Dead silent dedicated Linux music server for USB DAC's.

jtwrace · « **Reply #240 on:** 6 Dec 2010, 08:55 pm »

Quote from: ebag4 on 6 Dec 2010, 08:50 pm

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.

TomS · « **Reply #241 on:** 6 Dec 2010, 09:05 pm »

You could probably shut off the usb output from a Linux command line like mpc or a script or 2 to start and stop.

ebag4 · « **Reply #242 on:** 6 Dec 2010, 09:11 pm »

I just checked mine, it took 43 seconds for me to be able to connect to MPD via mPod.

Best,
Ed

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #243 on:** 6 Dec 2010, 10:42 pm »

Quote from: jtwrace on 6 Dec 2010, 08:33 pm

You guys are killin' me with this.

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.

TomS · « **Reply #244 on:** 14 Dec 2010, 04:33 pm »

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

TomS · « **Reply #245 on:** 15 Dec 2010, 11:56 pm »

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)

Tom

ebag4 · « **Reply #246 on:** 16 Dec 2010, 12:44 am »

Congratulations Tom! The Alix has been rock solid in my system.

Best,
Ed

nl12048 · « **Reply #247 on:** 16 Dec 2010, 06:29 pm »

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?

TomS · « **Reply #248 on:** 16 Dec 2010, 10:58 pm »

Quote from: nl12048 on 16 Dec 2010, 06:29 pm

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.

nl12048 · « **Reply #249 on:** 17 Dec 2010, 03:50 am »

Quote from: TomS on 16 Dec 2010, 10:58 pm

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

TomS · « **Reply #250 on:** 17 Dec 2010, 04:29 am »

Quote from: nl12048 on 17 Dec 2010, 03:50 am

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.

nl12048 · « **Reply #251 on:** 17 Dec 2010, 09:02 pm »

Quote from: TomS on 17 Dec 2010, 04:29 am

Mount the compact flash card on another linux server.

Do I run into problems with permissions, because of mounting the cf to another system?

TomS · « **Reply #252 on:** 18 Dec 2010, 12:01 pm »

Quote from: nl12048 on 17 Dec 2010, 09:02 pm

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.

TomS · « **Reply #253 on:** 18 Dec 2010, 12:14 pm »

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.

mgalusha · « **Reply #254 on:** 19 Dec 2010, 10:39 pm »

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.

mike

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #255 on:** 20 Dec 2010, 04:40 pm »

Quote from: nl12048 on 17 Dec 2010, 09:02 pm

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.

nl12048 · « **Reply #256 on:** 20 Dec 2010, 04:54 pm »

Quote from: nyc_paramedic on 20 Dec 2010, 04:40 pm

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.

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #257 on:** 20 Dec 2010, 05:00 pm »

Quote from: nl12048 on 20 Dec 2010, 04:54 pm

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?

nl12048 · « **Reply #258 on:** 21 Dec 2010, 04:47 pm »

Linksys WAG54GS

TomS · « **Reply #259 on:** 21 Dec 2010, 04:53 pm »

Quote from: nl12048 on 21 Dec 2010, 04:47 pm

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.