Has it the right size? Can you open it successfully on the Windows machine (you may need additional software like 7-Zip to do that)? This would be the ultimate test.
it says 109mb
hmmm…when i extract it the file is 220mb
Which is what I got too, still trying and be able to open the archive successfully would be the ultimate confirmation the file is alright. Assuming this is so, then we’re back where we already were yesterday.
You can try a different distribution, maybe it comes with a different kernel (drivers) that corrects what currently is wrong with your laptop? Maybe it’s just a bad network cable? Maybe …?
While theoretically you can use the downloaded file from the Windows machine to install on the Linux laptop, this would be a bad idea as the fundamental issue is not resolved. Roon and possibly also other software could be unable to work properly and/or update itself reliably.
Yeah, that’s the thing with compression – it saves space. But you wouldn’t have been able to successfully open the archive, let alone decompress it, if the downloaded file had been broken.
well, a longer term solution is i have an old PC i had been planning to use as my roon core. the laptop was my trial run but it worked so well i haven’t gotten around to setting up the PC. maybe i need to do that now.
if i am starting from scratch, would you recommend linux mint (which i now have some experience with) or an ubuntu version we know works well with roon like 15.10
This is mainly a matter of taste, influenced also by the Linux skills a user possibly already has. As I already wrote, I don’t know Linux Mint. A vanilla Ubuntu distribution seems to be a good start for beginners as they are in widespread use and have good documentation (wiki, foras, etc.) IMO – but please use something current and supported, not 15.10.
In general: If it’s just for running Roon, think about using a server distribution (without GUI). There are also web administration interfaces available for install (for example Cockpit or Webmin) to add a little comfort to them/allow you to run them headless (without monitor, keyboard and mouse). Try to use a distribution with long term support to lower administrative effort (reinstall/upgrade).
1 Like
could you elaborate a bit? thanks
Often are desktop (meant for desktop use, comes with a GUI/desktop environment and typical desktop software preinstalled) and server (meant for servers, without GUI/desktop environment and typical server software/services preinstalled) variants of a distribution available for download and install. As the Roon Server software does not provide a GUI (Graphical User Interface) anyway, installing a full blown desktop on a machine that’s meant to run just Roon Server is overkill and if you want to run the machine headless then even pointless (in almost any cases).
It’s on you to define your use case and choose a suitable distribution/variant. You can always customize your chosen distribution/variant by installing additional software or uninstalling unneeded software – something users usually have to do anyway (I don’t know of a distribution that comes with software for each and any thinkable use case preinstalled).
In addition to what @BlackJack already pointed out, a Linux desktop uses memory and processor resources better saved for Roon server which is quite demanding in itself.
As a point of reference, I run Roon server on Ubuntu 22.04 server which is a recently released LTS (long term support) distribution. I previously used Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 server, and Roon is very stable on my machine. Ubuntu is well-supported, has lots of documentation online and on this forum there are quite a lot of Ubuntu users, too.
A word of caution… make sure this old PC has the hardware resources to run Roon successfully. Minimum 8 GB RAM and a Core i3 processor. The really needed hardware resources depend largely on your database size (number of tracks in Roon’s database), and your usage pattern. Playing back to only one zone and without any DSP is less demanding than playing back to several zones and applying DSP processing. In addition, having the OS and Roon software on a fast NVMe M.2 SSD makes a noticeable difference.
Having the possibility to use an NVMe SSD of any type is possibly not an option on an older PC. Any SSD, even ones with SATA interface instead of NVMe will do and makes a noticeable difference compared to HDDs with spinning disks.
all helpful, thanks
i got the old PC out of the garage and will check it out tomorrow; i know i added extra RAM so pretty sure 8gb or more; not sure re processor
i run to several locations but all the same music to each one; don’t use DSP
have been running roonserver headless on the linux mint machine, so used to that; don’t do anything else with that laptop
i installed a new solid state hard drive on the gateway and updated its ram to 16gb. here are the specs on the Gateway: SX2865-UR11P Pentium Dual-Core G630 2.7GHz.
i created a new boot disk using rufus for mint cinnamon 20.3 64 bit. i was able to boot it up and install mint. so far so good.
then i tried again to install roon. once again i am using the streamlined install instructions from martin webster:
sudo apt install curl ffmpeg cifs-utils -y
curl -O https://download.roonlabs.net/builds/roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh
chmod +x roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh
sudo ./roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh
alas, once again, i am hung up on the 3rd step (chmod)
i am getting error message: it says it can’t find “roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh”
however, using firefox, i was able to download roonserver-installer-linuxx64–it is in my download directory. is there a way to alter the linux commands to point to the file in the download directory?
Try chmod +x ./roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh
alas, same result
chmod: cannot access ‘./roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh’: No such file or directory
Can you show the output of ls -la from the directory where you are executing the command?
my apologies, i am a linux novice; can you explain:
“the directory where you are executing the command”
i am using the terminal feature of mint to type in the linux commands
Yes, of course.
Linux at installation time usually creates a home directory for any user… in your example, a home directory for the user you created at install time. In this directory you, the user, has read/write access. This is where you should execute the commands to install the Roon Server.
To see exactly where in the directory tree you are located, use the command pwd (print working directory). Then, issue the command ls -la to get a listing of all files and subdirectories. This will show if the downloaded installer file is really there, its name and permissions.
$ ls -la
total 124
drwxr-xr-x 18 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:58 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jun 17 13:25 …
-rw------- 1 doug doug 248 Jun 17 14:04 .bash_history
-rw-r–r-- 1 doug doug 220 Jun 17 13:25 .bash_logout
-rw-r–r-- 1 doug doug 3771 Jun 17 13:25 .bashrc
drwx------ 11 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 14:04 .cache
drwxrwxr-x 4 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:30 .cinnamon
drwxr-xr-x 16 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:37 .config
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:36 Downloads
drwx------ 3 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 .gnupg
-rw-r–r-- 1 doug doug 22 Jun 17 13:25 .gtkrc-2.0
-rw-r–r-- 1 doug doug 516 Jun 17 13:25 .gtkrc-xfce
drwxrwxrwx 3 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:40 .linuxmint
drwxrwxr-x 3 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 .local
drwx------ 4 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:33 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 Music
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 Pictures
-rw-r–r-- 1 doug doug 807 Jun 17 13:25 .profile
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 Public
-rw-r–r-- 1 doug doug 0 Jun 17 13:32 .sudo_as_admin_successful
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 Templates
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:30 .themes
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:29 Videos
-rw------- 1 doug doug 52 Jun 17 13:58 .Xauthority
-rw------- 1 doug doug 8143 Jun 17 14:16 .xsession-errors
-rw------- 1 doug doug 13321 Jun 17 13:57 .xsession-errors.old
so the file should be in:
drwxr-xr-x 2 doug doug 4096 Jun 17 13:36 Downloads