I am very familiar with Linux and wondering other than the quick setup, what other advantages is afforded to the user when selecting a distro made specifically for music.
some info:
Thanks a lot.
some info:
- I will only be using local files as my music source.
- I've setup MPD+myMPD on my local desktop recently and the setup was very straight-forward (+ I still have the MPD config files which I can reuse)
Thanks a lot.
None really, I mean besides, you know, features, convenience, integration, input-less enjoyment of music…many a Cisco engineer has asked this question, mostly because there HAD to be a good reason they learned that Schiit but really unless your obsessions include conversational binary a gui of some kind will offer you more time to enjoy music with less input
@Yatsushiro thanks for the suggestion. But I need to control playback either via browser or app. I'll be using the setup while working from home (can't install apps on work computer)
I used to be an archphile user before it was abandoned and my Linux / Unix skills were rusty.
I recently reinstalled arch on x64 and recompiled MPD so I could get HTTP and SID decoding and some other formats. Went pretty easy. The hardest part is adding all the compiler bloat then backing it all up. I ended up setting up a dual boot and writing a backup script to mount the partitions and chroot then bsdtar to minimize space. Does require you to reinstall to untar so no bare metal recovery but I don't mind a bit of extra work in a true disaster situation (not time critical here)
I use MPDroid on my phone to manage / play my local collection. No streaming on my server
I recently reinstalled arch on x64 and recompiled MPD so I could get HTTP and SID decoding and some other formats. Went pretty easy. The hardest part is adding all the compiler bloat then backing it all up. I ended up setting up a dual boot and writing a backup script to mount the partitions and chroot then bsdtar to minimize space. Does require you to reinstall to untar so no bare metal recovery but I don't mind a bit of extra work in a true disaster situation (not time critical here)
I use MPDroid on my phone to manage / play my local collection. No streaming on my server
'If' a pre-rolled distro happens to do what one wants then they can be convenient; purpose-designed for the task, had bugs ironed out and can benefit from ongoing development and updating. I'm rarely entirely satisfied with how someone else's general design decisions fit my own specific use-case, especially constraints and limitations, but managed to use volumio for some years without too much discontent. Though I found the ease of such pre-rolled distros and other packaged software a bit double-edged, as it led me to build a fun but overall much more complicated system than I actually wanted.
So eventually I reverted back to standard linux distro(s), which gives me more freedom and a simpler overall system suited to my own needs. More flexible, too; some distros are really intended as one-trick ponies, even if it is a good trick. Unfortunately I'm not massively skilled with linux, so it has been a challenge at times. But (thanks often to very kind selfless people out there) there is usually software and support available to do what one wants in some way or other. I have not found standard-distro linux audio to be deficient for playback.
I see on some forums users of pre-rolled distros extolling huge virtues that are not actually of any benefit to them (or are even snake oil). Such as low-latency kernels and other audiophile refinements which are either unnecessary for their use-case or negated by using big (and helpful) buffers in the audio chain. Similarly, a distro can be much more bloated and complex than beneficial for a lot of applications, e.g. if it is designed for live recording and studio work yet used for simple playback.
So eventually I reverted back to standard linux distro(s), which gives me more freedom and a simpler overall system suited to my own needs. More flexible, too; some distros are really intended as one-trick ponies, even if it is a good trick. Unfortunately I'm not massively skilled with linux, so it has been a challenge at times. But (thanks often to very kind selfless people out there) there is usually software and support available to do what one wants in some way or other. I have not found standard-distro linux audio to be deficient for playback.
I see on some forums users of pre-rolled distros extolling huge virtues that are not actually of any benefit to them (or are even snake oil). Such as low-latency kernels and other audiophile refinements which are either unnecessary for their use-case or negated by using big (and helpful) buffers in the audio chain. Similarly, a distro can be much more bloated and complex than beneficial for a lot of applications, e.g. if it is designed for live recording and studio work yet used for simple playback.
'If' a pre-rolled distro happens to do what one wants then they can be convenient; purpose-designed for the task, had bugs ironed out and can benefit from ongoing development and updating. I'm rarely entirely satisfied with how someone else's general design decisions fit my own specific use-case, especially constraints and limitations, but managed to use volumio for some years without too much discontent. Though I found the ease of such pre-rolled distros and other packaged software a bit double-edged, as it led me to build a fun but overall much more complicated system than I actually wanted.
