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[Dewd]

As mentioned above, my previous problem is resolved and I now have MC running on the Pi.

My problem now is how to get my library working.

On my windows desktop and laptops, I have MC running and store all my music on my Raspberry Pi driven NAS and it works great.  On this Pi MC setup, if I use the file manager, I can access the NAS no problem.  The problem starts when I try add the "Music" folder on the NAS to the Pi MC.  It won't navigate to the NAS.  What's the best way to solve this?

Also, I'm considering using one of the HiFiBerry Amp+ on this Pi.  https://www.hifiberry.com/ampplus 
Does anyone have any experience with one?

[mwillems]

As mentioned above, my previous problem is resolved and I now have MC running on the Pi.

My problem now is how to get my library working.

On my windows desktop and laptops, I have MC running and store all my music on my Raspberry Pi driven NAS and it works great.  On this Pi MC setup, if I use the file manager, I can access the NAS no problem.  The problem starts when I try add the "Music" folder on the NAS to the Pi MC.  It won't navigate to the NAS.  What's the best way to solve this?

I was responding to the other folks with standing issues gettting MC running.  This thread is mostly for questions about installation, you should open a separate topic about NAS issues on Linux/Pi (it can be hard to follow which issues are still issues in a long-thread like this). Your NAS issues are not likely to be raspberry pi specific and you'll get more eyes on it with a separate thread.  It's very likely that you don't have your NAS mounted in a place where MC can see, or you have a file permissions issue, there have been a few other threads about auto-mounting NAS drives on boot on a Pi here on the forums recently.  If you search around a bit, you might find the exact answer.  But if you don't find one, start a thread with a descriptive title and some more information about your NAS setup (have you mounted it manually on the Pi?  where does the file manager show the NAS mounted? etc.) and I'll jump in over there.  

Also, I'm considering using one of the HiFiBerry Amp+ on this Pi.  https://www.hifiberry.com/ampplus  
Does anyone have any experience with one?

Yes, I use one in one of my setups.  It works nicely provided you follow their instructions for installation and configuration carefully.  It appears as an output in MC with no difficulty and sounds great.

[tom539]

You need to restart between changes for them to take effect in WebGizmo if I recall correctly. 

Yes, I know that from my windows-installation.

But when I do to "tools -> options -> Media Network -> Advanced -> Customize view" and change something, save it with [OK] and go to "tools -> options..." again, the change is gone.
So also the restart would not work, because the change is not active.

Hope you understand my problem... 

[Dewd]

I was responding to the other folks with standing issues gettting MC running.  This thread is mostly for questions about installation, you should open a separate topic about NAS issues on Linux/Pi (it can be hard to follow which issues are still issues in a long-thread like this). Your NAS issues are not likely to be raspberry pi specific and you'll get more eyes on it with a separate thread.  It's very likely that you don't have your NAS mounted in a place where MC can see, or you have a file permissions issue, there have been a few other threads about auto-mounting NAS drives on boot on a Pi here on the forums recently.  If you search around a bit, you might find the exact answer.  But if you don't find one, start a thread with a descriptive title and some more information about your NAS setup (have you mounted it manually on the Pi?  where does the file manager show the NAS mounted? etc.) and I'll jump in over there.

 

Thanks - No problem.  I will look a bit harder elsewhere - I had hoped it was a simple install problem.

Yes, I use one in one of my setups.  It works nicely provided you follow their instructions for installation and configuration carefully.  It appears as an output in MC with no difficulty and sounds great.

Great - Thanks.  Just the push I needed to make the purchase.

[mwillems]

Yes, I know that from my windows-installation.

But when I do to "tools -> options -> Media Network -> Advanced -> Customize view" and change something, save it with [OK] and go to "tools -> options..." again, the change is gone.
So also the restart would not work, because the change is not active.

Hope you understand my problem... 

Is your raspberry Pi a library client of another machine?  Maybe your window machine?  If so that's your problem.  Library views can only be edited on the server, not the client, and changes on the client will disappear between restarts (because the views are part of what is synced from server to client).

