My sub $100 Linux Music Box

JakeJ · « **on:** 3 Jan 2023, 05:36 am »

I bought this little Celeron powered computer a couple of years ago for a project at work that didn't take place. I found it still in its box and figured what the heck!

I went online to do some Linux research and was a bit overwhelmed at all the "distros". I chose Mint Cinnamon 21.1 (current stable, not beta) mostly due to the large following and support crowd. I followed the instuctions to download, and make a bootable USB stick to install the OS. I think it's very cool you can just run it to try it out.

Once I had it installed and rebooted I went through the steps to get wifi logged into the router, and Linux immediately detected software updates just like the big boys. Within 20 minutes I had new Linux computer running on my desktop!

It ain't much. Just 2GHz Celeron CPU with 2Gb ram and a 32Gb SSD running fanless.

I spent a couple of hours sifting through the downloads for Linux. Then I checked to see if Tidal was available but no, however Spotify is so I downloaded it and this little box will make music for hours. Is it super duper hi-rez ooh ahh? No but it ain't bad for background music, and I like the mixes.

I'm thinkin' it might be kinda cool to get a portable drive to load a bunch of music on and make it a portable streaming source.

It was a fun little project that panned out well and has room for improvement.

Yatsushiro · « **Reply #1 on:** 3 Jan 2023, 08:31 am »

These are excellent little boxes. You may wish to try an audio OS such as Volumio, which offers Tidal, Spotify Qubuz etc:

https://volumio.com/en/get-started/

JakeJ · « **Reply #2 on:** 3 Jan 2023, 02:30 pm »

Thanks, Yatsushiro. I'll check it out.

whell · « **Reply #3 on:** 3 Jan 2023, 09:36 pm »

Just to throw another audio OS to the list, Daphile is lightweight, quite flexible, and sounds great.

JakeJ · « **Reply #4 on:** 3 Jan 2023, 09:53 pm »

Thanks, whell, I'll check it out. Dumb question - Since these are a complete operating systems they would need to be installed on thier own drive or partition, correct?

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #5 on:** 3 Jan 2023, 09:55 pm »

Mint is excellent!

I myself have settled on Xubuntu. The repository is well stocked with applications, and the Xfce window manager is pretty lightweight.

I don't run anything but Linux. I had a Windows box once. Nah.

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #6 on:** 3 Jan 2023, 09:56 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 3 Jan 2023, 09:53 pm

Thanks, whell, I'll check it out. Dumb question - Since these are a complete operating systems they would need to be installed on thier own drive or partition, correct?

Yes that's pretty much the deal. f you are going to keep them permanently (rather than just booting off a usb stick to test) a separate drive might be best since they will create partitions of their own.

JakeJ · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 01:59 pm »

Hi Yog,

Linux is new to me and I know nothing of the Terminal and writing code but that may not be necessary. I figure I would try other distros in the future. I'll have to check out Xubuntu.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 04:18 pm »

I have enjoyed Linux on Pi's for audio, have a surplus old netbook kicking around I could consider trying this with. Tks for the post.

shadowlight · « **Reply #9 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 04:31 pm »

You can also use Daphile x86 PC if you are comfortable with the Logitech Squeezebox setup. If you have Raspberry Pi you can us picore as a Logitech replacement. I am currently using both the Pi with a 7" screen which is a similar setup to Logitech Touch.

JakeJ · « **Reply #10 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 05:21 pm »

shadowlight,

Please post a pic of that rig, thanks.

JakeJ · « **Reply #11 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 05:22 pm »

And anybody else for that matter, we all like to see what people are talking about.

mitch stl · « **Reply #12 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 06:09 pm »

It is amazing what you can do if you are willing to experiment a little. Here is an Inovato Quadra (available for $30) which I am using as a streaming player for my office headphone setup. On the left is an Audioengine N22 amp, and below the Quadra is a Topping E30 DAC. The Quadra comes with Armbian (a Linux distro) pre-installed. I added the Squeezelite player program which picks up its music (included Qobuz) from my Logitech Media Server which runs on a Raspberry Pi. My other players are both Raspberry Pi boards running PiCorePlayer. It all works and sounds great.

mitch stl · « **Reply #13 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 06:17 pm »

And here is the bedroom system with a Raspberry Pi 3B and HiFiBerry DAC2HD card and 7" RPi display with a LSA VT-70 tube amp. Software is PiCorePlayer, a Linux audio-only distribution. Speakers (not shown) are Spendor 4/5s (their current interpretation of the classic LS 3/5a.)

Sadly, Raspberry Pi boards are still hard to come by and expensive -- they used to be $35 give or take, and the chip shortage moved them to the $100 to $200 range. I understand that situation is starting to improve and that maybe, just maybe, things will be back to normal this summer.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #14 on:** 4 Jan 2023, 09:00 pm »

I have been using a smaller portion of my FLAC collection (50GB flash drive vs the 4TB outboard drive) as I get more used to Volumio running as server/player. I do have a "spare" Pi I could use as the server but wanted to see if 1 could do both. I ran LMS for years on a netbook as the server, but wanted to try a Pi. Have enjoyed PiCore and Volumio as the server s/w in my past explorations.

Not much to look at, but here is my small 2 channel setup. Pi4 (iFi power supply) USB into Wadia (DAC/pre) and then to the active Dynaudio speakers. Easily controllable via app on phone or html page on desktop (my office is now in a corner of the basement, so I sometimes play music during the day - but I am WAY out of the sweet spot so it is purely background for those hours).

JakeJ · « **Reply #15 on:** 5 Jan 2023, 02:37 am »

Nice photos, gents. Thanks.

How about some of the lesser known SBCs?

Libre 1
Libre 2
Orange Pi

mitch stl · « **Reply #16 on:** 5 Jan 2023, 03:41 am »

Not familiar with the Libre, but I believe the Orange Pi can run the Armbian software which means it should be able to be set up as a Squeezelite player. After you install the Squeezelite program, you'll need to edit the /etc/default/squeezelite configuration program to tell it how to recognize the USB DAC you've chosen to use.

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #17 on:** 5 Jan 2023, 02:56 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 4 Jan 2023, 01:59 pm

Hi Yog,

Linux is new to me and I know nothing of the Terminal and writing code but that may not be necessary. I figure I would try other distros in the future. I'll have to check out Xubuntu.

These days it not really necessary, although you may run into time where instructions require a terminal widow. For basic things it's pretty easy.

shadowlight · « **Reply #18 on:** 5 Jan 2023, 05:12 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 3 Jan 2023, 09:53 pm

Thanks, whell, I'll check it out. Dumb question - Since these are a complete operating systems they would need to be installed on thier own drive or partition, correct?

You can install Daphile on the internal drive or you could run it completely off the USB. Once the system is running it runs completely in memory.

I will post pictures of the PiCore setup once I get the basement setup up and running. Just got my integrated amp back from the repair shop.

JakeJ · « **Reply #19 on:** 5 Jan 2023, 05:48 pm »

Hi shadowlight,

Yes, I learned that with Mint (and some quick research showed most distros can be run in memory). Look forward to the pics.

So I chose this pc for my experimental Linux distro platform. I will divide the 256 Gb SSD ino four 64 Gb chunks and that will give me four distros always on hand to rotate on and off of a partition.

MeLE Stick PC