Hi Kipeta,
A little feedback on my use so far of Daphile:
Under “General” the purpose of the “Media Server” input box and radio buttons is not clear. Does the label “Media Server” apply to LMS which is as the heart of Daphile, or does is apply to the Daphile as a whole? What is the effect of entering an IP address in this input box?
There are some slight inconsistencies of naming in the Daphile UI. Under “AudioPlayer > Music Folders” we have drives, under “Storages” we have drives, but under “System Firmware” we have “set target disk” etc. I would suggest changing this to “set target drive” and use “empty drive ...” and “drive containing ...” in the other text.
Under “CD Ripper”, when does the term “disk” mean a drive, and when does it mean the CD? For clarity, I would suggest changing the label “disk” to “drive” when referring to where the rips will end up, and “disk” to CD when you are referring to actions performed on the CD.
As I speak GB English, I would prefer to see the label “Storage” and not “Storages” on the UI.
The Daphile UI gives no obvious indication if the system is running from a USB stick or has been installed on a hard drive. The amount of “Free Storage” under “Info” is a possible guide. If someone has installed Daphile to a hard drive, but (by error?) leaves a Daphile USB stick connected they wouldn't necessary be aware of this.
Under “System Firmware” when installing to a hard drive there seems to be no check/warning that a previous hard drive installation is about to be over written.
The Daphile website says: “Since Daphile is used and configured completely via the web interface the user is not required to have any Linux skills” But the format of the network drive entries will be a mystery to some people. I am sure it would be helpful if you could find time to add some more examples/explanations to your PDF instructions or websiteabout this. It might avoid the need to respond to info request on the various forums you post on, Of course, in the long run, some kind of help facility in Daphile itself could be very useful.
A little feedback on my use so far of Daphile:
Under “General” the purpose of the “Media Server” input box and radio buttons is not clear. Does the label “Media Server” apply to LMS which is as the heart of Daphile, or does is apply to the Daphile as a whole? What is the effect of entering an IP address in this input box?
There are some slight inconsistencies of naming in the Daphile UI. Under “AudioPlayer > Music Folders” we have drives, under “Storages” we have drives, but under “System Firmware” we have “set target disk” etc. I would suggest changing this to “set target drive” and use “empty drive ...” and “drive containing ...” in the other text.
Under “CD Ripper”, when does the term “disk” mean a drive, and when does it mean the CD? For clarity, I would suggest changing the label “disk” to “drive” when referring to where the rips will end up, and “disk” to CD when you are referring to actions performed on the CD.
As I speak GB English, I would prefer to see the label “Storage” and not “Storages” on the UI.
The Daphile UI gives no obvious indication if the system is running from a USB stick or has been installed on a hard drive. The amount of “Free Storage” under “Info” is a possible guide. If someone has installed Daphile to a hard drive, but (by error?) leaves a Daphile USB stick connected they wouldn't necessary be aware of this.
Under “System Firmware” when installing to a hard drive there seems to be no check/warning that a previous hard drive installation is about to be over written.
The Daphile website says: “Since Daphile is used and configured completely via the web interface the user is not required to have any Linux skills” But the format of the network drive entries will be a mystery to some people. I am sure it would be helpful if you could find time to add some more examples/explanations to your PDF instructions or websiteabout this. It might avoid the need to respond to info request on the various forums you post on, Of course, in the long run, some kind of help facility in Daphile itself could be very useful.
From what I can tell, Daphile only scans once then updates when you add a new album. I don't have to click the Update button when I add new tracks.
I have installed Daphile on internal ssd, on the first partition is Daphile, second partition was automatically mounted with a root prefix DaphileData/Music, for the second external USB HD i sad use partition, rw, share and root prefix is DaphileData/Music1, but LMS don't know nothing about it, and the page in LMS where you can set the path for the library and rescan library is not existing as in the standard LMS installation ???
added - LMS Page "basic setting" is missing.
added - LMS Page "basic setting" is missing.
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I was impressed too.
The question I have relates to using Daphile for widely spaced zones, where they may be up to 15 to 20 metres from the server. What is the "best" method to get the signal that far? Is it using an USB DAC/TOSLINK and sending it via TOSLINK (or SPDIF) over that distance to a DAC that accepts that input, or using a USB DAC and converting to a balanced signal, or is it using a client and sending the signal via TCP/IP, or something else?
Any assistance here is appreciated.
Abs
I've only been using Daphile for a month. I know nothing about Linux.
I'm only guessing but according to this guy: Archimago's Musings: MEASUREMENTS: USB Cable Extension with Ethernet Cables - does it worsen jitter?
you can extend USB by using USB ->Ethernet - Ethernet->USB adapters.
I'm sure there are other ways too.
Cheers, Mack
I switched to one of those tiny usb plugs with a Ralink 5370 chip and it works fine too for remote control purposes. It has less range so there is less of a security risk to my network.
