Raspberry Pi Internet Radio

Constructors Manual

A comprehensive guide to building Internet radios using the Raspberry Pi

Bob Rathbone Computer Consultancy

www.bobrathbone.com
6th of January 2019

Version 6.9
Contents

Chapter 1 - Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1

Document Overview ........................................................................................................................... 3
Quick links ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Examples ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Vintage Radio Conversion ................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 2 - Hardware overview ............................................................................................................ 10
Raspberry Pi computer ..................................................................................................................... 10
Raspberry Pi Zero and Pi Zero W ...................................................................................................... 11
The HD44870 LCD display ................................................................................................................. 11
Touch-screens ................................................................................................................................... 12
Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch screen ................................................................................................. 12
Adafruit 3.5-inch TFT..................................................................................................................... 12
Using other touch screens ............................................................................................................ 13
Olimex OLED 128x64 pixel screen..................................................................................................... 14
Pimoroni Pirate Radio ....................................................................................................................... 14
Radio variants ................................................................................................................................... 15
Connecting the LCD display .............................................................................................................. 16
Housing the radio .............................................................................................................................. 16
Building in a IR sensor and remote control....................................................................................... 17
Chapter 3 - Wiring ................................................................................................................................. 18
Version 1 boards (early boards) ........................................................................................................ 21
Version 2, 3 or model B+ boards....................................................................................................... 21
Rotary encoder wiring....................................................................................................................... 22
LCD Module Wiring ........................................................................................................................... 23
Power supply considerations ............................................................................................................ 25
Selecting an audio amplifier ............................................................................................................. 26
GPIO Hardware Notes ....................................................................................................................... 27
Parts List ............................................................................................................................................ 28
Chapter 4 - Construction details ........................................................................................................... 29
Construction using an interface board ............................................................................................. 29
Construction using breakout boards ................................................................................................ 31
Construction using an Adafruit LCD plate ......................................................................................... 32

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 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 32
Using other switches ..................................................................................................................... 33
Using the Adafruit LCD plate with the model B+, 2B and 3B ........................................................ 33
Using alternatives to the Adafruit display .................................................................................... 33
Construction using an I2C LCD backpack .......................................................................................... 34
Adafruit I2C Backpack ................................................................................................................... 34
Arduino PCF8574 I2C backpacks ................................................................................................... 35
Creating the interface board for the I2C back pack ...................................................................... 35
Construction using the Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT ................................................................................... 36
Fitting a wake-up button................................................................................................................... 37
Installing an IR sensor and remote control ....................................................................................... 38
IR Sensor....................................................................................................................................... 38
Remote control ............................................................................................................................. 38
Remote Control Activity LED ......................................................................................................... 39
Construction using an IQaudIO Cosmic Controller ........................................................................... 40
Construction using the Pimoroni Pirate radio .................................................................................. 41
Construction using the PiFace CAD ................................................................................................... 41
Installing the FLIRC USB remote control ........................................................................................... 42
FLIRC USB Remote Control dongle................................................................................................ 42
Using DAC Sound Cards..................................................................................................................... 42
HiFiBerry DAC ................................................................................................................................ 42
IQaudIO DAC sound products ........................................................................................................... 45
JustBoom DAC products.................................................................................................................... 46
Pimoroni pHat DAC ........................................................................................................................... 47
Construction Tips and Tricks ............................................................................................................. 47
Wiring up rotary encoders and switches ...................................................................................... 48
Preventing electrical interference ................................................................................................ 50
Fit a mains filter ............................................................................................................................ 50
Connecting up a USB power adapter ................................................................................................ 51
Cooling the Raspberry Pi ................................................................................................................... 51
Miscellaneous ................................................................................................................................... 52
Simple tone regulator ................................................................................................................... 52
Using the Adafruit backlit RGB LCD display .................................................................................. 53
Chapter 5 – System Software Installation............................................................................................. 54