So eventually I reverted back to standard linux distro(s), which gives me more freedom and a simpler overall system suited to my own needs. More flexible, too; some distros are really intended as one-trick ponies, even if it is a good trick. Unfortunately I'm not massively skilled with linux, so it has been a challenge at times. But (thanks often to very kind selfless people out there) there is usually software and support available to do what one wants in some way or other. I have not found standard-distro linux audio to be deficient for playback.
I see on some forums is users of pre-rolled distros extolling huge virtues that are not actually of any benefit to them (or are even snake oil). Such as low-latency kernels and other audiophile refinements which are either unnecessary for their use-case or negated by using big (and helpful) buffers in the audio chain. Similarly, a PC-sized distro can be much more bloated and complex than beneficial for a lot of applications, if it is designed for live recording and studio work yet used for simple playback.
So eventually I reverted back to standard linux distro(s), which gives me more freedom and a simpler overall system suited to my own needs. More flexible, too; some distros are really intended as one-trick ponies, even if it is a good trick. Unfortunately I'm not massively skilled with linux, so it has been a challenge at times. But (thanks often to very kind selfless people out there) there is usually software and support available to do what one wants in some way or other. I have not found standard-distro linux audio to be deficient for playback.
I see on some forums is users of pre-rolled distros extolling huge virtues that are not actually of any benefit to them (or are even snake oil). Such as low-latency kernels and other audiophile refinements which are either unnecessary for their use-case or negated by using big (and helpful) buffers in the audio chain. Similarly, a PC-sized distro can be much more bloated and complex than beneficial for a lot of applications, if it is designed for live recording and studio work yet used for simple playback.
@mrjayviper thanks for bringing this discussion up, which I am sure a lot of people have the same questions.
As a quick disclaimer, I have been working on Randy which is a music player server+webapp that you control from your browser.
I am also thinking what is the best way to distribute it and make it easier for people to enjoy it.
Technically it's just a nodejs app communicating with mpv, and therefore you can run it on any environment that supports both.. (I am also using it on my Mac).
However, my current hypothesis is that giving it as a minimal custom distro can make it accessible for people who want both an easy way to install it on an SBC or thin client connected to a DAC which can be dedicated for music streaming and also people who appreciate the minimal use of OS resources.
At the same time, I have been getting some great ideas on the Randy thread here, which suggest making into an installable package or docker container among others.
I think the dedicated OS approach such as Moode/Volumio brings a lot of advantages to both users and the creators in terms of stability and being able to create a kind of 'signature' set of trusted tweaks and experience.
For the creators specifically it keeps support more manageable as they don't have to worry about every type of hardware and OS oddities out there and focus on optimising their players for a set of specific hardware and OS they can tweak and test on.
As a quick disclaimer, I have been working on Randy which is a music player server+webapp that you control from your browser.
I am also thinking what is the best way to distribute it and make it easier for people to enjoy it.
Technically it's just a nodejs app communicating with mpv, and therefore you can run it on any environment that supports both.. (I am also using it on my Mac).
However, my current hypothesis is that giving it as a minimal custom distro can make it accessible for people who want both an easy way to install it on an SBC or thin client connected to a DAC which can be dedicated for music streaming and also people who appreciate the minimal use of OS resources.
At the same time, I have been getting some great ideas on the Randy thread here, which suggest making into an installable package or docker container among others.
I think the dedicated OS approach such as Moode/Volumio brings a lot of advantages to both users and the creators in terms of stability and being able to create a kind of 'signature' set of trusted tweaks and experience.
For the creators specifically it keeps support more manageable as they don't have to worry about every type of hardware and OS oddities out there and focus on optimising their players for a set of specific hardware and OS they can tweak and test on.
Hello,
Daily Linux user here too.
In my case, I install and use Moode many times. In short, I would say that, "it is not because you know how to configure it that you really want to do it".
Moode made your life easy (eg: integration with Sox, default playlist, drop down to select a DAC driver, etc). It recently saved me some times while I wanted to quickly prototype a sound machine I had in mind (I wanted to put my energy on the 3D Print and some Python code, not wasting my night to configure all the usual stack about mpd and so on). Changing the Pi audio output/settings very quick from the menu is a super nice feature when you are experimenting too.
At the end, Moode is mostly a regular distro that did not blocked me to install additional stuff (install gcc+libs and compiling an LCD driver etc is the example that come to my mind right now). There are only a few config files (eg: mpd.conf) that are generated by the Web interface that should not be manually edited (there is an header to warn you).
Cheers!
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