AudioCircle
Audio/Video Gear and Systems => The Discless Circle => Topic started by: nyc_paramedic on 5 Dec 2008, 01:54 am
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I did post about this on the Head-Fi forums a while back. I'm trying to figure out if there would be any interest in this type of setup. I would be happy to take any suggestions or answer any questions.
I decided to build a custom Linux based music server that was low-powered and completely silent. This, after being unsatisfied with most small PC's. All FLAC files are stored on my bedroom PC which is acting as NFS file server. The living room is a dedicated listening room. This server has been very stable for the last six months and sounds better than my Theta Data Basic transport; something I was not expecting.
The hardware is an off the shelf single board computer from PC Engines: http://www.pcengines.ch/
These are primarily designed as firewall/router/radio wifi solutions. Last year, the PC Engines designer started adding USB ports to several of his boards. I have experience using one of his older WRAP boards with open source Monowall (http://m0n0.ch/wall/) firewall software. I currently have months --and sometimes a year of uptime-- on this combo with nary an issue; being only powered down when I go on vacations.
I'm currently using two versions of hardware:
My original board: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix3c2.htm
(http://www.pcengines.ch/pic/alix3d2.jpg)
The board I'm currently experimenting with: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2d2.htm
This board has all connectors on the back which would look neater and nicer on an audio rack. There's also an extra ethernet port which could be put to use in the future.
(http://www.pcengines.ch/pic/alix2d2.jpg)
Software stack:
Music Player Daemon (http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Music_Player_Daemon_Wiki). Based on the client server model. The MPD daemon runs on the ALIX, and the music is controlled by a client on another machine. Currently I either use a Nokia N800 tablet via WiFi, but I can also have a client running on the bedroom computer, or my Thinkpas laptop, all running at the simultaneously.
Operating System: Voyage Linux (http://linux.voyage.hk/) A version of Debian Linux that has been stripped down and modified to run from a compact flash card and load into RAM. No hard disk required. The major plus with Voyage Linux is that it keeps the apt packaging system; MPD being as easy to install as typing apt-get install mpd.
As a Linux user for the last ten years, it wasn't difficult to get things up and running. Took about 2 hours. Voyage Linux has scripts to copy an image to a compact flash, after which you SSH into the alix and apt-get the required packages: ALSA, MPD, NFS client. A simple editor is needed to configure a few configuration files: fstab for NFS partitions and mpd.conf. ASLA is configured with no mixers, and the configuration is for direct output via the USB sound module. MPD is also configured to buffer each song %100 to RAM before playing.
Sound: Initially feeding a Trends Audio UD-10 -> Merdian 518 (jitter reduction and 20 bit padding) -> Adcom GDA-700 HDCD DAC. Now it's feeding a Wavelength Audio Brick. Noticeably better than my Theta Data Basic transport, something I was not expecting as I was initially putting this thing together so I would not have to change CD's when I was cooking.
Benefits:
Low cost: Boards are $125 or $137 USD.
Dead silent: Fanless Geode based x86 CPU.
Reduced EMI: Industrial quality design. These two boards don't have any superfluous components such as VGA or keyboard/mouse.
Mini-PCI slots: Can be used with wireless cards. (I'm personally sticking with a wired ethernet connection)
Low power consumption: 3 watt load on my Kill-A-Watt meter when playing FLAC files.
Runs Linux: Open source design. No need to run a GUI on the server. Can be stripped down to run a minimum amount of superfluous services, unlike Windows or Mac OS X.
Multiple MPD clients available: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, bluetooth, phones, web based, etc.
The only real negative is the configuration. Most audiophiles are either accustomed to using Windows or Mas OS X. Linux might be a real hurdle for them, especially in putting something like this together; basically a headless Linux server. But...
I'm currently researching ways to add a Web GUI front end. Something along the lines of configuring a Netgear router. Ideally, one would download a pre-configured Voyage Linux image and copy that to a blank compact flash card. Pop the CF card into the Alix board, power it up, and point your browser to a specific IP address and login. From there, one would configure MPD (location of music files, state file, database, and play list files), NFS or SAMBA, and other options.
Any interest, questions, or suggestions?
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It sounds like you are on to something. I own an Olive Music player and for all it is, I think a simplier approach that was rock solid and easy to use would be cool.
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Very interesting idea!! As I have exactly zero experience with Linux, I'm guessing you wouldn't recommend an endeavor like this for me?
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I'd certainly follow such an effort, although I'm unlike to build a dedicated server for my listening room, as I'm happy enough to serve music from another room over the wireless network. My next Linux workstation will be as quiet as I can get away with simply because I don't want a wind tunnel on my desk, but it will serve as a desktop workstation in addition to RAID'ed photo/music server.
That said, I'm always curious about new and unique Linux installations, so I already appreciate the link to Voyage.
Of course, the price isn't bad, so it might still be fun to experiment...
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Very interesting idea!! As I have exactly zero experience with Linux, I'm guessing you wouldn't recommend an endeavor like this for me?
It depends. You could attempt this several ways if you have zero experience. Maybe you have a LUG (Linux User Group) in your area, or you know of someone who has some Linux expertise who could help you out.
The installation steps (done on a Linux machine) for Voyage Linux are here: http://wiki.voyage.hk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=installation If that looks Greek to you then I suggest you do not attempt this on your own.
I'm in the New York City area, so if there are people who would like to get together for help or group installs, that would be another idea.
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Thank you for the link and the advice!! I'm currently in NC, so NYC is a bit of a schlep, lol! I may see if there are any Linux-savvy guys around here I can bribe with beer... After they're done, of course :p
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Thank you for the link and the advice!! I'm currently in NC, so NYC is a bit of a schlep, lol! I may see if there are any Linux-savvy guys around here I can bribe with beer... After they're done, of course :p
Here's a web page that keeps track of Linux User Groups: http://www.linux.org/groups/
Beer is good. And the fact that you would need help with a cool gadget like an Alix single board computer might make them a bit more interested too; geek factor and all.
P.S. Looking at your name, eisa ellinas?
UPDATE: Theres is also the ALIX 1D, which is the Mini-ITX version of their ALIX boards: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix1d.htm
Has keyboard and VGA; would probably make setting up Voyage Linux much easier.
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nyc_paramedic,
What do you think about using a fitPC?
http://www.fit-pc.com/new/
It draws a bit more power though - 6W.
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It's an interesting idea. If there were an iPod Touch/iPhone remote application to control the music player daemon and it was as slick as the iTunes Remote application then I think you've got an open platform replacement for a Duet like device.
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What is the likely total cost to build something like this? I have friends from university who are LINUX geeks, so I am sure I could convince them to assist me with the s/w side of the equation.
I currently use a PC with XP Pro on it as my media server, but it is also the main PC for the family. In time, I will seek to replace it...
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It's an interesting idea. If there were an iPod Touch/iPhone remote application to control the music player daemon and it was as slick as the iTunes Remote application then I think you've got an open platform replacement for a Duet like device.
Theres is. It's called MPod: http://www.katoemba.net/makesnosenseatall/mpod/
There's also PMix for those of you who have Google Android phones: http://code.google.com/p/pmix/
And a video (not of me) of Pmix in action: http://smartphoneandroid.com/2008/12/08/controlling-mpd-with-android-pmix.html
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What is the likely total cost to build something like this? I have friends from university who are LINUX geeks, so I am sure I could convince them to assist me with the s/w side of the equation.
I currently use a PC with XP Pro on it as my media server, but it is also the main PC for the family. In time, I will seek to replace it...
The boards are inexpensive. I purchased mine through Netgate (no affiliation). You can check the PC Engines website for local and global distributors.
Pc Engines: http://www.pcengines.ch/order.php
I paid approximately $135 USD for my board; $12 USD for the enclosure; $12 USD for the little power supply.
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nyc_paramedic,
What do you think about using a fitPC?
http://www.fit-pc.com/new/
It draws a bit more power though - 6W.
I am not familiar with that device. But I personally like the ALIX better as it has no superfluous devices like VGA on board. Plus, Voyage Linux has pre-compiled targets for the ALIX boards thus negating the need for you to compile a kernel or strip down the OS; much like people are doing with Ubuntu.
If someone finds it easier to have VGA for the install, PC Engined does make the ALIX 1d board in mini ITX form factor. Fanless and cheaper than a fitPC.
ALIX 1d: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix1d.htm
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NYC - do the Alix boards have USB 2.0 ports, or are they 1.0 only? I didn't see any explicit identification of them as 2.0, which makes me suspicious.
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NYC - do the Alix boards have USB 2.0 ports, or are they 1.0 only? I didn't see any explicit identification of them as 2.0, which makes me suspicious.
They are all USB 2.0. Link to the PDF: http://www.pcengines.ch/pdf/alix2.pdf
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What is the acceptable absolute amount to body something like this? I accept accompany from university who are LINUX geeks, so I am abiding I could argue them to abetment me with the s/w ancillary of the equation.
I currently use a PC with XP Pro on it as my media server, but it is aswell the capital PC for the family. In time, I will seek to alter it...ip pbx (http://www.inin.com/productsolutions/pages/enterprise-ip-telephony.aspx)
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How do you rip these flac files to your server? Is there an app that will run in Voyage that can accurately rip music from a CD?
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How do you rip these flac files to your server? Is there an app that will run in Voyage that can accurately rip music from a CD?
I use a program called Grip; it uses cdparanoia, which also has CD offset support. I do have to re-tag all my classical FLAC's (work, composer, etc.) with a program called ExFalso. The ripping is done on the bedroom computer that is acting as the NFS server.
The ALIX server only plays music; no extraneous programs running.
If any of this doesn't make sense, or if you have any more questions then ask away.
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NYC paramedic,
Great idea! I administer a network in our community that uses Wall on an ALIX board and it is super reliable -- far better than even pro level Cisco stuff we had before.
Going to check out the MPD clients to see how well they work with my screen reader software (blind access software for PCs. If either the XP or web client works acceptably well, then I might just go ahead and give this a try -- for various reasons I prefer terminal access on linux anyway.
Now, if someday that spdif output could be configured to support 24/192, then it would be even better, but I'll take the USB and 16/44.1 for now as that's all either of my dacs upport.
Thanks for all the links too -- very helpful.
-- Jim
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Look really cool! I don't have need for this as I use a Squeezebox/Vortexbox solution currently, but its great to see good options coming to the marketplace.
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NYC paramedic,
Going to check out the MPD clients to see how well they work with my screen reader software (blind access software for PCs. If either the XP or web client works acceptably well, then I might just go ahead and give this a try -- for various reasons I prefer terminal access on linux anyway.
Thanks for all the links too -- very helpful.
There are several console MPD clients that are very popular. You can check the MPD wiki page for a full list.
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I will eventually look into the curses based clients, but right now MCC and one of the web-based clients look to be pretty good. Got my hardware last week, now just have to clear a couple other projects off my bench before I start this one.
One question -- do you need a null modem cable for initial setup, or is ethernet sufficient? If I need a null modem, then I'll have to install the optional serial port on my desktop machine. Not a problem as I already have the hardware, just curious more than anything.
I really wasn't prepared for how small this thing really is -- the power supply is about the size of half a pack of cigarettes and the case is approx. 7" square and maybe an inch tall.
Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. I haven't used linux in about 10 years, so it's time to brush up a bit.
-- Jim
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I will eventually look into the curses based clients, but right now MCC and one of the web-based clients look to be pretty good. Got my hardware last week, now just have to clear a couple other projects off my bench before I start this one.
One question -- do you need a null modem cable for initial setup, or is ethernet sufficient? If I need a null modem, then I'll have to install the optional serial port on my desktop machine. Not a problem as I already have the hardware, just curious more than anything.
I really wasn't prepared for how small this thing really is -- the power supply is about the size of half a pack of cigarettes and the case is approx. 7" square and maybe an inch tall.
Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. I haven't used linux in about 10 years, so it's time to brush up a bit.
-- Jim
With the current Voyage Linux there is no null modem required. Your initial setup will be done via SSH. You will log in as root --default password is voyage-- and then add a normal user via the adduser command. I'll do my best to answer any other questions you might have.
I love the size too. Width and depth is about the same as a standard CD jewl case.
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Very cool! What are you guys using for an enclosure for the board? Does it come with a power supply? Do you install Linux on a CF card?
I recommend Minion for Firefox as a means of controlling MPD. I use it with my ioBox which runs MPD (also silent but outputs audio via digital coax) and it works great.
-Jim
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Very cool! What are you guys using for an enclosure for the board? Does it come with a power supply? Do you install Linux on a CF card?
I recommend Minion for Firefox as a means of controlling MPD. I use it with my ioBox which runs MPD (also silent but outputs audio via digital coax) and it works great.
Enclosures are available from PC Engines or the retailers that sell the boards. They come in colors too.
Power supply is a separate purchase, as the boards are also sold in 220V Europe.
The entire OS fits on a 512Mb CF card with room to spare.
I'm currently researching E-Ink (think Amazon's Kindle) hardware that is Linux compatible and would make a nice MPD remote.
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Good stuff. I use a netbook for MPD remote control. It works great and is also silent (Dell Mini 9).
Thanks for starting this thread.
Jim
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Good stuff. I use a netbook for MPD remote control. It works great and is also silent (Dell Mini 9).
Thanks for starting this thread.
No problem.
You might want to check out this little blog from a gentleman in Switzerland. He was a total Linux newbie, but with a little help got his ALIX up and running in no time. There are some cool pics too.
Link: http://cheap-silent-usb-linux-music-server.blogspot.com/
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nyc_paramedic
Do you really need a Linux PC to install the software?
Also, do you have any pics of your setup? I'd love to see this thing in action.
thanks,
Jim
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And what size flash card are you using? I just wonder as you say you have MPD set to queue whole songs and given the OS and MPD overhead, I'm guessing that wouldn't leave much room for tunes unless that is just using the RAM. If that's so, can,or did you expeand the RAM too?
Jim "dub", I think you can just plug the box into your existing network and configure it there, at least that's how I think voyager is configured by default. Still haven't put mine together -- doing a lot of woodwork while the weather is good.
-- The other Jim
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And what size flash card are you using? I just wonder as you say you have MPD set to queue whole songs and given the OS and MPD overhead, I'm guessing that wouldn't leave much room for tunes unless that is just using the RAM. If that's so, can,or did you expeand the RAM too?
Jim "dub", I think you can just plug the box into your existing network and configure it there, at least that's how I think voyager is configured by default. Still haven't put mine together -- doing a lot of woodwork while the weather is good.
-- The other Jim
The flash card I'm using is 512MB, but I'm using less than half of that even with MPD and NFS client installed. The minimum recommended is 128 MB. And yes, we are running *everything* in RAM. The CF only gets written to when editing config files or updating/installing/removing software.
There is *very* little overhead with the kernel compiled for the ALIX board. Remember, Linux is GPL'ed code and fully customizable. The Voyage install for ALIX is running a very streamlined kernel and drivers: CPU & chipset,USB, serial, and ethernet. You can't do that with Windows, much less install the OS without the graphic user interface.
Even with only 256MB RAM, we can buffer entire FLAC files to RAM and have plenty for the OS, MPD, and other small ancillary services running. The RAM is not expandable, but I don't think you need more than that for this particular application.
The MPD software is also unique and efficient in that were are only installing and running the daemon on the Alix. You run your client on another machine, such as your laptop, iPhone, Android phone, etc.You can get as fancy as you want with the client without having to bog down the Alix. My Alix averages around %3 CPU when playing a FLAC file; slightly higher when decoding MP3's. Only yesterday did I see my CPU usage climb to approximately %78, and that was when I connected to a very unique Czech classical station that *streams* in FLAC! I can honestly say that even under these circumstances I have yet to have my Alix hiccup, crackle, pause, or distort my sound in any way.
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nyc_paramedic
Do you really need a Linux PC to install the software?
Also, do you have any pics of your setup? I'd love to see this thing in action.
thanks,
Jim
I'll have to confirm your first question before I give you an answer.
As for pictures, I'll see if I can take a few pics over the weekend.
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Gracias. Looks I am set then. Hope to get some time to really sit down and work with it soon. Something to do while glue and paint dry :D.
-- Jim
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Thanks Jim and nyc_paramedic! I use MPD on my Networked Media Tank and it was completely configurable over the network without the need for a Linux PC...which made it easy for a Linux newb like myself. :D
-Jim
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Another nice thing about MPD is that it supports streaming of files up to 24bit / 192khz. Take that Transporter!
-Jim
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Jim,
Great news on the 24/192. Got a pair of 1 tb WD Caviar drives coming for the D-link box -- got them on sale for a good price so I should be able to test out that little guy soon.
-- Jim
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Jim, the D-Link should make for an awesome combo with your Linux/MPD box!
-Jim
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Thanks Jim and nyc_paramedic! I use MPD on my Networked Media Tank and it was completely configurable over the network without the need for a Linux PC...which made it easy for a Linux newb like myself. :D
Jim,
Can you elaborate a bit in regards to what the Networked Media Tank is?
And yes, you can install Voyage without explicitly installing Linux. You can do the install via the Linux live CD.
Here:
README.live-cd
=============================================================================
__ __
\ \/ /___ __ __ ___ ___ ___
\ // _ \\ \/ /,-_ |/ _ |/ -_)
\/ \___/ \ / \___,\_ |\___|
_/_/ _'_|
{ V o y a g e } - L i n u x
< http://linux.voyage.hk >
==============================================================================
This README.live-cd provide information on how to install Voyage Linux from the
Live CD.
==============================================================================
Installing Voyage Linux to a hard disk from Live CD
==============================================================================
Afte booting the Live CD, login as root (password: voyage)
1. Create distribution directory for installation
# mkdir /tmp/root
# mount -o loop /live_media/casper/filesystem.squashfs /tmp/root
# cd /tmp/root
2. Make a mount point for installation disk
# mkdir /tmp/cf
3. Format target disk device
# /usr/local/sbin/format-cf.sh /dev/hda
This will create /dev/hda1 ext2 partition on /dev/hda disk device.
** Note that this operation is very dangerous since it will erase your disk!
Make sure what you are doing and must do it right!
4. Start voyage.update installation script
# /usr/local/sbin/voyage.update
Following the instruction to select /tmp/root as distribution directory, and
/tmp/cf as mount point. After the installation complete, simple reboot the
board and Voyage will be started!
There are some additional packages installed for PXE and NFS server. After
starting Voyage, you can safely remove them by:
# remountrw
# apt-get remove casper syslinux atftpd nfs-user-server \
bzip2 unionfs-tools sg3-utils minicom
After all, remove the last line in /etc/dnsmasq.more.conf:
conf-file=/etc/dnsmasq.pxe.conf
==============================================================================
Installing to a Thumb-drive or Disk-constraint system (net4826)
==============================================================================
Follow the instruction to install Voyage Linux to a ext2 partition with root
squashfs filesystem like the Live CD format. This is done by extlinux.
1. As usual, create mount point for the installation disk and format it
# mkdir /tmp/cf
# /usr/local/sbin/format-cf.sh /dev/hda
This will create /dev/hda1 ext2 partition on /dev/hda disk device.
** Note that this operation is very dangerous since it will erase your disk!
Make sure what you are doing and must do it right!
2. Mount the disk and copy CD content to disk device
# mount /dev/hda1 /tmp/cf
# rsync -aHx /live_media/* /tmp/cf
3. Create extlinux.conf and install extlinux
# cp /tmp/cf/isolinux/isolinux.cfg /tmp/cf/isolinux/extlinux.conf
# extlinux -i /tmp/cf/isolinux
4. Update master boot record for disk device
# cat /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin > /dev/hda
After all, reboot!
There are some notes when using this installation method:
a. You will have a read-only squashfs root filesystem on a CF that consumes
just 36MB and you cannot modify the rootfs.
b. By default, all changes made to the system reside on tmpfs. i.e. Changes
are lost after reboot. You can preserve the changes by creating another
partition and labeled it as "casper-rw", or create a loopback file called
"casper-rw" at /
(see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDPersistence: this is not tested
and need more exploration)
c. You will still be able to boot Live CD again after the installation. But
once the CD is booted, the installed disk with be mounted as rootfs and you
are unable to umount it. To get around this, you need to specify the
following command at boot prompt (assume CD-ROM device is /dev/hdc):
linux bootfrom=/dev/hdc
In the future this will hopefully be simplified. The Voyage customization process will allow one to download one file and install that to the CF card. That file will be ready to go for an MPD appliance with all the appropriate packages installed.
Link: http://wiki.voyage.hk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=customization
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nyc_paramedic
Thanks! That doesn't look to bad at all.
Check this out for info on the Networked Media Tanks:
www.networkedmediatank.com (http://www.networkedmediatank.com)
Basically a $200 media box (of different makes but all with the same underlying Linux-based software) that sits on your network and plays back video and audio. MPD was recently adapted to it, although development has been (temporarily I hope) halted due to some licensing dispute. Its current iteration works great, however.
One thing that's nice about the Networked Media Tanks is that they have onboard digital out (coax for my ioBox).
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=17306&highlight=mpd (http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=17306&highlight=mpd)
Thanks again!
Jim
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I like this idea a lot. Very slick. I'd love to do the same.
For me the interface is important, so what are you using as your client? Or what would you recommend?
For me a 24/96 s/pdif output is important, so I looked for a board that had it. Only one I saw at the Swiss shop was sold out - of course. But there are other boards.
Something like this could make a great music box. Thanks for the info!
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Hi Michael,
Welcome back!
I have only played around with a couple of the clients, and not on a live system -- as much playing around as one can do in that situation anyway. Of course my needs are a little different and I'm looking for a screen reader friendly windows client or a web based one.
The good news is that there are lots and lots of clients to choose from, so probably something for everybody.
Which board did you see with the spdif output?
Thanks,
Jim
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Hi Jim -
The board I saw that "might" have spdif is the alix3d3
http://www.pcengines.ch/alix3d3.htm (http://www.pcengines.ch/alix3d3.htm)
Of course some other little board like one of the Intel Atom boards should work, too. I was just interested in the alix stuff 'cause it is so low power.
Find a nice client and it should be a go. A browser based client would be nice so that any device, even mobile, could be used. Thinking of my Dell Axiom.
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Michael,
I think I even saw a client for a wireless mouse :D.
Look at the MPD wiki pages and you'll find all kinds of good stuff there.
-- Jim
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Any way to get this thread put up as a sticky?
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What's the latest with this? Any further development with front ends?
-Jim
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What's the latest with this? Any further development with front ends?
What exactly do you mean by front end? The server?
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What exactly do mean by front end? The server?
Sorry, should have been more clear. I was referring to the Web-based gui front end used for installing.
Also, curious about the latest in boards. looks like there is a new(er) ALIX out, the 2D3.
-Jim
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Any way to get this thread put up as a sticky?
done :)
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nyc_paramedic,
Have you looked at the Network Media Tanks as an alternative to buying the bare boards? I have an egreat unit that I am using MPD with but it is only configured for the optical out now and I dont have the Linux knowledge to change it. The nice thing about the NMTs are that they come with an enclosure, power supply and remote control. I am currently using a plugin called MPD Jukeox which allows me to control it with the remote while viewing my library in list or album view to a monitor connected to the NMT.
I know that the NMT is not using ALSA and I don't know what impact that has on the sound, this is a potential negative to this setup.
Any insight or comments regarding the NMT as a music server are appreciated.
Best,
Ed
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Sorry, should have been more clear. I was referring to the Web-based gui front end used for installing.
Also, curious about the latest in boards. looks like there is a new(er) ALIX out, the 2D3.
No updates. I am not a programmer, and writing a daemon and a web client front end is beyond my expertise.
The avenue that I have been investigating is the Voyage Linux framework. This would allow one to download a simple file and copy it to compact flash. This file will be configured with MPD, NFS, ALSA, etc. One would still need to edit a few text files and add a normal user account. These directions could be spelled out clearly in a text file or written down here.
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nyc_paramedic,
Have you looked at the Network Media Tanks as an alternative to buying the bare boards? I have an egreat unit that I am using MPD with but it is only configured for the optical out now and I dont have the Linux knowledge to change it. The nice thing about the NMTs are that they come with an enclosure, power supply and remote control. I am currently using a plugin called MPD Jukeox which allows me to control it with the remote while viewing my library in list or album view to a monitor connected to the NMT.
I know that the NMT is not using ALSA and I don't know what impact that has on the sound, this is a potential negative to this setup.
Any insight or comments regarding the NMT as a music server are appreciated.
I don't know anything about NMT. I did read this today, though: http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
If it works for you, then that's great.
Concerning my fondness for the Alix boards, I should mention a few things:
I don't watch television. I do watch videos on my PC on occasion, but I don't have a television in my living room; it's dedicated to my 2 channel system. So, I personally don't have a need for a "media" device. I am strictly a 2 channel audio guy.
Currently, my little Alix MPD combo fills a specific little niche, i.e., high quality yet inexpensive playback for USB DAC's using open source software. Not to mention a very minimal hardware footprint. No switching power supplies, fans, disc drives in my listening room, no excess circuitry (VGA, etc) on my hardware.
On occasion, you'll read about the UNIX philosophy of small tools dedicated to doing one task and doing that one take extremely well. Even though the application of the Alix/MPD server has a narrow application it does its job very well. The system, for me, has been extremely stable with nary a pop, click, or hiccup experienced yet. The system is very customizable. It has the ability to be controlled via numerous clients, and if one was inclined one could write his own client.
Plus, the Alix is "recyclable", if you will. It's a general purpose, low power, x86 computer that can be used for any number uses in the home or the field. That's a bit important to me as well.
P.S. I'm in the process of adding a simple PIC micro controller to the Alix's serial port for IR remote control. My simple GE universal remote is setup to have the "volume" buttons control my Placete Audio RVC passive preamp, and the other buttons on the same remote will be dedicated to controlling MPD via MPD LIRC, e.g., play, pause, shuffle, random album. This will come in handy on days when I don't want to fire up the laptop or my Nokia N800 to play a few songs.
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How come no one mentions the already existing Vortex Box Appliance - fanless:
http://shop.smallgreencomputer.com/VortexBox-500GB-Micro-NAS-vb500m.htm
yes, it costs a bit more, but comes preconfigured with all the software you need, and the OS (vortexbox.org) is constantly being updated and improved. BTW, it uses only 5-6 watts running.
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The smallgreencomputer one looks interesting, and it is cool to get it all loaded up etc.
Compared to the price of the original suggestion though (even factoring in an extra $75 for a 500G drive) it is way over - $250 vs $419.
Clearly it is a good option though, for those less inclined to play around with loading and optimizing linux.
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How come no one mentions the already existing Vortex Box Appliance - fanless:
http://shop.smallgreencomputer.com/VortexBox-500GB-Micro-NAS-vb500m.htm
yes, it costs a bit more, but comes pre-configured with all the software you need, and the OS (vortexbox.org) is constantly being updated and improved. BTW, it uses only 5-6 watts running.
Maybe because it's an apples to oranges comparison.
First, an Alix board will currently cost you $125 for the board (http://www.mini-box.com/Alix-3D-Board-2-LAN-1-MINI-PCI-1_2?sc=8&category=754); $12.50 for the enclosure (http://www.mini-box.com/ALIX-3-Enclosure?sc=8&category=87); and $9.95 for the small wall wart (http://www.mini-box.com/60w-12v-5A-AC-DC-Power-Adapter_3). At $147 it is still *well* below the $419 asking price of the device you linked to.
Secondly, the Alix is a small disk less server for USB DAC's utilizing MPD as the software. There is a minimum of software running on the Voyage OS to accomplish only one task (and perform that task very well): feed a USB DAC via MPD. Also, my initial goal was to *not* have any spinning disk in my listening room. Although, that point might be moot with the current crop of high capacity SSD's on the market.
Lastly, the Vortex is billed as a NAS; a music server; a Logitech server; a ripper, a music tagger; etc. It has disks. It has a more complicated (EMI/RFI) motherboard. It is *much* more expensive than an Alix. Also, anybody can turn their current desktop (I have to assume that you have at least one computer on hand if you are into any kind of PC Audio --at a minimum that machine will be used to rip some music) into an NAS/NFS server as we're only playing one song at a time. My bedroom desktop accomplished that goal nicely, so there was no need to buy more NAS hardware to feed the Alix. (Also, I can still listen to internet radio when my desktop machine is off because the Alix is still connected to the internet and has an IP adress)
Don't misunderstand me: There's nothing wrong with the Vortex box if it fits your needs. But from what I'm reading on their site, it's more of a server (NAS, Sonos, Logitech) and not a standalone player, so it won't fill my needs of feeding my USB DAC. And none of the Logitech products will feed a USB DAC either; your outputs are either S/PDIF or analog out.
Cheers
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Hey Nick,
If you wanted to, can you attach a local, quiet hd via usb to the alix box and grab the tunes from there? I just got a nice, super quiet WD Passport elite usb powered HD that is sounding spectacular with my Asus EEE box, and it would be (hopefully) a real easy experiment to swap the alix machine for the Asus if I could use the local usb drive for the music files.
-- Jim
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If you wanted to, can you attach a local, quiet hd via usb to the alix box and grab the tunes from there? I just got a nice, super quiet WD Passport elite usb powered HD that is sounding spectacular with my Asus EEE box, and it would be (hopefully) a real easy experiment to swap the alix machine for the Asus if I could use the local usb drive for the music files.
Technically, yes. But I don't know how having the drive and the DAC on the same USB port would affect sound quality.
Also, I don't know if a new install of Voyage will mount the USB drive when it's plugged in. You might have to manually add a fstab entry and issue a mount command.
I still think the NAS or NFS route is the better way to go, though.
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Hi Nick,
Thanks, guess I'll just give it a try. Right now this is all a big experiment, and one I hope I can also build as a portable solution using a crossover cable, so that's why the local drive question.
I haven't noticed any degradation in performance or sq using both the dac and Passport on the same port on the Asus box, in fact it was a rather noticable improvement over the internal disc or over the ethernet connection (which is now also disabled, perhaps contributing some to the SQ increase.
At least for me this stuff is fun :-).
-- Jim
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Earlier in this thread there was speculation that a SPDIF output was available on the alix3d3 board.
Wondering if anyone has tried this and/or found a driver to enable MPD to output through this (SPDIF) output. @ $111 for the board and a few more for a case and power supply, this would be an alternative that would fit my needs better.
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Earlier in this thread there was speculation that a SPDIF output was available on the alix3d3 board.
Wondering if anyone has tried this and/or found a driver to enable MPD to output through this (SPDIF) output. @ $111 for the board and a few more for a case and power supply, this would be an alternative that would fit my needs better.
I had done an exhaustive search a while ago and came up short. Here's a thread I found, but there are no specs detailing whether the card has S/PDIF out or not: http://lists.soekris.com/pipermail/soekris-tech/2004-October/006932.html And the card was discontinued.
When I first started experimenting with an Alix I was using a Trends UD-10.1 USB to S/PDIF converter. Bel Canto also has a good USB/S/PDIF converter.
Wavelength Audio is about to release their "Wavelink" USB to S/PDIF converter with "asynchronous" tech. Link: http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2009/wavelengths_new_wavelink/
If I do come across a mini-pci card I'll be sure to post it.
On a side note, I did find a find a few companies that make system-on-modules, i.e., small computers the size of laptop RAM. You plug these into your baseboard where you have all of your connection, e.g, power, network, serial. Some of these boards had and I2S audio out. Would be a nice solution for something like a Twisted Pear DAC.
Here's one example: http://www.emacinc.com/som/som536em.htm
You could run Linux with MPD, output to I2S, and then send it right to I2S input of your Twisted Pear DAC. Could make for one fine sounding system.
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Very interesting, I recently got an iPod based audio setup in my living room and I'm researching options to access external storage with iPod compatible files (1 TB would hold about 3000 audio CD's in lossless format)
The mentioned PC Engine is member of the mini-ITX class boards, and there are many more brands available:
http://www.mini-itx.com/
http://www.mini-box.com/
http://www.itxdepot.com/
http://www.ewayco.com/
My question: Which size storage did you use, hard drives do generate heat?
Currently I either use a Nokia N800 tablet via WiFi, but I can also have a client running on the bedroom computer, or my Thinkpas laptop, all running at the simultaneously.
Is my understanding correct that you listen on computers/laptops, as opposed to a dedicated audio system?
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Very interesting, I recently got an iPod based audio setup in my living room and I'm researching options to access external storage with iPod compatible files (1 TB would hold about 3000 audio CD's in lossless format)
The mentioned PC Engine is member of the mini-ITX class boards, and there are many more brands available:
http://www.mini-itx.com/
http://www.mini-box.com/
http://www.itxdepot.com/
http://www.ewayco.com/
My question: Which size storage did you use, hard drives do generate heat?
Is my understanding correct that you listen on computers/laptops, as opposed to a dedicated audio system?
I use a Western Digital 640GB Green drive that is hooked up to my bedroom desktop. Installing NFS makes it a simple file server. Only one of the PC Engines boards conform to the ITX standard, the Alix 1D: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix1d.htm There is no drive attached to my Alix...
To answer your second question, no. I have dedicated 2 channel system in a dedicated room. The Nokia is just a "controller", i.e., a fancy remote for controlling the Alix server.
Simply, NFS serving files on the bedroom computer. Alix in the dedicate listening room grabbing FLAC files over Ethernet from said NFS computer and streaming to USB DAC via USB port. Nokia and/or laptop as "controllers" to make play lists, start play, shuffle, etc.
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Oh I see, since you mentioned a nfs server in the bedroom, I assumed that the PC Engine box was located there. So the PC Engine is connected to your amp and utilizing the amp's DAC. And it's grabbing lossless audio from the data center in your bedroom. ;-)
I was hoping for a fanless silent datacenter, perhaps 1 TB, which would serve my iPod or perhaps feed a DAC in my future amp.
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Oh I see, since you mentioned a nfs server in the bedroom, I assumed that the PC Engine box was located there. So the PC Engine is connected to your amp and utilizing the amp's DAC. And it's grabbing lossless audio from the data center in your bedroom. ;-)
I was hoping for a fanless silent datacenter, perhaps 1 TB, which would serve my iPod or perhaps feed a DAC in my future amp.
My amp has no DAC. It's a standalone USB DAC which connects to my amp.
You can have a silent NAS box for real cheap:
Link: http://www.mini-box.com/D510MO-mini-ITX-Intel
Link: http://www.mini-box.com/Intel-D410PT-Packton-Mini-ITX-Motherboard
Both have VGA for easy setup. You can use Linux, Windows, or the web-based FreeNAS (http://freenas.org/freenas).
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If you want spdif out and silence, I think you're best and cheapest bet is buying an iobox 100hd. It does more than music, but its a heck of a great mpd player (really easy to install) and can be had (used) for <$200. It also has a big user community.
If I was going usb out, I would could with one of these PC Engine boards.
-Jim
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And none of the Logitech products will feed a USB DAC either; your outputs are either S/PDIF or analog out.
Cheers
Just in case anyone is interested, the new Logitech Touch is designed to work with USB drives, and can apparently be software "hacked" to output to a USB DAC.
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'Tis been a while since I have given an update. With that...
I have been happily living with the Alix/MPD combo for almost 2 years now, feeding a Wavelength Audio Version 2 Asynch Brick. The little board has been sitting in my rack doing its job with nary a complaint, that I sometimes forget that I have a cool little custom music server in my midst. After those 2 years, I've noticed the slow proliferation of high resolution music files, and I've been dutifully collecting hi-res "freebies" and sample downloads. I've also found some interesting 96khz material on a website called Internet Archive. With my little Brick being limited to 16bit/44.1khz material, I set out on the Internets for teh research.
So, with some hi-res material on hand and plenty of research on possible USB DAC candidates to mate with my trusty Alix, I decided to head off today to my local NYC Ayre dealer who was happy to loan me a QB-9 USB DAC for a home audition.
Rushing home after a long and hot day on the EMS truck, I settled down to see just how nice the QB-9 would play with the small embedded board. This being a demo unit on display since this past March, I assumed that it was quite broken in. Would the be any quirks?
So far, all is well.
1. Voyage Linux 0.65 recognizes that DAC, and MPD ver. 0.15.8 plays sweet music without any clicks, pops, or hiccups.
2. Switching between 16bit/44.1khz files and 24bit/96khz is seamless and instantaneous with no audible clicks from the speakers or the unit.
3. MPD down-samples the few 24/176.4 and 24/192 files I have with ease; the CPU showing 24% load in htop as opposed to 8-9% with native 24/96khz files.
4. The QB-9 has the option of going into standby after not receiving any data for one minute, as opposed to going into standby when the computer is off. This is a really neat feature as the my Alix is usually powered on (3w idle 4 watts playing FLAC) and neither the QB-9 or Alix has a power switch. In comparison, I had to manually unplug the Brick when I was done listening; its power supply has no switch, and the Brick's tube circuit only goes into standby when the computer is off or in standby. The Alix boards have no ACPI support, so no sleep or hibernate.
I'm very impressed by the functionality so far. Getting an upgrade from Ayre to play 24/192 material in the near future is just icing on the cake. MPD currently supports 32bit/384khz audio, so no "gotchas" on the player side of things.
OK, so now off to do some more "listening". I hope you enjoyed the update.
Sincerely,
Nick L.
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Nick,
Thanks for the update and glad this all works so seamlessly.
I've got a 24/96 async HRT MusicStreamer II+ that I'll be pairing with my Alix board for the headphone rig in my bedroom, and I see at least one, and possibly two, more Alix machines serving up tunes in my office with the Tranquility dac, and a yet to be determined dac for the living room system.
-- Jim
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Well, I am going to try and join the club. Total newbie. I ordered the board and enclosure. I have a linear power supply somewhere from parts express that I will use with it. Want to avoid switchers. Have a buddy who likes to tinker with computers and is interested in linux so this will be good project. Wish me luck.
Going to compare it to a mac mini setup. Feeding a Tranqulity DAC.
-Tony
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Well, I am going to try and join the club. Total newbie. I ordered the board and enclosure. I have a linear power supply somewhere from parts express that I will use with it. Want to avoid switchers. Have a buddy who likes to tinker with computers and is interested in linux so this will be good project. Wish me luck.
We're here to help with anything you need. Let us know and/or PM me anytime.
Nick
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'Tis been a while since I have given an update. With that...
I have been happily living with the Alix/MPD combo for almost 2 years now, feeding a Wavelength Audio Version 2 Asynch Brick. The little board has been sitting in my rack doing its job with nary a complaint, that I sometimes forget that I have a cool little custom music server in my midst. After those 2 years, I've noticed the slow proliferation of high resolution music files, and I've been dutifully collecting hi-res "freebies" and sample downloads. I've also found some interesting 96khz material on a website called Internet Archive. With my little Brick being limited to 16bit/44.1khz material, I set out on the Internets for teh research.
So, with some hi-res material on hand and plenty of research on possible USB DAC candidates to mate with my trusty Alix, I decided to head off today to my local NYC Ayre dealer who was happy to loan me a QB-9 USB DAC for a home audition.
Rushing home after a long and hot day on the EMS truck, I settled down to see just how nice the QB-9 would play with the small embedded board. This being a demo unit on display since this past March, I assumed that it was quite broken in. Would the be any quirks?
So far, all is well.
1. Voyage Linux 0.65 recognizes that DAC, and MPD ver. 0.15.8 plays sweet music without any clicks, pops, or hiccups.
2. Switching between 16bit/44.1khz files and 24bit/96khz is seamless and instantaneous with no audible clicks from the speakers or the unit.
3. MPD down-samples the few 24/176.4 and 24/192 files I have with ease; the CPU showing 24% load in htop as opposed to 8-9% with native 24/96khz files.
4. The QB-9 has the option of going into standby after not receiving any data for one minute, as opposed to going into standby when the computer is off. This is a really neat feature as the my Alix is usually powered on (3w idle 4 watts playing FLAC) and neither the QB-9 or Alix has a power switch. In comparison, I had to manually unplug the Brick when I was done listening; its power supply has no switch, and the Brick's tube circuit only goes into standby when the computer is off or in standby. The Alix boards have no ACPI support, so no sleep or hibernate.
I'm very impressed by the functionality so far. Getting an upgrade from Ayre to play 24/192 material in the near future is just icing on the cake. MPD currently supports 32bit/384khz audio, so no "gotchas" on the player side of things.
OK, so now off to do some more "listening". I hope you enjoyed the update.
Sincerely,
Nick L.
Hi Nick,
I was reading on the Vortexbox forum today that ALSA actually resamples the 44.1 files to 48:
"You need to be aware that ALSA by default will upsample all of your audio to 48 kHz. This keeps it compatible with TV broadcasts as well as Dolby Digital and DTS surround on DVDs. ALSA typically takes the sound from your content, routes it through a module called "plug" where this resampling takes place, and then routes it to a module called "dmix", a software mixer, before it outputs it to your SPDIF/iec958 connector."
Does this sound correct to you or any of the other Linux users out there? I am looking for an inexpensive low power solution (similar to the NMT I am currently using but I need to get it back into the HT) and I want to utilize USB out so I can try the Tranquility DAC. For me resampling the signal would take MPD and ALSA out of contention. I know that the NMT uses a hardware solution and does not require ALSA, however I do not know the validity of the quoted statement above.
Thanks!
Ed
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Hi Nick,
I was reading on the Vortexbox forum today that ALSA actually resamples the 44.1 files to 48:
"You need to be aware that ALSA by default will upsample all of your audio to 48 kHz. This keeps it compatible with TV broadcasts as well as Dolby Digital and DTS surround on DVDs. ALSA typically takes the sound from your content, routes it through a module called "plug" where this resampling takes place, and then routes it to a module called "dmix", a software mixer, before it outputs it to your SPDIF/iec958 connector."
Does this sound correct to you or any of the other Linux users out there? I am looking for an inexpensive low power solution (similar to the NMT I am currently using but I need to get it back into the HT) and I want to utilize USB out so I can try the Tranquility DAC. For me resampling the signal would take MPD and ALSA out of contention. I know that the NMT uses a hardware solution and does not require ALSA, however I do not know the validity of the quoted statement above.
By default, yes. With the Alix and MPD we specify that the stream should not be touched by ALSA in any way:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:1,0" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
# mixer_device "default" # optional
# mixer_control "PCM" # optional
# mixer_index "0" # optional
}
I had the same concerns when initially experimenting with MPD, ALSA, and Alix. Using the above configuration, I did confirm that MPD/ASLA would feed HDCD material to my Adcom GDA-700 DAC and the little HCDC LED would illuminate in agreement.
if I didn't use the above configuration, dmix would resample to 48khz which I confirmed with the HDCD LED _not_ illuminating *and* seeing the sample rate in /proc/asound as 48khz.
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By default, yes. With the Alix and MPD we specify that the stream should not be touched by ALSA in any way:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:1,0" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
# mixer_device "default" # optional
# mixer_control "PCM" # optional
# mixer_index "0" # optional
}
I had the same concerns when initially experimenting with MPD, ALSA, and Alix. Using the above configuration, I did confirm that MPD/ASLA would feed HDCD material to my Adcom GDA-700 DAC and the little HCDC LED would illuminate in agreement.
if I didn't use the above configuration, dmix would resample to 48khz which I confirmed with the HDCD LED _not_ illuminating *and* seeing the sample rate in /proc/asound as 48khz.
Thanks for the response Nick and good job on finding a work around :thumb:. Sorry for the additional question but did you have to add additional programming to enable your system to utlilize higher bit rates or did this script take care of the resampling issue across the board?
One more thing, if I decided to utilize one of the embedded atom boards instead of the alix does that change any of the programming? IOW, was any of the programming alix specific?
Best,
Ed
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Thanks for the response Nick and good job on finding a work around :thumb:. Sorry for the additional question but did you have to add additional programming to enable your system to utlilize higher bit rates or did this script take care of the resampling issue across the board?
One more thing, if I decided to utilize one of the embedded atom boards instead of the alix does that change any of the programming? IOW, was any of the programming alix specific?
First, it's not a workaround, per se. It's Linux and ALSA being open and configurable. Example being, you can use a laptop with an external USB DAC and configure it without dmix touching the stream, i.e., "bit-perfect", and keep the laptop's internal sound card at its 48khz sample rate using dmix.
Secondly, no additional programming, i.e., code. This is all just *configuration* of MPD. And nothing special required for the Alix in regards to the higher sample rates as long as your DAC can handle what you're sending it. If not, e.g., sending 24/176 material to a 24/96 DAC, it will be down-sampled on the fly.
Note: There is one small caveat in regards to MPD and DACs that support 24/96 or greater. Versions of MPD 0.15 and prior do not support 24 bit packed samples (S24_3LE), which is the native format of all 24bit DACs. With the newest mpd 0.16 theres is native support for S24_3LE.
What does this mean if you use MPD 0.15 with 24bit DAC? If I remember correctly, some zeros get padded on. That is *not* the same as re-sampling, so no change in sound quality. Also, you have to use "plughw:0,0" in mpd.conf instead of "hw:0,0".
There is a Voyage Linux .deb package of mpd 0.16~alpha in the experimental repositories (so no need to compile) made graciously available from the lead developer of Voyage Linux at my request. I have been using it for a while (with "hw:0,0" in mpd .conf) without any issues on the QB-9.
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First, it's not a workaround, per se. It's Linux and ALSA being open and configurable. Example being, you can use a laptop with an external USB DAC and configure it without dmix touching the stream, i.e., "bit-perfect", and keep the laptop's internal sound card at its 48khz sample rate using dmix.
Secondly, no additional programming, i.e., code. This is all just *configuration* of MPD. And nothing special required for the Alix in regards to the higher sample rates as long as your DAC can handle what you're sending it. If not, e.g., sending 24/176 material to a 24/96 DAC, it will be down-sampled on the fly.
Note: There is one small caveat in regards to MPD and DACs that support 24/96 or greater. Versions of MPD 0.15 and prior do not support 24 bit packed samples (S24_3LE), which is the native format of all 24bit DACs. With the newest mpd 0.16 theres is native support for S24_3LE.
What does this mean if you use MPD 0.15 with 24bit DAC? If I remember correctly, some zeros get padded on. That is *not* the same as re-sampling, so no change in sound quality. Also, you have to use "plughw:0,0" in mpd.conf instead of "hw:0,0".
There is a Voyage Linux .deb package of mpd 0.16~alpha in the experimental repositories (so no need to compile) made graciously available from the lead developer of Voyage Linux at my request. I have been using it for a while (with "hw:0,0" in mpd .conf) without any issues on the QB-9.
Thanks again Nick. I fear my Linux newbiness is showing :oops:.
You have my gears turning now. I think this would fit in very nicely with my overall setup. As mentioned earlier I have a NMT that is running MPD, I will be moving it down to the HT. The NMT can also act as a server, it has a HDD with my FLAC files on it, they would both be connect to the router via ethernet so no wireless issues. I realize you are not familiar with the NMT platform but do you see any reason I couldn't let the NMT act as the server for the Alix? The NMT draws little power similar to the Alix, I am thinking I could run these both as always on units and still draw less power than a single standard desktop solution.
You mention a new Voyage package with MPD included (?), is this available as an ISO? edit, I just reread your post and see that it is in alpha.
I will dig into this further, I appreciate you sharing your work with us.
Best,
Ed
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Ed,
Does the NMT support NFS, or can it be added? I added NFS support to a D-Link D323 NAS using the Fonz Fun Pack, and so far so good. Still haven't had time toget thewhole thing operational, but that's only because I'm taking advantage of warm weather to get woodworking and painting work done on several amps and a pair of speakers.
I'm also getting debian installed on my main work computer and getting a speech-enabled console app working so I don't have to SSH into the machine.
Great fun!
-- Jim
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Ed,
Does the NMT support NFS, or can it be added? I added NFS support to a D-Link D323 NAS using the Fonz Fun Pack, and so far so good. Still haven't had time toget thewhole thing operational, but that's only because I'm taking advantage of warm weather to get woodworking and painting work done on several amps and a pair of speakers.
I'm also getting debian installed on my main work computer and getting a speech-enabled console app working so I don't have to SSH into the machine.
Great fun!
-- Jim
Hi Jim,
Yes, the NMT supports NFS as well as UPnP, myiHome, FTP, Samba and a couple of others I believe.
Each of these can be enabled or disabled through the NMT's UI.
Best,
Ed
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Thanks again Nick. I fear my Linux newbiness is showing :oops:.
You have my gears turning now. I think this would fit in very nicely with my overall setup. As mentioned earlier I have a NMT that is running MPD, I will be moving it down to the HT. The NMT can also act as a server, it has a HDD with my FLAC files on it, they would both be connect to the router via ethernet so no wireless issues. I realize you are not familiar with the NMT platform but do you see any reason I couldn't let the NMT act as the server for the Alix? The NMT draws little power similar to the Alix, I am thinking I could run these both as always on units and still draw less power than a single standard desktop solution.
You mention a new Voyage package with MPD included (?), is this available as an ISO? edit, I just reread your post and see that it is in alpha.
I will dig into this further, I appreciate you sharing your work with us.
If the NMT supports NFS then that's fine. I use NFS with no issues.
Also, the mpd alpha package is updated after you do the initial install. It's only really needed for those with 24/96 or above DACs.
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Thanks Nick, I think I am going to pick one up and give it a go.
Best,
Ed
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Well, I am going to try and join the club. Total newbie. I ordered the board and enclosure. I have a linear power supply somewhere from parts express that I will use with it. Want to avoid switchers. Have a buddy who likes to tinker with computers and is interested in linux so this will be good project. Wish me luck.
Going to compare it to a mac mini setup. Feeding a Tranqulity DAC.
-Tony
Tony,
Really looking forward to your comparison, thanks!
Best,
Ed
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question(s?)
For the music server machine, does that HAVE to run linux to work with the alix machine?
(I am very new to this subject, so please be gentle) But poking around, seemed like there was a Samba program, that might work between a windows to linux machine, for transferring files over the network. I have an "extra" mac mini and a quiet little asus atom windows pc, either of which I could use for the music SERVER side. But I could reformat/partition one for linux if necessary...
TIA for help!
-Tony
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question(s?)
For the music server machine, does that HAVE to run linux to work with the alix machine?
(I am very new to this subject, so please be gentle) But poking around, seemed like there was a Samba program, that might work between a windows to linux machine, for transferring files over the network. I have an "extra" mac mini and a quiet little asus atom windows pc, either of which I could use for the music player side. But I could reformat/partition one for linux if necessary...
TIA for help!
-Tony
Hi Tony,
Nick can probably give a more definitvie answer than I can but it is my understanding that if you server machine can output NFS you should be good to go. Unfortunately I am not certain how you do that in Windows but someone here will probably ring in with the answer.
edit: It looks like your answer may be here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324089
Best,
Ed
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question(s?)
For the music server machine, does that HAVE to run linux to work with the alix machine?
(I am very new to this subject, so please be gentle) But poking around, seemed like there was a Samba program, that might work between a windows to linux machine, for transferring files over the network. I have an "extra" mac mini and a quiet little asus atom windows pc, either of which I could use for the music player side. But I could reformat/partition one for linux if necessary...
Just for the sake of getting the terminology correct, the machine that will store your music (FLAC, AAC, mp3) is the "file server". The Alix feeding your DAC is the "music server".
The headless Alix has to run Linux. The file server can be any OS that supports a file sharing protocol that Linux can handle, e.g. CIFS, Samba, or NFS. Doesn't matter if it's Windows, Solaris, IBM AIX, or one of those plug 'n play NAS (network attached storage) boxes that you configure via a web browser.
Also, there is the free program FreeNAS that will make juts about any old, used PC into a file server box. Handles most, if not all, the file sharing protocols. *And* it's all web browser configurable.
Features:
* Protocols: CIFS (via Samba), TFTP, FTP, NFS, SSH, rsync, AFP, UPnP, BitTorrent (protocol) and iTunes.
* Extensions (plug-ins) for: SlimServer, Xbox Media Stream Protocol.
* rsync server, client and local sync.
* Unison support.
* iSCSI targets feature to create virtual disks.
* iSCSI initiator.
* Dynamic DNS client for: DynDNS, ZoneEdit, No-Ip, and freedns.afraid.org.
* File systems: ZFS, UFS and ext2/ext3 are fully supported, NTFS read/write and FAT32 read/write supported.
* Hard drive: P-ATA/S-ATA, SCSI, iSCSI, USB and FireWire.
* GPT/EFI partitioning for hard drives larger than 2 Terabytes.
* Network cards: All wired and wireless cards supported by FreeBSD 7.2.
* Boot from HDD, USB key, CompactFlash, CD-ROM + floppy disk, or USB flash.
* Hardware RAID cards: All those supported by FreeBSD 7.2.
* Software RAID levels: 0, 1, 5, JBOD, 5+0, 5+1, 0+1, 1+0, etc. (using GEOM and g_raid5). Also RAID-Z and RAID-Z2 (as part of ZFS).
* ZFS , the "Zettabyte File System"
* Disk encryption with geli.
* Management of groups and users (Local User authentication or Microsoft Domains).
* S.M.A.R.T. support.
* Remote syslogd forwarding.
* SNMP monitoring (Netgraph and MibII).
* Email log and reporting notification.
* VLAN support
* Link aggregation and link failover interface
* UPS (Uninterruptible power supply) support
* Apple Time Machine support
FreeNAS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeNAS
There's also OpenMediaVault: http://blog.openmediavault.org/
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Great stuff. Thanks
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Traderxfan,
Any notes on issues you run into putting this together would be greatly appreciated.
Best,
Ed
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Well, given my experience with this stuff, it will only be notable if there isn't some issue with me getting this together.
For example, I am now under the impression the 12v power supply isn't correct for this... I saw one listed on the order page, but now I see that there was an 18v supply listed, underneath that one, for use with this (2d) board.
So any idea whether this is a bad thing? I am reading the 18v is less wattage than the other 12v. Given that this is not going to be a heavy demand device, would the 12v 2amp linear supply be "ok" for this application?
-Tony
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Nevermind... I think I am ok!
Power: DC jack or passive POE, min. 7V to max. 20V
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Neat Ideas...
A totally silent server is something I wanted for a long time.
I have built many pc's and systems...so this is not really a hard project at all for me.
But when i saw the Squeezebox Touch with FLAC and NTFS to an external USB drive this was a very simple no noise solution for me.
I have a Solid State Hard Drive 256mb connected to it in a self powered enclosure, so no current draw from the Squeezebox, it has my entire FLAC CD riped library, works well, sounds great, and is SILENT. Its a standalone soltion that can be networked if I wanted to etc.
I dont mean t hi-jack this thread, but some may find this solution a bit too techie for them etc..
All the best
Alex
:D
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The big difference here, to me, is the choice of DAC...
-Tony
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For example, I am now under the impression the 12v power supply isn't correct for this...
You are correct. 7v to 20v DC. I run mine on 12v linear. Have also run it on 8AA lithium cells for hours on end. 3 watts load playing FLAC with only the USB DAC (i.e., no USB hard disc) connected.
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Neat Ideas...
I dont mean t hi-jack this thread, but some may find this solution a bit too techie for them etc..
No worries, Alex. 'Tis a very laid back thread here.
When I first started using this 3 (or 4?) years ago there was no Squeezbox Touch. Also, this is a unique solution for an external *USB* DAC. And for this specific application I think it performs exceptionally well.
I've heard good things about the SB/T's internal 24/96 DAC (Stereophile wasn't too impressed, though) and for the money this will bring 24/96 to the masses. Good things for *all* of us as this increases the amount of hi-res material available and drives the prices down eventually. So, in no way do I see the SB/T as "competition" to my little ALIX mutt. Quite the opposite...
