Audiolinux Server configurations, Software, Hardware, and Listening Impressions

[hifi25nl]

03/07/2020 Audiolinux menu 223 with: 1) Fix: in some cases audio services not disabled if isolated cores enabled 2) Profile copied to Auto when one of the standard profiles selected 3) CPU load now show instantaneous load not the average from boot 4) Main menu show also last available Audiolinux menu 5) Enable/disable Samba server in EXPERT menu now also start/stop samba immediately

 

04/07/2020 Audiolinux headless 2.5.0 with full system update, last kernel linux-rt-5.6.17.10-1
and menu 223. Soon Audiolinux lxqt version 4.5.0

 

04/07/2020 Audiolinux menu 224 with updated kernel installation script. Now kernel linux-rt-bfq has been renamed upstream to linux-rt-bfq-dev. Uploaded last manually compiled BFQ kernel linux-rt-bfq-dev-5.6.17.rt10-1

 

04/07/20230 Raspberry menu 106 with the same improvements as in Audiolinux menu 223. You should install wget with

sudo pacman -Sy wget

 

Do you want to disable Roon default debug option? Contact me.

 

...and soon Audiolinux lxqt 4.5...

[Oscarhuge]

@hifi25nl The file size of Headless 2.5.0 is 325M only. Still uploading?

 

 

[hifi25nl]

You are right... the right size is about 2.9 GB

I will upload now

[Oscarhuge]

@Hifi25nl. Cool! Thanks mate. 

[hifi25nl]

I discovered the mistake... I have uploaded an old PinkFaun version 2.5.0 instead of headless 2.5.0...

[Oscarhuge]

First listening impression of AL headless 2.5 in my system is quite positive. More body, less fatigue. Thanks hifi25nl for your amazing work! 

[cat6man]

hi folks,

 

i'm running hqplayer in ramroot node in a NUC server, music is on hdd attached to the NUC via usb.

streaming is over my home network to an opticalRendu running as an NAA.

 

so the NUC has two critical things to manage/prioritize

1.  ethernet streaming to NAA

2.  music input from usb attached HDD

 

i've attached the files that give my RTIRQ and RTAPP configurations.

it seems the usb (IRQ#126) has a high priority but not the ethernet (IRQ#127, i think)

what lines of code in the config files should i consider changing here?

has anyone here specifically experimented with priorities and streaming to an NAA?

 

 

RTparams.txt

[hifi25nl]

If you have configured a bridge and NAA PC is connected only to server (not router) you could give high priority to  the Ethernet interface on the server connected to NAA PC

For example:

 

[audiolinux@archlinux ~]$ networkctl 
IDX LINK    TYPE     OPERATIONAL      SETUP       
 1 lo      loopback carrier          unmanaged   
 2 enp4s0  ether    enslaved          configured 
 3 enp3s0  ether    enslaved          configured  
 4 bridge0 bridge   degraded-carrier configured 

 

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="enp4s0" 

 

If enp4s0 is the interface connected to NAA

[cat6man]

1 hour ago, hifi25nl said:

If you have configured a bridge and NAA PC is connected only to server (not router) you could give high priority to  the Ethernet interface on the server connected to NAA PC

For example:

 

[audiolinux@archlinux ~]$ networkctl 
IDX LINK    TYPE     OPERATIONAL      SETUP       
 1 lo      loopback carrier          unmanaged   
 2 enp4s0  ether    enslaved          configured 
 3 enp3s0  ether    enslaved          configured  
 4 bridge0 bridge   degraded-carrier configured 

 

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="enp4s0" 

 

If enp4s0 is the interface connected to NAA

 

thanks.  i do not, however, have a bridge configured, and i connect the server and NAA via an edge router (ubiquiti edgerouterX SFP).  the edgerouter segregates my music from all the other digital traffic so its only inputs are ethernet copper to audiolinux NUC, ethernet copper to NAA and optical SFP to fios router (for wifi to hqpd controller and for streaming/qobuz)

 

any suggestions for ethernet priority in my case?  should it have a higher priority compared with the other interrupts?  relative to USB/HDD?

 

any downside if i change

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="usb" 

 

to

 

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="en01" 

or

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="en01 usb" 

[hifi25nl]

In general the right configuration could be this

 

NAA: 

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="usb interface_name"

Really the best would probably be:

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="xhci interface_name"
If DAC is using xhci, check in Audiolinux status menu -> 2 "AUDIO interrupts"

 

SERVER:

RTIRQ_NAME_LIST="interface_name"

where interface_name is the one connecting to NAA

 

-> I would not set priority to extreme in this case

 

If you give realtime priority to Ethernet you must be sure that Internet traffic is not exchanged.

 

You can check this with 

sudo iftop -i interface_name

(if iftop is not installed you can install it with yay -S iftop)

If the command above show connections to Internet, you should change your hardware/software configuration.

 

-> Change interface_name with the name of your interface.

 

 

 

 

 

[hifi25nl]

23/07/2020 Audiolinux menu 226 with the new option 6 "REALTIME MANUAL ASSIGNMENT configuration" in EXPERT menu.

