02-22-2025, 05:15 PM
This is not a formal HowTo but rather a collection of possible approaches. Consult appropriate documentation for details.
So you have a collection of music files that you want to make available to all your moOde (or even, gasp, other) players. You have choices
1. Just use one of your moOde players as a server to the rest by enabling File Sharing options under m > Config > System
Choose one or both of
Tim has invested time in this feature and the result is easy to use.
2. If you have a spare Pi on hand, you could roll the same services on it yourself (configuring from the command line) using RaspiOS Lite. A Pi 2B, 3A, or possibly even a Pi Zero might do in light service, but a 3B, 4B, or 5B would be better (especially the Pi 5B with its built-in PCIe port suitable for big and fast SSD storage). Obviously, you could run other services as well.
3. If you have one of a number of competing SBCs such as Odroid, Orange Pi, and the like, you could do the same with whatever OS they offer or with an Armbian build of debian if available for the board. However, if the board is supported by DietPi, I recommend using it instead (works on Raspberry Pis too). It is close to being the Swiss army knife for crafting a custom, minimal install. As well, it is an extremely well-maintained and supported product. In my experience, many vendor-offered SBC OSes quickly become abandon-ware. YMMV.
4. If you'd prefer a NAS which can be configured in a GUI rather than from the command line, you could install a solution such as OpenMediaVault, which works on debian systems, among other things, including RaspbiOS Lite (see the OMV docs and forum). Apparently, it doesn't work on DietPi. Each of these solutions has its idiosyncrasies but management by GUI is a convenience. (At one time or another, I've run OMV on everything from a Pi to the big iron I used to keep as a leg warmer under my desk.) In this same category is TrueNAS and TrueNAS Core (formerly FreeNAS) but I find OMV to be adequate in the home.
6. Your router/access point may offer file sharing services. Generally I don't recommend using them because they have limited CPU and memory resources and their software is inflexible at best and perplexing at worst. YMMV.
7. You could use a commercial product such as QNAP, Synology, Buffalo, etc. Since moOde is an open source project I'm not going to address these.
8. Finally, you could try putting your files in the cloud (aka someone else's computer!). Some users, including me, have exploring using tools such as rclone to mount cloud-based file directories in a FUSE filesystem in their moOde player. I consider this one of those "not for beginners" topics. If you do use it, be aware of the cyberhacking issues that have arisen.
I've left out serving from an Intel- or AMD-based computer, but for Linux systems the approach is the same as outlined above for SBCs. I have no experience with macOS but I expect the approach is similar. It seems like we spend a fair amount of time on the forum trying to resolve issues from folks trying to access files from their Microsoft Windows systems. In any case, I dislike keeping these more energy-hungry systems running 24/7.
I've also left out the bigger world of multimedia servers such as Emby, Jellyfin, Plex, Universal Media Server, yada yada yada. For me they are all overkill but if you're into multimedia they may be the way to go.
Just my opinionated two cents worth.
Regards,
Kent
So you have a collection of music files that you want to make available to all your moOde (or even, gasp, other) players. You have choices
1. Just use one of your moOde players as a server to the rest by enabling File Sharing options under m > Config > System
Choose one or both of
- SMB (aka Samba) which shares the mounted resources on the player: "NAS, NVMe, SATA, SDCard, Playlists and USB drives (by label)".
- NFS which exports "USB, NVMe, and SATA drive mounts automatically" (the list is maintained in /etc/exports). Other storage locations must be manually added.
Tim has invested time in this feature and the result is easy to use.
2. If you have a spare Pi on hand, you could roll the same services on it yourself (configuring from the command line) using RaspiOS Lite. A Pi 2B, 3A, or possibly even a Pi Zero might do in light service, but a 3B, 4B, or 5B would be better (especially the Pi 5B with its built-in PCIe port suitable for big and fast SSD storage). Obviously, you could run other services as well.
3. If you have one of a number of competing SBCs such as Odroid, Orange Pi, and the like, you could do the same with whatever OS they offer or with an Armbian build of debian if available for the board. However, if the board is supported by DietPi, I recommend using it instead (works on Raspberry Pis too). It is close to being the Swiss army knife for crafting a custom, minimal install. As well, it is an extremely well-maintained and supported product. In my experience, many vendor-offered SBC OSes quickly become abandon-ware. YMMV.
4. If you'd prefer a NAS which can be configured in a GUI rather than from the command line, you could install a solution such as OpenMediaVault, which works on debian systems, among other things, including RaspbiOS Lite (see the OMV docs and forum). Apparently, it doesn't work on DietPi. Each of these solutions has its idiosyncrasies but management by GUI is a convenience. (At one time or another, I've run OMV on everything from a Pi to the big iron I used to keep as a leg warmer under my desk.) In this same category is TrueNAS and TrueNAS Core (formerly FreeNAS) but I find OMV to be adequate in the home.
6. Your router/access point may offer file sharing services. Generally I don't recommend using them because they have limited CPU and memory resources and their software is inflexible at best and perplexing at worst. YMMV.
7. You could use a commercial product such as QNAP, Synology, Buffalo, etc. Since moOde is an open source project I'm not going to address these.
8. Finally, you could try putting your files in the cloud (aka someone else's computer!). Some users, including me, have exploring using tools such as rclone to mount cloud-based file directories in a FUSE filesystem in their moOde player. I consider this one of those "not for beginners" topics. If you do use it, be aware of the cyberhacking issues that have arisen.
I've left out serving from an Intel- or AMD-based computer, but for Linux systems the approach is the same as outlined above for SBCs. I have no experience with macOS but I expect the approach is similar. It seems like we spend a fair amount of time on the forum trying to resolve issues from folks trying to access files from their Microsoft Windows systems. In any case, I dislike keeping these more energy-hungry systems running 24/7.
I've also left out the bigger world of multimedia servers such as Emby, Jellyfin, Plex, Universal Media Server, yada yada yada. For me they are all overkill but if you're into multimedia they may be the way to go.
Just my opinionated two cents worth.
Regards,
Kent