*But* you can't officially (yes, there is an unofficial mod --I think) drive an external USB DAC with a SB/T. And if you did/could, you're paying for a DAC you'll never use. In addition, most SB/T users that I've read about find the little LCD screen useless and use some sort of iPod/iPad remote from the listening seat, so more hardware and electrical noise.
The Alix lacks all these superfluous hardware components, is cheaper, and runs a more streamlined (I've read things about Squeezeserver being buggy or slow, but don't take my word for it) software stack. Even with a late kernel (2.6.32) and running mpd-0.16~alpha it has been rock solid stable.
Cheers,
Nick
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You are correct. 7v to 20v DC. I run mine on 12v linear. Have also run it on 8AA lithium cells for hours on end. 3 watts load playing FLAC with only the USB DAC (i.e., no USB hard disc) connected.
Nick,
Did you choose to go with the linear as opposed to the batts because of convenience or did you not hear a difference? I ask because I am considering a battery power supply.
Best,
Ed
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Tony,
Any progress to report? Not trying to be pushy, simply interested in your findings vs the Mac Mini.
Best,
Ed
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Nope, still waiting on CF card... free shipping on amazon is nice, but can take a bit.
:thumb:
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Nick,
Did you choose to go with the linear as opposed to the batts because of convenience or did you not hear a difference? I ask because I am considering a battery power supply.
At the time it was just a simple experiment to see how long 8 AA lithium cells would play FLAC files. It was still playing after 5 hours, if I remember correctly. I didn't do any critical listening. From what I've read, not all batteries are created equal, with some having higher internal resistance than others. When I last did the math, the Alix was drawing ~200ma when actually playing FLAC files.
A long while back I thought I did hear slight differences between my Thinkpad (Debian, ALSA, dmix bypassed) and my Alix. The Thinkpad sounded a tad grainier, and the noise floor on the Alix sounded a tad quieter. But, this was with a Trends UD-10 and/or a Wavelength Audio Brick. My current Ayre QB-9 employs opto-isolators so it might not make much difference.
Someday, I hope to engage in some simple tests with some ham radio equipment and see what is noisier EMI/RFI wise: The Alix with a linear; the Alix with batteries, the Thinkpad with it OEM power supply; or the Thinkpad running off its own battery. Someday.
As always, trust your own ears...
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Nick/Tony,
Thanks for the replies.
Best,
Ed
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Well, turns out that the stuff was already in the office since the 14th and no one notified me. So I am going to start putting things together tonight.
The biggest debate I have had is what to use for the debian based computer. I have decided to install it, as command line only, on a 2nd harddrive for a dell laptop. This will run the debian and be used to get the alix computer's compact flash card formatted and configured for use with Voyage. Then I will use a asus eee windows computer as the file server. I will just go back to the windows setup I have on the laptop to run mozilla with the music player minion add on as a controller to the alix.
If that seems like a bad idea to anyone, please speak up soon... :o
-Tony
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Well, turns out that the stuff was already in the office since the 14th and no one notified me. So I am going to start putting things together tonight.
The biggest debate I have had is what to use for the debian based computer. I have decided to install it, as command line only, on a 2nd harddrive for a dell laptop. This will run the debian and be used to get the alix computer's compact flash card formatted and configured for use with Voyage. Then I will use a asus eee windows computer as the file server. I will just go back to the windows setup I have on the laptop to run mozilla with the music player minion add on as a controller to the alix.
If that seems like a bad idea to anyone, please speak up soon... :o
I would only go the Debian/command line route if your really comfortable working in command line mode. Ubunutu (Debian based) will make things much easier e.g., finding and mounting your CF card.
Also, I sent you a PM.
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I had a spare PC lying around so I decided to load Ubuntu on it and see if I could in use the NMT as a NFS file server. After bouncing around on various forums and Linux websites I finally figured out how to get the Ubuntu PC to see the NMT folder with my FLAC files. I messed around with MPD to get it configured and was able to link the NFS supplied music files to it...yay!
Now if I could get the Ubuntu PC to ouput through USB to my Havana DAC I would be happy, unfortunately so far I have only been able to output the music from the onboard sound card output.
The good news is that I was able to prove that an NMT can be used as a file server for MPD on another PC! Once I build my Alix PC I will have two very low power machines serving up the tunes!
Best,
Ed
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Ed,
Nice going! I think my buddy here is going to be happy to learn of this development. As you know, I'm somewhatimmersed in another project at the moment, and most of that hardware is either here or enroute, and once that's doing it's thing, it will be back to the Alix box and power supply.
Thanks for the update,
Jim
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Thanks Jim, I thought you might be interested in that bit of info.
Best of luck with you current project, way out of my league.
Best,
Ed
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Hi ebag4,
Does Ubuntu see your USB DAC in the sound configuration applet?
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Hi ebag4,
Does Ubuntu see your USB DAC in the sound configuration applet?
Yes it does, however when I pick it and run test a window pops up and says:
audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert !
audioresample ! grconfaudiosink profile=music:
Could not open audio device for playback
I have never had an issue getting it to play in Windows. I was thinking I had an issue in my MPD configuration files but after looking at this more closely I am thinking the issue may lie elsewhere.
Best,
Ed
edit:when I run asoundconf list I do not see my DAC, only the on-board sound and the word default
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Yes it does, however when I pick it and run test a window pops up and says:
audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert !
audioresample ! grconfaudiosink profile=music:
Could not open audio device for playback
I have never had an issue getting it to play in Windows. I was thinking I had an issue in my MPD configuration files but after looking at this more closely I am thinking the issue may lie elsewhere.
Best,
Ed
edit:when I run asoundconf list I do not see my DAC, only the on-board sound and the word default
Can you paste you mpd.conf file here? Do you have alsa-utils installed? If so, what do you see when you type 'aplay -l" with your USB DAC plugged in? Is the DAC 16 bit or 24 bit? Also, what version of mpd are you (type mpd --version) running?
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Can you paste you mpd.conf file here? Do you have alsa-utils installed? If so, what do you see when you type 'aplay -l" with your USB DAC plugged in? Is the DAC 16 bit or 24 bit? Also, what version of mpd are you (type mpd --version) running?
Thanks Nick, I appreciate any insight you can offer. My Havana is a 16 bit DAC but it has never had a problem playing 24 bit files.
EDIT: I decided to let Ubuntu do an upgrade that it was nagging about. MPD and Sonata still work as they were before, however when I go to the Sound preferences panel the whole setup has changed. I no longer see my DAC there, now all that is there is a internal audio choice and a Turtle Beach card that is not even installed.
EDIT 2: Ubuntu is seeing my USB DAC as the Turtle Beach unit but it doesn't call it a USB DAC.
Best,
Ed
Here is what aplay -l shows:
root@linux:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel 82801DB-ICH4]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: default [USB Sound Device ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
root@linux:~#
and this is my mpd.conf:
# An example configuration file for MPD
# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.
######################## REQUIRED PATHS ########################
# You can put symlinks in here, if you like. Make sure that
# the user that mpd runs as (see the 'user' config parameter)
# can read the files in this directory.
music_directory "/home/ed/Music/nmt"
playlist_directory "/var/lib/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/var/lib/mpd/tag_cache"
log_file "/var/log/mpd/mpd.log"
error_file "/var/log/mpd/errors.log"
################################################################
######################## OPTIONAL PATHS ########################
#
# If you wish to use mpd --kill to stop MPD, then you must
# specify a file here in which to store MPD's process ID.
#
pid_file "/var/run/mpd/pid"
#
# If specified, MPD will save its current state (playlist,
# current song, playing/paused, etc.) at exit. This will be
# used to restore the session the next time it is run.
#
state_file "/var/lib/mpd/state"
#
################################################################
######################## DAEMON OPTIONS ########################
#
# If started as root, MPD will drop root privileges and run as
# this user instead. Otherwise, MPD will run as the user it was
# started by. If left unspecified, MPD will not drop root
# privileges at all (not recommended).
#
user "mpd"
#
# The address and port to listen on.
#
bind_to_address "any"
port "6601"
#
# If the address is a path, then a UNIX domain socket will be
# created instead of listening on a TCP port.
#
#bind_to_address "/var/run/mpd/sock"
#
# Controls the amount of information that is logged. Can be
# "default", "secure", or "verbose".
#
#log_level "default"
#
################################################################
########################### ZEROCONF ###########################
#
# If yes, service information will be published with Zeroconf.
#
#zeroconf_enabled "yes"
#
# The service name to publish. This name should be unique on
# your local network.
#
#zeroconf_name "Music Player"
#
################################################################
########################## PERMISSIONS #########################
#
# MPD can require that users specify a password before using it.
# You may specify one ore more here, along with what users who
# log in with that password are allowed to do.
#
#password "password@read,add,control,admin"
#
# Specifies what permissions a user who has not logged in with a
# password has. By default, all users have full access to MPD
# if no password is specified above, or no access if one or
# more passwords are specified.
#
#default_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
#
################################################################
########################## AUDIO OUTPUT ########################
#
# MPD supports many audio output types, as well as playing
# through multiple audio outputs at the same time. You can
# specify one or more here. If you don't specify any, MPD will
# automatically scan for a usable audio output.
#
# See <http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration#Audio_Outputs>
# for examples of other audio outputs.
#
# An example of an ALSA output:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "HAVANA"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of an OSS output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "oss"
# name "My OSS Device"
# device "/dev/dsp" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a shout output (for streaming to Icecast):
#
#audio_output {
# type "shout"
# encoding "ogg" # optional
# name "My Shout Stream"
# host "localhost"
# port "8000"
# mount "/mpd.ogg"
# password "hackme"
# quality "5.0"
# bitrate "128"
# format "44100:16:1"
# user "source" # optional
# description "My Stream Description" # optional
# genre "jazz" # optional
# public "no" # optional
# timeout "2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a null output (for no audio output):
#
#audio_output {
# type "null"
# name "My Null Output"
#}
#
# Force all decoded audio to be converted to this format before
# being passed to the audio outputs.
#
#audio_output_format "44100:16:2"
#
# If MPD has been compiled with libsamplerate support, this
# specifies the sample rate converter to use. Possible
# values can be found in the mpd.conf man page or the
# libsamplerate documentation.
#
#samplerate_converter "Fastest Sinc Interpolator"
#
################################################################
############################# MIXER ############################
#
# MPD needs to know what mixer settings to change when you
# adjust the volume. If you don't specify one here, MPD will
# pick one based on which ones it was compiled with support for.
#
# An example for controlling an ALSA mixer:
#
mixer_type "alsa"
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"
#
# An example for controlling an OSS mixer:
#
#mixer_type "oss"
#mixer_device "/dev/mixer"
#mixer_control "PCM"
#
# If you want MPD to adjust the volume of audio sent to the
# audio outputs, you can tell it to use the software mixer:
#
#mixer_type "software"
#
################################################################
######################### NORMALIZATION ########################
#
# Specifies the type of ReplayGain to use. Can be "album" or
# "track". ReplayGain will not be used if not specified. See
# <http://www.replaygain.org> for more details.
#
#replaygain "album"
#
# Sets the pre-amp used for files that have ReplayGain tags.
#
#replaygain_preamp "0"
#
# Enable on the fly volume normalization. This will cause the
# volume of all songs played to be adjusted so that they sound
# as though they are of equal loudness.
#
#volume_normalization "no"
#
################################################################
########################### BUFFERING ##########################
#
# The size of the buffer containing decoded audio. You probably
# shouldn't change this.
#
#audio_buffer_size "2048"
#
# How much of the buffer to fill before beginning to play.
# Increase this if you hear skipping when changing songs.
#
#buffer_before_play "10%"
#
# Similar options for the HTTP stream buffer. If you hear
# skipping while playing HTTP streams, you may wish to increase
# these.
#
#http_buffer_size "128"
#http_prebuffer_size "25%"
#
################################################################
########################### HTTP PROXY #########################
#
# Specifies the HTTP proxy to use for playing HTTP streams.
#
#http_proxy_host "proxy.isp.com"
#http_proxy_port "8080"
#http_proxy_user "user"
#http_proxy_password "password"
#
################################################################
############################# LIMITS ###########################
#
# These are various limits to prevent MPD from using too many
# resources. You should only change them if they start
# restricting your usage of MPD.
#
#connection_timeout "60"
#max_connections "5"
#max_playlist_length "16384"
#max_command_list_size "2048"
#max_output_buffer_size "8192"
#
################################################################
###################### CHARACTER ENCODINGS #####################
#
# If file or directory names do not display correctly, then you
# may need to change this. In most cases it should be either
# "ISO-8859-1" or "UTF-8". You must recreate your database
# after changing this (use mpd --create-db).
#
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
#
# The encoding that ID3v1 tags should be converted from.
#
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
#
################################################################
######################### OTHER OPTIONS ########################
#
# Try disabling this if you have MP3s which appear to end
# abruptly. If this solves the problem, it is highly
# recommended that you fix your MP3s with vbrfix (available from
# <http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.php>), at which
# point you can re-enable support for gapless MP3 playback.
#
#gapless_mp3_playback "yes"
#
# Enable this if you wish to use your MPD created playlists in
# other music players.
#
#save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "no"
#
# A list of tag types that MPD will scan for and make available
# to clients.
#
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
#
################################################################
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Thanks Nick, I appreciate any insight you can offer. My Havana is a 16 bit DAC but it has never had a problem playing 24 bit files.
If your DAC has a 16 bit chip then ALSA is down-sampling 24 bit files on the fly to 16 bit before they get sent to the DAC.
Here is what aplay -l shows:
root@linux:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel 82801DB-ICH4]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: default [USB Sound Device ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
root@linux:~#
Your USB DAC, as per aplay -l above, is card 1, device 0. And you need to tell MPD that. Below in your mpd.conf you have hw:X,Y where both are set to zero, i.e., card 0, device 0. Change it to what is listed in aplay -l, i.e., hw:1,0, also known as card 1, device 0.
After you do this or make any change to mpd.conf you must restart mpd via /etd/init.d/mpd restart.
Let me know of that helps.
and this is my mpd.conf:
# An example of an ALSA output:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "HAVANA"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
#}
#
##################
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Nick, you ROCK! Thanks for the explanation and the fix, much appreciated. Applied your fix and it is now cranking out tunes via USB.
Best,
Ed
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Nick, you ROCK! Thanks for the explanation and the fix, much appreciated. Applied your fix and it is now cranking out tunes via USB.
Keep one thing in mind for the future: If you do upgrade to a true 24bit USB DAC and you're using a version of mpd that is *prior* to 0.16, you have to change the "hw" part in hw:X,Y to plughw:X,Y
mpd versions 0.15 and older do not support 24 bit packed samples, so using plughw will "pad" your 24 bit files with zeroes, if I remember correctly. 'Tis not the same as re-sampling.
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I am about to dive in. My Alix, power supply (ultimately I plan to use my Optima Battery), case and CF card should be here today. I will probably be hitting you up for troubleshooting Nick. I just received my Tranquility DAC last week so I am anxious to hear the pairing.
Best,
Ed
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I just received my Tranquility DAC last week so I am
anxious to hear the pairing...
Ed, I'm also looking forward to your impressions on this pairing.
Good luck,
Jim
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... Nick. I just received my Tranquility DAC last week so I am anxious to hear the pairing.
No problem.
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As an update: I have had some trouble getting NFS working. So hope to have that fixed soon, next week...
I tried to use nfs from mac mini with osx as server, to the alix as client, but gave up. So I wiped the apple mini and installed debian. That seems to work, but editing my mpd.conf file is not cooperating.
-Tony
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As an update: I have had some trouble getting NFS working. So hope to have that fixed soon, next week...
I tried to use nfs from mac mini with osx as server, to the alix as client, but gave up. So I wiped the apple mini and installed debian. That seems to work, but editing my mpd.conf file is not cooperating.
What trouble are you having with mpd.conf?
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Received my Alix, this thing is tiny!
Unfortunately the Voyage Linux site is not responding. Nick if you or Jim or Tony could email the Voyage file I need I would appreciate it. I do have a Voyage linux 6.5 iso file but I don't know if I can use that or not. I seem to be getting off to a great start! :lol:
Best,
Ed
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What trouble are you having with mpd.conf?
Well, the file was blank. I used vi to edit. I followed the script on the blog of what it should say. I typed in all of the the non "#" areas that I needed, but it won't write to the file. Tried several times, after making sure the cf was mountrw. I checked that I was able to do other things on the card. Now my plan is to make a new file, write the info to it, then make it the mpd.conf file. Hopefully that does it. If not, going ot try and remove the mpd and then do a new install of it.
-Tony
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Received my Alix, this thing is tiny!
Unfortunately the Voyage Linux site is not responding. Nick if you or Jim or Tony could email the Voyage file I need I would appreciate it. I do have a Voyage linux 6.5 iso file but I don't know if I can use that or not. I seem to be getting off to a great start! :lol:
Best,
Ed
Are you following the instructions from the blog?
http://cheap-silent-usb-linux-music-server.blogspot.com/
I printed it out.
then I took a red pen and numbered the steps, starting from the bottom, but you should follow what Nick says. I had to alter what I did a bit from that blog.
-Tony
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Hi Tony,
I tried the link from that blog as well as a gogle search, they both sent me to the same place. Unfortunately the site is not responding.
Best,
Ed
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PM'd you my email. Email me and i will send you the blog info and nick's advice on what to do a little different.
-Tony
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Ed, sorry, I don't have it.
-- Jim
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Tony, I received your email, thanks.
Jim, no worries, thanks anyway.
Nick, can I use the instructions from the blog if I am using Ubuntu instead of Debian? I was able to get the CF card formatted!! WOOHOO! :lol:
BTW, Nick, if you have access to the Voyager tar file and can email it to me please let me know, I wil send you my email address. The Voyager HK site may be back up later but I am unable to bring it up right now.
Best,
Ed
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Tony, I received your email, thanks.
Jim, no worries, thanks anyway.
Nick, can I use the instructions from the blog if I am using Ubuntu instead of Debian? I was able to get the CF card formatted!! WOOHOO! :lol:
BTW, Nick, if you have access to the Voyager tar file and can email it to me please let me know, I wil send you my email address. The Voyager HK site may be back up later but I am unable to bring it up right now.
The Voyage site is down as the maintainer is moving to a different server.
The instructions are not really valid for Ubuntu without midification. It's vey specific to Voyage Linux. The Voyage Linux README and/or install script will take care of formatting the CF card for you.
I'm at work now, but I'll see if I have the .tar file when get home tonight --around midnight.
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Once you are ssh'd into the Alix, the formatting directions should all be the same. The configuration of the desktop computer are the parts that are likely to change... [although I am no help with any of that]
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The instructions are not really valid for Ubuntu without midification. It's vey specific to Voyage Linux.
Right, I am talking about the Debian machine used to load the CF initially, I currently have a Ubuntu machine up and running. I though Terminal would be the same regardless of whether I am running it inside Unbuntu or Debian, of course that may be what you are telling me, not to use the Ubuntu machine to load the CF initially.
Thanks,
Ed
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Right, I am talking about the Debian machine used to load the CF initially, I currently have a Ubuntu machine up and running. I though Terminal would be the same regardless of whether I am running it inside Unbuntu or Debian, of course that may be what you are telling me, not to use the Ubuntu machine to load the CF initially.
Oh, sorry. Yes, any Linux machine to unpack Voyage and do the install will be just fine.
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Well, the file was blank. I used vi to edit. I followed the script on the blog of what it should say. I typed in all of the the non "#" areas that I needed, but it won't write to the file. Tried several times, after making sure the cf was mountrw. I checked that I was able to do other things on the card. Now my plan is to make a new file, write the info to it, then make it the mpd.conf file. Hopefully that does it. If not, going ot try and remove the mpd and then do a new install of it.
Hmm. Better to start of with a clean stock file. You could: apt-get install --reinstall mpd
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Just in case anyone else is looking for the voyage tarball files this weekend while the HK site is down for repairs, you can find them here:
http://hints.at.linuxfromscratch.org/opsys/linux/voyage/download/voyage/
Best,
Ed
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Well, I have my "Dead silent dedicated Linux music server for USB DAC's" also know as Alix up and running!
First off I would like to thank Nick (nyc_paramedic) for his fantastic support through this having exchanged more than 30 emails with me during this process, without Nick this project wouldn't exist and as a total Linux newby I would have not been able to complete the build, thanks again Nick!
What made this project a little more difficult was that instead of building a dedicated music server I opted to utilize my Network Media Tank that runs video and music downstairs in the HT. The NMT brings with it various headaches that I did not anticipate.
Now that it is built I will listen to it for a few days before posting any opinions. I will say that the cool factor using this tiny device to play audio is off the charts, and the fact that it runs on very little power takes it over the top. Ultimately I will be powering it with my Optima battery along with the Dodd Buffer, for now it is powered by a small switcher.
A very cool and inexpensive project, thanks for putiing it all together Nick.
Best,
Ed
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Nice going Ed! Can't wait to hear your impressions.
And I second the kudos to Nick. He has gone above and beyond in helping me get my board configured -- a great guy all around!
-- Jim
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Nice going Ed! Can't wait to hear your impressions.
And I second the kudos to Nick. He has gone above and beyond in helping me get my board configured -- a great guy all around!
-- Jim
Thanks Jim. We can talk off line but if starting from scratch using the NMT "may" not be the best solution. I am writing all of the mpd files back to the CF card at this point because mpd cannot write back to the NMT HDD. I have a question posted on the NMT forum but in doing a search it appears that I may not be able to get it to work the way I want. Having said that, I am not certain writing the various logs and playlists saves back to the CF card is causing any issues.
Best,
Ed
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I went through the complete install of voyage as described here http://cheap-silent-usb-linux-music-server.blogspot.com/ but with the latest tar.
If I turn on the system, no ipadres is given from my router. (If I look at the dhcp leases overview) So i am not sure the system is booting at all.
Any suggestions? Am I missing something?
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I went through the complete install of voyage as described here http://cheap-silent-usb-linux-music-server.blogspot.com/ but with the latest tar.
If I turn on the system, no ipadres is given from my router. (If I look at the dhcp leases overview) So i am not sure the system is booting at all.
Any suggestions? Am I missing something?
Which Alix are your using? If it's the 2d2, did you connect the ethernet cable to the port closest to the power plug?
Which .tar? Stable or development?
What OS will you be using to SSH into the Alix?
Know how to use nmap? It's mentioned on the blog.
Look at the ethernet LED for a good 30-45 seconds after you apply power. Do you a series of rapid blinks as it's attempting to get in IP address from your router?
Nick
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Which Alix are your using? If it's the 2d2, did you connect the ethernet cable to the port closest to the power plug? Yes
Which .tar? Stable or development? Stable
What OS will you be using to SSH into the Alix? Ubuntu 10.10 or Windows 7
Know how to use nmap? It's mentioned on the blog. Tried it, but did not see the ALIX
Look at the ethernet LED for a good 30-45 seconds after you apply power. Do you a series of rapid blinks as it's attempting to get in IP address from your router? The led was blinking for some time.
Nick
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Did you do the install with Ubuntu? And if yes, did you do the install as root?
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How do I find out how to recognize my ARCAM rDac under linux to put in MPD.conf?
both name and device #
mark@voyage:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 1: DAC [ARCAM DAC], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
What do I put in mpd.conf?
I keep getting an error message saying that there is a problem with opening the audio device
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How do I find out how to recognize my ARCAM rDac under linux to put in MPD.conf?
both name and device #
mark@voyage:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 1: DAC [ARCAM DAC], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
What do I put in mpd.conf?
I keep getting an error message saying that there is a problem with opening the audio device
ok card 1, device 0
Solved
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ok card 1, device 0
Solved
Any updates? Got music playing?
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Any updates? Got music playing?
Yes playing fine now. Just a few leds blinking all the time. Even when not playing. Any suggestion how to change that?
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Yes playing fine now. Just a few leds blinking all the time. Even when not playing. Any suggestion how to change that?
If your looking at your Aliz straights ahead, then the first LED blinking is the "heartbeat" of the CPU, i.e., the greater the CPU load the faster is flashes. The second LED is hard disk LED, and will flash when your reading or writing to your CF card. Last one should be the network LED.
There is a README file in the root directory of your ALIX that will explain how to manipulate the LED's or shut them off.
Also, read here: http://www.mail-archive.com/voyage-linux@list.voyage.hk/msg01688.html
Also, how's the Alix sounding with your DAC?
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Is there a "preferred" Alix board?
-Jim
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Is there a "preferred" Alix board?
Jim,
I have a 2d2 and a 3d2. The 2d2 (http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2d2.htm) would sit on your typical audio rack with its LED's facing forward, and all cable connections (USB, ethernet ports, power) facing the back. It also has, in comparison to the 3d2, a second ethernet port, and a 2.5 IDE hard disk header. Techincally, one could say it's a teensy bit busier, electrically speaking.
The 3d2 (http://www.pcengines.ch/alix3d2.htm) is the most minimalist Alix board for USB audio that one could currently use. Only 1 ethernet and no IDE header. Also, the 3d3 has connectors on both sides of the board. That could work from some people who would want the Alix perpendicular to their DAC, or want to save $10. But the second ethernet port of the 2d2 could come in handy for someone who wants to avoid WiFi entirely.
With either board, the LED's can be configured to turn off. And EMI/RFI wise, I doubt there is any real difference. Though, if any one has the kind of equipment to snoop EMI/RFI noise, I'd love to loan him a unit and see how bad/good they are under load.
Nick
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Jim,
I have a 2d2 and a 3d2. The 2d2 (http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2d2.htm) would sit on your typical audio rack with its LED's facing forward, and all cable connections (USB, ethernet ports, power) facing the back. It also has, in comparison to the 3d2, a second ethernet port, and a 2.5 IDE hard disk header. Techincally, one could say it's a teensy bit busier, electrically speaking.
The 3d2 (http://www.pcengines.ch/alix3d2.htm) is the most minimalist Alix board for USB audio that one could currently use. Only 1 ethernet and no IDE header. Also, the 3d3 has connectors on both sides of the board. That could work from some people who would want the Alix perpendicular to their DAC, or want to save $10. But the second ethernet port of the 2d2 could come in handy for someone who wants to avoid WiFi entirely.
With either board, the LED's can be configured to turn off. And EMI/RFI wise, I doubt there is any real difference. Though, if any one has the kind of equipment to snoop EMI/RFI noise, I'd love to loan him a unit and see how bad/good they are under load.
Nick
Thanks Nick! I think I'll give the 2d2 a try. Any good U.S. retailers besides mini-box? They seem to be out of stock with this board.
-Jim
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This is what I bought:
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=280532918295&index=1&nav=SEARCH&nid=07487510469
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This is what I bought:
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=280532918295&index=1&nav=SEARCH&nid=07487510469
Perfect - thanks! One-stop shopping....just how I like it! Plan is to use this to stream music into a EA Off-Ramp 3 w/ Superclock 4 (this converter does not require a driver to be installed, so I think I should be ok with the Alix) into my DEQX HDP-3. Looking forward to trying it out!
-Jim
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Thanks Nick! I think I'll give the 2d2 a try. Any good U.S. retailers besides mini-box? They seem to be out of stock with this board.
-Jim
Try Netgate: http://store.netgate.com/
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Nick,
I'm finally scanning this whole thread again since it has grown and is getting updates (great work!). It sounds like the native linux driver works fine with USB async 24/192 DAC's (usb audio class 2.0) as long as you have MPD 0.16? With lots of XMOS hi-rez USB receiver implementations coming this looks like a great Linux option. Snow Leopard already has support built-in, but W7 still doesn't include it yet, and I didn't know if ALSA took car of that or not.
The thought of buying a full function Mac Mini, then stripping it to the bone seems like such a waste to me, as nice as it is. There are a lot of Mac player options now (PM, Amarra, AyreWave, etc.), so it would be really nice to know how this optimized solution compares sonically to the various Mini players/hardware. They may have an advantage to stuff a lot more in RAM, but other than that I'm not sure what advantages there are (functionality?). Batteries or a nice linear supply would be relatively easy too. Sounds like a fun project!
Tom
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For USB Audio Class 2.0 on Linux you need a recent snapshot of ALSA. For most, that meant compiling the sources manually. Not too difficult on a standard desktop but it gets a bit complicated when you have embedded hardware (Alix) and a stripped down OS (voyage linux; no development or compiling tools on the compact flash)
With MPD 0.16 we get native S24_3LE support, simply meaning that 24 bit data gets sent to the DAC in its native format, i.e., does not get padded to 32 bits --which really is 24 bits anyway. See the discussions here: http://www.mail-archive.com/musicpd-dev-team@lists.sourceforge.net/msg01280.html and here: http://www.mail-archive.com/musicpd-dev-team@lists.sourceforge.net/msg01273.html
With Voyage MPD we get MPD 0.16 and recent snaphots of ALSA pre-compiled (as nice .deb packages), installed, and ready to run out of the box on a nice minimalist Linux OS that can run on x86 embedded hardware like the Alix and Soekris boards. We can also install (standard x86 option in the Voyage install script) it on standard x86 machines, e.g., the new fanless Atom boards hitting the market.
As far as Mac Minis and RAM, I've heard that tons of RAM can make it sound better to some folks. But I wonder if that's a result of having a complete GUI desktop operating system installed on a machine just to play 2 channel music.
One last important thing: If any of you folks find that Voyage MPD sounds wonderful and becomes your defacto music server, then please support the Voyage Linux team with a small donation. The PayPal button is on the Voyage Linux home page. This initial release of Voyage MPD needs to mature over time (MPD 0.16+, and more recent snapshots of ALSA as USB Audio Class 2.0 code gets fixed and improved) and that only happens when the Voyage Linux devs sit down and get actual work done.
There is talk of offering Voyge MPD pre-installed on compact flash directly from their main page, so that one could simply pop in the CF card and begin configuring it. Also, implementing a simple web-based configuration tool so that one would not need to edit any text files.
The way I see it, Voyage Linux and a small inexpensive ($125) Alix board has obviated the need for thousands of dollars worth of commercial hardware and software. The software is modifiable to your heart's content, and it's not beholden to any one commercial interest.
Thanks,
Nick
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I've been following this excellent thread from its inception, thanks to Nick for starting it.
My current solution is to use a Networked Media Tank (ioBox 100HD), with an internal 1TB hard-drive, S/PDIF output to a Keces 131.1 DAC. All the music is stored on the 1TB drive. It is a reasonable solution, but the NMT has some limitations, even with MPD installed on it.
So, I am thinking of going the ALIX route, with a USB DAC. I am comfortable with the command line and Linux, but would like to get some things straight before starting:
- Once the ALIX box is connected to my house network, I can use LIVE-CD (running on my Windows laptop, for example) to install Voyage MPD on the ALIX box. I will need to know the IP address of the ALIX box. Is this correct?
- I am planning to use the HRT Streamer II USB DAC. Is the ALIX 2C10 USB port capable of powering the DAC without any problems? I believe the HRT needs 200mA.
I also have on my network an uNSLUng NSLU2, with a 250GB USB HD that backs up the music on the 1TB drive in the NMT. (The 250GB drive is only about half full at the moment). The plan is to make Voyage MPD access the music files stored in this 250GB drive, until funds allow investment into a more modern NAS.
Thanks very much.
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- Once the ALIX box is connected to my house network, I can use LIVE-CD (running on my Windows laptop, for example) to install Voyage MPD on the ALIX box. I will need to know the IP address of the ALIX box. Is this correct?
You use the Voyage Live CD to install the OS onto your compact flash card first. Or you download the Voyage MPD tar file to a Linux machine, unpack it, and run the install script. This copies the OS to compact flash.
You would need a simple CF media reader; my $11 Atech Flash USB card reader works fine. Other examples: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007766%20600021611&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20 Or, perhaps you have a friend with a Linux box and a card reader?
Then, connect the Alix to the network and power it up. You can look up the IP address of the device on your router --at which point you might also want to configure the router give it a specific IP address (based on the Alix MAC address) whenever the Alix is on the network. Or, use something like nmap to find the IP and MAC address of the Alix on the Network: http://nmap.org/download.html
Once you know the ip address, you can log in as root and setup a regular user account. Then we configure MPD, NFS, etc.
- I am planning to use the HRT Streamer II USB DAC. Is the ALIX 2C10 USB port capable of powering the DAC without any problems? I believe the HRT needs 200mA.
I believe so. See here: http://www.pcengines.info/forums/?page=post&id=468FD5BE-C893-4F2C-AADF-5D40F7E41A75&fid=40251191-FF24-48A8-BB0E-995B04812ADE I had no trouble with my previous DAC, a Wavelength Audio Brick v2.
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Is it reasonable to assume the drivers that work with your Ayre QB-9 and the Wavelength Wavelink USB->S/PDIF 24/192 would work the same?
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Is it reasonable to assume the drivers that work with your Ayre QB-9 and the Wavelength Wavelink USB->S/PDIF 24/192 would work the same?
The Wavelength Wavelink should work just fine at 24/192 with Voyage MPD or any Linux OS that has a recent snapshot of ALSA.
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You use the Voyage Live CD to install the OS onto your compact flash card first. ...
Thanks for the explanation. I do have a CF card reader, that I can use.
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Is there a straightforward way to mount memory sticks or usb drives locally on the other ports to allow it to function standalone (no streaming), in the same way as the new Bryston BDP1 music player/transport?
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Is there a straightforward way to mount memory sticks or usb drives locally on the other ports to allow it to function standalone (no streaming), in the same way as the new Bryston BDP1 music player/transport?
What kind of setup are looking to have? Are you feeding a USB DAC? Are you trying to avoid having the Alix connected to a network?
I found an official marketing/technical post regarding the BDP1 here at AC: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82098.0
And, the BDP1 uses MPD internally, but they're using some kind of PCI sound card to feed an external DAC via ..."AES-EBU Balanced and BNC (spdif)..."
I don't recommend having the USB ports being connected to a DAC *and* having external media connected. Also, the Alix 2d2 and 3d2 are headless, so you'd still need to have them on a network to control them (unless you had the tech know-how to attach a simple keypad and LCD).
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What kind of setup are looking to have? Are you feeding a USB DAC? Are you trying to avoid having the Alix connected to a network?
I found an official marketing/technical post regarding the BDP1 here at AC: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82098.0
And, the BDP1 uses MPD internally, but they're using some kind of PCI sound card to feed an external DAC via ..."AES-EBU Balanced and BNC (spdif)..."
I don't recommend having the USB ports being connected to a DAC *and* having external media connected. Also, the Alix 2d2 and 3d2 are headless, so you'd still need to have them on a network to control them (unless you had the tech know-how to attach a simple keypad and LCD).
Right, no sound card though, just a USB DAC so a bit different than theirs which only outputs S/PDIF externally.
I completely understand not wanting to put a local drive due to traffic/noise. I was really thinking memory stick or SSD. Their model is interesting in that it isn't really intended to be a file server at all, rather a music server only ( replacement for spinning CD) that doesn't necessarily contain ALL of your music. Think of the memory stick as just a device with playlists for example. Different playlists on different sticks. You can attach large drives with a lot of music if you choose to as well. It's certainly a different way of looking at it. Yes, also MPD server runs there plus their own software so it's just looking at those local drives for music. I think they have net/NAS somewhere in the plans. I assume one of the net ports would provide the headless function, so you'd be always connected. They have a local display/keypad if you're disconnected, which I wouldn't attempt.
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I wonder if one of the mini PCI slots could handle a mini PCI firewire 800 interface, and then use an external 2.5" firewire drive with it? With a usb dac such as an HRT, that takes its power from the host, you may have to use an external PS with the external drive, but even still, it should be way better than trying to use a usb dac and usb external drive. I've done this with one of my windows machines and pulling the tunes off the network is a much better solution. Rule of thumb: use different types of interfaces for your dac and music file storage, and don't keep your music on your system drive (which is not really a practical option on the alix anyway.
I' will certianly like to try this firewire option myself and will probably do sometime after christmas -- just too much to do between now and then.
-- Jim
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Great idea Jim. Maybe use one of those Firewire drives everyone's getting for the Mini's with the Oxford chip set.
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Tom, yes, and that's what gave me the idea. I'm using a slightly different one than Mach2 uses, but it still has the oxford chipset. The one I have is the OWC Mercury on-the-go elite. It's a clear acrylic case as opposed to aluminum, but it seems to work just fine.
I bought a second one to use to use to image SSDs, but once that's done, I'll give it a try with the alix. If I recall, unibrain makes some mini-PCI firewire cards.
-- Jim
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Right, no sound card though, just a USB DAC so a bit different than theirs which only outputs S/PDIF externally.
I completely understand not wanting to put a local drive due to traffic/noise. I was really thinking memory stick or SSD. Their model is interesting in that it isn't really intended to be a file server at all, rather a music server only ( replacement for spinning CD) that doesn't necessarily contain ALL of your music. Think of the memory stick as just a device with playlists for example. Different play lists on different sticks. You can attach large drives with a lot of music if you choose to as well. It's certainly a different way of looking at it. Yes, also MPD server runs there plus their own software so it's just looking at those local drives for music. I think they have net/NAS somewhere in the plans. I assume one of the net ports would provide the headless function, so you'd be always connected. They have a local display/keypad if you're disconnected, which I wouldn't attempt.
I'm still, as of this moment, still reading through the BDP1 thread, so...
Yes, you can attach large drives directly to the BDP1 but, as someone in the Bryston thread pointed out, every time you rip new music onto your desktop you have to:
-- Detach the drive from the BDP1
-- Attach drive to you desktop
-- Manually copy files over, i.e., drag 'n drop this album to the appropriate artists folder. Or, use some kind of disc syncing utility which you still have to run manually.
-- Reconnect drive to BDP1
-- Tell MPD to rescan drive to update player database --which will take longer using an external USB drive
My personal method:
-- Rip CD on my desktop (which is also my NFS file server) and is configured to place music in my mpd music folder
-- Update MPD database with any mpd cliet on the network, which takes less than 30 seconds
-- Listen to music
A few other thoughts:
The Alix is not a file server. It's a headless transport for USB DAC's. I do believe that having the media separate from the Alix, i.e., galvanically isolated via the ethernet, is the more elegant and proper approach.
"Think of the memory stick as just a device with playlists for example." No, the memory sticks don't have "play lists". I'm not trying to be pedantic but these details matter. Look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playlist
From what I understand, the BDP1 accepts actual music (WAV, FLAC, etc) via USB key --not play lists. A "play lists" is mere a text file specifying the order in which music is played and their location.
Would one really want a bunch of USB keys lying around? How would you keep track of what's one one 4GB flash key? And then navigate the flash key using a small 2 line display? I could see how it might be useful to have a friend come over with a bunch of music, but one of my friends came over once and we just copied his USB key to my desktop, updated MPD, and hit the play button.
And, wouldn't a VFD display possibly add unnecessary EMI/RFI to the device? I remember reading about Ayre using a very costly non-multiplexed display in their flagship KX-R preamp; ten times the cost of a regular display, if I remember correctly. Seems like the display and buttons have very limited use and functionality.
I'm curious to know which CPU board the Bryston is using. Though, I would not be surprised if it was PC Engines based. True industrial quality x86 boards are astronomically priced.
Other random thoughts:
I have been thinking/sketching out an idea/prototype for an Alix or other headless x86 embedded board with a built is SSD. Or, an Alix 2d2 with a minimalist SSD/NAS attached to the 2d2's second ethernet port. Comments? Suggestions?
I have a new Amazon Kindle with WiFi. Trying to figure out using it as a simple MPD client. I'm excited about this because I love to listen to music with the lights turned way down and find back-lit devices very annoying and irritating. Comments? Suggestions?
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Nick,
Yes, that is obviously correct on the playlists, as I mis-spoke trying to make the point.
Since I own a BDA1 I looked long and hard at the BDP1 too. It his its place but all of the things you mentioned have been considerations for me as well. I was thinking of the local drive option more as a convenience factor, not primary music function. No big deal to me.
I think using the second Ethernet port is probably more in line with what I would do as well. I just hate having to depend on another server computer all the time. I have a ratty, VERY old Dell laptop running SqueezeCenter. The LCD display is already dead, it looks really cranky, and I'm sure one of these days it'll just give it up.
I just ordered up the same PC Engines board/kit as Ebag4 so unfortunately you're going to have to endure my questions as I get Voyage and MPD fired up :duh:
Tom
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I just ordered up the same PC Engines board/kit as Ebag4 so unfortunately you're going to have to endure my questions as I get Voyage and MPD fired up :duh:
Tom,
No worries. I'll do my best to help get you up and running.
Nick
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Nick,
Since I own a BDA1 I looked long and hard at the BDP1 too. It his its place but all of the things you mentioned have been considerations for me as well. I was thinking of the local drive option more as a convenience factor, not primary music function. No big deal to me.
Tom,
I forgot to mention that I also wanted to experiment with using a mini-PCI USB adapted connected to the Alix 2d2 or 3d2. With a real-time kernel, this might be the ticket for having USB drive and USB DAC connected to one Alix making it a one box solution. Though, you'd still need a network for controlling the Alix.
How does that sound?
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Tom,
I forgot to mention that I also wanted to experiment with using a mini-PCI USB adapted connected to the Alix 2d2 or 3d2. With a real-time kernel, this might be the ticket for having USB drive and USB DAC connected to one Alix making it a one box solution. Though, you'd still need a network for controlling the Alix.
How does that sound?
Yes, sounds good.
Actually, I've always thought a true real time OS would be the way to go if you want to ensure highest priority for a peripheral. Jam the whole song into memory and do nothing but process that and transfer it right out the port. I used to work with and sell Intel's RMX (Realtime Multitasking eXecutive) OS many years ago and it worked great for embedded apps and shop floor control kinds of stuff we did. Very easy to use and lots of tools, even back in the day. I'm not sure what modern equivalents are though or whether it's worth the trouble but the lighter weight the better IMHO.
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Yes, sounds good.
Actually, I've always thought a true real time OS would be the way to go if you want to ensure highest priority for a peripheral. Jam the whole song into memory and do nothing but process that and transfer it right out the port. I used to work with and sell Intel's RMX (Realtime Multitasking eXecutive) OS many years ago and it worked great for embedded apps and shop floor control kinds of stuff we did. Very easy to use and lots of tools, even back in the day. I'm not sure what modern equivalents are though or whether it's worth the trouble but the lighter weight the better IMHO.
Voyage MPD does come with a real-time kernel. Also, Voyage Linux runs entirely in RAM --the compact flash is normally in read-only mode. Also, only mount read/write when changing the system configuration. Lastly, I do believe that there is currently a feature request on the MPD tracking system for loading an entire song to RAM, though I don't know if it will make any real sonic difference.
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Oh, nice!
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Oh, nice!
Tom,
I just finished reading the entire Bryston BDP1 thread. Page 19 of the thread (http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82098.360) there's a shot of he innards posted. I'm pretty sure it's a PC Engines Alix 1d mini-itx (http://www.pcengines.ch/alix1d.htm)
Looking at the back panel of the BDP1 here http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82098.340 , it looks like VGA, PS2, external coaxial power jack, audio in/out connectors were removed at their factory or they ordered a custom quantity of boards from PC Engines. But, looking very closely again at their innards photo, it seems like the PS2 connector might still be there. So, it might be a stock Alix 1d.
Anyways, there's a compact flash in the slot so I would be surprised if their not using Voyage Linux. And, as per James Tanner of Bryston, they are using a ESI Juli@ PCI card.
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Interesting, so they just used the PCI slot on that MB. I suppose a nice option if you need S/PDIF or AES/EBU output. I wonder how custom the software actually is, other than running the front panel and the Bryston MPD client.
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Interesting, so they just used the PCI slot on that MB. I suppose a nice option if you need S/PDIF or AES/EBU output. I wonder how custom the software actually is, other than running the front panel and the Bryston MPD client.
I asked them if they would kindly post the source code for the Linux OS and mpd their using, as per the GPL.
Don't get me wrong. I see nothing wrong with what Bryston is doing. If anything, their product can be priced much more competitively if the're using GNU/GPL software. That's a win for all of us audiophiles.
Some folks are not technically inclined nor have the time to setup a music server from scratch. They are offering a plug and play solution that comes with customer support. There is money to be made using open source software, nothing wrong with that.
I'd love to see them offer a version specifically for USB DAC's. That'd be pretty cool.
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I agree and think it's a great product for Bryston's base. They probably aren't too inclined to offer USB because the best sounding input of the BDA1 is AES and/or S/PDIF. The USB is just 44khz and not often used at all.
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The Auraliti player is in the same vein - a one box solution with both analog and digital outputs. And if I am not mistaken, it uses a Juli@ card too. I think it was Demian Martin (of Auraliti) who worked with the MPD developers to get 24 bit working properly in MPD (I could be wrong).
External USB drive is needed, or I suppose you could access files over the network too.
Auraliti PK100 (http://www.auraliti.com) (No affiliation)
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This is a great thread and thanks to Nick for the massive amount of work he's done. I've been following it for a long time but since I have several of the M2Tech hiface widgets and they have yet to produce Linux drivers I have not moved in this direction at all.
But seeing the innards of the Bryston and how they fitted the ESI juli@ certainly got my attention. I have a Juli@ and a friend recently mentioned he was pulling I2S off the card. I have several old 1U T-1 to VOIP bridges which were being scrapped, I grabbed them purely for the chassis. One of those with an Alix board and a Juli@ card sending out I2S to my DAC would be interesting. Plenty of room to implement a nice linear supply in the box as well. Hmm... another winter project.
I have a CF card in my IO Box and it's been sitting idle for a long time. The IO Box runs an embedded Linux as well but has a tough time with 24/192 files, just not quite enough horsepower or so it seemed.
mike
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This is a great thread and thanks to Nick for the massive amount of work he's done. I've been following it for a long time but since I have several of the M2Tech hiface widgets and they have yet to produce Linux drivers I have not moved in this direction at all.
But seeing the innards of the Bryston and how they fitted the ESI juli@ certainly got my attention. I have a Juli@ and a friend recently mentioned he was pulling I2S off the card. I have several old 1U T-1 to VOIP bridges which were being scrapped, I grabbed them purely for the chassis. One of those with an Alix board and a Juli@ card sending out I2S to my DAC would be interesting. Plenty of room to implement a nice linear supply in the box as well. Hmm... another winter project.
I have a CF card in my IO Box and it's been sitting idle for a long time. The IO Box runs an embedded Linux as well but has a tough time with 24/192 files, just not quite enough horsepower or so it seemed.
Mike,
Keep me informed on that project. I'd like to know details if you get it up and running.
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I will post in this thread if it materializes. No doubt I'll have some questions. :)
Mike,
Keep me informed on that project. I'd like to know details if you get it up and running.
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Hey Guys
I ordered this off of eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-Engines-Alix-2c10-kit-same-Alix2d2-Alix2d3-/280532918295?pt=COMP_EN_Routers&hash=item415110a017
Showed up in 2 days and it has everything, case, PS, and 1gb CF card.
I installed VirtualBox on my Windows 7 machine and Debian Linux "on" it. I also ordered a cheap CF card reader:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820192025
My plan is to use the Debian on my computer to install Voyage via the CF reader. Hopefully it goes ok! Will keep everyone updated.
-Jim
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Hi, I just bought one from eBay, but after I paid, then I found out there is no SPDIF on this board, OMG, what should I do?
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Hey Guys
I ordered this off of eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-Engines-Alix-2c10-kit-same-Alix2d2-Alix2d3-/280532918295?pt=COMP_EN_Routers&hash=item415110a017
Showed up in 2 days and it has everything, case, PS, and 1gb CF card.
I installed VirtualBox on my Windows 7 machine and Debian Linux "on" it. I also ordered a cheap CF card reader:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820192025
My plan is to use the Debian on my computer to install Voyage via the CF reader. Hopefully it goes ok! Will keep everyone updated.
-Jim
I bought one from him Thursday but haven't seen or heard anything back just yet. Hopefully it will show up next week before the festivities begin.
I had a hiccup with my ClarkConnect (CentOS) 4.3 server when I tried to load an upgrade to Squeezecenter 7.5.1 due to some sort of database lock I couldn't resolve. After much frustration I finally decided to upgrade to their new version, ClearOS 5.2, reinstalled Squeezecenter 7.5.1 and all is well. If all this works out, I won't miss it :roll:
I had a CF card and reader from my camera, so I built up the Voyage CF card per the blog instructions and I think I'm good to go when the CPU board gets here. I found that using Putty and WinSCP to talk to ClearOS from my old Windows machine made all of this much process easier.
Tom
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Hi, I just bought one from eBay, but after I paid, then I found out there is no SPDIF on this board, OMG, what should I do?
jeffery,
This project is aimed at feeding a USB DAC only. If you want SPDIF you might want to try ordering a Alix 1d mini-itx and some sort of PCI card, lke the ESI Juli@.
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Hi, I just bought one from eBay, but after I paid, then I found out there is no SPDIF on this board, OMG, what should I do?
Buy a USB DAC?
-Jim
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jeffery,
This project is aimed at feeding a USB DAC only. If you want SPDIF you might want to try ordering a Alix 1d mini-itx and some sort of PCI card, lke the ESI Juli@.
Hi, I've found Alix 1d mini-itx on eBay Hongkong, it's just small mother board, I don't think I need that. I have contect the seller and what to return the item and made a refund. I paid too fast, how stupid I was.
another question, can I use an USB sound card on this board.
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Buy a USB DAC?
-Jim
Yes I have a USB DAC, but sound quality is not as good as SPDIF, and I just purchase a dsix re-clock board with SPDIF in-out a month ago, it can make the digital sound quality much much much better, now my digital sound(music and movie) all went through the re-clock board then goto DAC or surround receiver, that's the reason I don't want to use USB. thanks anyway
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Ughh....so the cf card reader I ordered showed up today and the Debian install on my Windows 7 machine won't recognize it. Of course.
Anyone want to help me by getting Voyage on my 1gb CF card (will send it to you)? I'd rather not try hit or miss with another (crappy) reader.
Shoot me a PM if you can help.
Thanks
Jim
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Ughh....so the cf card reader I ordered showed up today and the Debian install on my Windows 7 machine won't recognize it. Of course.
Anyone want to help me by getting Voyage on my 1gb CF card (will send it to you)? I'd rather not try hit or miss with another (crappy) reader.
Shoot me a PM if you can help.
Jim,
Send me a PM.
Also, what does dmesg say when you plug in the card reader. (Type dmesg 5 seconds after you plug in the card reader)
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Jim,
Send me a PM.
Also, what does dmesg say when you plug in the card reader. (Type dmesg 5 seconds after you plug in the card reader)
nyc_paramedic...pm coming your way.
I think its more an issue with VirtualBox not recognizing it then anything. It doesn't show up at all with dmesg. Windows 7, no problem.
Bizarre, but its a no-name reader that I bought purely because of its cheapness. I guess you get what you pay for with these things.
-Jim
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nyc_paramedic...pm coming your way.
I think its more an issue with VirtualBox not recognizing it then anything. It doesn't show up at all with dmesg. Windows 7, no problem.
Bizarre, but its a no-name reader that I bought purely because of its cheapness. I guess you get what you pay for with these things.
Sent you a PM. You could also use the Voyage Live CD, boot that, and do the install there. Swicth virtual consoles to run the dmesg command, i.e., Ctrl-Alt-F2, etc.
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I think its more an issue with VirtualBox not recognizing it then anything. It doesn't show up at all with dmesg. Windows 7, no problem.
Bizarre, but its a no-name reader that I bought purely because of its cheapness. I guess you get what you pay for with these things.
Jim,
I took the same route as you did with VirtualBox. Thanks for the tip. I installed VirtualBox on my laptop (WIndows XP), and then, a Debian guest OS.
Had a bit of a problem with the Debian guest OS not recognizing the CF card, but eventually got it to work. My CF card reader is one that came with a digital camera.
If you have not got it going yet, I can send you a PM with the steps I took to make the Debian guest OS recognize the flash card. (Or I can post the steps here if it will be of general interest.)
Once that was accomplished, I was able to install Voyage MPD on the CF card. There were a few missteps along the way. But I think it is done now. All I need is the ALIX box to see if I did it right.
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Guys, I appreciate the posts and PMs! The reader officially stopped working in Windows, too. nyc_paramedic has graciously offered to help me out getting the os on the card.
Ashok, you were using MPD on your ioBox, previously (like me), right?
-Jim
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Ashok, you were using MPD on your ioBox, previously (like me), right?
Still have it, but I find my CD player does a better job than the ioBox. Plus the limitation of 16 bits with the MPD implementation on the ioBox - I am looking for a better solution.
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Once that was accomplished, I was able to install Voyage MPD on the CF card. There were a few missteps along the way. But I think it is done now. All I need is the ALIX box to see if I did it right.
Is our Alix on order? A 3d2 or 2d2? Can you elaborate on your specific setup, i.e., NAS, DAC, etc?
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I will join here, just ordered a ECS MD-110 barebone (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5607548&Sku=S458-3003) and I will install Vortexbox 16 (http://vortexbox.org/) on it.
Will select an USB DAC later, though.
Not that your not welcome to the discussion, but the hardware and software you mentioned are not Alix nor Voyage MPD. Isn't Vortexbox an all in one (server, ripper, tagger) solution?
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Is our Alix on order? A 3d2 or 2d2? Can you elaborate on your specific setup, i.e., NAS, DAC, etc?
It will be a 2C10 kit, referred to earlier. I had a CF card handy so I gave the Voyage install a shot.
NAS for now is the Linksys NSLU2, with a USB attached drive. I had uNSLUng it a few years ago. The old Firefly media server is installed on it - I used to have a Roku Soundbridge that needed it.
I believe MPD should not have any problems seeing that drive.
USB DAC will be either the HRT streamer II (or) Grant Fidelity tube dac. I am tilting towards the GF DAC, on account of it being able to accept 3 digital and 2 analog inputs.
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Hi, I have 2 questions:
1.Why there no body talk about Intel Atom, is the sound quality of Alix better than Atom?
2.There are many USB dac need drivers, and some of them don't have Linux driver, how to solve this problem?
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Hi, I have 2 questions:
1.Why there no body talk about Intel Atom, is the sound quality of Alix better than Atom?
2.There are many USB dac need drivers, and some of them don't have Linux driver, how to solve this problem?
1. The first generation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Atom#First_generation_cores) Atom's were crippled by pairing them with a chip set (i945) that actually consumed *more* power than the Atom CPU itself. Also, and this is relevant to the current generation of Atom boards as well, I have searched the internet high and low for a headless Atom board and have yet to find one as simply elegant as the Alix 3d2 for feeding a USB DAC --that is, truly headless (no VGA circuitry) and with the minimum amount of electronics on board to get the job done.
There have been _announcements_ by some SBC (specialty single-board-computer) manufacturers concerning new SBC utilizing the new Z series Atom CPU (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Atom#Second_generation_cores), but I haven't seen anything actually available. Plus, any industrial SBC will cost you a minimum of $300-$500 USD. That's _if_ you find someone to sell you a single quantity item. In contrast, the PC Engines boards offer an incredible value and are available in single quantities. The new Bryston BDP-1 digital player is based on an Alix 1d.
