Logitech Media Server etc...

[somebodyelse]

Oh, now you're putting temptation in my path. The problem with projects like this is that there's always another lengthy learning curve that has to be negotiated before any progress is shown. This kind of Raspberry Pi and Arduino stuff has been on my wannabe to-do list for some time, but the sad fact is that I'm not good at learning about things that are electronic. I'm much better with things that have moving parts that I can see and touch.

Here's the first sentence from Step 1: "Assemble the HiFiBerry board onto the Raspberry Pi". I'm already having palpitations over what that might mean!

The assembly in this instance is pretty easy and more mechanical than electronic - think of it as lego. If you want to avoid that then just use a USB DAC. There's no real programming involved either - just download the software, put it on the uSD card using something like Etcher, put it in the Pi and power up. Any configuration is done through a web browser.

 

[Apesbrain]

It grabs info and pictures of the album and artist from the web, including song lyrics if they're available.

It's actually the "Music and Artist Information" plugin that provides this functionality. Install it and Material Skin and you have a very complete and contemporary music browsing experience.

 

[rgpit]

It's actually the "Music and Artist Information" plugin that provides this functionality. Install it and Material Skin and you have a very complete and contemporary music browsing experience.

*Edited my post to include "Music and Artist Information" plugin. Thanks.

 

[paddycrow]

Interesting thread...

I am running an Antipodes DXe vortex box using Logitech Media Server (bought cheap on the used market). At some point I would like to find a better interface, but I have gotten used to the quirks of LMS and it sounds great (to my ears).

I've looked at some of the high end servers and I just can't wrap my head around the prices (Aurender, Lumin, Auralic,...). So I keep enjoying what I've got.

 

[Apesbrain]

At some point I would like to find a better interface

Try the Material Skin plugin.

 

[GeorgeWalk]

Oh, now you're putting temptation in my path. The problem with projects like this is that there's always another lengthy learning curve that has to be negotiated before any progress is shown. This kind of Raspberry Pi and Arduino stuff has been on my wannabe to-do list for some time, but the sad fact is that I'm not good at learning about things that are electronic. I'm much better with things that have moving parts that I can see and touch.

Here's the first sentence from Step 1: "Assemble the HiFiBerry board onto the Raspberry Pi". I'm already having palpitations over what that might mean!

Raspberry Pi's are easy to use. HiFiBerry just plugs on and the software finds it. Easy!

 

[paddycrow]

Try the Material Skin plugin.

I can't seem to figure out how to add the plugin.

I've been looking at a Mac Mini running Audirvana. I can't get past the prices on dedicated servers.

 

[rgpit]

I can't seem to figure out how to add the plugin.

From within LMS, go to settings / plugins / then select "Material Skin" along with "Music and Artist Information". Don't forget to hit "apply" at the bottom to activate your selections.

To use it, use this address in your browser "http://0.0.0.0:9000/material/" (replace 0.0.0.0 with your specific LMS ip address)

Good info here: https://cdn.statically.io/gh/d6jg/material-documentation/master/html/Material Skin.html

 

[mkt]

In the default skin, first settings,

then plugins

And then activate it under

Finally, it should appear under interface

Quite a journey but nice result in the end.

 

[paddycrow]

It's not listed in the plugins.

 

[mkt]

It's not listed in the plugins.

How old is your LMS? I seem to recall that with an old version I had to add

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CDrummond/lms-material/master/public.xml

as an additional repo at the bottom of the plugins page

 

[Martin]

I have a Synology NAS running Logitech Media Server that I used to use with a Squeezebox Touch. A couple of years ago I began using Volumio on a Raspberry Pi 3 and eventually sold the Touch. A couple of months ago I upgraded to a 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 to try and fix some of the usability issues I had with Volumio. Recently I decided to give piCorePlayer a try so I'm using my LMS again. I thought about using it with the official Raspberry Pi touchscreen but I like going headless and using my iPhone as a controller. I found iPeng when I had the Touch and reinstalled it on my iPhone. iPeng, piCorePlayer and LMS on the NAS are all working together and seems to have fewer problems than Volumio. I can play all my music files (FLAC - 16/44.1 up to 24/192 - and DSD) through my DX7 Pro. I always liked the flexibility, stability and user interface of the Logitech Media Server. I'm a happy camper.

Martin

 

[paddycrow]

How old is your LMS? I seem to recall that with an old version I had to add

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CDrummond/lms-material/master/public.xml

as an additional repo at the bottom of the plugins page

Old, 7.8.0. I bought the unit used (cheap) about a year ago. I figure it was new around 7-10 years ago.

I've noticed that I'm registered as "guest" when I access it. It appears as another drive on my Mac and I'm able to use it, add files, etc. But I'm not sure how to go about updating anything.

I've been using iPeng on my phone. It looks nice, but I have to get used to it. I can perform basic functions, but I'm far from mastering it.

 

[somebodyelse]

Old, 7.8.0. I bought the unit used (cheap) about a year ago. I figure it was new around 7-10 years ago.

I've noticed that I'm registered as "guest" when I access it. It appears as another drive on my Mac and I'm able to use it, add files, etc. But I'm not sure how to go about updating anything.

I've been using iPeng on my phone. It looks nice, but I have to get used to it. I can perform basic functions, but I'm far from mastering it.

It lists 7.9.x in the requirements so you may be out of luck unless you can upgrade. I don't know whether Antipodes would support this, or how many changes they made to Vortex Box for their system, but the wiki has pages like this for installing new LMS versions on old Vortex Box versions. That is assuming you have full admin access, and are willing to take a few risks

 

[paddycrow]

I suspected it had to do with that. I sent an email to Antipodes about it. I have found they are good about responding.

 

[paddycrow]

I've started using iPeng with an iPad, I like it a lot. There are a lot of nuances I haven't figured out yet, but it is a really good interface for LMS.

 

[fitero]

You can still buy new Transporters from a shop on Ebay. I've been using one for years as my main source. Great component!

 

[paddycrow]

I can add that iPeng on the iPad is much nicer than on the iPhone (screen too small). LOL

 

[Silver1omo]

In the past I used vortexbox running in a mini ITX PC (c60m1-i MB, picoPSU, 4TB HDD).
For the current iteration I went overkill as I found a good price on a HP Elitedesk (Pro A10-9700 CPU). Installed Fedora server and run several services from there:
LMS
SAMBA
DLNA
DNS (pihole)

And to keep ripping CDs (yes I still do it), I found ARM:
https://github.com/automatic-ripping-machine/automatic-ripping-machine

It has not received updates in a long time, so you need to tinker a bit to get it working.
Will need to look at the Material plugin.

 

[Totoro]

In the past I used vortexbox running in a mini ITX PC (c60m1-i MB, picoPSU, 4TB HDD).
For the current iteration I went overkill as I found a good price on a HP Elitedesk (Pro A10-9700 CPU). Installed Fedora server and run several services from there:
LMS
SAMBA
DLNA
DNS (pihole)

And to keep ripping CDs (yes I still do it), I found ARM:
https://github.com/automatic-ripping-machine/automatic-ripping-machine

It has not received updates in a long time, so you need to tinker a bit to get it working.
Will need to look at the Material plugin.

The material plugin is nice, although there are a fair number or erroneous artist pics in my collection from that.