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Small media player with squeezelite/slave

Tobias Scharmann

November 05, 2014 09:55

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Hi there,

I want to share a little media player project, where I basically used other people's ideas and tied them together to
give a Squeezebox player including a display and remote control functionality.

I was very impressed with this project and wanted to make a squeezebox version of it.

Now I am using the squeezelite clone by Machack (see here and here, that brings the squeezeslave GUI code into squeezelite. The latter seems to me a VERY stable player, but without the GUI functionality
it is lacking the ability to even display what music is being played. The clone mentioned above fixed this and
also offers the chance to even control the player locally (at least changing the volume and a play/stop function
would be appreciated).

I did not have to worry about the squeezbox server, as my NAS device comes with this functionality included.
So the raspberry only needs to act as a client.

In addition, the installation and configuration of LCDproc (for the LCD display) and lirc (for the support of a
remote control) were needed. For LCDproc, this is a good source of information.

Et voilà, it's running now and comes as a very compact box.

Hifiberry-wise I am using a DAC+ on a raspberry b+. As you can see I added a 40pin male header to the DAC+ (thank you
for providing the space for it) to use various GPIOs to connect the IR diode and the LCD diplay. Also in the case is
a switching 5V power supply that is connected to the DAC (which in turn powers the raspberry here). I had to re-assign some GPIOs as the standard configuration in LCDd and lirc would be conflicting with the DAC+. In both cases there
are config files so re-assigning is quite easy.

The OS is a current Raspbian.

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33 comments

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team November 05, 2014 15:07

  Wow, I'm extremely impressed by this. Did you design the frontplate by yourself? Where did you buy the enclosure?
  
  Best regards
  Daniel
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann November 05, 2014 21:42

  Hi Daniel - thanks for your kind words.
  
  The enclosure is this. It is the same that was used in the project shown on the Crazy Audio blog I referred to.
  
  I replaced the front and rear plate by pieces machined by Schaeffer AG to my specs. That's not really cheap, but they do very precise work.
• 0
  
  Jesper November 06, 2014 19:23

  Oh my... I feel deeply honoured my device having been an inspiration for that! The only thing that's bugging me now is that you took away my chance of building this first as I've actually been planning to build something almost just like this. Anyways, now you can be the one that's an inspiration in return!
  
  The device I'm planning on should be in that same enclosure again and should also have a display. I'd like to stick to using Volumio, I'm really liking the Spotify integration it has since V1.5. Also a Volume knob - or buttons if using this one http://www.adafruit.com/product/1110 could be an option.
  
  I've also had stuff made by Schaeffer AG from Berlin when I built my 3 channel Hypex amp, the software they provide is really easy to use and the work they do is not cheap - but good.
  
  So, questions:
  - What's the power supply you used? Looks like Meanwell.. which one..?
  - What's the display you used?
  - What are these cables called you've been using for the connection between the 40 pin header and the display? If you're from Germany (wildly guessing you are..) the German name + maybe even a link to the Conrad page would be super helpful.
  - Would you be willing to upload / send me the Schaeffer Front Designer file?
  
  Thanks, Jesper
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann November 06, 2014 21:56

  Hi Jesper,
  
  how nice to meet you here - as I'm not on Facebook I couldn't easily reach you in reaction to your post on crazy-audio.
  
  Yes, I am from Germany, but actually I didn't buy from Conrad - their standard domestic method of shipment "Warensendung" annoys me to no end - Deutsche Post sometimes takes ages to deliver these while a standard parcel via DHL will reach you in 1-2 business days with a minimal price difference ...
  
  Anyways - to your questions:
  
  Power supply: Really a Meanwell RS-15 - available from reichelt.de as SNT RS 15 5
  Display: a Standard 16x2 LCD like the one that come with the adafruit 1110 plate you mentioned. I bought mine here The PCB only just fits behind the front plate of the case. BTW - this is an intereting shop for displays.
  Cables: simple female/female Jumper cables that are normally used for breadboard Projects like here.
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann November 06, 2014 22:06

  ... continued ...
  
  Plates from Schaeffer: Here is a .rar file with the front and back plate data. The bolts mounted to the back side of the front plate make the installation of the display very clean and easy.
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann November 07, 2014 15:11

  BTW Jesper, I have one front plate to spare (one that doesn't have a hole for the IR diode). Just in case you are interested ...
  
