Any, my goal is pretty much stated in the subject. I have a Canakit RPi3 kit w/ 2.5 amp power supply and onboard wireless, and I've successfully made microSD images of OSMC, OpenElec, Raspbian, and Rune operating systems. I'd LIKE to optimize the RPi for simple, high quality audio playback; no need for video of any kind, and I have a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic XS USB DAC that I'll be using. Audio file storage is on a 128gig USB flashdrive attached to the RPi3. I want to control the RPi headlessly via web interface on either a Win 7 PC or an Android tablet. I'm striking out, and I've been messing around with this for HOURS at a time for over a week. I've got the Pi successfully connected to my wifi network and can play back audio nicely as long as I'm using a connected keyboard and mouse and the Pi attached to my TV so I can see what I'm doing. I can use the web interface remote control screen or my TV's remote control to manipulate the Pi successfully. I'm most of the way there. What I can NOT do is find anyway to "see" or access the files on the USB drive remotely. The Pi will eventually be installed in a stereo system up in a loft w/ no TV or monitor of any kind, and i want to be able to control it from downstairs w/ my laptop or tablet.
Here's a brief synopsis of what I've done so far..
1. OSMC - this has come the closest. Connects to wifi fine and reliably, and the web interface(s) connect to it. I've tried the standard Kodi interface as well as Chorus and Arch. None of them can see the USB drive, but I can use the remote functions to start playback of those files as long as I can see the screen of the tv attached to the Rpi. Chorus will even show a pic of the album being played... but I can't see the albums in the library to choose them. I did follow what was, for me, a pretty involved tutorial about installing a VLN server on the Rpi, then using a VLN viewer on the laptop. In the process, I learned how to use Putty, FileZilla, a bit more about ports, and a bit about linux commands and config file editing. Fun, but the end result was very clunky and my wife would NEVER use it. The interface had a ton of lag, you couldn't really see the whole screen, and you had to enable the VLN server via a command line. Once it was enabled, I couldn't find a way to stop it, either. No good.
2. Rune - wish this worked. Supposedly, it's based on ARCH and is more faithful to accurate music playback. I don't know enough to back that up. The on-screen interface is sure simple. Trouble is, I can barely use it because I can't see a mouse cursor. According to a post a read somewhere, the latest build is optimized for touchscreens. Great... sigh. I did, finally, manage to magically get all the right menus filled in to access my wifi, but still couldn't get it to playback anything. There's three bars along the bottom.. "Library," "Player," and something else. I couldn't access the library button at all, either via tabbing or w/ the mouse, and was never able to play anything with it. If this worked and I could access it headlessly w/ laptop or tablet, this would be great because the interface is so simple. Anyone?
3. Raspbian - a big ol' nope. It won't accept a WEP password, and for a string of other reasons, I can't use WPA2 on my network.
4. OpenElec - Same basic interface for audio/video (Kodi) as OSMC, but w/out all of the options and operating system features. Again, I can get it connected via wifi, playback audio from the USB drive successfully, and even view what's playing and control it from my laptop via the web interface, but I have to see the RPi-attached TV screen. The library doesn't show up on the web interface.
Do I have to somehow "build" or scan the files on the USB drive to create a library index on the RPi? I've tried the "scan library" option in the Kodi and/or Chorus interfaces, but it just sits there saying "scanning" for a long, long time. I've let it run at least 30 minutes, with no results.
Seriously... I'd be SO grateful for any help. I'm almost there, but I just can't solve this last step. My wife's about to kill me for spending so much time on this. Our marriage depends upon your help. lol..
Thanks..
Muse