Squeezebox replacement for less than $30!

crooner · « **Reply #80 on:** 20 Jan 2013, 04:38 am »

Ok. I managed to get the image into the 8Gb USB. Now I am getting an alsamixer error on Putty:

"cannot open mixer: no such file or directory"

This really sucks! Any ideas?

crooner · « **Reply #81 on:** 20 Jan 2013, 05:07 am »

Ok guys. Got the USB DAC recognized. I simply plugged the thing into another USB port on the PogoPlug. Cool.
Now to try to have the VAMP recognized by LMS.

randytsuch · « **Reply #82 on:** 20 Jan 2013, 07:03 pm »

So here's a pic of my setup, as of this morning.

The pogoplug is on the top, with an Ifi Audio Idac driving a set of headphones not in the picture, and a 500 Gb USB drive on the right.

The cool part about this is that the same Pogoplug is acting as the music server and driving the DAC.
You can do it all with just one little Pogoplug.

Last night, when I set it up, I was getting dropouts, but I figured later that it was probably still scanning my music library.
This morning, I listened some more, and no dropouts.

And, as Larry said, it sounds good.

Only thing I need now is wireless. I have to have an hard wired Ethernet right now, so I can control the setup.
I also may get an SSD instead of the HD I have, but I bought that drive for $40 at a Black Friday sale and it works great.
And I still can't hear it at all.

I used these instructions to setup the server part of it
http://vortexbox.org/threads/4617-Logitech-Media-Server-on-PogoPlug

I did have a few problems getting it working, I will add some info on that later.

So there you have it:
Low cost
Low power
basically silent
music server (running LMS) that can also drive a USB DAC.

The stuff shown in the pic is $370 because the DAC itself was $300. But after that, $20 for the pogo, $10 for a 8G USB stick for it, $40 for the external USB drive.

Big thanks to Duc for starting this thread.

EDIT: One other thing I remembered that I need to figure out. I haven't edited the file yet to startup the server on power up, so I need to do it manually right now. I tried last night, and had some problems, thought I might have messed things up but fortunately everything still worked.

Randy

hoxuanduc · « **Reply #83 on:** 20 Jan 2013, 07:46 pm »

Randy,

You're welcome. But the true credit goes to the good folks @ Vortexbox.

To improve the sound further, you can tweak various LMS settings:

http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/2011/11/touch-toolbox-30.html

Also, the stock PS is a simple 5v SMPS. I briefly tried a 6v battery w caps. It lowered the noise floor but also reduced the bass, so I need to look for a quiet Linear PS.

Thanks,

Duc

randytsuch · « **Reply #84 on:** 20 Jan 2013, 08:56 pm »

Quote from: hoxuanduc on 20 Jan 2013, 07:46 pm

Randy,

You're welcome. But the true credit goes to the good folks @ Vortexbox.

To improve the sound further, you can tweak various LMS settings:

http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/2011/11/touch-toolbox-30.html

Also, the stock PS is a simple 5v SMPS. I briefly tried a 6v battery w caps. It lowered the noise floor but also reduced the bass, so I need to look for a quiet Linear PS.

Thanks,

Duc

Thanks for the link. I've seen it before, but forgot about it.

I may play with PS's too. I bought a couple more, so I can keep one stock, and play with another if I get motivated

Randy

lcrim · « **Reply #85 on:** 21 Jan 2013, 04:16 am »

Randy,
I think that replacing the switch mode power supply of the Pogoplug w/ a linear unit wouldn't be as effective as trying the iUSB from iFi along w/ the double cable they are supposed to make available soon. Improving the quality of the 5V power to the DAC is the point of this, after all.
I have a D-Link DAP 1522 Wireless Bridge/Access Point that I use to connect the upstairs portion of my network to the broadband router that connects my network to the internet. It is pretty straight forward to set up. It is about $80 from Newegg and could solve your issue.
Larry

randytsuch · « **Reply #86 on:** 21 Jan 2013, 02:36 pm »

Quote from: lcrim on 21 Jan 2013, 04:16 am

Randy,
I think that replacing the switch mode power supply of the Pogoplug w/ a linear unit wouldn't be as effective as trying the iUSB from iFi along w/ the double cable they are supposed to make available soon. Improving the quality of the 5V power to the DAC is the point of this, after all.
I have a D-Link DAP 1522 Wireless Bridge/Access Point that I use to connect the upstairs portion of my network to the broadband router that connects my network to the internet. It is pretty straight forward to set up. It is about $80 from Newegg and could solve your issue.
Larry

Thanks Larry. I was looking at the DAP 1350 which is a smaller, less capable model.

