[onefatsurfer]

Quote:

 
Yes I heard those issues with the ODAC addressed to the RPI usb implementation. I have no reference on the TPlink about this yet. As I have not read any project using this combo I think I shall try it first.
Thank you for giving me good luck. If I will have success I will write about it.

 
That seems like it would be a really exciting piece of equipment, if you can get it working.  You could theoretically set it up as a repeater, too, and extend the range of your wireless network with it.  Please write about it, either way.  
 
As far as my setup, it would be pretty cool to get an external bluray player and set it up as a full-on media player.  I'm not sure if there are even drivers for android to play blurays, or the proper apps to do so, but it sure would be awesome to have this thing set up to be a full media center, with headless, HIFI music, HD video streaming, and bluray playback.  I think I'm dreaming though.

 

[Threeek]

Quote:

I'm wary of using anything Linux for this system after the frustrating defeat that I suffered trying to get this working on my Raspberry Pi.  Apparently the cheap USB sound sticks work great on the RPi, but better ones (I tried the Fiio E10 and the ODAC) didn't work correctly.  I wish you the best of luck on this, hopefully you don't have any issues with the TPLINK like I did with the Raspberry Pi.  

 
I've never had a problem with several Linux boxes and different DACs before - In my experience the noise problem is exclusive to the Raspberry Pi.
 
As a Unix sysadmin I have to defend Linux, it's wonderful! I hope it goes well with the TPLINK - good luck!

 

[bwatson]

That's great here is an article for doing  the same thing with a $20 device. Also I really like the case the PogoPlug comes in. Plus it has 4 USB ports in the case already.
 
http://vortexbox.org/content/150-Building-the-VAMP

 

[Harlock74]

Hi there,
 
I have just joined this forum as I am very interested in this project.
 
I was also looking for a Squeezebox Touch replacement. So I have decided to buy a Raspberry PI. I would like to ask you a question. Knowing the USB audio issues, would it make sense to buy something like this:
 
http://www.amazon.com/HA-info-U2-USB-SPDIF-Converter/dp/B00A2QKZ16/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358248736&sr=8-2&keywords=ha+info+u2
 
 
It's a simple USB to SPDIF converter. By plugging this DAC/converter to the Raspberry PI I could use the digital coaxial output to connect it to a better DAC. Will this by-pass the USB issue or I am missing something? I am really not sure.
 
Please let me know your thoughts.
 
Regards,

 

[onefatsurfer]

I don't trust anything regarding USB audio with the Raspberry Pi.  Garbage in = garbage out, and if it doesn't work with sending data to my Fiio E10 or my ODAC, I don't trust it to send to any USB audio device, whether it's USB to SPDIF or USB to Analog out.  But, good luck with your endeavor.  Worst case scenario, the RPi works great as a Logitech Media Server if you connect an external HD to it.

 

[onefatsurfer]

Quote:

That's great here is an article for doing  the same thing with a $20 device. Also I really like the case the PogoPlug comes in. Plus it has 4 USB ports in the case already.
 
http://vortexbox.org/content/150-Building-the-VAMP

I gave up on linux devices after my issues with the Raspberry Pi.  If that works, though, that is an even better option since SqueezePlug software is free and the Pogoplug is so cheap.  IIRC, the latest version of Squeezeplug isn't supporting anything except the Raspberry Pi anymore, but I could be wrong.  

 

[Harlock74]

Hi there,
 
I can't blame you. It's really a shame though about this USB issue! Thanks for your suggestion. I have already tried that. But at the moment I have already got my LMS server (asus s1-at5nm10e) running Linux Ubuntu 12.04. I was just looking for a Squeexebox Touch replacement and I was really hoping that this nice Raspberry PI woud do his job
 
It would be ideal for us if the next Raspberry PI could implement a digital coaxial output

 

[earfanatic]

The PogoPlug looks very cool. I was checking it out lately. But I do not remember where, I have read the hardware is not that fast actually. It could be related to older models but some guy had gaps in playing back MP3.
Does anyone know the hardware specification of the pogoplug (the cheapest one)?
I know about the TPLINK it has 400Mhz CPU and 32Mb RAM. 4Mb Flash for the system is not that much though.
Full wiki page from openWrt team is here: link

 

[earfanatic]

I actually found it. The pogoplug 4 has 800Mhz ARM V5 and 123Mb RAM. Lack of wifi though.

 

[randytsuch]

The vortex box instructions are based on using this model
 
http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/pogoplug-v2-pinkgray

 

[zzffnn]

Great thread. Lots of smart people and research/DIY effort here. Thanks for sharing!

 

[zzffnn]

@Onefatsurfer
Great job on the DIY Hi Fi media player! 

Is it easy to set up Raspberry Pi as a Logitech media sever? Would you be so kind to write a guide or point me to one? Thanks!

I have 4TB of flac and mp3 files stored in 2 NTFS drives. I plan to put hard drives in a USB drive cage with cooling fan. Can Raspberry Pi w/ Logitech server read all drives from USB cage and serve flac to iPhone with iPeng? Please kindly advise me.

I have other SMB/DLNA/UPnP/FTP player apps on iPhone (AcePlayerPro, OPlayer, GoodPlayer, Twonky Beam), if those are any helpful. I have successfully used iPhone with AcePlayerPro to play flac from a 1TB portable NAS (Patriot Gaunlet Node) via SMB. In its streaming player mode, iPhone can output digital (to external DAC) via docks like Pure i20.

For those who is not tech-proficient enough to DIY, they may consider WDTV Live as an alternative to OP's build. WDTV is a modified Linux box with decent processor. It can serve media (e.g., turn regular hard drive into a NAS ), play many types of media files (e.g., flac and mkv) and output optical digital and HDMI. Not sure it will work with ODAC though.

 

[onefatsurfer]

http://www.squeezeplug.de
 
everything you need to know to do that is on that site.  It's very easy to get it running as a server.  just make sure when you set the hard drive for your media, you don't say yes when it asks if you want to format the drive for use.  

 

[zzffnn]

Thanks Onefatsurfer for the pointer. I read that web site but could not understand it completely to answer my questions. I guess Raspberry Pi is too advanced for someone like me, who has very limited programming experience. Thanks anyway.

I will probably go with a WDTV Live Plus ($70 refurb) and attach a MediaSonic USB 4-bay drive enclosure ($100) to it. This set-up will serve as NAS (and be compatible with NTFS or fat32) or media player. I have four 2TB hard drives filled with music. For someone with only one hard drive, drive enclosure will not be needed. Adding an external optical DAC should not be difficult or expensive.

 

[onefatsurfer]

I updated the first post with a new addition to my player... a color touchscreen!  It was super easy to do and didn't cost that much to add on, so I figured why not?  The functionality of this player is now better than the Transporter.  It's been running continuously for weeks and doesn't skip a beat.  

 
The only time I've unplugged it was while putting it into the box.  I have more additions up my sleeve, but they will be a while before they're done.