Troubles with live flash using

[Volodymyr]

1) Tried to test with live flash ISO on my PC at could not normally use OS.

Desktop starts on monitor  and window with Ubuntu try or instal appers in chotic manner, sometimes yes, some times no, does not react on button clicks.

F8 sometimed invoke abovementioned window sometimes no.

alt+F1 (manual says it should show IP) - nothing happens.   Not all apllications from the  menu starts after clicking on them....

I supose my hardware is not compatible at all?

AMD athlon IIx 631, mobo is ASUS F1a55-mm-lx-plus, ddr3-1600, 4gb, GPU GT430.   BIOS was prepared according to manual (sata mode).

2) Another issue, aside of snakeoil OS, but may be someone could advise.   I have clicks with xmos dac on every libus, debian i tried, with HQPlaye, with VLC.  Ytied to set up IRQs, priorities for audio, perfomance power mode for CPU - still the same vinyl like clicks.  On my laptop with i3 8th generation no clicks and pops but sound quality is few times worth than with that aged AMD PC (greate sound ob debian +HQPlayer besides these clicks, random on some tracks and on sine wave signals from 500Hz till 6000 hz).....


P.S. Also... I would love to use miniITX with atom, but.. I am afraid i will be out of horse power, as I need HQPlayer upsampling + convolver using filters for 4 ways (active speakers) + room FIR corrections....

[agent_kith]

1) Tried to test with live flash ISO on my PC at could not normally use OS.

Desktop starts on monitor  and window with Ubuntu try or instal appers in chotic manner, sometimes yes, some times no, does not react on button clicks.

F8 sometimed invoke abovementioned window sometimes no.

alt+F1 (manual says it should show IP) - nothing happens.   Not all apllications from the  menu starts after clicking on them....

I supose my hardware is not compatible at all?

AMD athlon IIx 631, mobo is ASUS F1a55-mm-lx-plus, ddr3-1600, 4gb, GPU GT430.   BIOS was prepared according to manual (sata mode).

It should work as long as the network chip is listed in the supported hardware list. Just go to another computer, start the browser and go to 'http://snakeoil.local'. This distro is designed to run 'headless', i.e. not connected to a keyboard or a monitor.

Should you want to install this OS on your PC, run VNCViewer, connect to the machine and then proceed to install the OS from there. You can refer to this section for more details.

2) Another issue, aside of snakeoil OS, but may be someone could advise.   I have clicks with xmos dac on every libus, debian i tried, with HQPlaye, with VLC.  Ytied to set up IRQs, priorities for audio, perfomance power mode for CPU - still the same vinyl like clicks.  On my laptop with i3 8th generation no clicks and pops but sound quality is few times worth than with that aged AMD PC (greate sound ob debian +HQPlayer besides these clicks, random on some tracks and on sine wave signals from 500Hz till 6000 hz).....

Try another DAC if you can and see if it's the problem on the DAC. But in general clicks usually means the audio buffer is starved. I.e. your CPU is unable to keep up. Best way to fix this is to increase the buffers. You can do this with LMS/HQPlayer (and manually if using MPD). Increase the audio buffer and see if you're still hearing these clicks/ticks.

P.S. Also... I would love to use miniITX with atom, but.. I am afraid i will be out of horse power, as I need HQPlayer upsampling + convolver using filters for 4 ways (active speakers) + room FIR corrections....

Atom is just a suggestion, and that's how Snakeoil is configured to right out the box. Ultimately the hardware and configuration will be decided by you. So yeah, you can use a powerful computer with Snakeoil and do what you want .

[Volodymyr]

 

Ok, I`ll try to manage from another PC. If network card is supported. Probably I misunderstood some part of manual.

For installation - I must install remotely with VNV?  Installing with keyboard and mouse on OS host PC not available?

For clicks - maximum available to "tick" buffer of HQPlayer - "250" was used. Can I increase it in some other software at debian PC? Never used PC and debian for sound before, so questions could be somewhat stupid...
Also CPU is load is not more than 10%, memory not more than 25% during playback with clicks. 
I do not have other dacs. But with two other laptops (one Debian, another windows - no clicks).

Thanks for your support.

[agent_kith]

Ok, I`ll try to manage from another PC. If network card is supported. Probably I misunderstood some part of manual.

For installation - I must install remotely with VNV?  Installing with keyboard and mouse on OS host PC not available?

The LiveCD will also start a VNC session loading the Ubuntu installer. To make sure this works though, make sure you don't use the keyboard or mouse until everything loads up (this can be up to 2-3 minutes depending on the USB stick you use). If you use the mouse/keyboard when this session is loading, the focus may be on the main window and not this VNC session. Hence the unpredictable results.

