Linux Roon Control GUI Please [not on roadmap, you may try to use Wine]

[mjw (Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)]

Try this for starters. Unfortunately, you’ll need to adapt this for an Arch-based distro.

How to run Roon on Wine Stable with any supported version of Ubuntu (and derivatives)

Installing Wine Stable On Ubuntu CODENAME=`lsb_release --codename | cut -f2` sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings wget -O - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key - sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ "https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/$CODENAME/winehq-$CODENAME.sources" sudo apt update sudo apt install --install-recommends wine-stable --yes sudo apt install wine32:i386 --yes Inst…

[Jean_Traulle (Jean Traullé)]

I add my voice here that a native, officially supported version for the GUI on GNU/Linux would be really appreciated. I am a Linux user and considering to subscribe because Roon is really interesting on numerous points but the lack of GNU/Linux client is really a blocker, especially considering the price point requested for the subscription.

I saw the numerous tips for running the Windows client through Wine but an official client should be proposed by Roon Labs.

[Johnny_Skaaning]

I second this. I put Ubuntu on my little old laptop and I was surprised to find no control for Roon, even though I have previously run a Rock server which is based on Linux. What a shame. Reaching for my phone, but gone is the wide display and its overview. Control is not just about control, it is the Roon interface and a big part of the reason for my subscription.

[Nickpi]

It sure is annoying there is no support from Roon, however I have some understanding they are not inclined to support dozens of (major) linux distributions. Would probably be a nightmare.

That being said, I successfully installed Roon using GitHub - RoPieee/roon-on-wine: Running Roon with Wine on Linux. Install wine, execute the install script, runs in five minutes.
None required fiddling with any additional repositories.

Used to install with bottles, this didn’t work anymore on any of the distributions I tried.

• Debian Trixie: Add i368 architecture, install wine and wine32 from the debian repo
• Fedora 42: Install wine from the fedora repository
• Arch: Install wine. It installs from source, takes some time

[mjw (Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)]

As @Nickpi says, Roon On Wine works well.

Complete instructions for Ubuntu Desktop here:

How to run Roon on Wine Stable with any supported version of Ubuntu (and derivatives)

Installing Wine Stable On Ubuntu CODENAME=`lsb_release --codename | cut -f2` sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings wget -O - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key - sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ "https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/$CODENAME/winehq-$CODENAME.sources" sudo apt update sudo apt install --install-recommends wine-stable --yes sudo apt install wine32:i386 --yes Inst…

[Johnny_Skaaning]

Hey there

Thanks for your suggestions. It’s very much appreciated. The elements of rant in this reply is not aimed at you at all. I did get Roon to run following this.

understanding they are not inclined to support dozens of (major) linux distributions.

Dozens is way off. Ubuntu would do. That’s what I’m using. I see it as the distro for everyone.

Install wine, execute the install script, runs in five minutes.

I hate Github where everything is implicit and there’s no help to get. Stuff like -

To install Roon just clone or download this repository and run ./install.sh

Ok, I don’t understand clone in this context, but I’ll look for the download button. 10 minutes later, among all the other little knobs and switches and endless lists of files, it turns out I must click on “code” and there’s a “download ZIP”.
The script installs Roon with a few errors but nevertheless. And when I run it, it opens a window with insanely scaled text. All I can read is “terms”. The windows stays for 8-10 seconds and exits with a message about an internal error in some windows library. I’m not able to select anything in that window and I’m close to giving up. There’s a note on Github about editing scaling in the start script. I try 0.5 and it helps. At 0.1 the Roon window looks quite normal to me. And just as importantly, it doesn’t crash anymore.
Now I can control Roon from Ubuntu. I’d like to be able to start it from clicking an icon, but it seems to work.

Thanks to whoever did all this work to make it available on linux. I already tried installing it in Wine but that didn’t work all the way.

[Johnny_Skaaning]

Thanks for that resource. I followed the general Github instructions and made it work on Ubuntu before I saw your reply.

[mjw (Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)]

@Johnny_Skaaning

Now I can control Roon from Ubuntu. I’d like to be able to start it from clicking an icon, but it seems to work.

In case hadn’t seen, there are istructions for adding a launcher to Ubuntu (with a decent icon) in the thread.

