rooDial a Wireless Volume Knob for Roon with Microsoft Surface Dial

[James_Daly]

Dear Doctor, I am delighted to report that after a lot of effort I now have my Surface Dial working perfectly and it’s brilliant.
Some observations: despite many attempts reflashing the Micro card I just could not connect to the Dial. In the end, just to check my Pi 4 was working ok, I connected it by ethernet to the router which immediately allowed Dial connection. As that’s not particularly inconvenient for me I will stick to ethernet connection, which I understand from this thread might be more stable.
More of an issue was purchasing the licence. Great support from Sellcodes ultimately led me to realise that Safari, the default browser on my Mac, simply could not communicate correctly with Sellcodes’ website. Once I downloaded Chrome, everything was easy.
So a huge learning curve for me, way above of my usual competence level but most rewarding to get there in the end. So, if I can do it, anyone can.
Thanks again Doctor, for a brilliant solution.

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

Hi @DrCWO -

I hadn’t been using my roodial (i have a 6D that I do use fairly regularly, and love). Recently, I realized that the Pi on which I had roodial installed was unused, and my son “borrowed” it and took it to college. It was sitting on a shelf, and I don’t really blame him. I’m wondering if it’s possible to revoke the linkage to that Pi so that I can install on a different one? Happy to share the details - it was bought on Jan 9, 2023.

Thanks,
John

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@Johnny_Ooooops

I’m wondering if it’s possible to revoke the linkage to that Pi so that I can install on a different one?

I have no chance to revoke from remote. This can only be done using the Pi you had. The only chance to make it run again is this process:

If this is not possible you can do this:

1. Send me your old License Key by e-mail to info@definiteAudio.de
2. Buy a new License Key for rooDial
3. Send me the new License key by e-mail to info@definiteAudio.de
4. I will refund your purchase via Sellcodes back to PayPal.

Best DrCWO

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@James_Daly

I connected it by ethernet to the router which immediately allowed Dial connection. As that’s not particularly inconvenient for me I will stick to ethernet connection, which I understand from this thread might be more stable.

Correct

@James_Daly

More of an issue was purchasing the licence. Great support from Sellcodes ultimately led me to realise that Safari, the default browser on my Mac, simply could not communicate correctly with Sellcodes’ website.

Thank you for this information. I never realized that there was an issue with Safari
Sorry for the inconvenience

@James_Daly

Thanks again Doctor, for a brilliant solution.

I’m glad you like it

Best DrCWO

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

@DrCWO

Why not building an option into rooDial that turns on and off USB power?
Having done that you can connect a cable like this from the Pi’s USB port to your HiFi gear to turn it on and off. Any need for such a feature?

Hi-
I know this was years ago, but did this ever go anywhere? I really want to control my Furman Elite 15 (which has a 12V trigger in) when my Pi2AES (running rooExtend) is playing, and have it turn off the 12V trigger after 15 minutes (or whatever configurable time).

Is this old hat (no pun intended), or is this something that never went anywhere?

Thanks!

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@Johnny_Ooooops

I know this was years ago, but did this ever go anywhere? I really want to control my Furman Elite 15 (which has a 12V trigger in) when my Pi2AES (running rooExtend) is playing, and have it turn off the 12V trigger after 15 minutes (or whatever configurable time).

You can use rooControl to control 5V output of a certain AMAZON USB Hub. Pleasse see chapter “Individual setup for rooControl” in the Quick installation Guide you find in my Download Area.

You also can use GPIO Pin 5.

I once had enabled it to also power on and off the USB power of the Pi4 internal USB ports. But it can control only all four ports at once so I disabled it some releases ago.

Hope this helps.
Best DrCWO

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

@DrCWO

You can use rooControl to control 5V output of a certain AMAZON USB Hub. Pleasse see chapter “Individual setup for rooControl” in the Quick installation Guide you find in my Download Area .

Interesting. I looked and I can’t find either part number on Amazon US - wondering if they still sell it. And wondering if I can test if my Furman Elite 15 will work on a 5V signal reliably. This seems like an amazing feature that I’d love to have - but i"m guessing uptake wasn’t huge and hence you’re not spending a lot of time supporting / updating it (based on the fact that I haven’t seen folks discussing rooControl much). Anyways, as always you take on the cool challenges that seem like they’d be useful, and I really appreciate it!

[wizardofoz (Mr Fix It aka The Wiz)]

The problem is this Amazon option is unobtainable for most it seems.

