Is there a player version of ROCK?

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This, right here, is what I wanted to know.

I had no idea it could work that way.

I got roon working on a slightly older HP thin client with two small SSD’s inside. No Fans, no moving parts, and as such it would be ideal for the listening environment.

Any tips on setting that up, or will the unit just appear as an endpoint?

Once Roon Brisge is installed, it will appear in Settings/Audio.
Consider Dietpi: x86 and arm version, easy Roon configuration, no need for real Linux expertise.

A rock running as endpoint suits me perfectly. The hardware I have does it perfectly, and I wont need to upgrade to larger drives, as it wont need to store database.

Thanks again, just what I needed to know.

There are some Rooners using Nucleus as endpoints/bridges too … I guess if $$$ is no object its a sexy piece of kit.

yeah, that seems a bit redundant. If I have ROCK running on a dead silent thin client based hardware, with an SSD and it plugs into an async USB DAC directly, I can’t see what advantage spending £1500 would bring me.

apart from a very very shiny case :slight_smile:

You don’t need to install Roon Bridge, not even sure if you can install that on ROCK.

Anyway, ROCK by itself is sufficient.

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Hmm — what is your thin client hardware?
ROCK is for a NUC.
People try installing it on other hardware, may or may not work, but unsupported.

The hardware is an Hp t620 thin client.

I’ve alteady had it up and running as a server and it works perfectly.

The rock install goes on more things than you’d think.

It’s just Linux after all. Unless you’re running some pretty weird hardware I’d expect it to work

That’s what I thought you had.
ROCK may work, but the team is quite firm, unsupported and no future guarantees.
Go for it, many people do, but keep backups.

Anders, he’s only using it as an endpoint, the core is not being used…

Sure, but that’s the app.
ROCK is the OS, they are quite explicit it’s designed for a NUC.

Not sure you understand how
It will be used. Rock used only as end player. No config or backup necessary

You’re right, I forgot it’s a player only, no backup.

Just a note that a future auto-update may break it, without apology.
But that’s not a big problem, if it happens you need to get something else, but there is no strong reason to get something else now, you’ll have use of it for now.

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Most linux builds will be fine (non GUI) and roon. bridge installed.

If you are into a little more fun you can use @Dan_Knight Dietpi for PC based systems that works well with bridge too and is menu install driven like the RPi version…just a bit harder to install. I ran one on an old Intel D510M just for fun as it had SPDIF out setup. Think I still have it somewhere…Uses a Debian base install IIRC, but it was some back so I could be wrong.

“The Native PC is great for those occasions where SBC performance just isn’t enough. Run one of these on any x86_64 PC/server and still get the same great DietPi features and experience. This image is for motherboards with BIOS and/or CSM boot support.”

Dietpi for PC also allows more horsepower left for doing other things like pihole or adding the extension manager and other player other streaming options like Spotify or volumio
if you want to crazy.

Just come across this Elac device: the Discovery Connect. Looks like a packaged networked Roon Endpoint + DAC. An Endpoint appliance…

Could be of interest for those of us who don’t want to or can’t build a RPi + HAT solution.

I placed this request a few days ago


My main motivation is that Raspberries have a shared controller for ethernet and USB which is less than ideal. Intel NUCs have an at least reasonable USB implementation.
And I would like to do away with the need to update dietpi.

Why would you need to update dietpi if you only run Roonbridge? I have PIs with very old Linux distros and RoonBridge just updates itself and works like a charm.

I am not a linux expert and would not know why I would have to do what dietpi itself tells me to do when an update is available. Might be a bugfix?
In my Linux noob view there is a distinct advantage if Roon takes care of keeping everything up to date like they do with ROCK.

I understand your concern. My view is: never update dietPi unless the system stops working (very unlikely with only RoonBridge). If by any chance it stops working, just reinstall the latest version :slight_smile:

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