[Johnny_Skaaning]

Thanks for replying. There’s actually an icon appearing under apps in Ubuntu without me doing anything. I also somehow have managed to end up with the start_my_roon_instance.sh script in 2 locations, both in the /home and /home/roon-on-wine-master. The icon seems to refer to the script in /home.

Anyway, it all seems to work well, thanks for helping out.

[Johnny_Skaaning]

Roon on Wine on Ubuntu went fine for a few days. I noticed a displacement of where clicks are registered, like a centimeter or so. I found that running Roon fullscreen corrected that behaviour. Maybe Roon/Wine did not register the Ubuntu sidebar.
When I run Roon now it opens fullscreen and the interface registers no input from me at all. I can minimize it and access the icon that has some window controls (quit, new etc.).
I guess I need to so somehow tell it not to open fullscreen in order to see if that brings back control.

Short description: the cursor hovers freely over the interface but the interface registers no clicks.

Any ideas on how to correct that behaviour?

[mjw (Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)]

What version of Ubuntu and Wine are you using?

Earlier you said you “made it work” and had to play around with the scale factor. Therefore, please share the startup script and monitor details.

Finally, are you using Wayland?

[Johnny_Skaaning]

Thanks for replying.

Wine 10 / Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS. The startup script is default except the scalefactor was changed from 1.0 to 0.1.

Screen resolution is 1920x1080.

I don’t know what Wayland is.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# This parameter influences the scale at which
# the Roon UI is rendered.
#
# 1.0 is default, but on an UHD screen this should be 1.5 or 2.0

SCALEFACTOR=0.1

PREFIX=/home/helgrimm/my_roon_instance
env WINEPREFIX=/home/helgrimm/my_roon_instance WINEDEBUG=fixme-all WINEDLLOVERRIDES="windows.media.mediacontrol=" wine /home/helgrimm/my_roon_instance/dosdevices/c:/users/helgrimm/AppData/Local/Roon/Application/Roon.exe -scalefactor=$SCALEFACTOR

[mjw (Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)]

The scale factor doesn’t look right. For 1920x1080 monitor, you should use SCALEFACTOR=1.0, and certainly not decrease below this value. Indeed, I set my 3440x1440 monitor to the same scale factor because it’s on a desk; UHD TV screens require a higher value because viewing is across a room.

@Johnny_Skaaning

I don’t know what Wayland is.

It’s the display manager, and that’s what you’ll be using unless you change that.

[Johnny_Skaaning]

The scalefactor may not look right, but unless I change it to 0.1 a single letter fills half the screen. A scale factor of 1.0 does not work. I have tested changing it to 1.0 before I posted this.

Edit: I changed it to 2.0 which gave the known (also on Windows on this machine) message that the screen resolution is to small to run Roon, except in fullscreen mode. I then changed it to 1.0 and now it works like one would expect.

Edit 2: After rebooting the machine the display is again grossly enlarged and unusable with the scalefactor setting 1.0. Changing the scalefactor back to 0.1 restores a fitting resolution.

Thanks for your time.

[Ole-Henrik_Jakobsen]

My Roon via wine started to crash now, just a white screen pops up before it crashes after 10 seconds. Just worked until recently, I’m not sure what caused it. Either newer version of Wine 10.15 or KDE Plasma 6.4.5 perhaps. Yes, I used the one posted here. Yes, I tried clean install of it too.

Anyway, not sure if I bother continuing with Roon sub. It’s an expensive luxury that’s not really required. A native linux client would for sure keep me subbed, as it is a nice expensive luxury - but something I expect to work too.

No way I am running Windows or Mac after having spent 25 years with linux.

Edit: it’s Wine 10.15 (staging) causing the issue. Tried Wine 9 and it works fine again. But it’s still annoying.

[Jean_Traulle (Jean Traullé)]

@Ole-Henrik_Jakobsen

Edit: it’s Wine 10.15 (staging) causing the issue. Tried Wine 9 and it works fine again. But it’s still annoying.

An issue has been opened on WineHQ bugzilla tracker.

WineHQ Bugzilla – Bug 58726 – "Roon" music player only shows a blank white...

In the meantime, rolling back to 10.14 solves it.

[robin246]

Fixed in Wine 10.16 (staging)