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 Conventions used in this tutorial ...................................................................................................... 54
Entering system commands .............................................................................................................. 55
Editing configuration files ................................................................................................................. 56
Using the Vi editor ............................................................................................................................ 56
Using Nano ........................................................................................................................................ 56
System Software installation ............................................................................................................ 58
SD card creation ............................................................................................................................ 58
Upgrading from Raspbian Jessie to Stretch .................................................................................. 58
Log into the system ....................................................................................................................... 58
Using SSH to log into the Raspberry PI ......................................................................................... 58
Enabling ssh in raspi-config ........................................................................................................... 59
Preparing the Operating System for software installation ............................................................... 60
Update to the latest the packages ................................................................................................ 60
Disable booting to the desktop environment ............................................................................... 61
Setting the time zone .................................................................................................................... 62
Changing the system hostname and password ............................................................................ 63
Configuring the Wi-fi Connection ................................................................................................. 64
Setting up the locale ..................................................................................................................... 65
Install other required packages .................................................................................................... 67
Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software .............................................................................................. 69
Music Player Daemon Installation .................................................................................................... 69
Installing pulseaudio ......................................................................................................................... 69
Install the Radio Daemon .................................................................................................................. 70
Configuring the radio ........................................................................................................................ 70
Configure SPI Kernel Module ............................................................................................................ 74
Configure the I2C interface ............................................................................................................... 75
Select the type of LCD display ........................................................................................................... 77
Installing the HDMI or touch screen software .................................................................................. 78
Configuring the audio output ........................................................................................................... 79
Installing the Python I2C libraries ..................................................................................................... 80
Installation log................................................................................................................................... 82
Reboot to enable the software ..................................................................................................... 82
Installing PiFace CAD software.......................................................................................................... 82
Installing Pimoroni Pirate Radio (pHat BEAT) ................................................................................... 83

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 Install Pimoroni software .............................................................................................................. 83
Disable Pimoroni software ............................................................................................................ 84
Install the Rathbone Internet radio software ............................................................................... 84
Configuring HDMI or Touchscreen.................................................................................................... 84
Apply patches to the radio software ................................................................................................ 84
Setting the mixer volume .................................................................................................................. 85
Configuring other sound devices ...................................................................................................... 86
Configuring a USB sound device ................................................................................................... 86
Configuring a Sound Card ............................................................................................................. 87
Testing the Music Player Daemon MPD ........................................................................................... 89
Manually configuring sound cards .................................................................................................... 90
Configuring MPD to use pulseaudio ................................................................................................. 91
Installing the Infra Red sensor software ........................................................................................... 91
Testing the remote control ............................................................................................................... 95
Disabling the repeat on the volume control ..................................................................................... 96
Configuring a wireless adaptor ......................................................................................................... 96
Install the wireless adapter ........................................................................................................... 96
Configure the adaptor................................................................................................................... 96
Explanation of the network fields ................................................................................................. 97
Operating the wireless interface .................................................................................................. 98
Troubleshooting the wireless adapter .......................................................................................... 98
Configuring a static IP address ...................................................................................................... 99
Configuring DHCP in a router ........................................................................................................ 99
Ethernet static IP configuration .................................................................................................. 100
Installing the Web interface............................................................................................................ 100
Install Apache .............................................................................................................................. 100
Install the Web Browser server pages ........................................................................................ 101
Start the radio web interface ...................................................................................................... 102
Changing the Web Interface Radio photo .................................................................................. 104
Installing the speech facility............................................................................................................ 104
The /var/lib/radiod/voice file..................................................................................................... 104
Testing espeak............................................................................................................................. 105
Speech Operation ....................................................................................................................... 106
Suppressing an individual message ............................................................................................ 106

