Added option for multiple RFID Readers

[ProchaskaMarkus]

Issue #760
To use it, the two files Reader.py and RegisterDevice.py must be replaced with the *py..Multi files.

If you activate multiple RFID readers it´s e.g. possible to read Card and "Figure" RFID parallel.

[MiczFlor]

Hi @ProchaskaMarkus
very interesting. You say "Card and 'Figure' RFID parallel". What RFID readers are you using?
I am wondering how this will affect the special Reader.py scripts. Is it easy to implement it accross board? Look at this script for example:
https://github.com/MiczFlor/RPi-Jukebox-RFID/blob/develop/scripts/Reader.py.experimental
Here, the class Reader(object) is only one of many classes

[ProchaskaMarkus]

Hi,
I use two USB readers at the same time, so I took the Reader.py as a basis. But of course I can also try to change the Reader.py.experimental accordingly.

[s-martin]

Hi Markus 🙋‍♂️

Cool enhancement, so I could upgrade my Phoniebox to figures without soldering 😀

Does this also work with single readers? Then we could think about to merge your improvements into the original files in the future.
Having it in the same files would improve maintainability.

[ProchaskaMarkus]

Hey s-martin,
it also works with only one USB reader. I have now also implemented parallel reading for the Reader.py.experimental. Unfortunately I don't have a non-USB reader. I have seen that the readers are inserted manually in the function get_devices().

def get_devices():
    devices = [InputDevice(fn) for fn in list_devices()]
    devices.append(NonUsbDevice('MFRC522'))
    devices.append(NonUsbDevice('RDM6300'))
    devices.append(NonUsbDevice('PN532'))
    return devices

If this is necessary, are those not listed by list_devices()? How are they added with RegisterDevice() then? Or do I have to write it manually in the deviceName.txt file?

[s-martin]

If this is necessary, are those not listed by list_devices()? How are they added with RegisterDevice() then? Or do I have to write it manually in the deviceName.txt file?

Yes, list_devices only returns USB devices, but no devices connected via GPIO interface. That's the reason why those are added manually.

[ProchaskaMarkus]

I have now created the script Reader.py.experimental.Multi based on the Reader.py.experimental. With this script you can read from several USB devices and non-USB readers. I have also changed the registerDevice.py.Multi so that non-USB devices can be added.

[ProchaskaMarkus]

@MiczFlor

Hi @ProchaskaMarkus
very interesting. You say "Card and 'Figure' RFID parallel".

The following link describes the use case with two readers. One reader for the rfid figures and one for rfid cards.
#5 (comment)

[MiczFlor]

Hi @ProchaskaMarkus
I like the work you did. And I think this might well become the default use in Phoniebox - once it's been tested enough.
Could you write a wiki page (or a few lines here, I will make the wiki page then) on how to make use of your scripts? Because nobody would know this option exists.
The second step would be to add the option to the install script
Thirs step would be to drop the single reader options. Which would be needed soon, otherwise we have to maintain to separate scripts with the almost identical code.

[ProchaskaMarkus]

Hey, I will write the text for the Wiki the next days.
I added the Multi-Reader script to the buster-install-default.sh as an extra option.
Furthermore, I implemented the setup of the non-USB readers directly into the Python script. I am not sure if this is a good idea or not. What do you think?