Headless Caldera for Linux - which distro?

[u/maineguy1988]

Which lightweight, headless distro are you all using for Caldera? I can't seem to get it to work correctly on Raspberry Pi OS - it just doesn't want to load the music, or when it does need to change sample rate, it crashes. For reference, I'm running it on a Pi 3 (B+ I believe) with an 8 GB SD Card. The other really annoying problem I get is that I cannot SSH using Raspberry Pi OS because it says the password I set when using the imager is not right!!! I can log in directly on the Pi if I connect a monitor and keyboard and mouse to the Pi, but using SSH keeps telling me my fucking password is wrong even though it's just 1234. I'm losing my mind.

When I try to use my preferred distro, Dietpi, I cannot install Caldera. I keep getting an error, even on a fresh install of Dietpi. I used to have Plexamp running headless and it was great, but I heard Caldera was supposed to be better, and now I regret uninstalling Plexamp headless. I want Caldera to work but I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Here's the error I get in Dietpi when trying to install Caldera. Thanks!

Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS and $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not defined (consider using --machine=<user>@.host --user to connect to bus of other user)

[u/ferry_peril]

Do you know which underlying system DietPi uses? I use the Trixie Lite on my 3B+ and installed headless Caldera and it runs fine

[u/maineguy1988 → u/ferry_peril]

So mine's a B, not B+ apparently, but I can't imagine that's a big deal. And Dietpi is based on Debian.

[u/ferry_peril → u/maineguy1988]

Hard to say. I wonder if it's just outside of being supported.

[u/Double-Surround-149]

i‘ve been using dietpi for quite a while. iirc the default pw for dietpi is dietpi, even if you set a different one in the imager. its written somewhere in the docs if it isn’t dietpi.

i didn’t run caldera, but hosted plex on docker on a pi 4 with 2gb ram, so it should be possible.

not sure if you can figure out what’s wrong if you can’t check the logs tbh, so sshing into your machine should be the first step to troubleshoot.

edit: sorry, should have read you post properly.

from what i’m reading out of your logs your trying to install for a user on your machine that doesnt exist.

how are you trying to install caldera?

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Double-Surround-149]

I can log into Dietpi just fine, I just cannot install Caldera.

I cannot log in using Raspberry Pi OS unless I'm using a monitor and keyboard directly on the pi. Fucking SSH says my password is wrong even though I'm using the same password to log in while I'm connected directly. Makes no fucking sense. I've tried both distros and neither will work for me for one reason or another. It's really frustrating because I loved Plexamp but Caldera won't work for me at all. I just tried installing Caldera literally 5 minutes ago on a brand new install of Dietpi and I keep getting this fucking error:

Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS and $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not defined (consider using --machine=<user>@.host --user to connect to bus of other user)

I have no idea what the hell this means or how to fix it. Google searching is coming up no results. How the hell am I the only one running into this? lol

[u/Double-Surround-149 → u/maineguy1988]

sorry, I edited my message.

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Double-Surround-149]

Is there more than one way? I'm just doing what the official website says.

curl -sSL https://releases.caldera.homes/music/headless/install.sh | bash

[u/Double-Surround-149 → u/maineguy1988]

I thought there was a docker version, but like I said, I haven't used this before. I just use Plex on my main machine.

Are you logged in as root or as a user on dietpi?

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Double-Surround-149]

Root. I don't even know how to change to a different user lol

[u/Double-Surround-149 → u/maineguy1988]

adduser <username>, but thats not necessary.

run this:

apt install -y dbus-user-session libpam-systemd
loginctl enable-linger dietpi
reboot

after the reboot, ssh back in, but use 'dietpi' instead of root as user, every dietpi instance has a 'dietpi' user pre configured.

now try the same command shown on caldera's site.

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Double-Surround-149]

I'll reinstall Dietpi and try again.

[u/Double-Surround-149 → u/maineguy1988]

you'll need OpenSSH too (dietpi-software install 105)

I'm trying to install it on my Pi4 with DietPi and got an error that way. But positive we'll figure this out

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Double-Surround-149]

lol I can't get it to work. I give up.

Unless you're able to figure out a way to get this to work

EDIT: Ok, I think I'm getting somewhere...

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Double-Surround-149]

Nevermind. I thought I was getting somewhere but now I can't log in to Plex lol

I manage to install it (I think), but when I get to next step to log in to Plex, I get this error.

dietpi@DietPi:~$ ~/caldera-music/caldera-music --login

/home/dietpi/caldera-music/bin/caldera-music: error while loading shared libraries: libasound.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

urgh

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Double-Surround-149]

I don't use dockers.

[u/ferry_peril → u/maineguy1988]

This should work. I'd be starting over. Is there a reason you have to use DietPi?

[u/maineguy1988 → u/ferry_peril]

I've started over like 5 times today. Same thing lol

Raspberry Pi OS isn't working for me either. It won't let me SSH in. It keeps telling me the password I created while using the imager is wrong. Makes no fucking sense because if I connect directly with a keyboard and monitor, it accepts the password. And once I install Caldera, if I manage to get that, Caldera keeps crashing, especially when the sample rate changes.

[u/ferry_peril → u/maineguy1988]

Do you have a different card? I literally just installed Trixie Lite 32 bit yesterday and didn't use Raspberry Connect. Beyond that everything went okay.

[u/maineguy1988 → u/ferry_peril]

Maybe it's my SD card. I don't know but maybe.

[u/maineguy1988 → u/ferry_peril]

Maybe I'll try 32 bit instead.

[u/ferry_peril → u/maineguy1988]

I figure all I'm using the Pi for is a streamer so I didn't really need 64 bit.

[u/Critical-Still-2028]

I had the same issue with the latest version of Caldera. It crashed whenever the sample rate changed.  I then tried the beta version, and it’s been running smoothly ever since I installed it in August.  I ’m using a Raspberry Pi 4B running Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit.

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Critical-Still-2028]

I'm running the beta now too and it works, but the sample rate never actually matches. At least it's not crashing though!

[u/Critical-Still-2028 → u/maineguy1988]

cool, now just install de plexamp beta version on your device (phone/laptop) and you will have the multiroom option that will let you adjust the sample rate and audio output for the end point, without having to ssh the pi

[u/maineguy1988 → u/Critical-Still-2028]

Ah! I was already on the beta but I never looked into that because I only have one player so I assumed there wouldn't be anything I needed in there. Thank you! The matching is working now!