AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

[austinpop]

BTW, this one's a bit arcane, but Piero tells me it will be delivered in a "monitor menu" that he'll hopefully deliver in 0.6.

 

Say you booted your NUC a few days ago - but can't remember if it was in Extreme mode? How can you tell at runtime?

 

Per Piero:

you can type
cat /proc/cmdline
If you have booted in Extreme mode you will see these parameters:
intel_idle.max_cstate=0 processor.max_cstate=1 idle=poll

[lmitche]

17 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Will try next, fingers crossed that doesn't drive it over LPS 1.2 current limit ?

Well I just took a new NUC7PJYH out of the box, put it in a fanless case, added the wireless antenna, setup the bios, boot and device disablement without touching any of the power settings, hooked up a lps1.2, booted into extreme mode and let it rip.

 

It sounds outstanding. I can't keep from moving my feet.

[lmitche]

What's playing here:

 

 initrd=\intel-ucode.img initrd=\initramfs-linux-rt-bfq.img root=PARTUUID=166ad16d-098d-4453-ab07-7c5255b4d451 rw quiet intel_idle.max_cstate=0 processor.max_cstate=1 idle=poll intel_pstate=enable efi=runtime

 

SQ is outstanding across the spectrum. Bass is tight, in a punch in the gut way.

[mourip]

On 12/5/2018 at 11:31 AM, ray-dude said:

 

On the mother thread, @Narcissus asked about Ramboot:

 

 

It does "auto yes"  For convenience when running headless, I made the following change:

 

Edit /usr/bin/ramroot and change
LOAD_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT=15

 

to 

 

LOAD_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT=3

 

That changes the wait time at the "Y/N" prompt from 15 seconds to 3 seconds

  

 

 

Thanks for this. Anything that speeds up booting up ramroot is welcomed. I also cloned my USB2 drive to a USB3 drive to move things along a bit.

 

One issue that I have encountered is the need to periodically connect a monitor to my NUC, especially if it becomes unavailable due to a configuration change that I make that renders SSH(Putty) useless. Previously for my HDPlex Bridge I could just hook up my old VGA-only monitor but the NUC just has HDMI, plus my monitor is a bit bulky to drag out. For the NUC I would have to move it to my desk which has an HDMI input. I found a cool solution to avoid moving my computers around or crawling behind my cabinets a lot. I bought a cheap 7" HDMI monitor on Amazon. It is very convenient to move and store, uses HDMI, and has a clear screen. I disconnect it when not in use.

 

Here it is hooked up to my HDPlex headphone system.

 

[davide256]

1 hour ago, MrUnderhill said:

....and ramroot & remove the boot USB.

 

M

started from there..

[mozes]

23 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Well I just took a new NUC7PJYH out of the box, put it in a fanless case, added the wireless antenna, setup the bios, boot and device disablement without touching any of the power settings, hooked up a lps1.2, booted into extreme mode and let it rip.

 

It sounds outstanding. I can't keep from moving my feet.

Music to my ears

[MrUnderhill]

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

started from there..

Hi David,

 

Thought you had, but if you assume .......etc.

 

M

[rettib2001]

I have up until now been using an nuc7i7bnh as a combined server and endpoint.

 

Today I tried it as an endpoint using my macbook pro as a server (knowing that it isn't highly regarded as an AL server but hey, in lieu of anything better suited to the task I tried it any way). 

 

Well... The sound quality was much better than the nuci7bnh on its own. Crazy. 

 

Conclusion I need a second nuc. 

 

I'm edging towards a nuc7pjyh with a fanless case powered by a Paul Hynes SR4 (which I should receive before the end of the year) but I'd just like to know whether or not my i7 nuc, which has a tdp rating of 28, could be powered by the SR4 (2a/20a transient) 

 

In 'endpoint' mode the cpu usage is only about 3/4% and aside from one stick of 8gb ram there nothing else connected to it. 

 

If it can it opens up the option of a much more powerful server. 

[rickca]

18 minutes ago, rettib2001 said:

Conclusion I need a second nuc.

What music software are you running ... HQPlayer, Roon, etc?

[mozes]

Does anyone know if I can use Jriver to stream to AL headless in a server+end point setup?

[rettib2001]

6 minutes ago, rickca said:

What music software are you running ... HQPlayer, Roon, etc?

Should have mention that, sloppy on my part. 

