BluOS controller app on Linux

Answered

Rand K Barthel

• August 02, 2019 15:57

I'd just like to put in a plug for supporting the BluOS controller app on Linux. All of my home computers run Linux Mint 18.1, which is closely related to Ubuntu, and my work-at-home machine is running RedHat Enterprise Linux 7.6. I realize it's a niche market, but it's growing, and I bet it's pretty similar to MacOS under the covers.

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  Sukant Hajra

  • October 30, 2023 00:48

  @Fabrice A, thanks for the clarification.  I realized that I was too hasty in copying your code.  I looked at your build steps more closely, and I realized that electron-builder is a userland application that's independent from the version of electron that gets packaged in.  I'm not even using electron-builder.  It's an interesting program, though, because it seems like it can build a lot more than just AppImages.  Ostensibly, Bluesound could use it to make all kinds of targets.

  Because I'm not using electron-builder, I was able to remove all the patching and icon stuff from my build.  That just left the following necessary modifications:

  1. setting up the analytics server logic correctly
  2. some text substitutions to convert the Darwin branch conditions to be for Linux.

  Otherwise, everything was just unpacking things and then repacking them.

  As for the version of Electron I'm pinning to, I'm just using the version coming in from the latest released version of NixOS.  It's not as current as the official latest, but I'm guessing it's fine.  As far as I can tell, the unpacked ASAR doesn't specify a version of Electron to use.  So you're probably getting some default provided by electron-builder.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latest of 27.0.2.

  Anyway, no requests for anything further.  Just leaving some breadcrumbs in case anyone is interested.

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  Sukant Hajra

  • October 30, 2023 20:37

  Seems like we barely got to 4.0.1, and we got a new release.  I packaged up v4.0.2 for Nix.   The repo has guides on Nix if you're interested.

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  Fabrice A

  • November 01, 2023 10:06

  Hi, BluOS published a new version v4.0.2 of the controller, for which I just pushed the patch. To reproduce a build locally, follow the steps in the app-image build job [1].
  Or you can download the AppImage built by the pipeline [2].

  [1] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/blob/main/.gitlab-ci.yml#L15
  [2] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/packages

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  Fabrice A

  • December 02, 2023 18:12

  I just pushed the patch for the new version v4.2.0 at the usual place.

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  Jonathan Anderson

  • December 02, 2023 20:47

  Thanks Fabrice!

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  Reagan

  • December 03, 2023 17:25

  @Fabrice A - As always, thank you so much for pushing this through. Works like a charm!

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  koj

  • January 17, 2024 13:15

  Hi All !!

  Thanks for the amazing job done so far !!!
  Is there a way to get the snap instead of the AppImage? Is there a way to build it ?

  Regards

  Koj

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  Fabrice A

  • January 17, 2024 19:11

  @koj according to https://www.electron.build/configuration/linux , I suppose you could try :

  yarn run electron-builder -l snap 
  

  instead of https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/blob/main/.gitlab-ci.yml#L51

   

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  Fabrice A

  • February 02, 2024 17:38
  • Edited

  Hi, BluOS published a new version v4.2.1 of the controller, for which I just pushed the patch. To reproduce a build locally, follow the steps in the app-image build job [1].
  Or you can download the AppImage built by the pipeline [2].

  [1] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/blob/main/.gitlab-ci.yml#L15
  [2] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/packages

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  Reagan

  • February 04, 2024 20:54

  Thanks a lot @Fabrice A! The AppImage is working great for me.

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  Fabrice A

  • June 14, 2024 18:20

  Hi, BluOS published a new version v4.4.0 of the controller, for which I just pushed the patch. To reproduce a build locally, follow the steps in the app-image build job [1].
  Or you can download the AppImage built by the pipeline [2].
  This time, there are even Release Notes [3]

  [1] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/blob/main/.gitlab-ci.yml#L15
  [2] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/packages
  [3] https://support.bluos.net/hc/en-us/articles/18663381938071-Desktop-Windows-macOS-BluOS-Controller-App-4-4-0

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  Reagan

  • June 14, 2024 20:45

  Works beautifully! Thanks as always...