For power, I could also get the little USB power adapter the iFI sells, it's $200 and got some good reviews.
I also have a simple USB isolator, linear PS that I put together that I will try.

Randy

lcrim · « **Reply #87 on:** 21 Jan 2013, 05:37 pm »

Randy:
The power supply that you mentioned is the same as I suggested. The cable that iFi will be offering soon is branded as the Gemini. The costs are unfortunately starting to add up. $200 for iFi iUSB and the cable price has not yet been announced. Still the Pogoplug and flash drive for less than $30. My LMS is running on a netbook w/ the WD Elements 1 TB housing the library. That Vortex Box sales site also had some CD's for sale, I already have some but there are others that are making me reach for my credit card. Need to take a break from spending.
Larry

randytsuch · « **Reply #88 on:** 23 Jan 2013, 06:47 am »

So I ended up getting a pretty cheap TP-Link adapter from my local Fry's, and it seems to be working fine.

Set it up in Client mode, and after getting past a few of the normal setup problems, I am now wireless.

When I was doing this, I decided to update my router, which caused other problems, hope that was worth it.

Also, for some reason, after I did this, I could not get LMS to work anymore, so I ended up reinstalling it, and it seems to be working fine again.

I had subscribed to MOG a little while ago, and just added it to my squeezebox account, so I am listening to MOG right now.

Only think I haven't figured out is how to run this line at startup?
/opt/logitechmediaserver-7.7.2-33893-arm-linux/slimserver.pl --user squeezeboxserver --group nogroup --quiet

I am using "extraputty", and I created a macro so I don't have to cut and paste if anymore, but it would still be nice if I could get Linux to run this line at startup.

Can a linux guru help me out?

I did some internet searching, but the links I looked at make it seem complicated, I am hoping there is an easy way to do this.

Randy

HAL · « **Reply #89 on:** 23 Jan 2013, 05:58 pm »

The second POGO arrived today, the pink/white unit.

Outside box said POGO-B01. Opened the box and the unit says POGO-E02. Looks like the correct unit finally. Will see if I can get it working this weekend.

randytsuch · « **Reply #90 on:** 25 Jan 2013, 06:10 am »

So my 2nd order arrived today, the ones I ordered through the link at the vortexbox store for $22.

They are pink E02's.

I had some trouble initially with my setup, but I think I worked things out, and it appears stable now

After I am happy that I have sure things are working OK, I will post some instructions for anyone interested.

BTW, I got it to start LMS automatically, using a different install method.

Randy

crooner · « **Reply #91 on:** 25 Jan 2013, 06:25 am »

Yes please. I would like instructions on how to get LMS working. Thanks!

Quote from: randytsuch on 25 Jan 2013, 06:10 am

So my 2nd order arrived today, the ones I ordered through the link at the vortexbox store for $22.

They are pink E02's.

I had some trouble initially with my setup, but I think I worked things out, and it appears stable now

After I am happy that I have sure things are working OK, I will post some instructions for anyone interested.

BTW, I got it to start LMS automatically, using a different install method.

Randy

randytsuch · « **Reply #92 on:** 27 Jan 2013, 02:14 am »

Quote from: crooner on 25 Jan 2013, 06:25 am

Yes please. I would like instructions on how to get LMS working. Thanks!

http://randytsuch-musicserver.blogspot.com/2013/01/pogoplug-music-server-for-30.html

Made a blog page with instructions.

BTW, if anyone uses the instructions to setup the pogo as a server, feedback would be appreciated.
I ran through most of it last night, setting up a 2nd pogo.

Randy

crooner · « **Reply #93 on:** 27 Jan 2013, 02:40 am »

Thanks so much Randy. Been sick with the flu since last night, but will give it a shot as soon as I am able.

crooner · « **Reply #94 on:** 28 Jan 2013, 01:35 am »

Randy:
Your instructions are so straightforward and detailed. Thanks so much for making them available.
I have a Griffin PowerMate USB controller which I would like to use as a system volume control on the Pogoplug. I have an Audioquest Dragonfly USB DAC and the Griffin is perfect to control the volume which is in the analog domain and does not degrade performance (throw away bits).