  Kind regards Tobias.
• 0
  
  Jesper November 08, 2014 16:50

  Hey Tobias,
  
  I'm definitely interested, maybe Daniel can exchange our email-adresses?
  
  thanks, Jesper
• 0
  
  Francis De Croes November 09, 2014 20:09

  My compliments, looks like a fantastic setup to me ! You dont "give" away the wiring diagram for the display by any chanse ? Thanx many times in advance !
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann November 10, 2014 00:08

  Hi Francis,
  
  the link I gave for the LCDproc config in the first post can help you.
  Here you can find this table:
  
  # Recommended wiring to match defaults in LCDd:
  # Signal LCD_Pin RaspberryPi_Pin
  # GND 1 P1-06
  # +5V 2 P1-02
  #
  # Contrast 3 P1-06 (for maximum contrast}
  # (or for adjustable contrast)
  # Contrast 3 to wiper of 10K pot, other legs to +5V & GND
  #
  # RS 4 P1-26
  # RW 5 P1-06
  # E 6 P1-24
  # Data 4 11 P1-22
  # Data 5 12 P1-18
  # Data 6 13 P1-16
  # Data 7 14 P1-12
  # BL 15 connect to +5V through a 10-600 ohm resistor
  # for desired brightness
  # GND 16 P1-06
  
  The only problem is GPIO 12 - hifiberry is using it already.
  I re-assigned this line to GPIO 11 (pin 17)
  
  The complete layout of the P1 connector of the Raspi B+ can be found in this thread.
• 0
  
  f0rd.prefect November 10, 2014 00:40

  hi,
  nice work.
  I'm wondering if this would be a good thing for my children (XMAS?). But I'm a little bit concerned about corruption of the sdcard, in case they simple poweroff the device.
  I like the idea of piCoPlayer. But this has no local display and no support for irc too.
  Does at least the menu provide a shutdown option, so it can be done by remote control?
  Any other idea?
  greetings
  /H.
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann November 10, 2014 09:22

  Hi f0rd.p,
  
  negative - squeezeslave is about emulating a squeezebox classic and that is/was an always-on device.
  The original squeezebox will power the LCD down when in stand-by, but there is not shutdown function.
  Unfortunately, in my client I cannot power down the backlight of the LCD. LCDd (LCDproc) would support
  this, but squeezeslave obviously doesn't send the corresponding commands.
  
  I have had my little box running for more than a week (not streaming all the time, but "up") - it appears
  to run fully stable. I have also simply "pulled the plug" a number of times and had no problems on
  reboot - I guess I was lucky. What I do is write an image of the SD card to my PC once I am happy with the
  installation. As this is only the client (no music files or playlists on board), it would be an easy fix.
  
  Greetings, Tobias.
• 0
  
  Martijn November 12, 2014 14:41

  Hallo @Tobias, Great build and thanks for providing the details!
  
  @jbl Will you be sharing your upcomming build on this forum and provide details on wiring and components?
• 0
  
  Martijn November 13, 2014 13:14

  @jbl would you be willing to document your build, so it will be easy to replicate?
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann March 11, 2015 23:46

  Hi again,
  
  here is a little update with another device I just finished.
  
  It is basically using the same squeezelite/squeezeslave installation, but this time I used the
  raspberry A+ together with an Amp+ and integrated two small loudspeakers + TRS jacks (Klinkenbuchsen)
  to attach separate speakers (and switch off the internal ones).
  
  I used adhesive foam mats on the inside of the aluminum case so the sound with the internal Speakers
  is a bit better than your average transistor radio. :-)
  
  Here's a few Pictures:
  
  
  
  
  
  Cheers, Tobias
• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team March 12, 2015 06:01

  Wow, this is very impressive :-)
• 0
  
  Jesper March 12, 2015 22:06

  Indeed impressive, once again an amazing piece of work.
  
  And again a couple questions on your built:
  - Which Meanwell PSU did you use?
  - What's the enclosure?
  - How did you get around getting access to the GPIO pins on top of the HifiBerry amp? Desoldering the orginal connector and replacing it with what..?
  
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann March 13, 2015 00:01

  Hi,
  
  thanks again for the kind words.
  
  I used the Meanwell RS35 15V, 36W this time.
  
  The enclosure is this (same Chinese maker than last time).
  
  Indeed I removed the original connector (by destroying the plastic connector and desoldering the Pins individually).
  I replaced it with a stacking header, where long pins are sticking out on the top side of the Amp+.
  As stated here before, this is not recommended by hifiberry, but if you work carefully it works.
  
  Cheers, Tobias
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann March 13, 2015 12:41

  One thing I should maybe add:
  
  The speaker connectors I first used didn't work in this setup. The sleeve contact of the TRS sockets that carries the "-" signal to the speakers was grounded to the metal case in the connector.
  
  Also the ground contact from the power supply was of course connected to the metal case. Obviously this was a bad idea. I replaced the connectors with a type that is isolated against the case.
  
  Cheers, Tobias.
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann March 14, 2015 15:12

  Two pics with better lighting.
  
  
  
  
• 0
  
  Munich March 14, 2015 22:31

  Hi Tobias,
  great projects and very nice pictures.
  I am currently struggling with squeezelite on my raspberry, too. I would like to set it up to be controlled via GPIO - Lirc and a remote control.
  Could you please give some more details or internet links how do set Lirc up to steer squeezelite respectively Logitech Media Server / Squeezebox Server?
  Best regards
• 0
  
  Samuel Darby March 15, 2015 13:07

  @Munich - I have setup Squeezelite v1.8 with lirc, but not using Squeezeslave. Some of this may help you.
  