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 Keeping the radio software up-to-date .......................................................................................... 107
Backing up the SD card ................................................................................................................... 107
Chapter 7 – Configuration................................................................................................................... 108
Configuring the HDMI or Touch Screen .......................................................................................... 108
Configuring GPIO outputs ............................................................................................................... 109
Switches and rotary encoders GPIO assignments....................................................................... 109
Disabling button or rotary encoder GPIOs .................................................................................. 109
LCD display GPIO assignments .................................................................................................... 110
Configuring button interface with pull up resistors.................................................................... 110
Configuring the remote control activity LED .................................................................................. 110
Testing the remote control activity LED...................................................................................... 110
Changing the date format ............................................................................................................... 111
Configuring the IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED ................................................................... 111
Configuring the Adafruit LCD backlight colours .............................................................................. 112
Configuring startup mode for Radio or Media player..................................................................... 112
Configuring the volume display ...................................................................................................... 113
Configuring the volume range ........................................................................................................ 113
Changing the display language ....................................................................................................... 114
Creating a new language file ....................................................................................................... 114
Configuring an RSS feed .................................................................................................................. 115
Configuring the Alsa Equaliser ........................................................................................................ 116
Disabling the Alsa equalizer ........................................................................................................ 117
Configuration of the FLIRC USB dongle........................................................................................... 118
Configuring FLIRC from the command line ..................................................................................... 119
Chapter 8 - Operation ......................................................................................................................... 122
Operation of LCD versions .............................................................................................................. 122
Starting the program ................................................................................................................... 122
Radios with push buttons operation........................................................................................... 124
Radios with rotary encoders operation ...................................................................................... 125
Mute function ............................................................................................................................. 126
Operation of HDMI and touch screen displays ............................................................................... 127
The graphical screen ................................................................................................................... 127
The display window .................................................................................................................... 128
The search window ..................................................................................................................... 128

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 Smaller TFT screens..................................................................................................................... 130
Artwork display ........................................................................................................................... 130
Volume and Mute controls ......................................................................................................... 131
Source selection .......................................................................................................................... 131
Other graphic window controls .................................................................................................. 131
Python pygame colour constants ............................................................................................... 133
Graphic screen keyboard controls .............................................................................................. 133
The Vintage Graphic Radio.............................................................................................................. 133
Switching between graphics programs ....................................................................................... 135
Configuring a screen saver .......................................................................................................... 135
Playing Media.................................................................................................................................. 136
Playing MP3 and WMA files ........................................................................................................ 136
Playing music from a USB stick ................................................................................................... 136
Playing music from the SD card .................................................................................................. 136
Playing music from a Network Attached Storage (NAS) ............................................................. 136
Organising the music files ........................................................................................................... 136
MPD Logging ................................................................................................................................... 137
Radio program logging .................................................................................................................... 137
Configuration and status files ......................................................................................................... 137
Using the Timer and Alarm functions ............................................................................................. 138
Setting the Timer (Snooze) ......................................................................................................... 138
Setting the Alarm ........................................................................................................................ 138
Using the Alarm and Timer functions together .......................................................................... 139
Music Player Clients ........................................................................................................................ 139
Using the MPC client ................................................................................................................... 139
Adafruit RGB Plate changing colours .......................................................................................... 140
Shutting down the radio ............................................................................................................. 140
Creating and Maintaining Playlist files............................................................................................ 140
Creating new playlists ................................................................................................................. 141
Creating Media playlists .............................................................................................................. 143
Accessing Shoutcast ........................................................................................................................ 146
Using the get_shoutcast.py program .......................................................................................... 146
Using the Shoutcast Web Interface ............................................................................................ 147
Using old 5.x Radio playlists ........................................................................................................ 149

