Thinking about switching to Linux...

[jabbr]

11 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

Maybe I can do this.

 

 

 

Perhaps you should reread my answers for you ... this is what I am talking about: you can run OS X in a VM ("virtual machine") which is what the video instructs...

[bluesman]

15 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

Perhaps I am not clear. I will be sitting at a linux computer. Not a laptop, doing my normal computer stuff. At the same time I will be listening to music, like I am now using my MacBook Pro which is running ROON and pulling the music off an external drive.

 

There may be another alternative for you.  I run Wine ("Wine Is Not an Emulator" - but it is, sort of...) on a few Linux boxes so my wife can use programs that are available only for Windows and not for Linux, e.g. Quicken. Just run Roon for Windows under Wine on your Linux box (here's a LINK to a Roon community discussion about it) and use it only for the GUI.  Your core can be anywhere on your network. 

[AudioDoctor]

8 hours ago, bluesman said:

 

There may be another alternative for you.  I run Wine ("Wine Is Not an Emulator" - but it is, sort of...) on a few Linux boxes so my wife can use programs that are available only for Windows and not for Linux, e.g. Quicken. Just run Roon for Windows under Wine on your Linux box (here's a LINK to a Roon community discussion about it) and use it only for the GUI.  Your core can be anywhere on your network. 

 

I think that's where I am at. I was hoping someone had figured something out, but it looks like WINE, a Virtual Machine, or my phone will have to be the control.

[AudioDoctor]

Here's an idea, is there a way I would be able to remote into my Mini from a Linux desktop and control ROON that way? Then I could hide the mini away in a closet and do nothing with it except ROON.

[bluesman]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

I think that's where I am at. I was hoping someone had figured something out, but it looks like WINE, a Virtual Machine, or my phone will have to be the control.

 

Wine is transparent in use.  If my wife can handle it, anyone can - she hates technological "barriers" as sophisticated as a double click  

 

Once you install & configure Wine, you basically open your Windows apps just as you do on a Win10 PC - click the icon, then click "open in Wine", and go to work.  I haven't had a chance to try it yet for you, but that thread on the Roon Community forum seems clear that it's truly that easy.  And if you leave the window minimized when not in use, you won't even have to reopen it.

 

You could run your Roon core on your Mini, but the problem of a Linux remote remains - you'd have to install Roon on Wine anyway.  If you're going to use Wine, you might as well run the full Roon Windows package for a one box solution.

[AudioDoctor]

9 minutes ago, bluesman said:

 

Wine is transparent in use.  If my wife can handle it, anyone can - she hates technological "barriers" as sophisticated as a double click  

 

Once you install & configure Wine, you basically open your Windows apps just as you do on a Win10 PC - click the icon, then click "open in Wine", and go to work.  I haven't had a chance to try it yet for you, but that thread on the Roon Community forum seems clear that it's truly that easy.  And if you leave the window minimized when not in use, you won't even have to reopen it.

 

You could run your Roon core on your Mini, but the problem of a Linux remote remains - you'd have to install Roon on Wine anyway.  If you're going to use Wine, you might as well run the full Roon Windows package for a one box solution.

 

 

I am definitely reading the WINE thread, thanks for the link. I was thinking about putting the entire one box ROON on the old Mini I have here, and then using screen sharing or some other network protocol to control the mini. Roon would work over the network anyway, so it doesn't need to be directly connected to my McIntosh via USB like it is now, I have an optical Signature Rendu on the way.

[bluesman]

33 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

I am definitely reading the WINE thread, thanks for the link. I was thinking about putting the entire one box ROON on the old Mini I have here, and then using screen sharing or some other network protocol to control the mini. Roon would work over the network anyway, so it doesn't need to be directly connected to my McIntosh via USB like it is now, I have an optical Signature Rendu on the way.

 

You could run Roon iOS on your Mini and access it with VNC or "Roon on Wine" from your Linux box. You should use an SSD as the Mini's boot drive for best performance, if you go this route.   Or (assuming your Mini is an Intel version and not an earlier powerPC verson) you could install a Linux distro (e.g. follow THIS to install Debian), run Roon Linux core on it, and use RoW or VNC to control it from the Linux box.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, bluesman said:

 Or (assuming your Mini is an Intel version and not an earlier powerPC verson) you could install a Linux distro (e.g. follow THIS to install Debian), run Roon Linux core on it, and use RoW or VNC to control it from the Linux box.

 

Now that's not a bad idea, I hadn't thought of that. It does have an SSD, and 16GB of RAM. It was my music server before I bought an actual music server, back before ROON.

[AudioDoctor]

@bluesman Wouldn't running Roon on the Mini put me in the exact same position I am in now though? The difference would be the Core would not be on the computer in front of me, or am I missing something?

[bluesman]

2 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

@bluesman Wouldn't running Roon on the Mini put me in the exact same position I am in now though? The difference would be the Core would not be on the computer in front of me, or am I missing something?

 

That’s the difference - you’d have a dedicated Roon box with nothing else running on it.  Computers are noisy, and there’s a lot of background processor activity when you’re using it for multiple purposes.  You can optimize the Mini for audio.