In fact I already have the Raspberry Pi OS on an SD; so I’ve concluded that I’ve got everything covered except being able to see either the Raspberry Pi 4 desktop or its CLI on my Mac desktop/portables.
I’d rather do that (connect to a Mac) - in the interests of keeping it simple. Raspberry Pi 4 is to be a second/subsidiary endpoint because my WiiM Pro works so well, and is my default.
However - many thanks for the link to RoPieee. I note it says that I can simply (‘without any intervention’) ‘enable[ a] USB port for playing audio over an USB DAC’.
I have been planning to output from the Raspberry Pi 4 to the USB digital inout of my ParaSound Halo P6.
Would RoPieee be a simpler way to achieve this?
This page suggests it would because my Raspberry Pi 4 would be headless and configurable from within Roon.
What I don’t want to do is add complications to Roon and compromise its stability and/or integrity by adding an extra layer just for the sake of experimenting.
Here is a link to the RoPieee Installation Guide by Nathan_Wilkes that may be useful to you.
Also, please be aware that you will need a MicroSD card with at least 8 GB of storage for the RoPieee software. Finally, there is an active group of RoPieee users in the Roon Labs Community. Look for the RoPieee group in the Audio Gear Talk category.
I have been using a 64 GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC (model SDSQXA2-064G-GN6MA, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FCMBLV6/) without any problems in a Raspberry Pi 2 W. Mine came with an adapter that allows one use the MicroSD card in a SDXC card slot. (I do not believe that the 2018 MacBook Pro has a SDXC card slot, but the 2017 iMac Pro should have a card slot on the back.)
Download RoPieee to a computer. Use Etcher to burn RoPieee onto micro SD card. Insert micro SD card into the RPi.
Connect the RPi to your router or switch with ethernet cable. Plug RPi into power. On a computer, use the browser to connect to the RoPieee home page or whatever it’s called. Configure RoPieee. Enable WIFI on RoPieee if you want to use it wirelessly.
Connect your DAC to the RPi using a USB cable. With RPi and DAC powered up, find in Roon audio and configure the end-point. Done.
Etcher will write a format. No need to worry about how it’s formatted. Also, yes, you will leave it in. Note that it will go in looking more or less “upside down.”
I ask because when I inserted a test Micro SD card into an OWC drive which happens to have such a slot, Etcher didn’t present me with a name which corresponded to the one I’d given to the card in the Finder to replace ‘NONAME’; I didn’t proceed but would only have had the size (16GB) to go on.
So I should just leave the card in the format it comes with from Amazon?
Combined with this inexpensive wireless keyboard+mouse and the free OBS software, I can use my laptop as a display rather than dragging out a separate HDMI monitor.
This combo is handy for troubleshooting any headless server that has an HDMI display connection and USB port for keyboard and mouse, including ROCK builds and Nucleus.
I particularly like the look of the Logitech kbd… I have a MX Master 3S mouse of theirs.
Today is setup day for the RoPieee (all being well); it’s proof of concept (that I can still experiment) as much as anything. But to have those recommendations is much appreciated!
The only slight anomaly is that in my Synology router’s DHCP tab (as directed on page 30 of the Installation Guide) I see two IP addresses for the Raspberry Pi device.
Thanks, Michael: I wondered about that. No. New installation - have never touched Wi-Fi.
The RoPieee web interface only shows the one.
Perhaps it’s because of some anomaly in my Router’s DHCP table. I deleted the one there which doesn’t work and both RoPieee entries in the DHCP tab disappeared. Still working.
(Just want to ensure I’ve got the most stable set up I can.)
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