2. There are many companies that are selling USB DACs with custom drivers. Some will offer a Linux driver and it should not be too much trouble to get it running with Voyage MPD --if it's not already included in the Linux kernel. Some, though, will only offer closed, proprietary drivers for Windows and Mac only. To that I say: Vote with your wallet and don't buy the product. How will you know if the manufacture will support a future version of your operating system? How quickly will they fix bugs, if ever? What happens if the manufacturer of your DAC goes out of business? Is their source code entangled with third party IP (intellectual property) so it can never be released into the public domain? This is why open standards (USB Audio Class 1 and Class 2 Audio) are a good thing. I know that my expensive Ayre USB DAC will be usable by me for as long as I can find a machine with a USB 2.0 port.
I forgot to mention a new Atom board that is currently available in single quantities, the OpenVox IPC100. 1.1Ghz and 1.6Ghz fanless Atom (http://www.openvox.cn/products/show.php?itemid=161&lang=2)
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This is what I bought:
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=280532918295&index=1&nav=SEARCH&nid=07487510469
Is this really all that's needed? Wireless capable? Can itunes be used?
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Is this really all that's needed? Wireless capable? Can itunes be used?
No, iTunes can not be used. This setup used MPD as the music server. What DAC do you have?
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No, iTunes can not be used. This setup used MPD as the music server. What DAC do you have?
Wavelength
It appears that Linux will support NFS(+) drive format so what needs to be done to the library?
Being that I have a Mac Mini this is very interesting. Amarra capable? Sorry for the noob questions.
I just got a new OWC quad interface HD with the Oxford chipset. :scratch:
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What would you need this for if you already have a Mac Mini performing (I assume) network music serving?
-Jim
Wavelength
It appears that Linux will support NFS(+) drive format so what needs to be done to the library?
Being that I have a Mac Mini this is very interesting. Amarra capable? Sorry for the noob questions.
I just got a new OWC quad interface HD with the Oxford chipset. :scratch:
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What would you need this for if you already have a Mac Mini performing (I assume) network music serving?
-Jim
Why not? No advantage?
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Sorry for the noob questions.
No apologies, please.
Wavelength
OK, a USB DAC.
It appears that Linux will support NFS(+) drive format so what needs to be done to the library?
Yes, the Linux kernel does support NFS.
Being that I have a Mac Mini this is very interesting. Amarra capable?
No, not Amarra capable. Amarra only runs on Mac OS X. And MPD will not be interacting with your iTunes in any way. You can use your Mac Mini as a simple NFS file server, though.We're using Voyage Linux as the operating system on the small Alix single board computer. Music Player Daemon is the music server that will be feeding data to your Wavelength DAC. We also use an MPD "client" that controls the MPD server and takes care of things like play lists, album art, etc.
Because we run a headless Linux and MPD, we have no need for desktop operating systems (like Mac OS X or Widnows) and all their cruft, i.e., window manager, drivers for VGA, etc. We also run mpd clients on other machines, not on the Alix.
Because we run ALSA and MPD, we can have them talk directly to the DAC (bit-perfect!) in a simple manner and obviate the need for complex programs like Amarra.
All you need, with this configuration, to feed you Wavelength USB DAC is:
An Alix board running Voyage Linux and MPD
Your music files on the network available via NFS
Some other device to control MPD: a netbook, dekstop, iPhone, iPod touch, Android phone, bluetooth phone, Nokia Tablet, etc.
All the software is free. The Alix costs ~125. You also need a small 12v power supply of your choice. You will be very impressed by the sound quality.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Nick
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No apologies, please.
OK, a USB DAC.
Yes, the Linux kernel does support NFS.
No, not Amarra capable. Amarra only runs on Mac OS X. And MPD will not be interacting with your iTunes in any way. You can use your Mac Mini as a simple NFS file server, though.We're using Voyage Linux as the operating system on the small Alix single board computer. Music Player Daemon is the music server that will be feeding data to your Wavelength DAC. We also use an MPD "client" that controls the MPD server and takes care of things like play lists, album art, etc.
Because we run a headless Linux and MPD, we have no need for desktop operating systems (like Mac OS X or Widnows) and all their cruft, i.e., window manager, drivers for VGA, etc. We also run mpd clients on other machines, not on the Alix.
Because we run ALSA and MPD, we can have them talk directly to the DAC (bit-perfect!) in a simple manner and obviate the need for complex programs like Amarra.
All you need, with this configuration, to feed you Wavelength USB DAC is:
An Alix board running Voyage Linux and MPD
Your music files on the network available via NFS
Some other device to control MPD: a netbook, dekstop, iPhone, iPod touch, Android phone, bluetooth phone, Nokia Tablet, etc.
All the software is free. The Alix costs ~125. You also need a small 12v power supply of your choice. You will be very impressed by the sound quality.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Nick
Interesting.
Has anyone compared this setup to the Mini with or without Amarra? Second, for setup use can one use a monitor and keyboard at first? I do have an itouch for headless control.
I do not have an ethernet HD. What are you using? Plugged directly into this computer. Right?
Would I just need to take all my album files from my current HD and put them onto another NFS drive?
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Has anyone compared this setup to the Mini with or without Amarra?
I don't know. Personally, I haven't as I don't own any Windows or Mac machines.
Second, for setup use can one use a monitor and keyboard at first? I do have an itouch for headless control.
No. The Alix 2d2 and 3d2 have no VGA port. You can use your Mac Terminal program to log into the Alix over the network to finish configuration. 'Tis simple as typing ssh 192.168.x.x
I do not have an ethernet HD. What are you using? Plugged directly into this computer. Right?
I use my Linux desktop computer as an NFS server. It's located in a spare bedroom. It's plugged into my network switch. The Alix can see my FLAC files over the network.
Would I just need to take all my album files from my current HD and put them onto another NFS drive?
You could do that. Or use any flea market Pentium II/III/4 (you might need an $11 SATA controller) and turn that into a simple NFS server. I've heard nice things about FreeNAS and it all configurable from a web browser. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeNAS
Though, I think your Mac will do fine as an NFS server as well:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1240&bih=792&&sa=X&ei=3OTzTLigH8T38AbN-rX2Cw&ved=0CBMQvwUoAQ&q=mac+os+x+nfs+server&spell=1
http://mactechnotes.blogspot.com/2005/09/mac-os-x-as-nfs-server.html
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Interesting.
Has anyone compared this setup to the Mini with or without Amarra? Second, for setup use can one use a monitor and keyboard at first? I do have an itouch for headless control.
I do not have an ethernet HD. What are you using? Plugged directly into this computer. Right?
Would I just need to take all my album files from my current HD and put them onto another NFS drive?
I would LOVE to hear that comparison, particularly with a nice linear supply on the Alix.
You should be able to access the files remotely just fine from the Mini. I do it now from my Macbook to my Linux laptop music server.
I think the only challenge might be getting Voyage onto the Compact Flash card. I might be able to help you there once I get mine working. I am using Linux on an old laptop to format and load Voyage onto the CF card. From that point all you need is a terminal session into the Alix. This could even be done from the Mac command line via SSH. I will also use Putty and WinSCP from another old Windoze XP laptop to put MPD on it and configure it. After that's all done the iTouch or an iPad would work great for the client.
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I would LOVE to hear that comparison, particularly with a nice linear supply on the Alix.
So what you're telling me is that my Mini is taking a road trip soon. :D
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So what you're telling me is that my Mini is taking a road trip soon. :D
No, I really don't know. At least in theory the stripped down Linux hardware and software should have an advantage over a very big Mac OS. Mach2Music definitely has the right idea and apparently it sounds terrific, but that OS is still pretty darn big.
My Alix arrived about 5 minutes ago so I hope to start on that tonight.
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No, I really don't know. At least in theory the stripped down Linux hardware and software should have an advantage over a very big Mac OS. Mach2Music definitely has the right idea and apparently it sounds terrific, but that OS is still pretty darn big.
My Alix arrived about 5 minutes ago so I hope to start on that tonight.
Maybe but the $395 upgrade to the OS after the SSD and RAM is a bit steep IMO.
Let us know how it goes with the Alix. Anytime you want to try the Mini, UPS is waiting. :thumb:
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Well, I have both an alix and a Mach2 Mini and while the alix is not in use right now as it is for my ZHRT II+ and my headphone amp (under construction), I can tell you that nothing I've heard or owned, and I mean nothing, beats the mach2 mini with the Tranquility SE. Other dacs and YMMV, but this is simply the best digital I've ever heard -- so much so I now don't regret dumping my analog rig now, at all. The alix with mpd and the HRT is really nice, don't get me wrong, but even when I'm done with the linear supply for it, I'm sure it's not going to outdo the modified mini, but the alix is also an order of magnitude less expensive, so in that sense, it is a giant killer. One really can't say anything bad about either, but cost aside, the ultimate performer is still the modified 2010 mini.
At some point when the linear psu for the alix is done, I will configure it for the Tranquility and do a real oranges to oranges comparison, but that will just have to wait until January sometime. Too many irons in the fire right now.
-- Jim
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Well, I have both an alix and a Mach2 Mini and while the alix is not in use right now as it is for my ZHRT II+ and my headphone amp (under construction), I can tell you that nothing I've heard or owned, and I mean nothing, beats the mach2 mini with the Tranquility SE. Other dacs and YMMV, but this is simply the best digital I've ever heard -- so much so I now don't regret dumping my analog rig now, at all. The alix with mpd and the HRT is really nice, don't get me wrong, but even when I'm done with the linear supply for it, I'm sure it's not going to outdo the modified mini, but the alix is also an order of magnitude less expensive, so in that sense, it is a giant killer. One really can't say anything bad about either, but cost aside, the ultimate performer is still the modified 2010 mini.
At some point when the linear psu for the alix is done, I will configure it for the Tranquility and do a real oranges to oranges comparison, but that will just have to wait until January sometime. Too many irons in the fire right now.
-- Jim
Jim,
Does the Tranquility function ok with Linux without any special drivers or setup?
Tom
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I am probably off the direct line of this thread, but since it seems to center around silent servers, could one use a thin client for one of these? Something like this - http://www.directdial.com/L130.html (http://www.directdial.com/L130.html)?
Through contacts, I can likely score a piece of h/w like this, would I then just need to load the s/w and use it to run my SB3 music?
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Jim,
Does the Tranquility function ok with Linux without any special drivers or setup?
Tom
Yes, no special drivers required for the Tranquility.
Best,
Ed
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I am probably off the direct line of this thread, but since it seems to center around silent servers, could one use a thin client for one of these? Something like this - http://www.directdial.com/L130.html (http://www.directdial.com/L130.html)?
Through contacts, I can likely score a piece of h/w like this, would I then just need to load the s/w and use it to run my SB3 music?
I have no idea. Is it even x86? There's no specs listed. Also, I've never owned any Squeezebox kit so I don't know what the software/hardware requirements are.
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Hi Tom,
Yes, in terms of the usb interface of the Tranquility and the computer's ability to communicate with it, it's as generic as you get. Plug and play. The original configuration from the first pages of this thread when Nick was using a Wavelength Brick at 16/44.1, works fine, though I did not try it with any hi=res files at the time, so there may be some slight config changes needed to enable sample rate conversionm but maybe not.
-- Jim
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Here's the spec sheet for the L130 mentioned above:http://www.ncomputing.com/docs/datasheets/en/datasheet_lseries.pdf
If it uses their proprietary chip, the NUMO, then here are some details:
Numo is a highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) that features a dual-core ARM CPU; embedded media processors supporting dynamic bandwidth management, multiple protocols and codecs including UXP and H.264; Windows-compliant graphics subsystem and a complete complement of device interfaces for graphics, serial, parallel, USB, SD, I2S, I2C and more for integration with enterprise and consumer devices. NComputing plans to support Microsoft’s recently announced RemoteFX technology, when available.
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Here's the spec sheet for the L130 mentioned above:http://www.ncomputing.com/docs/datasheets/en/datasheet_lseries.pdf
If it uses their proprietary chip, the NUMO, then here are some details:
Numo is a highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) that features a dual-core ARM CPU; embedded media processors supporting dynamic bandwidth management, multiple protocols and codecs including UXP and H.264; Windows-compliant graphics subsystem and a complete complement of device interfaces for graphics, serial, parallel, USB, SD, I2S, I2C and more for integration with enterprise and consumer devices. NComputing plans to support Microsoft’s recently announced RemoteFX technology, when available.
Voyage Linux is only available in x86 architecture. You could install Debian ARM, if you have the know how. But, if you have the know how, and have a USB DAC, then you might as well get one of these TS boards (http://www.embeddedarm.com/products/board-detail.php?product=TS-7550). They come with Debian ARM pre-installed, so for 16/44.1 DAC's all you would have to do is apt-get mpd and ALSA. For USB Class 2 Audio, you would need to cross-compile a snapshot of ALSA and mpd 0.16 alpha.
(http://www.embeddedarm.com/images/boards/large/ts-7550.jpg)
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Well, I got all the way through formatting the CF card on my ClearOS Linux server, building Voyage boot image on CF, booting and installing Voyage on the Alix, fixing the IP address on Alix, configuring Voyage on Alix.
Following the next blog instructions to install NFS, I stalled at the step to re-start NFS and then when I run "mount -a" it just hangs and times out. It looks like there is no script for "/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart" in /etc/init.d directory. Any ideas?
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Hi, Mr. nyc_paramedic
You are a truly expert, thank you very much.
Jeffery
1. The first generation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Atom#First_generation_cores) Atom's were crippled by pairing them with a chip set (i945) that actually consumed *more* power than the Atom CPU itself. Also, and this is relevant to the current generation of Atom boards as well, I have searched the internet high and low for a headless Atom board and have yet to find one as simply elegant as the Alix 3d2 for feeding a USB DAC --that is, truly headless (no VGA circuitry) and with the minimum amount of electronics on board to get the job done.
There have been _announcements_ by some SBC (specialty single-board-computer) manufacturers concerning new SBC utilizing the new Z series Atom CPU (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Atom#Second_generation_cores), but I haven't seen anything actually available. Plus, any industrial SBC will cost you a minimum of $300-$500 USD. That's _if_ you find someone to sell you a single quantity item. In contrast, the PC Engines boards offer an incredible value and are available in single quantities. The new Bryston BDP-1 digital player is based on an Alix 1d.
2. There are many companies that are selling USB DACs with custom drivers. Some will offer a Linux driver and it should not be too much trouble to get it running with Voyage MPD --if it's not already included in the Linux kernel. Some, though, will only offer closed, proprietary drivers for Windows and Mac only. To that I say: Vote with your wallet and don't buy the product. How will you know if the manufacture will support a future version of your operating system? How quickly will they fix bugs, if ever? What happens if the manufacturer of your DAC goes out of business? Is their source code entangled with third party IP (intellectual property) so it can never be released into the public domain? This is why open standards (USB Audio Class 1 and Class 2 Audio) are a good thing. I know that my expensive Ayre USB DAC will be usable by me for as long as I can find a machine with a USB 2.0 port.
I forgot to mention a new Atom board that is currently available in single quantities, the OpenVox IPC100. 1.1Ghz and 1.6Ghz fanless Atom (http://www.openvox.cn/products/show.php?itemid=161&lang=2)
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Hi, Mr. nyc_paramedic
You are a truly expert, thank you very much.
Actually, I'm not. Really. My profession has nothing to do with computers. I know how to use Google, ask good questions, and know when to admit that I don't know something. I'm really like an idiot savant --minus the savant part.
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Well, I got all the way through formatting the CF card on my ClearOS Linux server, building Voyage boot image on CF, booting and installing Voyage on the Alix, fixing the IP address on Alix, configuring Voyage on Alix.
Following the next blog instructions to install NFS, I stalled at the step to re-start NFS and then when I run "mount -a" it just hangs and times out. It looks like there is no script for "/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart" in /etc/init.d directory. Any ideas?
Just to be clear, you're running the nfs server on a machine that is *not* the Alix, right?
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Yes, trying to install on the ClearOS, but it may have another nfs package already there. I was using Samba for Windows for my Squeeze setup.
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Yes, trying to install on the ClearOS, but it may have another nfs package already there. I was using Samba for Windows for my Squeeze setup.
I'm not familiar with ClearOS. Is that one of those web-configurable distros?
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Hey Nick.
Give yourself a bit more credit than that. You have really brought a great thing to we computer-based audiophiles and music lovers, and your willingness to help people is total class. You rock!
-- Jim
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I'm not familiar with ClearOS. Is that one of those web-configurable distros?
ClearOS is a CentOS (Redhat) flavor. It used to be Clarkconnect. It has an admin gui, but I do most everything through command line anyway.
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Hey Nick.
Give yourself a bit more credit than that. You have really brought a great thing to we computer-based audiophiles and music lovers, and your willingness to help people is total class. You rock!
-- Jim
x2. Well said Jim.
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I had to take a little different approach to ClearOS (doesn't have NFS native, and it's Linux!) and eventually got the server side running. Now I just need to work on the Voyage client side and I'm in business ...
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I had to take a little different approach to ClearOS (doesn't have NFS native, and it's Linux!) and eventually got the server side running. Now I just need to work on the Voyage client side and I'm in business ...
I'll be up for a few hours. Let me know how its going...
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Some experiments with a newly acquired Kindle:
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=39373)
With the right code, I think it will make one very nice mpd remote: Long battery life, no annoying back light, excellent contrast, runs Linux and is Linux friendly.
Thoughts?
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Thanks to Nick, I'm up and running with my ClearOS 5.2 file server and Voyage MPD on Alix via USB to my Bryston BDA-1 (unfortunately only 24/44.1). I'm using Minion on Firefox as the client for now and it seems to work great.
Now I just need to come up with a Linux compatible 24/192 USB converter ...
Thanks Nick!!!
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Hi, does Alix support Windows-7? I've found a lite version of Win7, there is only 3.71GB after intallation, and if closed the virtual memory, there is 2GB left, it's easy to put into a 4GB CF card, so if Alix support Win7, it will be a good news for peoples like me who are not familiar with Linux.
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Hi, does Alix support Windows-7? I've found a lite version of Win7, there is only 3.71GB after intallation, and if closed the virtual memory, there is 2GB left, so if Alix support Win7, it will be a good news for peoples like me who are not familiar with Linux.
Part of the beauty of the Alix board is it's simplicity....which is exactly not what Windows (any iteration) is. If you want to use Windows, you can put together a mini-itx-based computer (not quite as small as the Alix, but still tiny). Voyage Linux is REALLY small and does not get in the way of the music playing like more overhead-heavy OSs, like Windows or Mac-OS can.
There are a lot of resources to help you with Linux if you want to give it a go....its not a big investment at $125.
-Jim
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Hi, does Alix support Windows-7? I've found a lite version of Win7, there is only 3.71GB after intallation, and if closed the virtual memory, there is 2GB left, it's easy to put into a 4GB CF card, so if Alix support Win7, it will be a good news for peoples like me who are not familiar with Linux.
Yes, but only if you use alix 1D mini-itx or 3d3. Both have VGA, which is required for any Windows install.
http://www.pcengines.ch/alix3d3.htm
http://www.pcengines.ch/alix1d.htm
Both have Windows drivers available. You need the Alix 1d if you're going to use a PCI soundcard. 3d3 will be fine for only USB sound card.
P.S. I haven't run Windows in over 15(?) years. There are guys at the Audio Asylum, Computer Audio who can help with Window; a cics and cmp^2 thread is what you're looking for.
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There are a lot of resources to help you with Linux if you want to give it a go....its not a big investment at $125.
I agree. We can help you get up and running. I'm confident we can.
Also, if you want to play it super safe, buy a 3d3. If you can't get Linux running then install Windows. But you'll have to look elsewhere for Windows computer audio support.
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Thanks. I am pretty good at Windows Audio, Linux will be my future plan.
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Thanks. I am pretty good at Windows Audio, Linux will be my future plan.
As you wish.
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Thanks to Nick, I'm up and running with my ClearOS 5.2 file server and Voyage MPD on Alix via USB to my Bryston BDA-1 (unfortunately only 24/44.1). I'm using Minion on Firefox as the client for now and it seems to work great.
Now I just need to come up with a Linux compatible 24/192 USB converter ...
Thanks Nick!!!
No problem. Try the gmpc client, you might like it: http://gmpc.wikia.com/wiki/Gnome_Music_Player_Client
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installation looks a bit hairy on on OSX but I see it supports last.fm. Any way to get Pandora?
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installation looks a bit hairy on on OSX but I see it supports last.fm. Any way to get Pandora?
Ah, I forgot you're an OS X guy. Umm, try Theremin? https://theremin.sigterm.eu/
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No problem. Try the gmpc client, you might like it: http://gmpc.wikia.com/wiki/Gnome_Music_Player_Client
Installed this on XP laptop and it is VERY cool. Locked up a couple times. This would be really nice on an iPad or another tablet device...
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Installed this on XP laptop and it is VERY cool. Locked up a couple times. This would be really nice on an iPad or another tablet device...
iPad is an ARM cpu. You could use MPod: http://www.katoemba.net/makesnosenseatall/mpod/
Not as full featured, but works really well on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, so I've heard.
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I use mPod and it does everything I need. I agree, minion is excellent as well.
Best,
Ed
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So to get Minion to tell MPD to stream do I need to add an output to mpd.conf? I streamed some tracks via gmpc on the XP machine, I could see what had been played on the Minion playlist on my Macbook, but can't figure out how to just start it from Minion. I know, more Google... sorry, I'm still learning.
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So to get Minion to tell MPD to stream do I need to add an output to mpd.conf? I streamed some tracks via gmpc on the XP machine, I could see what had been played on the Minion playlist on my Macbook, but can't figure out how to just start it from Minion. I know, more Google... sorry, I'm still learning.
I don't understand your question. You're aksing how to get minion to start playback on the Alix (where mpd is running)?
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I can play from my library of ripped files. Just wondering how to point it to a url/stream such as internet radio source.
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I can play from my library of ripped files. Just wondering how to point it to a url/stream such as internet radio source.
Oh, OK. Let me give minion a whirl and see if it has an option to add a URL. Most fleshed out mpd clients (like gmpc) have a "Add URL" setting where paste th IP of your radio station.
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You guys are killin' me with this. :duh:
Can the USB port be turned on / off? I don't want the dac to always be on.
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You guys are killin' me with this. :duh:
Can the USB port be turned on / off? I don't want the dac to always be on.
Jason,
There is no switch on the Alix to allow it to be powered down (which is the only way you could turn off the USB AFAIK). You could add a power switch, the Alix takes less than a minute to boot.
Best,
Ed
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There is no switch on the Alix to allow it to be powered down (which is the only way you could turn off the USB AFAIK). You could add a power switch, the Alix takes less than a minute to boot.
Best,
Ed
OK. I wouldn't want my tube DAC to stay on (tubes) all the time. Switch would work as long as it goes straight into ready mode. Heck my Mini takes 20 seconds or less. :)
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You could probably shut off the usb output from a Linux command line like mpc or a script or 2 to start and stop.
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I just checked mine, it took 43 seconds for me to be able to connect to MPD via mPod.
Best,
Ed
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You guys are killin' me with this. :duh:
Can the USB port be turned on / off? I don't want the dac to always be on.
No. I had the same issue when I owned the Wavelength Brick, which would only put the tube output stage into standby when the USB port was powered down.
My Ayre QB-9 handles this more elegantly, as it has the option of going into standby when it doesn't receive data for more than 1 minute. Makes a great match with small embedded boards like the Alix.
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Anyone know how to set up mpd.conf using avahi to "auto-discover" network shared Apple drives via "bon jour"? Apparently Auraliti is doing this.
It would be nice if it could see a Macbook, Mac Mini, or even W7 machine with bon jour remotely without having to hand set up NFS via SSH per the blog instructions.
The latest MPD 0.16 Alpha 4 had these settings changed:
follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
zeroconf_enabled "yes"
zeroconf_name "Voyage Music Player"
mixer_type "software"
Tom
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I just set up my new front end and am absolutely thrilled with it. Alix 2C10 with Voyage MPD Linux in the little silver case on top of the Bryston BDA-1 DAC, Audiophilleo 1 USB->S/PDIF 24/192, and files served up from my old Linux laptop in another room. Dead quiet, no fans or drives in the room. I'm using Minion on Firefox and MPod on my iPod Touch as clients. The AP1 is about the size of cigarette pack, so you can see how tiny the Alix is as well.
What is amazing about this, besides great sound, is that all I did was plug it in and it instantly ran all rates, bit-perfect, no problems, no driver worries, nothing. Switches sample rates instantaneously, no pops, noises, etc. Plug and play on LINUX, say what??? Played a few 24/192 and 24/96 tracks from the 2L collection and they sound absolutely fantastic.
Thanks again Nick for all your help and great work by the Voyage team (donate now) :thumb:
Tom
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=40070)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=40068)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=40069)
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Congratulations Tom! The Alix has been rock solid in my system.
Best,
Ed
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Do you use static ip adresses for you Alix? How do you set these?
I tried via the ethernet connection, but this failed. Do I need to restart all over again to get my access via dhcp back?
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Do you use static ip adresses for you Alix? How do you set these?
I tried via the ethernet connection, but this failed. Do I need to restart all over again to get my access via dhcp back?
Yes I used static addresses for pretty much everything here. 2 ways to do it. Either set it for eth0 on the Alix using the command ifconfig (temporary) or in /etc/network/interfaces file on boot. The other way is to just fix it to the mac address in the router, which is what is suggested.
If you do it on the command line just use both commands on one line to take it down and back up without losing your session, e.g. "ifdown eth0 && ifup eth0" will bring it back on the new address.
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Yes I used static addresses for pretty much everything here. 2 ways to do it. Either set it for eth0 on the Alix using the command ifconfig (temporary) or in /etc/network/interfaces file on boot. The other way is to just fix it to the mac address in the router, which is what is suggested.
If you do it on the command line just use both commands on one line to take it down and back up without losing your session, e.g. "ifdown eth0 && ifup eth0" will bring it back on the new address.
Fixing the static IP to the MAC adress is no option in my router. So I have to do this on the Alix. Is there an easy way to connect again? As far as I can see it has no adress now
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Fixing the static IP to the MAC adress is no option in my router. So I have to do this on the Alix. Is there an easy way to connect again? As far as I can see it has no adress now
Mount the compact flash card on another linux server or go into the Alix with the serial port to edit the interfaces file.
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Mount the compact flash card on another linux server.
Do I run into problems with permissions, because of mounting the cf to another system?
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Do I run into problems with permissions, because of mounting the cf to another system?
I really don't know. Try to mount it, see what happens.
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I also set up a headless Vortexbox on an Intel Atom 270 mobo in another room to remotely serve FLAC files to the Alix, and be a ripper, tagger, and SqueezeCenter server for streaming internet radio, Pandora, Last.FM, etc. to a Squeezebox. The Vortexbox uses avahi and it played quite nicely network wise with the Alix Voyage MPD. Overall it didn't require too many changes or command line fiddling and works flawlessly so far. Vortexbox in 1.6 version can also do 24/192khz USB with its own Vortexplayer MPD if you want to use it. Not the dead quiet solution of the Alix, and there is going to be extra USB port contention and noise with the local drives, but it's certainly good enough for a second system where that server resides.
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I've been wanting to try something like this and finally had some time to install voyage mpd on my fanless Atom. Perhaps not as electrically quiet as the ALIX but no physical noise. Since I already had a windows box with all my music files I used the samba client to connect to the share. No real problems there except I had an error in the command line in fstab that took me longer to find than fix.
Once up it seems to run just great. I have a KingRex UC192 USB > S/PDIF (and I2S) sample and it will play up to 24/192 with a maximum cpu utilization of 7% for mpd. The KingRex is a USB Class 2 audio device, so no drivers needed provide the latest versions of alsa and mpd are installed. Sadly there are still no Linux drivers for the M2Tech devices, so I can't try those in this system. I did plug one in just for kicks and unfortunately the OS doesn't see it as an audio device at all. Didn't expect it would but had to try.
Big thanks to Nick for blazing the trail and for Tom for his play-by-play of getting his Alix/Voyage MPD up and running as well. :thumb:
mike
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Do I run into problems with permissions, because of mounting the cf to another system?
I've been away on a mini vacation...
If you mount the CF card on another Linux machine, mount it as root so that you'll have full access.
If you want to log in via the serial console, you'll need a serial cable and a null modem adapter, or a serial cable that is wired as null.
For a newbie, might be just easier to mount the card on another linux box and make the changes.
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I've been away on a mini vacation...
If you mount the CF card on another Linux machine, mount it as root so that you'll have full access.
If you want to log in via the serial console, you'll need a serial cable and a null modem adapter, or a serial cable that is wired as null.
For a newbie, might be just easier to mount the card on another linux box and make the changes.
I mounted the CF to another linux system and reinstalled the CF to make sure it works. I will try to create another CF to test with a static IP in a few days.
I tried to put the static address in /etc/network/interfaces, but I must have made a mistake, because it did not work. Not pingable from any other station.
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I mounted the CF to another linux system and reinstalled the CF to make sure it works. I will try to create another CF to test with a static IP in a few days.
I tried to put the static address in /etc/network/interfaces, but I must have made a mistake, because it did not work. Not pingable from any other station.
What model router are you using?
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Linksys WAG54GS
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Linksys WAG54GS
What are the settings in the interfaces file?
Is the router at 192.168.1.1?
If you know the MAC address of the server, it is sometimes easiest to just have the router hand the server a fixed IP tied to the server's MAC address and go from there.
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as far as I can see, I have no option of fixing the MAC of the server to an IP in DHCP on my router.
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as far as I can see, I have no option of fixing the MAC of the server to an IP in DHCP on my router.
I'm looking at the PDF for that router now, give me a few minutes...
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I'm looking at the PDF for that router now, give me a few minutes...
I did too. Couldn't really find it other than maybe buried in policy.
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as far as I can see, I have no option of fixing the MAC of the server to an IP in DHCP on my router.
What do you see when you goto Setup, then Basic Setup page, then Network Setup section and click on the Advanced button?
Or, http://192.168.1.1/dhcp_reserved.asp
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What do you see when you goto Setup, then Basic Setup page, then Network Setup section and click on the Advanced button?
Or, http://192.168.1.1/dhcp_reserved.asp
404 Not Found
File not found.
I am familiar with DHCP. I am pretty sure the router lacks this option
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404 Not Found
File not found.
I am familiar with DHCP. I am pretty sure the router lacks this option
In mine I am able to go into the DHCP connections table and override a DHCP assigned address to a "static setting" with the address of my choice, in range. It is quite hard to find, like an advanced menu. I searched your manual but couldn't find any. Maybe hunt around those screens to see if there is a sneaky edit that's not so obvious.
Were you not able to mount the CF card and just edit the file?
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In mine I am able to go into the DHCP connections table and override a DHCP assigned address to a "static setting" with the address of my choice, in range. It is quite hard to find, like an advanced menu. I searched your manual but couldn't find any. Maybe hunt around those screens to see if there is a sneaky edit that's not so obvious.
Were you not able to mount the CF card and just edit the file?
I was, but must have made an mistake, because it did not work properly. After I tried this, I just reinstalled the cf again and started using DHCP again. Now I am having new issues. My voyage is telling me that mpdmusic and mpdplaylist are not directories. Well... they were and they still are.... must be something with permissions...
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I was, but must have made an mistake, because it did not work properly. After I tried this, I just reinstalled the cf again and started using DHCP again. Now I am having new issues. My voyage is telling me that mpdmusic and mpdplaylist are not directories. Well... they were and they still are.... must be something with permissions...
Sounds like the references in mpd.conf are not pointed to the right place or cannot write there.
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I was, but must have made an mistake, because it did not work properly. After I tried this, I just reinstalled the cf again and started using DHCP again. Now I am having new issues. My voyage is telling me that mpdmusic and mpdplaylist are not directories. Well... they were and they still are.... must be something with permissions...
What do you mean by "my voyage"? Is it an mpd error? Can you browse the directory from the command line?
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What do you mean by "my voyage"? Is it an mpd error? Can you browse the directory from the command line?
I get the error when I restart mpd on the Alix-Voyage mpd server.
I need to look into the NFS export and permissions on the directories.
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ok, I fixed the permissions and I can see all mounted dirs again. Latest problem is mpd -start-create.db is telling me
root@voyage:~# /etc/init.d/mpd start-create-db
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdcreating /mnt/nfs/mpd/tag_cache... ... (warning).
.
all help is welcome... I don´t mind playing around with linux, but while doing that... I want to hear some music playing..
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ok, I fixed the permissions and I can see all mounted dirs again. Latest problem is mpd -start-create.db is telling me
root@voyage:~# /etc/init.d/mpd start-create-db
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdcreating /mnt/nfs/mpd/tag_cache... ... (warning).
.
all help is welcome... I don´t mind playing around with linux, but while doing that... I want to hear some music playing..
The tag_cache file is the database for MPD, so as long as it can write it to the directory /mnt/nfs/mpd you should be fine. What I do is manually use WinSCP to just create dummy test files in the directories MPD.CONF needs to write to.
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I am able to create files in the mounted dir...
logged in as root and su to another user, both worked
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I am able to create files in the mounted dir...
logged in as root and su to another user, both worked
Did you type mpd --create-db as specified in man mpd, or as you tped earlier "mpd start-create-db"?
The commands need to be type exactly as show in the man pages.
Let us know if that helps.
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I tried both,
root@voyage:~# mpd --create-db
** ERROR **: option parsing failed: Unknown option --create-db
aborting...
Aborted
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I tried both,
root@voyage:~# mpd --create-db
** ERROR **: option parsing failed: Unknown option --create-db
aborting...
Aborted
You're not able to play any music? Do you music files show up in the mpd client? Is your mpd client able to connect to the mpd daemon?
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You're not able to play any music? No
Do you music files show up in the mpd client? Yes
Is your mpd client able to connect to the mpd daemon? Yes
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I am assuming that an iTouch would make a nice remote for one of these.
Would this device work as what you boys have been building? Would run about $155 or so, built and delivered.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280532916633&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280532916633&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT)
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I am assuming that an iTouch would make a nice remote for one of these.
Would this device work as what you boys have been building? Would run about $155 or so, built and delivered.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280532916633&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280532916633&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT)
That's the one. I'm waiting on Tom as my guinea pig, then I'll buy him a drink or two and have him install mine. :)
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Just to clarify, you dont need a linux box to do the install just a Linux installation (I.e., debian installed via virtual box on a win 7 machine works just fine).
Jim
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I am assuming that an iTouch would make a nice remote for one of these.
Would this device work as what you boys have been building? Would run about $155 or so, built and delivered.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280532916633&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280532916633&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT)
As an FYI, this is the unit I purchased:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-Engines-Alix-2c10-kit-same-Alix2d2-Alix2d3-/280532918295
It doesn't come pre-configured or built however if you are going to use it as a music server I would think that you would end up wiping the CF card and starting from scratch anyway wouldn't you? If that is the case then you would have to take to board out of the case to remove the CF card (the Alix board must be removed from the case to install or remove the CF card) ,at that point I don't believe there would be any advantage to spending the additional $35.
Just my $.02.
BTW, the Touch with mPod makes an outstanding remote, I love mine.
Best,
Ed
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Even better, thanks! The only other difference I see, is that my original link included a 2GB card, where as the less expensive one is a 1GB card - not sure it matters for this type of device, with this in mind?
I have bookmarked a local Linux group that meets at a College not far from my house - I figure if I botch an install, that group could likely be convinced to help for a few beers...
Now to save my pennies for a new music device!
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Even better, thanks! I have bookmarked a local Linux group that meets at a College not far from my house - I figure if I botch an install, that group could likely be convinced to help for a few beers...
Now to save my pennies for a new music device!
That's a great idea. How did you find that?
I think this thread can help with about anything you need though.
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In Googling Linux for noobs help, I came across some Linux users group search tab.
http://www.linuxusergroups.info/ (http://www.linuxusergroups.info/)
I have clicked through the Canadian ones, and found a local one - I have not verified that any of the global links work, but there seem to be lots of groups like this one.
I will try to leverage this group, but have already had trouble with Linux, when installing Vortexbox, so I know I will need the help in time!
Have fun!
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I think I have noticed other folks angling for a headphone setup leveraging one of these servers, anyone have an opinion on which USB DAC's will work?
http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-VERSION-ZERO-24-192KHZ-DAC-HEAD-AMP-USB-OPA2604-/260685413881?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb20fbdf9 (http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-VERSION-ZERO-24-192KHZ-DAC-HEAD-AMP-USB-OPA2604-/260685413881?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb20fbdf9)
http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/206696-nuforce_icon_udac2_black_headphone_amp_and_usb_dac_24bit96khz/ (http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/206696-nuforce_icon_udac2_black_headphone_amp_and_usb_dac_24bit96khz/)
These units have received good press over on Head-fi, and I think it will work with Linux on USB?
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http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-VERSION-ZERO-24-192KHZ-DAC-HEAD-AMP-USB-OPA2604-/260685413881?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb20fbdf9 (http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-VERSION-ZERO-24-192KHZ-DAC-HEAD-AMP-USB-OPA2604-/260685413881?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb20fbdf9)
According to description, it uses a PCM2704 chip on the USB input, and cannot handle more than 16 bits / 48kHz.
http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/206696-nuforce_icon_udac2_black_headphone_amp_and_usb_dac_24bit96khz/ (http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/206696-nuforce_icon_udac2_black_headphone_amp_and_usb_dac_24bit96khz/)
This one does handle up to 24 bits / 96kHz on USB. Should work well with Voyage-MPD on the Alix.
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Thanks for the reply about the specifics of the USB DACs I posted about.
To clarify something - I have only redbook FLAC, no hi res, so can I still use either one, or does the tiny PC upsample?
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You are probably best asking about good headphone DAC/amps in a different thread. You'll get lots of opinions, including Burson, FiIo, etc.
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Hi
New here so it's my first post.
I discovered this project a few months ago and have been slowly getting the parts and getting Linux to work via the link to the Blog.
However I've hit a problem when trying to get the MPC client to connect to the MPD server - it gives an Error 15 (connection refused).
I've posted the same problem on the Debian forums, but also thought I'd try here as you guys would be familiar with both Debian and Voyage.
I've been Googling all day and tried various things, but to no avail.
I'm also trying to connect my Alix to my Thinkpad via a crossover cable (I don't want these to connect to the internet, partly because my router is located in a room a long way away so I can't wire the Alix board into it, and partly because I want it to be just a music device), so that is different to connecting via a router.
If anyone is willing to help me debug the problem I can send you the details of what I've done and checked (quite a lengthy post), but for my first post I haven't included that information here.
Thanks for reading this and hopefully someone with more knowledge of Linux (I'm completely new to it), can offer some advice.
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Hi, I've now solved the problem - it took me all day to figure it out, but it was to do with the MPD database and log folders being owned by root and not having the priviliges for anyone else to write, modify or execute.
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Hi, I've now solved the problem - it took me all day to figure it out, but it was to do with the MPD database and log folders being owned by root and not having the priviliges for anyone else to write, modify or execute.
Hi,
Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I never got a notification in my box. Are you still having other issues? What DAC are you using? Which Alix?
Thanks,
nick
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Update: Web GUI (graphic user interface) for configuration is in the works for Voyage MPD. One small step in having a plug 'n play USB Alix box for the audiophile masses. I don't know when Punky, lead developer of Voyage Linux, will have it ready, though.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=42499)
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Wow, that would be awesome! It's probably worth taking a look at the basic configuration interface that Vortexbox provides as it is very similar in concept.
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Wow, that would be awesome! It's probably worth taking a look at the basic configuration interface that Vortexbox provides as it is very similar in concept.
I think Punky might be taking a slightly different approach so as not to bog down the Alix with running a web server, even a very light one like light lighttpd. Stay tuned...
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HI, would that mean though that the Alix would then require a screen or would the GUI work through a remote?
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Very cool!
My system being fed by the Alix is sounding the best it ever has. I was saving my pennies for a Mac Mini but I don't see how it could offer much improvement over the Alix. That and the fact that I am running FLAC files and love the MPOD interface on the iPod Touch make the Alix a definite winner for me.
Best,
Ed
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HI, would that mean though that the Alix would then require a screen or would the GUI work through a remote?
Nope. The idea is that you can configure your Voyage MPD Alix via a web browser on another machine. Thus, no more text editing via SSH. Kinda like plugging in a Netgear router and typing 192.168.1.10 on your desktop to set it up.
In the near future I hope to see this:
1. Buy a compact flash pre-loaded with Voyage MPD from the Voyage site.
2. Pop into your Alix.
3. Log into Alix via Firefox, Safari, Explorer, etc.
4. Configure settings via point and click.
5. Listen to music.
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Very cool!
My system being fed by the Alix is sounding the best it ever has. I was saving my pennies for a Mac Mini but I don't see how it could offer much improvement over the Alix. That and the fact that I am running FLAC files and love the MPOD interface on the iPod Touch make the Alix a definite winner for me.
Thanks, Ed. I feel the same way. It offers exceptional sound quality and value, even though it's not dressed up in a machined case or has fancy displays or lights.
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Nope. The idea is that you can configure your Voyage MPD Alix via a web browser on another machine. Thus, no more text editing via SSH. Kinda like plugging in a Netgear router and typing 192.168.1.10 on your desktop to set it up.
In the near future I hope to see this:
1. Buy a compact flash pre-loaded with Voyage MPD from the Voyage site.
2. Pop into your Alix.
3. Log into Alix via Firefox, Safari, Explorer, etc.
4. Configure settings via point and click.
5. Listen to music.
Sign me up! I'd buy that in a NY minute. What can I / we do to help it along quicker?
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Sign me up! I'd buy that in a NY minute. What can I / we do to help it along quicker?
Is it available for testing purposes?
Mark
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Nope. The idea is that you can configure your Voyage MPD Alix via a web browser on another machine. Thus, no more text editing via SSH. Kinda like plugging in a Netgear router and typing 192.168.1.10 on your desktop to set it up.
In the near future I hope to see this:
1. Buy a compact flash pre-loaded with Voyage MPD from the Voyage site.
2. Pop into your Alix.
3. Log into Alix via Firefox, Safari, Explorer, etc.
4. Configure settings via point and click.
5. Listen to music.
Got it! Would A remote (iPod, iTouch, etc) still be used via mpod? I guess that this will also require me to eventually update the edition of Voyage currently on my CF card with the newer purchased version?
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alexis54,
Yes, MPoD should still work fine -- it's just the setup interface that would be updated (as far as I can tell), and actually, once the alix is on the network, you could probably even use safari on the Touch to configure it too.
However, it doesn't appear to be anything like a product yet, and Nick said what he'd like to see, not necessarily what the voyage group has in mind or planned. Just a pipedream at this point, but one based in a very doable reality.
-- Jim
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alexis54,
Yes, MPoD should still work fine -- it's just the setup interface that would be updated (as far as I can tell), and actually, once the alix is on the network, you could probably even use safari on the Touch to configure it too.
However, it doesn't appear to be anything like a product yet, and Nick said what he'd like to see, not necessarily what the voyage group has in mind or planned. Just a pipedream at this point, but one based in a very doable reality.
-- Jim
Jim,
I wouldn't call it a "pipedream". So far, the Voyage guys are incredibly responsive, especially to the MPD and audio community requests. As a result, I'm going to continue to contribute and encourage them. Successful commercial Voyage offerings from Bryston and Auraliti certainly help as well.
Tom
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I understand that this thread is focused on Alix based hardware.Still, with the concept of a tiny audio source accessing sound tracks over a local network and feeding a USB-DAC, I hope that you don't mind my question:
Would using a Plug Computer like the SheevaPlug for this purpose make sense?
More info: http://www.plugcomputer.org/ (http://www.plugcomputer.org/)
and: http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/11/23/howto-building-a-squeezebox-server-for-under-100-yes-it-can-be-done/ (http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/11/23/howto-building-a-squeezebox-server-for-under-100-yes-it-can-be-done/)
(http://www.cyrius.com/images/sheevaplug_hand.jpg)
(http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/prodimages/SheevaPlug2b.jpg)
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Hi Tom,
I understand, and perhaps overstated thngs a bit. I too will be supporting these guys very shortly.
I'll not be parting with my sooped-up mac mini anytime soon, but I still have two other systems that I need a quality transport for, and this is the best answer I've yet seen, regardless of price.
-- Jim
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Thanks, Ed. I feel the same way. It offers exceptional sound quality and value, even though it's not dressed up in a machined case or has fancy displays or lights.
I had the opportunity to play with the Alix and a Mac Mini using the same hardware and for my tastes the Alix with a linear power supply edged out the Mini. Short version, Mini/Pure Music was a touch warmer and richer while the Alix offered a little more resolution such as upright bass was cleaner and more delicate highs. They were very close in performance.
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Mike,
Was that a stock mini? I don't doubt your findings at all, but a mini with an upgraded PC and stripped down OS is several steps ahead of the stock, even with the basic software tweaks of turning off unnecessary processes, etc.
Anyway, I'm not raining on the alix parade as I'm quite thrilled with it too and easily think it's the best price-performance option out there, and very very good against any other transport. I think the linear PSU is also a real key to getting ultimate performance out of it.
-- Jim
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I had the opportunity to play with the Alix and a Mac Mini using the same hardware and for my tastes the Alix with a linear power supply edged out the Mini. Short version, Mini/Pure Music was a touch warmer and richer while the Alix offered a little more resolution such as upright bass was cleaner and more delicate highs. They were very close in performance.
Thanks for that Mike, I have been waiting to read about a comparison. Can you tell me anything further about the linear PS used with the Alix?
Best,
Ed
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Was that a stock mini? I don't doubt your findings at all, but a mini with an upgraded PC and stripped down OS is several steps ahead of the stock, even with the basic software tweaks of turning off unnecessary processes, etc.
Jim,
It had a 120GB SSD drive and 8GB of ram. It did have the stock power supply. I believe the owner had it pretty well optimized for music playback but being as that is the first Mac to ever enter my home I didn't mess about with it. I don't want to derail this thread, so perhaps I'll post a new thread about this.
Thanks for that Mike, I have been waiting to read about a comparison. Can you tell me anything further about the linear PS used with the Alix?
Ed,
I used my old HP 6289A lab bench supply since I didn't want to build something for a computer I didn't own (though I have since purchased one). I later tried a set of LiFePO4 batteries and those too were notably better than the wall wart. I thought they were also a little better than the linear PS but of course that means the joy of charging.
mike
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Ed,
I used my old HP 6289A lab bench supply since I didn't want to build something for a computer I didn't own (though I have since purchased one). I later tried a set of LiFePO4 batteries and those too were notably better than the wall wart. I thought they were also a little better than the linear PS but of course that means the joy of charging.
mike
Thanks for the reply Mike. I have powered my Alix with my Optima battery in parallel with my Dodd buffer, unfortunately this combination added a slight background noise that was subtle enough I had to turn the buffer volume up considerably with no music playing to hear it. I will be picking up some diodes to see if I can eliminate the noise backfed from the buffer, unitl then the wall wart is preferred.
The wall wart is outputting 15V, did you run it at 15 volts or 12? It should easily run on either but I am curious as to whether there is a difference in sound quality between the two.
Best,
Ed
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Ed,
Just FYI, I've also been running my Alix on a couple different flavors of simple 3-terminal regulators at 12v with great results. Unfortunately there isn't really room in that little case to put the regulator right there local so it's external. I just hate most of these wall warts.
Tom
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I used 15V on the HP supply and the meter showed about 300mA of current at that voltage. I didn't know at the time the allowable input voltage is from 7 to 20. Once I found this out I tried the A123 pack I had, which is 9.9V.
Looking at the Alix schematics over the weekend they are using a 7805 to provide the main power bus and then other regs to derive the lower voltages needed for the CPU core and such. So anything much over 7v is just going to be rendered as heat.
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Mike,
That's what I found too, and why I'm buildihng a 7.5 v supply @ 1 amp -- should easily power the alix and the HRT MS II+ with little wasted heat.
-- Jim
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alexis54,
Yes, MPoD should still work fine -- it's just the setup interface that would be updated (as far as I can tell), and actually, once the alix is on the network, you could probably even use safari on the Touch to configure it too.
Yes, correct. The Web GUI is for setup purposes, i.e., configuring details of your mpd.conf, ALSA, and your CIFS, NFS or wherever your music is. You would still use any MPD client for controlling playback.
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Thanks guys, good info.
Best,
Ed
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I understand that this thread is focused on Alix based hardware...
I don't mind discussing other embedded hardware options that run on Debian or Voyage Linux.
Still, with the concept of a tiny audio source accessing sound tracks over a local network and feeding a USB-DAC, I hope that you don't mind my question:
Would using a Plug Computer like the SheevaPlug for this purpose make sense?
More info: http://www.plugcomputer.org/ (http://www.plugcomputer.org/)
and: http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/11/23/howto-building-a-squeezebox-server-for-under-100-yes-it-can-be-done/ (http://www.crazyhawt.com/2009/11/23/howto-building-a-squeezebox-server-for-under-100-yes-it-can-be-done/)
Those should work fine --if you know what you're doing. A few caveats...
1. There is a built in switching power supply, i.e., you can't use your own linear or batteries without physically hacking the thing.
2. It's ARM based, so it must run a version of Linux compiled for the ARM CPU. Which also means that it will probably do 24/96Khz out of the box with USB Audio Class 1 support, but you'll need to compiled a snapshot for ALSA --for ARM CPU-- if you want to do UAC2, i.e., 24/192Khz. Now things get a bit tricky compared to software in the x86 realm.
So, right now, I don't see any major advantages of the ARM over the x86 Alix, especially when you get USB Audio Class 2 support out fo the box.
Could the ARM CPU sound better than the Geode? Sure. But I haven't done any comparisons. If there is someone on this thread that is comfortable with cross compiling software for ARM, I'm sure he'd probably be more apt to use something like this http://www.thelinuxstamp.com/shop/article_1/Linuxstamp-II-9260.html?shop_param=cid%3D1%26aid%3D1%26 or this http://www.embeddedarm.com/products/board-detail.php?product=TS-7550#.
It'd be nice to see a small ARM board for audiophiles that has zero switching supplies, i.e., CPU, RAM, etc. fed by dedicated linear supplies. Might sound better...
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I guess that this will also require me to eventually update the edition of Voyage currently on my CF card with the newer purchased version?
Yes, eventually you could update, but you don't have to if you are comfortable with the Alix now. Once Voyage MPD is up and running, you rarely have to mess with it. And that is a Good Thing.
Also, the software will always be free. The option to buy the compact flash card would be for those individuals who are _not_ comfortable with the command line and would like to get the Alix up and running with a minimum amount of fuss.
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Also, the software will always be free. The option to buy the compact flash card would be for those individuals who are _not_ comfortable with the command line and would like to get the Alix up and running with a minimum amount of fuss.
This will be a great thing for some folks as I've had requests from three people to burn a CF image for them, which is not a problem but even better if they can get one just by ordering.
BTW, for those using this please donate to the Voyage project. They are doing good work and my one question on the email support list resulted in three very fast responses, can't beat that. :thumb:
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I just bought one of the kits from the ebay seller who sells the boards without the IDE headers installed, so now over to voyage to drop a tip in their hat...
Guess I need to build another PSU now too.
-- Jim
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Yes, eventually you could update, but you don't have to if you are comfortable with the Alix now. Once Voyage MPD is up and running, you rarely have to mess with it. And that is a Good Thing.
Also, the software will always be free. The option to buy the compact flash card would be for those individuals who are _not_ comfortable with the command line and would like to get the Alix up and running with a minimum amount of fuss.
Would this new GUI then allow me to remove my mini-pc currently acting as the server from an external HDD to the Alix or would that still be necessary? Apologies, but as you know, I'm still a bit confused buy all things Linux.... :scratch:
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Looking at the Alix schematics over the weekend they are using a 7805 to provide the main power bus and then other regs to derive the lower voltages needed for the CPU core and such. So anything much over 7v is just going to be rendered as heat.
Sad to say I didn't look close enough. The board can use a linear or switching regulator to supply VCC and it appears the switching regs are being used. Interestingly enough it still seems to sound better with a linear supply or batteries.
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New version (0.7.0) of Voyage MPD has been released. http://linux.voyage.hk/voyage-mpd
They mention the webgui being part of this though still a work in progress.
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New version (0.7.0) of Voyage MPD has been released. http://linux.voyage.hk/voyage-mpd
They mention the webgui being part of this though still a work in progress.
You beat me to it; I was out having a wonderful meal tonight, and when I got back home I had an email from Punky about the newest release with the new Webgui feature.
- [voyage-mpd]
- New debian-live config for Voyage MPD
- add lighttpd and webgui to MPD
- add meshium webgui and mpd plugin
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You beat me to it; I was out having a wonderful meal tonight, and when I got back home I had an email from Punky about the newest release with the new Webgui feature.
- [voyage-mpd]
- New debian-live config for Voyage MPD
- add lighttpd and webgui to MPD
- add meshium webgui and mpd plugin
Can you describe what steps are necessary to correctly do this upgrade in place? Or, do you need to just build a new CF image and start over? I'd like to preserve all the settings and other things I've installed after the CF build.
Tom
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Can you describe what steps are necessary to correctly do this upgrade in place? Or, do you need to just build a new CF image and start over? I'd like to preserve all the settings and other things I've installed after the CF build.
I don't have details, but it usually involves adding specific lines to your apt.sources.
But you could also save your mpd.conf and fstab text files, reinstall the CF, and copy those files over.
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Well with the help of the awesome members of this community I'm going to join the Linux box group.
I need to try it against my Mac Mini in my house. I'm looking forward to it. :thumb:
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Well with the help of the awesome members of this community I'm going to join the Linux box group.
I need to try it against my Mac Mini in my house. I'm looking forward to it. :thumb:
Same here (vs my SSD'd Macbook). I am buying the Alix box today and will have my Linux guardian angel (based in Ft Wayne :) ) help me through this.
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Same here (vs my SSD'd Macbook). I am buying the Alix box today and will have my Linux guardian angel (based in Ft Wayne :) ) help me through this.
I DO get to choose the first tracks when I bring it to that awesome listening room of yours though ;-)
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have my Linux guardian angel (based in Ft Wayne :) ) help me through this.
+2 :thumb:
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I DO get to choose the first tracks when I bring it to that awesome listening room of yours though ;-)
How do I place my order and have delivery to New England? :wink:
I'll let you pick the first 10 songs! :rotflmao:
George
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How do I place my order and have delivery to New England? :wink:
George
http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-Engines-Alix-2c10-kit-same-Alix2d2-Alix2d3-/280623661523?pt=COMP_EN_Routers&hash=item41567941d3 and a small donation to TomS's stereo fund. :wink:
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http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-Engines-Alix-2c10-kit-same-Alix2d2-Alix2d3-/280623661523?pt=COMP_EN_Routers&hash=item41567941d3 and a small donation to TomS's stereo fund. :wink:
Nah, just pay it forward :wink:
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I burned a couple of flash cards for a friend last week, so I suspect there are a few others giving this a try. :)
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Mpad, the enhanced for the iPad MPD remote control/GUI is now available from the iTunes store for $2.99
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mpad/id423097706?mt=8__________________
(even does artist info by using last.fm website)
(http://a1.phobos.apple.com/us/r1000/059/Purple/6e/d7/1e/mzl.ntlkiepl.480x480-75.jpg)
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Yes, Mike, will be giving those CF cards a try very soon here.
I also just yesterday learned that the Speak-up kernel patches are now pre-compiled into most major linux distros, and that the long problematic dependence on a machine with a 9-pin serial port for using a hardware speech synthesicer is now gone and there is a software based speech synth that works with the speak-up console mode screen reader. Finally! Self-contained console linux speech that will run on a modern machine. And now, usb and pc card serial ports were never supported, nor were direct usb synthesizers.
