Snakeoil OS

uglymusicuglymusic
edited February 2020 in Digital
Just tripped over Snakeoil OS.

It's a Linux distro you appear to be able to install on just about any hardware to give you almost out-of-the-box digital playback.

The thing that brought me here was that it seems to have minimserver (the Rolls-Royce of DLNA servers) already installed. I use minimserver on my NAS box and have done for years, now.

Snakeoil OS might make a nice little project for someone with a spare PC and some hard disks.

Comments

  • cj66cj66
    Interesting prospect Dave.

    I'm having a rejig with computers at the moment and there is a fair chance I'll end up with a spare cobbled one that could be good for experimentation, assuming I have the will to fiddle more after this lot!
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    edited February 2020
    Let us know how you get on. I don't think Snakeoil OS will need much in the way of hardware to run happily.

    It seems there's an RPi version somewhere in the works, too.
  • AlanAlan
    I spent an idle hour reading up on this, some of the earlier threads by the developer were interesting to read as the project progresses (he seems a pretty cool guy). I think it's an excellent project, one that almost makes me want to get the hardware to play around. 

    Of course, I'd much rather read about someone else doing it, thus allowing for extended procrastination!
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    It does seem very cool. I spent almost as long as you reading the site.

    It suffers from the same disease many open source projects do - not telling you what you want to know without spending a lot of time reading!
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    edited May 2020
    Well, I tried out Snakeoil OS over the weekend.

    It isn't plug and play as promised on the website. It is a level or two more complex than setting up, say, MoOde (that's another story from the weekend).

    I never managed to even get Snakeoil OS to connect with my Digi+, so at the moment Snakeoil OS is a work in progress. Perhaps I'll need to get some help from its forum.

    Did you ever try it, Chris?
  • AntiCrapAntiCrap
    uglymusic said:
    Just tripped over Snakeoil OS.

    It's a Linux distro you appear to be able to install on just about any hardware to give you almost out-of-the-box digital playback.

    The thing that brought me here was that it seems to have minimserver (the Rolls-Royce of DLNA servers) already installed. I use minimserver on my NAS box and have done for years, now.

    Snakeoil OS might make a nice little project for someone with a spare PC and some hard disks.
    OK I got lost at digital,then the lie program click in and I passed out.
  • cj66cj66
    Dave, no never did. Completely forgot about it :/
    After your comments I don't think I missed anything.
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    AntiCrap said:
    uglymusic said:
    Just tripped over Snakeoil OS.

    It's a Linux distro you appear to be able to install on just about any hardware to give you almost out-of-the-box digital playback.

    The thing that brought me here was that it seems to have minimserver (the Rolls-Royce of DLNA servers) already installed. I use minimserver on my NAS box and have done for years, now.

    Snakeoil OS might make a nice little project for someone with a spare PC and some hard disks.
    OK I got lost at digital,then the lie program click in and I passed out.

    I think that's best, Col :)
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    cj66 said:
    Dave, no never did. Completely forgot about it :/
    After your comments I don't think I missed anything.

    Nothing but a headache, I think.

    I'll return to it when I feel suitably prepared ;)
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    I'm trying SnakeoilOS again, and I'm getting lost in the sheer level of Linux knowledge expected to gain entry to the game. But it's not going to defeat me this time! (So he says :s ). 
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    I'm getting somewhere. It has been a long haul, and I'm not there yet. I should say that the level of Linux knowledge required has been lower than I feared. Some key concepts were taken for granted in the documentation, and once past that hurdle, things have got better. 

    Now I have LMS running on my spare RPi 3 (it's yet to be configured for use on my server RPi 4) and an RPi 4 playing via USB into the headphone system. I think I prefer it to the RPi3/iQaudio Digi+/piCorePlayer - yes, I know, there are one or two extra variables thrown in there. The next step is to get SnakeoilOS to talk to the SPDIF HAT.
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    I've left the HAT configuration for the moment, and have SnakeoilOS running on my server RPi with LMS.

    OMG! It sounds better than piCorePlayer. Quickly: there's more front-to-back on the main system, even with the SMSL DAC, which flattened it. And on the office near-field system, there are more micro details and inflections. I need to live with it a bit longer to work out exactly what's going on. And I haven't yet listened on headphones. 
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    I've just noticed. It's three years since I first posted about SnakeoilOS.

    I must write up how I've got it up and running for the non-tin foil helmet brigade  :)
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    OH Wow! I have SnakeoilOS running on my headphone system, so I now have server and client running SnakeoilOS.

    Unbelievable!! Even with my cheap headphones, it sounds amazing. A bigger and more interesting (strange word, maybe, but think about it) stereo image, or whatever it is with headphones, more detail, less coloured sound, more bass extension...

    I'm truly boggled. The server (RPi 4/LMS), alone, made some improvements, but having SnakeoilOS on both machines has made things more than twice as good (I know, I can't use numbers like that. But I just did! And you can probably work out what I'm on about).

    Now for the main system and the office. It takes a good chunk of time to get SnakeoilOS installed and set up, so I may be some time... 
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Yep. All my live RPis are now running SnakeoilOS.

    I'll probably set up the garden one, too once the better weather comes, just for uniformity - when I was running an unholy mixture of piCorePlayer, Max2Play and MoOde recently, the different UIs did my head in!
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