[Wylug-discuss] [MASSMAIL] Not wanting to start a distro war

[Gary Stainburn]

On Wednesday 17 February 2016 16:43:29 David Morris wrote:
> Hi Gary,
>
> On 15 February 2016 at 16:04, Gary Stainburn
> <gary.stainburn at ringways.co.uk>
>
> wrote:
> > MAX2PLAY
>
> This sounds like a great setup - do you ever get to the wylug meetups? Last
> Monday of the month usually. 

It's probably 10 years or more since I've attended a meeting.  Nearer 20 
probably since I gave a presentation. Unfortunately, living the other side of 
York now doesn't help matters.

> I'd be really interested to hear how the Pis 
> perform for Kodi and pick your brains on how your whole setup works!

Setting up the server was very simple.  It consists of a pi, in a HifiBerry 
case (which oddly enough doesn't have the holes in the right place for a 
HifiBerry card), the HifiBerry DAC+ card, a 64GB USB stick and a power 
supply.

You download the image for the SD card, put everything together and boot up.  
The configuration of the server is a doddle and a simple case of following 
the prompts.  I decided to put all my music on the external USB stick so that 
(a) I can remove it and plug it in to other computers if required and (b) 
reduce the risk (and effect) of either filesystem becoming corrupt.

WIFI is flakey at home at the moment so it in combination with 
ethernet-over-power adaptors which work fantastic until they need a reboot, 
which is about every 2 weeks.

The players are using PiCorePlayer which uses a read-only filesystem. This 
means that you don't have to worry about bootup / shutdown. Living in the 
sticks where power can also be flakey this is a good thing.

I have a UPS PICO board protecting my Domoticz server, and will be installing 
one in my media server when it arrives  tomorrow.

I currently have all of the players grouped so they all play the same music 
all the time. We then just the speakers on / off in the rooms we want to 
listen. This is done using the Domoticz server and radio controlled plugins.  
LightwaveRF are the cheapest option.

>
> With the max2play server do you control the music from your phone or have
> you installed a screen somewhere?

You can control each of the players (or groups) using a web browser, or using 
IPhone or Android Apps.  We use the latter on our phones and tablets. 
Squeezer is our preferred choice.  

> What sort of speakers do you have plugged into the HIFIBerry DAC cards? 

We already had 2x BOSE Dock Series II units at home, as well as a BOSE stacker 
system in the lounge.  These combined with the HifiBerry DAC+ board gives 
exceptional sound quality.  The on-board audio jack was fine for testing but 
not up the job in production.

There are some excellent projects online using the HifiBerry AMP+ boards wired 
directly into speakers which you may like to have a look at.

> Do 
> you use wifi on the pis to get them to connect back to your max2play
> server? 

Once my new router arrives I am going to experiment with going back to all 
WIFI connections, but for now that isn't possible.  

I use a combination of ethernet-over-power modules and WIFI extender units.   
The EOP kit is excellent apart from the fact that after a while the units 
crash and need a reboot.

The server and the lounge player use EOP. The others, including the portable 
unit I'm working on, use WIFI.

> Do you put the Pi in some sort of enclosure in the bedrooms? 

With the WifiBerry card attached they don't fit inside a standard Pi case. 
HiFiBerry do their own cases which are big enough.  They also have snap off 
edges to open up the case.  Unfortunately, these edges do not relate to the 
ports on the HifiBerry DAC+ (they look like they're for the  AMP+ board) so 
some delicate drilling is required.

I do not know if the HifiBerry DAC+ and the UPS PICO will be compatible until 
I try it.  HifiBerry are ver vague on the subject.  I am hoping that (a) they 
will play nicely, and (b) still fit inside the HifiBerry case.

Before I purchased these bigger cases I just had the Pi's sitting on the 
floor / shelf etc. with no issues.  The supports that come with the add-on 
board make everything very secure.

If anyone has experience of using the TinyCore setup, which these players are 
based on I'd love some advice.  My aim is to connect up the CamJam EduKit2 
sensors to the players.  I'm working on the physical aspect now, but adding 
bespoke software to the TinyCore setup seems a little complicated.

>
> Do you use your setup only for audio or also for streaming video?

I have an OSMC box set up under my lounge telly using the HDMI port for live 
streaming. I first set it up to watch a film on YouTube.  Although that 
didn't work (I ended up connecting the TV to my laptop) I left it in place.

There is a plugin for OSMC which turns it into another player.  The sound 
quality through the TV is as good as through the BOSE.

I haven't used the other elements of the OSMC (re-badged KODI) box much so I 
can't comment on it too much.

>
> Thanks,

No prob's.  Another of the projects I want to work on is closer integration of 
the Squeezebox/LMS with Domoticz. The idea is that if I start playing music 
on a player, Domoticz will see this and check that the speakers are powered 
up - turning them on if they're not already powered up.

Next will be to include turning Radio 2 on as well as the daylight alarm that 
I already have.  Daylight alarms are lamps that turn on dim and slowly get 
brighter.

>
> David



-- 
Gary Stainburn
Group I.T. Manager
Ringways Garages
http://www.ringways.co.uk