This is a great news, since now you can set priority for IRQ, APPLICATION and NETWORK and see a summary with 6 "Show configuration" in main menu.
Please be sure that you are using one of the latest kernel. This script is available only on Audiolinux and is using proprietary code...

 

I include a session example below:

 

-----------------------------------------

This script will configure your realtime general settings.
Extra options can be set in EXPERT menu

Your realtime configuration is:

Realtime system-wide configuration:
@realtime - rtprio 98
@realtime - memlock unlimited

IRQ service is enabled
IRQ thread service names: xhci
Highest Priority: 85
Priority decrease step: 10

APPLICATION service is disabled

NETWORK service is enabled
Interface: enp3s0
Priority: 55

Priority status:

   85 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   55 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   55 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   55 irq/34-enp3s0

What do you want to do?

1) Enable/disable IRQ service (rtirq)
2) Enable/disable APPLICATION service (rtapp)
3) Enable/disable NETWORK service (rtnet)
4) Configure IRQ priority
5) Configure APPLICATION priority
6) Configure NETWORK priority
7) Exit

?4

Your realtime priority configuration should follow this scheme from higher to lower:
IRQ -> APPLICATION(S)
For example 90 -> 85 -> 80 etc.
Note: you should give high priority to network interface only if you have a server/client connected with a bridge.
Only in this case you could try a scheme like this:
On server: NETWORK -> APPLICATION
On client/endpoint: IRQ -> APPLICATION -> NETWORK

   85 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   55 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   55 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   55 irq/34-enp3s0

Your DAC is connected to USB 3.0 port (xhci)
Your /etc/rtirq.conf has been configured for xhci

The max. available realtime priority is 98
Suggested values are 95 (extreme) or 90 (default)
Please enter your value:
?90
The priority defined before will be the defined maximum. Now set the priority decrease step. Extra irqs or audio applications will have a pri
ority obtained by subtracting the step from the maximum priority.
Suggested values are 5 (extreme) or 10 (default)
?10

   90 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   55 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   55 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   55 irq/34-enp3s0

What do you want to do?

1) Enable/disable IRQ service (rtirq)
2) Enable/disable APPLICATION service (rtapp)
3) Enable/disable NETWORK service (rtnet)
4) Configure IRQ priority
5) Configure APPLICATION priority
6) Configure NETWORK priority
7) Exit

?5

Your realtime priority configuration should follow this scheme from higher to lower:
IRQ -> APPLICATION(S)
For example 90 -> 85 -> 80 etc.
Note: you should give high priority to network interface only if youx have a server/client connected with a bridge.
Only in this case you could try a scheme like this:
On server: NETWORK -> APPLICATION
On client/endpoint: IRQ -> APPLICATION -> NETWORK

   90 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   55 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   55 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   55 irq/34-enp3s0

Here you can edit the list of applications that will be given a high priority. Order can be important depending on your configuration, so please add applications that need higher priority first
Your list is now:

mpd hqplayer hqplayerd squeezelite networkaudiod RoonBridge RoonAppliance sox mediacenter26 spotifyd

Type Y if you want to edit it
?n

Here you will configure the max. priority given to audio applications.
In your configuration this should be at least 5 units less than irq priority, that is now 85
?80

Now you can configure your preferred method  
manual: the applications priority will have the value set in MAX_PRIORITY
manualdec: same as manual but the priority will decrease by one step from the first to the last application
auto: the value will be a step (RTIRQ_PRIO_DECR) under the minimum value of priority set by rtirq (this value depends on the number of items
in RTIRQ_NAME_LIST and the number of audio hardware connected to the same USB bus)
autodec (default): same as auto but the priority will decrease by one step from the first to the last application
?autodec

   90 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   55 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   55 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   55 irq/34-enp3s0

What do you want to do?

1) Enable/disable IRQ service (rtirq)
2) Enable/disable APPLICATION service (rtapp)
3) Enable/disable NETWORK service (rtnet)
4) Configure IRQ priority
5) Configure APPLICATION priority
6) Configure NETWORK priority
7) Exit

?6

Your realtime priority configuration should follow this scheme from higher to lower:
IRQ -> APPLICATION(S)
For example 90 -> 85 -> 80 etc.
Note: you should give high priority to network interface only if you have a server/client connected with a bridge or you are using Audio over IP (AES67) and there is not internet traffic on the connection.
Only in this case you could try a scheme like this:
On server: NETWORK -> APPLICATION
On client/endpoint: IRQ -> APPLICATION -> NETWORK

   90 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   55 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   55 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   55 irq/34-enp3s0

Your network interfaces are:

enp3s0
enp4s0

Please type the name of network interface connected to server or endpoint in a bridge:
?enp3s0

Now we will configure the priority of this interface. As a general rule it should be the highest on server and the lowest on endpoint with a
step of 5 or 10. We remember here the current configuration:

   90 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   55 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   55 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   55 irq/34-enp3s0
   50 irq/18-i801_smb

Now type network priority:
?60

   90 irq/29-xhci_hcd
   60 irq/32-enp3s0-r
   60 irq/33-enp3s0-t
   60 irq/34-enp3s0
 

 

 

[hifi25nl]

10/08/2020 Audiolinux menu 229 with

 

1) BOOT option in system menu 14 "BOOT mode to Extreme, Extreme2 or Standard" completely changed using c-state script. Now CPU "sleep" states can be changed "on the fly". With this and other options Audiolinux will not depend on kernel line (and bootloader) since all configurations are made during boot. It will be also more easily portable to other architectures.