As for Tom's request to "pay it forward" I can suggest a tip in the hat of the guys who are developing voyage linux.
-- Jim
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Yes, Mike, will be giving those CF cards a try very soon here.
Indeed they are going out in today's mail.
As for Tom's request to "pay it forward" I can suggest a tip in the hat of the guys who are developing voyage linux.
Agree 100% :thumb:
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Well, here is proof that the next DAC I get in to listen to, the Antelope Zodiac Plus (had it innhouse previously but needed upgraded power supply), is ready for MPD. I stumbled across this on the Antelope site. It's a PDF on setting up the Antelope DACs with Linux. On pages 9 and 10 I copied this:
MPD (Music Player Daemon Setup) for Linux and Zodiac DAC
Music Player Daemon is a server that runs in the background and gives
arguably the best sound from any software available to date. MPD’s main
attraction is that you can install a client (the interface that controls MPD) on
any machine, PC or Mac (or even an iTouch or iPhone). Having a client on
another machine or iTouch like MPod, makes MPD the choice for a headless
computer.
Go to this site for the setup procedure for MPD and Linux:
http://sites.google.com/site/computeraudioorg/linux-for-audio
You will need to change the following section in your ‘/etc/mpd.conf’:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Zodiac Gold"
device "plughw:1,0"
auto_resample "no"
user_mmap "yes"
period_time 0
buffer_size 0
period_size 0
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"
mixer_index "0"}
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That's great news! Now I might have to hear one too 8)
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Hi,
Has anyone used a different case for the ALIX board?
Would something like this work
(http://modu.it/pesantedeng.html)
If yes:
Howto fix the board in the case?
Howto get the holes in the back for power, LAN and USB
thanks,
Mark
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I am getting on board with this project and have a Alix coming.
Do I need a NAS setup for files or can it hit a shared network drive
that my squeezebox also hits?
Jeff
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I am getting on board with this project and have a Alix coming.
Do I need a NAS setup for files or can it hit a shared network drive
that my squeezebox also hits?
Jeff
Jeff,
My Alix sees a Vortexbox (Linux) which has both a Squeezecenter server and MPD on it pointed to the same music directory/files. The MPD instance on the Alix also points directly to the same files so all are quite happy with it. I can easily A/B the same files coming from both Squeezecenter through a Transporter to my DAC and the same ones coming through the Alix/AP1 with MPD to my DAC.
Tom
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I am getting on board with this project and have a Alix coming.
Do I need a NAS setup for files or can it hit a shared network drive
that my squeezebox also hits?
Jeff,
Does your shared network drive support NFS protocol? If yes, you're good to go.
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I have an Alix coming, along with the programmed cf card (thanks Mike and Tom). I've been told I will need to "run some scripts" and be good to go....problem is, I have no networked disc yet. I haven't ordered a NAS yet, so can I somehow make one of my go-to pc's on the network have NFS discs? In other words, can I get the Alix to see either the internal FLAC music files of my desktop or the external wav/aiff music files of my Macbook (all on same LAN)?
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I have an Alix coming, along with the programmed cf card (thanks Mike and Tom). I've been told I will need to "run some scripts" and be good to go....problem is, I have no networked disc yet. I haven't ordered a NAS yet, so can I somehow make one of my go-to pc's on the network have NFS discs? In other words, can I get the Alix to see either the internal FLAC music files of my desktop or the external wav/aiff music files of my Macbook (all on same LAN)?
You have several options:
Use any Linux PC on your network to export a folder with FLAC files. I do this with my bedroom computer that exports to the Alix in the listening room. You can add a second disc to the machine and install nfs-kernel-server.
You can do the same with you Mac. Mac OS X supports NFS.
Use any old cheap Pentium class machine; install a big disc; install a minmal Debian server install; apt-get install nfs-kernel-server; export a folder to the Alix.
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Thanks! So, according to some googling I can use Disk Utility in Snow Leopard and mount an NFS drive (some other local USB drive laying around), and the Alix will see it? Sounds easy enough...... :o :)
The disk utility will ask for a "remote NFS URL". If this is Alix, does this mean I can't get ready/ahead of the curve and set up an NFS disc mount on my Mac until the Alix is introduced into my network? It will be the only Linux machine there; the config using another linux machine is being "faked" or the majority of the config is being done remotely, I guess, via Mike's remote copying of the cf card.
(newbie alert)
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Thanks! So, according to some googling I can use Disk Utility in Snow Leopard and mount an NFS drive (some other local USB drive laying around), and the Alix will see it? Sounds easy enough...... :o :)
Edit: will I have a "remote NFS URL" by then? I will somehow know the URL of Alix? (can you tell these are all-time newbie questions?)
No worries about the newbie questions...
The Alix will see any NFS share when we edit a text file called fstab. It resides in /etc.
The file of my Alix is as follows:
#/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,noatime,rw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
#tmpfs /rw tmpfs defaults,size=32M 0 0
192.168.1.10:/home/nick /mnt/nfs nfs rw 0 0
The last line is the one were interested in. It mounts the home directory of my bedroom machine (/home/nick), which has the ip of 192.168.1.10, to the Alix under /mnt/nfs. I made the nfs directory with the mkdir command, i.e., mkdir nfs while being in the /mnt directory.
On my bedroom machine, I export /home/nick via editing the /etc/exports file. Mine is like this:
# /etc/exports: the access control list for filesystems which may be exported
# to NFS clients. See exports(5).
#
# Example for NFSv2 and NFSv3:
# /srv/homes hostname1(rw,sync,no_subtree_check) hostname2(ro,sync,no_subtree_check)
#
# Example for NFSv4:
# /srv/nfs4 gss/krb5i(rw,sync,fsid=0,crossmnt,no_subtree_check)
# /srv/nfs4/homes gss/krb5i(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)
#
/home/nick/ 192.168.1.12(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
192.168.1.12 is the IP of my alix.
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For those who may have a windows box holding their music collection and perhaps running slim server, Voyage also has a SAMBA client and it will happily connect provided a share is created on the win box along with a user/password with access to that share.
Mounting is very similar to the NFS example Nick posted. Mine is unplugged at the moment or I'd grab the line from fstab. Will post tomorrow if I don't forget or you can google it. ;)
That is part of the beauty of the Alix or other Linux based player, it can connect to nearly anything. :thumb:
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Mike, is something like slimserver required when doing the SAMBA thing with Windows? I ask because that is where my large FLAC collection is, once a repository for Slimserver, but I no longer run Slimserver (I can again of course, but not for any reason other than you saying I need it for SAMBA).
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is something like slimserver required when doing the SAMBA thing with Windows?
Not at all, I just mentioned it in case someone was using an XP box for a slim server and is wanting to try an Alix solution, this just allows them to connect to an existing setup with minimal effort.
SMB (Server Message Block) is the protocol used for windows networks and SAMBA is the Linux service that act as a SMB client and host. Unless one has an existing Windows box NFS is a better option and it's also possible to add NFS to Windows but since Voyage has the SAMBA client installed by default it's less work to just use that if your files are on a win box.
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Not at all, I just mentioned it in case someone was using an XP box for a slim server and is wanting to try an Alix solution, this just allows them to connect to an existing setup with minimal effort.
SMB (Server Message Block) is the protocol used for windows networks and SAMBA is the Linux service that act as a SMB client and host. Unless one has an existing Windows box NFS is a better option and it's also possible to add NFS to Windows but since Voyage has the SAMBA client installed by default it's less work to just use that if your files are on a win box.
So I just make sure my FLAC hard drive (internal P drive) is shared and then mapped as a network drive? Or are there some authentications or user security changes required on the Vista side?
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On the Windows machine:
1) Create a local user named something like mpduser with a password, keep track of the password.
2) Share the root of your music folder and give read only permission to that user account.
On the Linux machine:
3) add a line to the fstab with the username/password to mount this share. I suggest that you give the Vista (or whatever) box a static IP address so the Alix box will always be able to find it. Alternatively create a reservation in your DHCP server (your router) for the Windows machine so it always gets the same address.
4) The mpd.conf file will need to be updated to use the mount point defined in the fstab entry.
There are some in between details but that is the basic bits. I'll post my fstab entry and the mpd.conf bits this evening if I don't forget...
I also have mpd configured to use the share to store it's catalog since the CF drives are mounted as read only but that requires a bit more work though not much though the account used by the mpduser will need read/write access.
mike
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Mike, thanks but that is all greek to me. :( I have no clue how to share a root (unless you mean what I already did, that is make my lossless folder of my p drive shared and mapped as a network drive), and I have no Linux machine that I can add any line to (Alix only, due here today or tmrw, but was told it has no interface). I will take my questions offline to TomS and Mike so as not to hijack this thread. Sorry....I'm sensing very quickly that this is the wrong option for folks like me.
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What does everyone like for a NAS?
Jeff
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Is anyone playing with wifi for this yet, or is it all wired ethernet?
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I'm sensing very quickly that this is the wrong option for folks like me.
+1 gazillion
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Mike, thanks but that is all greek to me. :( I have no clue how to share a root (unless you mean what I already did, that is make my lossless folder of my p drive shared and mapped as a network drive), and I have no Linux machine that I can add any line to (Alix only, due here today or tmrw, but was told it has no interface). I will take my questions offline to TomS and Mike so as not to hijack this thread. Sorry....I'm sensing very quickly that this is the wrong option for folks like me.
Take a deep breath. It's not as complicated as it seems. Yes, you're going to have to put some elbow grease into getting it running, but we're here to help, and yes, this is the right thread for you to learn how to get it running; you're not hijacking anything. :)
The Alix does have an interface; we log in via ssh over the LAN. We can do this from any machine: Windows, MAC, or Linux.
In Mac we pull up the Terminal in the Applications/Utilities folder.
In Windows, we can use a tool called Putty. Link: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
Some trouble that newbies run into with the Alix/NAS/NFS share is making sure all the machines have the same IP address. Whether it's static or having the router reserve an IP based on the unit's MAC address. I use m0n0wall on a Wrap board (predecessor to the Alix) as my router and that lets me reserve 192.168.1.17 for my Alix and 192.168.1.10 for my bedroom desktop NFS share. What router model do you have?
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Apple Airport Extreme here.
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D-Link DIR-655 here. The web interface says static IP always on, but yet it uses a DHCP server. Anyway, it seems my desktop pc (Vista, with shared drive on it) always has the same IP address 192.168.0.197. Alix box has been assembled and CF card could be here today.
Tom, I shipped you your extra case (the one with the CF card cutout) USPS today, will arrive Monday.
Edit: Putty installed, thanks.
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Apple Airport Extreme here.
This one? http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/specs.html
Do you have the owner's manual? I can't seem to find a PDF on the Apple site.
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This one? http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/specs.html
Do you have the owner's manual? I can't seem to find a PDF on the Apple site.
That's it!
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/airportextreme_802.11n_userguide.pdf
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D-Link DIR-655 here. The web interface says static IP always on, but yet it uses a DHCP server. Anyway, it seems my desktop pc (Vista, with shared drive on it) always has the same IP address 192.168.0.197. Alix box has been assembled and CF card could be here today.
Tom, I shipped you your extra case (the one with the CF card cutout) USPS today, will arrive Monday.
Edit: Putty installed, thanks.
Your router does support IP reservation based on MAC address. Page 31 of your manual tells you how to do it:
"If you want a computer or device to always have the same IP address assigned, you can create a DHCP reservation.
The router will assign the IP address only to that computer or device..."
When you log into the Alix with Putty, as root you can find the MAC address of the board by issuing the ifconfig command at the bash prompt. You'll see something like this for the first ethernet device:
thinkpad:/home/nick# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1f:16:1e:f4:6e
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:20 Memory:f2600000-f2620000
Your MAC address will be that series of letters and numbers seperated by colons after the word HWaddr
Remember, we are using the one closest to the power jack, i.e., make sure you CAT cable is plugged into the ethernet jack closest to the power jack.
Nick
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That's it!
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/airportextreme_802.11n_userguide.pdf
I did find the setup guide; but it's just that. I could not find a more detailed manual on Apple's site.
I did find these links:
http://support.herefilefile.com/entries/158807-add-a-dhcp-reservation-to-your-airport-extreme
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2723383
So, yes, it can be done.
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Nick,
Thanks. I reserved the IP address for my "main" pc, and I think you are saying I should do the same once the Alix shows up in my router settings?
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Nick,
Thanks. I reserved the IP address for my "main" pc, and I think you are saying I should do the same once the Alix shows up in my router settings?
Yes. This way there's no guessing game between reboots and power downs. I don't leave my Alix running continuously.
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This one (was being used by "main", which sits 2 ft away, and moved it to make available)?
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=44060)
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This one (was being used by "main", which sits 2 ft away, and moved it to make available)?
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=44060)
No, on the Alix. If you're using the Alix 3d2 you only have one ethernet port, but if you're using the Alix 2d2 you have 2 ethernet port. Use the one closest to the power jack.
Doesn't matter on your router.
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Ahhhh. :oops: :lol:
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Ahhhh. :oops: :lol:
No worries. Really. :)
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I am stuck in pause with a "problem opening audio device" error.
FIXED hw:1,0 instead of hw:0,0
Jeff
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Hi,
This looks like an interesting project but I'm totally no knowledge about this Linux thing. Before I get hook on this, can someone explain to me why this is better than just to buy like M2tech or EVO, which I think will give me similar functions.
Thanks,
Joe
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Hi,
This looks like an interesting project but I'm totally no knowledge about this Linux thing. Before I get hook on this, can someone explain to me why this is better than just to buy like M2tech or EVO, which I think will give me similar functions.
Thanks,
Joe
Hi. First off, EVO is made by M2Tech, so there is no "or" there. M2tech makes HiFace and EVO (and a couple DACs, like the Young that I have). The Hiface and EVO are simply USB to S/PDIF converters. You need to get USB music from SOMEWHERE....well, I'll oversimplify and make too generalized statements :)...but, your typical options are 3:
A) Multi-processing jack of all trades computers like
* Windows PC, with lots of other processing, confusing interfaces (ASIO, Kernel Streaming, etc) and usually quite a bit of noise produced by larger than needed computing power
* MAC Mini or Macbook products, with once again larger than needed complexity and compute power for just music, wrought with cost, noise and various player options
or..
B) a dedicated simplified Linux box that does nothing, nothing except music serving. The theory is less is more, less power, less noise, less processing complexity, dedicated cpu doing one thing well. That's what this thread is about.
Once you have USB music then you have two choices:
* USB DAC that can handle the USB directly (Linux uses Class 2 USB)
* more common SPDIF DAC that then requires a USB-to-S/PDIF converter (like the Hiface or EVO).
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Just a couple of questions after reading through most of this thread and the website that contains the detailed instruction on the same topic...
Does the desktop computer which will have the Debian and Voyage Linux downloaded on it need to also have the music library on it as well? Here is the quote from the website with the instructions on how to do all of this...
We need a PC with Linux running on it which will act as terminal for configuring the Alix board and which will also host the music library which will be served by the Alix board to the Amp via the USB DAC
I am assuming that I can point this PC just like I am currently doing, which is to an external hard drive housed in another room which is where my music library is housed.
Thanks,
Randy
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Just a couple of questions after reading through most of this thread and the website that contains the detailed instruction on the same topic...
Does the desktop computer which will have the Debian and Voyage Linux downloaded on it need to also have the music library on it as well? Here is the quote from the website with the instructions on how to do all of this...
I am assuming that I can point this PC just like I am currently doing, which is to an external hard drive housed in another room which is where my music library is housed.
Thanks,
Randy
Randy,
The Debian box is only needed to build the first Voyage Linux image on the CF card that will be plugged into the Alix. The Alix can then point to the network share of choice for music - Linux, Windows, OSX, NAS/Linux etc.
Tom
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Thanks Tom.
Would it be more economical to pay someone to burn a CF as I do not have a card reader. Or just go out and buy a cheap CF reader. (forgive my ignorance in the area... :oops:)
Thanks,
Randy
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I would probably just buy a CF card reader. They're pretty cheap on Newegg or similar.
Also, just to be clear to folks, you don't need a Linux "box" per se to do the install. I don't have a dedicated Linux workstation but was successful doing the Voyage install on a CF card via a Debian install on my Windows 7 machine with VirtutalBox on it:
http://www.virtualbox.org/
One trick...make sure to disable the CF card reader in Windows so that it will work in Debian. I didn't realize this at the outset and thought my reader wasn't working correctly or not compatible with Debian.
-Jim
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Thanks Jim. I called my 23 year old son and he has a card reader.
The Virtualbox website looks very interesting. Thanks for the info :D
Regards,
Randy
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Thanks Jim. I called my 23 year old son and he has a card reader.
The Virtualbox website looks very interesting. Thanks for the info :D
You could also do the install using the Voyage MPD live CD. A bit trickier as there is no GUI, but not too difficult.
Burn the ISO; boot into the Live CD on any x86 PC; follow the install script; might have to change virtual terminals once to do a dmesg and see where the CF card is, e.g., /dev/src; switch terminals and finish install script.
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I am stuck in pause with a "problem opening audio device" error.
FIXED hw:1,0 instead of hw:0,0
I just saw your earlier post and was about to respond, but you fixed your problem.
I should also mention this: If you experiment with different MPD clients you should make sure the audio output device is selected. Example, this first time someone loads up GMPC you have to mark the check box under the Server drop down menu and pick the device specified in mpd.conf. Mine is labeled Ayre QB-9. Or you might get the same error message. You only have to di this once.
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I am up and running and don't feel like I am missing anything from my 2010 Mac Mini.
The Tranquility DAC is awesome on this setup as well.
I have an old pc around and I will give FreeNAS a try before I purchase a NAS.
Thanks - fun project - it helped that I had some experience with linux.
Jeff
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One thing I noticed is on my setup - if I keep everything on,
when I come back after a few hours, I am not able to talk to
the ALIX from the IPAD. I don't know if it the IPAD, ALIX or
file server is down. However, if I reboot the ALIX it all comes back.
Do you experience that?
Are there any power settings or sleep I can adjust on the ALIX?
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One thing I noticed is on my setup - if I keep everything on,
when I come back after a few hours, I am not able to talk to
the ALIX from the IPAD. I don't know if it the IPAD, ALIX or
file server is down. However, if I reboot the ALIX it all comes back.
Do you experience that?
Are there any power settings or sleep I can adjust on the ALIX?
Do you power down the file server at all?
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No everything stays up.
I bet it is the ipad - next time I will try the gmpc from a desktop and see if it is up.
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No everything stays up.
I bet it is the ipad - next time I will try the gmpc from a desktop and see if it is up.
The only time I have issues is when the Alix is powered on but my NFS server is shut down. It's not really an MPD issue as more of a mount and NFS issue. The Alix is looking for music but can't mount the remote share.
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Jeff, Are you using MPAD? If so, how is it? How does it respond and feel vs Apple Remote/Mac Mini? Overall, are you missing anything from the MAc Mini server side, sonically and/or functionally?
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I would like a week of playing with this before I land on any final comparison of sound.
I started this yesterday and finished today so I don't have a lot of listening time in.
I would be comfortable in saying that both the sound provided by Alix and the Mpad
control is very similar to the Mac Mini / Remote experience. It is gonna take some serious
A/B to figure the +/-. One thing is for sure - on either system - using an iPad as a remote
to your entire music collection is awesome. It's amazing how the listening experience is
changing with computer audio.
If I already had a NAS and a USB Dac I would easily drop the $120 for the Alix.
I am not saying it is better, but that it is a tremendous value.
I have a number of Linux machines and servers in the house so I could make
decent progress. I think it would be a little tough if it were my first experience
with linux. The guys in the thread have been really helpful.
I'll get back on this.
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Here is a shot of my current Alix sambich setup.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=44193)
MikeG's comments made me think harder about it, so I put the much heavier KECES 12v power supply on top using Isolpad type of devices (rubber/cork/rubber) on top and bottom, then placed it on top of the wood plinth, then to the granite plate on spikes (within the stand). Overall this thing simply sounds awesome, especially with the linear PS.
Tom
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Tom et al,
I hope you guys know that those Isolpads are really just furnace pads, and are $.25 a piece. :thumb:
http://www.pexsupply.com/DiversiTech-MP-2C-Rubber-Cork-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8
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Tom et al,
I hope you guys know that those Isolpads are really just furnace pads, and are $.25 a piece. :thumb:
http://www.pexsupply.com/DiversiTech-MP-2C-Rubber-Cork-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8
:nono: Not if you change the name and sell for mucho dinero on an audio site. :lol:
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Tom et al,
I hope you guys know that those Isolpads are really just furnace pads, and are $.25 a piece. :thumb:
http://www.pexsupply.com/DiversiTech-MP-2C-Rubber-Cork-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8
I think mine came from McMaster-Carr actually :wink:
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Tom, in the voice of Steve Martin from "The Jerk".....
the new CF card is here, the CF card is here :hyper:
What do I do now? :)
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What do I do now? :)
I'd just put the card in, connect the ethernet cable to the jack nearest the power jack and usb ports, power it up and check your router in a couple minutes to see if it shows up. It should, assuming I didn't screw up the card image but it's the same one I use.
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check your router in a couple minutes to see if it shows up.
How does one do that? :scratch:
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How does one do that? :scratch:
I would go to your router's setup screen and see what devices are connected to it. You should see one for the Alix.
-Jim
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I'd just put the card in, connect the ethernet cable to the jack nearest the power jack and usb ports, power it up and check your router in a couple minutes to see if it shows up. It should, assuming I didn't screw up the card image but it's the same one I use.
It did. I reserved it the IP address of 192.168.0.188, and reserved my Main pc (which has my hopefully-networked music drive on it) as 192.168.0.197. I have Putty installed and now WinSCP. I'm awaiting a chat (with Tom) where he can tell me what to prepare or look for, before I try to do the next steps. I'd rather get all my necessary stuff in front of me than make this a 20 step audit trail. When I try Putty and put in the Alix IP address it asks for log in id and password (?) so I guess that's progress. :)
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I would go to your router's setup screen and see what devices are connected to it. You should see one for the Alix.
-Jim
First the DCX and now this...I'm as lost as an Easter Egg. :duh:
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It did. I reserved it the IP address of 192.168.0.188, and reserved my Main pc (which has my hopefully-networked music drive on it) as 192.168.0.197. I have Putty installed and now WinSCP. I'm awaiting a chat (with Tom) where he can tell me what to prepare or look for, before I try to do the next steps. I'd rather get all my necessary stuff in front of me than make this a 20 step audit trail. When I try Putty and put in the Alix IP address it asks for log in id and password (?) so I guess that's progress. :)
user: root
password: voyage
Once your logged in create a normal user by typing adduser $name, i.e., adduser nick or whatever. Then it will ask you to pick a password.
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Logged on but when adduser, says something about not now, can't open , exiting. BTW, how does one copy and paste to here? When I highlighted and right clicked it thought I was executing again and duplicated all my rows
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Logged on but when adduser, says something about not now, can't open , exiting. BTW, how does one copy and paste to here? When I highlighted and right clicked it thought I was executing again and duplicated all my rows
Oops. Do the remountrw command first to be able to write to the compact flash.
Re Highlighting: No right click in Unix/Linux land. Just highlight to copy, then middle click to paste. (I've always found that much easier than in Windows land...)
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Did it. Thanks. Didn't fill in the full name/room/work info, just left it blank. Tom and I will chat tmrw night and I'm hoping I can see my networked drive, etc. I'm optimistic even getting this far. :)
Thx again
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Voyage has the 4gb pre-made CF's available on their webstore.
Jeff
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So here is where I’m at presently (note: I have little idea what I’m really talking about, but am dangerously knowledgeable now thanks to TomS and Mgalusha, who are invaluable; they are getting back to me on the below issues but thought I’d post regardless):
Success areas:
Built Alix, installed Mike’s pre-config’d CF card, installed PUTTY and WinSCP, put Alix on network, reserved IP addresses for Alix and MAIN (Windows vista pc that houses internal P drive that I networked and attempted to point Alix to), created user accounts and passwords for mpduser on Alix and MAIN, edited FSTAB and MPD config files (and thus learned how to mountrw and shutdown –r now in PUTTY), and installed Minion as player, with Alix config’d as server within Minion setup. Networked drive on MAIN is called P:MyMusic but share name is MYMPDMusic. Subfolders of relevance are a blank folder called mpd (write access) and a large FLAC-filled folder called losslessmusic (read access) underneath MyMPDMusic.
Failed areas:
Minion will not connect, attempts for a few seconds, then says “server not selected, not connected”.
Important data:
Alix IP address (192.168.0.188)
MAIN IP address (192.168.0.197)
FSTAB:
#/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,noatime,rw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
#tmpfs /rw tmpfs defaults,size=32M 0 0
//192.168.0.197/MyMPDMusic /mnt/tunes smbfs user=mpduser,pass=mpduser,uid=103,gid=29 0 0
MPD.config settings (condensed):
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache"
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
user "mpduser"
bind_to_address "any"
and the various hardware settings (I have no USB DAC connected right now, just hoping to see folders in Minion frankly).
I am surprised that Minion shows me nothing. I realize I probably have not given Alix the correct network path to my music folder but assume Minion/Alix would scream back at me some sort of error codes or something….Nothin!
EDIT: I changed the FSTAB to look for MyMusic (drive name) rather than the network name of MyMPDMusic and now Minion no longer says “server not selected”! :) It does still say “not connected” though. :(
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Well, Minion is saying "server not selected" again, so the change I made above (changing share name to drive name) was coincidental. Something else happened. Dunno. This is getting old for me, as I'm shooting blindly. I was warned.
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Well, Minion is saying "server not selected" again, so the change I made above (changing share name to drive name) was coincidental. Something else happened. Dunno. This is getting old for me, as I'm shooting blindly. I was warned.
What's the user name you created on the Alix?
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mpduser is one of them (I did my own name first as a test but went with mpduser cuz it's the same as a user account on my Vista machine). Password is also mpduser.
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mpduser is one of them (I did my own name first as a test but went with mpduser cuz it's the same as a user account on my Vista machine). Password is also mpduser.
Does the IP address and port in Minion match the ones specified in the Alix's mpd.conf?
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Does the IP address and port in Minion match the ones specified in the Alix's mpd.conf?
the port does (6600) but I can't find any mention of the IP address (192.168.0.188) in mpd.config, other than it is listed in the parent root name (i.e it's how i got there with WinSCP).
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This one area has been bugging me: these IP addresses are all visible to the router, but when I go in my Vista network settings I only see a couple other pc's and my router...I don't see all the Tivo addresses, the Alix, etc. Is it possible I need to reconfigure my home network?
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This one area has been bugging me: these IP addresses are all visible to the router, but when I go in my Vista network settings I only see a couple other pc's and my router...I don't see all the Tivo addresses, the Alix, etc. Is it possible I need to reconfigure my home network?
Maybe. If your Vista can't see the ALix, then it can't connect to it to control it.
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I am the newest Alix user! Yes! After an hour or so on the phone with Mike Galusha, and some more troubleshooting via email tonight, I am up and running. A few of our issues had to do with permissions on Vista, once we made sure Alix and Vista could see each other. My network concern turned out to be moot (Vista network maps really only show Windows-readable stuff, but actually see everything as per the router). The remaining issue was an fstab edit that included using the uid and gid.
I have no real USB DAC that will talk to Linux (M2Tech Young says no), so I am testing with a couple portable USB headphone DACS I own (Meier-Audio Corda, MAudio Transit). Once the Antelope Zodiac arrives I'll do a major shootout against my MAcbook based music server.
Thanks again to Mike, TomS and Nick. This should be fun.
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So, what is a good plug-n-play power supply upgrade for the Alix (I'm not a DIY guy)? It's 12-15v, less than .5A, right? TomS pointed me to one but it's $250 plus shipping from HK. Thx
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Hi,
are someone here using the KingRex UC192 ? Does it works with Linux ? If yes, what samplerates does it support ?
Thanks
-helian
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So, what is a good plug-n-play power supply upgrade for the Alix (I'm not a DIY guy)? It's 12-15v, less than .5A, right? TomS pointed me to one but it's $250 plus shipping from HK. Thx
The KECES is plug and play with their cable provided.
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The KECES is plug and play with their cable provided.
Bring yours when the Antelope arrives. I could use an extra pair of ears for this shootout. :) ....assuming you're done laying wood floors and hanging cabinets. :o
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Hi,
are someone here using the KingRex UC192 ? Does it works with Linux ? If yes, what samplerates does it support ?
Doing a quick Google search, seems as if it needs proprietary drivers and the only one's available are Windows and Mac. In essence, device is not USB Audio Class 1 or 2 compliant.
Any UAC1 or UAC2 device will work with the Alix and Voyage MPD.
Edit: I'm not sure if this is really UAC2 compliant or not. Some reviews mention "proprietary drivers" and others mention "plug 'n play in Mac". Best to contact the manufacturer.
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Ted,
Congrats on getting the alix working. Ill be looking forward to how it compares to the MBP setup.
Sincerely hope to get to my alix board this weekend but things keep interfering -- like my favorite amp showing signs of an old problem that is driving me nuts, especially since i just sold my second favorite amps.
-- Jim
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So, what is a good plug-n-play power supply upgrade for the Alix (I'm not a DIY guy)? It's 12-15v, less than .5A, right? TomS pointed me to one but it's $250 plus shipping from HK. Thx
There's a bunch of linears on ebay...just add a cable with appropriate barrel connector....which I'm pretty sure doesn't even count as diy.
-Jim
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nyc_paramedic,
thanks, I've contacted the manufacturer and there's no official support for linux. But, since it's plug'n play in Mac it should work fine in Linux. Probably I'm gonna buy one anyway, if it works I will let you guys know.
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I'm another new user of the Alix solution.
A brief background is needed. I've been doing HIFI for many, many years but had lost the spark for a year but wanted to come back some time ago. I wanted to go into computer based audio but wanted to avoid Microsoft if I could so I took a chance with Ubuntu and a Lavry DA11. Since I know next to nothing about computers this was a bit of a journey. No real problems but for the solution wouldn't play 24/96 files. With my limited knowledge I could fix it. So I asked Nick and in a moment of weakness he said that he could help me with the Alix :o
No time to waste so I ordered and then Nick have spent many pints worth of hours setting it up. I do like to says a very big THANK YOU for your time and efforts.
Now it runs smoothly and sounds absolutely fantastic :D :D
Since this thread have so few pictures I thought I could offer some change to that.
I have a small dedicated room in the basement for my system and it looks like this.
First the computer with Alix and the Lavry DA11
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h135/ferrumhifi/My%20hifi/IMGP6545-fix.jpg)
Speakers are active so no preamp and power amps.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h135/ferrumhifi/My%20hifi/atc_amp1.jpg)
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h135/ferrumhifi/My%20hifi/IMGP6537_fix.jpg)
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h135/ferrumhifi/My%20hifi/IMGP6534_fix.jpg)
Michael
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So, what is a good plug-n-play power supply upgrade for the Alix (I'm not a DIY guy)? It's 12-15v, less than .5A, right? TomS pointed me to one but it's $250 plus shipping from HK. Thx
Ted,
You could also give 8 AA Lithium cells a try. Makes for an interesting listen. 8 AA battery holder and coaxial plug available from radio shack.
I once got over 5 hours play time (decoding FLAC) before I got too tired and went to bed.
Link:
8 AA holder, SKU 270-387: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062242
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Nick,
Thanks. I am so bad at recharging though; years ago I even had Vinnie (red wine) redo my Squeezebox ps he made me when I kept sending it back for new batteries cuz I would mess up. Finally had him make it ac. :)
I am rethinking and restating my issue. I have no pushback on spending $250-350 for a good linear PS....but only when I have determined that Alix is my new long-term (whatever that means these days) server solution. Those shootouts and a/b comparisons are a couple weeks down the road. In the meantime i was hoping for something I could put together that would at least allow the Alix a fair fight in these comparisons. So..maybe rechargeable lithium is the right choice right now....hmmmm.
Edit: oops, lithium isn't recharegable. $18 for every 5 hours will add up... :(
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Nick,
Thanks. I am so bad at recharging though; years ago I even had Vinnie (red wine) redo my Squeezebox ps he made me when I kept sending it back for new batteries cuz I would mess up. Finally had him make it ac. :)
I am rethinking and restating my issue. I have no pushback on spending $250-350 for a good linear PS....but only when I have determined that Alix is my new long-term (whatever that means these days) server solution. Those shootouts and a/b comparisons are a couple weeks down the road. In the meantime i was hoping for something I could put together that would at least allow the Alix a fair fight in these comparisons. So..maybe rechargeable lithium is the right choice right now....hmmmm.
Edit: oops, lithium isn't recharegable. $18 for every 5 hours will add up... :(
Use some Alkalines for now. Compare that to the switching wall wart.
You could also snag a cheap linear Elpac on eBay.
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Why not use what I use (and others) for my Tube Buffer?
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=24970)
Finished:
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=42205)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=42201)
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Use some Alkalines for now. Compare that to the switching wall wart.
You could also snag a cheap linear Elpac on eBay.
I must be looking in the wrong areas cuz "elpac linear" on ebay brings up three DIY (il.e no power cord, etc) power supplies, only one which is between 7-19V, and all of which are more than TomS's recommended .5A. What are the limits/specs of a ps of the Alix? Did I miss this on the thread, sorry?
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I must be looking in the wrong areas cuz "elpac linear" on ebay brings up three DIY (il.e no power cord, etc) power supplies, only one which is between 7-19V, and all of which are more than TomS's recommended .5A. What are the limits/specs of a ps of the Alix? Did I miss this on the thread, sorry?
The specs for *voltage* on the Alix is 7 to 20 volts. You can use any supply that is in between that range.
As for current, it doesn't matter if a power supply can supply more than .5 amps (or 500 milliamps). If the Alix draws 250ma playing 16/44.1 FLAC and your supply is rated to 25 Amps then your Alix still draws only 250ma from the power supply terminals.
My Alix is connected to a 13.8 volt 10 amp ham radio supply (for now...) and all is well.
Simply, if you find a supply you like but it offers more than 500ma of current you'll be just fine.
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The specs for *voltage* on the Alix is 7 to 20 volts. You can use any supply that is in between that range.
As for current, it doesn't matter if a power supply can supply more than .5 amps (or 500 milliamps). If the Alix draws 250ma playing 16/44.1 FLAC and your supply is rated to 25 Amps then your Alix still draws only 250ma from the power supply terminals.
My Alix is connected to a 13.8 volt 10 amp ham radio supply (for now...) and all is well.
Simply, if you find a supply you like but it offers more than 500ma of current you'll be just fine.
I used a little bigger supply (2a) mainly because my Audiophilleo1 is USB bus powered 5v and has an OLED display on the front that draws a fair amount of current by itself (300-400ma).
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Can you actually hear a difference using another powersupply?
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Can you actually hear a difference using another powersupply?
To whom is that question directed at?
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The specs for *voltage* on the Alix is 7 to 20 volts. You can use any supply that is in between that range.
As for current, it doesn't matter if a power supply can supply more than .5 amps (or 500 milliamps). If the Alix draws 250ma playing 16/44.1 FLAC and your supply is rated to 25 Amps then your Alix still draws only 250ma from the power supply terminals.
My Alix is connected to a 13.8 volt 10 amp ham radio supply (for now...) and all is well.
Simply, if you find a supply you like but it offers more than 500ma of current you'll be just fine.
Thanks Nick, got it. :thumb:
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To whom is that question directed at?
To whoever wants to answer :-)
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Ted,
Also, if you ever wanted to power something like one of the HRT music Streamers down the road, they will take another 350 or more mA of current, so again, no harm in going to an amp or more. a 9v 1 amp supply will be perfectly suitable, allow some overhead for current regulation, and will generate less waste heat -- anything over the 7 volts will be burned off as heat only.
BTW, congrats on taking this on and getting it working -- I know it's not your field, and linux can be somewhat overwhelming to non computer types, so it's great to see that you stuck with it and made it hppen.
-- Jim
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Jim,
Thanks. Yes, I just ordered a Parts Express regulated 2-12V 6 way 2A power supply with a connector kit. Oh, and realized I have a Kingrex PSU (12.9V) that powers an Acoustic Revive RR-77 and likely is overkill quality there, so I'll use one or the other. Thx
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Question:
Does Voyage MPD, and/or one of its clients, support the notion of plugins as it relates to DSP (EQ, room correction, etc)?
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Question:
Does Voyage MPD, and/or one of its clients, support the notion of plugins as it relates to DSP (EQ, room correction, etc)?
While there are likely things you could add the Alix has only 256MB of ram and not a lot of CPU power. I don't think it would be optimal.
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Mike,
Funny you mention that. You beat me to the punch in that I was going to add to my question along the lines you are addressing. That is, following the philosophy of a music client/server architecture, with this minimalist dedicated (and low power cuz that's all it needs) music server, there might be a DSP engine with some horsepower, like an application server in the corp c/s model. Heck it could do DSP for multiple tasks from multiple servers...say some coming from an HT server (surround processing) for all we know.....anyway, just dreamin. 8)
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Question:
Does Voyage MPD, and/or one of its clients, support the notion of plugins as it relates to DSP (EQ, room correction, etc)?
You would do that on another high-powered machine, which could also be your NFS server, then send the stream to MPD on the Alix. I believe MPD supports PCM streaming from one server to another.
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Question:
Does Voyage MPD, and/or one of its clients, support the notion of plugins as it relates to DSP (EQ, room correction, etc)?
You have seen the Alix mainboard, right? That should be all the clue you need to answer that question. :lol:
Jim
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You have seen the Alix mainboard, right? That should be all the clue you need to answer that question. :lol:
The size of the board, if that is indeed what you were talking about, really hasn't got anything to do with its ability to do DSP, etc.
There are some very nice PC104, 3.5" and 5.25" boards out there with some very fast processors and tons of RAM that would make a very nice MPD single board server. Some also come with FPGA's. They do cost a pretty penny though.
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I was actually referring to what's ON the board. The Alix is great in a pure streaming role, but you can't expect much else out of it (audio-wise).
Jim
The size of the board, if that is indeed what you were talking about, really hasn't got anything to do with its ability to do DSP, etc.
There are some very nice PC104, 3.5" and 5.25" boards out there with some very fast processors and tons of RAM that would make a very nice MPD single board server. Some also come with FPGA's. They do cost a pretty penny though.
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I was actually referring to what's ON the board. The Alix is great in a pure streaming role, but you can't expect much else out of it (audio-wise).
Yup, you're right. It can't even do 24/96 to 16/44 re-sampling on the fly.
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So my Parts Express (band-aid until I decide) regulated ps showed up. It has settings for, among others, 7.5V, 9V and 12V. Do I care which one for the Alix, as they are all within spec?
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=120-536
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So my Parts Express (band-aid until I decide) regulated ps showed up. It has settings for, among others, 7.5V, 9V and 12V. Do I care which one for the Alix, as they are all within spec?
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=120-536
9 volt should be fine
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Can you actually hear a difference using another powersupply?
Not only difference in PS but in using the KECES PS - changing power cables made a big difference.
Jeff
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Well, the Antelope Zodiac Plus Linux-capable DAC is here tomorrow. As i posted back on March 6th, Antelope has a Linux how-to on their website and they list this for MPD servers:
You will need to change the following section in your ‘/etc/mpd.conf’:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Zodiac Gold"
device "plughw:1,0"
auto_resample "no"
user_mmap "yes"
period_time 0
buffer_size 0
period_size 0
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"
mixer_index "0"}
Question: Do I really need to have device as "plughw:1,0" if my Yoyage MPD is up to date (i.e shouldn't I just do "hw:1,0" ) ? Are there any other lines above that are in that same out-of-date category or not relevant for Voyage? I want the Antelope to handle all sample rates and auto switch. I do not upsample, I listen to native sample rates. Thx
Ted
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Well, the Antelope Zodiac Plus Linux-capable DAC is here tomorrow. As i posted back on March 6th, Antelope has a Linux how-to on their website and they list this for MPD servers:
You will need to change the following section in your ‘/etc/mpd.conf’:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Zodiac Gold"
device "plughw:1,0"
auto_resample "no"
user_mmap "yes"
period_time 0
buffer_size 0
period_size 0
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"
mixer_index "0"}
Question: Do I really need to have device as "plughw:1,0" if my Yoyage MPD is up to date (i.e shouldn't I just do "hw:1,0" ) ? Are there any other lines above that are in that same out-of-date category or not relevant for Voyage? I want the Antelope to handle all sample rates and auto switch. I do not upsample, I listen to native sample rates. Thx
Ted,
With mpd versions 0.16, which supports 24 bit packed samples, you don't need plughw. hw is just fine.
You only need plughw for mpd versions 0.15 and prior.
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Has anyone experience with other casing than the ALIC standard one?
thanks
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I assumed MPD could connect to the clients (in my case Minion and mPad) even if the audio output was having issues. Audio output is the only thing I changed, other than power supplies and conencting the Antelope to the Alix, and yet the clients won't connect. I'm back to the "server not selected" error in Minion. I can talk to Alix via Putty (log in, remountrw, etc) but no go. here is what aplay -l says:
*****List of playback hardware devices******
card 0: Zodiac [Zodiac+], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
My audio portion of mpd config is:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Zodiac+"
device "hw:1,0"
auto_resample "no"
user_mmap "yes"
period_time 0
buffer_size 0
period_size 0
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"
mixer_index "0"
# optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
# mixer_device "default" # optional
# mixer_control "PCM" # optional
# mixer_index "0" # optional
}
#
Any help appreciated. It worked up until I edited md config and moved the player into the music room and connected it to Antelope and internet. As I said, Putty works. ??
EDIT: I changed to hw:0,0 since that's what aplay showed (weird in that i was using Antelope's own user manual guidelines for 1,0) but still nothing
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EDIT: I changed to hw:0,0 since that's what aplay showed (weird in that i was using Antelope's own user manual guidelines for 1,0) but still nothing
But did you restart MPD via /etc/init.d/mpd restart?
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I don't know that file or command, Nick. I simply do "shutdown -r now" in Putty after every change. Is that equivalent?
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EDIT: I changed to hw:0,0 since that's what aplay showed (weird in that i was using Antelope's own user manual guidelines for 1,0) but still nothing
Also, lets start with a basic audio output section first:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Zodiac"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
# mixer_device "default" # optional
# mixer_control "PCM" # optional
# mixer_index "0" # optional
}
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I don't know that file or command, Nick. I simply do "shutdown -r now" in Putty after every change. Is that equivalent?
No need to reboot. As root user type: /etc/init.d/mpd restart
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No need to reboot. As root user type: /etc/init.d/mpd restart
Ted,
That command is necessary to get mpd to re-read the mpd.conf file to figure out what's up with changes. I think it only happens when the MPD server starts up (init.d).
Tom
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I typed what you said, and got this response:
Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdline 188: '"' expected (editor note:that's single quote-double quote-single quote)
no message buffer overruns
failed! (editor note: in red letters)
So then i went to line 188 and it was part of the period time, buffer size, etc so i commented it all out for now. Success! At least MPD starts and clients see it. Now to see if Antelope runs (no pun intended).
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I typed what you said, and got this response:
Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdline 188: '"' expected (editor note:that's single quote-double quote-single quote)
no message buffer overruns
failed! (editor note: in red letters)
Check your mpd.conf. You have a " missing. Line 188
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Nick, yes caught that, thanks. See edited post (while u were typing). Thx again.
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Antelope Zodiac Plus is now playing music from Alix!!! Yes! Thanks to all (esp nick, TomS and Mgalusha). Will report back on sonics, etc later.
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Congrats, Ted! Well done (with a little help from your friends.)
Will be interested in your impressions, as well as any differences you hear between the stock and upgraded power supplies.
When you get some listening in, of course.
-- Jim
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So my successful (so far) audio output config for the Antelope looks like this:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Zodiac+"
device "hw:0,0"
auto_resample "no"
# user_mmap "yes"
# period_time 0
# buffer_size 0
# period_size 0
# mixer_device "default"
# mixer_control "PCM"
# mixer_index "0"
}
What am I missing by commenting out the other parameters (realizing that one or more have missing characters or quotes that were preventing MPD from running, which is why I commented them out for now)? Are the sonics possibly affected by any of these? The reason I ask is that my first 30 minutes session with Alix/Antelope was a bit on the analytical/dry/brittle side compared to the best setups I've heard with the same DAC. But these are initial impressions and are with a $15 Alix power supply as well. No noise, no background issues, just a bit "digital". Thanks.
UPDATE: I inserted back in the user_mmap and mixer lines. MPD restarts fine. As soon as i try to include period_time 0 (now with one space between time and 0) the restart throws up again and says "expecting quotes", yet the MPD config wikis never show these lines with quotes. So still wondering what they do, when implemented correctly. I will re-listen tonight with the new mixer and user_mmap lines added.
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UPDATE: I inserted back in the user_mmap and mixer lines. MPD restarts fine. As soon as i try to include period_time 0 (now with one space between time and 0) the restart throws up again and says "expecting quotes", yet the MPD config wikis never show these lines with quotes. So still wondering what they do, when implemented correctly. I will re-listen tonight with the new mixer and user_mmap lines added.
We don't want the mixer, aka, dmix enabled. You might be res-ampling your audio to 48Khz and/or enabling the software volume. The user_mmap option might be deprecated and/or not needed.
Try the super simple output section that I recommend.
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Thanks Nick, I did. however, even before the Antelope DAC is showing all the normal native sample rates. No downsampling, etc is going on. It sounds very good, just not the equal of my Mac server setup with PM.....so far. ;)
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After a listening session last night with a buddy, Rob (questfortone), I am not ready to call the Alix king yet, but will admit that it is either breaking in nicely or just that the last few nights have been much better sonically. It has lost most of its slight digititis, is incredibly clean and distortion free, and just has a non-fatiguing nature about it. All this with a $17 Parts Express ps. And I think my Concert Fidelity pre might be open to a little tube rolling to flavor the Alix slightly toward the sound I'm looking for.
BTW, Antelope tech support in Europe claims plughw:1,0 is the right setting, but it clearly is not for the zodiac plus (no sound; MPD shows card 0, device 0). I have it set for hw:0,0 and all is fine. I ping'd them back.
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This is my first post here so please be gentle.
I recently ordered an Ayre QB-9 that I'm waiting for and I have sometime to plan my server options. I've read through most of the post and I have some questions regarding my specific set up and MPD.
I have an Apple Airport Extreme with a hard drive attached to the USB port. I use a Macbook with OS X 10.6 to rip music9 (mostly via iTunes) to the attached network drive.
The attached drive can be set up as an SMB share I'm told. Will this allow MPD to access the files? Will MPD work with the folder structure that iTunes creates? I think MPD will play Apple Lossless (ALAC) right?
Also a wired network connection is not possible with my current set up. Has anyone had success with a wireless mini pci card? Are there 802.11n cards that are compatible with MPD? Are you able to stream hi rez wirelessly?
I ideally I'd like to continue to use iTunes to rip and manage my music and have the MPD pull from the attached USB drive over the wifi network.
I look forward to learning more about all of this and hopefully contributing to the discussion.
Thanks.
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After a listening session last night with a buddy, Rob (questfortone), I am not ready to call the Alix king yet, but will admit that it is either breaking in nicely or just that the last few nights have been much better sonically. It has lost most of its slight digititis, is incredibly clean and distortion free, and just has a non-fatiguing nature about it. All this with a $17 Parts Express ps. And I think my Concert Fidelity pre might be open to a little tube rolling to flavor the Alix slightly toward the sound I'm looking for.
BTW, Antelope tech support in Europe claims plughw:1,0 is the right setting, but it clearly is not for the zodiac plus (no sound; MPD shows card 0, device 0). I have it set for hw:0,0 and all is fine. I ping'd them back.
Ted, your hw:0;0 settings are indeed correct. Most desktop distributions have an ALSA setting that makes a USB audio device the second sound card be default. This way your on-board sound or PCI-E sound card is always the first sound device.
Also, most stable desktop distributions are probably still shipping with mpd 0.15 --which soes not support 24 bit packed samples, hence the need for the plughw setting. With Voyage MPD and the latest mpd 0.16 (which has native S24_3LE 24 bit support) we only need specify hw:x,y
I'm glad your enjoying the sound.
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This is my first post here so please be gentle.
We always are.
I recently ordered an Ayre QB-9 that I'm waiting for and I have sometime to plan my server options. I've read through most of the post and I have some questions regarding my specific set up and MPD.
I have an Apple Airport Extreme with a hard drive attached to the USB port. I use a Macbook with OS X 10.6 to rip music9 (mostly via iTunes) to the attached network drive.
The attached drive can be set up as an SMB share I'm told. Will this allow MPD to access the files?
Yes. If I remember correctly, it also supports NFS. Take a look at the manual, please.
Will MPD work with the folder structure that iTunes creates? I think MPD will play Apple Lossless (ALAC) right?
MPD requires one root directory, e.g., a directory called, for axample, Music. Put all your music there. But you could also have links under that directory to other music.
And, yes, MPD will play you Apple Loseless files. I've got a few of them (hi-res) and they all play fine.
Also a wired network connection is not possible with my current set up. Has anyone had success with a wireless mini pci card? Are there 802.11n cards that are compatible with MPD? Are you able to stream hi rez wirelessly?
I have not tried the wireless route. And the hi-res question is a good one, especially at 24/192. I suppose one could tweak the buffer_before_play setting, but you won't know until you set it all up.
I ideally I'd like to continue to use iTunes to rip and manage my music and have the MPD pull from the attached USB drive over the wifi network.
That should work just fine.
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Sorry if this might be a bad question to ask, is it possible to setup this MPD server to run softsqueeze?
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Sorry if this might be a bad question to ask, is it possible to setup this MPD server to run softsqueeze?
What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish? Do you already have a Logitech product like the Touch?
Read what Softsqueeze is: http://softsqueeze.sourceforge.net/
Read what MPD is and *isn't*: http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/What_MPD_Is_and_Is_Not
Read those first then ask questions.
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I think you want to run Squeezebox server.
Jeff
Sorry if this might be a bad question to ask, is it possible to setup this MPD server to run softsqueeze?
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HI there.
I have installed Voyage MPD on an Alix 2d2 board but needs pointers on how to configure the installation. A link to the relevant page would be very much appreciated. There is so much info available that it is not easy to determine what is relevant and what is not.
I have a Win 7 OS with Virtual Box on it that I used to install to the CF card.
My network schematic is as follows: Synology 209+ (with NFS enabled) ---> Netgear Router ----> Voyage MPD player ---> USB DAC (soon an Ayre QB-9).
Thanks!
Best wishes,
Peter
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HI there.
I have installed Voyage MPD on an Alix 2d2 board but needs pointers on how to configure the installation. A link to the relevant page would be very much appreciated. There is so much info available that it is not easy to determine what is relevant and what is not.
I have a Win 7 OS with Virtual Box on it that I used to install to the CF card.
My network schematic is as follows: Synology 209+ (with NFS enabled) ---> Netgear Router ----> Voyage MPD player ---> USB DAC (soon an Ayre QB-9).
First, we need to prep for configuring Alix.
1. Look at your router manual and configure your Alix and NAS to always have the same IP address. This might be called DHCP IP address reservation. You reserve the IP from the MAC address of your NAS and Alix.
2. Google and download PuTTy. This will let you SSH (log in securely) to your Alix.
3. After Alix boots up you will see one of the LED's blinking like a heartbeat. Try to use PuTTy to log into your Alix. Log in as root; the password is voyage.
Do that first.
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1. Look at your router manual and configure your Alix and NAS to always have the same IP address. This might be called DHCP IP address reservation. You reserve the IP from the MAC address of your NAS and Alix.
Nick,
I'm a Linus newbie but have a bit of PC and networking experience. I've been prepping for the arrival of my Alix kit. I have a Linksys WRT54GL router (http://www.wirelessforums.org/alt-internet-wireless/linksys-wrt54gl-assign-static-ip-mac-address-5537.html) which doesn't support assigning a static IP address. This was confirmed in multiple Google links. Is there a way to do this within the Voyage configuration process or should I install DD-WRT on the router? Thanks.
Len
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Nick,
I'm a Linus newbie but have a bit of PC and networking experience. I've been prepping for the arrival of my Alix kit. I have a Linksys WRT54GL router (http://www.wirelessforums.org/alt-internet-wireless/linksys-wrt54gl-assign-static-ip-mac-address-5537.html) which doesn't support assigning a static IP address. This was confirmed in multiple Google links. Is there a way to do this within the Voyage configuration process or should I install DD-WRT on the router? Thanks.
Len
You can set the Alix for static ip in /etc/networking/interfaces
Examples: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1296&bih=652&q=debian+static+ip&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=debian+sta
But, if you were goint to install ddwrt, I would. I've heard it's much more stable than the stock firmware.
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You can set the Alix for static ip in /etc/networking/interfaces
Examples: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1296&bih=652&q=debian+static+ip&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=debian+sta
But, if you were goint to install ddwrt, I would. I've heard it's much more stable than the stock firmware.
Nick, thanks much!
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Also a wired network connection is not possible with my current set up. Has anyone had success with a wireless mini pci card? Are there 802.11n cards that are compatible with MPD? Are you able to stream hi rez wirelessly?
You might also be able to use a Ethernet wireless bridge. It's a device that plugs into your ethernet port via a CAT 5 cable. A small box has a wi-fi radio that connects to your wireless router. Might be cheaper than getting a mini-pci card, pigtail cable and antenna.
Examples:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003KPBRRW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0000CEPCH&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1B1EBF0Q356080AW3X4V
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1296&bih=652&q=ethernet+wireless+adapter&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=
-
You might also be able to use a Ethernet wireless bridge. It's a device that plugs into your ethernet port via a CAT 5 cable. A small box has a wi-fi radio that connects to your wireless router. Might be cheaper than getting a mini-pci card, pigtail cable and antenna.
Nick, thanks for all the suggestions. I just need to decide if I'm going to take the plunge now. I'm confident I can get this up and running now with the help of this board.
I just need to decide if this will be an improvement over Audirvana, Decibel, etc. running on my MacBook. I saw the exchange you had with Gordon Rankin about using a low powered single board set up as a music server and his preference for more CPU horsepower but it doesn't look like he ever tried MPD on a Alix board. The footprint of the alix is certainly an improvement over the MacBook though.
Lastly did you ever get the source code for the Bryston BDP-1? If so did you play around with it at all? Any potential for us USB dac guys there?
Thanks again for all the information.
-
I guess this seems like a funny question, but how do I determine the name of the alix box? I know what IP it is on my router (DIR-655), but a name is not popping up so I don't know what to put in for the name during the IP reservation. THoughts?
Thanks,
Ted
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I guess this seems like a funny question, but how do I determine the name of the alix box? I know what IP it is on my router (DIR-655), but a name is not popping up so I don't know what to put in for the name during the IP reservation. THoughts?
Ted,
IP reservation is usually done via MAC address. Does your router show you a list of MAC addresses linked to IP addresses?
-
Yep,
I have the IP and MAC address lited in the router, and I have already ssh'ed into the alix box to go through the set-up. I just want to make sure the IP stays the same. With the DIR-655 it wants a Name, IP, and MAC address for the reservation...
After that I have to figure out how to see the music on my Windows Home Server...
