Alpha Snakeoil Firmware - 1.1.0 (Blind Testing)

[Dmitry Novikov]

Agent,
did you ever thought about possibility to use O!MPD ? http://ompd.pl/ . It's interface looks nice.

[agent_kith]

Think I got the i210 kernel from here; https://www.snakeoil-os.net/forums/Threa...t17-Series
...so you are right.  I looked around, including here;  https://www.snakeoil-os.net/forums/Threa...t17-Series
...but found no other links for i210 kernel.  So does one for me (not requiring new iso install) not yet exist or am I missing something else? ...like another link within this website or a method for installing the one I found without doing a new iso install?

Hopefully I'd be able to build a upgrade kernel later today. Will let you know when it's done, also interested if you can tell me how this new kernel series sound... Initial reports aren't too promising..

[agent_kith]

Agent,
did you ever thought about possibility to use O!MPD ? http://ompd.pl/ . It's interface looks nice.

That looks fantastic. But it requires MYSQL though.. Not entirely sure if adding MySQL is a good idea or not as there is a good possibility it'd affect the sound quality.

Having said that, if you have a spare machine (say a NAS), it's possible to install this client on the NAS, and then use it to play music.

[Dmitry Novikov]

thanks, I'll try.

Sorry for continue offtop =) . Recently I had chance to listen a file source based on odroid C2. exactly it was odroid C2 with linear PS + usb connected  HDD + volumio. I was shocked. Literally it was like I heard much more fine low-level info from same files. It was totally new area for me and it was much better that my highly modded AS Rock OS formula with external clocks and sotm board for very small fraction of price.
Now I understand that hardware plays an important role too =).  And it can be comparable with a LP player and was better than CD.
Hardkernel said it is possible to install ubuntu on it. how about Snakeoil os? =)
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/...5457216438

[agent_kith]

thanks, I'll try.

Sorry for continue offtop =) . Recently I had chance to listen a file source based on odroid C2. exactly it was odroid C2 with linear PS + usb connected  HDD + volumio. I was shocked. Literally it was like I heard much more fine low-level info from same files. It was totally new area for me and it was much better that my highly modded AS Rock OS formula with external clocks and sotm board for very small fraction of price.

You'd be surprised if you try other motherboards as well. There are just some that sound better than the others. e.g. you can find odroid to be better than what you have now, but if you continue to experiment, you'd always be able to find a motherboard that will sound better than the odroid.

Some boards have better timbre (e.g. the Jetway), others have more bass and so on. The key is to find a board giving you the foundations you like, and then use all the tweaks available to push and push until you the basics are well ground in. Then start modding for the final voicing. It's all the dark arts and is very time consuming.

The baseline setup of Snakeoil is very conservative (coz if pushed too far Snakeoil wouldn't even boot on some computers)..
 

Now I understand that hardware plays an important role too =).  And it can be comparable with a LP player and was better than CD.
Hardkernel said it is possible to install ubuntu on it. how about Snakeoil os? =)
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/...5457216438

Hardware do play an important role. However, the most important element is always the audiophile.

The better the audiophile, the better his or her audio system will be. SnakeoilOS is the only software I'm aware of that is designed for a specific purpose - allow you to get better. That's why Snakeoil OS is not locked down like everything else on the market. Even though we are asking for donations - everything you can do from the activated version of Snakeoil, you can already do with the free edition. Activation is more an audiophile joke to see how much money people are really willing to spend on something called Snakeoil.

This freedom is a two edged sword - under the wrong hands SnakeoilOS can turn into one of the worst sounding system ever (true story). At the end of the day it all depends on the audiophile.

The first important lesson an audiophile needs to understand - bits ain't just bits. You learned hardware plays an important role, so IMO you are on the correct path.

Having said that, I do have plans for ARM editions. It will eventually be released. Snakeoil was first worked on as an ARM build, so the seeds are already there.

My goal is to give the audiophile maximum flexibility and freedom to choose what they think they sound best. If only Snakeoil can be my full time job, then software can be released a lot quicker. Right now I can only work on Snakeoil in my spare time, so the pace is not happening as quickly as I would like. But rest assured it will eventually happen .

[JD1]

Just to clarify ...coz I made things confusing by talking about issues that later proved to be unrelated to this alpha FW:

The only problem I have that is clearly caused by the alpha FW is that Squeezelite will not start. I think it did start twice but has failed on every other attempt since. Apart from that one long error message (Agent Kith has seen...on wrong forum), the error message is always:

[agent_kith]

Just to clarify ...coz I made things confusing by talking about issues that later proved to be unrelated to this alpha FW:

The only problem I have that is clearly caused by the alpha FW is that Squeezelite will not start. I think it did start twice but has failed on every other attempt since. Apart from that one long error message (Agent Kith has seen...on wrong forum), the error message is always:

Don't have a problem starting any squeezelite clients here. All work, anybody else have the same problem? 

Technically that isn't the error message, it's the command line, and any errors are sent to the console. So Squeezelite actually started (if you go to any Logitech client you should see Squeezelite). When player failed to start, you will see the error message like the MPD error you had.

The question is, why did the WebApp says it failed, when it hasn't?

If you go to another menu, and then go back to the players, do you still see Client as not working?

[JD1]

OK, lead me through exactly what to test in layman terms because I don't believe that Squeezelite started.

For example, ATM I have 3 versions of LMS open:
Mac
SOtM sMS-200ultra (also has SL running)
Snakeoil server (SL selected but says cannot start client)

If I go to any of those 3 running versions of LMS and try to select player; the only player available is the sMS-200.
Also if I go to iPeng on my iPad, the only player available is sMS-200

"cannot start client" remains if I switch menus and also if I restart server.

[JD1]

OK, think I've fixed it by adding and removing options into ALSA configuration. The problem may lie there.

**Note: I don't see an option to audio device into ALSA settings. I went to delete my existing audio device (to try re-entering it as a fix) but there seemed to be no way to add a new one if I did; a message to add one but no button to do so.  Didn't risk it.

I had been switching from PCM to DoP in these settings but SL wouldn't start. I've had no options entered for quite a while so I added one I've used before and then SL started and was recognised by LMS...no sound from speakers, though. 
Tried various simpler options like -r 384000 or -p70 and all valid options allowed SL to start. Removing all options (leaving option field blank) led to SL not starting.

So I had SL starting and selectable but no sound (even from MPD or Roon and not fixable by setting vol to 100%. A complete power down and restart fixed that.

I can still repeat the problem of SL not starting by removing ALSA options.

Agent Kith; did you have ALSA options selected when trying SL? Try deleting them and see what happens.  Also please check that deleting an audio device can be recovered; i.e. a button will appear to add a new one.

Cheers

[agent_kith]

Too random Doc. And it's confusing. Can you write up a step by step process on what you do that will cause squeezelite to always fail. 

As I said before, if I can replicate the problem, I can fix it. Otherwise I have no idea what the problem is. There are a few bugs here and there in the alpha, but as far as I can tell, the players all load up fine.

Make sure you only have a single instance of Logitech Media Server running. If you have more than one squeezelite may be attached to the wrong server. And although you can queue songs, nothing will play as it's played on the wrong server.