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 Radio stream resources on the Internet ..................................................................................... 149
Getting a radio stream from a web browser .............................................................................. 149
Overview of media stream URLs ..................................................................................................... 150
M3U Files .................................................................................................................................... 150
PLS file format ............................................................................................................................. 150
ASX file ........................................................................................................................................ 151
Direct stream URLs...................................................................................................................... 151
Listening to live Air Traffic Control (ATC) ........................................................................................ 152
Mounting a network drive .............................................................................................................. 155
Finding the IP address of the network drive ............................................................................... 155
The CIFS mount command .......................................................................................................... 155
Older NAS drives sec security option .......................................................................................... 156
The NFS mount command .......................................................................................................... 156
Display the share directory ......................................................................................................... 156
Un-mounting the /share directory.............................................................................................. 157
Copy the mount command to the configuration ........................................................................ 157
Load the music library ................................................................................................................. 157
Update the playlists for the new share ....................................................................................... 157
Disabling the share...................................................................................................................... 157
Further information .................................................................................................................... 158
Troubleshooting mount problems .............................................................................................. 158
Controlling the Music Player daemon from Mobile devices .......................................................... 158
Android devices........................................................................................................................... 158
Apple devices .............................................................................................................................. 159
Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting ................................................................................................................ 160
Installation problems ...................................................................................................................... 160
The Raspberry Pi will not boot .................................................................................................... 160
Missing package dependency problems ..................................................................................... 161
Confused or unsure of wiring...................................................................................................... 161
Unexpected message during an upgrade ................................................................................... 161
HDMI/Touchscreen problems ......................................................................................................... 162
HDMI/Touchscreen does not start ............................................................................................. 162
HDMI/Touchscreen is displaying upside-down........................................................................... 162
The touch screen displays a lightning symbol............................................................................. 162

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 The touch screen displays a thermometer symbol ..................................................................... 162
Sound is heard but the graphical radio program will not start................................................... 162
The HDMI/Touchscreen program only displays a blue screen ................................................... 162
The graphic version of the radio does not start automatically................................................... 162
Trouble shooting problems with MPD ............................................................................................ 163
MPD fails to install ...................................................................................................................... 163
Music Player Daemon won’t start............................................................................................... 163
The MPD program may display a socket error ........................................................................... 164
The MPD daemon complains about the avahi daemon ............................................................. 164
LCD Problems ................................................................................................................................. 164
LCD screen not showing anything ............................................................................................... 164
The LCD only displays hieroglyphics ........................................................................................... 164
The LCD displays hieroglyphics or goes blank occasionally ........................................................ 164
LCD backlight not working .......................................................................................................... 164
LCD only displays dark blocks on the first line ............................................................................ 165
The LCD displays the message “No playlists” ............................................................................. 165
Constant alternate display of Station Name and Volume .......................................................... 165
Adafruit LCD backlight problems ................................................................................................ 165
I2C and SMBUS problems ............................................................................................................... 166
Import errors............................................................................................................................... 166
PiFace CAD and SPI problems ......................................................................................................... 166
PiFace CAD not detected ............................................................................................................ 166
Olimex OLED problems ................................................................................................................... 166
Radio does not start with Olimex screen .................................................................................... 166
OLED Screen is displaying upside down ...................................................................................... 166
Rotary encoder problems ............................................................................................................... 167
Button problems ............................................................................................................................. 167
Buttons seem to be pressing themselves ................................................................................... 167
Stream decode problems ................................................................................................................ 167
Cannot mount remote network drive ............................................................................................. 167
Sound problems .............................................................................................................................. 168
Noisy interference on the radio .................................................................................................. 168
Humming sound on the radio ..................................................................................................... 168
Music is first heard at boot time then stops and restarts .......................................................... 168

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 USB sound device won’t play ...................................................................................................... 168
HiFBerry or other types of DAC no sound .................................................................................. 169
Cannot change volume when running Airplay................................................................................ 170
Volume control errors ................................................................................................................. 171
Operational problems ..................................................................................................................... 171
Radio daemon doesn’t start or hangs ......................................................................................... 171
Volume control not working with DAC or USB speakers ............................................................ 171
The radio keeps skipping radio stations...................................................................................... 171
IR remote control problems ............................................................................................................ 172
The irrecord program complains that lircd.conf already exists .................................................. 172
The irrecord cannot open /dev/lirc0........................................................................................... 172
Remote control software does not start up ............................................................................... 172
Using the diagnostic programs ....................................................................................................... 174
Running the radio program in diagnostic mode ......................................................................... 174
Using the LCD test code .............................................................................................................. 174
Testing push buttons program .................................................................................................... 175
Testing rotary encoders .............................................................................................................. 175
The remote_control program ..................................................................................................... 175
The display_model program ....................................................................................................... 175
The display_current program ..................................................................................................... 176
The wiring program..................................................................................................................... 176
Running the radio program in nodaemon mode ........................................................................ 178
Creating a log file in DEBUG mode.............................................................................................. 178
Displaying information about the Raspberry Pi .............................................................................. 179
Displaying information about the Operating system.................................................................. 179
Display the kernel details ............................................................................................................ 179
Displaying the GPIO information ................................................................................................ 179
Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices using Icecast2 .................................................................... 181
Inbuilt MPD HTTP streamer ............................................................................................................ 181
Introduction to Icecast .................................................................................................................... 181
Installing Icecast .............................................................................................................................. 181
Overclocking older Raspberry PI’s .................................................................................................. 182
Icecast2 Operation .......................................................................................................................... 183
Switching on streaming............................................................................................................... 183

