I have an inexplicable problem with my Volumio. Until now, and even now, Volumio has been installed on a miniPC, and it works perfectly, it is equipped with the latest operating system. However, I have an unused MacMini from 2006, with a Core2Duo 2Ghz processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD. I installed exactly the same Volumio on this machine, as the only system. Here too, Volumi runs perfectly, but only apparently. Playback is with DSD files. I plug the DAC into the Mini, which runs perfectly on the PC, and I expect the same on the Mini. But while DSD files are played natively by the DAC on the PC, here on the Mini it is only in DOP mode, and there only up to double DSD. On the PC, the same DAC also plays quadruple DSD files without any problems. The DAC is a Topping D10. What could be the problem? The other problem is the shutdown. If I turn off the machine on the Mini, I can only start it if I cut off the power before starting. Then it starts. This is the minor mistake, I just don’t turn off the machine. However, the PC starts happily at the power button. There is another oddity, and that is WIFI. The wifi adapter that didn’t work in PC Volumio works flawlessly on MacMini. I repeat, the same system runs on the two machines, it is assumed that the same installer is used. Yet the two systems are different.
First of all, I congratulate you with the 16 year(!!) old MacMini running Volumio, be happy with that.
It was never intended to support Apple Mac intel devices, or put it in a more general remark, to support the thousands of different intel/amd x86 device configurations on the market.
But, by using the Debian x86 based buster packages, combined with selected intel/amd firmware support, Volumio comes very close to what a Debian distro can do with x86 hardware support, covering some components of Apple’s designs as well.
Secondly, do not expect a “normal” PC to behave the same as an apple-flavored x86 device. MacMinis are not exacty the same as a common PC. This is where your problems start. Power on/off and restart work a bit different on MacMini’s because of Apple’s System Control Management (SMC) module. Nobody is going to fix that, live with it.
DAC support depends on the usb controller, no idea what you old MacMini has, logs could have helped, but I guess nobody will investigate this.
Same goes for wifi, no logs no support (no guarantee anyone will look into it).
This may not have helped you much, but at least you got an answer.
I’ve gotten smarter since then! If I plug the Mini into the DAC, it plays 2x speed DSD files normally in DOP mode, the DAC also indicates that it is receiving a DSD file. If I want to play a DSD file with a higher resolution than this, I have to turn on resampling in Volumio and set the resolution to 192/24. Then it also plays DSD files with higher sampling, but then the DAC indicates that it receives PCM files. The anomaly of switching on and off does not bother me. If this problem could be solved, then the MacMini would be perfect. Especially since the optical drive also works perfectly in it. It’s really almost perfect, if only this DAC wouldn’t be a problem. This can give new life to a dying Mini series that deserves a better fate.
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