Need help with Roon setup

Roon Software Discussion
1

Hi all,
I’ve just started on my Roon journey by installing Roon bridge on a Linux ARM64 box, it installed fine and it appears to be running, however, the Roon app on my iPhone doesn’t find anything - spinning wheel with the message Looking for your Roon Core.

I run this command from the Linux box cli.

systemctl status roonbridge.service

And receive this output so it appears to be running

● roonbridge.service - RoonBridge
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/roonbridge.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2020-12-10 17:24:59 GMT; 36s ago
 Main PID: 7742 (start.sh)
    Tasks: 28 (limit: 4560)
   CGroup: /system.slice/roonbridge.service
           ├─7742 /bin/sh /opt/RoonBridge/start.sh
           ├─7745 RoonBridge --debug --gc=sgen --server RoonBridge.exe
           ├─7759 RoonBridgeHelper --debug --gc=sgen --server RoonBridgeHelper.exe
           └─7763 /opt/RoonBridge/Bridge/processreaper 7759

Dec 10 17:24:59 M4V203 systemd[1]: Started RoonBridge.
Dec 10 17:25:00 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: 00:00:00.007 Warn:  get lock file path: /tmp/.rnbgem0-
Dec 10 17:25:00 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: 00:00:00.157 Trace: [childprocess] using unix child process
Dec 10 17:25:00 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: Initializing
Dec 10 17:25:00 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: 00:00:00.230 Info:  Starting /opt/RoonBridge/Bridge/RoonBridgeHelper
Dec 10 17:25:00 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: Not Running (.o)
Dec 10 17:25:00 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: 00:00:00.284 Info:  ConnectOrStartAndWaitForExit RAATServer, path: /opt/RoonBridge/Bridge/RAATServer
Dec 10 17:25:00 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: 00:00:00.011 Warn:  get lock file path: /tmp/.rnbhgem0-
Dec 10 17:25:01 M4V203 start.sh[7742]: Running

Any ideas guys? As far as I know there isn’t a firewall blocking it.

2

What is your core running on?

3

Sorry I don’t think I’ve got Core - is it installable on Linux - thanks for replying

4

That’s your problem, I think.
Your core is the brain of the system.
The Roon you are running on your phone is just a ‘client’. It takes commands from you and sends them to the core.
RoonBridge simply takes orders from the core and sends them to an endpoint like a DAC.

You need a Roon Core running. You can put it on Linux, macOS, or Windows OS systems to start.
Just so we’re clear, you have installed Roon on your mobile phone and RoonBridge on the ARM machine? That’s it?

5

Yes that is correct ( told you I was a newbie )

6

No problem. It’s confusing to get started.
The easiest way to get Roon up and running is on an old laptop running Windows or macOS. Do you have one of those?
RoonServer will also run on Linux, but I am not sure of the CPU it needs.

7

Hi and thanks for your time - my Linux box has a hexacore CPU and 4GB of RAM so it’s plenty powerful enough to run Roon

8

I’ll take your word for it. I’m not a hardware guy.
RoonServer needs an X86_64 platform.
This is the link for the downloads. You will want to get the RoonServer (x64) installer. It runs headless once you get it installed.
Where is your music stored, or are you going to be streaming only?

9

Ok are you saying Roon Server won’t run on an ARM64 architecture ? I thought Roon itself was Linux based so I’m even more confused. My music is stored on the same Linux box that I have Roon Bridge installed - I can’t see any installer for Roon Server for Linux or indeed Roon Core.

10

Click on the blue link for my post above. It will take you to the page for Linux installers.
There is no ‘Roon Core’. The software is either Roon ( which is the core server and GUI combined), or Roon Server (headless, no user GUI). Their function is the core of Roon.

FYI, I’m a user like you, not a Roon employee. So I will just say I can’t comment intelligently about ARM64. It’s my understanding Roon or Roon Server will only run on x86 machines. RoonBridge will run on ARMs like RPi4.

11

Also, I’m certain there will be other users along to address the hardware side of things. That’s just out of my league.

12

Hi Scott and thanks - that link you gave is the one I used to install Roon Bridge in the first place so not really useful but thanks anyway - I’m beginning to think this is not doable on Linux

13

Well, it is doable on an x86 running Linux. I did that. But it sounds like the box you have may not support RoonServer. Sorry about that…

14

No problem and thanks

1 Like
15

@Peter_Kane Roon server can run on Linux no issues on intel or amd but there is no roon remote client for a GUI on Linux

16

Hi wizard, I just want to run roon core on arm64 I don’t need a GUI on the Linux side but it looks like it isn’t possible

17

Arm no…only roon bridge as an endpoint. You need an intel or amd to run roon server/core

18

Ok thanks for clarifying that - do you know of any SBC’s that would fit my needs - I need one that’s up 24/7

19

Roon cannot run on most SBCs as they are generally ARM devices.

Here is an x86 based SBC. People do run Roon on it, but for many it might be underpowered.

BTW - you don’t need RoonBridge and Roon on the same machine.

20

No offense, but from your previous posts, you don’t seem to know what the technical jargon you use means (and that’s fine).

So make it easy for yourself: get an Intel NUC. It’s an SBC. It is officially supported, and it sold commercially by RoonLabs as a “Nucleus”, thus you can be pretty damn sure it won’t break in some unpredictable and difficult to understand way at some point down the line.

Here’s a list of compatible devices, you can find many of them used on eBay. They might end up being a little bit more expensive than an ODroid, probably won’t use much more electricity in standby, but will be much more powerful, and you’ll get much more help here.

If you can afford them, the sweet spots are probably the NUC7i3/i7 (the original “Nucleus” and Nucleus+), Nuc7i5 (in between power), and Nuc8 series (recently discontinued, so cheap as hell).

I’ll let others opine as to what exactly you’re looking for once you tell us how big your library is (in terms of local + streaming albums, format doesn’t matter, just the number of albums and tracks), or how large you want it to be.

1 Like