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 Playing the Icecast stream on Windows ..................................................................................... 184
Running the Icecast Adminstration web pages .......................................................................... 185
Playing the Icecast2 stream on an Apple IPad ............................................................................ 186
Playing the Icecast2 stream on an Android device ..................................................................... 186
Visual streaming indicator .......................................................................................................... 186
Troubleshooting Icecast2 ................................................................................................................ 186
Problem - Icecast streaming page says it can’t be displayed...................................................... 187
Problem – No Mount Point displayed ......................................................................................... 187
Problem - Cannot play the stream on my Android device.......................................................... 187
Problem – Music keeps stopping or is intermittent ................................................................... 187
Chapter 11 - Setting up Spotify ........................................................................................................... 188
Spotify installation .......................................................................................................................... 188
Spotify operation ............................................................................................................................ 189
Exiting Spotify ................................................................................................................................. 191
Troubleshooting Raspotify .............................................................................................................. 191
Installation problems .................................................................................................................. 191
Raspotify exits with a 101 error code ......................................................................................... 191
Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay ........................................................................................................... 192
Installation script ............................................................................................................................ 192
Manual procedure .......................................................................................................................... 192
Build and install shairport-sync:.................................................................................................. 193
Install the shairport metadata reader......................................................................................... 194
Configuring the Airplay feature .................................................................................................. 194
Airplay service check ................................................................................................................... 195
Using Airplay on the radio .............................................................................................................. 196
Chapter 13 - Internet Security ............................................................................................................ 198
Some golden Internet Security rules .............................................................................................. 198
SSH keys installation ....................................................................................................................... 199
Raspberry Pi ssh keys .................................................................................................................. 199
Generate a client key ...................................................................................................................... 200
Add client public key to Raspberry Pi authorised keys ................................................................... 200
Firewall set-up................................................................................................................................. 200
Chapter 14 - Frequently asked questions (FAQs) ............................................................................... 202
What is the login name and password? .......................................................................................... 202

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 Why are the radio stations not in the order that they were defined? ........................................... 202
Why are some station names not being displayed in the web interface? ..................................... 202
Why doesn’t the web interface display URLs until a station is selected? ...................................... 203
Why are music tracks played randomly when loaded? .................................................................. 203
Can the volume be displayed as blocks instead of Volume nn? ..................................................... 203
Why do I see a station number on LCD line 3? ............................................................................... 203
Is it possible to change the date format? ....................................................................................... 203
Is there a pause & resume function? .............................................................................................. 203
Is there a reboot or shutdown option?........................................................................................... 204
Why do I see a different station name from the one in the playlist? ............................................. 204
What Rotary Encoder can I use for this project? ............................................................................ 204
Can this code or documentation be re-used in other projects? ..................................................... 204
Can I use an Electronic Ink display? ................................................................................................ 204
Chapter 15 - Source files ..................................................................................................................... 205
The Radio program ......................................................................................................................... 205
The Radio Daemon .......................................................................................................................... 205
The Display Class ............................................................................................................................. 205
The Graphical Screen radio programs ............................................................................................ 205
The Graphics display class............................................................................................................... 206
The Graphics controls class ............................................................................................................. 206
The OLED class ................................................................................................................................ 206
The button class .............................................................................................................................. 206
The rotary class ............................................................................................................................... 206
The Cosmic controller Class ............................................................................................................ 206
The Event class ................................................................................................................................ 206
The Menu class ............................................................................................................................... 206
The Message class ........................................................................................................................... 206
The language class .......................................................................................................................... 207
The Log class ................................................................................................................................... 207
The Volume class ............................................................................................................................ 207
The Configuration Class .................................................................................................................. 207
The RSS class ................................................................................................................................... 207
The Translate class .......................................................................................................................... 207
The create_stations program.......................................................................................................... 207