Do you think it is possible to implement this control on the Pogoplug? There is a program called Gizmo Daemon for linux that supports the Powermate. I wonder if it can be installed.
Thanks in advance!

BFitz · « **Reply #95 on:** 28 Jan 2013, 06:16 am »

Thanks for the tips here. I have the POGO EO2 version, and all went well until doing the USB image. I tried on 2 computers, and neither one lets me log in after right clicking as administrator (no password) on USBimagetool.

So I made the image anyway, in "device mode". Is it normal for this USB image to not show up on a computer? It reads the new USB 4GB image as an unformatted drive. I'm using a SanDisk Cruzer 4GB stick. and now after reboot the light goes orange, looks like the drive is loading, but I can't putty in. The putty terminal shows no device on network, I get no prompt.

If I remove the front USB drive and reboot, all is well, I get green light and can log in fine using my original password on the old OS. Any hints? Do I need to set a password for administrator? Using windows XP machine. I'm so close...

randytsuch · « **Reply #96 on:** 28 Jan 2013, 03:15 pm »

Quote from: BFitz on 28 Jan 2013, 06:16 am

Thanks for the tips here. I have the POGO EO2 version, and all went well until doing the USB image. I tried on 2 computers, and neither one lets me log in after right clicking as administrator (no password) on USBimagetool.

So I made the image anyway, in "device mode". Is it normal for this USB image to not show up on a computer? It reads the new USB 4GB image as an unformatted drive. I'm using a SanDisk Cruzer 4GB stick. and now after reboot the light goes orange, looks like the drive is loading, but I can't putty in. The putty terminal shows no device on network, I get no prompt.

If I remove the front USB drive and reboot, all is well, I get green light and can log in fine using my original password on the old OS. Any hints? Do I need to set a password for administrator? Using windows XP machine. I'm so close...

Once you install the image, the stick is in Linux format, and your PC won't be able to read it. My stick is like that after I image it, but it works fine in the Pogo.

Maybe your Pogo IP address changed, did you check to see if it's coming up on a different address?

Randy

randytsuch · « **Reply #97 on:** 28 Jan 2013, 05:01 pm »

Quote from: crooner on 28 Jan 2013, 01:35 am

Randy:
Your instructions are so straightforward and detailed. Thanks so much for making them available.
I have a Griffin PowerMate USB controller which I would like to use as a system volume control on the Pogoplug. I have an Audioquest Dragonfly USB DAC and the Griffin is perfect to control the volume which is in the analog domain and does not degrade performance (throw away bits).

Do you think it is possible to implement this control on the Pogoplug? There is a program called Gizmo Daemon for linux that supports the Powermate. I wonder if it can be installed.
Thanks in advance!

I thought the dragonfly has volume control?

Also, I just looked at the Griffin, and if it just has the one USB connection like the one I saw, it is not working in the analog domain, it is HAS to be a digital volume controller. Basically, it just looks like a fancy knob, but it would do the same thing as volume up and down in Windows.

Also, I may have declared victory on this too soon.

I am having some of the same problems Bfitz is, but after I install LMS. Earlier, it was working fine, but as of this weekend, I had reinstalled from scratch, and after I power down for a while (like 8 hours), when I turn it back on I am having problems.

I hope I can make the installation reliable, and then I will update my blog.

Randy

srb · « **Reply #98 on:** 28 Jan 2013, 05:05 pm »

Quote from: randytsuch on 28 Jan 2013, 05:01 pm

Also, I just looked at the Griffin, and if it just has the one USB connection like the one I saw, it is not working in the analog domain, it is HAS to be a digital volume controller. Basically, it just looks like a fancy knob, but it would do the same thing as volume up and down in Windows.

The Griffin Powermate can be programmed to replicate keyboard keystrokes, so if the Dragonfly has keyboard commands that can control its analog volume, the Powermate should be able to control that.

Steve

lcrim · « **Reply #99 on:** 28 Jan 2013, 05:16 pm »

BFitz:
I tested the procedure of restore the image to the usb drive using a WinXP computer, selecting running the USBImageTool as the administrator, being sure that all the files were in the same folder and trying out the image in one of my PogoPlugs and the process failed.
I have several WIN7 computers and the process has worked properly in almost all cases. It is not mentioned on the Vortex Box site that this is a requirement, nor what format to use when reformmatting the usb drive. You can join that forum and get the answers directly from Andrew but it may take you some time to get a full membership in that forum.
Larry