-
Yep,
I have the IP and MAC address lited in the router, and I have already ssh'ed into the alix box to go through the set-up. I just want to make sure the IP stays the same. With the DIR-655 it wants a Name, IP, and MAC address for the reservation...
After that I have to figure out how to see the music on my Windows Home Server...
Oh, *that* name. That's just a label for you to know what box you're reserving an IP for. You can put Alix or music server. It's not a hostname.
-
Cool,
got it!
Now, anyone know what fstab should look like for Windows Home Server shares?
-
Cool,
got it!
Now, anyone know what fstab should look like for Windows Home Server shares?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1296&bih=652&q=Windows+Home+Server+shares+fstab&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
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^^^Tried that link and did not get it to work. I can do it by using
mount -t cifs -o username=<username>,password=<password> //<ipaddress>/Music /mnt/tunes
So how do I translate that into a line for fstab?
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^^^Tried that link and did not get it to work. I can do it by using
mount -t cifs -o username=<username>,password=<password> //<ipaddress>/Music /mnt/tunes
So how do I translate that into a line for fstab?
I've never used CIFS and I don't have an Windows machines to practice on.
I did find this:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=884471
And this: http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/165
Should be relevant. Sorry I can't be of more help on this topic.
-
So, in all my playing, I believe I bricked my box. The far left green light comes on and stays solid and I can't not ssh in...
This happened after trying various modifications to fstab to try and mount the shares. I then did a "shutdown -r now" and it has not been accessible since then...
THoughts?
-
So, in all my playing, I believe I bricked my box. The far left green light comes on and stays solid and I can't not ssh in...
This happened after trying various modifications to fstab to try and mount the shares. I then did a "shutdown -r now" and it has not been accessible since then...
THoughts?
You probably messed up something in fstab so that it can't mount the OS. Can you mount the CF card with a card reader on another machine? Open fstab with a text editor and let's see what you did wrong.
-
I'm also in the midst of building an Alix server with music files located on my Windows shared drive.
I don't have mine up yet but thought I'd pass this link resource on to you.
http://wiki.w7cf.net/access_windows_shares
Looking forward to reading your success!
-
First, we need to prep for configuring Alix.
1. Look at your router manual and configure your Alix and NAS to always have the same IP address. This might be called DHCP IP address reservation. You reserve the IP from the MAC address of your NAS and Alix.
2. Google and download PuTTy. This will let you SSH (log in securely) to your Alix.
3. After Alix boots up you will see one of the LED's blinking like a heartbeat. Try to use PuTTy to log into your Alix. Log in as root; the password is voyage.
Do that first.
Hi Nick.
Thanks!
Sorry, I doidn't see your post until now. I have managed to log into Voyage MPD through Putty. No sweat. I have also configured the router to give Voyage MPD a fixed IP (.20) and the NS a fixed IP (.11).
Best wishes,
Peter
-
All right, I created a Debian virtual box on my Win7 machine. This is what fstab says
#/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,noatime,rw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
#tmpfs /rw tmpfs defaults,size=32M 0 0
//192.168.0.100/Music /mnt/tunes smbfs defaults,user,noauto,username=lnxmscsrvr1,password=password 0 0
It appears there is not a space after the line. I tried simply removing the last line to start again, but it won't let me save it...
Thoughts?
-
you need to make voyage (alix) read write while editing. in voyage (I used putty) type remountrw
-
Cool!
I got the card fixed (just put fstab back to its original set-up) and put her back in. She booted right up 8)
Then, I used this link (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Samba/SambaClientGuide) which documents using a windows home server box share for this type of thing. It is the only one that worked of the 10-20 different techniques I tired!
So, after a reboot I have an automatic mounting of my music share and am on my way down the rest of the list. Any idea why every time I try to "rmountro" it says "mount: / is busy"?
-
Cool!
I got the card fixed (just put fstab back to its original set-up) and put her back in. She booted right up 8)
Then, I used this link (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Samba/SambaClientGuide) which documents using a windows home server box share for this type of thing. It is the only one that worked of the 10-20 different techniques I tired!
So, after a reboot I have an automatic mounting of my music share and am on my way down the rest of the list. Any idea why every time I try to "rmountro" it says "mount: / is busy"?
First, congrats.
Lastly, don't worry abou the / is busy message.
-
All right,
The next hurdle!
I am working on the mpd.conf file
Using the directions from the blog, combined with my specific implementation, the beginning of my file is as follows
# An example configuration file for MPD
# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.
# Files and directories #######################################################
#
# This setting controls the top directory which MPD will search to discover the
# available audio files and add them to the daemon's online database. This
# setting defaults to the XDG directory, otherwise the music directory will be
# be disabled and audio files will only be accepted over ipc socket (using
# file:// protocol) or streaming files over an accepted protocol.
#
######################## REQUIRED PATHS ########################
# You can put symlinks in here, if you like. Make sure that
# the user that mpd runs as (see the 'user' config parameter)
# can read the files in this directory.
music_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd_music"
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache"
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
error_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/errors.log"
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
################################################################
#
When I run the mpd restart I get the following error:
Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdcreating /mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache... ... (warning).
unrecognized parameter in config file at line 21: error_file
failed!
Any ideas? I created the mpd_music and mpd/playlist folders on the server...
-
Replying to my own post! :duh:
I commented out the error_file line for now and now th error is:
Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdcreating /mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache... ... (warning).
listen: bind to '0.0.0.0:6601' failed: Address already in use (continuing anyway, because binding to '[::]:6601' succeeded)
Failed to bind to '0.0.0.0:6601': Address already in use
failed!
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Hi Nick and all.
I have read most of the Swiss guy's post about configuring Voyage MPD. I am unsure, however, which steps I need to follow with the most recent Voyage MPD:
- I don't need to install the NFS bit, right?
- I don't need to install alsa, right?
- I do need to configure mpd.conf, right?
- what else?
I think that a "trimmed" version of the Swiss guide would be nice to have for Linux-noobs like myself when installing/configuring the Voyage MPD. I have used Putty in the past to install SqueezeServer on my old NAS. I wouldn't mind contributing to such a guide. It is not too difficult once you know all the steps, what exactly to enter and what to do if something unexpected happens.
Best wishes,
Peter
-
^^^I agree Peter. I am especially interested in the new GUI and how to access it/what it can set-up...
-
Hi Nick and all.
I have read most of the Swiss guy's post about configuring Voyage MPD. I am unsure, however, which steps I need to follow with the most recent Voyage MPD:
- I don't need to install the NFS bit, right?
- I don't need to install alsa, right?
- I do need to configure mpd.conf, right?
- what else?
I think that a "trimmed" version of the Swiss guide would be nice to have for Linux-noobs like myself when installing/configuring the Voyage MPD. I have used Putty in the past to install SqueezeServer on my old NAS. I wouldn't mind contributing to such a guide. It is not too difficult once you know all the steps, what exactly to enter and what to do if something unexpected happens.
NFS client and ALSA are already installed. Remaining steps are:
1. Configure your NAS to export your music directory.
2. Configure ftsab file on alix to mount NFS or CIFS share on your NAS.
3. Edit mpd.conf
-
I think that a "trimmed" version of the Swiss guide would be nice to have for Linux-noobs like myself when installing/configuring the Voyage MPD. I have used Putty in the past to install SqueezeServer on my old NAS. I wouldn't mind contributing to such a guide. It is not too difficult once you know all the steps, what exactly to enter and what to do if something unexpected happens.
I've been meaning to write something and post it as PDF attachment. It's going to take time; writing good technical documentation isn't easy --especially for people who aren't farmiliar with Linux/UNIX.
I was going to start with a newbie FAQ of what Voyage MPD is and isn't, and that alone will be several pages long. Most people have trouble just understanding that MPD uses the client-server model.
-
Replying to my own post! :duh:
I commented out the error_file line for now and now th error is:
Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdcreating /mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache... ... (warning).
listen: bind to '0.0.0.0:6601' failed: Address already in use (continuing anyway, because binding to '[::]:6601' succeeded)
Failed to bind to '0.0.0.0:6601': Address already in use
failed!
Can we see your entire mpd.conf, please?
-
Here are the lines without # signs...
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache"
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
#error_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/errors.log"
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
user "lnxmscsrvr1"
bind_to_address "any"
port "6601"
input {
plugin "curl"
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Music Fidelity V-Link"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
buffer_before_play "100%"
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer, disc"
follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
zeroconf_enabled "yes"
zeroconf_name "Voyage Music Player"
mixer_type "hardware"
bind_to_address "192.168.0.108"
-
Some closed brackets seem to be missing for input and audio.
-
Here are the lines without # signs...
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache"
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
#error_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/errors.log"
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
user "lnxmscsrvr1"
bind_to_address "any"
port "6601"
input {
plugin "curl"
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Music Fidelity V-Link"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
buffer_before_play "100%"
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer, disc"
follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
zeroconf_enabled "yes"
zeroconf_name "Voyage Music Player"
mixer_type "hardware"
bind_to_address "192.168.0.108"
You have bind_to_address twice. Why? Remove the last one.
-
^^^I actually tried that and it gave this...
Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdcreating /mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache... ... (warning).
listen: bind to '0.0.0.0:6601' failed: Address already in use (continuing anyway, because binding to '[::]:6601' succeeded)
Failed to load database: Failed to open database file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache": No such file or directory
database: Can't create db file in "/mnt/tunes/mpd": Permission denied
failed!
-
^^^I actually tried that and it gave this...
Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdcreating /mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache... ... (warning).
listen: bind to '0.0.0.0:6601' failed: Address already in use (continuing anyway, because binding to '[::]:6601' succeeded)
Failed to load database: Failed to open database file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache": No such file or directory
database: Can't create db file in "/mnt/tunes/mpd": Permission denied
failed!
Ok, so binding to port 6601 now succeeded. Now it seems you have either a mount problem or a permission issue on your NAS/NFS server.
Are you able to change directory from the command line of your alix and browse your music files? That is, can you cd /mnt, then ls to see your files?
-
Yes, I can see my files, as a user or root. The alix created mpd.log (it's blank) on the server as well, so I know that some things have already been created...
-
So, any ideas why it creates the mpd.log file, but can't create the tag_cache file?
-
preadet,
would you be willing to post your successful fstab file contents? I've still been unsuccessful to get my windows share mounted.
not sure if it will help but I'd doublecheck that the directories you are specifying in mpd.conf are all created properly. I had failed to create a directory path properly. Once I did that, even though I couldn't connect to the share drive, mpd fired up OK. I'm new and may be totally wrong but figured I'd offer something up.
-
preadet,
would you be willing to post your successful fstab file contents? I've still been unsuccessful to get my windows share mounted.
not sure if it will help but I'd doublecheck that the directories you are specifying in mpd.conf are all created properly. I had failed to create a directory path properly. Once I did that, even though I couldn't connect to the share drive, mpd fired up OK. I'm new and may be totally wrong but figured I'd offer something up.
No problem at all! Can you post your mpd.conf?
It was quite annoying!!!!
Here i my fstab. When I ls /mnt/tunes I can see all the music folders and browse to my hearts content!
#/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,noatime,rw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
#tmpfs /rw tmpfs defaults,size=32M 0 0
//192.168.0.100/Music /mnt/tunes cifs credentials=/etc/samba/user,noexec 0 0
I am still working on mpd and it is quite frustrating. I am contemplating getting another alix as a server because I am wondering if it is a windows issue...
-
Anyone know what my permissions should look like in the mpd folder? Currently they are
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0
-
I'm playing!
I made 2 changes. 1, the Database file is not with the music anymore, it is on the Alix, and 2, I commented out the user setting.
I am using a V-link to feed a modified DAC-60, and I just confirmed it plays 24/96 as it should, switching automatically!
Now, where can I purchase the plug I need to convert my Alix to the battery supply I have for my buffer?
Thanks again to everyone for the help and to nyc-paramedic for starting this!!!!
-
I'm playing!
I made 2 changes. 1, the Database file is not with the music anymore, it is on the Alix, and 2, I commented out the user setting.
You need to fix that. You can't have the database written to the CF card. You're doing something wrong with your paths or there is a folder permission problem.
-
How about this? I had to set the user to "root" but everything is on the server now and it is working...
I have yet to have "remountro" give me a result other than mount: / is busy
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd.db"
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
user "root"
bind_to_address "any"
port "6601"
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
input {
plugin "curl"
}
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Music Fidelity V-Link"
device "hw:0,0"
}
buffer_before_play "100%"
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
zeroconf_enabled "yes"
zeroconf_name "Voyage Music Player"
mixer_type "hardware"
-
How about this? I had to set the user to "root" but everything is on the server now and it is working...
I have yet to have "remountro" give me a result other than mount: / is busy
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd.db"
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
user "root"
bind_to_address "any"
port "6601"
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
input {
plugin "curl"
}
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Music Fidelity V-Link"
device "hw:0,0"
}
buffer_before_play "100%"
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
zeroconf_enabled "yes"
zeroconf_name "Voyage Music Player"
mixer_type "hardware"
Sounds like a user/permission problem on your Windows box. It's best to have all log and database files on a NAS or else you run the risk killing your CF card or filling it up.
-
All the files are now on the NAS, that is what I posted above. I just had to set the user in mpd.conf to "root"
I have never been able to tell the Alix to remountro. Always the same error.
Any ideas where to get the DC plug for the back on it's own?
-
All the files are now on the NAS, that is what I posted above. I just had to set the user in mpd.conf to "root"
I have never been able to tell the Alix to remountro. Always the same error.
Any ideas where to get the DC plug for the back on it's own?
The DC plug can be ordered from Digi-Key or Radio Shack. Download the PDF for your Alix on the PC Engines site; the spec of I.D. and O.D (inside diameter and outside diameter) are in the PDF. I do beleived (confirm by reading the PDF) that center pin is positive.
Rememer: *ALWAYS* power down/up Alix *NOT* from the jack but from the other end , whatever that's connected to. Example: If you have the stock switching wall wart, always plug/unplug the wall wart from the wall or power strip. You can get arcing from doing it on the jack side and damage your alix.
-
So, from the spec it is a 2.1 mm plug with center pin positive, sleeve ground. I am going to order either this one (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=090-477), or this one (http://www.techtoolsupply.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=CA-161T). I am planning on putting a switch inline to make turning the box off easier.
Any harm in only turning on the Alix when listening to music? Is using the user "root" all right in my mpd.conf?
-
You can set the Alix for static ip in /etc/networking/interfaces
Examples: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1296&bih=652&q=debian+static+ip&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=debian+sta
But, if you were goint to install ddwrt, I would. I've heard it's much more stable than the stock firmware.
FWIW, I found another reason to install ddwrt or to implement the static ip address through your router if it has that facility. A couple weeks ago I set up my laptop with a static ip address within windows xp just to go through the process and forgot about it. We're now traveling and it took me a bit of time to determine why I couldn't access two different hotel's wifi systems. It took finding the error log for the light to go on. :duh:
-
Praedet,
Thanks for posting your fstab & mpd. I haven't posted mine because my system crashed and I couldn't reboot Linux on the board. After hours of work I found out 'why':
If you extract the voyage "tar" file using the Voyage website instructions:
extract the software tarball:
tar --numeric-owner -jxf voyage-<version>.tar.bz2
BE SURE you do it from 'root' by inserting 'sudo' in front of 'tar' so the command becomes:
sudo tar --numeric-owner -jxf voyage-<version>.tar.bz2
My extraction was done incorrectly with errors, ....big problem. But, I was able to get mpd running and didn't realize the corruption problem at first.
I've not got a clean install and back to trying to get Voyage and my Alix card to be able to mount/read my Windows 7 shared drive info.
I also didn't realize that it's critical to make sure the directory paths in the voyage mpd.conf file are changed and pointing to the NAS drive (Windows 7 Shared Drive...in my case). My corrupted install had the paths on Voyage as the default paths which were then writing to the CF card.
Also want to thank Nick, nyc_paramedic for the invaluable support. This post is truly helpful for Linux newbies setting up Voyage.
-
NFS client and ALSA are already installed. Remaining steps are:
1. Configure your NAS to export your music directory.
2. Configure ftsab file on alix to mount NFS or CIFS share on your NAS.
3. Edit mpd.conf
Hi Nick and all.
I have been away on a short Easter holiday to Hamburg. I'm back and have received the Ayre QB-9 that is now playing hi res music from my Win 7 work labtop. The sound is really good, but there are dropouts once in a while, I suppose because I have too many programmes etc. running on the computer. So I would really like to have the MPD up and running.
Re step 1: I think I have enabled NFS on my Synology NAS, which has the following address: 192.168.1.11. The NFS directory path should then be something like: 192.168.1.11: 5000 / Volume1 / Music ?
Re. step 2: I surely need the correct address to configure "fstab", right? What else?
Re. step 3: I will need to edit it for use with the Ayre.
Best wishes,
Peter
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My Alix is now on Battery power!
Here is the cord with the added switch...
(http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e257/praedet/DIY%20Audio/7df00251.jpg)
It is on the same Battery as an Amp and a Dodd Buffer and I have no Noise that I can detect...
-
My Alix is now on Battery power!
Here is the cord with the added switch...
(http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e257/praedet/DIY%20Audio/7df00251.jpg)
It is on the same Battery as an Amp and a Dodd Buffer and I have no Noise that I can detect...
I tried a coule of diodes to block the noise from th Alix when powering it from the same battery that my Dodd Buffer is on, unfortunately the noise remained. What did you do to block the noise?
Thanks,
Ed
-
Honestly Ed, I have the diodes on each of the outputs from my Battery, and that is all. I have no idea. I also don't seem to have any noise...
Was the noise there when the music was playing, paused, stopped, or all of the above?
This is the power supply...
(http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e257/praedet/DIY%20Audio/08e57161.jpg)
-
I need some help folks. Thanks to Nick's advocacy and the mutual support in this thread, I have decided to walk with the penguin. I haven't got the hardware yet as I wanted to convince myself I could cope with the software. Right now I have questions about NFS.
This is my setup. I don't have the ALIX yet, nor a file server/NAS, and decided to use my existing desktop PC as a software test bed by running “Voyage MPD “ in Virtualbox . But first I had to install Linux on my desktop and I choose PCLinuxOs as it seemed about as “plug and play” as you get in the Linux world with a full KDE4 desktop. So PCLinuxOs acts as the file server and “Voyage MPD “ in Virtualbox mimics the “audio server”.
I have a DAC with an adaptive USB input connected to my HiFi. The audio and USB support of VirtualBox means you can attach an USB DAC to “Voyage MPD “ as if you were plugging into a real machine. Audio is in reality somehow piped from this virtual machine through your desktop. So it makes for a great testing/learning tool.
I've got to the stage where the Linux host can make a network connection to “Voyage MPD “ running in Virtualbox, and vice versa, and I used “aplay” to test some audio files copied to Voayge.
Taking the lead from the “cheap USB audio sever” blog, I'm went with NFS before MPD but I'm stuck on trying to work out the correct file permissions to use. In fact, I think it's more than this as Linux has this concept of file/directory owner (user and group) in addition to read/write/execute permission.
This is my export (from PClinuxOS) :
/home/fred/Music 192.168.0.55(rw,no_subtree_check,sync)
If I try and mount this on “Voyage MPD” I get an access denied message:
root@voyage:/# mount 192.168.0.10:/home/fred/Music /mnt/nfs
mount.nfs: access denied by server while mounting 192.168.0.10:/home/fred/Music
(User “fred” on the server has owner and group id of 501) .
In reality, I think the shared music directory will be mounted as something like /MyMusic on the “file server”. But I have no idea how its owner/group and permissions should be set, nor what those should be for the music files it contains. What should I use?
This question may not be entirely divorced from the Voyage MPD configuration, as should I:
1. Add a user to "Voyage MPD" that has the same user/group id as the user on the "file server" ?
e.g user "fred" on both, with both the same user and group id. Debian seems to start at 1000 when you add new users.
2. Configure MPD to run as user "fred" on Voyage.
Any help is appreciated.
-
Well, I have turned the corner on Alix sound quality. Up until last night Alix always seemed to finish a distant second to my tweeked Macbook/Pure Music beta (integer mode). These two transports are feeding via USB into the Antelope Zodiac Plus.
I have alwsys felt that the digititis I hear with the Alix must be coming from the inexpensive power supplies I have tried to date, and when using a prototype BPT (thanks Chris) power supply the sound has cleared up quite a bit...I am sending the BPT back or would do more to comparisons..although the power supplies below are in quite different price categories (hint: Chris's BPT is a steal :) ).
So....cut to the chase....last nights setup has passed the tweaked Mac server and is my new reference transport, at least for now. :) What happened? Well some of you are aware that I have Paul Hynes' 18V (variable, but I've left it at 18V) hi-end power supply as the coordinator and starting point of the Hynes US mini-tour. My goal was to hear how well it did powering the Antelope DAC, which it does very well. However, so does Antelope's own Voltikus (their new outboard ps; David/Rydenfan bought a near new one on Audiogon and sent it to me for eval vs Hynes). So although the Voltikus is dedicated to the Antelope DAC, Paul Hynes sent along a generic cable for use with other DACs...and it just so happens that it fits the Alix. Well.......damn! What a nice musical, tight, balanced, resolving combo! Wow!
Net/net, this minimalist approach works! It just needs great power! :)
-
Ted_b,
Can you give the model of BPT you were using? I'd be interested in replacing the psu that came with my Alix board. The Voltikus is way out of my price league.....
cheers,
Dave
-
Ted_b,
I'd love to hear if you feel the Alix performs as well fed off it's own battery supply. I have mine fed from a common one now, and it will be fed from a BatteryBUSS soon...
Ted
-
Dave,
The BPT is a prototype but Chris is on AC. PM him. it's very good.
Ted,
I am not a battery fan, only because I am lazy and forgetful. :) I even had to have Vinnie turn my battery ps (Squeezebox, years ago) into an AC one cuz of that. I personally need no better Alix PS than the Hynes, believe me.
-
I am wondering if the Battery is as good as the Hynes supply, not the other way around :oops:
If I make a cord and a little supply that runs a few hours on AAs, would you be willing to compare?
Ted
-
I'd love to, but my Alix's main squeeze (the Antelope Zodiac Plus) goes back to its owner tomorrow, as does the Voltikus. I won't have a good Alix-capable DAC for awhile. :( My next demo DAC is one of my faves from 2010, the Metric Halo LIO-8, but is not Alix-compatible (i.e not USB Class 2 driverless; it's firewire).
-
I need some help folks. Thanks to Nick's advocacy and the mutual support in this thread, I have decided to walk with the penguin. I haven't got the hardware yet as I wanted to convince myself I could cope with the software. Right now I have questions about NFS.
This is my setup. I don't have the ALIX yet, nor a file server/NAS, and decided to use my existing desktop PC as a software test bed by running “Voyage MPD “ in Virtualbox . But first I had to install Linux on my desktop and I choose PCLinuxOs as it seemed about as “plug and play” as you get in the Linux world with a full KDE4 desktop. So PCLinuxOs acts as the file server and “Voyage MPD “ in Virtualbox mimics the “audio server”.
I have a DAC with an adaptive USB input connected to my HiFi. The audio and USB support of VirtualBox means you can attach an USB DAC to “Voyage MPD “ as if you were plugging into a real machine. Audio is in reality somehow piped from this virtual machine through your desktop. So it makes for a great testing/learning tool.
I've got to the stage where the Linux host can make a network connection to “Voyage MPD “ running in Virtualbox, and vice versa, and I used “aplay” to test some audio files copied to Voayge.
Taking the lead from the “cheap USB audio sever” blog, I'm went with NFS before MPD but I'm stuck on trying to work out the correct file permissions to use. In fact, I think it's more than this as Linux has this concept of file/directory owner (user and group) in addition to read/write/execute permission.
This is my export (from PClinuxOS) :
/home/fred/Music 192.168.0.55(rw,no_subtree_check,sync)
If I try and mount this on “Voyage MPD” I get an access denied message:
root@voyage:/# mount 192.168.0.10:/home/fred/Music /mnt/nfs
mount.nfs: access denied by server while mounting 192.168.0.10:/home/fred/Music
(User “fred” on the server has owner and group id of 501) .
In reality, I think the shared music directory will be mounted as something like /MyMusic on the “file server”. But I have no idea how its owner/group and permissions should be set, nor what those should be for the music files it contains. What should I use?
This question may not be entirely divorced from the Voyage MPD configuration, as should I:
1. Add a user to "Voyage MPD" that has the same user/group id as the user on the "file server" ?
e.g user "fred" on both, with both the same user and group id. Debian seems to start at 1000 when you add new users.
2. Configure MPD to run as user "fred" on Voyage.
Add a user called "fred" on Voyage MPD, and configure mpd.conf with user "fred". But, I would wait until the Alix hardware comes in to set this all up. I don't know if your issue is related with having a virtual NFS setup.
-
Nick, thanks for your input.
Clearly, I don't fully understand how NFS works re: permissions etc. I solved my problem for now by changing the export to:
/MyMusic 192.168.0.55(rw,no_subtree_check,sync)
where /MYMusic is owned by user “fred” and now I can mount the share in “Voyage MPD” running in VirtualBox. I never thought to check if my problem was a quirk of using a virtual machine. So I'm not sure why this export worked while the original did not.
Anyway, mpd is configured as you said and everything now seems to work. I have mpd running in the “audio server” (Voyage MPD guest in Vbox) accessing the “file server” (PCLinuxOS host). So far I 've used sonata and Firefox. Minion as mpd clients briefly to test audio files and listen to internet audio streams, like AVRO baroque.
I need to give some more thought to how to set up the share and mpd directories as I've just blindly followed the “cheap usb audio server” blog , so both music files and mpd files are in the same directory, I don't know if that's necessary or desirable. Surely you might want to have some general mount point on your sever for your music collection(s) which you can mount music on and then export as a NFS share, and would want to keep this separate for the mpd files held on the server.
I'd be interested to know how others are doing this.
Obviously this not the real thing and there'll be other challenges to get “Voyage MPD” on the ALIX board etc. But virutalbox has proved it's worth as a testbed and I glad I made the effort to get to grips with it.
PS I installed PCLinuxOs a few weeks ago as I was interested to know if Linux Audio sounded any better than Windows XP/Foobar/ASIO. To my ears at least, and I couldn't really tell you how, it did sound better. Hence my interest in this project.
-
I sorted out my previous error, it was a Linux beginners mistake. My in “/home/fred/Music” path, the “fred” directory was not readable by “others”. Simple when you know how.
My idea so far is to set the music_directory that mpd uses as a mount point on the audio_server to a local directory, export the actual server music directory and use the fstab entry on the audio server to map one to other, e.g
192.168.0.10:/home/fred/Music /home/fred/Music nfs rw 0 0
This at least means changes on the server side would only need the fstab on the audio server to be edited , while the mpd.conf remains the same.
On the server side I'd like one fixed mount point that I could slot different sets of data into, my different music collections. The only way I can think of doing this to (a) have stuff on different partitions, or (b) use what Linux calls symlinks.
With option (a) you just mount what ever partition holds the music you want on your server, then update mpd to see it and select what you want. The downside is reserving one or more partitions on your server for your one or music collections, e.g. music1, music2 etc. If the data sets are relatively small and/or very numerous then many separate partitions is not practical.
With option (b) you make a link in a fixed mount point on your server to each music directory you want. I discovered mpd folllows these links. Unfortunately NFS doesn't follow these links. If you export something that contains links via NFS, the audio server tries to follow the link by looking for it in it's own directory structure, not the server's. I believe SAMBA does follow links when fle sharing, but the setup is not straightforward.
Am I just over complicating things? I'd like to know about other folks' ideas on a more flexible configuration of directories on the server side and how to share them with the audio server.
-
To “plughw” or “hw” is a a question that's been asked a few times on this thread and I see that praedet is/was using an MF V-link USB/SPDIF converter as per the mpd.conf posted :
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Music Fidelity V-Link"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
buffer_before_play "100%"
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer, disc"
I just wondered how this worked. I've seen this elsewhere on the Internet:
cat /proc/asound/VLink/stream0
Musical Fidelity Musical Fidelity V-Link at usb-0000:00:02.0-1, full speed : USB Audio
Playback:
Status: Running
Interface = 1
Altset = 1
URBs = 3 [ 8 8 8 ]
Packet Size = 582
Momentary freq = 44100 Hz (0x2c.1998)
Interface 1
Altset 1
Format: S24_3LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 1 OUT (ASYNC)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000
So how does the V-Link handle 16bit/44Khz ? If the V-Link is a 24bit device and you feed it a 16bit file wouldn't you need to use “plughw” in the mpd.conf? If using plughw is no harm to SQ then to avoid having to keep editing the mpd.conf file, wouldn't it be easier just to leave it as “plughw” so you can play 16bit/44Khz and any higher resolutions your USB DAC/converter can handle?
Using “plughw” with ALSA doesn't necessarily involve any sample rate conversion, just padding out the bit format AFIAK. This what I have to do with my cheap Envy24HT based soundcard if I use its optical out to feed my DAC. Like a lot of basic DACs, my USB input is limited to 16bit at 32, 44, or 48Khz so I use "hw" to play 16bit/44Khz files via its USB input.
The one thing I learnt about Linux audio is how to use the "aplay" command to play an audio wav file , and so see if the audio hardware needs "plughw" or "hw" in ALSA. If the hardware natively supports the file format you are trying to play in both bits and frequency then its "hw", otherwise its "plughw". Using "plughw" may mean only the bit pattern is padded out.
e.g.
aplay -v -D plughw:0,1 "01 - JazzDrumDynamics.wav"
Playing WAVE '01 - JazzDrumDynamics.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 96000 Hz, Stereo
Plug PCM: Linear conversion PCM (S32_LE)
-
To “plughw” or “hw” is a a question that's been asked a few times on this thread and I see that praedet is/was using an MF V-link USB/SPDIF converter as per the mpd.conf posted :
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Music Fidelity V-Link"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
buffer_before_play "100%"
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer, disc"
I just wondered how this worked. I've seen this elsewhere on the Internet:
cat /proc/asound/VLink/stream0
Musical Fidelity Musical Fidelity V-Link at usb-0000:00:02.0-1, full speed : USB Audio
Playback:
Status: Running
Interface = 1
Altset = 1
URBs = 3 [ 8 8 8 ]
Packet Size = 582
Momentary freq = 44100 Hz (0x2c.1998)
Interface 1
Altset 1
Format: S24_3LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 1 OUT (ASYNC)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000
So how does the V-Link handle 16bit/44Khz ? If the V-Link is a 24bit device and you feed it a 16bit file wouldn't you need to use “plughw” in the mpd.conf? If using plughw is no harm to SQ then to avoid having to keep editing the mpd.conf file, wouldn't it be easier just to leave it as “plughw” so you can play 16bit/44Khz and any higher resolutions your USB DAC/converter can handle?
Using “plughw” with ALSA doesn't necessarily involve any sample rate conversion, just padding out the bit format AFIAK. This what I have to do with my cheap Envy24HT based soundcard if I use its optical out to feed my DAC. Like a lot of basic DACs, my USB input is limited to 16bit at 32, 44, or 48Khz so I use "hw" to play 16bit/44Khz files via its USB input.
The one thing I learnt about Linux audio is how to use the "aplay" command to play an audio wav file , and so see if the audio hardware needs "plughw" or "hw" in ALSA. If the hardware natively supports the file format you are trying to play in both bits and frequency then its "hw", otherwise its "plughw". Using "plughw" may mean only the bit pattern is padded out.
e.g.
aplay -v -D plughw:0,1 "01 - JazzDrumDynamics.wav"
Playing WAVE '01 - JazzDrumDynamics.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 96000 Hz, Stereo
Plug PCM: Linear conversion PCM (S32_LE)
First, no Voyage MPD user should be using buffer_before_play "100%". It is not what most think it is, i.e., buffering the entire file to RAM. On a local area network, i.e., audiophiles with Alix and NFS on a home LAN and not over the Internets, the default setting is just dandy.
Second, if the DAC supports 24/96 or greater then hw:x,y will work just fine with the Alix setup. There is no conversion needed as most 24/96 DAC will handle 16/44.1 just fine.
plughw was needed with version of mpd 0.15 and 24/96-192 DAC's.
-
So the buffer before play 100% is bad...
-
So the buffer before play 100% is bad...
It can cause problems, yes.
-
Well, I have turned the corner on Alix sound quality. Up until last night Alix always seemed to finish a distant second to my tweeked Macbook/Pure Music beta (integer mode). These two transports are feeding via USB into the Antelope Zodiac Plus.
I have alwsys felt that the digititis I hear with the Alix must be coming from the inexpensive power supplies I have tried to date, and when using a prototype BPT (thanks Chris) power supply the sound has cleared up quite a bit...I am sending the BPT back or would do more to comparisons..although the power supplies below are in quite different price categories (hint: Chris's BPT is a steal :) ).
So....cut to the chase....last nights setup has passed the tweaked Mac server and is my new reference transport, at least for now. :) What happened? Well some of you are aware that I have Paul Hynes' 18V (variable, but I've left it at 18V) hi-end power supply as the coordinator and starting point of the Hynes US mini-tour. My goal was to hear how well it did powering the Antelope DAC, which it does very well. However, so does Antelope's own Voltikus (their new outboard ps; David/Rydenfan bought a near new one on Audiogon and sent it to me for eval vs Hynes). So although the Voltikus is dedicated to the Antelope DAC, Paul Hynes sent along a generic cable for use with other DACs...and it just so happens that it fits the Alix. Well.......damn! What a nice musical, tight, balanced, resolving combo! Wow!
Net/net, this minimalist approach works! It just needs great power! :)
Ted,
Is this the Paul Hynes you're talking about? Link: http://www.paulhynesdesign.com/
I'm also looking for a decent power supply for my Alix. My 10 amp linear will be going back to ham radio duty.
-
Ted,
Is this the Paul Hynes you're talking about? Link: http://www.paulhynesdesign.com/
I'm also looking for a decent power supply for my Alix. My 10 amp linear will be going back to ham radio duty.
Nick,
That's the one. Paul offers a specialized regulator when it is intended to power a computer type of device. He has a circle here on AC as well and is very responsive if you shoot him an email.
I'm using the KECES supply and have been very happy for the dollars spent, though I'd definitely like to try the PH one at some point in the future.
Tom
-
Right guy wrong ps. Mine is called the SR3-18 (18V, variable down to 8V5). I will shoot a couple pics before I send it on its next leg of the tour.
-
Nick,
That's the one. Paul offers a specialized regulator when it is intended to power a computer type of device. He has a circle here on AC as well and is very responsive if you shoot him an email.
I'm using the KECES supply and have been very happy for the dollars spent, though I'd definitely like to try the PH one at some point in the future.
Ok, I posted. Let's see what he recommends and place an order.
-
Does anybody know if and how one can use the second ethernet port as a pass-through? I havve one ethernet jack in the bedroom and want to avoid getting a switch, but would like to run my alix hard-wired, and then plug the airport express into the second ethernet port on the alix so I can have both.
Thanks,
Jim
-
Also want t know if the alix/mpd wll play ALAC files directly?
Nobody on the ethernet port config?
Thanks,
Jim
-
Also want t know if the alix/mpd wll play ALAC files directly?
Nobody on the ethernet port config?
Appl lossless should work just fine.
As for your ethernet ports, I think you want bridging:
http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/133849?theme=print
http://wiki.debian.org/BridgeNetworkConnections
As always Google is your friend.
-
I just purchase an Antelope Zodiac Gold DAC, capable of 24/384k. When I was successful running Alix earlier I was using a buddy's Antelope Zodiac Plus, capable of 24/192k. That DAC was set for what they called UH1 (UH2 unavailable on that DAC anyway). This Gold DAC was set for UH2, also called USB Class 2.0 audio, and plays 384k files on my Mac server....so I assumed this would work with Alix/MPD. Nope, it wasn't until a few minutes ago when I set it for the "lesser" UH1 did it successfully play music. Any ideas as to why their "USB Class 2.0 Audio" setup wouldn't work, and wouldn't therefore do greater than 24/192k via Linux? I always see the statement that Voyage MPD wants to see a USB Class 2.0 audio driver...well?
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=46668)
-
Doesn't it say Mac only for UH2 (as of Dec 2010)?
-
Doesn't it say OSX only for UH2 (as of Dec 2010)?
Yes, it does. That's my point! Throughout this thread and other Alix/MPD discussions we talk about USB Class 2.0 audio, yet this lists 24/192k as USB Class 1.0, and that USB Class 2.0, as defined by Antelope, doesn't work in Linux? Antelope is a big enough player in pro audio, etc that I'd have thought their definitions would be correct, but after doing some googling it seems that USB Class 1 only goes to 24/96k and 12Mbits and is more in line with Antelope's UF1. And that USB Class 2.0 is 480Mbits and supports ALL sample rates (yet I have confirmed that, in Linux, UH1 will not play 352k or 384k, nor will UH2 play at all). So I'm a bit confused.
-
I just purchase an Antelope Zodiac Gold DAC, capable of 24/384k. When I was successful running Alix earlier I was using a buddy's Antelope Zodiac Plus, capable of 24/192k. That DAC was set for what they called UH1 (UH2 unavailable on that DAC anyway). This Gold DAC was set for UH2, also called USB Class 2.0 audio, and plays 384k files on my Mac server....so I assumed this would work with Alix/MPD. Nope, it wasn't until a few minutes ago when I set it for the "lesser" UH1 did it successfully play music. Any ideas as to why their "USB Class 2.0 Audio" setup wouldn't work, and wouldn't therefore do greater than 24/192k via Linux? I always see the statement that Voyage MPD wants to see a USB Class 2.0 audio driver...well?
Ted, any error messages? Can you try plughw instead of hw:xy?
-
Nick,
I'll try that. Don't get me wrong, I get up to and including 24/192k fine via UH1. It's just weird that Antelope calls that mode (incorrectly) USB Class 1.0.
-
Nick,
I'll try that. Don't get me wrong, I get up to and including 24/192k fine via UH1. It's just weird that Antelope calls that mode (incorrectly) USB Class 1.0.
Did you check /proc/asound and make sure you really are sending 24/192? Hope the DAC isn't just upsampling...
-
Yes, and my DAC doesn't upsample. :) I guess I haven't explained this well enough...my bad. I am NOT concerned about it sending true 24/192, it does....just wondering if:
1) Voyage MPD can do 24/384k like my Mac server does; and
2) Antelope Audio has in fact mislabeled their instructions (screen shot above) as it relates to USB classes 1.0 and 2.0. Seems that UF1 should be labeled as Class 1.0 and UH1 as Class 2.0...with UH2 being proprietary speed for MACs.
-
Yes, and my DAC doesn't upsample. :) I guess I haven't explained this well enough...my bad. I am NOT concerned about it sending true 24/192, it does....just wondering if:
1) Voyage MPD can do 24/384k like my Mac server does; and
2) Antelope Audio has in fact mislabeled their instructions (screen shot above) as it relates to USB classes 1.0 and 2.0. Seems that UF1 should be labeled as Class 1.0 and UH1 as Class 2.0...with UH2 being proprietary speed for MACs.
Outpur of aplay -l? What devices do you see when you run alsamizer in the console?
-
root@voyage:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Gold [Zodiac Gold], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
I don't know what alsamizer (or alsamixer) is. :oops: :)
By the way, plughw did nothing different (i.e UH2 is still not working except for MAC). Is there any downside to leaving my config file with "plughw" instead of "hw" (I realize "plughw" pads 24 bit areas for earlier versions of OS; wasn't sure if it did any harm to our later versions that don't need it).
-
Nick,
Thanks for the confirmation on alac, and for pointing me to the bridging -- will look into that.
-- Jim
-
root@voyage:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Gold [Zodiac Gold], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
I don't know what alsamizer (or alsamixer) is. :oops: :)
By the way, plughw did nothing different (i.e UH2 is still not working except for MAC). Is there any downside to leaving my config file with "plughw" instead of "hw" (I realize "plughw" pads 24 bit areas for earlier versions of OS; wasn't sure if it did any harm to our later versions that don't need it).
Just run alsamixer command at the console. I'm curious to see if there is a USB mixer device in the DAC.
No harm in leaving plughw in your mpd.conf I suppose.
-
Card: Zodiac Gold F1: Help │
│ Chip: USB Mixer F2: System information │
│ View: F3: Playback F4: Capture F5: All F6: Select sound card │
│ Item: Esc: Exit │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ This sound device does not have any controls.
-
Card: Zodiac Gold F1: Help │
│ Chip: USB Mixer F2: System information │
│ View: F3: Playback F4: Capture F5: All F6: Select sound card │
│ Item: Esc: Exit │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ This sound device does not have any controls.
Ok.
And, any dmesg errors when plugging the DAC in?
-
No error messages. I just think the Antelope manual has its USB modes labeled poorly. UH1 is fine, just doesn't do above 24/192. The Sonore "USB-capable DACs" database that Jesus has put together say the same thing; it lumps the Antelope Plus and Gold together as limited to 24/192 even though the Gold will do 24/384 on the MAC (with no installed/proprietary drivers)
http://www.sonore.us/Sonore-USB-Compatibility.html
-
No error messages. I just think the Antelope manual has its USB modes labeled poorly. UH1 is fine, just doesn't do above 24/192. The Sonore "USB-capable DACs" database that Jesus has put together say the same thing; it lumps the Antelope Plus and Gold together as limited to 24/192 even though the Gold will do 24/384 on the MAC (with no installed/proprietary drivers)
http://www.sonore.us/Sonore-USB-Compatibility.html
And it won't even play 16/44.1 in the USB Class 2 mode? Anything in the mpd.log when you try to play music? What 384Khz file did you play on the Mac?
-
Nick,
UH2 will not play at all in MPD, only MAC. BUT...unlike the Antelope pdf page example I showed......I don't think it's proper to call UH2 a USB Class 2 mode. USB Class 2 includes anything above 24/96, and anything more than 12Mbits, so to me UH1 is actually USB Class 2 mode, and therefore we are fine. At least that's the conclusion I'm reaching.
By the way, I have several DSD (dff) files that I resampled at 24/384k and have several DXD files (24/352) that play fine through Pure Music and MAC....and show on the DAC as 352k and 384k. No biggie really, only demo files and stuff...just to show.
-
Nick,
UH2 will not play at all in MPD, only MAC. BUT...unlike the Antelope pdf page example I showed......I don't think it's proper to call UH2 a USB Class 2 mode. USB Class 2 includes anything above 24/96, and anything more than 12Mbits, so to me UH1 is actually USB Class 2 mode, and therefore we are fine. At least that's the conclusion I'm reaching.
By the way, I have several DSD (dff) files that I resampled at 24/384k and have several DXD files (24/352) that play fine through Pure Music and MAC....and show on the DAC as 352k and 384k. No biggie really, only demo files and stuff...just to show.
You need to call up Antelope. I just looked through the manual and they make mention of a "custom" USB controller chip. Though, if it works without drivers in Mac it should work fine in Linux.
And nothing in the mpd.log when you play a file?
-
Here's some stuff from the end of my MPD.log file (huge file full of database updates, new album adds, etc).. I'm not sure of the chronology of what I was doing during these timestamps (playing 24/192 music fine with UH1, redbook fine with UH1, trying UH2, changing config file to plughw, trying again).
May 16 01:08 : player_thread: played "wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav"
May 16 01:17 : player_thread: played "wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/03 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - Those Sweet Words.wav"
May 16 01:17 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:17 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
no message buffer overruns
Jan 01 10:11 : config: option 'user_mmap' on line 187 was not recognized
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/01 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - Sunrise.wav"
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/02 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - What Am I To You.wav"
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
no message buffer overruns
Jan 01 10:47 : config: option 'user_mmap' on line 187 was not recognized
(The Jan 01 comments seem weird)
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Why not just use aplay with your various hires files to help sort this out?
e.g.
aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 xxxx.wav or aplay -v -D hw:0,0 xxxx.wav
that at least should clarify what voaygae MDP/ALSA can handle with your DAC.
-
Hello all,
I just wanted to thank Nick for starting a great and informative thread, and everyone else for contributing. Only a few weeks ago I discovered VortexBox, which has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread. I recommend it highly as an extremely convenient way to rip and encode CD's. I run it in a virtual machine on my work computer, and every time the CD drawer opens, I swap discs and keep working as VortexBox does its thing. It is designed to be an all-in-one solution, and comes loaded with Squeeze Server and DAAP/iTunes, but I won't be using it as a music server. This thread has convinced me it won't be difficult at all to get better sound using the "do one thing and do it very well" approach, and everything about the silent mpd server appeals to me.
I'm cheating a little, which may in the end prove detrimental to the sound quality, but last night, instead of an Alix board, I bought an HP thin client. The board is cluttered with an integrated video chipset, and it has a ridiculous number of usb ports, but the Atom cpu should make it versatile, and it has a fair amount of memory. I'll load it with voyage and use it as an mpd server first. I'm also curious about the cics memory player approach, so I'll likely purpose the new box to that too, after I get a feel for how the Voyage/mpd configuration sounds. I may opt to get the Alix then, so I can do side-by-side comparisons. I may pick up a few more thin clients, too, depending on how this one fares in the shoot out. They go fairly cheap at auction, and I have friends and family who would love to have one.
Eventually, I'd like to migrate the same technology to my car. It's amazing how this opens up so many possibilities.
Well, to get back to the point of my post -- I don't think I'll have all that much difficulty getting the HP up and running Voyage/mpd, for which I'm grateful. Thanks to all of you, everything I need to know is easily found in these 28 (and growing) forum pages.
-
Why not just use aplay with your various hires files to help sort this out?
e.g.
aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 xxxx.wav or aplay -v -D hw:0,0 xxxx.wav
that at least should clarify what voaygae MDP/ALSA can handle with your DAC.
He'll have to use plughw. Also, only .wav files need apply for this particular problem. And, turn down the volume reaaaal low before using this command.
-
Hello all,
I just wanted to thank Nick for starting a great and informative thread, and everyone else for contributing. Only a few weeks ago I discovered VortexBox,...
Welcome. I hear really nice things about Vortexbox. It now comes with Alsa 1.0.24, so UAC2 devices work out of the box. Personally, I prefer to rip my CD's manually, especially my classical music.
I'm cheating a little, which may in the end prove detrimental to the sound quality, but last night, instead of an Alix board, I bought an HP thin client. The board is cluttered with an integrated video chipset, and it has a ridiculous number of usb ports, but the Atom cpu should make it versatile, and it has a fair amount of memory. I'll load it with voyage and use it as an mpd server first. I'm also curious about the cics memory player approach, so I'll likely purpose the new box to that too, after I get a feel for how the Voyage/mpd configuration sounds. I may opt to get the Alix then, so I can do side-by-side comparisons. I may pick up a few more thin clients, too, depending on how this one fares in the shoot out. They go fairly cheap at auction, and I have friends and family who would love to have one.
Just be aware that Voyage MPD on HP Thin Client might not sound like Voyage MPD on Alix. Anyway, give it a shot.
-
He'll have to use plughw. Also, only .wav files need apply for this particular problem. And, turn down the volume reaaaal low before using this command.
Ok, so a couple questions:
1) what does this command do
2) do i need to specify the device when typing -D even if I have only one device?
3) why plughw and not hw?
-
root@voyage:~# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
root@voyage:~# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/01 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - Sunrise.wav
wav/Norah: No such file or directory
Both songs (first one is 24/192, second is redbook) play fine via Mpod, and play in their native sample rates, with DAC set to UH1. Both syntaxes were taken directly from the mpd.log entries but I guess aplay needs more info cuz it doesn't like them.
-
root@voyage:~# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
root@voyage:~# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/01 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - Sunrise.wav
wav/Norah: No such file or directory
Both songs (first one is 24/192, second is redbook) play fine via Mpod, and play in their native sample rates, with DAC set to UH1. Both syntaxes were taken directly from the mpd.log entries but I guess aplay needs more info cuz it doesn't like them.
You have to specify an absolute path, i.e., on my box, /mnt/nfs/mpd_music/... .wav
-
Ok, so a couple questions:
1) what does this command do
2) do i need to specify the device when typing -D even if I have only one device?
3) why plughw and not hw?
1. It's a simple command player for Alsa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplay If you can play an audio file with aplay and not with mpd, then maybe it's an mpd issue.
2. yes.
3. It has to do with S32_LE and conversion from S24_LE in this case, I think.
-
So, Nick and I have been IM'ing today and I have a call into Antelope. As stated earlier, my redbook-to-24/192 (see below) songs play just fine in UH1 and don't play at all in UH2. Here is successful UH1 Aplay results with a 24/192 file.
root@voyage:/mnt/tunes/wav# aplay -v -D hw:0,0 equinox04.wav
Playing WAVE 'equinox04.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 19200 0 Hz, Stereo
Hardware PCM card 0 'Zodiac Gold' device 0 subdevice 0
Its setup is:
stream : PLAYBACK
access : RW_INTERLEAVED
format : S24_3LE
subformat : STD
channels : 2
rate : 192000
exact rate : 192000 (192000/1)
msbits : 24
buffer_size : 96000
period_size : 24000
period_time : 125000
tstamp_mode : NONE
period_step : 1
avail_min : 24000
period_event : 0
start_threshold : 96000
stop_threshold : 96000
silence_threshold: 0
silence_size : 0
boundary : 1572864000
appl_ptr : 0
hw_ptr : 0
-
root@voyage:~# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
root@voyage:~# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/01 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - Sunrise.wav
wav/Norah: No such file or directory
That's just a basic syntax error on the CLI, use double quotes around your file name when it has spaces etc in the file name, e.g.
aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 "wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav"
wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav: No such file or directory
The first fails becasue of syntax error, second one fails as I don't have your file, otherwise it should be OK if you have the file path name correct.
Yes, I forgot there's no volume control with aplay, but your example seems to show that the Antelope DAC handles 24bit/192KHz fine, but what happended with higher res files, what was the aplay ouptut?
During playback over a USB connection this command can give some additional info:
cat /proc/asound/card0/stream0
Here's an example from audio playback on my cheap USB DAC which is card1 on my system (your DAC is card0).
cat /proc/asound/card1/stream0
Burr-Brown from TI USB Audio CODEC at usb-0000:00:02.0-1, full s : USB Audio
Playback:
Status: Running
Interface = 1
Altset = 1
URBs = 3 [ 8 8 8 ]
Packet Size = 192
Momentary freq = 44100 Hz (0x2c.199a)
Interface 1
Altset 1
Format: S16_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (ADAPTIVE)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000
Interface 1
Altset 2
Format: S16_LE
Channels: 1
Endpoint: 2 OUT (ADAPTIVE)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000
Interface 1
Altset 3
Format: S8
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (ADAPTIVE)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000
Interface 1
Altset 4
Format: S8
Channels: 1
Endpoint: 2 OUT (ADAPTIVE)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000
Interface 1
Altset 5
Format: U8
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (ADAPTIVE)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000
Interface 1
Altset 6
Format: U8
Channels: 1
Endpoint: 2 OUT (ADAPTIVE)
Rates: 32000, 44100, 48000
PS From the Voyage MPD web page http://linux.voyage.hk/voyage-mpd
Voyage MPD is based on Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" and Voyage Linux 0.7. It contains the following features:
* MPD 0.16
* latest ALSA driver that supports USB Audio Class 2 (allowing 24bit and up to 192Khz sample rates)
* 2.6.33 real-time kernel
* lirc and lirc driver for remote control
* WebGUI modified from Meshlium Manager System
I'm sure you've seen this document:
http://www.antelopeaudio.com/SUPPORT/Manuals/Linux%20Ubuntu%20OS%20&%20Zodiac.pdf
Which contains this for part of the suggested MPD conf
audio_output {
type
"alsa"
name
"Zodiac Gold"
device
"plughw:1,0"
auto_resample "no"
user_mmap
"yes"
period_time 0
buffer_size 0
period_size 0
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"
mixer_index "0"}
But the plughw:1,0 is only there as in Zodiac's example they are using the DAC with a m/board that has inbult sound (see page 3), hence the DAC is device number is 1 and not 0 as in your case. But why plughw as opposed to hw? This might suggest that at certain bit/frequency audiofile formats ALSA needs to do some kind of format conversion for the DAC to play the file. Hence I previously suggested experimenting with the "aplay" command.
It also says on page 3:
NOTE: If your version of the Linux kernel does not support USB Audio
Class 2, then you must install the latest Linux kernel (from version >=
2.6.35 onwards) to be able to use USB Audio Class 2.
The benefit of using Audio Class 2 is that it enables you to playback audio
through the Zodiac, up to a sample rate of 384kHz.
(See Zodiac Manual for further information on USB Audio Class)
I don't know if this is correct, nor if the Voyage MPD kernel 2.6.33 was been compiled with a configuration that includes support USB Audio Class 2. I think it must, as how else have you managed to play 24bit/192KHz audio on the Alix?
On other point of interest in this document is on page 8. Did you notice in the screenshot of the DeadBeeF player that there is a 24bit/384KHz listed? Do this mean they played this hirez file on this particular version of Linux over the Zodiac Gold DAC, or not?
-
I'm cheating a little, which may in the end prove detrimental to the sound quality, but last night, instead of an Alix board, I bought an HP thin client. The board is cluttered with an integrated video chipset, and it has a ridiculous number of usb ports, but the Atom cpu should make it versatile, and it has a fair amount of memory. I'll load it with voyage and use it as an mpd server first. I'm also curious about the cics memory player approach, so I'll likely purpose the new box to that too, after I get a feel for how the Voyage/mpd configuration sounds. I may opt to get the Alix then, so I can do side-by-side comparisons. I may pick up a few more thin clients, too, depending on how this one fares in the shoot out. They go fairly cheap at auction, and I have friends and family who would love to have one.
If you progress to an Alix board, feedback on the comparison with your thin client would be useful. For those on a budget a cheap thin client might be workable alternative assuming it has around the same RAM & flash as the Alix.
It's interesting to note that the Bryston BDP-1 digital player uses a mini-itx Alix board and the Auraliti PK100 uses an Intel D945GSEJT min-itx. So they both have unnecessary and possibly electrically noisy VGA chips. While the output of both use coax digital via a modified ESI Juli@ s/card and not USB as per the Alix, the designers must have considered the presence of additional electronics not to be deterimental to SQ as the s/card is said to provide some "isolation" from the m/broads electrical noise and both these m/boards can be powered from an internal PSU of the makers own design.
I have only seen internal photos of the Bryston BDP-1 digital player which has a purpose built PSU for clean 12v, 5v (and 3,3V ?) to power the Alix mini-itx board. Whether a low noise PSU is really crucial, or cost effective, for something like the ALix 2D I don't know. I guess it depends on the rest of your gear and if you're trying to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of your system.
Makers of quality audio equipment always put effort into power supplies whether it's analogue or digital, but for computer based devices there are as yet no ready made audio grade type PSUs other than using a decent linear PSU for m/boards that only require around 12v/5A. But as the m/boards electronics will split these voltages down for other components and maybe introduce more noise again, is this a waste of time?