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  Ben Simons

  • June 17, 2024 02:52

  Same - v4.4.0 downloaded  & running.  Thanks Fabrice!

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  Fabrice A

  • August 31, 2024 18:42

  Hi, BluOS published a new version v4.4.1 of the controller, for which I just pushed the patch. To reproduce a build locally, follow the steps in the app-image build job [1].
  Or you can download the AppImage built by the pipeline [2].
  This time also, there are Release Notes [3]

  [1] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/blob/main/.gitlab-ci.yml#L15
  [2] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/packages
  [3] https://support.bluos.net/hc/en-us/articles/18663381938071-Desktop-Windows-macOS-BluOS-Controller-App-4-4-1
  
  

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  Reagan

  • September 01, 2024 10:58

  Thanks! :-)

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  Joep Janssen

  • September 01, 2024 12:33

  Many thanks again, works fine!

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  Josh Ellithorpe

  • September 12, 2024 06:54

  I wonder if Bluesound will ever officially support this. Seems the work has already been done, and it has been reliable for MANY releases now.
  
  Any word from their support or dev teams?

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  Josh Ellithorpe

  • September 12, 2024 07:38

  Just a heads up, added an AUR package for Arch Linux users. Let me know if you have any issues.
  
  https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/bluos-controller-appimage

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  Yrew

  • December 14, 2024 18:27

  @Fabrice A thank you so much for this. I thought opening a topic started five years ago would not yield any results. Downloaded the image from the pipeline. It worked flawlessly. 

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  Fabrice A

  • January 30, 2025 16:03

  Hi, BluOS published a new version v4.8.0 of the controller, for which I just pushed the patch. To reproduce a build locally, follow the steps in the app-image build job [1].
  Or you can download the AppImage built by the pipeline [2].
  For the list of changes, see the Release Notes [3]

  [1] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/blob/main/.gitlab-ci.yml#L16
  [2] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/packages
  [3] https://support.bluos.net/hc/en-us/articles/29477575009303-Desktop-Windows-macOS-BluOS-Controller-App-4-8-0

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  Reagan

  • January 30, 2025 20:15

  @Fabrice A - Thanks a lot for posting this. Oddly enough, upon opening the newly built version of the application, it gives me a popup message saying a newer version 4.8.0 of the application is available despite me running version 4.8.0 of the application that you just realised.

  

  

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  Alain DW

  Lossless

  • January 31, 2025 05:10

  Yes, I noticed this too. Strange.

  For me, the AppImage works faster than the original in WINE too.

  Kudos for this great work.

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  Fabrice A

  • January 31, 2025 11:52

  The popup message about a newer version 4.8.0 is indeed not expected, I'll have a look when time permits.

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  Fabrice A

  • February 01, 2025 10:24

  Thanks for having reported the issue.

  I think this should be fixed now. I moved the tag, removed the previous file from the package registry. The fixed artifact can be found at [1]. For details about the issue,see [2].

  [1] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/packages
  [2] https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux/-/issues/7
  
  

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  Reagan

  • February 03, 2025 22:35

  Thanks a lot! Works like a charm now...

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  Paul S

  • February 04, 2025 07:46

  Thank you!

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  arnosp

  • April 02, 2025 13:05

  Thank you !!! I take long time from my ubuntu, why bluesound developpers didnot do that ??

   

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  Ben Simons

  • July 12, 2025 02:36

  Dear Bluesound, 

  If you read this channel, would you pls respond with an explanation: why leave this work for Fabrice?  Would "linux support" improve Communications & Marketing?   https://bluos.io/bluos-app/

   

  Meantime . . . 

  Dear Fabrice, 

  It looks like version 4.10 is available, whereas the release on gitlab is at 4.8

  https://gitlab.com/fabrice.aeschbacher/bluos-controller-linux

  are there any features in 4.10 worth making an update?
  with thanks,

  b.

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  Josh Ellithorpe

  • July 12, 2025 02:45

  It would be great to get an updated version, or some docs on how to create the latest version for Linux ourselves. =)

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  Fabrice A

  • July 13, 2025 06:56

  @Ben Simons thanks for telling about the new version. It is my intention to try to create the package for v4.10 when time permits. I'll post here when ready.

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