 

Using Roon, upsampling Tidal to dsd512 as its what my Dac responds best to. I also use convolution via roon's dsp settings. 

 

When I monitor cpu usage on the i7nuc, roon Bridge total cpu usage is around 3%. 

 

 

[davide256]

54 minutes ago, rettib2001 said:

I have up until now been using an nuc7i7bnh as a combined server and endpoint.

 

Today I tried it as an endpoint using my macbook pro as a server (knowing that it isn't highly regarded as an AL server but hey, in lieu of anything better suited to the task I tried it any way). 

 

Well... The sound quality was much better than the nuci7bnh on its own. Crazy. 

 

Conclusion I need a second nuc. 

 

I'm edging towards a nuc7pjyh with a fanless case powered by a Paul Hynes SR4 (which I should receive before the end of the year) but I'd just like to know whether or not my i7 nuc, which has a tdp rating of 28, could be powered by the SR4 (2a/20a transient) 

 

In 'endpoint' mode the cpu usage is only about 3/4% and aside from one stick of 8gb ram there nothing else connected to it. 

 

If it can it opens up the option of a much more powerful server. 

May I suggest you try running your Mac as endpoint with the NUC as server? Then share which way you liked better.

[rettib2001]

2 minutes ago, davide256 said:

You may be disappointed... I am skeptical the NUC can match your Mac for endpoint hardware quality as Mac's have a good track record for USB to DAC SQ. 

The Mac isn't going to be used an an endpoint, or a server for that matter I was just testing the benefits of a two-point AL configuration.

 

My subjective conclusion is that the Audiolinux endpoint/server combination is a winning formula. 

 

My question is: Can 'in theory' a Paul Hynes SR4 power a 28twp rated i7nuc that is only using 5% cpu across it's two cores. 

 

I know the obvious answer is 'just try it' but I won't have it for a number of weeks and I would like to buy a second nuc (for several reasons) before then. 

 

If the above power supply can't power the i7 nuc then I'll get a low power nuc as an en point and use the i7 as a server. 

 

If it can, I'll use the i7 as an endpoint be faced with the exciting task of finding a suitable/powerful server. 

[rettib2001]

57 minutes ago, rettib2001 said:

The Mac isn't going to be used an an endpoint, or a server for that matter I was just testing the benefits of a two-point AL configuration.

 

My subjective conclusion is that the Audiolinux endpoint/server combination is a winning formula. 

 

My question is: Can 'in theory' a Paul Hynes SR4 power a 28twp rated i7nuc that is only using 5% cpu across it's two cores. 

 

I know the obvious answer is 'just try it' but I won't have it for a number of weeks and I would like to buy a second nuc (for several reasons) before then. 

 

If the above power supply can't power the i7 nuc then I'll get a low power nuc as an en point and use the i7 as a server. 

 

If it can, I'll use the i7 as an endpoint I'll be faced with the exciting task of finding a suitable/powerful server. 

 

[rettib2001]

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

May I suggest you try running your Mac as endpoint with the NUC as server? Then share which way you liked better.

That's sound like something I should try yes, I'll give it a go tomorrow. 

 

I've also just purchased the raspberry pi image, 8ll try that as well. 

[Dutch]

5 hours ago, lmitche said:

What's playing here:

 

 initrd=\intel-ucode.img initrd=\initramfs-linux-rt-bfq.img root=PARTUUID=166ad16d-098d-4453-ab07-7c5255b4d451 rw quiet intel_idle.max_cstate=0 processor.max_cstate=1 idle=poll intel_pstate=enable efi=runtime

 

SQ is outstanding across the spectrum. Bass is tight, in a punch in the gut way.

 

I get the exact same output here from that command though there’s a audit=0 at the end here as well (running 0.6).

[lmitche]

1 hour ago, Dutch said:

 

I get the exact same output here from that command though there’s a audit=0 at the end here as well (running 0.6).

audit=0 cool, I've been looking for that! Stops those silly success messages in dmesg.

