I just want to get the Roon Server / Core off my (Desktop) PC, which sucks power, which I don’t want to be running 24/7, which I don’t want to be running during long business trips abroad (where I will access Roon remotely through VPN etc), which I don’t want to have to keep remembering to boot up / down - when I have a capable NAS that’s already running 24/7.
Everyone has their own system set-up in their own particular way, either by design or by accident, and I’d like Roon to be as “transparent”, flexible, useful, pleasant, and as low-footprint as SqueezeServer / LogitechMusicServer has been…
I’m also looking at that exact environment on which to run Roon. Linux support is what’s holding me back to complete my music setup (ie. Totaldac server). For now, I’m running Roon on Windows 10, with the DAC attached directly to the PC.
It’s worth noting that internally a Linux build of Roon already exists, there’s no starting from a zero base. For me the Linux priorities would be:
headless server to run on any Linux server or PC
Linux based endpoint support i.e. RoonSpeakers (incl. builds for Arm based devices)
That, in conjunction with the Android or iPad app will be enough to act as a drop in replacement for LMS and bring the Roon experience into my listening and that of most people running Linux on servers, desktops or as current endpoints for mpd, LMS etc.
The question of metadata management would then come into play - if the Android or iPad apps are sufficiently intuitive, efficient and robust to handle metadata editing nothing else may be required on the desktop front. If not, a desktop instance of Roon becomes more important. If I had to, as a workaround I’d install it on my work laptop running windows to do the metadata editing, and I be ok with that in the short to medium term.
Finally, and I know this will upset some because it’s last, the issue of NAS’ can be looked into and supported as headless server hosts where they’ve sufficient grunt (I suspect in many cases they won’t be sufficiently powerful to enable a good user experience). This I would provide in a manner that gives the NAS vendors the ability to build and maintain a Roon module for inclusion in their stack. It would be folly to try to provide the builds from Roon’s side, there are just too many variables and NAS platforms out there.
Audiomuse - thanks for the great insights. I did not know about the existing Linux build - I thought they had run into problems and could not finish. And great insight into the meta-data issue. Thanks.
For myself, I’ve had NAS’s since before the SOHO NAS market even existed. And in my experience most have little enough “grunt” (as you well put it) to do their own job as well as they should, much less take on the burden Roon would place on them. So I’ve assumed that was tilting a windmills, and bought/built a RoonServer on an Intel based SSD NUC. Now I just want to get it out of my hifi rack. Which begs the need for a light, efficient endpoint.
Having spent many multiples of the cost of a fully configured NUC on speaker cables alone… putting a PC in my rack is a BIG (if temporary) step backward. I am putting my faith and trust in the hope that we’ve got a nice, light, ARM based, Linux endpoint in our near future (or an Auralic Aries w/Roon endpoint ability). Should that not happen reasonably soon… I’ll be looking to sell a slightly used NUC.
OK. Have said my peace. Great feedback audiomuse. Thanks for keeping the dialogue alive folks.
A Linux release of RoonServer is being actively developed. Only the DSD/bitperfect parts of audio stack are left for a stable release (plus some minor polish bits).
Great! I am waiting for Roon Linux before trying - my htpc runs on Linux into my Devialet amplifier with integrated DAC, supporting DSD. Looking forward to give it a try.
Curious to know where Linux and Raspberry Pi development is?
I’m looking at implementing a server on a Linux platform (probably the FreeNAS distribution) and using Pi’s for endpoints. Like others I won’t touch Windoze with a barge pole and would rather avoid buying a Mac Mini or the like for end points. I will ultimately have four zones to drive, so a beefy FreeNAS server would hopefully do the trick. The other option for the server would be data on the NAS and a Linux/Intel as the Roon Server with the same endpoints.
Both projects should be released within the next two months. I’m currently planning to release headless linux builds before Raspberry-Pi endpoints, but the projects are decoupled on our end. We demoed both in semi-finished states at RAMF, so they’re close, but you know what they say about the last 20% of a project taking 80% of the time…
Ideally, I’d want something that you could compile yourself. Anything prebuilt is probably directly tied to a particular Linux distribution or dynamically linked to shared libraries. As an alternative, you could compile things statically and include all of these dependencies in an extractable archive. Somehow that sounds like a bad idea.
There may be constraints on provision of source code arising from proprietary technology or the terms of licences binding on Roon. I have no knowledge about that, just noting it as a possibility.