[tom539]

Is your raspberry Pi a library client of another machine?  Maybe your window machine?  If so that's your problem.  Library views can only be edited on the server, not the client, and changes on the client will disappear between restarts (because the views are part of what is synced from server to client).

No, the Raspberry is a server as well as the windows-installation. It has itīs own libary stored in /home/pi/.jriver/Media Center 21/libary.

I connect to the Raspberry via VNC-Viewer - maybe is that the reason?

[mwillems]

No, the Raspberry is a server as well as the windows-installation. It has itīs own libary stored in /home/pi/.jriver/Media Center 21/libary.

I connect to the Raspberry via VNC-Viewer - maybe is that the reason?

 That suggest that the library is read-only for some reason.  Did you run MC as root at some point?

[tom539]

That suggest that the library is read-only for some reason.  Did you run MC as root at some point?

Maybe it is in read-only after import the windows-libary...
I will reinstale the whole raspberry to fix that problem  ?

[PrinterPrinter]

Hello People,
Just a quick update.

With previous MC on RPI version I used to have a really annoying 'hiccup' - the music would pause for several seconds about 10 seconds into any new track that was being played - with the current release 21.0.28 - this issue went away!

It drove me nuts, I kept playing with networking settings... Anyway, good job!

[bob]

Hello People,
Just a quick update.

With previous MC on RPI version I used to have a really annoying 'hiccup' - the music would pause for several seconds about 10 seconds into any new track that was being played - with the current release 21.0.28 - this issue went away!

It drove me nuts, I kept playing with networking settings... Anyway, good job!

Thanks for the report.
Are you playing music locally on the Id or is it being used in a networked (DLNA renderer or libarary server client) situation when you saw this delay and what was the previous build you were running?

[tom539]

Maybe it is in read-only after import the windows-libary...
I will reinstale the whole raspberry to fix that problem  ?

Hello,

after reinstall raspberry I can change the standard-views - OK.

But I have still a problem with adding new (custom) libary fields.
On Windows-installation there is a dialog after [Add New Field] to configure the "Name" of the libary-field.
On Raspberry-installation - no dialog, the field is automaticly called "my field" and the "Name" is read-only. The next [Add New Fields] will create a field witch is called automaticly "my field (1)", the next "my field (2)", ... - no chance to edit the "Name" of new libary fields.

Any idea?  ?

[bob]

Hello,

after reinstall raspberry I can change the standard-views - OK.

But I have still a problem with adding new (custom) libary fields.
On Windows-installation there is a dialog after [Add New Field] to configure the "Name" of the libary-field.
On Raspberry-installation - no dialog, the field is automaticly called "my field" and the "Name" is read-only. The next [Add New Fields] will create a field witch is called automaticly "my field (1)", the next "my field (2)", ... - no chance to edit the "Name" of new libary fields.

Any idea?  ?

Verified that behavior. Will check into it. It only happens on ARM.

[bob]

Verified that behavior. Will check into it. It only happens on ARM.

Got it, uploading a new build.

[PrinterPrinter]

Thanks for the report.
Are you playing music locally on the Id or is it being used in a networked (DLNA renderer or libarary server client) situation when you saw this delay and what was the previous build you were running?

Hey Bob,
I'm not playing locally on the RPI t's connected to a MC server in my network in another room.
Annoyingly with the new build .37 I have hiccups again, this time also in the middle of playing (before hand it was only about 7 seconds into playing a new song...)

[bob]

Hey Bob,
I'm not playing locally on the RPI t's connected to a MC server in my network in another room.
Annoyingly with the new build .37 I have hiccups again, this time also in the middle of playing (before hand it was only about 7 seconds into playing a new song...)

It's because the regular builds start buffering the data to disc before starting to playback (the amount of buffering is specified in the options). This also allows non-seekable media to be seekable.
The previous build accidently had a switch left on that defeated the buffering by mistake.