-
here is what happens when I try to play a 2L recording, originally DSD dff file, converted to 24/384 (it plays on MAC server beautifully in UH2 as 24/384k)
First via UH1:
root@voyage:/mnt/tunes/wav# aplay -v -D hw:0,0 2L384.wav
Playing WAVE '2L384.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 384000 Hz, Stereo
Warning: rate is not accurate (requested = 384000Hz, got = 192000Hz)
please, try the plug plugin
Hardware PCM card 0 'Zodiac Gold' device 0 subdevice 0
Its setup is:
stream : PLAYBACK
access : RW_INTERLEAVED
format : S24_3LE
subformat : STD
channels : 2
rate : 192000
exact rate : 192000 (192000/1)
msbits : 24
buffer_size : 96000
period_size : 24000
period_time : 125000
tstamp_mode : NONE
period_step : 1
avail_min : 24000
period_event : 0
start_threshold : 96000
stop_threshold : 96000
silence_threshold: 0
silence_size : 0
boundary : 1572864000
appl_ptr : 0
hw_ptr : 0
(it plays choppy and half speed)
So I tried the plughw as per the instructions above:
root@voyage:/mnt/tunes/wav# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 2L384.wav
Playing WAVE '2L384.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 384000 Hz, Stereo
aplay: set_params:1116: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS: RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT: S24_3LE
SUBFORMAT: STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 24
FRAME_BITS: 48
CHANNELS: 2
RATE: NONE
PERIOD_TIME: 125000
PERIOD_SIZE: 48000
PERIOD_BYTES: 288000
PERIODS: 4
BUFFER_TIME: 500000
BUFFER_SIZE: 192000
BUFFER_BYTES: 1152000
TICK_TIME: 0
( No music)
When going to UH2 (the mode that actually plays this file via MAC/Pure Music into this Antelope Gold DAC)
root@voyage:/mnt/tunes/wav# aplay -v -D hw:0,0 2L384.wav
Playing WAVE '2L384.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 384000 Hz, Stereo
aplay: set_params:1116: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS: RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT: S24_3LE
SUBFORMAT: STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 24
FRAME_BITS: 48
CHANNELS: 2
RATE: 384000
PERIOD_TIME: (113776 113777)
PERIOD_SIZE: 43690
PERIOD_BYTES: 262140
PERIODS: (4 5)
BUFFER_TIME: (455109 455110)
BUFFER_SIZE: 174762
BUFFER_BYTES: 1048572
TICK_TIME: 0
(no music. This UH2 mode has played nothing to date via Linux.)
Summary:
1) I am happy with 24/192 playback on my Alix (especially with Hynes power supply) and however can't seem to get anything higher.
2) I have a call into Antelope US tech support to ask why the call UH1 "USB Class 1" when it allows 480Mbits and 24/192k playback, two major tenants of USB Class 2 Audio. Conversely, they call UH2 "USB Class 2" yet it is incompatible with Voyage MPD to-date.
-
What looks to be hapening with a 24/384KHz file is that first ALSA detects a rate greater than the max 192KHz, but does not attempt a sample rate conversion (down sample) because you addressed the DAC as a "hw" device, and it suggests using a plug plugin which basically means addressing the DAC as a "plughw" device. The audio result is as you describe.
But when you use "plughw" in the aplay command, ALSA appears unable to deal with the 384KHz rate, hence no audio ouput.
The one thing you did not show is what happnes in UH2 mode when you use "plughw" in the aplay command. I assume the result is the same as using "plughw" in the aplay command in UH2 mode.
-
The one thing you did not show is what happnes in UH2 mode when you use "plughw" in the aplay command. I assume the result is the same as using "plughw" in the aplay command in UH2 mode.
I assume you meant it would be the same as plughw in UH1 mode, but regardless, your wish is my command. ;)
root@voyage:/mnt/tunes/wav# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 2L384.wav
Playing WAVE '2L384.wav' : Signed 24 bit Little Endian in 3bytes, Rate 384000 Hz, Stereo
aplay: set_params:1116: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS: RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT: S24_3LE
SUBFORMAT: STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 24
FRAME_BITS: 48
CHANNELS: 2
RATE: 384000
PERIOD_TIME: (113776 113777)
PERIOD_SIZE: 43690
PERIOD_BYTES: 262140
PERIODS: (4 5)
BUFFER_TIME: (455109 455110)
BUFFER_SIZE: 174762
BUFFER_BYTES: 1048572
TICK_TIME: 0
UH2 even hates Linux redbook:
root@voyage:/mnt/tunes/wav# aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 ike01.wav
Playing WAVE 'ike01.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo
aplay: set_params:1116: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS: RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT: S16_LE
SUBFORMAT: STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 16
FRAME_BITS: 32
CHANNELS: 2
RATE: 44100
PERIOD_TIME: (125011 125012)
PERIOD_SIZE: 5513
PERIOD_BYTES: 22052
PERIODS: (3 4)
BUFFER_TIME: 500000
BUFFER_SIZE: 22050
BUFFER_BYTES: 88200
TICK_TIME: 0
-
Ouch! UH2 with redbook fails? I wonder what the Zodiac is doing in this mode.
-
Ouch! UH2 with redbook fails? I wonder what the Zodiac is doing in this mode.
Yes, as I stated when this began, UH2 is no go for Alix in any sample rate. No biggie really, in that I was never really expecting greater than 24/192 on Alix, and that UH1 works flawlessly from redbook to 24/192 and every sample rate in between.....but the fact that the MAc easily handles UH2 and is also driverless (i.e no installed drivers, just shows up) is a head scratcher.
-
Hi Ted,
Just because there isn't a separate downloaded usb driver doesn't necessarily mean that the driver wasn't updated as part of an OS upgrade at sometime in the past. After all this, I'm really guessing this is what has happened.
-- Jim
-
....but the fact that the MAc easily handles UH2 and is also driverless (i.e no installed drivers, just shows up) is a head scratcher.
I guess we'd have to say this is one case where OSX has the lead over Linux at the moment. Voayage MPD 0.7 is based on the lastest version of ALSA 1.0.24 and if you look at the changes to USB audio between v1.0.23 and v.1.0.24 as listed here:
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Detailed_changes_v1.0.23_v1.0.24
a quick page search on UAC2 ( USB audio class 2) results in lot of hits. It's clear Linux USB audio is still developing in this, and other areas. With more hirez USB consumer grade solutions becoming available Linux will have to catch up sometime.
-
Antelope help desk just responded that they have a firmware update almost ready that will allow 24/384 (UH2) capability. Stay tuned. :)
-
Antelope help desk just responded that they have a firmware update almost ready that will allow 24/384 (UH2) capability. Stay tuned. :)
That's intriguing, as so far what I've read about Linux, ALSA and UAC2, is that will do up to 24bit/192Khz and not beyond.
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Here is the give and take on my helpdesk dialog with antelope re: USB Class 1 and 2:
Regarding your questions about USB modes and Classes:
USB mode,classes and versions are 3 totally different things.
UH1 mode is Called USB Class 1 because its compliant with USB Audio Class1 (not to be confused with USB VERSION 1.0)
UH2 mode is Called USB Class 2 because its compliant with USB Audio Class2 (not to be confused with USB VERSION 2.0)
so in general terms USB Class 1 IS NOT USB Version 1.0 and/or USB Class 2 IS NOT USB Version 2.0
Thank you
Best regards!
1 Days Ago
tedmbrady -- Yesterday, 1:30 PM
Thanks. I fully understand the differences between USB Class 1 and USB Version 1.0. But isn't it true that USB Class 1 support is only up to 24/96 and 12Mbits? UH1 goes significantly higher.
5 Hours Ago
techsup (Antelope) -- Today, 8:07 AM
Dear Ted,
again USB Class is totally different from USB "Version".So in USB 1.0 you get the 24/96 12Mbits/Sec. But USB Audio Class 1 can be used either in USB 1.0 or USB 2.0.[/b]
I'm not sure I agree with their definitions; maybe it's me.
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Antelope make the correct distinction between "USB audio class" and the more general USB (host to device) spec as in USB 1, USB 2 and now USB 3.
They are also correct to say a "USB audio class 1" device could be used over USB 1 or USB 2, but I would have expected that to max out at 24/96 but as you say it goes higher, which seems odd.
And as you posted from their own docs/manual this is what they write about UH1 and UH2:
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=46668)
Surely, someone somewhere at Antelope has got their wires crossed.
Antelope's email description of UH1 seems to correspond to UF1 in their manual, which leaves me wondering about the rest.
I agree with you, it's a bit of a muddle.
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Here is the give and take on my helpdesk dialog with antelope re: USB Class 1 and 2:
Regarding your questions about USB modes and Classes:
USB mode,classes and versions are 3 totally different things.
UH1 mode is Called USB Class 1 because its compliant with USB Audio Class1 (not to be confused with USB VERSION 1.0)
UH2 mode is Called USB Class 2 because its compliant with USB Audio Class2 (not to be confused with USB VERSION 2.0)
so in general terms USB Class 1 IS NOT USB Version 1.0 and/or USB Class 2 IS NOT USB Version 2.0
Thank you
Best regards!
1 Days Ago
tedmbrady -- Yesterday, 1:30 PM
Thanks. I fully understand the differences between USB Class 1 and USB Version 1.0. But isn't it true that USB Class 1 support is only up to 24/96 and 12Mbits? UH1 goes significantly higher.
5 Hours Ago
techsup (Antelope) -- Today, 8:07 AM
Dear Ted,
again USB Class is totally different from USB "Version".So in USB 1.0 you get the 24/96 12Mbits/Sec. But USB Audio Class 1 can be used either in USB 1.0 or USB 2.0.[/b]
I'm not sure I agree with their definitions; maybe it's me.
Cut and paste this into an email:
Dear Antelope,
You manual states:
"UH1 - USB High Speed Mode (480Mbits). USB Audio Class 1.0 Sample rates upto 192Khz (default)."
Now, can you please tell me how your Antelope DAC decodes 192Khz sampling rates when in USB Audio Class 1.0, when USB Audio Class 1 mode is limited to and cannot decode 96Khz?
Again, I understand the distinction between USB Audio classes (1.0 and 2.0) and USB versions (Fulles Speed, 12Mbits and High Speed, 480Mbits).
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Nick, I did that, but it's basically the same as what I asked in the above helpdesk dialog, midway. But nonetheless I did exactly as you asked. We'll see. ;)
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If anyone is interested in a complete, tested, Alix box, please shoot me a PM. I did it more at a proof of concept and since my system is 6 channels, I am using something else.
I installed Voyage and tested it out and it worked great - and then I boxed it up about ~6 months ago. I'm going through stuff I don't use / need and this is one of those things.
-Jim
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Nick, et al,
Here is Antelope's response to USB Audio classes:
Dear Ted,
as for USB Audio Classes:
Well there isn't actually any Standards for this (Audio Class Transfer Rates and everything), so we can transfer 192Khz,480Mbits/Sec through USB Audio Class 1.0 (through some "secret doors" let's say). It is the same way as transferring 384Khz-480Mbits/Sec through USB Audio Class 2.0. We still can do that also!
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Nick, et al,
Here is Antelope's response to USB Audio classes:
Dear Ted,
as for USB Audio Classes:
Well there isn't actually any Standards for this (Audio Class Transfer Rates and everything), so we can transfer 192Khz,480Mbits/Sec through USB Audio Class 1.0 (through some "secret doors" let's say). It is the same way as transferring 384Khz-480Mbits/Sec through USB Audio Class 2.0. We still can do that also!
Yes, there is a standard. That's why when your device adheres to the standard, it just works. Sounds like their "secret doors" is the problem with working with the standard USB Audio driver.
Personally, I'd return the device as defective. It's not standards compliant as far as I'm concerned and their documentation is vague.
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For folks that are thinking of running the Alix on Battery, I have some observations....
Currently mine is run on the same supply as a DODD Buffer and a Class D amp. When I just ran the Alix with the DODD, I thought I did not have any added noise. As it turns out, there was a little high-pitched whine if the DODD was turned up a LOT.
But, I didn't turn it up enough to notice.
When the Amp was added, it picked up more of this noise so that it is now noticeable. The good news is that I should have a fix in place to tell you guys about in the next week or so ;)
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I might have an opportunity to acquire a Sokeris board for a very decent price. This board differs from the alix 2d2 and 3d2 as it has a PCI slot. Should I try a Juli@ PCI card or one of the Asus sonar cards. They both will do 24/192 analog out. I was curious to see how well it sounded compared to my QB-9. The whole kit would be under $300.
Anybody interested in hearing it? I could arrange for some kind of pass around within the group.
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I might have an opportunity to acquire a Sokeris board for a very decent price. This board differs from the alix 2d2 and 3d2 as it has a PCI slot. Should I try a Juli@ PCI card or one of the Asus sonar cards. They both will do 24/192 analog out. I was curious to see how well it sounded compared to my QB-9. The whole kit would be under $300.
Anybody interested in hearing it? I could arrange for some kind of pass around within the group.
I had a Juli@ for a while in my main PC and was impressed by the sound. The Bryston BDP-1 seems to be doing well (getting good reviews) using it and Voyage.
Which Soekris board are you looking to get?
-Jim
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IIRC the ESI juli@ only goes to 24/192 on coax out and is limited to 24/96 on optical out. Hence the mods you see on the Bryston and Auralti to bypass the break out cable you would otherwise have to use.
I think I'm right in saying while the ESI juli@ has separate xtals for the 44Khz and 48Khz families while the ASUS cards do not.
But are you thinking of using the analogue out of either card?
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For folks that are thinking of running the Alix on Battery, I have some observations....
Currently mine is run on the same supply as a DODD Buffer and a Class D amp. When I just ran the Alix with the DODD, I thought I did not have any added noise. As it turns out, there was a little high-pitched whine if the DODD was turned up a LOT.
These were my findings as well. I would be very interested in finding a way to run the Dodd and Alix on the same battery supply without generating noise in the system. If you come up with a fix please let us know.
Best,
Ed
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I had a Juli@ for a while in my main PC and was impressed by the sound. The Bryston BDP-1 seems to be doing well (getting good reviews) using it and Voyage.
Which Soekris board are you looking to get?
A used net4801 with 128mb RAM.
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Will the Audio GD Digital Interface work with the Alix box? I am currently running a John Keny Modified Boxed HiFace MKII. As most of you already know, the M2Tech drivers don't like Linux based stuff.
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/USBface/Digital1EN.htm
Thanks,
Randy
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But are you thinking of using the analogue out of either card?
Yes. Could be a nice low cost server/DAC unit for someone who can't afford a high end DAC but has the technical know-how to put together a Voyage system.
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Will the Audio GD Digital Interface work with the Alix box? I am currently running a John Keny Modified Boxed HiFace MKII. As most of you already know, the M2Tech drivers don't like Linux based stuff.
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/USBface/Digital1EN.htm
It does work. The device has some kind of USB mixer so you have to remember to set its volume to 100% max for best sound quality.
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Hi Nick,
I may be interested in this, or at least what others find out, but foir a slightly different reason. I've now got an Audiophilleo AP2 converter to use with my AudioGD NFB-2, so I'd still use USB for the dac interface, but I'm wondering if there is a firewire 800 card that would work in the slot on this new board, and that way a self-contained linux based music player could be built quite economically -- something that may be a lot easier for some folks to deal with since they won't have to fret too much about network files, etc. May even possibly be a performance jump as well.
-- Jim
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It does work. The device has some kind of USB mixer so you have to remember to set its volume to 100% max for best sound quality.
Thanks :thumb:
Randy
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Hi Nick,
I may be interested in this, or at least what others find out, but foir a slightly different reason. I've now got an Audiophilleo AP2 converter to use with my AudioGD NFB-2, so I'd still use USB for the dac interface, but I'm wondering if there is a firewire 800 card that would work in the slot on this new board, and that way a self-contained linux based music player could be built quite economically -- something that may be a lot easier for some folks to deal with since they won't have to fret too much about network files, etc. May even possibly be a performance jump as well.
-- Jim
Jim,
Can you elaborate? The Audiophilleo AP2 is a USB t S/PDIF interface, no? Why do you want to use a FireWire card in the PCI slot? For a firewire drive?
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Nick,
Yes, so it could be a stand-alone box with local storage in the form of an external FW drive. Much like I'm running my mac mini right now.
Problem is that there seems to be a number of variations on the pci slots and I really can't tell the differences between them and which cards will work in what kinds of slots, and of course I don't know what type of slot is on this new board.
-- Jim
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Nick,
Yes, so it could be a stand-alone box with local storage in the form of an external FW drive. Much like I'm running my mac mini right now.
Problem is that there seems to be a number of variations on the pci slots and I really can't tell the differences between them and which cards will work in what kinds of slots, and of course I don't know what type of slot is on this new board.
The Alix could be done with mini-PCI SATA and a eSATA connector. Updating the database would be very fast compared to the Bryston, which is done over USB.
Would an Alix SATA version, setup with Voyage pre-installed be more interesting? When I say "setup" and pre-installed, meaning the mpd.conf is pre-edited so that one only needs to connect a eSATA disk and it gets mounted automatically. You'll still need an ethernet connection to control mpd, though.
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Nick,
Problem is that there seems to be a number of variations on the pci slots and I really can't tell the differences between them and which cards will work in what kinds of slots, and of course I don't know what type of slot is on this new board.
PCi cards are keyed for 5v or 3.3v volt signaling. The Soekris is keyed (notch is closer to PCI bracket, IIRC) for 3.3 volt signaling.
Look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_%28bus%29
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Would an Alix SATA version, setup with Voyage pre-installed be more interesting? When I say "setup" and pre-installed, meaning the mpd.conf is pre-edited so that one only needs to connect a eSATA disk and it gets mounted automatically. You'll still need an ethernet connection to control mpd, though.
That would be very cool, and ready for the non-Linux masses. Serious business idea, frankly. :)
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Would an Alix SATA version, setup with Voyage pre-installed be more interesting?
Yes, absolutely. and I have all the necessary parts to do this in a unified enclosure with the power supply included as well. As for the disc interface, as long as it is different than the dac interface, and local, if the experiments I've done with my mini are indication, should be better than pulling the music files off the lan. Understood that the lan connection is still needed for control.
Actually, the enclosure I have is plenty large enough for the alix, power supply, some extra filtering/regulators, and a disc drive with it's own regulated 5v power supply (r whatever voltage it requires.
I just started on a smaller box for a linear psu with additional regulators this morning and that will have the alix mounted on top and will use the standard setup, pulling the music files off the NAS.
Thanks,
Jim
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Ted,
Exactly! Ready for the masses, plug and play, etc. Plug in the box, connect the network cable, setup your iPod/Pad or whatever, connect dac or usb-spdif converter, upload files, listen.
-- Jim
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I guess any "minimalist" advantages will be tested here. Now we are asking the machine to do more, a step toward the "other" multitasking server architectures out there. I'd hate to push it too far.
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Well, maybe a bit, but as I said, with the mini (which obviously has far more going on, the differencebetween a local drive and pulling the files off the network is quite noticeable.
But, that's why the experimentation. I'll have one box setup in the same configuration as folks here have been using, and another, essentially identical setup but with a local music drive.
-- Jim
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OK, I clearly don't know what I'm saying here..but humor me...
If Voyage MPD is looking for the files via the network anyway (as opposed to the Mac Mini whose default is likely local) then are we possibly presenting the same labor load regardless if the network is LAN or eSata? Anyway...this is cool stuff, and any way to make a configuration-for-the-masses would be very welcome I would think.
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Ted,
Well, I believe so, but there will be some additional overhead for another device, but how much, I don't know yet.
-- Jim
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OK, I clearly don't know what I'm saying here..but humor me...
If Voyage MPD is looking for the files via the network anyway (as opposed to the Mac Mini whose default is likely local) then are we possibly presenting the same labor load regardless if the network is LAN or eSata? Anyway...this is cool stuff, and any way to make a configuration-for-the-masses would be very welcome I would think.
No. The devil is in the details. MPD, i.e., the server daemon on the Alix only needs to know where the files are. The MPD client only needs to know the I.P address of MPD to start controlling it.
If we did a eSATA or Firewire version of this server, then we only need to have mpd.conf point to /media, where the SATA SSD or HDD would get mounted.
There are also a couple of small details to figure out as well. Like, where do keep the database and other files? On a separate, writable partition on the compact flash or on the SSD/HDD?
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Has anyone tried the Xmos board with Voyage MPD? I installed the latest Live iso to a thumb drive and tried it on an Atom-based netbook, but wasn't able to get the Xmos board working. It showed up in Alsa, but mpd failed to open the interface. I'm not sure whether this is a simple matter of getting the output settings correct in mpd, or if there is another problem.
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Hi everybody.
I would like to make a little contribution to the thread.
I found two "almost" new motherboards from Intel that might work.
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/db-D525MW/D525MW-overview.htm
and
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/db-d425kt/D425KT-overview.htm
Hope you like them.
RGDS
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Has anyone tried the Xmos board with Voyage MPD? I installed the latest Live iso to a thumb drive and tried it on an Atom-based netbook, but wasn't able to get the Xmos board working. It showed up in Alsa, but mpd failed to open the interface. I'm not sure whether this is a simple matter of getting the output settings correct in mpd, or if there is another problem.
What's the output of of aplay -l? How is your alsa output section configured in mpd.conf?
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Hi everybody.
I would like to make a little contribution to the thread.
I found two "almost" new motherboards from Intel that might work.
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/db-D525MW/D525MW-overview.htm
and
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/db-d425kt/D425KT-overview.htm
Hope you like them.
RGDS
They should work just fine. But personally I try to avoid "desktop" boards that come loaded with superfluous components (VGA, parallel port, IDE, etc.etc.) and needs an ATX switching supply.
If you like the board though, by all means. And, let us know how it sounds.
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I guess any "minimalist" advantages will be tested here. Now we are asking the machine to do more, a step toward the "other" multitasking server architectures out there. I'd hate to push it too far.
Not really. Its still the same basic machine but the "output" goes through the PCI soundcard vs. USB.
Still not a server.
-Jim
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PCi cards are keyed for 5v or 3.3v volt signaling. The Soekris is keyed (notch is closer to PCI bracket, IIRC) for 3.3 volt signaling.
Look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_%28bus%29
nyc_paramedic, has this Soekris been successfully used with the Juli@? Seems like a really cool all-in-one network playback machine. Just point it to your music and you're good to go.
-Jim
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nyc_paramedic, has this Soekris been successfully used with the Juli@? Seems like a really cool all-in-one network playback machine. Just point it to your music and you're good to go.
-Jim
Not that I'm aware of. And honestly, with other things going on I might not have the time.
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Has anyone tried the Xmos board with Voyage MPD? I installed the latest Live iso to a thumb drive and tried it on an Atom-based netbook, but wasn't able to get the Xmos board working. It showed up in Alsa, but mpd failed to open the interface. I'm not sure whether this is a simple matter of getting the output settings correct in mpd, or if there is another problem.
It took me some time and frustration before I realized that mpd needs to run as user with audio privileges. Please verify that the user that runs mpd is member of the audio group.
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Not that I'm aware of. And honestly, with other things going on I might not have the time.
If I can score a used Juli@ and Soekris, I want to give this a shot. Since we're in the same city, maybe we can combine forces to tackle this.
-Jim
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If I can score a used Juli@ and Soekris, I want to give this a shot. Since we're in the same city, maybe we can combine forces to tackle this.
I scored a nice used Soekris. Let me know if you can get your hands on a Juli@.
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I scored a nice used Soekris. Let me know if you can get your hands on a Juli@.
Nice! And, will do on the Juli@ front.
-Jim
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These were my findings as well. I would be very interested in finding a way to run the Dodd and Alix on the same battery supply without generating noise in the system. If you come up with a fix please let us know.
Best,
Ed
I am currently running a PI Audio BatteryBuss and I would say 95% of the noise is eliminated. If I stop the music and turn my Dodd Buffer to full volume I can hear the noise, but that is the only way. At listening volume, whether the music is stopped or playing, nothing ;)
It is great!
Next question, has anyone tried putting the Alix in another case? (either case in a case, or move the board over)
I am thinking of making a case for the Alix to match the rest of my 2-channel set-up...
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I am currently running a PI Audio BatteryBuss and I would say 95% of the noise is eliminated. If I stop the music and turn my Dodd Buffer to full volume I can hear the noise, but that is the only way. At listening volume, whether the music is stopped or playing, nothing ;)
It is great!
Next question, has anyone tried putting the Alix in another case? (either case in a case, or move the board over)
I am thinking of making a case for the Alix to match the rest of my 2-channel set-up...
That is good to hear, thanks for the update!
Best,
Ed
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I am currently running a PI Audio BatteryBuss and I would say 95% of the noise is eliminated. If I stop the music and turn my Dodd Buffer to full volume I can hear the noise, but that is the only way. At listening volume, whether the music is stopped or playing, nothing ;)
It is great!
Next question, has anyone tried putting the Alix in another case? (either case in a case, or move the board over)
I am thinking of making a case for the Alix to match the rest of my 2-channel set-up...
I'm currently using a Keces DC-115 to power the Alix and it made a substantial difference in reducing noise and improving clarity. My pre, amp and DCX all run through a Majik Buss. I've also switched cases but I used a black case I ordered from PC Engines so it was a pretty simple move.
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Ted,
Good to hear about the Pi B buss. I have a Rev B for my source, amps, etc. and it made a huge difference in the system, though I won't be running the alix on batteries, I'm contemplating the B-buss for the mini and Dodd buffer in my main system when I decide to jump in (and when funds are available).
I will be reboxing one of my alix boards though, and for noise shielding reasons, will probably keep it in the original box, so a box in a box approach, but the box will also have a welborne power supply, a felix, and a bybee music rail, though I'm not going to pursue the internal hard drive music storage at this time. That will have to be yet another project at some point when I have time and money to buy the necessary hardware and do the testing.
Good luck,
Jim
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^^^^Sounds great, thanks!
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I am currently running a PI Audio BatteryBuss and I would say 95% of the noise is eliminated. If I stop the music and turn my Dodd Buffer to full volume I can hear the noise, but that is the only way. At listening volume, whether the music is stopped or playing, nothing ;)
It is great!
Next question, has anyone tried putting the Alix in another case? (either case in a case, or move the board over)
I am thinking of making a case for the Alix to match the rest of my 2-channel set-up...
Ted, as soon as I get all of the current batch shipped out, I will be making some B-BUSS to computer cables and B-BUSS to Dodd Buffer cables to kill the rest of the crosstalk noise. Those switchers are just N A S T Y and don't like other switchers on the same power source. We can just trade the cables at your leisure. I'll let you know when they are done.
Dave
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Awesome Dave! I need to call you or talk because I am getting weird stuff and I need someone like you (smarter than me) to ask about it ;)
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I have an Alix computer with a CF card that has Voyage pre-installed on it. I have many computers and laptops with various Windows operating systems. I have an old PC in my basement running Windows XP that I use to run Squeezebox Server and share files as well as store my FLAC music directory.
Is anyone willing to help me get this Alix up and running? I'm a Linux noob, but I used to be very good with computers, even back to the DOS days. I want to learn Linux and I do have a friend out of state that will help me this weekend. I'm just interested in getting started as soon as possible.
I have used Putty in the past to access a previous Linux NAS I used to run some years ago. Would I still use that to access the Alix? Can the Alix access my FLAC directory on my Windows XP machine?
Thanks.
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Terry,
Hey. That's Jason's Alix you bought, right? Cool.
Get WinSCP too. It will allow you to access the file/folder structures from your Windows XP desktop. And yes, putty will allow you to talk to Alix (terminal/console stuff). That's what I do. And yes, you can access the Windows XP folders for your music..but for me that was the trickiest part, to get the network drive mapped, get the permissions right, and know the name to give Alix in the config files.
I'm a Linux newbie too, so my direction is 100% from memory, not from any real expertise. PM me your email and I'll send you a a couple Windows screen shots to show you what I have. But Mike (MGalusha), Tom (TomS) and especially Nick (nyc_paramedic) will be your best hope here; at least they were for me. :) There may be more experience on the forum now, though.
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Terry,
Hey. That's Jason's Alix you bought, right? Cool.
Get WinSCP too. It will allow you to access the file/folder structures from your Windows XP desktop. And yes, putty will allow you to talk to Alix (terminal/console stuff). That's what I do. And yes, you can access the Windows XP folders for your music..but for me that was the trickiest part, to get the network drive mapped, get the permissions right, and know the name to give Alix in the config files.
I'm a Linux newbie too, so my direction is 100% from memory, not from any real expertise. PM me your email and I'll send you a a couple Windows screen shots to show you what I have. But Mike (MGalusha), Tom (TomS) and especially Nick (nyc_paramedic) will be your best hope here; at least they were for me. :) There may be more experience on the forum now, though.
Thanks Ted. And yes, this is Jason's Alix as we briefly discussed via PM. I was VERY hesitant to try this, but Jason gave a great deal, and I really want to start playing with Linux. More so, I hope this Alix setup works out as I really need a "better" source and DAC.
I don't want to be a pain to anyone, but some help would be appreciated. Having Voyage pre-installed should make this whole thing a lot easier.
PM'ing you my email address...
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Just as an FYI Voyage was installed at the same time as Ted's card was by mgalusha. :thumb:
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Just as an FYI Voyage was installed at the same time as Ted's card was by mgalusha. :thumb:
Thanks Jason. :)
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Jim,
Yes, there is plenty of help here. As Ted said, you need Putty and WinSCP and you're good to go for configuration since your card is already built for you. The basics are that you'll need to edit "mpd.conf" on Alix with WinSCP to adjust any settings and point the Alix to the source of music files. You'll also need to edit "fstab" to ensure the file connection to your music that "mpd.conf" references is established when Alix boots. The rest depends on the other end where your files are actually stored. If it's Linux then the "exports" file can be used there to expose the correct directory path from the Linux file store to the Alix MPD player.
Tom
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Jim,
Yes, there is plenty of help here. As Ted said, you need Putty and WinSCP and you're good to go for configuration since your card is already built for you. The basics are that you'll need to edit "mpd.conf" on Alix with WinSCP to adjust any settings and point the Alix to the source of music files. You'll also need to edit "fstab" to ensure the file connection to your music that "mpd.conf" references is established when Alix boots. The rest depends on the other end where your files are actually stored. If it's Linux then the "exports" file can be used there to expose the correct directory path from the Linux file store to the Alix MPD player.
Tom
Tom,
I think you meant "Terry" and not "Jim".
I know there is a lot of help here, I really appreciate this forum for that. It's just tough sometimes to help the complete noob. I've been there, I know. I still try to do it because of the help I get too.
One thing to consider is that I realize this stuff is VERY simple. That is *IF* you've done it before. I have not played with Linux for years, and I'm disappointed that I remember so little. I didn't even remember that I used to use Putty until I googled SSH and telnet. As soon as I saw Putty, I remembered that's what I used to use.
I know I use Putty to communicate to the Alix, but what does WinSCP do exactly?
My FLAC files are located on a partition (M:) in a directory called "Music". That partition is ONLY for my FLAC files and nothing else.
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:oops: sorry about that Terry. My apologies.
WinSCP is a Windows based tool that lets you view the Voyage Linux files on the Alix in a familiar Windows like tree structure, see properties, etc. The main thing is that you can simply double click on a Linux file such as "mpd.conf" or "fstab", edit it in place, and then write it back to Voyage Linux on the Alix in place. You need Putty to do things at the Linux command line such as add a user (for MPD to run as), change the CF card to mount it as read/write (since default is read only), etc. You can do the same things from a command line with Putty as WinSCP, except WinSCP makes it much quicker. It also allows you to drag and drop files if necessary.
In terms of Windows as the music server, I'm using Linux and OSX here, so I'll defer to Mike and Ted on how to get that working. I'd assume you can just mount an SMB share (Windows) and be good to go though.
Tom
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:oops: sorry about that Terry. My apologies.
WinSCP is a Windows based tool that lets you view the Voyage Linux files on the Alix in a familiar Windows like tree structure, see properties, etc. The main thing is that you can simply double click on a Linux file such as "mpd.conf" or "fstab", edit it in place, and then write it back to Voyage Linux on the Alix in place. You need Putty to do things at the Linux command line such as add a user (for MPD to run as), change the CF card to mount it as read/write (since default is read only), etc. You can do the same things from a command line with Putty as WinSCP, except WinSCP makes it much quicker. It also allows you to drag and drop files if necessary.
In terms of Windows as the music server, I'm using Linux and OSX here, so I'll defer to Mike and Ted on how to get that working. I'd assume you can just mount an SMB share (Windows) and be good to go though.
Tom
Absolutely no apologies necessary! Thanks though.
I appreciate the information. Things are MUCH clearer now.
I'm in the process of booting the Alix and figuring out what its IP address is. Then I want to make it static.
As far as my server goes, I'm only running Windows because it was easy. The machine is running very slowly as it's been running for about 2 years with only the occasional reboot after power outages and manual reboots. It could very well be switched over to Linux as part of my learning process.
Thanks for the help thus far!
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Absolutely no apologies necessary! Thanks though.
I appreciate the information. Things are MUCH clearer now.
I'm in the process of booting the Alix and figuring out what its IP address is. Then I want to make it static.
As far as my server goes, I'm only running Windows because it was easy. The machine is running very slowly as it's been running for about 2 years with only the occasional reboot after power outages and manual reboots. It could very well be switched over to Linux as part of my learning process.
Thanks for the help thus far!
I'd say if the server works reliably don't mess with it.
In terms of the IP address sometimes it's easier to just set up the router to pass a specific address to it, based on MAC address of the device. It just depends on what the router lets you do. That way major upgrades on the device that walk on the configuring you've done in a prior version won't affect it. I actually have 3 CF cards, one with my "baseline" Voyage MPD, another with 0.7 and a new one now with 7.5 which I haven't tested. I just plug them in and the router knows to give it the same address.
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I'd say if the server works reliably don't mess with it.
In terms of the IP address sometimes it's easier to just set up the router to pass a specific address to it, based on MAC address of the device. It just depends on what the router lets you do. That way major upgrades on the device that walk on the configuring you've done in a prior version won't affect it. I actually have 3 CF cards, one with my "baseline" Voyage MPD, another with 0.7 and a new one now with 7.5 which I haven't tested. I just plug them in and the router knows to give it the same address.
I will take your advise and leave well enough alone for now regarding the server.
I powered up the Alix and I have a heartbeat flashing LED, so I assume it's working properly. I couldn't get Putty to work, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong there, and I have a bunch of router issues as well. I don't seem capable of even doing the things I thought I knew how to do.
Not a good day thus far...
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I will take your advise and leave well enough alone for now regarding the server.
I powered up the Alix and I have a heartbeat flashing LED, so I assume it's working properly. I couldn't get Putty to work, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong there, and I have a bunch of router issues as well. I don't seem capable of even doing the things I thought I knew how to do.
Not a good day thus far...
That's ok, baby steps will still get it done. With Putty you want to open an SSH session on port 22 with "root" as user and "voyage" as password. That should get you in.
Not sure about the router. By default it likely uses DHCP to pass out an available IP address such as 192.168.1.xxx to the Alix. That will work fine, at least until the next time you add/delete devices on the router and reboot Alix for some reason.
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That's ok, baby steps will still get it done. With Putty you want to open an SSH session on port 22 with "root" as user and "voyage" as password. That should get you in.
Not sure about the router. By default it likely uses DHCP to pass out an available IP address such as 192.168.1.xxx to the Alix. That will work fine, at least until the next time you add/delete devices on the router and reboot Alix for some reason.
Thanks for the info.
When I launch Putty, I get a setup screen. It is set to SSH on port 22 and all I can enter is the host name or IP address. I assume this is the IP address assigned to the Alix (192.168.1.100). When I enter that IP address, I get an error that states "network error, connection refused".
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Ok, I recovered. I've logged into the Alix with Putty. I had to use my desktop to do it. No big deal.
Now I don't know what to do next...
Baby steps it is. :lol:
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You'll need IP address and path to the Windows share where your music is. Then just to test your connection you're going to have to mount that share from Voyage. Once mounted to a directory on Alix you can "cd" to that directory and do an "ls -l" command to find out if the Alix has rights and can see it.
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You'll need IP address and path to the Windows share where your music is. Then just to test your connection you're going to have to mount that share from Voyage. Once mounted to a directory on Alix you can "cd" to that directory and do an "ls -l" command to find out if the Alix has rights and can see it.
The machine that has my FLAC files on it has a static IP address, so that part is easy. What I don't understand how to do is get the Alix to have a static IP address so it never changes. I'll have to call my ISP tomorrow about that one as I'm using their DSL modem/router.
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To do it from Voyage you can edit the /etc/network/interfaces file with WinSCP and just change the parameters for eth0 to your own IP such as 192.168.1.110 or something that's not used on your network.
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To do it from Voyage you can edit the /etc/network/interfaces file with WinSCP and just change the parameters for eth0 to your own IP such as 192.168.1.110 or something that's not used on your network.
A little more info here, just substitute your own addresses http://list.voyage.hk/pipermail/voyage-linux/2007-November/010221.html (http://list.voyage.hk/pipermail/voyage-linux/2007-November/010221.html)
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Terry,
Don't worry, it will come back quicker thhan you think. I too was very used to linux about 10 years ago and used almost exclusively through grad school, but when I dove into this project I felt like I was starting from scratch. I eventually figured out enough to work around some documentation and procedural errors in installing the NF client on my NAS box, so I'm sure you'll get thoug this too. Ted B. had no experience and he got it going with help from Tom, Nick and Mike, and as soon as I'm done with my power supply, I'll be diving back in with the alix itself. Nowhere near ready to help you or others at this point yet.
-- Jim
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Thanks again. I'll work on this tonight.
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Terry,
Don't worry, it will come back quicker thhan you think. I too was very used to linux about 10 years ago and used almost exclusively through grad school, but when I dove into this project I felt like I was starting from scratch. I eventually figured out enough to work around some documentation and procedural errors in installing the NF client on my NAS box, so I'm sure you'll get thoug this too. Ted B. had no experience and he got it going with help from Tom, Nick and Mike, and as soon as I'm done with my power supply, I'll be diving back in with the alix itself. Nowhere near ready to help you or others at this point yet.
-- Jim
I'm not feeling too good about all of this right now, but it is getting better. I think I understand more of what I need to do. Ted sent me some screen shots and info to work from. I'm going to try and fight my way through that tonight and tomorrow when I get more time.
It's funny how the most simple thing can stop you with this stuff.
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You'll need IP address and path to the Windows share where your music is. Then just to test your connection you're going to have to mount that share from Voyage. Once mounted to a directory on Alix you can "cd" to that directory and do an "ls -l" command to find out if the Alix has rights and can see it.
I have my Alix's IP address as static and it's seen on my normal network. I have, and used, both Putty and WinSCP. I have edited my fstab file, but I don't think I'm doing it correctly as I'm not sure I have the share path correct. How do I know exactly what it is? The PC has a static IP address, so that I have.
So this would be the next baby step, right?
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I have my Alix's IP address as static and it's seen on my normal network. I have, and used, both Putty and WinSCP. I have edited my fstab file, but I don't think I'm doing it correctly as I'm not sure I have the share path correct. How do I know exactly what it is? The PC has a static IP address, so that I have.
Are you going to use CIFS? Can we see the text of you fstab? I've never set up an Alix using Windows. I don't even have access to a Windows machine. I do know that a few people have setup Alix with CIFS and Windows machine. Now if I can only remember who...
So this would be the next baby step, right?
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I don't even know what CIFS is. Ted (using Windows) is helping me by giving me screen shots and files from his setup, but I see conflicting information and it's confusing me. I've learned enough to be dangerous at this point. I think I understand what needs to be done, but I'm missing key pieces to the puzzle. I've tried a lot of things, but I know I'm doing it wrong.
So here is a list of things I think I'm doing wrong:
1. I don't have my own user name and password on the Alix. I'm still using "root" and "voyage". Is that wrong?
2. I changed my network shares today. I had some weird names, so I simplified them. The machine I use as a server is running Windows XP. It's name is "SERVER" and the shared drive name is "Media". My FLAC files are all sitting in a directory called "Music".
3. I think I need some directories on my server's shared drive. Directories like "mpd", "playlists", and whatever else?
4. I created a user on the server machine as "mpduser" with a password of "mpduser" and that user is logged in. I don't know if that's correct or not.
5. The only lines I added to fstab are:
//192.168.0.50/Media /mnt/tunes smbfs
user=mpduser,pass=mpduser,uid=103,gid=29 0 0
I was trying to follow Ted's fstab structure from what I understood from his screen shots.
6. I have not edited the mpd.conf file yet.
I'm sorry guys. I'm starting to think I shouldn't have gotten myself into this. :oops:
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Terry, you are doing fine, and it has not been very long, just a couple days really (took me almost 3 weeks). Don't panic. Here are my dangerously inept answers:
1) Root and voyage are correct.
3) MPD is the only folder I needed to create on my shared drive other than my music folders, which were there
4) My Windows machine has a user called mpduser with a password of mpduser, but I never actually log in physically with it. i just made sure it has the correct permissions.
6) I can't imagine much happening until mpdconfig is edited. You know to run putty and make sure you are in read/write mode when editing fstab or mpconfig.
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1. I don't have my own user name and password on the Alix. I'm still using "root" and "voyage". Is that wrong?
Just create the same account user "mpduser" and password "mpduser". There is an entry in mpd.conf that refers to this that you'll need to edit at some point.
2. I changed my network shares today. I had some weird names, so I simplified them. The machine I use as a server is running Windows XP. It's name is "SERVER" and the shared drive name is "Media". My FLAC files are all sitting in a directory called "Music".
Your Alix mount command can refer to the server as either //SERVER/ or //192.168.0.50/ as the beginning of the path name. You'd need the whole path to your "Music" directory so //SERVER/Media/Music ??
3. I think I need some directories on my server's shared drive. Directories like "mpd", "playlists", and whatever else?
Those are all you need at the same level as "Music" in the directory tree.
4. I created a user on the server machine as "mpduser" with a password of "mpduser" and that user is logged in. I don't know if that's correct or not.
Correct
5. The only lines I added to fstab are:
//192.168.0.50/Media /mnt/tunes smbfs
user=mpduser,pass=mpduser,uid=103,gid=29 0 0
This is the one I'm not sure about as I don't have a Windows box working to check it. This might make sense:
//192.168.0.50/Media/Music /mnt/tunes cifs defaults 0 0
6. I have not edited the mpd.conf file yet.
The are only a few entries to fix up once you're sure you can see the server properly from Voyage command line and the fstab entry works on re-boot.
I'm sorry guys. I'm starting to think I shouldn't have gotten myself into this. :oops:
It's ok, you're not stuck in the swamp just yet :thumb:
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Oh, if you refer to /mnt/tunes you will need to create that directory on Voyage. As Ted mentioned the FIRST thing to do is "remountrw" which allows you to write to the CF card. To create that directory just move to the mnt directory with "cd /mnt" and then "mkdir tunes" to create the directory "tunes" at /mnt/tunes.
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Thanks Ted and Tom. You guys are really great and I can't thank you enough for the help.
Your posts are making me think I'm scary close to having this working. I'll run through your posts carefully and give you updates.
Working on it now...
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When you get ready for mpd.conf this blog has some great info http://cheap-silent-usb-linux-music-server.blogspot.com/ (http://cheap-silent-usb-linux-music-server.blogspot.com/)
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I think I have a problem. When I rebooted the Alix, I don't get the heartbeat LED any more. The left LED is on steady and I can't access the Alix with Putty or WinSCP.
All I did was make that "tunes" directory under /mnt, and edit the fstab file to what Tom suggested. Did I screw something up? Is this thing now dead?
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:o
Actually, my LED stays on too, but the board is working just fine. Creating a directory under /mnt shouldn't cause any problem. I wouldn't think fstab problem would just cause it to hang on boot up either. hmmm, might need Nick to jump in here.
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:o
Actually, my LED stays on too, but the board is working just fine. Creating a directory under /mnt shouldn't cause any problem. I wouldn't think fstab problem would just cause it to hang on boot up either. hmmm, might need Nick to jump in here.
Well this sucks. I've rebooted the thing 10 times with the exact same results.
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Try giving it a little more time, at least a few minutes, in case something is hanging and it actually times out.
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Try giving it a little more time, at least a few minutes, in case something is hanging and it actually times out.
In the process of doing that now...
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I've done everything I can think of, and the Alix won't respond. The Alix starts up, but instead of getting the heartbeat flashing LED, the LED is on steady. When I attempt to use Putty, I get the following message: "Network Error: Connection Refused"
So it looks like this is over...
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I've done everything I can think of, and the Alix won't respond. The Alix starts up, but instead of getting the heartbeat flashing LED, the LED is on steady. When I attempt to use Putty, I get the following message: "Network Error: Connection Refused"
So it looks like this is over...
Do you have access to another Linux box? You would then mount the CF card and edit any necessary files from there.
I could probably help you with a fresh CF card image or just fixing your Alix here but unfortunately I'm on a very heavy travel schedule starting next Thursday for a few weeks.
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Do you have access to another Linux box? You would then mount the CF card and edit any necessary files from there.
I could probably help you with a fresh CF card image or just fixing your Alix here but unfortunately I'm on a very heavy travel schedule starting next Thursday for a few weeks.
Tom,
I don't have another Linux box. I don't know anyone locally either.
I would be grateful for any help you are willing to give, no matter how long it takes. As I see it, if you don't help me, this thing is going in the box and in the basement, or maybe up for sale to someone that can handle this better than me.
I'm willing to do anything at this point. I do have 2 CF cards. One has Voyage on it, and I think the other is blank (FYI).
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Tom,
I don't have another Linux box. I don't know anyone locally either.
I would be grateful for any help you are willing to give, no matter how long it takes. As I see it, if you don't help me, this thing is going in the box and in the basement, or maybe up for sale to someone that can handle this better than me.
I'm willing to do anything at this point. I do have 2 CF cards. One has Voyage on it, and I think the other is blank (FYI).
I suspect it is something on the card configuration that has it hung, not the Alix hardware itself. Just send me an email or PM me and we can probably work something out to get you going. As hard as it is to believe, it's definitely worth it :thumb:
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I suspect it is something on the card configuration that has it hung, not the Alix hardware itself. Just send me an email or PM me and we can probably work something out to get you going. As hard as it is to believe, it's definitely worth it :thumb:
PM'ing you now.
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I think I have a problem. When I rebooted the Alix, I don't get the heartbeat LED any more. The left LED is on steady and I can't access the Alix with Putty or WinSCP.
All I did was make that "tunes" directory under /mnt, and edit the fstab file to what Tom suggested. Did I screw something up? Is this thing now dead?
You probably edited fstab incorrectly. Most likely did not enter a carriage return after the last line. Now Voyage can't the file system.
If you have a CF card reader you could mount the card on a Windows, Mac or Linux machine to edit fstab correctly.
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You probably edited fstab incorrectly. Most likely did not enter a carriage return after the last line. Now Voyage can't the file system.
If you have a CF card reader you could mount the card on a Windows, Mac or Linux machine to edit fstab correctly.
I'll go buy a reader today if you are willing to help me through how to fix this. You're probably right about what happened. I was in a hurry to make progress. It's funny how I did this on the 15th time I edited that file. Oh well.
I'll go get a reader in an hour or so.
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I'll go buy a reader today if you are willing to help me through how to fix this. You're probably right about what happened. I was in a hurry to make progress. It's funny how I did this on the 15th time I edited that file. Oh well.
I'll go get a reader in an hour or so.
I didn't think to edit it with Windows. Maybe you already have a slot on a printer or an old camera card reader? That's what I use for all of my cards.
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I didn't think to edit it with Windows. Maybe you already have a slot on a printer or an old camera card reader? That's what I use for all of my cards.
One of my printers does have a CF card reader on it. I also just returned from the store with a USB reader as well, so I'm ready either way.
I just plugged the CF card into the printer and it popped up on the screen of the printer with an error (expected as it's Linux). What do I do now?
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I edited fstab and mpconfig with Winscp freeware on my Windows desktop (a utility i recommended initially). Why a CF reader needed?
Ooops, on second thought if you can't connect via Windows you can't edit. Duh! :duh:
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One of my printers does have a CF card reader on it. I also just returned from the store with a USB reader as well, so I'm ready either way.
I just plugged the CF card into the printer and it popped up on the screen of the printer with an error (expected as it's Linux). What do I do now?
I have to run out, but this might help: http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=reading+ext3+in+windows&aq=1sx&aqi=g-sx5&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=584da38dc87e051e&biw=1270&bih=778
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One of my printers does have a CF card reader on it. I also just returned from the store with a USB reader as well, so I'm ready either way.
I just plugged the CF card into the printer and it popped up on the screen of the printer with an error (expected as it's Linux). What do I do now?
Once you have the Alix talking again, don't worry about modifying the fstab file until you're sure the mount works properly from the command line, then you can lock it down in fstab which is used at reboot time. Also, you can then modify the fstab file and use a "mount -a" command to just read fstab for testing without actually committing it (and reverse changes if it doesn't work) until you're ready to reboot.
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Once you have the Alix talking again, don't worry about modifying the fstab file until you're sure the mount works properly from the command line, then you can lock it down in fstab which is used at reboot time. Also, you can then modify the fstab file and use a "mount -a" command to just read fstab for testing without actually committing it (and reverse changes if it doesn't work) until you're ready to reboot.
I have had no luck with reading the CF card with Windows, so I gave up. By chance, my friend called to see how I was doing and we talked. He has me downloading a bootable Linux CD that will allow me to edit the fstab file. He also told me about the mount -a command which I will be doing from now on!
Hopefully I'll be up and running within the hour. When I am, I need to go back to figuring out the correct fstab commands to see my Windows share.
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I have Ubuntu running on my main PC from a boot CD. I can see and navigate to my CF card and view my fstab file. The problem is that it's read only. What can I do?
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It's back up and running. I can't believe what it took to get it to work...
I downloaded and ran Ubuntu from a bootable CD on my main Windows machine. I had to add a keyboard shortcut to the terminal. I navigated to the CF, and ultimately the fstab file. Since it was read-only, I couldn't do anything. Then I found the "sudo su" command (why I was in a terminal window in the first place) and I was able to edit and save the fstab file.
I have to say, I'm a little proud of myself for getting this done. :thumb:
Now...what to do next?
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More good news. I tried this line in my fstab file and it works:
//192.168.0.50/Media/Music /mnt/tunes cifs defaults 0 0
Thanks Tom!
I can now see my music under /mnt/tunes on the Alix. :thumb:
So now I just edit mpd.conf and I'm done?
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Another update...
Things are NOT working again. When I edited the bad fstab file back to its original state, the Alix boots properly. Then I use Putty to issue the command "remountrw". Then I use WinSCP to edit fstab to include the line:
//192.168.0.50/Media/Music /mnt/tunes cifs defaults 0 0
Then I switch over to Putty and issue the command "mount -a" and this is what I get:
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=48808)
Here is proof it's working:
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=48809)
However, when I reboot the Alix, it hangs again. I've done this 3 times now and the results are the same every time. What could be wrong now?
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Let's see a screen print of what fstab has in it - cat /etc/fstab will do it.
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This is my current fstab:
#/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,noatime,rw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
#tmpfs /rw tmpfs defaults,size=32M 0 0
//192.168.0.50/Media/Music /mnt/tunes cifs defaults 0 0
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This is my current fstab:
#/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,noatime,rw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
#tmpfs /rw tmpfs defaults,size=32M 0 0
//192.168.0.50/Media/Music /mnt/tunes cifs defaults 0 0
Are you SURE there is a carriage return at the very end of that last line?
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Are you SURE there is a carriage return at the very end of that last line?
100% sure!
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More good news. I tried this line in my fstab file and it works:
//192.168.0.50/Media/Music /mnt/tunes cifs defaults 0 0
Thanks Tom!
I can now see my music under /mnt/tunes on the Alix. :thumb:
So now I just edit mpd.conf and I'm done?
I'm confused. Did you do this and have success from a mount command on the command line or did you put it in fstab? If the latter the only way to get it to work is boot it or mount -a which reads the fstab file.
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I'm confused. Did you do this and have success from a mount command on the command line or did you put it in fstab? If the latter the only way to get it to work is boot it or mount -a which reads the fstab file.
I add the line to the fstab file and save it. I go to Putty and issue the command "mount -a", I enter the password, and it works. Then I issue the command "remountro" and exit Putty. Then I reboot the Alix and it hangs.
I then have to use Ubuntu on my main PC to edit fstab by removing the line I added. Then the Alix boots and I can see it again.
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I add the line to the fstab file and save it. I go to Putty and issue the command "mount -a", I enter the password, and it works. Then I issue the command "remountro" and exit Putty. Then I reboot the Alix and it hangs.
I then have to use Ubuntu on my main PC to edit fstab by removing the line I added. Then the Alix boots and I can see it again.
I'm guessing it's hanging waiting for a password. You might research the mount command on how to pass the user/password to it, try it on command line first to see if it gets past the prompt.
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I'm guessing it's hanging waiting for a password. You might research the mount command on how to pass the user/password to it, try it on command line first to see if it gets past the prompt.
That makes sense because I need to enter a password when using the mount -a command. I know what I'm going to try in the morning.
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Ok, more baby steps...
I seem to have everything working. The Alix can now be rebooted and it sees my Windows share under /mnt/tunes.
So I edited my mpd.conf file to this:
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache"
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
user "mpduser"
bind_to_address "any"
When I try to connect to MPD using GMPC, I get "error code 13:problems connecting to "192.168.0.100" on port 6600"
Everything seems correct, so I don't understand what's wrong. Hopefully this is the last piece of the puzzle!
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Terry,
I never edited any of the state/log/db/pid lines, FYI. And what does your audio section look like? Is your DAC defined in mpd.config (i.e hw 0,0, etc). What does "aplay -l" give you in putty (should show your audio devices)?
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Terry,
I never edited any of the state/log/db/pid lines, FYI. And what does your audio section look like? Is your DAC defined in mpd.config (i.e hw 0,0, etc). What does "aplay -l" give you in putty (should show your audio devices)?
Should I have my DAC connected to the Alix for this?
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Yep
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Check the line with "bind_to_address". There may be one commented out - # starts the line if it is a comment
Should be this:
bind_to_address "any"
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Here is what my audio section looks like:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
format "44100:16:2" # optional
mixer_device "default" # optional
mixer_control "PCM" # optional
mixer_index "0" # optional
The command aplay -l give this:
"aplay: device_list:235: no soundcards found..."
Tom:
I read that the "bind_to_address" should be set to "any", is that not correct?
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Yes, my bad. I corrected my post. I'm not at home today so don't have access to my setup.
You would need a usb device hooked up for aplay to see.
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Yes, my bad. I corrected my post. I'm not at home today so don't have access to my setup.
You would need a usb device hooked up for aplay to see.
Is it possible that when I added the user "mpduser" to my Alix, I don't have the permissions right or something?
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Is Alix on 192.168.0.100 or 50?
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Is Alix on 192.168.0.100 or 50?
The Alix is: 192.168.0.100 My Windows server is: 192.168.0.50
Ok, 1 step closer.
I edited my mpd.conf file to have "root" as the user and it worked. So I must not have the right permissions on "mpduser". How do I fix that?
So GMPC is working, sort of. I won't get into some problem I see yet, but I have a track ready to go, and when I click play, I get this message briefly on GMPC: "MPD reported the following error: "problems opening audio device"
I do not know if my USB DAC is compatible or not. I found 1 post where a guy was using my DAC (Music Hall 25.2) with a Vortex Box.
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Sorry guys, I forgot to plug the USB cable into the Alix. I have now so that should help, no?
So now I'm the newest Alix user! :thumb:
Thank you guys so much for all of the help. In the end, this was so easy it makes me sad that it took days to do something I could now do in 5 minutes!
So my only remaining problem is the "mpduser" on the Alix must not have the right permissions. I don't understand this stuff at all, so what do I do to fix that?