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 The display_current program ......................................................................................................... 207
The display_model script ................................................................................................................ 207
The configure_radio.sh script ......................................................................................................... 207
The configure_audio.sh script......................................................................................................... 208
The set mixer id script ..................................................................................................................... 208
The remote control daemon ........................................................................................................... 208
The UDP network communications class ........................................................................................ 208
The Status LED class ........................................................................................................................ 208
The Airplay Class ............................................................................................................................. 208
The Menu Switch class .................................................................................................................... 208
The init file ...................................................................................................................................... 208
Downloading the source from github ............................................................................................. 209
Licences, acknowledgements and support ......................................................................................... 210
Licences ........................................................................................................................................... 210
Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Streaming Media ................................................................. 210
Disclaimer........................................................................................................................................ 211
Technical support............................................................................................................................ 211
Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................... 212
Glossary ............................................................................................................................................... 214
Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio Program ...................................................................... 217
A.1 Files added to the system ......................................................................................................... 217
/etc/radiod.conf .......................................................................................................................... 217
/etc/logrotate.d/radiod .............................................................................................................. 220
/etc/init.d/radiod ........................................................................................................................ 220
/lib/systemd/system/radiod.service........................................................................................... 220
/etc/init.d/asound.conf............................................................................................................... 220
/etc/init.d/irradiod ...................................................................................................................... 221
/etc/lirc/lircrc .............................................................................................................................. 221
The Desktop file gradio.desktop ................................................................................................. 222
The Desktop file vgradio.desktop ............................................................................................... 222
A.2 System files modified by the installation.................................................................................. 224
/etc/modules .............................................................................................................................. 224
/boot/config.txt .......................................................................................................................... 224
The lxsession autostart file for desktop radio............................................................................. 224

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Appendix B – Cheat sheets ................................................................................................................. 225
B.1 Operating system and configuration ........................................................................................ 225
B.2 Music Player Daemon and Radio software ............................................................................... 225
B.3 Installing the Pimoroni Pirate Radio software .......................................................................... 226
B.4 Installing Web Interface ............................................................................................................ 226
B.5 Installing remote IR software.................................................................................................... 226
B.6 Enabling speech facility............................................................................................................. 227
B.7 Installing Spotify........................................................................................................................ 227
Appendix C – Technical specification and other notes ....................................................................... 228
C.1 – Technical specification ........................................................................................................... 228
C.2 -Elecrow 7-inch touch-screen notes ......................................................................................... 229
C.3 Sound card DT Overlays ............................................................................................................ 230
Configuring other audio devices ................................................................................................. 230
C.4 UDP messages ........................................................................................................................... 231
Appendix D – Wiring diagrams and lists ............................................................................................. 232
D1 Push Button and Rotary Encoder 40-pin wiring ........................................................................ 232
D.2 Push Button and Rotary Encoder 26-pin wiring ....................................................................... 232
D.3 IQaudIO Cosmic Controller wiring ............................................................................................ 232
D.4 Pimoroni Pirate Radio wiring .................................................................................................... 233
D.5 Vintage Radio Push-button/Rotary Encoder 40-pin wiring ...................................................... 233
D.6 Raspberry Pi Rotary Encoder version with backlight dimmer .................................................. 234
Index.................................................................................................................................................... 234