[PrinterPrinter]

It's because the regular builds start buffering the data to disc before starting to playback (the amount of buffering is specified in the options). This also allows non-seekable media to be seekable.
The previous build accidently had a switch left on that defeated the buffering by mistake.

Ok thanks. I changed the setting to 6 seconds (it was on 10 seconds). It works fine (for the last 5 minutes ;-).

[tom539]

Got it, uploading a new build.

Hello Bob,

works fine - thanks a lot 
Have a nice weekend

[PrinterPrinter]

Ok thanks. I changed the setting to 6 seconds (it was on 10 seconds). It works fine (for the last 5 minutes ;-).

Hello,
I still get a few hiccups (they were completely gone in teh previous build). I've also noticed a deterioration with the integration with JRemote - it became less responsive to commands and often takes 30 seconds-ish to connect again...

[bob]

Hello,
I still get a few hiccups (they were completely gone in teh previous build). I've also noticed a deterioration with the integration with JRemote - it became less responsive to commands and often takes 30 seconds-ish to connect again...

Interesting, I assume buffering to disk puts more of a strain onto the system.
Are you running off of SSD or SDCard?

[PrinterPrinter]

Interesting, I assume buffering to disk puts more of a strain onto the system.
Are you running off of SSD or SDCard?

Thank you,
it's using an SD card - I didn't change anything since the previous build.

[bob]

Thank you,
it's using an SD card - I didn't change anything since the previous build.

Part of the reason we were experimenting with a build that doesn't use disk buffering is to reduce writes on SD.
SD writes are also much slower than SSD which likely explains what you are seeing.

[PrinterPrinter]

Part of the reason we were experimenting with a build that doesn't use disk buffering is to reduce writes on SD.
SD writes are also much slower than SSD which likely explains what you are seeing.

Thank you,
I don't use an SSD (or a USB hard drive) because all my music is on another local server.
Is there a switch I could use to disable disk buffering? I also notice that the JRemote app became vey sluggish interacting with the pi - for example, if I lower the volume on the app, I can hear it lowered but the JRemote still shows the old volume (or even the previous song that was played) and only after 20 seconds or so gets updated to the new song and volume.

[bob]

Thank you,
I don't use an SSD (or a USB hard drive) because all my music is on another local server.
Is there a switch I could use to disable disk buffering? I also notice that the JRemote app became vey sluggish interacting with the pi - for example, if I lower the volume on the app, I can hear it lowered but the JRemote still shows the old volume (or even the previous song that was played) and only after 20 seconds or so gets updated to the new song and volume.

There isn't currently a switch for that though I think that's an excellent suggestion.

[PrinterPrinter]

There isn't currently a switch for that though I think that's an excellent suggestion.

Thanks!

Is there are way for me to reinstall the previous version (0.28) - it worked perfectly for me. What command should I use?

[bob]

Thanks!

Is there are way for me to reinstall the previous version (0.28) - it worked perfectly for me. What command should I use?

Find the forum message with the link to the current build.
Change the current build number in that link to 21.0.28.
Download it to your machine.
From a prompt:
sudo dpkg -i MediaCenter-21.0.28-armhf.deb
 

[emoon3]

Thanks for all the knowledge in this thread. I was able to get everything setup pretty easily.

I will add one thing that happened for me.  I am using an SSD connected via USB. The drive enclosure has its own power supply, so power wasn't an issue.

Mediacenter would run fine until I connected to it with JRemote, then mediacenter would crash every time I browsed the library from the remote - on both iOS and Android.

After some trial and error, I realized what the issue was. When I imported my library, I unchecked the option to build thumbnails on import. Mediacenter would crash while trying to build them on the fly. I rebuilt all thumbnails and everything works perfectly.

[PrinterPrinter]

Find the forum message with the link to the current build.
Change the current build number in that link to 21.0.28.
Download it to your machine.
From a prompt:
sudo dpkg -i MediaCenter-21.0.28-armhf.deb
 

Perfect thanks!

