Problems installing ROCK on a Mac Mini, maybe the previous version will work?

Tinkering
1

Hi everyone…

I have a NUC with Roon and work perfectly… so great!!! :XD… but I’m trying to install (for a friend) Roon Rock in a Mac Mini 2.3 (very old… haha 2012) and don’t work, I now Roon recommend Nuc but Mac Mini is a x86 platform… so, I installed Roon in this machine and in the step when they try to connect to Network (with cable) left waited for connectión… eternally…

I installed other LMS system Daphile in this machine to try, and work fine… for testing network connection…

I think that trying install a older versión of Roon in order to try, but I can’t find the installer of previous version on the website.

Any idea?.. before to tell to my friend that use Mac Mini for paperweight.

Many thanks!!

2

ROCK only supports Intel NUCs. See here for specific machines:

You may be able to install Roon Server for macOS on the Mini, but I think this is unlikely, given its age and the likelihood it doesn’t support a more recent version of macOS.

3

I’d guess that ROCK doesn’t have the NIC driver for the Mac mini hardware. So you’d be out of luck there I’m afraid. You should use a supported NUC with ROCK, or a different OS on the Mac.

4

I Think the same… probably the latest version of Rock don’t haver compatibility with old hardware…

Note: My NUC where work fine ROCK is a not-compliance NUC with recomendation of Roon o is not in list of them, also is from 2015 hardware… and other’s friend had installed in other non-NUC (HP MiniPC by example) and work fine.

5

If installing ROCK on non-supported hardware, it depends on luck whether the Linux kernel used by ROCK includes drivers for the device. That’s more likely (but not guaranteed) for some hardware like HP Mini PC and less likely for others like Apple. One can try but it may or may not work. There is some experience sharing in the"MOCK" threads.

If the official macOS for the Mac Mini 2.3 is not recent enough to install Roon, you may be able to use the unofficial patches to install a macOS that works
http://dosdude1.com/software.html

2 Likes
6

Hi Everyone…

Solved!!! Now I Have Roon in MacMini hahaha… what we did?? just connect to ethernet way RJ45/USB Adapter, yes… by USB… really easy.

Regards.

1 Like
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Which USB interface adapter did you use exactly?

I am running ROCK (RoonOS 1.0 build 259) on a Mac Mini late 2012 and am getting unreliable network connection. It will run for days and then just disappear from time to time. After unpluging and pluging the USB ethernet interface, it will eventually resume. Tried three different USB adapters, all with the same result.

I have a static IP address configured and it is shown on the screen, when the Mac Mini/ROCK is connected via HDMI to a display.

8

Tried the next USB adapter and this one looks promising. It has a very snug fit to the USB connector, also no USB-c adapters… https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00MYTSN18