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Figures
Figure 1 Raspberry pi 7-inch touchscreen radio ..................................................................................... 4
Figure 2 HDMI Television running the radio ........................................................................................... 4
Figure 3 Vintage tuning touch-screen radio ........................................................................................... 4
Figure 4 Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT ................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 5 Radio using the Adafruit LCD plate ........................................................................................... 5
Figure 6 Lego Internet Radio ................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 7 Pi radio using rotary encoders .................................................................................................. 5
Figure 8 Old Zenith radio using rotary encoders .................................................................................... 6
Figure 9 Transparent Perspex Radio ....................................................................................................... 6
Figure 10 Perspex radio rear view .......................................................................................................... 6
Figure 11 The Radio running on a Pi Zero ............................................................................................... 6
Figure 12 Boom Box radio front view ..................................................................................................... 7
Figure 13 Boom Box Radio rear view ...................................................................................................... 7
Figure 14 Raspberry Pi Wine Box radio................................................................................................... 7
Figure 15 Wine box internet radio internal view .................................................................................... 7
Figure 16 Very small radio using the Cosmic Controller ......................................................................... 7
Figure 17 RPI radio with two-stage valve amplifier ................................................................................ 8
Figure 18 The RPi valve radio chassis view ............................................................................................. 8
Figure 19 Pimoroni Pirate Radio ............................................................................................................. 8
Figure 20 PiFace CAD Radio with IR Remote Control ............................................................................. 8
Figure 21 Philips BX490A (1949) Vintage Internet Radio........................................................................ 9
Figure 22 Raspberry PI Model 3B Computer ........................................................................................ 10
Figure 23 Raspberry PI B+ AV cable ...................................................................................................... 10
Figure 24 Raspberry Pi Zero .................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 25 USB Ethernet adapter ........................................................................................................... 11
Figure 26 The HD44870 LCD display ..................................................................................................... 11
Figure 27 OLED 4 x20 LCD display ......................................................................................................... 11
Figure 28 Raspberry Pi 3 with 7-inch touch screen .............................................................................. 12
Figure 29 Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT touchscreen ........................................................................................ 12
Figure 30 Pimoroni Pirate Radio - Rear view ........................................................................................ 14
Figure 31 Some examples of radio cases .............................................................................................. 16
Figure 32 IR Sensor and Remote control .............................................................................................. 17
Figure 33 Adafruit and IR sensor and activity LED ................................................................................ 17
Figure 34 Push-button Wiring version 1 boards ................................................................................... 21
Figure 35 Push-button wiring version 2 onwards boards ..................................................................... 21
Figure 36 Rotary Encoder Diagram ....................................................................................................... 22
Figure 37 Rotary encoder with push switch ......................................................................................... 22
Figure 38 Rotary encoder pin-outs ....................................................................................................... 22
Figure 39 HD44870 LCD electrical circuit .............................................................................................. 24
Figure 40 Wire LCD pin 1 (GND) and 5 (RW) together .......................................................................... 24
Figure 41 PC speakers ........................................................................................................................... 26
Figure 42 Velleman 30W stereo amplifier ............................................................................................ 26
Figure 43 IQaudIO DAC and 20W Amplifier .......................................................................................... 26

