Installed Linux Mint-Assistance Required

[ttan98]

Hi,

Sometimes ago I wrote on this forum that I like to run Linux Mint as my OS and then operate my music server using this platform. I am not very familiar with Linux even though I have been using Windows OS in various forms for many years. If you suggest any changes I would appreciate you can explain clearly.

My HW system:

T41 IBM Thinkpad
1G Memory
1.7GHz Centrino

What I like to achieve IS to stream a "clean" music signal via the USB port where they are picked up by my DAC. This signal can compare to those generated by Windows 7 in terms of sound reproduction.

The Linux Mint is up and running. The Internet and remote network access features work. My initial inquiries are:

a. Which music server to use? Is Music Player Daemon (mpd) music server a good choice? If not
please suggest.

b. Any changes to the Linux OS? Please explain, in some detail please.

These are my initial queries, any suggestions are welcomed.

[phofman]

A few questions:

* What kind of USB soundcard do you have?

* Can the USB soundcard play only the music you choose in your player, or are you planning on listening to other sources too (streaming radio stations, youtube in the browser, movies, etc.)? I ask to find out whether your setup will have to mix streams or not.

* Open the terminal, type

cat /proc/interrupts

and paste here the result (just highlight with mouse and paste using the middle button=wheel push).

* Which audio formats does your audio library contain? Sampling frequency/bits, formats.

[ttan98]

Originally Posted by phofman

A few questions:

* What kind of USB soundcard do you have?
Does this matter? I will be using an external DAC(stand-alone) which accepts both co-axial or USB switchable.

* Can the USB soundcard play only the music you choose in your player, or are you planning on listening to other sources too (streaming radio stations, youtube in the browser, movies, etc.)? I ask to find out whether your setup will have to mix streams or not.

I am streaming Audio(format see below) only no radio.

* Open the terminal, type

cat /proc/interrupts

and paste here the result (just highlight with mouse and paste using the middle button=wheel push).

* Which audio formats does your audio library contain? Sampling frequency/bits, formats.
ling

Playing MP3, Flac, APE at mainly 44kHz and later higher bit rates later.

Looks like no one wants to input any hints/suggestions so that I can update/modify my Linux, what player should use?

[phofman]

Originally Posted by ttan98

Looks like no one wants to input any hints/suggestions so that I can update/modify my Linux, what player should use?

?? Did you answer my questions first? Interrupts are pretty important if you want to finetune your system for clean playback on USB sound card. Its type is important too - are you sure your chosen card is properly supported in linux?

[ttan98]

Originally Posted by phofman

?? Did you answer my questions first? Interrupts are pretty important if you want to finetune your system for clean playback on USB sound card. Its type is important too - are you sure your chosen card is properly supported in linux?

Pardon my ignorance, does the sound card needs to be supported by Linux, I assume the data stream coming out from my Thinkpad USB port are common to both Windows and Linux, hence any USB DAC can play from this data stream.
I am using a off the shelf DAC with USB port, if you want to know the chipset used I can tell you.

[phofman]

Originally Posted by ttan98

Pardon my ignorance, does the sound card needs to be supported by Linux, I assume the data stream coming out from my Thinkpad USB port are common to both Windows and Linux, hence any USB DAC can play from this data stream.
I am using a off the shelf DAC with USB port, if you want to know the chipset used I can tell you.

If the sound card adheres to USB audio specifications, it will play out of the box on any modern OS without additional drivers. There are USB sound cards with proprietary communication protocol though. Most probably the DAC will be fully supported.

You are saying you will play higher sample rates - does your USB DAC support them? Please post the DAC type.

/proc/interrrupts will tell us which interrupts are shared. You do not want to use the one USB controller which shares interrupts with your graphics card nor ATA/SATA controller - pretty common on laptops.

[ttan98]

Originally Posted by phofman

If the sound card adheres to USB audio specifications, it will play out of the box on any modern OS without additional drivers. There are USB sound cards with proprietary communication protocol though. Most probably the DAC will be fully supported.

You are saying you will play higher sample rates - does your USB DAC support them? Please post the DAC type.

My DAC supports up to 96kbps, initially we can set up for 44kbps, I will upgrade later, it should be possible right.

/proc/interrrupts will tell us which interrupts are shared. You do not want to use the one USB controller which shares interrupts with your graphics card nor ATA/SATA controller - pretty common on laptops.

[phofman]

Please type outside of the quote tags

[soundcheck]

Hi.

Try VLC. It IMO does a decent job. Though the audio part of it is pretty basic.

MPD is also fine, though it needs a bit command line work.

Honestly I don't see any player under Linux coming close to software
like e.g. J.River Mediacenter.


Good luck.

[mace1337]

I dunno, I never tried JRiver, but Amarok is pretty awesome on linux.