpirpidac,DEV=0)
- 2019/05/04 12:03:27 Network engine stopping...

The reason that I think my HQ Player config is the problem is that when I try to access the browser front end I can only reach /config. For example, I thought I'd see if I can play music directly from HQPlayer to the Pi and clicked on the 'library' link at foot of config page. All that happens is the config page is loaded again. Is this by design and it's telling me something's wrong here?

 

Any help would be most appreciated!

Cheers,

Crom

 

[Crom]

...and having spent hours fiddling around...then posting a shout for help, I manage to find a solution within minutes of posting. Gah, how foolish do I feel. I'd somehow managed to switch off the IPv6 checkbox in HQPlayer config page! Problem solved. Music returned.

 

So...just for future reference, in HQ Player headless, does the interface get 'stuck' on the config page when there is a configuration problem?

 

Thanks all and sorry for disturbing!

[mourip]

1 hour ago, Crom said:

...and having spent hours fiddling around...then posting a shout for help, I manage to find a solution within minutes of posting. Gah, how foolish do I feel. I'd somehow managed to switch off the IPv6 checkbox in HQPlayer config page! Problem solved. Music returned.

 

So...just for future reference, in HQ Player headless, does the interface get 'stuck' on the config page when there is a configuration problem?

 

Thanks all and sorry for disturbing!

 

Interesting. So HQ Player somehow uses IPv6? or at least needs it turned on?

 

I do not use HQP but always disable IPv6 on my PCs, both audio and other, since IPv4 works fine and I am always looking to reduce unused services.

[renan]

 

On 5/3/2019 at 11:26 PM, davide256 said:

use the copy feature to create a second USB stick that has different machine name as well (i.e.audiolinux2)

Removing the unique_id didn't solve the problem for me, using the copy feature from the menu did.

 

On 5/3/2019 at 11:17 PM, lmitche said:

Try removing /var/roon/RAATServer/Settings/unique_id on one of the machines and restart.

Thnaks Lmitche and davide256,

 

I took the longer and easiest way , the copy feature" since I'm not having fun with command lines. It worked;

During the process it did twice write that it will suppress the unique-id and that it didn't find the unique-id.... but well this is working.

Thanks

[davide256]

27 minutes ago, renan said:

 

 

Thnaks Lmitche and davide256,

 

I took the longer and easiest way , the copy feature" since I'm not having fun with command lines. It worked;

During the process it did twice write that it will suppress the unique-id and that it didn't find the unique-id.... but well this is working.

Thanks

What I observed was that DHCP would assign duplicate IP address if the host name was not changed

[lmitche]

4 hours ago, davide256 said:

What I observed was that DHCP would assign duplicate IP address if the host name was not changed

It depends on the DHCP implementation in your router. Different routers appear to do different things with hostnames, MAC addresses, etc. I've seen routers from Tplink and Asus assign the same ip address to two machines with different Mac addresses and hostnames. Many hours were wasted on that one.

[lmitche]

Piero,

 

Today I see a new menu version numbered 116. It looks like the split core/boot mode warning is gone. If one upgrades say a 112 menu machine to 116 or greater is there still a need to redo the spit core boot mode setting?

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

[hifi25nl]

Yes, it will be done automatically if you  install a new kernel or modify boot option (standard, extreme, extreme2) or you set isolated cores.

 

[lmitche]

36 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

Yes, it will be done automatically if you  install a new kernel or modify boot option (standard, extreme, extreme2) or you set isolated cores.

 

Got it, thanks!

[HeeBroG]

Hi All,

 

In a AL server/renderer setup, is it better to run the server on low CPU speeds and renderer on high or vice versa?

 

If this has already been tested by others, I would rather enjoy my music than spend lots of time testing the various combinations. 

 

Thanks in advance for any tips.

 

Geoff

[bobfa]

2 hours ago, HeeBroG said:

Hi All,

 

In a AL server/renderer setup, is it better to run the server on low CPU speeds and renderer on high or vice versa?

 

If this has already been tested by others, I would rather enjoy my music than spend lots of time testing the various combinations. 

 

Thanks in advance for any tips.

 

Geoff

I would suggest you go read the March post by  @romaz

 

 

[Superdad]

3 hours ago, bobfa said:

I would suggest you go read the March post by  @romaz

 

 

You are mean Bob.  Roy's March post was 8,200 words!  

[shahed99]

When I change my ethernet speed to 100Mbps on AL+NUC (used as endpoint) , the music starts stuttering and becomes unlistenable. However, my server (running WS2016), ethernet speed is set to 100Mbps the whole time and works just fine (even when in a single server setup).

 

Not sure if this OS issue or dual PC setup issue. Anyone has encountered something similar?

[lmitche]

2 hours ago, shahed99 said:

When I change my ethernet speed to 100Mbps on AL+NUC (used as endpoint) , the music starts stuttering and becomes unlistenable. However, my server (running WS2016), ethernet speed is set to 100Mbps the whole time and works just fine (even when in a single server setup).

 

Not sure if this OS issue or dual PC setup issue. Anyone has encountered something similar?

What's between the server and endpoint?