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

Feedback Feature Suggestions
23

I’ve long wanted a Linux based Roon UI. My core sits on a qnap NAS which in all other respects I use as a regular pc to browse, watch video etc.

Am aware of the Roon extension possibility but setting it up looked a bit beyond my limited (I.e. zero) command prompt type ability …

Taking the view internet/ mobile driven Roon is in the works and this is all we really need to address the issue

24

Eagerly awaiting some kind of solution. As it stands, Roon is the only reason I’m still on Windows.

25

Web UI is the solution right now. Works perfectly fine.

26

I would very much like to see Linux desktop integration too. I wouldn’t shell out for Roon otherwise, not enough bang for the buck. For now MPD on RPi + DigiOne works perfectly fine and I’ve got heaps of native clients available: gui, curses, cli, your choice.

27

Just run the client under Wine because you can be sure there will never be a native Linux desktop client.

28

I’d love to have a native Linux roon GUI …
For now I use Wine & roon it works quite well but it’s not the best solution

1 Like
29

Yeah, but no thanks. I know I can run it under Wine or in a virtual machine but it’s all too clunky, malware compatible solutions. I’d rather hope for a Flatpak for example, a sandbox with all its dependencies. I know it’s difficult to prepare a package for all the various distros out there.

1 Like
30

I’d be quite happy for Roon to dictate what libs they need for a Linux desktop app to work, until then I run it using Wine on my Ryzen-based Linux workstation.

31

I would also like to see Roon make a native Linux client. I’m OK with it being native and/or wrapping an HTML front-end.

-F

32

I am just joined the Roon community and currently exploring the software. I also miss a GUI on Linux, or at least a web-based client. Is there any planning to improve this really great software with this mssing feature?

Thank you,
mdajp

33

Dear Roon,

I understand why this may not seem a priority for you, but it definitely feels like a missing feature to me. I’d love to have a dedicated, custom built front end running on a raspberry pi or similar with touchscreen display. The Roon Web Controller is great, and thanks to Mike_Plugge for his hard work on it, but it doesn’t yet give the same immersive feel as the official Roon GUI.

I wonder if you’ve considered pricing this work up and trying to crowd-fund it? That way you could let us, the crowd, decide if it’s worth doing; if we hit the target you can hire the programmers to do it, if we don’t you’ll at least be able to say you tried!

Just a thought. Thank you for the Music!

Ralph

1 Like
34

As stated earlier in this thread, try running the Windows version with Wine. I do that and it is fine. Fast, responsive and stable.

I also added Roon Bridge for local playback on my Linux laptop. The system is just as good as running on Windows.

35

Hi @eclectic,

Thanks for the suggestion, do you know if this works on a raspberry pi? I was under the impression the windows version wouldn’t run on an AMD chip, or am I wrong about that?

Thanks

36

No, I don’t think it would run on a Pi, it would be way below spec. My mistake. I skimmed your post and missed that bit.

I think you mean an ARM chip for the pi. It would run on AMD chips on a laptop or desktop. Roon Bridge runs fine on the Pi, but that doesn’t help you with your GUI issue…

37

Correct, ARM, my mistake.

Thanks for your suggestions. I now feel a bit more confident in investing in an x86 single board computer to give it a try.

Does anyone know the system requirements for running roon core as a controller only - to run it as controller + core is, I know, quite hungry, but if it’s run as a controller only is it more akin to the roon remote requirements, or does it need more oomph than that?

38

For Windows desktop use there’s a nice combined control+output application available. This allows me to browse for and listen to music on my office desktop PC.
Something similar is available for Mac and Android devices:
RoonInstallers_WinMac
RoonInstallers_Android

But there’s no such thing for regular Linux setups. Pity - all my lab PCs run linux, and I spend quite some time in that lab…

So, I’ll suggest that Roon control/output be ported to Linux in addition to the Windows/Mac/Android platforms.

Cheers,
Martin

1 Like
39

@danny - no timeline required, but is a Linux Desktop Roon Remote app on the roadmap?

1 Like
40

I do not think that a Linux remote for roon has a high priority on the developers.
Just try using this script to install roon under wine: https://github.com/RoPieee/roon-on-wine
I’ve been doing this very successfully for some time now.

2 Likes
41

If you install the Windows version on Linux via roon-on-wine script and then separately install Linux version of Roon Bridge on the same machine you’ll be able to achieve the same result. The only downside is that Roon Bridge by default runs as root but afaik it can be forced to run as standard user

42

Running Roon Bridge as standard user:

  • Download RoonBridge setup script
  • Open it in any text editor
  • Scroll to the systemd service file (line starts with [Unit])
  • Replace root with your user in line User=
  • Remove the line Restart=on-abort (unless you want roon bridge to be running on your machine all the time)
  • Save changes
  • Run the script
  • Add your user to audio group (usermod -a -G audio USERNAME)
  • Change owner of the /var/roon folder to your user (sudo chown -R USERNAME:USERNAME /var/roon), otherwise Roon Bridge will crash on start
  • Restart roonbridge service (sudo systemctl restart roonbridge.service)

Launch Roon GUI, go to Settings > Audio. You should now be able to see audio devices connected directly to your Linu Desktop in Connected to this PC tab

1 Like