Asset UPnP for Synology NAS

Posted by: dsc on 14 April 2016

I have seen a few threads on this forum in which some folk have asked if Asset UPnP can be used on a Synology NAS. As is widely known, the official position is that Asset is not supported on Synology. However, yesterday I came across a thread on the dBpoweramp forum indicating that Asset for RPi will run on some Synology models. Search for Asset Upnp for Synology? on that forum. It looks as if the installation process is not for the computer illiterate but may be of interest to some folk on here.

ATB,

David

Posted on: 14 April 2016 by Mike-B

 I looked into it & had a play, however I decided that I prefer my audio to be neat & tidy,  do I want more dangly wires & bits,  no thanks,    Much as I like Asset when using it on a friends QNAP & Linn & would install it on my Synology if the two companies would get together (no chance I fear).   Asset is not that different,  it is slightly better generally & more so with the art than Synology's UPnP 'Media Server',  but in my case I prefer to view without art & invariably use folder view & in that respect there is no difference. 

Interesting move from Synology with the new DSM-6 as they have removed Minimserver as a pre-installed 3rd party package,  it can still be installed but that facility is made available by Minimserver, not Synology.     Or looking at it another way,  if Minimserver can do it,  why can't (or why won't) Asset (Illustrate)  They write the install program for Qnap,  why not Synology.  I get the impression there is more to it than just writing software. 

Posted on: 14 April 2016 by hungryhalibut

While I really like using Minim, I find it quite a challenge when things occasionally go wrong. I'll be very tempted by a Qnap when I replace the nas at some point so that Asset becomes an option. I've never really understood why Asset cannot be loaded onto Synology, as loads of people use Synology and Illustrate could get a lot more sales. 

Posted on: 14 April 2016 by Adrian_P

Illustrate's position on this is odd to say the least, and their terse replies as to why they won't support a Synology package obviously don't tell the whole story.

Different Synology NASes have different CPU architectures, but as the post referred to above shows, the ARM build for the Rasberry Pi runs fine on the lower-end ARM-based NASes. I have a DS412+ which is an Intel Atom-based NAS. The Illustrate post says they have made the Linux builds as portable as possible, so I downloaded the x64 Linux build to my NAS running DSM6 and it is now indexing my library so it also appears to be running just fine. 

So, the core Asset server runs fine on Synology NASes. What is missing are the Synology DSM-specific scripts that start and stop the service and a DSM installer package. Why Illustrate still refuse to provide this packaging remains a mystery.

Posted on: 14 April 2016 by trickydickie
Hungryhalibut posted:

While I really like using Minim, I find it quite a challenge when things occasionally go wrong. I'll be very tempted by a Qnap when I replace the nas at some point so that Asset becomes an option. I've never really understood why Asset cannot be loaded onto Synology, as loads of people use Synology and Illustrate could get a lot more sales. 

HH

You could always consider redeploying the Synology as a backup device, this is what I did when I upgraded, albeit from a Netgear Readynas to QNAP.

There does seem to be some better support on QNAP for some apps which supports both Minim and Asset.  I also use some business backup software which is only available on QNAP so it's not just Illustrate taking this stance.

I think the Synology used to have the edge over QNAP on the operating system software, but the gap has narrowed recently.

Richard

Posted on: 14 April 2016 by hungryhalibut

Thanks Richard. When you next visit we can talk servers. Oh, the joy!