[Barbie-boy]

Hello, Just got my Pi-2 and installing MC20. Raspbian reports the following errors during:

mkdir Downloads
wget -q "http://dist.jriver.com/mediacenter@jriver.com.gpg.key" -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20native.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mediacenter20


wget: invalid option - - '0'
wget: invalid option -- '-'
Usage: wget [OPTION]... [URL]...

gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.

Pi 2 / NOOBs 1.7 / Raspbian / 7" Screen / JRiver Media Center 20 / ifi Micro USB iDAC-2

[mwillems]

Hello, Just got my Pi-2 and installing MC20. Raspbian reports the following errors during:

mkdir Downloads
wget -q "http://dist.jriver.com/mediacenter@jriver.com.gpg.key" -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo wget http://dist.jriver.com/latest/mediacenter/mediacenter20native.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediacenter20.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mediacenter20


wget: invalid option - - '0'
wget: invalid option -- '-'
Usage: wget [OPTION]... [URL]...

gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.

Pi 2 / NOOBs 1.7 / Raspbian / 7" Screen / JRiver Media Center 20 / ifi Micro USB iDAC-2

Your error message shows you entered a zero (0) instead of a capital letter O, which is probably why it's throwing the error.  It's better to copy and paste code snippets instead of transcribing them to avoid those kinds of issues.

[pwiner]

Just completed a fresh install install from the WIKI and everything seems to be working. My only issue is the screen going blank after a short time. I went into Tools - Options - Audio and checked "Disable display from turning off". This seems to have not solved my issue. Is there a way to have the screen not go blank when running Media Center? It would be okay if the solution kept the screen from going blank outside the application.

[mwillems]

Just completed a fresh install install from the WIKI and everything seems to be working. My only issue is the screen going blank after a short time. I went into Tools - Options - Audio and checked "Disable display from turning off". This seems to have not solved my issue. Is there a way to have the screen not go blank when running Media Center? It would be okay if the solution kept the screen from going blank outside the application.

Check the raspberry Pi's power settings; there should be an option to disable screen blanking.

[pwiner]

Thank you for the fast response. I installed the NOOBS download for Raspbian per the WIKI and cannot find a power option. Is it in the menu or do I need to access it through the terminal?

[mwillems]

Thank you for the fast response. I installed the NOOBS download for Raspbian per the WIKI and cannot find a power option. Is it in the menu or do I need to access it through the terminal?

I'm not in front of a Pi, so can't walk through the specifics.  I'll have a look when I get home, but my recollection was that there were a collection of such settings in one of the menus, but it may not be there on a default install.  It may also be a "screensaver" type setting, see e.g. : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30985964/how-to-disable-sleeping-on-raspberry-pi

[pwiner]

The screen saver does not seem to fix the problem. Tried disabling it and setting the advanced power options without success. Looked for other solutions and found they were similar to the options listed in your link. I am importing my library with about 11,000 files right now so I do not to give the other options a trial until I can reboot the system.

[PrinterPrinter]

Hello,
I'm trying to update my pi as usual and get this error messgae:

Code: [Select]

W: Failed to fetch http://raspberrypi.collabora.com/dists/wheezy/rpi/binary-armhf/Packages  403  Forbidden
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
What am I missing?

Thank you!

[mwillems]

Hello,
I'm trying to update my pi as usual and get this error messgae:

Code: [Select]

W: Failed to fetch http://raspberrypi.collabora.com/dists/wheezy/rpi/binary-armhf/Packages  403  Forbidden
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
What am I missing?

Thank you!

That's one of the Raspberry Pi foundation's repos; they've changed to a different repo structure since the transition to wheezy, so it may be that they're no longer supporting the old repos?  I can't say, it's definitely not JRiver related.  If you've updated the Piu to Raspbian Jessie you can remove that repo.

[PrinterPrinter]

That's one of the Raspberry Pi foundation's repos; they've changed to a different repo structure since the transition to wheezy, so it may be that they're no longer supporting the old repos?  I can't say, it's definitely not JRiver related.  If you've updated the Piu to Raspbian Jessie you can remove that repo.

