Sonos Controller Installed In Linux OS

Because Sonos has releases the web app (play.sonos.com) there has been no new developments for the desktop app, They have essentially been abandoned in lieu of the web based version.

With the web app you are able to control your system from anywhere, if that interest you.

I had a friend successfully build & run my Sonos app on Ubuntu, just needed to install the .net 8 SDK on it:

https://github.com/amp64/openphonos

Thank you both for the input.  

Controlav, I’ll certainly check out the github.com path and see what that entails. 

Pools-3015, I am most definitely interested in the web app.  I opened the web app, signed in and It does work, sorta!  It seems to have a somewhat limited function set in that I can start playing music only with the iphone/ipad app.  But once the music starts I can control start/stop, skip and volume with the web app.  However, I haven’t figured out how (or if even possible) to access the music on the laptop and play it!

Do either of you know if it is possible to have the web app access music on the laptop?

Thank you.

You will have to setup a local shared folder. 
 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

I am not sure how to do that with your OS. The most reliable way for me is to use a NAS to store your music. I use Synology.

Haven’t used this one for a while, flatpak version should run on any Linux.

https://janbar.github.io/noson-app/

Thanks.  Setting up shared folders & NAS’s are total greek to me so it’s something I’ll have read up on and see if I can determine just how far above my level of incompetence they might be!  😱

Thanks.  I’ve tried three installs/uninstalls of Noson and so far no go!  Noson is never able to fine the Sonos “zone”, always returns “Action Can’t be preformed”.  

I’ll keep plugging way at it but if either of you have any other thoughts or comments they would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

If a flatpack install isn't finding your Sonos you likely have the firewall misconfigured or the Linux system is on the wrong network

Setting up the music library on Linux should be simple and covered in your distribution's setup guide under file sharing and SMB shares.

Doing it manually isn't hard, these should get you started.

https://stan-miller.livejournal.com/

Will check it out.  Thank you.

Hi grwren.

I regularly use both the Windows Sonos desktop controller running under wine on Linux as well as several native Linux apps.

For the Windows Sonos desktop controller on wine, I use the latest S1 version since my system is hybrid, hardware-wise. I have also used the S2 version in the past, and it worked well also. Sadly (dumb move, Sonos … ), the web app is incompatible with S1-based systems so I don’t use it. The main trick to making the windows desktop app work under wine is the timing of the installation of the dotNET winetrick (and which one).

As far as Linux applications, there are three that I’ve used. Unofficial Sonos Controller by Pascal Opitz is the one that most resembles the Windows desktop app. Pascal no longer actively maintains it, but an appimage version is still available on his github page and still works.

Jean-Luc Barrières’s (janbar) Noson desktop app IS actively maintained and works well. The interface is completely different than the Sonos Windows app, but almost all the functionality is there.

Finally, there are command-line options, if you’re interested in that. The one I’ve used is soco-cli (python-based) - it is surprisingly powerful.

That’s about it in a nutshell. Happy to help further if required. Cheers.

Hi grwren.

I regularly use both the Windows Sonos desktop controller running under wine on Linux as well as several native Linux apps.

Hi Rickkk and thanks for the response.  I’m glad to hear that you that you were able to get the Sonos desktop controller working in both Windows and Linux but unfortunately after a number of unsuccessful attempts I had no luck with Linux (Zorin).  I checked out the web app mentioned by Pools-3015 and it works well enough plus there is also the iphone and ipad apps.  Also it does appear that Sonos is cutting development and support for the desktop controller in favor of the web app so it just made sense to me.

Thanks again.

Hi grwren,

Apologies for my late reply - I don’t log in here very often. From what I gather from your reply, your Sonos hardware is recent enough for you to use the web app, which will work on most browsers, irrespective of the operating system. That’s good news.

If ever you decide to explore using the Windows version of the Sonos controller on linux (using Wine) and require assistance - let me know and I’d be glad to help. Same goes for the native linux apps I mentioned earlier.

Cheers,

RIck

I used to use the native apps, replaced them with the web controller and it is far less effort.

When the Sonos web app came out, I was also hoping to use it, however I soon discovered (to my surprise and disappointment) that it is incompatible with S1-only Sonos devices, of which my systems are primarily composed … So, alas, I am still using both the S1 Windows app on linux under Wine and also the native linux apps. Perhaps one day Sonos will render the web app backward-compatible with all of its classes of hardware …

Cheers,

Rick

I’m not sure why lack of support for S1 on the web app would be surprising. Sonos has always stated that S1 would not get any new features.

Hey Danny,

I suppose that compatibility between the web app and S1 hardware *could* be considered a “new feature”, although I myself don’t consider it to be. I see it more as using a different access method to control all existing features of my device. The native linux apps I have mentioned earlier have no restriction concerning the hardware version of the Sonos device (Gen 1, 2 … S1 or S2 … whatever) … they just work and offer all the functionality of the Sonos controller apps. I find it odd that Sonos has found it necessary for the S1/S2 split when it comes to compatibility with their controller software ….

Cheers,

Rick

S1 and S2 software are not the same.  There is no reason to think that a controller built and tested for S2 would automatically work for S1.  And there is no reason to think Sonos would spend time accommodating the controller to work with S1 when the specifically committed to not doing this.

Even if the possibly that certain features of the web app were compatible with S1 without any effort from Sonos at this point, I would expect them to block any S1 access just to avoid any illusion that it is supported, and the headache involved from S1 users looking for support, and repercussions from any future changes that may or may not work with S1.

S1 and S2 at the upup-api level are almost the same, that’s why many third party apps easily work on both.

However the web app needs the players to run a lot more code and new web apis, and S1 players only have the very earliest api set (1.18) whereas S2 devices run 3.4 currently. Sonos gave up with the web api on S1 devices long ago.

Thanks Rickkkk, no problem about being late, and thanks to all others who have joined in this discussion, it’s appreciated.  However, as for my part, I’m going to back out of this because as it turns out the iphone and ipad Sonos app is so simple and works so well I just simply don’t use the Sonos controller on my W11 laptop that much nor would I likely use it that much on my Linux laptop, even if I could get it to work! 

So with that, thank you all very much for your help, I’m out.