Installing via a remote VNC session always works, hence it's probably best to go the remote install.

For clicks - maximum available to "tick" buffer of HQPlayer - "250" was used. Can I increase it in some other software at debian PC? Never used PC and debian for sound before, so questions could be somewhat stupid...
Also CPU is load is not more than 10%, memory not more than 25% during playback with clicks. 
I do not have other dacs. But with two other laptops (one Debian, another windows - no clicks).

It's hard to say exactly what the cause is. CPU load is not a good indication of telling if the CPU is starved or not. Best is to use another DAC and see if it still happens. In most cases, increasing the buffer will just fix it.

Another note, some USB bus are shared. So if you boot Snakeoil on USB0, you can try to connect the DAC to USB1.

Thanks for your support. 

My pleasure .

[Volodymyr]

Good: web interface from remote laptop working.
Not possible in bios to put flash as primary boot, so had to launch its booting from bios manually and quickly turn off keyboard/monitor/mouse ))
Unfortunately can not play some music from live flash to check clicks issue I had with dac,  as no music library is available on image flash.
Should I install OS to play some music or...?

Bad: dac connected to PC start whistling like ultra short radio waves. After some times amplitude of whistles is decreasing untill total silence.  The same sound was if I plug in DAC at loading my normal OS.  But it was not the case when dac was plugged after booting my OS and HQPlayer started.

[agent_kith]

Good: web interface from remote laptop working.
Not possible in bios to put flash as primary boot, so had to launch its booting from bios manually and quickly turn off keyboard/monitor/mouse ))
Unfortunately can not play some music from live flash to check clicks issue I had with dac,  as no music library is available on image flash.
Should I install OS to play some music or...?

For testing, you can:

1. connect another USB HDD, or
   
2. copy one or two files over to the music share folder
   
3. Mount a share folder from a NAS
   
4. Install Snakeoil on another USB stick (but remember to remove the LiveCD stick after installation)
   

Live CD is meant for a quick evaluation. To use it properly as a OS, yes you have to install it.

 

Bad: dac connected to PC start whistling like ultra short radio waves. After some times amplitude of whistles is decreasing untill total silence.  The same sound was if I plug in DAC at loading my normal OS.  But it was not the case when dac was plugged after booting my OS and HQPlayer started.

This could likely point to a ground loop noise issue. If you have more than 1 equipment that's grounded, you will hear noises like that.

The SnakeoilOS LiveCD will boot up the graphical environment, and it is likely the graphics card is the culprit of this noise. The graphical environment will not start once the OS is installed. All graphical things from there on is run in a virtal desktop (VNC) environment. Runnig the OS in text mode will reduce the amplitude of high pitch noises, but not rid it totally.

To check, go through every equipment that's in your audio system, and check if it has an earth pin or not. If you have more than 1 equipment with an earth pin, then there is a ground loop problem.

[Volodymyr]

Yes, I also think this is about ground.  Probably not just through power line 220, but also with USB ground in cable.
As I got similar staff when used laptop battery powered. Will try to search some solution.

For usb stick with music I tried yesterday, stick was detected and visible in browser of remote PC, but was identified as empty or something like that - do not remember exactly.  Will recheck today.

[Volodymyr]

Did not continue yet with snakeoil OS, but experimented with my clicks and.... ground loops are excluded.   I disconnected PC from mains ground (I know..I know...))) and after there was a handshake between dac and PC - cutted ground wire on usb cable.  Clicks and their tempo, amplitude, were still here, still the same.

Clisks are going with 1Hz tempo, when playing sine wave 1000Hz.  I am afraid this is about xmos-es9016s logics/clock themselvs.....  DAC is DIY, so going to have nightmare times to find out what to do.

Sorry, its some kind of offtop here, not about snake oil OS ))

[agent_kith]

How loud are the clicks? Perhaps try this on a Windows OS and see if it works? It could still be a USB driver quirk causing this. What happens if you say play:

1. 88.2 kHz material
   
2. 96.0 kHz material
   
3. DSD (try both native and DoP).
   

Does it sitll click?

[Volodymyr]

How loud are the clicks? Perhaps try this on a Windows OS and see if it works? It could still be a USB driver quirk causing this. What happens if you say play:

1. 88.2 kHz material
   
2. 96.0 kHz material
   
3. DSD (try both native and DoP).
   

Does it sitll click?   

All kinds of PCM - the same.  On musicla signal - very small amplitude, like background (and my speakers are 95 db/m/w sendetive). Thet are more loud and frequent when play sine wave.  If I change pc  usb 2.0 to laptop usb 3.0 - clicks are here, but 10times more rare.   Can I attach video record somehow?

Windows PC - I do not have at home, should borrow some laptop.

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