Snakeoil Activation
As audiophiles, how many times have we read unknown/random people on the Internet post how Audiophiles are spending tens of thousands on Audiophile Snakeoil.
Rants like "a fool's and their money are soon parted", deragtory terms like "audiophool". Judgmental people on the Internet will also judge.
Pick Your Poison
"You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth."
- Morpheus
Take the blue pill, and you get to live in a world with rules created by others who think they know better. You'll be buying off the shelf equipment and loudspeakers. Everything competently designed, engineered and architect to perfection. You live in the world, believing what they want you to believe - flat frequency response, diminishing total harmonic distortions.
Take the blue pill, you may go so deep down this rabiit hole, and begin to challenge every fundamental thing you think you know about audio and hifi. If you are the chosen one, you may even gain the power to seemingly defy physics, and in turn see the audio world from the outside in. Take the blue pill, you have the power to make your rules!
There is no right or wrong. Both blue and red are equally valid and correct. Regardless the choice, you are only trying to take a shot at getting happiness.
Free Edition
The free edition is the stable version of Snakeoil. This provides everything you need to get music playback working. Much like the matrix, this is a safe environment, a known environment. An environment where everything is logical, and everything makes sense.
The free edition is the red pill.
Activated Edition
The rabbit hole, also known as the blue pill. Take this path, and you begin to venture into the unknown. Tweaks that isn't supposed to make a difference, just might.
- "Do not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."
- ―Spoon Boy to Neo
The activated edition will challenge everything you think you know about music.
What's the Difference Really?
That's some good marketing bullshit. So what's the difference really?
Activated edition simply exposes the tweaks via the Snakeoil WebApp. This means you can set/tweak your music PC from the comforts of a web browser. Without any Linux knowhow. The exact same things can still be acheived in the free edition, but from the more complex method - the command line.
Many of these tweaks are experimental. So activated edition can also be seen as a early adoption edition, a beta version where experiments are conducted.
Some of the features, when deemed stable, will made it's way into the free edition.
How To Activate?
To activate your Snakeoil OS, click on the green "Support Us" button at the top of the Snakeoil OS WebApp menu.
Input the registration information as is into the SnakeoilOS WebApp (case is sensitive) and click "Activate" to unlock the features listed above.
Please check your spam folder if you did not receive a response within this time frame. Contact me if you did not receive anything within 10 minutes. I'd try and respond within 24 hours. Do not confuse SnakeoilOS activation with SnakeoilOS forum activation. They are not the same.
You are free to reuse the activation code on as many machines as you like, including sharing the code with all your audiophile friends. This project is not for profit so there are no strings attached.
Donations are always welcome (and encouraged) but not compulsory. I do not expect to retire or live off from the "proceeds" of this project, but do not expect me to pay for the operating costs of the online presence.
If you are a retailer - you can even install SnakeoilOS on your gear and sell it (Just note the author of SnakeoilOS is not responsible for support, or any damage claim).
What Do The Snakeoil Squad Do With The Funds
SnakeoilOS is built entirely on open source software, and is thus free to use. Free to use doesn't imply poor sound quality. Give SnakeoilOS a go and you just might be pleasantly surprised at the things it can do.
Having said all the above, running a website costs money, ergo a token donation will be appreciated. Consider this an opportunity to "buy into" a snakeoil product. So far donations as little as $1 Australian Dollar is accepted by Paypal. Any donations will go into the operating costs of running this website, and surplus into buying testing gear.
After a donation, you should receive an email (tied to your Paypal) account with the details on how to activate your SnakeoilOS. Activation gives you additional configurations that hasn't been released to the general public yet:
- More than 1 mount points in the music tab
- More than 1 audio device in hardware tab
- Option to turn on/off LMS in software tab
- New Snakeoil tab with experimental features
- More to come.
This activation email should be in your inbox within 5 minutes after the Paypal donation.