[austinpop]

What is the proper way to update my system to 0.6 while preserving all customizations? I did this - downloaded the 3 files below:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 audiolinux users 70295236 Dec  6 17:32 linux-rt-bfq-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

-rwxr-xr-x 1 audiolinux users 16020220 Dec  6 17:33 linux-rt-bfq-docs-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

-rwxr-xr-x 1 audiolinux users 18297092 Dec  6 17:33 linux-rt-bfq-headers-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

 

I then ran 

 

pacman -U linux-rt-bfq-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz linux-rt-bfq-headers-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz linux-rt-bfq-docs-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz 

 

I rebooted, but when I login, I still see 0.5 on the login screen. And, if I type alconf I still get the old menu. 

 

Finally, what is the command for the new monitor menu?

 

All of this is on headless.

[gsquared]

19 hours ago, clipper said:

Before you give up on it, try it with Intel SpeedStep off.

 

I was much more impressed once it was running with SpeedStep off. 

 

@clipper How do you turn off SpeedStep? I cannot seem to find it in my bios. Maybe it's called something else? I have the NUC8i7BEH

[lmitche]

16 minutes ago, austinpop said:

What is the proper way to update my system to 0.6 while preserving all customizations? I did this - downloaded the 3 files below:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 audiolinux users 70295236 Dec  6 17:32 linux-rt-bfq-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

-rwxr-xr-x 1 audiolinux users 16020220 Dec  6 17:33 linux-rt-bfq-docs-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

-rwxr-xr-x 1 audiolinux users 18297092 Dec  6 17:33 linux-rt-bfq-headers-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

 

I then ran 

 

pacman -U linux-rt-bfq-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz linux-rt-bfq-headers-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz linux-rt-bfq-docs-4.19.1.3-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz 

 

I rebooted, but when I login, I still see 0.5 on the login screen. And, if I type alconf I still get the old menu. 

 

Finally, what is the command for the new monitor menu?

 

All of this is on headless.

Download a new image and reapply your settings. There is no persistence for the alconf settings although some will be correctly set by default. You may need to re-add any custom scripts as well. I built a checklist. No big deal if you know what you are doing. It gets easier with every release.

[LTG2010]

17 minutes ago, austinpop said:

I rebooted, but when I login, I still see 0.5 on the login screen. And, if I type alconf I still get the old menu. 

That's just to update the Kernel (engine) not the whole OS. I'm still on 0.3

[austinpop]

10 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Download a new image and reapply your settings. There is no persistence for the alconf settings although some will be correctly set by default. You may need to re-add any custom scripts as well. I built a checklist. No big deal if you know what you are doing. It gets easier with every release.

 

7 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

That's just to update the Kernel (engine) not the whole OS. I'm still on 0.3

 

OK thanks guys. Piero confirmed the same.

 

BTW - I don't have Intel Speedstep in my NUC7i7DNBE BIOS at all. I am guessing it's only applicable to Pentium, not Core i7?

[greenleo]

Hi,

 

I'm going to complete the Network Bridge Walk-through in a few days.  Just need to double check that it works.  Before this, the novice CAers may want to consider the following:

 

1. Do you need a Network Bridge?

If you're using a star topology, that is everything connected to a router (or switch), there is no need to use the Network bridge.

 

2. What is a Network Bridge.

A control PC is linked both to the router and the audio PC.

 

* In principle LAN1 can be a WiFi connected to the router as shown in the mother thread "A novel ...".  In practice, my walk-through will handle only the LAN case.

 

[austinpop]

11 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

Apologies if I've missed this either here or on the mothership as Rajiv put it ?

 

I have the parts arriving today and tomz to attempt building an AL NUC server over the weekend. Occurred to me when walking into work this morning that there are a couple items I don't have a clue about. [Ok there are many, many items I don't have a clue about ?, but these are specific items].

 

I know how to install and format an SSD in a windows environment where it would detect the new drive and prompt you to take actions from there.

 

Q1. What is the story on AL? Will it recognise the drive and prompt me? Or (gulp!) do I need to use Linux commands to install and format it? And if the latter can anyone point to simple instructions for this?

 

Q2. If I have my music files available on either a Windows laptop or an external USB harddrive, how do I copy them onto the SSD in the AL NUC server. I'm assuming this is definitely Linux commands. Again any guide for this sort of thing would be great.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Alan

 

 

Did you get an answer? I know how to muddle my way through it using gparted on the command line. I'm guessing there is an easier way to do it with the LXQT version that someone can elaborate.

[look&listen]

38 minutes ago, greenleo said:

A control PC is linked both to the router and the audio PC.

 

"control PC" = audio server?

"audio PC" = endpoint device?