mira

Minimalist Internet Radio

(date of creation: February 2024)

This is a project to implement our own internet radio for everyday use. We created a simple GUI with a status line for the currently played song and radio station, a title bar with date, time and the current signal strength and eight buttons with configurable radio stations.

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The program was built and tested for following hardware and software components:

Software:

• Python version: 3.12.2
• Raspberry Pi OS (based on Debian 12 (Bookworm))

Hardware:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
• Display: Waveshare 4.3inch DSI LCD Capacitive Touch Screen Display 800x480 Resolution IPS Wide Angle Monitor for Raspberry Pi 4B/3B+/3A+/3B/2B/B+/A+ (any touch-sensitive display for Raspberry Pi 4 should work, but some may need further configurations within Raspberry Pi OS)
• HiFiBerry DAC+ (any HiFiBerry should work, but configuration of the Raspberry Pi OS will vary, see step-by-step guide/HiFiBerry)

If you need help setting up mira on your own Raspberry Pi please refer to the step-by-step guide below for detailed instructions.

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Step-by-step guide

Setup:

1. Install Raspberry Pi OS with an imager on an SD-Card

   • using the Raspberry Pi OS Lite image (no desktop environment)
   • using mira as username

2. Install packages

   sudo apt install mpd
   sudo apt install mpc
   sudo apt instal python3-guizero
   sudo apt install xinit
   

3. Edit config of X server

   sudo nano /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config
   

   edit the following line to allow any users

   allowed_users=anybody
   

4. Determine the audio output device

   aplay -l
   

   search for the correct card, e.g.:

   card 3: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplus], device 0: HiFiBerry DAC+ HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0 [HiFiBerry DAC+ HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0]
   Subdevices: 0/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   

5. Edit config of mpd

   sudo nano /etc/mpd.conf
   

   uncomment the following and edit the device according to step 4

   audio_output {  
      type          "alsa"  
      name          "My ALSA Device"  
      device        "hw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0"  
   }
   

   see also man 5 mpd.conf

6. Enable mpd in systemctl

   sudo systemctl enable mpd
   

   check if mpd is enabled

   sudo systemctl status mpd
   

7. Start or restart mpd in systemctl

   sudo systemctl start mpd
   

   sudo systemctl restart mpd
   

8. Test mpc and mpd

   mpc clear
   

   mpc add [Radio-URL]
   

   mpc play
   

9. When test complete, stop playing

   mpc stop
   

10. Download all mira files and copy them to your directory of choice.

Autostart without desktop environment

1. Review and adapt the paths in mira.service

2. Create systemd service

   sudo systemctl enable /home/mira/Github/mira/mira.service
   

3. Start the service

   sudo systemctl start mira
   

Autostart with Wayland desktop environment

1. Create a .sh file (example: ~/launch_mira.sh) with the following content

   #!/usr/bin/sh  
   sleep 5  
   /usr/bin/python ~/Github/mira/mira.py --fullscreen  (the file path depends on where mira was copied to)
   

2. Edit wayfire file

   sudo nano ~/.config/wayfire.ini
   

   add a section at the end

   [autostart]  
   (name) = path of file to be run on startup
   

3. Save and exit

4. Reboot the Raspberry Pi

HifiBerry driver setup (if required)

1. For available driver modules run

   ls -l /boot/firmware/overlays/hifiberry*
   

2. Add the driver module to the firmware config

   sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
   

   and add to section [all]:

   dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus
   

   (the module that matches your specific HAT model)

3. Save and exit

4. Reboot the Raspberry Pi

5. Repeat steps 4, 5 and 7 of Setup

Optional configuration

Disable WiFi and Bluetooth

1. open the firmware config file

   sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
   

2. Find the section

   # Additional overlays and parameters are documented
   # /boot/firmware/overlays/README
   

3. Add the following lines

   dtoverlay=disable-wifi
   dtoverlay=disable-bt
   

4. Save and exit

5. Reboot the Raspberry Pi

For general Raspi configurations use

sudo raspi-config

Adjust output level of Dac+

sudo alsamixer

To permanently save the settings run:

sudo alsactl store

Configure screen off timeout

create the file

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/screensaver.conf

add the following content to the file to disable the screen off timeout

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "BlankTime"  "0"
EndSection

see also man xorg.conf