I gave up trying to get AirPlay (shairport) to work. Hopefully, Salk can get this working remotely like he has done in the past. I feel a bit bad about it because it took quite a bit of back and forth with him to get it to finally work (he logged in remotely). He would make changes, have me try again, then more changes, try again, rinse and repeat many times. This happened when I bought the Salkstream and again 4 years later when the hard drive had to be replaced. He never charged me anything for his time, even though the second time was out of warranty. He just charged for the new hard drive he sent to me.
Good news is I got HDMI working. It turns out the update changed which HDMI option in Roon audio settings had to be enabled (there are multiple HDMI options even though the Salkstream only has one physical HDMI output). When I looked in Roon audio settings, I noticed the label on one of the HDMI options was different than before, that prompted me to try enabling it.
Thank you again for your help.
PS - For future reference, is this likey to happen each time the OS is updated? Or is it because it’s been about 3.5 years since last updated? If the former, I think next time I’ll wait until something actually breaks before updating, lol. This time will count as a learning experience.
No, it won’t… I regularly update my Linux Roon server, with Roon running and playing. You should try to do so, too… weekly or at least monthly… it’s easier to keep the system up to date, than to update a hopelessly out of date system…
Thanks. My concern is with having to re-setup Shairport each time. Looking back through old emails with Salk, I found where he explained Shairport defaults to the USB output, which I do not use. My Salkstream came with an optical spdif output for compatibility with my old pre/pre, an Anthem AVM 20 (no HDMI, no USB).
I found an old email from Salk where he attached a new shairport-sync.conf file that changed the output from default to optical spdif. I’m going to try that file and see if it fixes my issue. Perhaps the issue is my “non-standard” setup.
Not even a regular update to the shairport-sync package should overwrite and replace your current and customized conf file. That only might happen if the conf file format or syntax changes, and during the update should even then ask if you want your conf file replaced or if you want to keep it…
Have a look at the currently installed conf file, and compare it with Jim’s file to see if it is different. It might happen that a newer version of shairport-sync might not be compatible anymore with an old conf file… But all this is only speculation, and without looking up the update history of shairport-sync and looking at the conf file, I can’t know for sure.
I’m going to try the original conf file and see what happens. During the update it did ask me some questions and I answered with what appeared to be the suggested defaults. It’s certainly possible one of those questions was about replacing the shairport conf file and I answered yes not understanding the question.
I do have a question about the conf file. Do I need to remove the current conf file then add the original file? Is this correct? The old email from Salk just mentioned adding the custom conf file he sent with no mention of removing any existing conf file.
I would just rename the old file to shairport-sync.conf.new and then copy the old conf file into the same directory… No need to delete the new conf file… maybe you will still need it…
Not really… You can use systemctl to see the status of a background process controlled by systemd… and to start, restart, stop, enable, disable…
So… I would try to run systemctl status shairport-sync.service, and if this reports correctly the status, then systemctl restart shairport-sync.service…
Instead of renaming files and possilbly confusing myself later, which is not hard to do when it comes to computer stuff , I removed the existing conf file (saved it on my Windows computer and made a backup as well in case I ever need it) then added the custom conf file that Salk sent in 2016 to the Salkstream (I saved backups of that file as well just in case!).
Btw, Salk suggested I run pacman -S shairport-sync to make sure shariport installed correctly, so I did this before changing any conf files.
I ran the first command and best I could understand, it indicated shairport was running properly. I then ran the second command, but I’m not sure anything happened, it just went back to the splayer ~ $ cursor waiting for a command. After this I tried using AirPlay (Shairport), but it still didn’t work. I then went ahead and rebooted the Salkstream (cause when in doubt, reboot! ). Success!!! Airplay now seems to be working properly!
So I think I’m back in business.
A big thank you to everyone here that helped with my many router and linux update questions!
With Arch though you need to review the announcements on the homepage before attempting an update as there are occasionally manual steps to do prior to running Pacman -Syu.
Unfortunately, this complicates things for me. Not only do I not understand a lot of what is said on the Arch Linux site, my knowledge of the operation/use of Linux is next to non existent.
I’m afraid I may wear out my welcome here if I’m asking for assistance on a weekly/monthly basis.
Btw, I noticed according to this site the latest version is 6.7.6, but the version I have now is 6.7.9. How is it that I have a later release than what is listed on the Arch Linux site?
I noticed this on the “About” page for Arch Linux;
“Arch Linux uses a “rolling release” system which allows one-time installation and perpetual software upgrades. It is not generally necessary to reinstall or upgrade your Arch Linux system from one “version” to the next. By issuing one command, an Arch system is kept up-to-date and on the bleeding edge.”
(Bold added)
Does this mean I really don’t need to be concerned about updating? I’m guessing my Salkstream really doesn’t need to be “on the bleeding edge”.