Oh mate, you're speaking Chinese to me... (and I'm not fluent in Chinese ;-).
I didn't change anything since I started using the Pi, I occasionally run the update command:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

How do I start to solve this? is there another command or way for me to just update MC? In the new version they added a toggle switch for the buffering that I believe will help me with occasional hiccups.

Thank you!

[mwillems]

Oh mate, you're speaking Chinese to me... (and I'm not fluent in Chinese ;-).
I didn't change anything since I started using the Pi, I occasionally run the update command:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

How do I start to solve this? is there another command or way for me to just update MC? In the new version they added a toggle switch for the buffering that I believe will help me with occasional hiccups.

Thank you!

I don't have a Pi running the old version of Raspbian right now, so I can't give you a step by step, but it would probably be harmless to remove the collabora repo entirely.  If I recall correctly there is a file named collabora.list in the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d.  You can try removing that file. 

Alternatively, you can run the two halves of the update command separately and it should work fine (meaning first run sudo apt-get update and then on the next line run sudo apt-get dist-upgrade).  The reason the update doesn't happen is that the && operator stops if there was an error in the first half of the command, even if it's not necessarily a "blocking" error.  So try running sudo apt-get dist-upgrade on it's own line, which should work fine as a work around.

[jmone]

Liking this thread!  I've got a couple of Axiom Airs coming, they are a wireless speaker with an embedded Pi2 running Volumio.  My cunning plan is to see if I can also run MC on these speakers (in addition to their existing SW).  I'm guessing they are a month away from arriving as they are coming of the production line now.

[mwillems]

Liking this thread!  I've got a couple of Axiom Airs coming, they are a wireless speaker with an embedded Pi2 running Volumio.  My cunning plan is to see if I can also run MC on these speakers (in addition to their existing SW).  I'm guessing they are a month away from arriving as they are coming of the production line now.

Be aware that Volumio is an "all-in-one" type affair that runs customized packages, so you may have some challenges allowing them to cohabit in peace.  I haven't tried Volumio in six months or so, but last time I tried it it left a lot to be desired, so you may wind up bypassing it entirely.  It'll be interesting to see how that works though, and I'm ready to help when the time comes.

Hopefully you can get at the embedded Pi's SD card without having to cut open the cabinet, as physical access will tremendously simplify the process, especially if they've done something unfriendly/sensible (depending on your perspective) like disabling root access for the end user. Not to mention simplifying backing everything up before the tinkering begins 

[PrinterPrinter]

I don't have a Pi running the old version of Raspbian right now, so I can't give you a step by step, but it would probably be harmless to remove the collabora repo entirely.  If I recall correctly there is a file named collabora.list in the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d.  You can try removing that file. 

Alternatively, you can run the two halves of the update command separately and it should work fine (meaning first run sudo apt-get update and then on the next line run sudo apt-get dist-upgrade).  The reason the update doesn't happen is that the && operator stops if there was an error in the first half of the command, even if it's not necessarily a "blocking" error.  So try running sudo apt-get dist-upgrade on it's own line, which should work fine as a work around.

Thank you!
Deleting that file did the trick

Really digging the new 'no buffering' mode - stops the stuttering I'd get when playing new files - thank you!

[jmone]

@mwillems - thanks!  Access is not a problem but it will be interesting to see what they have done SW wise.  Here is a quote from Axiom:

Hackable and Up-gradable were design features we wanted to have. We even nicknamed the access door the "tinker door". It is not running Volumio but the AxiomAir platform was written by Michelangelo. He will be showing up a lot here starting next week to answer questions and get ideas for changes we may want to implement.

From what I've read over on the Volumio Forum the "AxiomAir" platform is based on Volumio 2 but is customised (like MC does for 3rd parties I guess).  I do like that this thing comes with the ability to play to multi rooms in sync and they also plan to just release a speakerless version (eg just the Pi/DAC) to run into your own AV equipment.  They have also said the code will be on Git Hub as Open Source so when it appears I post a link.  The other option if I can not run MC side by side would be to just have a second SD Card to boot from.

