rooExtend – The easy start with Roon Extensions

Audio Gear Talk rooExtend
931

Q: Where can I download 2.3.3 Beta 5?
A: Found it… rooExtend-Beta - Google Drive

& what about the bug relating to “the ear splitting experience”?

932

Hi Jason,
Fine you found the 2.3.3 Beta 5 download.
I work already a very long time with this version, but I never encountered that issue in 2.3.3 Beta 5. So perhaps this “ear splitting experience” doesn’t occure any more in this version.

934

Ok, thanks for your help @Frank_M. There is much less to no lag now using the beta version… at least once Roodial recognises my input. What should my expectations be of response time for how soon the volume changes in Roon after I start turning the Surface Dial - having not done anything else with it for some minutes?
It seems that the only reliable way to have the Surface Dial recognise input from me on volume requires me first to pause/unpause, using the click function…

935

Hi Jason,
I just did the test. I started a listening-session via a RoPieee-display, so not by touching the Dial.
Then I rotated the Dial, which wasn’t touched for some hours. The delay was less than 1 second. So for me this means instant feedback, even after hours of inactivity.

936

Hi *,
you all use the Surface Dial in different configurations with different PIs, connections and antennas. As you probably know Bluetooth uses the same frequency range as WiFi does. This often leads to unreliable operation especially if you use the Surface Dial in regions with a lot of WiFi traffic.

There are some basic recommendations collected from all I heard until now:

  • Don’t use WiWi with the Pi. Roon always recommends to use wired Ethernet. This is also true for the Roon API used by rooDial. This realtime API is not really made for WiFi and is not reliable in some setups.

  • Until now best use v2.3.3 Beta 5. It has minimal wakeup lag after the Dial went to sleep. v3.x.x runs on a 64Bit Linux being responsible for the lag. All my efforts to use a more direct D-Bus interface to avoid the lag have not been successful until now. I can’t get any data from the Surface Dial using D-Bus. I also tested this with the Nuimo and it works. So the Surface Dial is quite a strange device but I further will try to solve that issue.

  • Ear spitting may happen in some cases if the BT connectiojn is too weak. I recommend using this ZEXMTE BT antenna to get a better conection to the Surface Dial.

  • I also recommend using a USB extension cable to put the antenna away from the PI. With this you increase the distance the Surface Dial can operate and the communication gets more stable.

Best DrCWO

2 Likes
937

Thank you for these recommendations! I intend to follow them all…

938

Hi, @DrCWO

I know the series of events and products that motivated you to move away from DietPi. The consequence of that move was that those of us that have been running on Pis have a choice to run beta software without updates or to live with what many of us consider unacceptable latency.

We’ve waited many months for a solution. It now seems unlikely that you’ll find one.

I would like to request that you start providing a current, up-to-date DietPi version of rooExtend that gives us access to your latest features and bug fixes without the latency introduced by the OS change.

I have 5 installations including lifetime licenses for each. I don’t think it’s right that I should be in this situation. I know that it will be inconvenient maintaining two distributions and I understand the consequences to your product line, but I don’t think it’s right for your customers for you to adopt a “lowest common denominator” approach. If the current latency had been present when I explored your product initially, I would not have deployed them throughout my home.

Thanks for considering this.

939

@Jason_Brown1

I would add to @DrCWO recommendations that you turn on haptic feedback. When you want to use your dial, first turn the volume DOWN counter-clockwise until you get haptic feedback - it’s awake. This avoids the volume suddenly coming on at 100%. I’m choosing to stay on the latest firmware for other reasons and I live with it this way. Yes, the lag sucks but even my W finds it usable.

1 Like
940

Hello,
I really understand your pain :cold_sweat: but it is not right that I went away from DietPi!
I just changed from 32Bit DietPi to 64Bit DietPi to get a more up to date Kernel.

For me it is impossible to port all the new features back to the 32Bit release. This also makes no more sense as the 32Bit DietPi will be dropped in future. What I will try next is to start with a fresh 64Bit release of Dietpi ans see if the issue got resolved in-between.

Best DrCWO

941

I followed all but the last of your recommendations here @DrCWO.

  • Wired ethernet on a new Rpi4, with ZEXMTE BT antenna attached;
  • v2.3.3 Beta 5;

There is less than 2 meters between the Surface Dial & the Rpi, so I assume that the extension cable is going to make little difference.

I’m still experiencing lag & I just experienced again the sound of my speakers switching suddenly to maximum volume!

I’m really not so pleased with this outcome so-far!

942

I apologize for this mistake. I had the wrong idea about what you’d done and why.

I hope you find a solution. When rooDial responds instantly, it’s the best remote control I’ve ever used. When it doesn’t, it’s not usable due to its unpredictability.

This probably not helpful, but just in case - if /etc/bluetooth/main.conf is, indeed, your bluetooth config, have you tried setting:

FastConnectable = true

Just an idea but it’s pretty obvious so I assume you’ve tried it.

943

This is quite uncommon especially with v2.3.3 beta 5. The maximum volume issue we had in earlier releases but this should be fixed. Please try to reboot the Pi and take batteries out and in from the Surface Dial. if this doesn’t help please reflash the sd-card. At the moment I have no idea where it comes from.

Best DrCWO

944

I tried removing batteries & rebooting the pi. I didn’t get max volume but the volume control was so laggy as to be practically unresponsive. It’s no fun testing it like this because throughout I was on edge expecting max volume! So, I just reflashed the card with v2.3.3 beta 5 & I’ll try again in the morning.

I sincerely want this to work since the Surface Dial, with Roon & my Dutch & Dutch 8cs together is such an elegant solution. Thank you for your assistance.

945

So-far, so good…

1 Like
946

I did :wink:

947

I found a way to remove the lagv3.30 :smiley:
See my comment here:

rooDial a Wireless Volume Knob for Roon with Microsoft Surface Dial - Audio Gear Talk - Roon Labs Community

Best DrCWO

2 Likes
948

Hi DrCWO,

I’d love to try a few of your extensions. I’m currently running roon server on a NUC with dietpi installed on it. I could obviously add a raspberry pi to have your images on it but I dislike the idea of adding another device connected 100% of the time (already have NUC, NAS) and the NUC has a lot of spare capacity.

Reading here and there that your image is based on dietpi, is there any chance i could install the rooextend on dietpi running roon server already?

Many thanks in advance for your conideration.

949

Currently the answer is no :sleepy:
I only support ARM architecture at the moment. Planned to make a port to x86 but did not find time until now. If you are skilled enough try to run the image in an ARM emulator on the NUC.

Best DrCWO

950

Hello

Any evolution on ‘corrected’ version of chromium?

Dirk

951

Will be includes in the v3.3.0 image that I plan to release till End of the weekend :+1: :smiley:

Interested in beta testing?

Best DrCWO

1 Like