Thanks a lot for your valuable comments on inconsistent wording and other English language related... I'll try to fix them soon.
There is currently no warning for overwriting the previous installation because there isn't actually any harm for that.
And I understand that documentation needs improvement especially for making the Storage configurations. I hope I'll find motivation for that also (one person has volunteered to write manual but I'm not sure about its progress).
You asked earlier about CD ripping with VM installation. I have tried it only once and it worked then using VMPlayer. I would recommend VM usage to anything but quick testing.
With "Media Server" (IP address) you may configure external LMS or another Daphile? In that case the configured PC will act as a player only and the player(s) will be connected to external server.
The "root prefix" is obviously misleading. With "root prefix" you can specify the location of the music library from the source drive. The music library scan will be faster when there is no need to scan unnecessary directories.
Your USB drive usage fails because it does not consist "/DaphileData/Music1" directory. Just clear "root prefix" or specify real directory for the music library.
I did once purchase this kind of adapter (ethernet extension for USB) but I was not able to make it work with Linux. I guess it's not completely seamless for the PC and might require drivers for Linux (could not find).
I am using a Xitel Pro HiFi Link USB to Digital converter. It has a SPDIF output. I use an Extreme BDS102H splitter to feed signal to two rooms. I use RG6 Low loss 75 ohm coax for the long distance runs. Don't know the cable brand. One output feeds into my Denon receiver in my HT room. The other drives a DAC whose analog outputs drive an Apt Holman preamp to Hafler amp to Klipsch Forte speakers in my living room.
I compared Daphile with the newest Ubuntu server 13.1 with RT kernel + squeezelite, optimized as good as i could. On the same hardware with the same DAC chain Daphile always wins. 
The problem is, that i don't want to have computer/notebook connected to my hifi (high end ) system.
I tried four notebooks. The power supplies in three of them (Asus B50a, MSI Wind and nearly new Samsung 5 series) caused some hum/noise when i connected USB cable to my Waveio/Buffalo. Only the ps of Lenovo T400 didn't caused any problems and is absolutely silent. Maybe i need some kind of USB galvanic separator, or the i2s connection between waveio/BII should be galvanically separated.
Running on battery is silent on all of them.
I am afraid, that if i will buy one headless barebone, i will have some problems with ps hum/noise.
I think i can solve this problem with some kind of galvanic isolation ( on USB or i2s). There is such a possibilty on WaveIO borad, i am working on it.
But there is something else. There is a "Community Squeeze" project using Wandboard. Soon the dac&audio board for it will be ready and now one can use it with many USB Dacs.
I think that porting Daphile (only player and maybe server and without supporting all hardware on mainboard) on Wandboard (Dual or Quad) could be very good decision, because Wandboard is IMHO the most promising Squeeze project and in the future many Wandboard users would like to have the best possible sound quality.
It is using much less energy, than any atom headless computer and i can use it with my linear power supply built for SBT.
I ordered already Wandboard and want to use it with squezelite and my DAC, hoping that it will better, than my SBT.
Wandboard is just a wonderfull piece of small and quiet hardware (not so underpowered and underdevelopped as Raspberry Pi) and porting Daphile on it could be easy (hope so...).
Wandboard - Linux on ARM - eewiki
When i will get my Wandboard delivered and Kipeta will compile his wonderfull Daphile for ARM, i will be ready to test it
The problem is, that i don't want to have computer/notebook connected to my hifi (high end
) system.I tried four notebooks. The power supplies in three of them (Asus B50a, MSI Wind and nearly new Samsung 5 series) caused some hum/noise when i connected USB cable to my Waveio/Buffalo. Only the ps of Lenovo T400 didn't caused any problems and is absolutely silent. Maybe i need some kind of USB galvanic separator, or the i2s connection between waveio/BII should be galvanically separated.
Running on battery is silent on all of them.
I am afraid, that if i will buy one headless barebone, i will have some problems with ps hum/noise.
I think i can solve this problem with some kind of galvanic isolation ( on USB or i2s). There is such a possibilty on WaveIO borad, i am working on it.
But there is something else. There is a "Community Squeeze" project using Wandboard. Soon the dac&audio board for it will be ready and now one can use it with many USB Dacs.
I think that porting Daphile (only player and maybe server and without supporting all hardware on mainboard) on Wandboard (Dual or Quad) could be very good decision, because Wandboard is IMHO the most promising Squeeze project and in the future many Wandboard users would like to have the best possible sound quality.
It is using much less energy, than any atom headless computer and i can use it with my linear power supply built for SBT.
I ordered already Wandboard and want to use it with squezelite and my DAC, hoping that it will better, than my SBT.
Wandboard is just a wonderfull piece of small and quiet hardware (not so underpowered and underdevelopped as Raspberry Pi) and porting Daphile on it could be easy (hope so...).
Wandboard - Linux on ARM - eewiki
When i will get my Wandboard delivered and Kipeta will compile his wonderfull Daphile for ARM, i will be ready to test it