[gulp]

thanks to all of you, it was my fault, I had a false letter in my code, now it works!

[Slim_Fishguttz]

Hello -

thanks for the clear and comprehensive recipe for MC on the Pi.

most of my music files are ripped from cds, but 20% are hd downloads from hdtracks, nativedsd, etc.  the formats go from 192 pcm to quad dsd.

my output train is ifi usb power --> ifi dac2 --> schiit lyr 2 --> oppo pm-3.  the dac can process everything from 384 pcm thru quad dsd.

when a win 10 or osx machine pulls this train everything is as it should be.  the dac is recognized as "ifi (by amr) hd usb audio asio".  i bitstream with the dsd option.  everything is good, better than good.

when a pi 3 is the server, the output device is seen as an asio device (actually several asio devices) as you detail in your documentation.  although several asio devices are 'detected' only two actually output sound, the same quality of sound in each.  the problem is that mc downsamples everything to 1411.  in other words, nothing is any better than a cd rip.

bummer.

my plan was to attach pis to the various music systems scattered thru out the house.  i am rethinking this.

do you know if i will have the same problem on different linux forks and/or if i use a linux desktop?

reading the messages in this forum, it seems like people are just happy to get mc running on pi and that i am the first to test hd files.  that and the fact that the newest messages are months old, makes me think that mc on a pi is the weak sister.

what are your plans for the future?

thanks for response.

[DJLegba]

my plan was to attach pis to the various music systems scattered thru out the house.  i am rethinking this.

I can't comment on your pi experience but if you have DACs scattered throughout the house you may want to look at Chromecast Audio. It has a mini-toslink output which means you can feed your DACs 96/24. If you don't have DACs all over the place you were probably planning on using the DAC in the pi (if there is one, I have no clue), in which case you'll probably be happy with the DAC built into the CCA - and you still get 96/24. I think the CCA is cheaper than the Raspberry pi (not sure though).

[mwillems]

my plan was to attach pis to the various music systems scattered thru out the house.  i am rethinking this.

do you know if i will have the same problem on different linux forks and/or if i use a linux desktop?

reading the messages in this forum, it seems like people are just happy to get mc running on pi and that i am the first to test hd files.  that and the fact that the newest messages are months old, makes me think that mc on a pi is the weak sister.

You're definitely not the first to test hd files, the Pi will happily output up to 192KHz PCM with the right DAC.  I haven't personally tested higher than 192KHz myself, but other users have reported higher sample rate PCM working for them with the right devices.  I don't have an Ifi, so I can't test your hardware specifically, but I'd be willing to bet you may have a configuration problem, not a hardware problem with respect to the PCM sample rate issue.

That said, DSD is potentially a problem on Linux in general (not just with MC).  Native DSD support on Linux is relatively new and not all methods of DSD output are supported by the Linux kernel.  I don't personally use DSD (have no files or devices to test), so I can't provide a firm statement of how well MC for Linux works with DSD, but I seem to recall reading that DoP is working?

To summarize: hi res files (other than DSD) are well supported on MC for Linux including with the Pi.  If you can't get the files to output in their native format, it's likely a configuration issue.  DSD files (depending on the device, output format, and recency of the kernel) are not as well supported, but some configurations may (or may not) work.  

My advice to you would be to open up a separate thread with a descriptive title so someone is likely to see it; this is primarily a support thread for installation issues so is not high traffic (i.e. you are unlikely to find anyone with Linux DSD experience in this thread).  If it's not clear from the above, I'm just a user like you, not a dev, so they may weigh in at some point as well.

[Slim_Fishguttz]

I can't comment on your pi experience but if you have DACs scattered throughout the house

Yeah, I do have DACs scattered thru out the house, iFi, Schiit, Marantz.  I like to experiment with gadgets.  BTW - HiFiBerry and IQaudio make acceptable, for the money ($35-$50), DAC daughter cards for the Pi.  I have Pis with each.  I totally mistrust Google/Chrome, so I don't want to get more involved in their eco-system.

