README.md

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

2. for general Raspi configurations use

   sudo raspi-config

3. install mpd and mpc

   sudo apt install mpd

   sudo apt install mpc

4. determine the audio output device

   aplay -l

   hw[2,0] <- card 2, device 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:2,0"
   }

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

11. the Raspberry Pi is now set up and should be ready to use

Autostart

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

   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

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