  After reading Stefans post on this forum I started with the Adafruit hardware section but chose pin 23 to avoid conflict with HiFiBerry. This is configured in config.txt (for 3.18 kernel):
  
  

  device_tree_overlay=lirc-rpi
  device_tree_param=gpio_in_pin=23

  
  
  
  
  
  I installed lirc, stopped the lirc daemon and tested the IR config using as per alexba.in advice:
  
  mode2 /dev/lirc0
  
  I compiled squeezelite v1.8 and included the IR support (needs a few devel dependencies installed first):
  
  

  git clone https://code.google.com/p/squeezelite/
  cd squeezelite
  OPTS=-DIR make

  
  
  
  I downloaded the lirc config file for the squeezebox:
  
  wget http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/slim_devices/Squeezebox3
  
  Then squeezelite sends the IR commands to the squeezeserver for this player:
  
  ./squeezelite -I Squeezebox3
  
  Getting this to work maybe distro specific, I prototyped this on Raspbian but then moved to archlinux (using docker containers) for my actual installations.
• 0
  
  Samuel Darby March 15, 2015 13:30

  I forgot one important step, but editing my post seems to be disabled after a few mins. lircd needs to be running along side squeezelite, the logfiles will show connections between both processes. lircd uses the squeezebox remote config file that I downloaded. I haven't worked out why both lircd and squeezelite both need to see this config file yet:
  
  lircd Squeezebox3
  
  Also, I did not yet get these running on startup because I plan to use supervisor to run inside a docker container instead of init.d or similar.
• 0
  
  Munich March 15, 2015 17:48

  Thank you very much for the fast response.
  
  What do you mean with "and included the IR support" into the compilation of squeezelite, what do I have to do?
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann March 15, 2015 21:12

  Hi Munich,
  
  that's why I used this squeezelite clone.
  It includes the GUI code from squeezeslave - that way you can use LCDd and lirc for adding an LCD and
  an IR sensor. I didn't use squeezeslave itself. I tried to explain in the very first post of this thread.
  
  Cheers Tobias.
• 0
  
  Ian Badcock March 20, 2015 14:10

  Tobias,
  
  I have been following your original Squeezelite player with great interest, thank you very much for all your hard work. I am currently following a similar project along the same lines. However, would you be able to tell me where you sourced the lens for the IR receiver and the IR receiver itself.
  
  Thank you very much, Ian
  
• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann April 01, 2015 17:43

  Hi Ian, sorry for the late reply.
  
  I used the TSOP4838 sensor (available from many suppliers and also via ebay) and NO extra lens.
  I just prepared a hole in the case were the lens-shaped part of the housing of the component will fit
  (try 4.7 mm) and fixed the component to the case with tape.
  
  Cheers Tobias
• 0
  
  Ulrich Bock February 14, 2016 22:16

  Hi Tobias,

  I am using a Raspberry Pi 2 and would like to copy your approach with Squeezelite and lcdproc. Unfortunately I do not get lcdproc running on the Pi2. I followed http://ncid.sourceforge.net/lcdncid/INSTALL-LCDproc-Raspbian.html and I know that some GPIO addresses changed on the Pi2 compared with the B+. Therefore I used the latest hd44780 driver but nothing works up to now. Did you accidently also try your approach on a Pi 2 and do you therefore have some hints for me? Are there some problems with GPIO overlaps with the Hifiberry? I used the following GPIO connections:

  D7=15
  D6=23
  D5=24
  D4=25
  RS=7
  EN=8

  Cheers

  Uli

• 0
  
  Tobias Scharmann February 14, 2016 23:56

  Hi Uli,

  I haven't try to run this image on a raspberry 2 yet. But I have one at hand and will try in the next days. I will get back to you then.

  Cheers, Tobias.

• 0
  
  vjoxyodo June 08, 2016 21:43

  Hi Tobias,

  You can connect the power switch to 220V cable with a female plug?  Something like this:

   

  http://sc01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1BCF2JFXXXXX8XpXXq6xXFXXXe/Shenzhen-Kuncan-Female-220V-Power-Plug-3.jpg_200x200.jpg 

   

  I'm projecting using the power supply to connect to a 5v LCD but use I2C to reduce the usage of GPIO, this assembled with a DAC + and Raspberry 2/3.

   

  By the way great project, that is inspiring me doing something similiar :)

• 0
  
  vjoxyodo June 09, 2016 20:13

  Hello again,

  I'm trying to consolidate what you said in other post. So you soldered the 40 pin in the DAC+, and also juice with 5V from the power switch. So the DAC + automatically switches to 3.3V? And how you add power to Raspberry? Im a bit confused with this, since this way you'll have 3 things to feed with energy, 2 of them with 5v from the power switch and 3.3V are coming from where?

  Can you help me and enlight me about this?

   

   

  Thanks in advanced