Still, thanks for the input.

[Slim_Fishguttz]

To summarize: hi res files (other than DSD) are well supported on MC for Linux including with the Pi.  If you can't get the files to output in their native format, it's likely a configuration issue.  DSD files (depending on the device, output format, and recency of the kernel) are not as well supported, but some configurations may (or may not) work.  

My advice to you would be to open up a separate thread with a descriptive title so someone is likely to see it; this is primarily a support thread for installation issues so is not high traffic (i.e. you are unlikely to find anyone with Linux DSD experience in this thread).  If it's not clear from the above, I'm just a user like you, not a dev, so they may weigh in at some point as well.

Thanks for reply.  It's true, I misunderstood who you were.

Without any problems, I am using the same output hardware and option settings on an ASrock BeeBox (a NUC-like machine), running Windows 10, as I am on the Pi.  They both are clients of an MC server running on a Mac Mini.  Still, you seem to know whereof you speak, so I'm thinking you're right about configuration issues.

I'll take you advice and post on the Linux forum. 

BTW - as far as running headless goes, i have used an HDMI dongle to fake out software into believing a monitor was attached.  i haven't used it on a Pi, yet, but if it works i believe it would be preferable to any (no matter how well engineered) software kludge.

[mwillems]

Thanks for reply.  It's true, I misunderstood who you were.

Without any problems, I am using the same output hardware and option settings on an ASrock BeeBox (a NUC-like machine), running Windows 10, as I am on the Pi.  They both are clients of an MC server running on a Mac Mini.  Still, you seem to know whereof you speak, so I'm thinking you're right about configuration issues.

I'll take you advice and post on the Linux forum. 

If the hardware works with windows, but not with the Pi, then it's either configuration problem or a generic Linux driver support problem; MC on Linux doesn't have any special limitations with respect to hi res PCM that I'm aware of.  I'll weigh in with some testing advice once you get your thread set up.

BTW - as far as running headless goes, i have used an HDMI dongle to fake out software into believing a monitor was attached.  i haven't used it on a Pi, yet, but if it works i believe it would be preferable to any (no matter how well engineered) software kludge.

If you're referring to the headless operation instructions above, you may not appreciate fully what those instructions "do for you."  The purpose of those instructions isn't just to "fake out the software," they also give you a method to remotely configure and control MC on the headless pi without plugging a monitor or keyboard into the pi.  You can use Gizmo or JRemote to control day to day playback, but neither of those tools allow for configuration, updating, or library maintenance (or even turning the pi off safely if you need to!).  You need a way to interact with the actual desktop of the Pi once in a while, and most folks don't want to haul a monitor and keyboard over to the box. 

Also, if you're not a regular Linux user, you may not be aware that VNC-server virtual displays aren't a "kludge"; they're a very common way to administer hardware that doesn't have a monitor attached, or, in the case of real servers, hardware that doesn't even have a display adapter of any kind to "fool" to begin with.  VNC is a mature, long-in-use set of software tools.

An "HDMI Doctor" style dongle wouldn't provide any remote administration options, and isn't really necessary on Linux in any case: if you don't care about remote administration there are ways to force the XServer to start without a monitor attached, but I didn't outline them above because they're not particularly useful (you wouldn't be able to interact with it at all without plugging in a monitor).  There's also no guarantee that such a dongle would work particularly well with Linux at step one, whereas the VNC solution has been extensively tested.

So I would advise against using such a dongle on the Pi, but if you try it, I would be interested to hear how such a dongle works with Linux (just out of curiosity).

[jmone]

@mwillems, my Axiom Speakers have shipped (long way from Canada to Oz but should be here in a week or so).  Is there anything I should do when I first get them (eg dump the contents of it's SD Card if you want to see what is on it etc)?

Thanks
Nathan