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Terry,
That rocks! Congratulations!
-- Jim
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Is it possible that when I added the user "mpduser" to my Alix, I don't have the permissions right or something?
As root, you need to add mpduser to the audio group: adduser mpduser audio
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Terry,
That rocks! Congratulations!
-- Jim
Thanks Jim. It feels great that I got through this and it works! :D
As root, you need to add mpduser to the audio group: adduser mpduser audio
I added mpduser to the audio group and that part worked, but GMPC still doesn't work unless I use "root".
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Thanks Jim. It feels great that I got through this and it works! :D
I added mpduser to the audio group and that part worked, but GMPC still doesn't work unless I use "root".
From which machine are your trying to launch GMPC?
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From which machine are your trying to launch GMPC?
I've done it from a Windows XP laptop and my main computer I use to control my music streamers, a Windows 7 netbook. It acts the same for both computers.
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I've done it from a Windows XP laptop and my main computer I use to control my music streamers, a Windows 7 netbook. It acts the same for both computers.
So you're using the Windows port of GMPC. And it's asking you for the root admin password? You didn't by any chance set a password in mpd.conf, did you?
Did you try playing some music by running a local copy of an mpd client on the Alix? Thats is, ssh into Alix via PuTTy, type (as normal user) ncmpc.
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So you're using the Windows port of GMPC. And it's asking you for the root admin password? You didn't by any chance set a password in mpd.conf, did you?
Did you try playing some music by running a local copy of an mpd client on the Alix? Thats is, ssh into Alix via PuTTy, type (as normal user) ncmpc.
I am using a Windows port of GMPC. When I enter the preferences for the connection, it asks for the following:
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=48834)
When I have "mpduser" as the "user" in the mpd.conf file, I get the network error. If I have "root", GMPC works fine.
I'll try the Putty thing now...
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When I run "ncmpc" logging in as root or mpduser, I get a "failed to resolve host name", but it does start the program.
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When I run "ncmpc" logging in as root or mpduser, I get a "failed to resolve host name", but it does start the program.
Try ncmpc -h (your ip address number) -p (our port number)
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Try ncmpc -h (your ip address number) -p (our port number)
Logged in as "mpduser" with the above command line, it works. So if it works directly on the Alix, why wouldn't it work for GMPC?
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Logged in as "mpduser" with the above command line, it works. So if it works directly on the Alix, why wouldn't it work for GMPC?
Maybe it's a permission problem on the Windows side? But more importantly, do you get audio?
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Maybe it's a permission problem on the Windows side? But more importantly, do you get audio?
What are the controls for the ncmpc player? I will check if I get audio once I know that.
I wish I understood stupid Windows permissions better, but if it was Windows, then why would anything work including "root"?
I may have an IT friend visiting me today, I'll see what he has to say. He's coming to hear the Alix.
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What are the controls for the ncmpc player? I will check if I get audio once I know that.
I wish I understood stupid Windows permissions better, but if it was Windows, then why would anything work including "root"?
I may have an IT friend visiting me today, I'll see what he has to say. He's coming to hear the Alix.
The first line at the top has the numbers to the shortcuts. Press 1 for the help menu.
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ncmpc with that command line works and plays music just fine. I was able to navigate to any track and play it.
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ncmpc with that command line works and plays music just fine. I was able to navigate to any track and play it.
Ok. So you Alix seems to have all the permissions set up fine. It sounds like it a Windows issue. If you want to be really sure then boot the Ubuntu Live CD on on of your other machine (i.e., not the Windows machine that has you music on it) and see if GMPC or ncmpc will connect.
I'm glad you're at least getting music through your DAC. Very proud of you.
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Ok. So you Alix seems to have all the permissions set up fine. It sounds like it a Windows issue. If you want to be really sure then boot the Ubuntu Live CD on on of your other machine (i.e., not the Windows machine that has you music on it) and see if GMPC or ncmpc will connect.
I'm glad you're at least getting music through your DAC. Very proud of you.
I'll try that tomorrow.
And thanks to you, Tom, and Ted for helping me so much. You guys are great.
The one thing I'm proud of is that I took the time to figure out how to fix my bad fstab file on a read-only CF card while not able to change permissions. I was surprised that I found what I needed and got through it. That was a big victory. If I hadn't figured that out, my Alix would be on its way to Tom for "repair".
I've learned a lot, but there is so much more I'd like to figure out with Linux. I think I'll slow down a bit as things are running well for me.
One thing I'd like to note is that I deleted the user "mpduser" on my Windows XP server, and the Alix still works fine. Apparently I didn't need that at all. But it's still funny that if I don't have the "pass=mpduser" in the line of my fstab file, the Alix hangs waiting for one. It seems that password is not good for anything? Whatever... It works, that's all that matters for the time being.
Listening to the Alix has proved interesting. There are definitely things that are better than my Duet, but there are things that my Duet does better. I'm working on a power supply next. Hopefully that will take things up a level or two and I can sell my Duet. For what it's worth, I pulled my Duet out of my setup and I'm only running the Alix.
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Listening to the Alix has proved interesting. There are definitely things that are better than my Duet, but there are things that my Duet does better. I'm working on a power supply next. Hopefully that will take things up a level or two and I can sell my Duet. For what it's worth, I pulled my Duet out of my setup and I'm only running the Alix.
The Duet is a Squeezbox product? How are you comparing the Alix and the Duet? Are they connected to the same DAC? Does the Duet have a USB out?
Also, what power supply are you using with the Alix now? The switching wall wart?
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I have the AC-US-tour Hynes PS that I loved so much with it. It is waiting for another tour member or going back to Scotland. I have an email into Paul (Hynes) about Terry getting it, then forwarding it on back to him. It would be great chance to hear a world class audio-based linear ps that, IMO, took the Alix/MPD solution to a new level. :thumb:
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The Duet is a Squeezbox product? How are you comparing the Alix and the Duet? Are they connected to the same DAC? Does the Duet have a USB out?
Also, what power supply are you using with the Alix now? The switching wall wart?
Yes the Duet is a Squeezebox. Both the Alix and Duet are connected to my DAC, but the Duet is connected via digital coax. I just switched inputs on the DAC to toggle between the two. The Duet does not have USB out.
I had a good friend over today to help me listen. We have proven time-and-time that we hear very similarly and have similar tastes. We didn't focus on any A/B comparisons as the sound was easily distinguishable between the two. But we both agreed that each has it's positives and negatives. For me, the Alix does more good than bad, so that's why I'm using only it, and it's why I'm interested in some tweaking.
I am using the switching wall-wart on the Alix. I'm looking for a better solution. Ted may be sending me the Paul Hynes he tried. Something cheaper would be better, but I'm hearing some real promise with the Alix, and Ted claims a good power supply will make a huge difference. I'm guessing he's very correct. So maybe the cost will be worth it.
I'm not saying my Music Hall DAC is anything magical, but it does sound incredibly good to me. I've heard nothing better to date. My Music Hall is modified though, with the main magic coming from Burson discrete opamps. I'm pretty happy with the USB input performance. And I have compared USB to digital coax in the past using my netbook as a source. I didn't hear much of a difference with that source. At least not as much difference as I do with the Alix.
I do like GMPC as an interface. It's quicker than Squeezebox Server via a web browser too.
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Glad it all worked out for you. :thumb:
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Glad it all worked out for you. :thumb:
Thanks Jason. :D
Ok gents. Who has tried linear power supplies on their Alix, and what was it?
Can you describe how the sound changed with the power supply?
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Getting a little less digital with Parts Express $17 PS
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=62364.msg929118#msg929118
Reaching new levels with Hynes PS
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=62364.msg937228#msg937228
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Thanks Ted. I had actually seen your posts prior to posting my question. I was just hoping to see more options and statements from other Alix users.
I have formed my opinion on a bone stock Alix. As you know, I have a "better" USB cable coming and Paul Hynes power supply. I'm really looking forward to what these two things may do for the sound coming from the Alix.
I don't know if it's my DAC or the Alix, but I'm not fond of the sound from the Alix. It's very good in many ways, but it has specific issues I can't live with. I was hoping to see something from other Alix users regarding how the sound changed when using different USB cables or better power supplies. I need more than just the removal of "digititus" for me to like the sound. So I'm not seeing what I was hopeful for, and I'm a bit concerned at this point.
Not to worry any potential users of the Alix, I am a VERY picky person when it comes to sonics. I do hear a lot of good in the Alix, and earlier on, thought it could be a great solution for me as it did bring something to the sound I was looking for.
As stated above, I have some things coming that could really affect the sound coming from the Alix, so I want to wait until I test them before really laying out what I think of everything. I'll give the best impressions of everything next week.
I sure hope things work out because I really like the way the Alix works.
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Thanks Ted. I had actually seen your posts prior to posting my question. I was just hoping to see more options and statements from other Alix users.
I have formed my opinion on a bone stock Alix. As you know, I have a "better" USB cable coming and Paul Hynes power supply. I'm really looking forward to what these two things may do for the sound coming from the Alix.
I don't know if it's my DAC or the Alix, but I'm not fond of the sound from the Alix. It's very good in many ways, but it has specific issues I can't live with. I was hoping to see something from other Alix users regarding how the sound changed when using different USB cables or better power supplies. I need more than just the removal of "digititus" for me to like the sound. So I'm not seeing what I was hopeful for, and I'm a bit concerned at this point.
Not to worry any potential users of the Alix, I am a VERY picky person when it comes to sonics. I do hear a lot of good in the Alix, and earlier on, thought it could be a great solution for me as it did bring something to the sound I was looking for.
As stated above, I have some things coming that could really affect the sound coming from the Alix, so I want to wait until I test them before really laying out what I think of everything. I'll give the best impressions of everything next week.
I sure hope things work out because I really like the way the Alix works.
IS this the DAC you have? Link: http://www.musichallaudio.com/detail.php?p=68 Were you able to confirm that mpd and ALSA are not resmapling any of your data?
Also, the switching wall wart isn't terrible. The problem is that with different types or equipment and house wiring, it can introduce noise in some setups and maybe not in others.
You could also try a simple battery setup, i.e., 8 Lithium AA batteries and see if that is an improvement over the wall wart.
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IS this the DAC you have? Link: http://www.musichallaudio.com/detail.php?p=68 Were you able to confirm that mpd and ALSA are not resmapling any of your data?
Also, the switching wall wart isn't terrible. The problem is that with different types or equipment and house wiring, it can introduce noise in some setups and maybe not in others.
You could also try a simple battery setup, i.e., 8 Lithium AA batteries and see if that is an improvement over the wall wart.
That is the DAC, but I have the previous version (25.2) and it's modified with Burson opamps, a Dexa clock, and some hexfred diodes on the PS. I do not use the tube output any longer as the solid state ouputs sound MUCH better after the upgrades. Although, I did try the tube output with the Alix, and the solid state outs still easily win.
I'll look into the battery setup as that should be cheap to at least test.
How do I confirm what MPD and ALSA are not resampling?
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I'm using the KECES linear supply with very good result. As Nick said, clean power to the Alix is a rather critical factor. Depending on your USB implementation that also matters. Cleaning up the Alix 12v supply indirectly cleans up the 5v going to USB and makes a big difference there. The other option, which I use, is to supply independent linear 5v to my USB device. I have a Wireworld Purple USB cable, but haven't really tried anything other than cheapo's for comparison.
Keep in mind there is also a certain synergy between the USB sender and receiver, in your case the DAC. Perhaps the Music Hall and Alix are not the best match. I suspect somehow Alix and my AP1 just get along very, very well for whatever reason.
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but haven't really tried anything other than cheapo's for comparison.
That's about to change. :wink:
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I'm using the KECES linear supply with very good result. As Nick said, clean power to the Alix is a rather critical factor. Depending on your USB implementation that also matters. Cleaning up the Alix 12v supply indirectly cleans up the 5v going to USB and makes a big difference there. The other option, which I use, is to supply independent linear 5v to my USB device. I have a Wireworld Purple USB cable, but haven't really tried anything other than cheapo's for comparison.
Keep in mind there is also a certain synergy between the USB sender and receiver, in your case the DAC. Perhaps the Music Hall and Alix are not the best match. I suspect somehow Alix and my AP1 just get along very, very well for whatever reason.
How much was your KECES PS? Also, I noticed this morning that the Alix's wall-wart is 15v. Is 12v not enough? I was surprised to see 15v on the supply.
There is no doubt that synergy between components is critical. I don't know if my DAC is the problem or not. I plan to listen to my DAC later today with my netbook as a source to see how different that sounds from the Alix.
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How do I confirm what MPD and ALSA are not resampling?
Can you attach your entire mpd.conf to a post?
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Is 12v not enough? I was surprised to see 15v on the supply.
Alix will will work from 7v to 18v. The 15volt supply is used because there can be a voltage drop when using Power Over Ethernet when using Alix in a router or wireless access point.
For music server role 12 volts is fine.
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Will the below Acopian PS work with the Alix?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Acopian-15V-5-5A-Linear-Power-Supply-A15MT550-230-Good-/200539682161?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb118b571
Thanks,
Randy
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The output would easily handle the Alix with tons of current to spare, but did you see the input voltage?
Input 230VAC.
Best,
Ed
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Thanks Ed
My bad... :duh:
Randy
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OK... I will start over... :lol:
I am thinking a used Acopian A12MT400 should fit the bill in regards to the Alix. Below is a link to the Acopian website that shows the specs for this model. What do you guys think?
http://www.acopian.com/store/9-(7).aspx?min=12&max=16
Thanks,
Randy
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How much was your KECES PS? Also, I noticed this morning that the Alix's wall-wart is 15v. Is 12v not enough? I was surprised to see 15v on the supply.
There is no doubt that synergy between components is critical. I don't know if my DAC is the problem or not. I plan to listen to my DAC later today with my netbook as a source to see how different that sounds from the Alix.
$250 plus shipping for the dual supply 12/15 and 5v version. Very nice construction.
http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=73 (http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=73)
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$250 plus shipping for the dual supply 12/15 and 5v version. Very nice construction.
http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=73 (http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=73)
A second vote for the Keces, made a noticeable improvement for my Alix. Next up a new custom Legato...... :thumb:
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The Keces looks very nice!!
I was thinking Acopian (along with a Felix conditioner) as you can find them used on Ebay for around $40.
Randy
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Randy,
Got your PM and will let you now when I can check out the various links. BTW, a 9 volt 1 amp supply should be plenty for the alix and something like an HRT MS II+. All voltage above 7.5 is basically just turned into excess heat from the on board regulator chips on the alix, and since we're not using PoE here, the lower voltage headroom shouldn't be an issue.
More later,
Jim
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Can you attach your entire mpd.conf to a post?
Here it is:
# An example configuration file for MPD
# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.
# Files and directories #######################################################
#
# This setting controls the top directory which MPD will search to discover the
# available audio files and add them to the daemon's online database. This
# setting defaults to the XDG directory, otherwise the music directory will be
# be disabled and audio files will only be accepted over ipc socket (using
# file:// protocol) or streaming files over an accepted protocol.
#
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
#
# This setting sets the MPD internal playlist directory. The purpose of this
# directory is storage for playlists created by MPD. The server will use
# playlist files not created by the server but only if they are in the MPD
# format. This setting defaults to playlist saving being disabled.
#
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
#
# This setting sets the location of the MPD database. This file is used to
# load the database at server start up and store the database while the
# server is not up. This setting defaults to disabled which will allow
# MPD to accept files over ipc socket (using file:// protocol) or streaming
# files over an accepted protocol.
#
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache"
#
# These settings are the locations for the daemon log files for the daemon.
# These logs are great for troubleshooting, depending on your log_level
# settings.
#
# The special value "syslog" makes MPD use the local syslog daemon. This
# setting defaults to logging to syslog, otherwise logging is disabled.
#
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which stores the process ID
# for use of mpd --kill and some init scripts. This setting is disabled by
# default and the pid file will not be stored.
#
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which contains information about
# most variables to get MPD back into the same general shape it was in before
# it was brought down. This setting is disabled by default and the server
# state will be reset on server start up.
#
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
#
###############################################################################
# General music daemon options ################################################
#
# This setting specifies the user that MPD will run as. MPD should never run as
# root and you may use this setting to make MPD change its user ID after
# initialization. This setting is disabled by default and MPD is run as the
# current user.
#
user "root"
#
# This setting sets the address for the daemon to listen on. Careful attention
# should be paid if this is assigned to anything other then the default, any.
# This setting can deny access to control of the daemon.
#
# For network
bind_to_address "any"
#
# And for Unix Socket
#bind_to_address "/var/run/mpd/socket"
#
# This setting is the TCP port that is desired for the daemon to get assigned
# to.
#
port "6600"
#
# This setting controls the type of information which is logged. Available
# setting arguments are "default", "secure" or "verbose". The "verbose" setting
# argument is recommended for troubleshooting, though can quickly stretch
# available resources on limited hardware storage.
#
#log_level "default"
#
# If you have a problem with your MP3s ending abruptly it is recommended that
# you set this argument to "no" to attempt to fix the problem. If this solves
# the problem, it is highly recommended to fix the MP3 files with vbrfix
# (available from <http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.php>), at which
# point gapless MP3 playback can be enabled.
#
#gapless_mp3_playback "yes"
#
# This setting enables MPD to create playlists in a format usable by other
# music players.
#
#save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "no"
#
# This setting defines a list of tag types that will be extracted during the
# audio file discovery process. Optionally, 'comment' can be added to this
# list.
#
#metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
#
###############################################################################
# Symbolic link behavior ######################################################
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links outside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links inside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
#
###############################################################################
# Zeroconf / Avahi Service Discovery ##########################################
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", service information will be published with
# Zeroconf / Avahi.
#
#zeroconf_enabled "yes"
#
# The argument to this setting will be the Zeroconf / Avahi unique name for
# this MPD server on the network.
#
#zeroconf_name "Music Player"
#
###############################################################################
# Permissions #################################################################
#
# If this setting is set, MPD will require password authorization. The password
# can setting can be specified multiple times for different password profiles.
#
#password "password@read,add,control,admin"
#
# This setting specifies the permissions a user has who has not yet logged in.
#
#default_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
#
###############################################################################
# Input #######################################################################
#
input {
plugin "curl"
# proxy "proxy.isp.com:8080"
# proxy_user "user"
# proxy_password "password"
}
#
###############################################################################
# Audio Output ################################################################
#
# MPD supports various audio output types, as well as playing through multiple
# audio outputs at the same time, through multiple audio_output settings
# blocks. Setting this block is optional, though the server will only attempt
# autodetection for one sound card.
#
# See <http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration#Audio_Outputs> for examples of
# other audio outputs.
#
# An example of an ALSA output:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
format "44100:16:2" # optional
mixer_device "default" # optional
mixer_control "PCM" # optional
mixer_index "0" # optional
}
#
# An example of an OSS output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "oss"
# name "My OSS Device"
# device "/dev/dsp" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
# mixer_device "/dev/mixer" # optional
# mixer_control "PCM" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a shout output (for streaming to Icecast):
#
#audio_output {
# type "shout"
# encoding "ogg" # optional
# name "My Shout Stream"
# host "localhost"
# port "8000"
# mount "/mpd.ogg"
# password "hackme"
# quality "5.0"
# bitrate "128"
# format "44100:16:1"
# protocol "icecast2" # optional
# user "source" # optional
# description "My Stream Description" # optional
# genre "jazz" # optional
# public "no" # optional
# timeout "2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a httpd output (built-in HTTP streaming server):
#
#audio_output {
# type "httpd"
# name "My HTTP Stream"
# encoder "vorbis" # optional, vorbis or lame
# port "8000"
# quality "5.0" # do not define if bitrate is defined
# bitrate "128" # do not define if quality is defined
# format "44100:16:1"
#}
#
# An example of a pulseaudio output (streaming to a remote pulseaudio server)
#
#audio_output {
# type "pulse"
# name "My Pulse Output"
# server "remote_server" # optional
# sink "remote_server_sink" # optional
#}
#
## Example "pipe" output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "pipe"
# name "my pipe"
# command "aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or if you're want to use AudioCompress
# command "AudioCompress -m | aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or to send raw PCM stream through PCM:
# command "nc example.org 8765"
# format "44100:16:2"
#}
#
## An example of a null output (for no audio output):
#
#audio_output {
# type "null"
# name "My Null Output"
#}
#
# This setting will change all decoded audio to be converted to the specified
# format before being passed to the audio outputs. By default, this setting is
# disabled.
#
#audio_output_format "44100:16:2"
#
# If MPD has been compiled with libsamplerate support, this setting specifies
# the sample rate converter to use. Possible values can be found in the
# mpd.conf man page or the libsamplerate documentation. By default, this is
# setting is disabled.
#
#samplerate_converter "Fastest Sinc Interpolator"
#
###############################################################################
# Volume control mixer ########################################################
#
# These are the global volume control settings. By default, this setting will
# be detected to the available audio output device, with preference going to
# hardware mixing. Hardware and software mixers for individual audio_output
# sections cannot yet be mixed.
#
# An example for controlling an ALSA, OSS or Pulseaudio mixer; If this
# setting is used other sound applications will be affected by the volume
# being controlled by MPD.
#
#mixer_type "hardware"
#
# An example for controlling all mixers through software. This will control
# all controls, even if the mixer is not supported by the device and will not
# affect any other sound producing applications.
#
#mixer_type "software"
#
# This example will not allow MPD to touch the mixer at all and will disable
# all volume controls.
#
#mixer_type "disabled"
#
###############################################################################
# Normalization automatic volume adjustments ##################################
#
# This setting specifies the type of ReplayGain to use. This setting can have
# the argument "album" or "track". See <http://www.replaygain.org> for more
# details. This setting is disabled by default.
#
#replaygain "album"
#
# This setting sets the pre-amp used for files that have ReplayGain tags. By
# default this setting is disabled.
#
#replaygain_preamp "0"
#
# This setting enables on-the-fly normalization volume adjustment. This will
# result in the volume of all playing audio to be adjusted so the output has
# equal "loudness". This setting is disabled by default.
#
#volume_normalization "no"
#
###############################################################################
# MPD Internal Buffering ######################################################
#
# This setting adjusts the size of internal decoded audio buffering. Changing
# this may have undesired effects. Don't change this if you don't know what you
# are doing.
#
#audio_buffer_size "2048"
#
# This setting controls the percentage of the buffer which is filled before
# beginning to play. Increasing this reduces the chance of audio file skipping,
# at the cost of increased time prior to audio playback.
#
#buffer_before_play "10%"
#
###############################################################################
# Resource Limitations ########################################################
#
# These settings are various limitations to prevent MPD from using too many
# resources. Generally, these settings should be minimized to prevent security
# risks, depending on the operating resources.
#
#connection_timeout "60"
#max_connections "10"
#max_playlist_length "16384"
#max_command_list_size "2048"
#max_output_buffer_size "8192"
#
###############################################################################
# Character Encoding ##########################################################
#
# If file or directory names do not display correctly for your locale then you
# may need to modify this setting. After modification of this setting mpd
# --create-db must be run to change the database.
#
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
#
# This setting controls the encoding that ID3v1 tags should be converted from.
#
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
#
###############################################################################
follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
zeroconf_enabled "yes"
zeroconf_name "Voyage Music Player"
mixer_type "software"
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Alix will will work from 7v to 18v. The 15volt supply is used because there can be a voltage drop when using Power Over Ethernet when using Alix in a router or wireless access point.
For music server role 12 volts is fine.
Great. Thanks for this information.
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$250 plus shipping for the dual supply 12/15 and 5v version. Very nice construction.
http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=73 (http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=73)
Thanks Tom. That does look impressive. I saw your pic as well.
A second vote for the Keces, made a noticeable improvement for my Alix. Next up a new custom Legato...... :thumb:
Again guys, what exactly changed for you with the addition of the Keces? Do you use the USB output to your DAC or do you use a USB to S/PDIF converter?
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I'm not the best at this but looks like you have set your DAC to do 16/44 only (everything else is downsampled). Maybe that's part of the reason it sounds worse than Squeezebox, etc. I'd comment out that line ( format "44100:16:2" # optional).
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I'm not the best at this but looks like you have set your DAC to do 16/44 only (everything else is downsampled). Maybe that's part of the reason it sounds worse than Squeezebox, etc. I'd comment out that line ( format "44100:16:2" # optional).
That shouldn't be the difference in sound as my Duet is 16/44 only. I don't have a Touch.
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Thanks Tom. That does look impressive. I saw your pic as well.
Again guys, what exactly changed for you with the addition of the Keces? Do you use the USB output to your DAC or do you use a USB to S/PDIF converter?
I'm not that experienced at this but the addition of the Keces seemed to make the music more clearly defined and did tone down the small amount sibilance I had. I'm using an Audio-GD Digital Interface usb to spdif converter with a Black Cat Veloce cable into my modded Havana DAC. I'm just waiting for my new Legato that will replace the DI.
-
Here it is:
# An example configuration file for MPD
# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.
# Files and directories #######################################################
#
# This setting controls the top directory which MPD will search to discover the
# available audio files and add them to the daemon's online database. This
# setting defaults to the XDG directory, otherwise the music directory will be
# be disabled and audio files will only be accepted over ipc socket (using
# file:// protocol) or streaming files over an accepted protocol.
#
music_directory "/mnt/tunes"
#
# This setting sets the MPD internal playlist directory. The purpose of this
# directory is storage for playlists created by MPD. The server will use
# playlist files not created by the server but only if they are in the MPD
# format. This setting defaults to playlist saving being disabled.
#
playlist_directory "/mnt/tunes/mpd/playlists"
#
# This setting sets the location of the MPD database. This file is used to
# load the database at server start up and store the database while the
# server is not up. This setting defaults to disabled which will allow
# MPD to accept files over ipc socket (using file:// protocol) or streaming
# files over an accepted protocol.
#
db_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/tag_cache"
#
# These settings are the locations for the daemon log files for the daemon.
# These logs are great for troubleshooting, depending on your log_level
# settings.
#
# The special value "syslog" makes MPD use the local syslog daemon. This
# setting defaults to logging to syslog, otherwise logging is disabled.
#
log_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/mpd.log"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which stores the process ID
# for use of mpd --kill and some init scripts. This setting is disabled by
# default and the pid file will not be stored.
#
pid_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/pid"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which contains information about
# most variables to get MPD back into the same general shape it was in before
# it was brought down. This setting is disabled by default and the server
# state will be reset on server start up.
#
state_file "/mnt/tunes/mpd/state"
#
###############################################################################
# General music daemon options ################################################
#
# This setting specifies the user that MPD will run as. MPD should never run as
# root and you may use this setting to make MPD change its user ID after
# initialization. This setting is disabled by default and MPD is run as the
# current user.
#
user "root"
#
# This setting sets the address for the daemon to listen on. Careful attention
# should be paid if this is assigned to anything other then the default, any.
# This setting can deny access to control of the daemon.
#
# For network
bind_to_address "any"
#
# And for Unix Socket
#bind_to_address "/var/run/mpd/socket"
#
# This setting is the TCP port that is desired for the daemon to get assigned
# to.
#
port "6600"
#
# This setting controls the type of information which is logged. Available
# setting arguments are "default", "secure" or "verbose". The "verbose" setting
# argument is recommended for troubleshooting, though can quickly stretch
# available resources on limited hardware storage.
#
#log_level "default"
#
# If you have a problem with your MP3s ending abruptly it is recommended that
# you set this argument to "no" to attempt to fix the problem. If this solves
# the problem, it is highly recommended to fix the MP3 files with vbrfix
# (available from <http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.php>), at which
# point gapless MP3 playback can be enabled.
#
#gapless_mp3_playback "yes"
#
# This setting enables MPD to create playlists in a format usable by other
# music players.
#
#save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "no"
#
# This setting defines a list of tag types that will be extracted during the
# audio file discovery process. Optionally, 'comment' can be added to this
# list.
#
#metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
#
###############################################################################
# Symbolic link behavior ######################################################
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links outside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links inside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
#
###############################################################################
# Zeroconf / Avahi Service Discovery ##########################################
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", service information will be published with
# Zeroconf / Avahi.
#
#zeroconf_enabled "yes"
#
# The argument to this setting will be the Zeroconf / Avahi unique name for
# this MPD server on the network.
#
#zeroconf_name "Music Player"
#
###############################################################################
# Permissions #################################################################
#
# If this setting is set, MPD will require password authorization. The password
# can setting can be specified multiple times for different password profiles.
#
#password "password@read,add,control,admin"
#
# This setting specifies the permissions a user has who has not yet logged in.
#
#default_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
#
###############################################################################
# Input #######################################################################
#
input {
plugin "curl"
# proxy "proxy.isp.com:8080"
# proxy_user "user"
# proxy_password "password"
}
#
###############################################################################
# Audio Output ################################################################
#
# MPD supports various audio output types, as well as playing through multiple
# audio outputs at the same time, through multiple audio_output settings
# blocks. Setting this block is optional, though the server will only attempt
# autodetection for one sound card.
#
# See <http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration#Audio_Outputs> for examples of
# other audio outputs.
#
# An example of an ALSA output:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
format "44100:16:2" # optional
mixer_device "default" # optional
mixer_control "PCM" # optional
mixer_index "0" # optional
}
#
# An example of an OSS output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "oss"
# name "My OSS Device"
# device "/dev/dsp" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
# mixer_device "/dev/mixer" # optional
# mixer_control "PCM" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a shout output (for streaming to Icecast):
#
#audio_output {
# type "shout"
# encoding "ogg" # optional
# name "My Shout Stream"
# host "localhost"
# port "8000"
# mount "/mpd.ogg"
# password "hackme"
# quality "5.0"
# bitrate "128"
# format "44100:16:1"
# protocol "icecast2" # optional
# user "source" # optional
# description "My Stream Description" # optional
# genre "jazz" # optional
# public "no" # optional
# timeout "2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a httpd output (built-in HTTP streaming server):
#
#audio_output {
# type "httpd"
# name "My HTTP Stream"
# encoder "vorbis" # optional, vorbis or lame
# port "8000"
# quality "5.0" # do not define if bitrate is defined
# bitrate "128" # do not define if quality is defined
# format "44100:16:1"
#}
#
# An example of a pulseaudio output (streaming to a remote pulseaudio server)
#
#audio_output {
# type "pulse"
# name "My Pulse Output"
# server "remote_server" # optional
# sink "remote_server_sink" # optional
#}
#
## Example "pipe" output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "pipe"
# name "my pipe"
# command "aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or if you're want to use AudioCompress
# command "AudioCompress -m | aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or to send raw PCM stream through PCM:
# command "nc example.org 8765"
# format "44100:16:2"
#}
#
## An example of a null output (for no audio output):
#
#audio_output {
# type "null"
# name "My Null Output"
#}
#
# This setting will change all decoded audio to be converted to the specified
# format before being passed to the audio outputs. By default, this setting is
# disabled.
#
#audio_output_format "44100:16:2"
#
# If MPD has been compiled with libsamplerate support, this setting specifies
# the sample rate converter to use. Possible values can be found in the
# mpd.conf man page or the libsamplerate documentation. By default, this is
# setting is disabled.
#
#samplerate_converter "Fastest Sinc Interpolator"
#
###############################################################################
# Volume control mixer ########################################################
#
# These are the global volume control settings. By default, this setting will
# be detected to the available audio output device, with preference going to
# hardware mixing. Hardware and software mixers for individual audio_output
# sections cannot yet be mixed.
#
# An example for controlling an ALSA, OSS or Pulseaudio mixer; If this
# setting is used other sound applications will be affected by the volume
# being controlled by MPD.
#
#mixer_type "hardware"
#
# An example for controlling all mixers through software. This will control
# all controls, even if the mixer is not supported by the device and will not
# affect any other sound producing applications.
#
#mixer_type "software"
#
# This example will not allow MPD to touch the mixer at all and will disable
# all volume controls.
#
#mixer_type "disabled"
#
###############################################################################
# Normalization automatic volume adjustments ##################################
#
# This setting specifies the type of ReplayGain to use. This setting can have
# the argument "album" or "track". See <http://www.replaygain.org> for more
# details. This setting is disabled by default.
#
#replaygain "album"
#
# This setting sets the pre-amp used for files that have ReplayGain tags. By
# default this setting is disabled.
#
#replaygain_preamp "0"
#
# This setting enables on-the-fly normalization volume adjustment. This will
# result in the volume of all playing audio to be adjusted so the output has
# equal "loudness". This setting is disabled by default.
#
#volume_normalization "no"
#
###############################################################################
# MPD Internal Buffering ######################################################
#
# This setting adjusts the size of internal decoded audio buffering. Changing
# this may have undesired effects. Don't change this if you don't know what you
# are doing.
#
#audio_buffer_size "2048"
#
# This setting controls the percentage of the buffer which is filled before
# beginning to play. Increasing this reduces the chance of audio file skipping,
# at the cost of increased time prior to audio playback.
#
#buffer_before_play "10%"
#
###############################################################################
# Resource Limitations ########################################################
#
# These settings are various limitations to prevent MPD from using too many
# resources. Generally, these settings should be minimized to prevent security
# risks, depending on the operating resources.
#
#connection_timeout "60"
#max_connections "10"
#max_playlist_length "16384"
#max_command_list_size "2048"
#max_output_buffer_size "8192"
#
###############################################################################
# Character Encoding ##########################################################
#
# If file or directory names do not display correctly for your locale then you
# may need to modify this setting. After modification of this setting mpd
# --create-db must be run to change the database.
#
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
#
# This setting controls the encoding that ID3v1 tags should be converted from.
#
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
#
###############################################################################
follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
zeroconf_enabled "yes"
zeroconf_name "Voyage Music Player"
mixer_type "software"
Change this section:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
format "44100:16:2" # optional
mixer_device "default" # optional
mixer_control "PCM" # optional
mixer_index "0" # optional
}
To this, please:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
}
And please add a # in front of this line near the end of your mpd.conf, that is, this:
mixer_type "software"
should be this:
#mixer_type "software"
or just delete line.
Then issue the command, as root: /etc/init.d/mpd restart
Two problems with your mpd.conf:
1. You had everything resmapled to 16/44.1
2. You had the software volume control enabled.
Both degrade sound quality, especially if the volume in your mpd client was less than %100.
Try my changes and then take a listen for a couple of days.
-
Here it is:..
Please also uncomment this line in the Volume Contol MIxer section of mpd.conf:
#mixer_type "disabled"
So that it's:
mixer_type "disabled"
-
Change this section:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
format "44100:16:2" # optional
mixer_device "default" # optional
mixer_control "PCM" # optional
mixer_index "0" # optional
}
To this, please:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
}
And please add a # in front of this line near the end of your mpd.conf, that is, this:
mixer_type "software"
should be this:
#mixer_type "software"
or just delete line.
Then issue the command, as root: /etc/init.d/mpd restart
Two problems with your mpd.conf:
1. You had everything resmapled to 16/44.1
2. You had the software volume control enabled.
Both degrade sound quality, especially if the volume in your mpd client was less than %100.
Try my changes and then take a listen for a couple of days.
I made these changes. Thank you. FYI, I knew to keep the volume at 100% for digital stuff, so it never left 100%.
I do hear an immediate but subtle difference. I'd say it's a move in the right direction towards what I was looking for. I'll give it some time to really know how I feel.
I'm off to spend 4 days in the woods with the family camping, so I'll be off the grid. Next week I'll be testing a Wire World Silver Starlight USB cable and a Paul Hynes PS. I'm looking forward to it!
For the record, I was not ultimately happy with my Duet. It's very good, but has been lacking a bit of life in the upper midrange and treble. It's not bad, but it seems to leave me wanting. The Duet has wonderful tonality and near perfect weight in the midrange and bass.
Here is what the Alix changed:
1. The sound stage lost about 4' or more of depth.
2. The sound stage is a couple of feet wider on each side.
3. There is better treble extension and more life to the upper midrange/lower treble.
4. There is a lack of overall clarity and definition with a sort of distorted sound, but it is subtle.
5. Tonality seems to have shifted higher, as in the things sound a bit too thin with less harmonics.
6. The bass is a bit lean and lacks some definition that I'm used to.
7. There is more of a 3D effect to the sound with tracks that use phase technology.
8. The sound stage lacks some separation.
9. Lastly, and this is the big one, I just can't seem to get an attachment to the music. It sounds ok, but there is no passion or wow factor for me.
There may be something I'm missing, but I think that's it.
The Alix may sound great if I hadn't heard better. I do like it better with some tracks, but most just seem a bit off to me. I hope this makes sense.
I'll have more next week. I'm very hopeful things work out because I like everything else about the Alix.
-
Alix update (just a quick one with limited detail):
First, the changes that nyc_paramedic suggested really made a big difference. The sound quality improved significantly immediately. I also confirmed this after my camping trip this weekend.
Then I swapped my cheap USB printer cable with a Wire World Silver Starlight USB cable. This also improved things slightly. The main changes seemed to be clarity and separation in the sound stage and a darker background. A "huge" difference, no. But a significant enough change to warrant the used purchase price of the cable. However, the Alix still wasn't floating my boat. It sounded good, but there was no magic.
About an hour ago, I replaced the stock wall-wart with a Paul Hynes power supply. I adjusted its output to 12v and fired up the Alix. The change in sonics is unbelievable. I had no idea how grungy the sound was with the stock PS. Everything is absolutely clear and FAR more realistic sounding. The sound now easily grabs me and I can often say "wow, that sounds GREAT!" It sounds like more information is in the music because you can easily hear so much more. The slight distorted sound the Alix used to have must have blended away a lot of detail. With the linear PS, that distortion is replaced with crystal clear micro dynamics. Instruments sound wonderful and vocals are so much cleaner and have a realistic presentation. After hearing this, the Alix just sounds bad with the stock PS.
So now things have changed enough that the Alix is a very interesting source. I need more days to listen to more material, but I am very willing to put in the time with the Alix.
I'll try and do a better job of descriptions this weekend.
-
Terry, so glad you are back from the camping trip (hot enough?) and that these changes (especially my Hynes package :) ) have made things much more musical for the Alix. Look forward to you extended impressions. Question: why did you go to the trouble of adjusting the Hynes down to 12V from the 18V I had it set at? Does it matter? Wasted heat maybe?
-
Terry, so glad you are back from the camping trip (hot enough?) and that these changes (especially my Hynes package :) ) have made things much more musical for the Alix. Look forward to you extended impressions. Question: why did you go to the trouble of adjusting the Hynes down to 12V from the 18V I had it set at? Does it matter? Wasted heat maybe?
The camping trip was VERY hot! We had really high humidity, so the 88 degree temps felt more like 100 degrees. Then add no wind whatsoever, and it's HOT! But that's why they made pools and lakes. :thumb:
The Paul Hynes has transformed the Alix into something interesting. I hope it only gets better for me as I listen. The ONLY complaint I can muster is I'd like the sound to have a bit more weight to it. It's not necessarily thin sounding, but I think the Duet had me used to heavier tone. What's "correct"?
I adjusted the Paul Hynes supply down to 12v because it took me 30 seconds and someone in this thread made the statement that anything over 7 or 8v was regulated down and dissipated off as heat. So I figured why do that? 12v seems high enough for extra power in that regard. I could try the Tim Allen approach of "MORE POWER" just to see what happens. I'll let you know after I get better acquainted with the sound I have right now.
Is what I'm hearing what you would say you heard with the Paul Hynes on the Alix?
-
Yes, it's exactly what I heard with the Hynes/Alix. I seem to remember, too, that the weight/heft tended to settle in after the Hynes was in place for, say, 48 hours. The USB cable will settle in a bit, too (even though it is used).
-
Yes, it's exactly what I heard with the Hynes/Alix. I seem to remember, too, that the weight/heft tended to settle in after the Hynes was in place for, say, 48 hours. The USB cable will settle in a bit, too (even though it is used).
I hope you're right. I really do.
Maybe any weakness I'm hearing now could just be my DAC. I do plan to try some others, but I would LOVE to get a Zodiac+.
And thanks for the opportunity to audition the Paul Hynes supply. :D
-
The Paul Hynes has transformed the Alix into something interesting. I hope it only gets better for me as I listen. The ONLY complaint I can muster is I'd like the sound to have a bit more weight to it. It's not necessarily thin sounding, but I think the Duet had me used to heavier tone. What's "correct"?
I don't know if what I am about to say is an apples to apples comparison, but when I inserted my Placette RVC (passive via the use of Vishay S-102 hand trimmed resistors) into my system I noticed something along the same lines as what you're describing. I thought the system sounded "thin", but after prolonged listening and contemplation I realized that my system became more transparent.
Some would suggest that the "warmth" people think they're enjoying in any given hi-fi system is most likely a layer of distortion introduced by some component. The more I listened to my system without an active preamp the more I realized that things sounded a bit more like they sound in real life: a violin at Carnegie; a bouzouki played at a Greek wedding (or by Stephin Merritt -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephin_Merritt); youths on an NYC subway platform banging drum sticks on 5 gallon buckets, etc. They all sound, crisp, clean and pierce the air with authority. They never sound "warm" but do sound beautiful nonetheless.
-
I don't know if what I am about to say is an apples to apples comparison, but when I inserted my Placette RVC (passive via the use of Vishay S-102 hand trimmed resistors) into my system I noticed something along the same lines as what you're describing. I thought the system sounded "thin", but after prolonged listening and contemplation I realized that my system became more transparent.
Some would suggest that the "warmth" people think they're enjoying in any given hi-fi system is most likely a layer of distortion introduced by some component. The more I listened to my system without an active preamp the more I realized that things sounded a bit more like they sound in real life: a violin at Carnegie; a bouzouki played at a Greek wedding (or by Stephin Merritt -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephin_Merritt); youths on an NYC subway platform banging drum sticks on 5 gallon buckets, etc. They all sound, crisp, clean and pierce the air with authority. They never sound "warm" but do sound beautiful nonetheless.
I understand what you are saying, but this situation is more than that. The bass isn't defined or sounding right at all. It's just plain anemic. With my Duet as a source, the sound was a bit too heavy. So it would seem I've gone too far in the other direction. Until I swapped USB cables...
I was initially using an old printer cable when I first fired up the Alix. Of course the Alix wasn't sounding too good, so I was looking at the USB cable and of course the power supply. Once I installed the Wire World cable, I never removed it even after getting the power supply. So as I was listening tonight, I was hearing what I've heard EVERY time I had any type of silver cable in my setup. I figured if it truly was the silver USB cable causing the problem, then the printer cable should show a difference. I decided to swap the USB cable back to the printer cable.
Sure enough, the sound had more weight to it and the timbre shifted back down to where I think it should be. The sound changed exactly as I would have described when swapping in a silver cable. So it seems that even silver USB cables won't synergize with my mix of components. This same thing happens whenever I use any cable with silver.
The sound has moved a long way in the right direction. Now I need to listen for a while to understand if there is anything else I'm not liking with the sound.
This is lesson in changing too many things at the same time.
-
Terry,
Actually, the theory on the silver usb cable makes sense to me as I typically hear the same things (with a couple of noteworthy and expensive exceptions). The standard starlight usb cable, if anything, is a tad heavy on the bass in my system, though not overdone. If you can pick up a new or used db audo labs Essential usbcable, those too are quite nice, especially if cryoed.
Also, fwiw, just about every piece of digital gear I've ever had pretty much sounds it's best after 36-72 hours of being powreded on and are the only components in my system that I just leave powered on. It often takes that long for everything to reach thermal equibrilium, and that seems most important to digital components. Like I said, fwiw, but to my ears it definitely makes a difference.
-- Jim
-
Terry,
Actually, the theory on the silver usb cable makes sense to me as I typically hear the same things (with a couple of noteworthy and expensive exceptions). The standard starlight usb cable, if anything, is a tad heavy on the bass in my system, though not overdone. If you can pick up a new or used db audo labs Essential usbcable, those too are quite nice, especially if cryoed.
Also, fwiw, just about every piece of digital gear I've ever had pretty much sounds it's best after 36-72 hours of being powreded on and are the only components in my system that I just leave powered on. It often takes that long for everything to reach thermal equibrilium, and that seems most important to digital components. Like I said, fwiw, but to my ears it definitely makes a difference.
-- Jim
I'm glad to hear someone hears things the way I do, although I do realize that every room and system varies quite a bit.
I've had the Alix powered up since getting it running a week ago last Friday (or it's been running for 11 days straight now if that didn't make sense). I haven't heard any real changes other than the USB cables and power supplies.
After listening tonight, I think I'm ready to give up on the Alix. Why? It's just not consistent from track to track. I listen to some things and it's good, other things it's ok, and others it's almost bad. I just can't seem to love it, so that's a sign that spending more money on it is probably not a good idea for me.
Please understand that with my Duet, I could honestly play anything and really like it. My only complaint is a slight lack of life in the treble and maybe a bit too much weight in the bass in midrange on some tracks. As a total, the Duet's performance is actually surprisingly great. I often get a very strong connection to the music. I haven't ever felt that way with the Alix. It can sound good, but it never really grabbed me. I'm getting the feeling I'm going the wrong direction with it.
I've had friends from this forum to my home many times. I think they believe my setup is the best sounding setup they've heard in any home. I know I've heard nothing better...yet. I doubt any of them would think much of my setup with the Alix. I know it's all about synergy, and I just don't have it with the Alix at all.
Maybe I'm a cable or DAC away from something special, but I don't have the cash right now to find out. So I think I'm done. I'll keep the Alix for now and maybe try again when I can afford a "better" USB cable and/or DAC.
-
Ok, it's me again... :roll:
I decided to use a Squeezebox Touch I picked up on sale to replace my Duet. I got the Touch up and running and I did the digital mods to it and thought it sounded pretty darn good. The sound seems to be more forgiving overall than the Alix was, and maybe a little better than the Duet. I listened to it as much as I could yesterday.
Today, I fired up the Alix again. I had the Paul Hynes linear PS on it and my USB printer cable. I'm very torn about this as the Alix does some things amazingly well. The treble and midrange detail is amazing without really ever sounding bright. Vocals are MUCH better than the Duet or Touch. The only thing I seem to have is a slightly weak bass level compared to the Duet or Touch.
I mentioned a few posts back that I was going to try my netbook with my DAC again. Well I did that today. What's funny is that the result is exactly what I expected. The netbook connected via USB to my DAC sounds VERY similar to the Duet and Touch connected via digital coax. I do even think the netbook sounded better than the Duet or Touch, but I didn't really care to find out in detail. So it appears that the Alix's USB output sounds very different from my netbook's (running Foobar 2000).
So I'm back to testing with the Alix. I plan to give it more time this time around. Maybe my ears will adjust to the sound.
-
Terry,
Just curious, have you tried any footers and/or damping/weight on the box? One of my alix bxes has some herbies baby booties on it and for the time I was using it, that did make a nice, audible difference, and as with the mac mini, the whole presentation can be tuned with different footers, mass loading, etc. It is easyto try and can be dirt cheap, ultra expensive, or anywhere in between. Just something you may want to try if you haven't already.
-- Jim
-
Terry,
Just curious, have you tried any footers and/or damping/weight on the box? One of my alix bxes has some herbies baby booties on it and for the time I was using it, that did make a nice, audible difference, and as with the mac mini, the whole presentation can be tuned with different footers, mass loading, etc. It is easyto try and can be dirt cheap, ultra expensive, or anywhere in between. Just something you may want to try if you haven't already.
-- Jim
To be honest, I'm not sure I believe in this, but I will try it today.
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The Alix was completely transformed today. I seem to be able to get it to sound anyway I want just by swapping interconnects and USB cables. Sorry if you cable naysayers don't believe it.
I still could just not find love for the Alix as a source. The treble was good, the midrange lacked a bit of weight, and the bass (read midbass) was down right anemic. It wasn't horrible, but I just couldn't seem to learn to like it.
Earlier today, I decided to swap a couple of ICs around. My first swap was the ICs from my preamp to my amps. The change was HUGE. I've always been able to hear differences in cables, but it's usually limited to the treble and rarely midrange. This time these cables I've owned for a long time sounded VERY different. I now had what seemed like 3 times the bass as before, midrange weight, and dulled treble. To be honest, the sound was now very close to the Duet or Touch with just a bit more open treble and midrange. I was shocked to say the least.
Then I decided to swap the ICs between the DAC and my preamp. This moved the sound even further in the wrong direction. The sound was now getting thick with lifeless treble. I'm being a little picky here, but you get my point.
Since all of this testing was with my old USB printer cable, I thought I'd throw the Silver Starlight USB cable in to see what would happen to the thick sound and lifeless treble. The change was very positive. I'm only noticing a slight timbre shift up this time in the treble with a nice open and extended sound, and the midrange and bass are sounding very balanced. As a matter of fact, this combination seemed the most interesting, so I left it. After a couple of hours of listening, I'm finding little to complain about.
I might try a few more combinations of cables, but at least I'm finally hearing something very good from the Alix.
There is something at play here that isn't making sense to me. I've spent a lot of time with my current mix of gear and carefully picked what I thought was the perfect mix of cables to use. I even thought I knew exactly what each cable did to the sound. Now it seems everything has changed. It's as if I changed much more than the source. It also seems the cables aren't acting the same way. And it now seems the changes are more drastic than they ever were before. Anyone could pick out these changes as they are VERY obvious.
So it looks like the Alix may just work out for me. Especially now that I know the perfect cable combination seems achievable. I may even keep the Silver Starlight USB cable that I thought was a goner for sure.
I do also have a question regarding hi-rez playback. If I shut off all down sampling and any mixer stuff, how is it my non-hi-rez DAC can still play 24/96 files? And I tried a 24/192 file, and the DAC played it but it would play for 1 second, drop out for one second, play for 1 second, etc. I didn't think it would play at all. Strange.
I'm also very torn about what to do about a power supply. The Paul Hynes PS is working really well, but it's a bit pricey for me. I'm hunting for an alternative solution like the KECES or ? I just hope I don't lose something over the Paul Hynes PS.
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I do also have a question regarding hi-rez playback. If I shut off all down sampling and any mixer stuff, how is it my non-hi-rez DAC can still play 24/96 files? And I tried a 24/192 file, and the DAC played it but it would play for 1 second, drop out for one second, play for 1 second, etc. I didn't think it would play at all. Strange.
The way we have mpd.conf setup is to pass along bit-perfect audio to your DAC without any molestation, i.e., don't convert streams to 48Khz, etc. But ALSA will try to it's best to play a file for you under certain circumstances...
My Ayre QB-9 will handle sample rates of 32Khz, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 176.4, and 192 at 16 bits and 24 bit word lengths. If I feed it any combination of these it will pass them to the DAC as is. But, if I send a 24/96 file (i.e., with this specific mpd.conf and ALSA setup) to a 16/44.1 DAC, it will do its best to down-sample the file and send it to the DAC.
I think there is a way to prevent this, but the end result is no audio and a vague error message. The reason you get pauses with 24/192 material is that the 500Mhz geode CPU isn't fast enough down-sample 24/192 to 16/44.1 in real time.
The alternative is to find a software sample rate converter you like and convert some of your hi-res material so that the Alix doesn't have to do it in real time.
I hope this simplified explanation clarifies what's going on.
P.S when all I had at one time was a 16/44.1 Wavelength Brick USB DAC, I did like the fact that the Alix could down-sample some of the 24/96 material I had. It also sounded quite good!
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The way we have mpd.conf setup is to pass along bit-perfect audio to your DAC without any molestation, i.e., don't convert streams to 48Khz, etc. But ALSA will try to it's best to play a file for you under certain circumstances...
My Ayre QB-9 will handle sample rates of 32Khz, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 176.4, and 192 at 16 bits and 24 bit word lengths. If I feed it any combination of these it will pass them to the DAC as is. But, if I send a 24/96 file (i.e., with this specific mpd.conf and ALSA setup) to a 16/44.1 DAC, it will do its best to down-sample the file and send it to the DAC.
I think there is a way to prevent this, but the end result is no audio and a vague error message. The reason you get pauses with 24/192 material is that the 500Mhz geode CPU isn't fast enough down-sample 24/192 to 16/44.1 in real time.
The alternative is to find a software sample rate converter you like and convert some of your hi-res material so that the Alix doesn't have to do it in real time.
I hope this simplified explanation clarifies what's going on.
P.S when all I had at one time was a 16/44.1 Wavelength Brick USB DAC, I did like the fact that the Alix could down-sample some of the 24/96 material I had. It also sounded quite good!
Thanks for such a great explanation. The good news is that I don't own any hi-rez I need to play. I just have some sample tracks for testing purposes. I plan to wait until I get a hi-rez capable DAC. I just needed to understand why these files were playing.
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I really like the tone of my Alix/Tranquility/Keces combo.
I would like to have more bass.
Jeff
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I really like the tone of my Alix/Tranquility/Keces combo.
I would like to have more bass.
Jeff
Jeff,
Do you have any bass traps in your room? Maybe your front end is not at fault.
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No - I am just comparing it to the Mac Mini source in the same system.
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Just wanted to show off my new custom black ART Legato with it's Triode Wire Labs power cord and ART SPDIFf and USB cables (plus one Nook Color to bind them). :thumb:
Pat at ART really went the extra mile (more like a furlong!) to get a black case and face-plates for me (at a very modest extra cost) to match my other components and he also confirmed that this is the first use of a Legato with a Linux-based system on my Alix/Keces/modded MHDT Havana DAC setup. It already provides a tremendous improvement in transparency and sound-staging even before break-in.
Also many thanks to Nick for his help in getting me to this point....
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=49608)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=49609)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=49610)
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I took the Alix over to a friend's house for a listening session and the only thing that won't work is GMPC. I can't even get NCMPC to run on the Alix as it says "connection refused". Any ideas what could be going on?
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Terry, stupid question but doesn't a new environment (friends house) require major edits to fstab and mpdconfig as the network, permissions, ip address, music file locations, etc are all different.
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Terry, stupid question but doesn't a new environment (friends house) require major edits to fstab and mpdconfig as the network, permissions, ip address, music file locations, etc are all different.
Not a stupid question at all. The answer is yes. We just setup his network to mimic mine. EVERYTHING works fine except for GMPC and NCMPC. I can't figure it out. Doesn't matter now as we gave up.
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Not a stupid question at all. The answer is yes. We just setup his network to mimic mine. EVERYTHING works fine except for GMPC and NCMPC. I can't figure it out. Doesn't matter now as we gave up.
Did you chnage the IP address the ncmpc and gmpc will connect to on the new network?
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Did you chnage the IP address the ncmpc and gmpc will connect to on the new network?
Everything was working fine. I could use WinSCP to SSH into the Alix and the Alix saw the Windows share just fine. The only thing that wouldn't work is GMPC. Then I also couldn't get NCMPC to work either. It doesn't make any sense why it didn't just work. Oh well, I'm heading home now anyway...
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Everything was working fine. I could use WinSCP to SSH into the Alix and the Alix saw the Windows share just fine. The only thing that wouldn't work is GMPC. Then I also couldn't get NCMPC to work either. It doesn't make any sense why it didn't just work. Oh well, I'm heading home now anyway...
Because GMPC or any client need the correct IP and port of the MPD daemon their connecting to. If your Alix was on a new network with an IP of 10.x.x.x and your GMPC was setup to connect to 192.x.x.x, i.e., the IP address of the Alix on your home network, then it can't connect.
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Because GMPC or any client need the correct IP and port of the MPD daemon their connecting to. If your Alix was on a new network with an IP of 10.x.x.x and your GMPC was setup to connect to 192.x.x.x, i.e., the IP address of the Alix on your home network, then it can't connect.