2) ISOLATE CORES option 16 "ISOLATED CPU CORES configuration" completely changed. Now you can isolate and... de-isolate CPU cores without changing kernel line and reboot. The effects are immediate!

3) 10 "ISOLATED CORES Assign core to application" in expert menu also changed with the new isolated cores configuration. Applications can use different cores and configured without restarting. A special service is checking the isolation status periodically and will make the necessary changes.

4) Improved 0 "SHOW configuration" in main menu now show also which application is running in which core.

5) Added buffer option to 9 "SQUEEZELITE select DAC and buffer" in audio menu

6) Now in Web Interface at ipaddres:5001 the various menus are in different folders. A lot more easy to use!

😎 Many other little changes and fixes and a general cleaning of scripts removing duplicates.

[dctom]

Hi Piero

 

Have updated system and kernel but menu does not update beyond 225. Not sure what I need to do?

[hifi25nl]

You can try manually

 

su

(root password)

bash /opt/scripts/update/menu_update.sh

(it will ask for menu password)

 

This way you can see errors

[hifi25nl]

And check available space on drive with

df -H

 

Did you select clean in system menu?

[dctom]

11 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

You can try manually

 

su

(root password)

bash /opt/scripts/update/menu_update.sh

(it will ask for menu password)

 

This way you can see errors

thanks

 

I tried this it says 

Username/Password Authentication Failed.

[hifi25nl]

Menu password is not user or root password

Check the purchase email

[dctom]

3 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

Menu password is not user or root password

Check the purchase email

Yes I used the menu pass from the email

[dctom]

Working fine now thanks

[rickca]

On 5/23/2020 at 2:53 AM, hifi25nl said:

A revolutionary kernel is on testing. Stay tuned!

Can you give us an update on when we might see this?  You said you were waiting for a special version of alsa.  Do you have that yet?  

[hifi25nl]

I fear that that it is still far from ready. The big problem is the new alsa version and the need to recompile with patches all audio applications.

A very long and difficult job that I can't do it myself and for which we would need a whole paid staff...

We will see.

For now the best option is realtime kernel, very stable now (I am using it now in my work PC) and with exceptional latency.

I have tested a version of the new kernel but latency performance is not better.

 

As a side note, I see that in another thread people are discussing about Taiko SGM EXTREME, that is using "Custom Windows 10 Enterprise" and for which is declared a low latency. However no data are published and I strongly doubt that latency can be better than in a realtime kernel. In other tests with the same OS it was much higher.

The big problem for music servers is the fact that 100% of them are using more or less standard PC motherboards. At his price (€23,370.00 – €28,920.00 !) I would expect a very original project, but from the photos  I see an Asus for dual CPU!
Leaving aside Mundorf and other very expensive capacitors in the power supply...good but such a waste.

Maybe some people could buy gold taps because they do not oxidize. Ok, there is a logic in it... :)

 

[hifi25nl]

Audiolinux version 2.6.0 and Audiolinux lxqt 4.6.0 are out with menu 234

 

For people that already have updated to the last menu, you can delete some old files. To be clear the necessary files and folders in /opt/scripts/  are:

 

[audiolinux@archlinux scripts]$ ls 
alaudio.sh  alexpert.sh  alupdate.sh  expert       main     profile  update 
alconf.sh   almon.sh     audio        favicon.ico  menu.sh  system   webinterface2

 

No harm is done if you leave these files there, however...
 

[Oscarhuge]

10 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

Audiolinux version 2.6.0 and Audiolinux lxqt 4.6.0 are out with menu 234

 

Just installed via the img file from the FTP server. Everything works well except Network Bridge. I failed to set fixed IP and the the Bridge0 always got ‘no-carrier’ and ‘configuring’ as statuses, even after reboot. Any advice? 

[hifi25nl]

Please check the files in /etc/systemd/network/

For example, in the case of the computer I am working now with 2 Ethernet cards I have:

 

[audiolinux@archlinux network]$ cd /etc/systemd/network/
[audiolinux@archlinux network]$ ls
bridge0.netdev  bridge0.network  enp3s0.network  enp4s0.network
[audiolinux@archlinux network]$ cat bridge0.netdev
[NetDev]
Name=bridge0
Kind=bridge
[audiolinux@archlinux network]$ cat bridge0.network
[Match]
Name=bridge0

[Network]
Address=192.168.1.5/24
Gateway=192.168.1.1
[audiolinux@archlinux network]$ cat enp3s0.network
[Match]
Name=enp3s0

[Network]
Bridge=bridge0
[audiolinux@archlinux network]$ cat enp4s0.network
[Match]
Name=enp4s0

[Network]
Bridge=bridge0


 

 

[Oscarhuge]

4 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

Please check the files in /etc/systemd/network/

I got a result like this