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RE: What software would you use?

Posted by soundchekk (A) on March 19, 2019 at 01:32:19

In Reply to: What software would you use? posted by triodesteve on March 18, 2019 at 10:03:00:

"Volumio,Rune,LMS"

Let's clarifiy the situation a little.

There are IMO 3 main differentiators between RPI Audio Operating Systems.

1. Audio engines

a. Music Player Daemon (MPD)
b. LogitechMediaServer (LMS) + squeezelite

2. Graphical user interface

a. GUI over touchscreen
b. GUI over browser
c. GUI over app

3. Software maintenance and evolution

That's one of the main challenge for these free operating systems.

**************************************

Nowadays there are plenty of RPI audio operating systems around.
You can try them all. Usually it is a matter of personal focus, preferences and taste what you end up with.

They'll pretty much all comply to your wishlist:

* act as standalone music server,
* supporting the Allo Boss(or most other audio HATs) and
* let you attach a local USB-ssd.

I would add:

* run via onboard Wifi - even as standalone music server you'd need remote access.

***********

My first choice would be piCorePlayer on a 3B+, which is LMS+squeezelite based connected via onboard Wifi.
The pCP software is well maintained. It's pretty bleeding edge.
Beside that the LMS universe offers you plenty of nice remote control options from iOS or Android. They even offer touchscreen support nowadays.
And a real nice thing: Pretty much all key LMS/squeezelite developers are involved. Most other RPI Audio OSes just package what's available.

There's one downside having LMS+squeezelite on a RPI.
LMS on RPI, even on a 3B+, is not what I'd call a high performance setup.
LMS is the most advanced server software around. And that comes at a price. It requires resources. That's why I run my LMS on a NUC.
However. It'll work on RPI. Just give it a try to see if it is fast enough for your purpose. I'd guess so.

Another advise would be to run any RPI attached USB masstorage device from a separate power supply.

***

pCP soon releases a new version, offering the latest 4.19.x kernel and gcc 8.x compiler. That much about being bleeding edge. That alone will provide some extra horse powers.
Beside that pCP - the entire OS system resides in RAM. There won't be any SD card interactions during operation.

Another option is DietPi. If I'm not mistaken, DietPi offers both worlds
the LMS and the MPD world. Moode offers MPD and squeezelite. You'd need a seperate LMS server. Volumio is IMO not that well maintained. Volumio IMO gets more and more focussed on making business. Rune, from what I read, is not doing well on the SW maintenance and evolution side. Then there's Max2Play, asf, asf. Endless options, with very similar offerings.

Again. It'll be up2u.

Good luck with your choice. As I said you can try them all. ;)

Edits: 03/19/19

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