Wit other operating systems you have specific versions like:
Windows 8
Windows 10
Windows 11
Ubuntu 18.04
Ubuntu 20.04
In this case you have to upgrade to the next version, to use the features and functionality of the new version.
With a rolling release only individual packages are replaced. There is no Arch Linux 5 or 6 or so. Only the individual packages do have version numbers.
The reason why you should do regular updates:
Tidal, Qobuz, Roon keep up with security. They all use (must use) encryption on their server side. This encryption improves, gets rid of errors. They improve the way clients (your Qobuz, Tidal, Roon Server) talks with their API (Application Program Interface). These applications use the operating system to talk with their cloud servers.
If you do not update your side, at some stage compatibility is not given anymore and you lose connectivity. It can work well for 2 - 3 years. Suddenly it is not working anymore. Maybe it is not required weekly, but doing it now and then is not a bad attitude.
I’m glad to see Roon releasing the more budget friendly Nucleus One. This could be a possible option for replacing my Salkstream when the time comes. I only stream to one endpoint at a time and my library size is well within the stated specs (currently about 2300 albums/27500 tracks including local rips and Qobuz favorites). It would fit my desire for a more “appliance” like device that requires very little of me to maintain.
There are two things that concern me, however.
First, possible fan noise. Because I would use the HDMI output, it needs to be located with my other audio gear. I see Jamie from Roon posted fan noise hasn’t been an issue for him, so that’s encouraging.
Second is this statement on the spec page;
“Most DSP functions available in the PCM domain, some DSD + DSP combinations may not be possible”
While I don’t do any DSD upscaling which I understand requires a bit of resources, I do play 2 channel and multichannel SACD files and may apply some DSP to them (Conversion to PCM, EQ, Headroom Management, Speaker Setup adjustments).
This time the update went faster and smoother. It didn’t ask me any questions. Although I didn’t have to reset any Audio settings in Roon like last time, AirPlay/Shairport broke again even though this time it didn’t appear the shairport-sync file changed like it did with the last update. Fortunately, rebooting a few times seemed to get it working again. I have no idea why this is happening, but I’m guessing it means I’ll have to fix AirPlay/Shairport each time I update the OS.
Although I prefer not to add equipment, if this becomes a real hassle, I may just have to get a separate device for AirPlay.
Yep, I saw that thread… And even though it seems at this moment that Arch Linux wasn’t a target of this backdoor (Debian and Fedora/RedHat were), it is still too early to be really certain about this, and so it was good that you updated your system. As I recommended earlier, you should do so regularly… weekly, at the very least, monthly. It is quite possible that the extensive code reviews which must follow now, after the detection of this very well-planned and implemented attack, may lead to more backdoors and code vulnerabilities being detected…
This may be as small a device as a RPi running RoPieee, I think…
Ugh, not what I want to hear, but it is what it is. I’ll just have to bite the bullet and do it. I suppose updating is far easier than cleaning up after an intrusion/hack!
I don’t think I’d want something I have to “build”. I’d likely get something like an Apple TV device or Wiim device (I think I can AirPlay to the Wiim?) that will be supported by the manufacturer.
(I’m posting to this old thread as a reference I can refer to when needed [which I have several times before])
A few Arch Linux OS updates ago, shairport broke again. Everything I tried that fixed it in the past did not work this time, so I gave up thinking I’ll eventually just have to break down and buy a separate device for Airplay use (was eyeing the Wiim Pro).
Personally, I rarely use Airplay, but my husband used it regularly to stream Apple Music from his phone to the main system. He said not to worry about it, but I suspect he misses using it.
This evening, I noticed there was a new Ach Linux update available. Initially I could not get the update to work. All mirror sites returned the error 404 not found. After some fumbling around, I noticed on the Ach Linux home page there was a note about cleaning up old repositories. This line stood out to me, though I’m not sure what it meant:
"The following deprecated repositories will be removed: [community], [community-testing], [testing], [testing-debug], [staging], [staging-debug].
Please make sure to remove all use of the aforementioned repositories from your /etc/pacman.conf (for which a .pacnew was shipped with pacman>=6.0.2-7)!"
Looking in my pacman.conf file, I noticed a section about [community]. I figured the above note meant I needed to remove this reference. After commenting it out (is that the right term? I added a # in front of it) the update worked. Yay!
After updating and rebooting the Salkstream, I checked to make sure Roon was working with all my audio outputs/devices. I noticed Airplay was listed again, so I tried using Airplay from my iPhone (using the Apple Music app to stream music files on loaded on my iPhone) to play to my main system. It worked!! Yay!! Here’s hoping whatever got fixed with the update will stick!
Updated Arch Linux this evening, shairport is broken again. None of my previous tricks that fixed it are working. Ugh!
Given how unreliable shairport is on my current streamer after OS updates, I think we should just break down and buy a separate device for AirPlay. I should have picked up the Wiim Pro when it was on sale this past December.
). Success!!! Airplay now seems to be working properly! 
)