Nope, not the issue. We setup his network to mimic mine. The Alix was still the original IP address and the network share computer was setup to be exactly as at my house. Even the gateway was the same. In my mind it should have worked.
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It's a couple of months since my first encounter with VoyageMPD, and that was only in the way of an experiment with a virtual machine. I've done nothing more since then.
But now I'm close to getting some suitable hardware I see VoyageMPD has moved from version 7 to 7.5, but it's no longer based on a reat-time kernel. Can anyone comment on this? Is the absence of a real-time kernel a backward move? Has anyone made the kind of real-time tweaks posted here
http://sites.google.com/site/computeraudioorg/linux-for-audio/setting-up-alsa
and heard a difference?
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I think I can answer apart of my own question now having stumbled across this site after visiting the Voayage MPD pages.
http://kubotayo.web.fc2.com/voyagempd.html#voyagempd075
It says "Recently Linux 3.0 was released. Force threaded irq-handlers is effective in this version without RT patches." which I take to mean some aspects of the RT kernel are availalbe, or at least irq tuning can be done.
But the real question is it of value when you're just using a computer for audio playback?
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I think I can answer apart of my own question now having stumbled across this site after visiting the Voayage MPD pages.
http://kubotayo.web.fc2.com/voyagempd.html#voyagempd075
It says "Recently Linux 3.0 was released. Force threaded irq-handlers is effective in this version without RT patches." which I take to mean some aspects of the RT kernel are availalbe, or at least irq tuning can be done.
But the real question is it of value when you're just using a computer for audio playback?
I would say no. Others will disagree. If your _capturing_ multiple streams, i.e., recording on a desktop, I can see where latency can have a major impact. But on Alix hardware/software, i.e., a headless, lean 2 playback machine and 500Mhz being plenty for 24/192 and maybe even 32bit/384Khz, playback of 2 channel audio doesn't warrant precision control of latencies.
ANd IIRC, mpd doesn't have RT support last time I looked. Though ALSA does.
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I suppose in the end you can just add the software tweaks and hear for yourself ... its' all free in Linux.
You mentioned mpd does not have RT support, the site I quoted above appears to have a version for download that does!
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Just a note for the folks using usb to spdif converters. If it doesn't have its own power supply, get it one. It makes a BIG difference...
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A couple of things...
I just noticed that an up to date version of Debian Unstable has ALSA 1.0.24 and ALSA utils 1.0.24. So, those who want to use regular Debian on any old PC can have 24/192 capability.
And, I'm selling a Soekris net4801 SBC with 256 MB RAM, This has the PCI slot for those who want to get a Juli@ card up and running with Voyage Linux. Comes with case and I'm only asking exactly what I paid for it: $90. I'll pay the $10 USPS priority mail shipping. I take PayPal or USPS Money Order.
Specs here:http://soekris.com/products/net4801.html
Nick
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Here is my first project 24 bits/192 kHz with an USB to spdif transport April Stello U3 and a V-Dac I
(http://www.maison-passive-nice.fr/images/dockstars_u3-vdac.png)
I am using 2 plugcomputers (Dockstar): one as a NAS and tftp server, the other as the MPD server.
The NAS Docktar (nfs, webdavs, tftp) runs Debian on the USB hard disk, has a WiFi usb key and is connected via Gigabit to the MPD Dockstar.
The MPD Dockstar boots through the network and runs archlinux.
Why two Dockstar for the music?
- usually the Dockstar boots on a usb storage (key, hdd). But, I did not want the usb controller to be shared with the usb transport (April Stello U3) to be sure to get the best flow. So the mpd Dockstar boots on the network by tftp (have to say the 2 Dockstar are connected together by the Ethernet gigabit port). So its usb port (and controller) is completely dedicated to the April Stello U3.
- the tftp server function is assumed by a second Dockstar equipped with an usb disk and a small usb wifi key. On this NAS Dockstar, I have also installed an NFS server and a webdavs server.
- with some adjustments made on the NAS Dockstar (masquerade), the mpd server Dockstar music playback and playlists are controlled by every house computers (mac/pc/whatever) and smartphones by just entering its ip.
I am delighted with the sound. Thanks to the April Stello U3 + V-dac. It is much much better than my old CEC CD player.
Decoding 44.1 KHz flac files takes ~ 1.5-2.5% time processor - 96 kHz 5% - 192 kHz 11-12%
For my brother, I'm going to set this other project (24 bits/96 kHz):
(http://www.maison-passive-nice.fr/images/sagittarius_for_my_brother.png)
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Nice job :thumb:
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Just wanted to add my experience to this thread.
I bought the Voyage MPD starter kit from the Voyage Store. Assembled it rather fast, setup an NFS share, powered it up and it it was live. It was pretty cool to PuTTy into the system and issue commands to play music, all within an hour of opening the box. I then started to scan the forums to see how to configure it. After a couple of hours of research, I realized there was a guide in the box it came in, doh! Still, the guide leaves a lot unsaid. Glad I finally found this thread.
My main playback was jRiver 16, from a local library on my desktop computer running Windows 7 into a Audinst HUD-Mx1 DAC. I have a Windows Home Server 2011 setup, and I toss a copy of my lossless rips and downloads on a server folder there. I assumed I needed to mount using an NFS share, as that was all the information I could find with Google. I realized I had an issue with permissions, and everytime I added a new album, I would run a chmod -R 777 /mnt/public. I got pretty good at that, and kept telling myself I would fix the permissions once I got tired of that.
In the middle of this thread, someone mentions SAMBA and CIFS. So I tried that out last night, and after some effort, got it to work. It turned out the majority of the issues I had was due to permissions on the Windows Home Server, somehow I managed to totally mess the share permissions up when using NFS, and I had to log in as Administrator and take ownership of the entire folder and propagate them down.
After that, it was pure bliss. I could even update the database from within my MP clients! Really, it was rather simple once I realized what it was that I needed. That was the hard part, realizing what you actually need in your system. It was very much like any music player setup, except configuring from the command line. Setup your library. Point MPD at the share. Configure it for bit perfect playback. Pretty much the same thing I did for jRiver.
If anyone has a similar setup, please feel free to ask me any questions.
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Just wanted to add my experience to this thread.
I bought the Voyage MPD starter kit from the Voyage Store. Assembled it rather fast, setup an NFS share, powered it up and it it was live. It was pretty cool to PuTTy into the system and issue commands to play music, all within an hour of opening the box. I then started to scan the forums to see how to configure it. After a couple of hours of research, I realized there was a guide in the box it came in, doh! Still, the guide leaves a lot unsaid. Glad I finally found this thread.
My main playback was jRiver 16, from a local library on my desktop computer running Windows 7 into a Audinst HUD-Mx1 DAC. I have a Windows Home Server 2011 setup, and I toss a copy of my lossless rips and downloads on a server folder there. I assumed I needed to mount using an NFS share, as that was all the information I could find with Google. I realized I had an issue with permissions, and everytime I added a new album, I would run a chmod -R 777 /mnt/public. I got pretty good at that, and kept telling myself I would fix the permissions once I got tired of that.
In the middle of this thread, someone mentions SAMBA and CIFS. So I tried that out last night, and after some effort, got it to work. It turned out the majority of the issues I had was due to permissions on the Windows Home Server, somehow I managed to totally mess the share permissions up when using NFS, and I had to log in as Administrator and take ownership of the entire folder and propagate them down.
After that, it was pure bliss. I could even update the database from within my MP clients! Really, it was rather simple once I realized what it was that I needed. That was the hard part, realizing what you actually need in your system. It was very much like any music player setup, except configuring from the command line. Setup your library. Point MPD at the share. Configure it for bit perfect playback. Pretty much the same thing I did for jRiver.
If anyone has a similar setup, please feel free to ask me any questions.
Do you like the sound better than your Jriver setup? Notice any difference?
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Yes, I like the Voyage MPD better than the jRiver Windows 7 setup. I don't know if I have the experience to quite articulate what it is, but it seems more natural. The Windows setup seems a bit more upfront in certain areas, but that might be because of the gain settings, making it hard to compare.
I haven't done a lot of A/B testing, nor do I plan to. I have enjoyed finding what I think are minor flaws in recordings, but whether that is because of better listening ability over time, headphone break in, or the Voyage MPD itself, I cannot say. Maybe over time I can put this into more objective terms instead of subjective. For now, I will likely always prefer a natural sound, with a bias towards the high ends, I can't stand things too boomy.
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Anyone have any tips on writing a client for MPD? I can't stand GMPC, and the ones for Android tablet are a bit lacking.
Just the Database file view, the ability to add to playlist, and the playback controls would rock. If I could do this in a web application, even better, because that is what I know best.
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Anyone have any tips on writing a client for MPD? I can't stand GMPC, and the ones for Android tablet are a bit lacking.
Just the Database file view, the ability to add to playlist, and the playback controls would rock. If I could do this in a web application, even better, because that is what I know best.
There are plenty of web clients (from full featured to bare bones) on the MPD wiki site. Maybe you could modify the source code to suit your needs?
Link: http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Clients#Web_Clients
I'd like to see a simple web based remote for the new Wi-Fi/web enabled Kindle touch. An MPD remote on an E-Ink screen would be nice.
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Just the Database file view, the ability to add to playlist, and the playback controls would rock. If I could do this in a web application, even better, because that is what I know best.
Following on from what Nick said, I'm using MPDroid and I believe (if I understand your question correctly) that it offers all these controls. I'm using it on a rooted Nook Color tablet running a full Android OS.
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Following on from what Nick said, I'm using MPDroid and I believe (if I understand your question correctly) that it offers all these controls. I'm using it on a rooted Nook Color tablet running a full Android OS.
Pic or screen shot available?
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MPDroid leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. Especially when it can't order an album correctly by tracklist (it sorts by the integer value apparently). Also with long folder names, the display truncates and I cannot tell what version of a recording I am listening to. EDIT: I am using it on an Andriod Tablet, so screen size shouldn't be an issue.
I will take a look at the various web clients and see if there is anything I can work with.
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Just wondering if anyone has tried Voyage MPD 0.8?
Can this be done in place or is it a new card build?
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Just wondering if anyone has tried Voyage MPD 0.8?
Can this be done in place or is it a new card build?
I set it up last night. Works great. MPD 0.16.5 is in there with needed bug fixes.
With a previous version of Voyage, the one that had the RT kernel, I was having occasional issues at the start of hi-res files. Bits of static or clicks.
With the standard kernel all is well. On this platform for 2 channel music, I don't think a real time kernel is required.
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Pic or screen shot available?
I'll take some pics this weekend of the basic MPDroid interface, the settings page and the file library page and post them. I haven't had any problem with the length of the file names so far but I haven't examined the track listings to see if there's a problem yet.
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I set it up last night. Works great. MPD 0.16.5 is in there with needed bug fixes.
With a previous version of Voyage, the one that had the RT kernel, I was having occasional issues at the start of hi-res files. Bits of static or clicks.
With the standard kernel all is well. On this platform for 2 channel music, I don't think a real time kernel is required.
I *strongly* disagree.
When I first installed Voyage MPD 0.8RC I thought that the SQ was good, almost great. I hadn´t played music for a couple of weeks, though. When I connected my QB-9 to my Mac mini (half-tweaked with Lion, BitPerfect or Pure Music, the usual stuff) I thought that it sounded quite a lot better. So it was back to the drawing board. I then installed Voyage MPD 0.75 and thought the sound was a little bit better, but I am not 100% sure as it was in the same neighborhood as 0.8 anyways. (I found out that 0.8 did not use HPET as default, but it is default in 0.75, maybe becaus the Alixes dont have a HPET)
I then downloaded a RT kernel, manually edited menu.lst to reflect the new kernel (or you could use Grub 2) and with the threadirqs boot option, and BAM the sound was now very clearly better than the Mac. I then tweaked the priorities, USB irq to RT (if you have more than 1 USB, you should only tweak the USB output connected to the USB DAC), the sound output thread of MPD to RT, and the IRQ daemon as RT along, Alsa as RT, with some other tweaks. I even disabled most of the services. It it now sooooo much better than the Mini that it is just scary. And it handles all samplerates, and autoswitches without the buggy implementation of Bitperfect, Pure Music. And the files even reside locally on the harddisk inside. (Since Lion SMB sharing does not work, but I will eventually reinstall SL or just use Samba 3 with Macports).
The next project is probably to install Voyage MPD with RT kernel on a Mac Mini with 8GB ram, SSD, and play from memory disk. I have confidence that this will smoke the competition, DIY or commercial, whatever the cost or implementation.
As for your problems using the RT kernel. I could be wrong, but if the RT Kernel had problems with Hi-Rez, then you might have not set the priorities and other things properly. Or if you are a Linux Audio Guru already and you are certain of our experiences, the only solution might be to move up from the Alixes (or similar) and go for something with more ompfh ;)
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I *strongly* disagree.
When I first installed Voyage MPD 0.8RC I thought that the SQ was good, almost great. I hadn´t played music for a couple of weeks, though. When I connected my QB-9 to my Mac mini (half-tweaked with Lion, BitPerfect or Pure Music, the usual stuff) I thought that it sounded quite a lot better. So it was back to the drawing board. I then installed Voyage MPD 0.75 and thought the sound was a little bit better, but I am not 100% sure as it was in the same neighborhood as 0.8 anyways. (I found out that 0.8 did not use HPET as default, but it is default in 0.75, maybe becaus the Alixes dont have a HPET)
I then downloaded a RT kernel, manually edited menu.lst to reflect the new kernel (or you could use Grub 2) and with the threadirqs boot option, and BAM the sound was now very clearly better than the Mac. I then tweaked the priorities, USB irq to RT (if you have more than 1 USB, you should only tweak the USB output connected to the USB DAC), the sound output thread of MPD to RT, and the IRQ daemon as RT along, Alsa as RT, with some other tweaks. I even disabled most of the services. It it now sooooo much better than the Mini that it is just scary. And it handles all samplerates, and autoswitches without the buggy implementation of Bitperfect, Pure Music. And the files even reside locally on the harddisk inside. (Since Lion SMB sharing does not work, but I will eventually reinstall SL or just use Samba 3 with Macports).
Could you reduce that to a set of plain English instructions we could follow to try this?
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Im sorry :D I will try again. I guess nyc_paramedic would understand...
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Im sorry :D I will try again. I guess nyc_paramedic would understand...
Well there are plenty of us on this thread that aren't Linux hacks, but we manage to get by with a little help from our friends... and enjoy the Alix/Voyage very much.
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I *strongly* disagree.
When I first installed Voyage MPD 0.8RC I thought that the SQ was good, almost great. I hadn´t played music for a couple of weeks, though. When I connected my QB-9 to my Mac mini (half-tweaked with Lion, BitPerfect or Pure Music, the usual stuff) I thought that it sounded quite a lot better. So it was back to the drawing board. I then installed Voyage MPD 0.75 and thought the sound was a little bit better, but I am not 100% sure as it was in the same neighborhood as 0.8 anyways. (I found out that 0.8 did not use HPET as default, but it is default in 0.75, maybe becaus the Alixes dont have a HPET)
I then downloaded a RT kernel, manually edited menu.lst to reflect the new kernel (or you could use Grub 2) and with the threadirqs boot option, and BAM the sound was now very clearly better than the Mac. I then tweaked the priorities, USB irq to RT (if you have more than 1 USB, you should only tweak the USB output connected to the USB DAC), the sound output thread of MPD to RT, and the IRQ daemon as RT along, Alsa as RT, with some other tweaks. I even disabled most of the services. It it now sooooo much better than the Mini that it is just scary. And it handles all samplerates, and autoswitches without the buggy implementation of Bitperfect, Pure Music. And the files even reside locally on the harddisk inside. (Since Lion SMB sharing does not work, but I will eventually reinstall SL or just use Samba 3 with Macports).
The next project is probably to install Voyage MPD with RT kernel on a Mac Mini with 8GB ram, SSD, and play from memory disk. I have confidence that this will smoke the competition, DIY or commercial, whatever the cost or implementation.
As for your problems using the RT kernel. I could be wrong, but if the RT Kernel had problems with Hi-Rez, then you might have not set the priorities and other things properly. Or if you are a Linux Audio Guru already and you are certain of our experiences, the only solution might be to move up from the Alixes (or similar) and go for something with more ompfh ;)
When I first installed Voyage MPD 0.8RC, I thought that the sound quality was good, almost great, but kinda boring and lifeless.
The Mac mini sounded quite a lot better. I then installed Voyage MPD 0.75 and thought that maybe it sounded a little better than 0.8 but far from the Mac mini.
I then downloaded a binary of the Real Time Linux Kernel 3.0.1 kernel. Grub, the Linux boot loader read from the menu.lst file to what kernel to boot. I changed some parameters in the menu.lst file so that the Real Time Kernel would boot instead of the normal Kernel.
BAM! The sound now eclipsed the Mac mini.
I then tweaked the priorities of the different processes. On a couple of key processes i set the priority the highest, which is real time priority. RT would in this context mean "the highest priority, realtime priority", whereas RT kernel just means the Real Time Kernel.
MPD run as 4 or 5 threads and with a modified MPD binary you can set different priorities of the threads. I set the output thread of MPD to RT, the other threads should not run as RT priority as that will make the sound less good, and might produce some click and pops, and will f*** up the resampling process if MPD needs to resample. I also set RT priority on the USB IRQ along with some other stuff. You need to be selective here and give the highest priority only to the processes that directly influence the sound.
A stripped down Linux distro is a good basis, just like a racing track is also a good basis. That means we can prioritize MPD as a Formula 1 car. And since a racing track doesnt have bumps and other things a Formula 1 car can be optimized for maximum speed. So higher speed would in the headless Linux Music Server terms mean better sound. Not everything can run at real time priority just like Formula 1 cars cant prioritize everything. Only the things that make it go fast is of importance.
(Yes, I am sorry if this does not make any sense ;) )
After all this tweaking, my headless server now leave the Mac mini in the dust. In, fact, the Mac mini is now relegated to do duty as a HTPC running Win7.
HPET is a High Performance Event Timer.
From Wikipedia: The HPET can produce periodic interrupts at a much higher resolution than the RTC and is often used to synchronize multimedia streams, providing smooth playback and reducing the need to use other timestamp calculations such as an X86-based CPU's RDTSC instruction.
I am unsure if the Alixes support HPET. I also think that Alixes do not make *ultimate* MPD servers. They are a little underpowered even if only 10-20% of the CPU power is used for normal non-resampled playback. And they are quite complicated (even if they are small) in hardware which means more processes. But to be fair, I have not tried an Alix.
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Thanks for more detail. So what hardware platform are you running Voyage on, the Mac Mini?
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When I first installed Voyage MPD 0.8RC, I thought that the sound quality was good, almost great, but kinda boring and lifeless...
... I also think that Alixes do not make *ultimate* MPD servers. They are a little underpowered even if only 10-20% of the CPU power is used for normal non-resampled playback. And they are quite complicated (even if they are small) in hardware which means more processes. But to be fair, I have not tried an Alix.
OK, before I start typing paragraphs about RT kernels and low latency, can I ask what hardware platform you used to set all this RT and IRQ stuff on?
Also, if an Alix uses only 10-20% decoding FLAC at even 24bit/192Khz then how exactly is it underpowered? It's got plenty of RAM as well. And how are the "quite complicated"? Have you seen the block diagram of the circuit? It's on the PC Engines website. It's very simple compared to the mess of even the smallest full featured mini-itx boards.
Can you post exactly what settings, with commands, you used on your Voyage with RT kernel? I'll give it a try on my spare/experimental Alix board and tell you what I think. Though, on an Alix with no-mini PCI cards installed (as mine is configured) and only 1 USB audio device attached, I don't know how messing with IRQ would help.
I do know that latency plays a huge role when <I>recording streams. But with playback, on a machine with decent RAM and buffers it should be a non-issue. Though, I'd be willing to listen to your changes with open ears.
You should try and Alix as well. It's very cheap and would make a great firewall/router with m0n0wall installed if it's not your cup of tea.
nick
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Hi NYC_paramedic.
My intention is not to argue. I was merely stating my opinion.
Everybody is free to try, but since your opinion weighs heavily (you are after all the thread starter), I feel that I had to chime in since my experience differs a lot. You might feel that the normal kernel is fine. Others might feel that Windows directsound/"default OSX" is fine. And some might think that there should not be any differences in sound as long the output is bitperfect. In theory our QB-9s should not even care that much since it is async. And so on.. Nobody has the ultimate answers on this topic.
Since some/most (if I understand correctly) RT functions are already included in mainline 3.0.0 kernel, it should also be easy to try for most people.
Maybe complicated was the wrong word to describe the Alix platform. It just feels that way with the BIOS, COM ports, PS2 ports and other legacy hardware that take up IRQs and/or needs more background processes running. It also does not support HPET, and the CPU is slow. All these things might or might not matter at all. All I can say is that an RT Kernel , for me, does not impose any problems. Soundwise, the normal Kernel was not in the same league. Since I have a Mac mini to compare to, I am positive that I am not imagining these things. (indeed it should not matter, since there really is a night and day difference)
I use an Apple TV 1G. Installing Linux is unfortunately not trivial on this platform. The ATV1 is great because you can put a HDD inside, even a modern SATA drive with the right adapter. Even though it is bigger than an Alix, it is not big by any means. It it still smaller than a the unibody minis, except they are really cheap and portable. It would work great at my sisters or parents house. They dont need do know anything technical once it is set up. They can just drag new songs into the Samba share and it will magically appear on their mPod/mPad, and it will play anything with ease and at the same time have the performance and sound quality to boot.
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Hi NYC_paramedic.
My intention is not to argue. I was merely stating my opinion.
First, hello. Second, We're not arguing. We're discussing. That's why I said I _would_ like to try the settings you made. If I hear a difference I'll agree with you.
Everybody is free to try, but since your opinion weighs heavily...
Not too heavily, I hope. I don't consider myself a *guru*. I have been using Linux for the last 14 years but computers are not my profession.
I feel that I had to chime in since my experience differs a lot. You might feel that the normal kernel is fine.
That's fine; it's what the thread is for. I don't mind different opinions. I do think the normal kernel sounds very, very good.
In theory our QB-9s should not even care that much since it is async. And so on.. Nobody has the ultimate answers on this topic.
Agreed. The qb-9 might be async but who knows how it's affected in other ways from the computer it's connected to. EMI? RFI?
Since some/most (if I understand correctly) RT functions are already included in mainline 3.0.0 kernel, it should also be easy to try for most people.
Are you saying RT is *enabled* by default on shipping 3.0.0 kernels? I'll check. Sounds strange as most desktops users do not need an RT kernel running by default. And even so, it might not be "easy to try for most" as MPD does not have RT support compiled in by default. You have to patch and recompile, if I remember correctly.
Maybe complicated was the wrong word to describe the Alix platform. It just feels that way with the BIOS, COM ports, PS2 ports and other legacy hardware that take up IRQs and/or needs more background processes running. It also does not support HPET, and the CPU is slow. All these things might or might not matter at all.
The alix 2d2 and 3d2 do not have a standard BIOS. It's a custom TinyBios written by the designer of the Alix boards for embedded use: http://www.pcengines.ch/tinybios.htm And it's Open Source! No "legacy" code there.
Also, there is no PS/2. Did you actually look at any Alix documentation or visit the PC Engines website? I find it strange that you make these claims when your Apple TV 1g has more (SATA, optical audio out, etc.) peripherals, same RAM on board and only a slightly faster processor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_TV#Technical_specifications Note that, your Apple TV also has a built in 48watt switching power supply.
Are you able to disable the audio, video and other gadgets on the Apple TV? And merely unplugging the video cable from the Apple TV doesn't necessarily make it headless as the video circuitry still might be active.
And what other "legacy hardware" does the Alix have? Can you be more specific? It's a from scratch design whose purpose was low power and embedded design.
All I can say is that an RT Kernel , for me, does not impose any problems. Soundwise, the normal Kernel was not in the same league. Since I have a Mac mini to compare to, I am positive that I am not imagining these things. (indeed it should not matter, since there really is a night and day difference)
Just to be absolutely clear: You do not have an Alix. Correct? You are comparing RT kernel and MPD on Apple TV 1G and a Mac Mini with OS X on it. Is this correct? (Maybe English is not your first language? Let me know.)
I use an Apple TV 1G. Installing Linux is unfortunately not trivial on this platform. The ATV1 is great because you can put a HDD inside, even a modern SATA drive with the right adapter. Even though it is bigger than an Alix, it is not big by any means. It it still smaller than a the unibody minis, except they are really cheap and portable. It would work great at my sisters or parents house. They dont need do know anything technical once it is set up. They can just drag new songs into the Samba share and it will magically appear on their mPod/mPad, and it will play anything with ease and at the same time have the performance and sound quality to boot.
And that would make it even *more* difficult for some audiophile here to use the device as an MPD server. The Alix boards are very open to experimentation. Contrast that with just getting the USB 2.0 port working on the Apple TV: USB 2.0 (officially for diagnostic use only, though hackers have managed to allow connectivity of hard disks, mice, and keyboards),[73] infrared receiver, HDMI, component video, optical audio...
How much is an Apple TV 1g? Are they readily available for purchase by anyone without having to resort to Craigslist or eBay? Is it not discontinued? The Alix 3d2 is $99 USD and available worldwide; case is $11 USD.
They dont need do know anything technical once it is set up. They can just drag new songs into the Samba share and it will magically appear on their mPod/mPad
But the same *exact* argument can be made for the Alix. There's a bunch of people here who (i hope!) will attest to that. Once they edit mpd.conf and fstab and update the music database it's very stable. Just turn off when done listening and turn it back on when you want to listen again; the read only, entire OS in RAM makes it trivial. No shutdown command to issue, etc. It's so stable and great sounding that's it's almost boring.
It's also...
--easier to setup by newbies than a Apple TV
--on an open hardware platform
--without resorting to hacks or possibly committing a DRM felony
--to use any power supply or battery supply *without* getting out the soldering iron
--has an open TinyBios
--is most probably quieter than an AppleTV EMI/RFI wise
--has a stupendously simple hardware *embedded* design.
--has no extraneous peripherals compared to you overly laden Apple TV 1G
Again, I'm not arguing with you. I would like to try your settings if you post specific steps and details. I have 2 Alix boards here: 1 stable for and one for experimenting.
But again, you don't have an Alix, correct?
nick
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Sorry I dont have the time to multiquote.
No I dont have an Alix.
I am not negative towards them, and it was a not neccesarily a pro-atv post.
You seem very defendant of the Alix, but I am in no way advocating the use of the ATV instead of the Alix. I am already saying that it is not trivial to install Linux on the ATV. I am saying good things about the ATV as a finished and set up system. That does not mean the same cant be said about the Alix.
My point was mostly about the HDD. Alixes dont have a HDD, so that makes them a little less portable, and less sister/parent safe as you would need to set up samba on your PC/Mac (or samba 3 on Lion) or a NAS. Which means more telephone calls from them for support.
Btw. The Pentium M 1ghz CPU in the Apple TV is many times faster than the LX800: CPU arithmetic. Dhrystone 757MIPS. Whetstone 283MFlops (Equivalent to a Celeron 266-class CPU)
Anyways my post was about the use of the RT Kernel. Not discussing my platform of choice. You were asking what I used, so I answered. But we should get back on track.
The RT options are not enabled by default. You have to activate them with "threadirqs". If no difference heard, then switch back. Other settings will mostly be different for the Alix.
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Sorry I dont have the time to multiquote.
No I dont have an Alix.
I am not negative towards them, and it was a not neccesarily a pro-atv post.
You seem very defendant of the Alix, but I am in no way advocating the use of the ATV instead of the Alix. I am already saying that it is not trivial to install Linux on the ATV. I am saying good things about the ATV as a finished and set up system. That does not mean the same cant be said about the Alix.
My point was mostly about the HDD. Alixes dont have a HDD, so that makes them a little less portable, and less sister/parent safe as you would need to set up samba on your PC/Mac (or samba 3 on Lion) or a NAS. Which means more telephone calls from them for support.
Btw. The Pentium M 1ghz CPU in the Apple TV is many times faster than the LX800: CPU arithmetic. Dhrystone 757MIPS. Whetstone 283MFlops (Equivalent to a Celeron 266-class CPU)
Anyways my post was about the use of the RT Kernel. Not discussing my platform of choice. You were asking what I used, so I answered. But we should get back on track.
The RT options are not enabled by default. You have to activate them with "threadirqs". If no difference heard, then switch back. Other settings will mostly be different for the Alix.
Ok, so you don't have an Alix. I was just confused because statements you made did not match the Alix description. And no, I'm not very defendant of them. It does what *I* need it to do and that's all I really care about. Some people have loved the sound but still have gone back to Mac, Windows, whatever because the can't live without certain GUI features, iTunes interface, etc. And that's fine, too. But lets forget about that...
On HDD: Alix 2d2 has 44pin laptop disc header. Connect your favorite spinning disc or SSD and your off. Look:http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2d2.htm Want SATA? Use and Avantech mini-PCI SATA card on Alix 2d2 or 3d2; $40 bucks. I'll stick to using NFS over ethernet. 'Tis a much more elegant solution.
On RT: Please post *exactly* what I should so. Give me details so that I can replicate what you did and what you heard.
Many thanks.
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Btw. The Pentium M 1ghz CPU in the Apple TV is many times faster than the LX800: CPU arithmetic. Dhrystone 757MIPS. Whetstone 283MFlops (Equivalent to a Celeron 266-class CPU)
It doesn't matter.
The LX800, with 256MB RAM is *overkill* for play back of 2 channel music at 24bit/192Khz over USB. It's overkill for 32bit/384Khz playback over USB. With MPD's large audio buffers, it's optimized low latency daemon and it's client/server deisgn means there's no need for 1Ghz CPU's for the playback of 24/192 or 32/384 audio.
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I just pointed out thas it wasnt just slightly faster. Maybe it matters, maybe not. I prefer my CPU idling at 3% at 24/192 rather than 15-20%. In my experience faster CPUs mean better sound.
I know "it doesnt matter" regarding the actual power to decode 24/384khz. If I did not know that, I surely would not be running Linux on an ATV. If it "didnt matter, why dont you run full blown Ubuntu on the Alix (OK so you cant reallu without a VGA card, but thats beside the point). The LX800 should still be overkill if the OS is just idling and you only use MPD. Why don´t you try and report back?
Let me get this out:
I like the Apple TV. It already good to go when you buy one.
1. It looks good.
2. Its cheap.
3. Built in PSU means only a small power cable is needed.
4. Its still small with a HDD inside. Perfect to take away on vacation or something.
5. It works for me. The Alixx works for you.
6. We should move on.
Did you not say that you tried out the RT Kernel earlier? Did you not append the parameter "threadirqs" to the Kernel line in the file /boot/grub/menu.lst ? Well that is all you need to do. The difference should be clear.
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My rule is that if it has a fan, it's not silent. Ever. I can hear my Dell Zino from across the room with TV on (and the Dell is behind a TV). My Antec P180 case sounds like a jet engine to me. As soon as the fan gets dust on it, it's loud.
Here's my latest computer:
http://www.hd-plex.com/H3.SODD.html
Completely FANLESS. Yes, FANLESS. No fan whatsoever. Let me repeat that: NO FAN. With a solid state drive, no moving parts except for a bluray/DVD player (and they sell another version without the bluray/DVD player).
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I just pointed out thas it wasnt just slightly faster. Maybe it matters, maybe not.
This.
I prefer my CPU idling at 3% at 24/192 rather than 15-20%.
Plus this.
In my experience faster CPUs mean better sound.
Plus this.
I know "it doesnt matter" regarding the actual power to decode 24/384khz.
Equals: You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything.
If I did not know that, I surely would not be running Linux on an ATV.
But, you said: In my experience faster CPUs mean better sound.
If it "didnt matter, why dont you run full blown Ubuntu on the Alix (OK so you cant reallu without a VGA card, but thats beside the point). The LX800 should still be overkill if the OS is just idling and you only use MPD. Why don´t you try and report back?
Again, you're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything.
I was talking about Alix hardware with Voyage MPD (minimal Debian, running in RAM, no X, a minimum of services, no HDD and MPD as the star daemon running). It doesn't matter because we don't need to prioritize MPD threads on a system that has all of its RAM and CPU dedicated to MPD by default. Where's the latency problem? Where are the buffer under runs? Where is the high disk and PCI I/O? We deal with high latency by not introducing it in the first place.
And no, a standard kernel from kernel.org does not come pre-configured with RT enabled. Even with 3.0.0, RT patches have to be applied by the user. There is a good reason why RT kernels are not the default: They can cause more problems than they're are worth. They're designed for very specific applications and care has to be taken with configuration.
From Linux Torvalds: http://yarchive.net/comp/linux/rtlinux.html
Also, some people will he happy to know that soft-RT ends up getting
continually improved, and many people might be able to find that just the
regular preemptible kernel gives good enough latency at least if you can
limit the workload on the machine (which, on embedded devices tends to be
something you take for granted anyway).
Also:
My point is that from a technical standpoint, I think giving user land
higher priorities than the kernel is _wrong_.
It gets you into all the priority inversion stuff, where you suddently
must not do simple system calls because the regular kernel locks are no
longer safe to use. That's a HUGE design mistake, and a classic one. Yes,
others have done it that way. A billion flies _can_ be wrong - I'd rather
eat lamb chops than shit.
And:
“Controlling a laser with Linux is crazy, but everyone in this room is crazy in his own way. So if you want to use Linux to control an industrial welding laser, I have no problem with your using PREEMPT_RT.” -- Linus Torvalds
Let me be blunt and tell you what I think: You're advocating the use of an Linux RT kernel on a minimalist hardware and software platform that can easily handle playing back high resolution files with negligible latency. I think you found this website, http://kubotayo.web.fc2.com/voyagempd.html#patch, applied the changes step by step, and convinced your self that the sound before was "lifeless" and after was "and BAM the sound was now very clearly better than the Mac."
I think you don't understand the utility of what an RT kernel is really for. Do you have a CPU that has to control multiple control surfaces in a flight critical system in addition to computing a whole host of calculations? Or more applicably, an Ubuntu Studio desktop that is recording multiple (high disk IO, etc.) 24/192 streams that have to sync within milliseconds, then RT is for you! Otherwise you're turning a simple mouse trap into a Rube Goldberg machine to catch just one mouse.
On top of that, there is no "better" that you claim. I know plenty of audiophiles who buy gear because they like their music "warm", i.e., with added distortion. Some audiophiles have colored (again, warm) speakers and subconsciously use other pieces of gear as tone controls. And yet even more audiophiles refuse to invest in room treatments...
Did you not say that you tried out the RT Kernel earlier? Did you not append the parameter "threadirqs" to the Kernel line in the file /boot/grub/menu.lst ? Well that is all you need to do. The difference should be clear.
I did. A while back. No difference. You're comparing apples (Apple TV) and oranges (Alix) without even owning a basket of oranges.
Even though I like to tinker, I realized the stock configuration sounds wonderful. It sounded wonderful from day one, circa 2008. I notice some slight differences between battery, linear supply and the stock switching wall wart. And contrary to what some people think, the switching wall wart is actually very good. I trust my ears, not some made up internal bias.
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Jesus, please stop with the take-no-prisoners multiquoting and Faust-like psycho analyzing. You know nothing about me or my background, and this isn't an exercise about semantics. We are not discussing my CV but our experiences with the RT Kernel.
I installed default Voyage MPD first. At the time I was unaware of all the tweaking, RT and other stuff. I wanted it to sound better than my Mac right of out the box. It did not, even though the Mac is runing a full blown OS with GUI and numerous background processes. So I had to google how to get good sound in Linux. There are a few pages on the net and they are mostly the same. I was at Kubota site too, but I'm not using the same settings. I have tried changing the settings back to default and the sound does change. But the biggest change is probably just changing the Kernel. That is why I want people to try just this one thing. If there is no difference, then change back. No need to tweak further to see if there is any miniscule difference.
It is also easy to compare the Mac and the ATV. It is just a matter of unplugging the USB cable and put it into the other. It takes 5 seconds, and I've done it enough times that I am certain that there is a big difference. I don't have 2 QB9s to do a DBT, so this is what you get. What's more I'll even set up a second ATV with default settings to directly compare apples to apples. (And no I was never comparing apples to oranges. Once again, I was talking about RT Kernel in general only, and I did say the whole time that I didn't own an Alix)
Since I have yet to install Voyage MPD 0.8, I'll probably get round to installing it on both ATVs one of these days.
I know that "better" isn't always neccesarily "better", but we are not talking about 2 different poweramps with different sonic signatures. Better in my case means the same sound but higher subjective sonic quality in all the key areas. I do not wan't to talk about my set up (let's stick to the case), but I can assure you that it is resolving enough. I think even you would approve. After all, we do own the same USB Dac.
I do know what a RT system used for. ABS brakes anyone? I'm not advocating it because it sounds cool or anything. My point is that things that might not make apparent sense, still makes a difference when we are dealing with audio. Practical experience should weigh heavier than theory. Ask any audio equipment designer.
I am still not sure if the mainline 3.0.0 Kernel has RT functions. It thought I read it in this thread a few pages earlier but I'm not certain of that.
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Magnum and NYC, this is a great thread- evenn though i'm not entirely sure what half of the posts mean as i don't run Linux. :scratch:
It is a great reference thread, and i'd hate to have to lock it if you guys start getting into personal attacks. Please, take a breath, and return to posting tomorrow or whenever you feel like discussing things without the jabs and barbs.
Todd
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I have now configured 2 ATV running Voyage MPD 0.8.
One is completely stock Voyage MPD. Just edited mpd.conf to reflect my preferred sound device with auto switching of sample rate.
The other is my tweaked one with a realtime kernel. I had to build my own kernel for Voyage 0.8 for it to be 100% compatible with Voyage MPD 0.8.
To compare them I just need to replug the USB cable from my Ayre QB9 DAC into either one of the ATVs. No rebooting or other things neccesary.
To cut the story short: The ATV with the realtime kernel is so much better in all areas that its not even funny. It is much much more open and finegrained in the sound. And that settles it for me.
If interested I could post my realtime kernel if others want to try it out.
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I have now configured 2 ATV running Voyage MPD 0.8.
One is completely stock Voyage MPD. Just edited mpd.conf to reflect my preferred sound device with auto switching of sample rate.
The other is my tweaked one with a realtime kernel. I had to build my own kernel for Voyage 0.8 for it to be 100% compatible with Voyage MPD 0.8.
To compare them I just need to replug the USB cable from my Ayre QB9 DAC into either one of the ATVs. No rebooting or other things neccesary.
To cut the story short: The ATV with the realtime kernel is so much better in all areas that its not even funny. It is much much more open and finegrained in the sound. And that settles it for me.
If interested I could post my realtime kernel if others want to try it out.
It would be helpful to know how to do it on the Alix step by step. I just have one board now, but it's pretty quick to just swap the CF card with the other image and reboot it.
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I have now configured 2 ATV running Voyage MPD 0.8.
One is completely stock Voyage MPD. Just edited mpd.conf to reflect my preferred sound device with auto switching of sample rate.
The other is my tweaked one with a realtime kernel. I had to build my own kernel for Voyage 0.8 for it to be 100% compatible with Voyage MPD 0.8.
To compare them I just need to replug the USB cable from my Ayre QB9 DAC into either one of the ATVs. No rebooting or other things neccesary.
To cut the story short: The ATV with the realtime kernel is so much better in all areas that its not even funny. It is much much more open and finegrained in the sound. And that settles it for me.
If interested I could post my realtime kernel if others want to try it out.
Sure. Post it. What about the mpd daemon patched with RT?
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Magnum,
I'm very curious to know how you did the setup for your Apple TVs. Did you follow any online guides or was this all common knowledge for yourself? Would you be willing to start another thread and give a blow by blow install guide? I just picked up a couple 1st gen Apple TVs to do just as you are doing.
I'm also ordering a couple Alix boards and will follow all the help from this thread and other online guides to set them up as well...
I'd like to compare each of these setups against my windows based audio PCs, plus the network bridge of the PS Audio PerfectWave DAC and various transports I have here. Whatever sounds the best will win. I think it'll be great fun and a nice experiment. I've got several nice USB capable DACs here:
1) the aforementioned PS Audio PWD (which is about to have a new digital board released for it that will include asynch USB in addition to it's network bridge capability
2) Antelope Audio Zodiac Gold with the Voltikus power supply
3) Abbingdon Music Research (AMR) DP-777 with the dual DAC chip setup...
Ease of setup, the functionality of the clients, the perk of near or completely silent operation in the room, etc. are all important.. but I'm mostly concerned with which one is the best sounding. I already have a 10 inch android tablet, an apple ipod touch (bought solely to use as a remote for PS Audio PWD), and I already have my music collection stored on a different server in another room. This thread has inspired me to jump back in to the Unix/Linux world (I did Unix administration and email administration on a unix box years and years and years ago and did play around a bit with a couple dist. of Linux about 8 years ago... never went that deep with it and I honestly forget 99% of it now I've been in the windoze world so long) and see how these units stack up against the windows based machines I've been using all these years. I've also got several local audio buddies with mac minis tricked out... so it will be a great experiment to have them bring their machines over as well and compare...... I'll have to do a get together and let others listen and compare and weigh in on which they think is the best...
now to do more reading on Linux and the various wiki links and setup links and blog posts.... I'll likely be back to this thread to ask dumb questions and have you point out the most obvious things that I'm doing wrong :) Thanks in advance for your assistance...
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Magnum,
I'm very curious to know how you did the setup for your Apple TVs. Did you follow any online guides or was this all common knowledge for yourself? Would you be willing to start another thread and give a blow by blow install guide? I just picked up a couple 1st gen Apple TVs to do just as you are doing.
There is no online guide so I had to figure it out myself. Took me a little while to figure it out but it wasnt that bad. I could not figure out how to boot the Voyage MPD live disk from a USB stick, so in the end I managed to get it work by using a USB DVD-ROM. Basically you need a USB hub, a USB memory stick, a USB DVD-Rom and a copy of the Voyage MPD live cd. I´ll come back to making a thread about the installation.
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Magnum,
Thanks for the reply. I would really appreciate it if you would do a write up. Thanks also for the heads up on the USB rom drive requirement. I can likely cobble something together with a USB hard drive enclosure and long cables to simulate the same thing with a standard ROM drive... or I could just order one since I need to order CF cards anyways
4 Alix boards and enclosures just shipped. I figure if this is half as good as it seems, I'll have a few buddies wanting me to build them one. Shipping was the same price for 1 as it was for 4... so why not, right? :) I'll also need several of these units as I have multiple rooms full of systems... that reminds me... one more thing to add to the list... now I need to find out which clients will allow me to easily switch and control multiple units from the same Toshiba android tablet...
I've already got a couple of my techie buddies looking at a super performing, but inexpensive power supply instead of a wall wart... one of them wants to wait to get the boards here to see what might need to be swapped on the board or how far to go if the board changes are not possible... it should be interesting... great thread... I finally couldn't take it any longer and needed to jump in and see what this was all about...
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Have the guy making a new PS compare to running of DC as well...
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MPD 0.17 real time build:
http://www.multiupload.com/UU3CZ9TIQV
I did not build this myself, I have edited the script a bit though.
Just download the zip file ann unzip it somewhere on your MPD server.
then cd to the unzipped folder and type "./mpdinstall.sh"
Only use the script ONCE and never again.
reboot.
You should now be running Linux RT with RT enabled MPD.
There a a few more things you could tweak, but this is basically it.
It's common courtesy to link to the website from where you got that software. Not only as a courtesy to the person who actually did the compiling, but also as a courtesy to the users here who need to make a decision on whether they want to install untrusted software on their machines. I would NOT install the software you linked to and would advise users here not to as well.
Also, installing the RT kernel and RT enable MPD and adding threadirqs to grub is NOT "basically" it. There are other parameters that need to be configured.
But I asked you *numerous* times to detail the settings you applied so that I and others can make as much a similar comparison as possible. You have been vague, to say the least, and evasive.
Please, start your own thread so that you may misinform users there. Thanks.
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I really don´t want to either argue or fight on the internet, so I´ll just ignore you completely after this post.
I think the users here can make their own choice. Just have a look in the script it does not do anything remotely dangerous.
I did compile the kernel myself, what´s to say that I didn´t put in some kind of virus in the kernel?
I could compile my own MPD from the GIT repository too, I just couldn´t be bothered as the end result would be the same. Anyways the pre-compiled MPD is from http://http://blog.naver.com/manishin
Yep, that *is* basically it. What more do you want? Using the chrt command to change priorities?
I only use that to change the USB irq, I was going to come to that. I don´t have any other secret ingredient apart from deselecting some of the services, which is non-critical, and to my ears pretty much unneeded.
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Magnum,
Can you please PM, email (sales at hometheaterdoc dot com) or otherwise post in another thread about how you did the setup of the Apple TVs? I've got a couple here to play with and would like to try your implementation. I've got the USB based DVD-ROM drive ready to go...
My Alix boards are also hopefully going to be here today (cleared through customs at JFK 4 days ago)... I'll likely be back with questions as I try to set them up....
lots of computer changes this weekend. Moving my office to other parts of the place and trying to figure out how to keep everything networked properly... should be fun :)
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G'day All,
Just read this thread, still getting my head around Linux etc, I have on order an Alix 2d2, a WaveIO and a Buffalo III, so this setup is where I'm looking, has there been any advances since November last year regarding setup, RT kernel etc?
Thanks for all the info here,
D.
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How would the Alixx board compare to a plug computer like this one (http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-dreamplugdetails.aspx) ?
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Hi,
I have set up a mpd music server using an Alix 2d2 with the help of this forum and it has been going very well. However I cannot seek/skip though songs when they are playing. I have activated the mixer_type "software" in mpd.conf, and I can now use the volume control, but when I want to click on the progress bar in gmpc to advance a song that is playing, the music stops and doesn't seem to resume.
The Alix is hard wired to the router whereas my server is in a different room and connected to network via wifi. Would this have any impact on it not working?
Some help on this would be most welcome.
Thanks
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First, much thanks to nyc_paramedic (Nick) and everyone else who created and contributed to this invaluable thread. It has guided my project to modernize my home sound system. Thank you all. If you ever are near Ventura, CA, I extend an invitation to attend one of our low-key monthly Linux meetings to talk about your Linux Audio Server experience.
I am at the point where I can replace my laptop MPD server with an Alix setup, and I'd like some advice from anyone. I do not have a DAC nor do I have the cash to buy a really nice one. So, which is the better route: buy an Alix 3D3 and use the headphone output, or buy the 3D2 (or other model) along with an inexpensive DAC? If you advise the latter, is there an inexpensive DAC you'd recommend? I am not an audiophile and not so concerned with absolutely great sound. I look forward to your opinions and thank you in advance for them.
Bill Wayson
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Bill I don't know what money you wish to spend, but I use the Alix 3D2 with the ODAC (http://nwavguy.blogspot.com). A very good DAC that costs about 100-150 $ depending on the
case you want. It's a smooth combination with the ALIX. No hiccups, no glitches, no drivers.
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clog,
Thanks for your reply. I'd like to spend what is necessary for a good DAC, but funds are tight right now. I've done some research, and it appears that I ought to avoid the Alix boards with built-in VGA for EMI reasons. So, it looks like the 3D3 is out. I will look at the DAC you suggest -- $150 might be doable. I've also seen recommendations for the Hifimediy Sabre USB DAC, around $50 US, as a good, cheap DAC. I'll compare the two.
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Hi everybody,
This thread seems abandoned, but since it's topic is spot on, I'll use it for my first post on Audio Circle: I really need some help regarding the setup of my Voyage MPD starter kit.
I'm a total newbie regarding Linux, so maybe I shouldn't have tried MPD in the first place, but ... I still did, please be patient!
My music files (flacs) are on a Synology ds213, IP 192.168.0.107. NFS rights for MPD (IP 192.168.0.108) are contributed to the share, baptised 'muzieknas'.
Using Putty I tried to follow the steps in par. 4.1 of the Getting Started Guide that I got with my starter kit from Punky.
I managed to change the fstab using vi, and added:
192.168.0.107:/volume1/muzieknas /mnt/muzieknas nfs rw,noatime 0 0
Then:
# mkdir /mnt/muzieknas
# mount -a
Then:
# ln -s /mnt/muzieknas/ /var/lib/mpd/music/muzieknas
Then:
# chmod -R ugo+r /mnt/muzieknas
After the last step, MPD stated:
chmod: changing permissions of `/mnt/muzieknas/': Operation not permitted
After that all the music files were found but with every file MPD stated:
chmod: changing permissions of `/mnt/muzieknas/King Crimson/Red/Starless.flac': Operation not permitted
What did I do wrong? What did I miss?
Can someone here help me?
Thanks for your time!
Greetings'
Marc
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Hello Marc,
Welcome to AudoCircle.
First off your chmod -R might not work if the numerical values of the user id doesn't match that of the mpd server, so really not the right approach. Also I think you need to have 'auto' or 'defaults' in the options for mount -a to automatically mount it. NFS configured incorrectly can be a security nightmare. I would actually avoid using NFS especially if you are new to linux and steer you to just using SAMBA (aka smb or cifs) since it works very well with windows, macs and linux without much effort. If you've enabled SMB on your NAS and can mount the drive with your windows or mac machine then you can update the fstab with the following:
#SMB/CIFS flavor that will mount the NAS volume as user and group "mpd" and is read-write.
//MUZIEKNAS.LOCAL/volume1/muzieknas /mnt/muzieknas cifs auto,rw,uid=mpd,gid=mpd,credentials=/etc/fstab.nas.credentials 0 0
Where:
*//MUZIEKNAS.LOCAL is the SMB name that should just work, but might need to use the IP address or IP= option.
**/volume1/muzieknas should be something simple like Music and will match what you can see in windows explorer or the finder.
*'rw' is read write, consider using 'ro' for read-only if you don't need the RW from that machine.
*'uid' is the user id on the mpd server. I actually just use my account here, but it's okay to use 'mpd'
*'gid' is the group id on the mpd server. This will most likely be mpd be default. I actually add the 'audio' group to user accounts and mpd since this resolve other issues
*'credentials' points to a locked down file only readable by root that contains user id, password and domain to the NAS and is in the following format:
username=username
password=userpassword
domain=workgroupYou can also secure the file by doing a 'chown root:root <file>' and a 'chmod 600 <file>' if desired.
To confirm that everything worked you can type ls -laF /mnt/ to see the permissions and ownership. Also repeat ls -laF deeper in the directory tree.
You can read the help pages by typing "man fstab" or "man mount" or "man mount.cifs" for more options
Snippet from my fstab file for both an atom and raspberry pi linux mpd servers connecting to my Synology NAS:
# Radio Free Network
//NAS.LOCAL/MUSIC /mnt/nas/music cifs defaults,ro,uid=radio,gid=audio,credentials=/etc/fstab.nas.credentials 0 0
//NAS.LOCAL/HOMES /mnt/nas/homes cifs defaults,uid=radio,gid=users,credentials=/etc/fstab.nas.credentials 0 0
//NAS.LOCAL/BACKUPS /mnt/nas/backups cifs defaults,uid=radio,gid=users,credentials=/etc/fstab.nas.credentials 0 0
Jim
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Thanks Jim! The lines I used I didn't make up myself, they're tried, tested and suggested by a trustworthy source. They should work, apparently for some reason they don't. The SAMBA-approach you suggest is indeed also an option. Thanks for pointing me in that direction - if it's also more safe, then that's certainly something I will try. I hope this weekend I'll have some time to experiment.
Thanks again!
Cheers
Marc
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Hi Jim,
I got it working. Apart from you I also got tips over at Computer Audiophile and from Punky Tse. Punky's was the easiest to implement, so I tried it first. He suggested to use # chmod -R ago+r /mnt/muzieknas instead of ugo+r. It did the trick ... not that I know what it did, really ;-)
However, your suggestion to use SAMBA still is an option I want to try. Not immediate, now that I've got MPD going, but certainly in the near future.
First - music. I sat down last night to do a bit of serious listening. MPD seems to me to deliver a cleaner, more detailed sound and a blacker background, compared to the Sony Vaio laptop I used thus far with my Ayre qb-9. Great!
Thanks again!
Marc
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Hi everyone,
I wonder those who are regular visitors to this particular post can help me. I own a silent PC running Daphile Free software,
It can:
1. Steam music incl. Spotify
2. Headless(i.e access from remote PC)
3. Difficult to run Youtube software hence Youtube music streaming service
4. and many other features
It can't
1. I can't run Youtube Music
2. Youtube music streaming service is superior to Spotify in term of sound reproduction.
I know of many other streaming services but I refer to Youtube music cos I already subscribe to Youtbe Service. and cheaper without paying for other services.
My query:
Is there a Linux based software that can provide:
1. Running Youtube Music service
2. operate as a music streamer
3. Access from remote PC ie headless
4. Must sound good.
I own Chromebook, Remote Desktop feature is not that useful.
IF so list the possible software pkgs and the sites I can find more info like installation, charges, etc. Thanks in advance.
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Hi Jim,
I got it working. Apart from you I also got tips over at Computer Audiophile and from Punky Tse. Punky's was the easiest to implement, so I tried it first. He suggested to use # chmod -R ago+r /mnt/muzieknas instead of ugo+r. It did the trick ... not that I know what it did, really ;-)
However, your suggestion to use SAMBA still is an option I want to try. Not immediate, now that I've got MPD going, but certainly in the near future.
First - music. I sat down last night to do a bit of serious listening. MPD seems to me to deliver a cleaner, more detailed sound and a blacker background, compared to the Sony Vaio laptop I used thus far with my Ayre qb-9. Great!
Thanks again!
Marc
Interesting thread!
I'm running a linux htpc I built before smart tvs became readily available and have since added audio duty to it via jellyfin, which I recommend if it meets your needs/goals. I put a massive cpu cooler on it with a 140mm fan, so it runs very quietly even under load. Intel NUCs or similar would offer a fanless version for linux/windows users. I can also recommend mac minis for MacOS users or you can also use apple tvs depending on what media you want to stream. I helped a friend setup a low cost solution via a gently used and steeply discounted ebay mac mini find.
For those bumping up against a similar problem, I thought it may be helpful to analyze these commands. Let's start with some definitions:
a) chmod means 'change file mode bits' which effectively means 'change permissions'. For more details, see either 'chmod --help' or 'man chmod'
b) the first set of characters are which people you want to change permissions for and equate to:
u = user
g = other
o = other
a = all (same as 'ugo')
c) the conjoining char, either + or - means to either add the permission or remove the permission
d) the last set of characters indicates what you wish to add or subtract, namely:
r = read
w = write
x = execute
So the original command is saying to recursively (-R) add read permissions for the current user, the user's primary group, and everybody else (other):
chmod -R ugo+r
The second command which reportedly did work:
chmod -R ago+r
Both are synonymous with:
chmod -R a+r
As a result, my guessimation is the second command was run either as root or with superuser privileges via sudo.
Alternately, the files on the nfs share may have been updated to allow the change in permissions from the remote system.
Either way congrats on your setup and sound improvement!
Hope this helps anybody up against a similar conundrum :scratch:
btw: another suggestion is to add 'nodiratime' in your fstab update. Along with 'noatime', this tells the system not to update the 'access time' every time a file or directory is updated. This becomes of particular importance for solid state media (SSD, nvme drives) which have a limited write volume.