Hi all,
This is a special one. After almost ten years as RoPieee, this is the first release under the new name: Verox.
What started as a bit of Christmas-holiday tinkering for Roon has grown into something much bigger: Squeezebox, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, HQPlayer, Sendspin… For a while now, the name simply didn’t cover what the project had become. Verox does. It’s the same project, the same person behind it, and the same way of doing things. Just a name that fits.
For you, the switch is painless. Your device updates itself as always, and your configuration, zones and settings stay exactly as you left them. The first time you open the web interface you’ll get a short note about the new name, and behind the scenes your device moves over to the new Verox update server. That’s it. There’s nothing for you to do.
Of course, a new name alone doesn’t make a release, so there’s more.
Spotify Connect now runs on a completely new engine, based on go-librespot. The most noticeable result: Spotify is now a fully-fledged part of Convenience Switching, which was introduced in the previous release. Press play in Spotify and whatever else was playing politely steps aside, and the other way around.
Not everybody uses Roon, and that’s exactly what this new name is about. So Roon Bridge can now be switched off entirely, on the new Roon tab under Services. It no longer runs, and uses resources, when you don’t need it.
Owners of the smaller boards with 512MB of memory (Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, Pi 3 A+) get some extra breathing room. Verox now sets up compressed swap on these boards, which prevents the occasional out-of-memory hiccup that could disrupt playback.
Removing a feature is rare, but this release says goodbye to Snapcast. Verox Spinner, our native Sendspin client, now fills that role. It’s also the way Music Assistant talks to Verox, and it’s where I’ll put my energy going forward.
On top of that: a web interface that works a lot better on your phone, a much more readable dark mode, an updated AirPlay component and Linux kernel, and a number of fixes. Verox now also speaks Hungarian, and the French and Polish translations have been updated. A big thank you to the translators!
With a new name comes a new home as well. Verox has its own community at community.verox.audio, a place for everyone, whichever service you listen with. Curious about the story behind the name? You can read it there.
And of course, the theme song. What else could it be for a release all about change:
Existing RoPieee users will automatically receive this update on their devices. The latest image for new users can be downloaded here.
For the full changelog, see the release notes on the download page.
Enjoy the music!