GPIO would be much better, or optionally usb too so dac/trigger can be set to off still

I’d be happy to beta test something that turns off the usb ports even if it’s all of them

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@wizardofoz

GPIO would be much better, or optionally usb too so dac/trigger can be set to off still

I’d be happy to beta test something that turns off the usb ports even if it’s all of them

Ok, I will re-enable this option in the next release.

For setting the power I use the tool uhubctl. It lists a lot more hubs that should works maybe someone of you will find a replacement for the Amazon Hub that is out of stock.

Best DrCWO

[wizardofoz (Mr Fix It aka The Wiz)]

The uhubctl list the RPi’s as options that work, is this what your thinking was based on?

Would this be something that almost works without any options or does one need to give the option a set of parameters like in the uhubctl examples?

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@wizardofoz

Would this be something that almost works without any options or does one need to give the option a set of parameters like in the uhubctl examples?

I will re-enable it in the next release of rooControl.

[wizardofoz (Mr Fix It aka The Wiz)]

any example you know works and exactly what it does on RPi4B?

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

@DrCWO

re-enable it in the next release of rooControl

Thank you! Excited to try.

Question - do you know what cable I should try? I can’t find anything on Amazon for USB to 3.5mm trigger cable or usb to 5v trigger cable. Everything i can find seems to basically be a usb cable with a dac built in and an audio plug / TRS on the other side. That’s not what we want!

Appreciate it!

John

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@wizardofoz

any example you know works and exactly what it does on RPi4B?

Please take a look at the Quick Installation Guide Page 12. You can turn on and off the power pins of the USB connector. But with a Pi4 power On or Off for all four USB Ports at the same time.

Best DrCWO

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@Johnny_Ooooops

Question - do you know what cable I should try?

I mentioned one in the Quick Installation Gute too but this is no more available. best solder by you own. The two outer parts of USB are the +5V and GND.

You also can use something like this and replace the 3.5mm connector.

This here or this is exactly what you need.

Best DrCWO

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

@DrCWO

This here or this is exactly what you need.

Great, thank you! Purchased 4 of them from AliExpress in case this is a method that works for me - when the shipping is 5x the item price, might as well be risk-averse.

Many thanks for the help!

[mags]

Hi @DrCWO , after purchasing the rooExtend-box I am now a happy user of rooADI to control volume of my RME ADI-2 DAC. I have also purchased a Surface Dial, but am waiting for a USB-extender from Amazon as the Extend also functions as a Roon bridge with USB into the RME. Hence, the USB-antenna is not attached to the box yet. My question is therefore, is this the reason why the rooDial-extension does not show up in the extension list within Roon? (please see below screenshot)

Additionally, I have purchased a lifetime license for rooADI, but there is no field to enter the license code. Is this because the trial license still is active? And will the license field then be available once the trial expires?

best regards
Magnus

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@mags

Hi @DrCWO , after purchasing the rooExtend-box I am now a happy user of rooADI to control volume of my RME ADI-2 DAC.

Great, thanks’ for your order
I’m an ADI 2/4 owner and like it very much as I use its four analog outputs to drive my 2x2 system. Two Woofers and two Horn. XO and DRC is realized within Roon by Acourate.

@mags

My question is therefore, is this the reason why the rooDial-extension does not show up in the extension list within Roon?

Exactly No antenna, no Bluetooth, no rooDial

@mags

Additionally, I have purchased a lifetime license for rooADI, but there is no field to enter the license code. Is this because the trial license still is active? And will the license field then be available once the trial expires?

After expiration of the trial you will see the field where you can enter the License Key.

Best DrCWO

[PixelPopper]

Hi Carl,

I also have the Double Antenna Bluetooth Adapter from ZEXMTE and have not been able to pair the Surface while the Zexmte is connected. As soon as I remove the Antenna pairing takes place immediately!

I have downloaded and installed Roodial 1.5.7 (RooExtend 3.4.3) but still have a problem pairing with the Zexmite connected, have you any thoughts on my next course of action to remedy the problem & restore the antenna operation (I’m assuming the patch is already built in to Roodial)?

best. Paul

[DrCWO (C.W. Oehlrich)]

@PixelPopper

I also have the Double Antenna Bluetooth Adapter from ZEXMTE and have not been able to pair the Surface while the Zexmte is connected.

The question is: which model? 4.x, 5.1, 5.4

For the newer models a new antenna firmware is necessary. I have it here but not yet released. I plan to bring out the next release with this new firmware end of March. Can you wait so long?

Best DrCWO