Roon for Linux [done in 1.2]

pwright92 · January 4, 2016, 7:41pm

Any release date yet for RoonServer on Linux?

danny · January 4, 2016, 10:23pm

No, but Brian’s post sums up the situation most accurately.

bibo01 · January 4, 2016, 11:44pm

I am waiting anxiously for a Roon Server on Linux. I will be using it with HQPlayer for Linux.

fritzg · January 5, 2016, 12:45am

Thanks for the updates. Looking forward to RoonSpeakers.

Tom_Schmidt · January 13, 2016, 7:52pm

I’m just getting started with Roon core and installed it on a spare iMac for trial. So far so good with an Auralic Aries and Vega DAC.

For file store, I already have a very underutilized (1 user- me) Synology DS1815+ NAS which I was hoping to also run Roon Server on, but alas, that seems not likely any time soon, if ever. I also learned that my control plan, an old iPad 2, won’t run Roon Remote either. Time for a new plan.

I’m looking at NUC5i5 with 16gb RAM/250gb m.2 for core, though if NUC 6i5 was readily available I’d go that way. It’s nice that Win64 and OSX64 are now available, but I loathe the idea of running MS anywhere in my environment and having to maintain it.

My understanding is that performance-wise, Win64 is best as it’s .NET. Then OSX64 and Linux somewhere behind ~20%. Does this assume Linux runs in Docker VM or is there some native flavor?

I get that you’re waiting for a Roon Speakers release to have the consolidated audio stack worked out before Linux is released. With the new 64bit releases behind you now, is there any projection now of what timeframe the Roon Speakers and Linux release might be?

I’m trying to decide whether to go ahead and install Win10 on the NUC now and change later to Arch or Ubuntu or just wait to save myself some grief.

Rugby · January 13, 2016, 9:00pm

Tom. Waiting is not a bad strategy. The Roon Ecosystem is going to be in such a growth pattern in 2016 that it makes sense to see what happens. This is for DAC, Endpoint Hardware, etc. as well as the continued software evolution. For those who have experienced the amazing plug and play that the legacy squeezebox hardware enjoys, they are glimpsing what future RoonReady hardware will be like.

anon55914447 · January 13, 2016, 9:03pm

I’m going to see if my QNAP TS-451 has enough grunt to run Roon satisfactorily in a Windows VM in the short term. I suspect not.

danny · January 14, 2016, 1:12am

Either are a great setup.

The gap is shrinking, but Windows is still faster. However, I don’t think anyone will notice unless you have huge collections. It’ll just be a tarball that runs self contained, but on your OS. Docker interferes with the discovery stuff and it’ll be a big pain point. We are going to make this really easy to run on any system.

Waiting is grief in itself! Can’t give you an exact date, but it is planned the next major release.

Tom_Schmidt · January 14, 2016, 1:11pm

Thanks for inputs. It seems like the best approach is to temporarily install a Win10 version for the Roon Server core, using the MS Insider program. I’ll deal with the move/upgrade to Linux when it’s available.

evand · January 16, 2016, 9:35am

@danny, the worm has long since been devoured. Select Qt or GTK… Qt is strongly favored by many. Either way, regardless of desktop environment a user chooses they can run Qt or GTK based apps.

At the very least please ensure the Win app can run using Wine. Editing metadata from a tablet is a terrible idea…not having a Linux desktop app forces Linux users down that road or to simply give up trying to benefit from Room.

rovinggecko · January 16, 2016, 11:50am

Are you going to provide a package for Synology?

danny · January 16, 2016, 9:48pm

I’d like to support Synology, but they are famous for making their NAS spec’d exactly at what it takes to do the job of a NAS, and not much more. QNAP is known to overspec their boxes, so they can run other beefy things.

The QNAP TVS-x71 line, for example, is the ideal NAS for Roon. It is very overpowered for a NAS. It’s like having a (not-top-of-the-line) NUC in a NAS form factor.

I cant find a comparable NAS by Synology. They are all weak Atom CPUs I wouldn’t recommend for any decent sized library.

danny · January 16, 2016, 9:51pm

Qt or GTK? Have you seen our UI?

Carl · January 16, 2016, 11:59pm

My big bad boy QNAP is hungry for Roon Server
It would be the perfect solution for me.

rovinggecko · January 17, 2016, 10:28am

Let’s just say that I would be more than happy to see how my DS415+ and DS411+II would hold up.
On my NUC, in normal operation, I hardly touch more than 1% CPU with Roon. And don’t mind if (re-)scanning takes some time in the background (used to that with ie LMS). Of course I only have 16,5k tracks, so rather small library I’d guess.

Beats the effort and cost of switching to QNAP. I might not be the only one, as I believe there is a quite equal following for both brands (which both have pro’s and con’s).

Anyway, happy to try if that would help (as, given your remark, I can imagine there may not be many synology NAS devices within Roon).

anon55914447 · January 17, 2016, 11:44am

I’m having great success with my Celeron based QNAP which uses the J1800 CPU.
See [How To] RoonServer on QNAP NAS

On this basis, I think the more up to date Synology boxes would cope.

anon55914447 · January 17, 2016, 11:59am

Mind you, I’ve just been browsing their products page. They really do use some low end CPUs, don’t they?

Tom_Schmidt · January 17, 2016, 1:23pm

My Synology DS1815+ has an Atom C2538 64-bit quad-core 2.4ghz with 6gb RAM. I’d say it’s hardly underpowered. It absolutely loafs along most of the time even running Minimserver (for Auralic) rescans. I’d certainly welcome the chance to try Roon core on it any time.

rovinggecko · January 17, 2016, 2:55pm

Yes, of course I could run a vm, but that comes with a significant (maintenance, etc) overhead. I prefer a native package or (if it must be a vm) a docker style setup.

anon55914447 · January 17, 2016, 2:57pm

Maintenance of what? Nobody is suggesting a native app isn’t the best solution, but while there’s a bit of a performance knock, there’s no maintenance.