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Figure 44 Vintage radio PA input .......................................................................................................... 26
Figure 45 GPIO Numbers....................................................................................................................... 27
Figure 46 26 pin header extender......................................................................................................... 27
Figure 47 40-pin Interface board with ribbon cable ............................................................................. 29
Figure 48 Interface board with LCD screen attached ........................................................................... 29
Figure 49 Radio controls connections ................................................................................................... 30
Figure 50 Interface board overview...................................................................................................... 30
Figure 51 GPIO header breakout board ................................................................................................ 31
Figure 52 Adafruit LCD plate ................................................................................................................. 32
Figure 53 Adafruit LCD plate with ribbon cable adapter ...................................................................... 32
Figure 54 Chinese 1602 I2C LCD............................................................................................................ 33
Figure 55 Enabling the backlight. .......................................................................................................... 33
Figure 56 Adafruit I2C Backpack ........................................................................................................... 34
Figure 57 LCD connected to an Adafruit I2C backpack ......................................................................... 35
Figure 58 Arduino I2C backpack............................................................................................................ 35
Figure 59 Ciseco Humble PI I2C interface board................................................................................... 36
Figure 60 The I2C backpack interface board......................................................................................... 36
Figure 61 Wake-up button .................................................................................................................... 37
Figure 62 TSOP38238 IR sensor ............................................................................................................ 38
Figure 63 Soldering precautions ........................................................................................................... 38
Figure 64 LED polarity ........................................................................................................................... 39
Figure 65 Adafruit plate with IR sensor and activity LED. ..................................................................... 39
Figure 66 IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED display ....................................................................... 40
Figure 67 Lego radio with IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED ......................................................... 40
Figure 68 PiFace CAD and Rasberry PI .................................................................................................. 41
Figure 69 PiFace CAD in a case.............................................................................................................. 41
Figure 70 Raspberry PI P5 connector .................................................................................................... 43
Figure 71 HiFiBerry DAC plus Connector .............................................................................................. 43
Figure 72 Pi Radio with HiFiBerry DAC .................................................................................................. 43
Figure 73 HiFiBerry DAC Plus ................................................................................................................ 43
Figure 74 HiFiBerry mounted on the Rasberry Pi ................................................................................. 44
Figure 75 IQaudIO DAC plus .................................................................................................................. 45
Figure 76 JustBoom Amp HAT............................................................................................................... 46
Figure 77 JustBoom Amp Zero pHAT .................................................................................................... 46
Figure 78 JustBoom Zero stacker requirements ................................................................................... 46
Figure 79 Using the 40-pin stacker ....................................................................................................... 46
Figure 80 Pimoroni pHat DAC ............................................................................................................... 47
Figure 81 Rotary encoder wiring components ..................................................................................... 48
Figure 82 Using wire strippers .............................................................................................................. 48
Figure 83 Tinning the wires with solder................................................................................................ 48
Figure 84 Soldering up the switch......................................................................................................... 49
Figure 85 Shrink shrink-wrap with a hair dryer .................................................................................... 49
Figure 86 Connecting the rotary encoder an interface board .............................................................. 49
Figure 87 Clip on ferrite core ................................................................................................................ 50
Figure 88 Loop +5V supply around the core ......................................................................................... 50

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio xvi

Figure 89 Various mains filters.............................................................................................................. 50
Figure 90 Integrated mains socket and filter ........................................................................................ 50
Figure 91 3.5mm Jack Ground Loop Isolator ........................................................................................ 51
Figure 92 Connecting up a USB power adapter .................................................................................... 51
Figure 93 Heat sink kit........................................................................................................................... 52
Figure 94 Cooling fans ........................................................................................................................... 52
Figure 95 Simple tone control circuit .................................................................................................... 52
Figure 96 Tone control board ............................................................................................................... 52
Figure 97 IN4148 diode ......................................................................................................................... 53
Figure 98 The nano file editor ............................................................................................................... 57
Figure 99 The nano editor help screen ................................................................................................. 57
Figure 100 Enabling SSH on the boot sector ......................................................................................... 59
Figure 101 Enabling SSH........................................................................................................................ 59
Figure 102 Disabling the graphical desktop .......................................................................................... 61
Figure 103 Desktop enable/disable selection ....................................................................................... 61
Figure 104 Console login selection ....................................................................................................... 61
Figure 105 Setting the time zone .......................................................................................................... 62
Figure 106 Selecting the time zone....................................................................................................... 62
Figure 107 Saving the timezone ............................................................................................................ 62
Figure 108 Time zone country selection ............................................................................................... 63
Figure 109 Changing the Raspberry PI password ................................................................................. 63
Figure 110 Changing the hostname ...................................................................................................... 64
Figure 111 Setting up the Wi-Fi in raspi-config..................................................................................... 64
Figure 112 Entering Wi-Fi credentials ................................................................................................... 64
Figure 113 Setting up the Wi-fi country................................................................................................ 65
Figure 114 Selecting change locale ....................................................................................................... 65
Figure 115 Generating the locale.......................................................................................................... 66
Figure 116 Selecting the locale ............................................................................................................. 66
Figure 117 Configure radio – Upgrade .................................................................................................. 71
Figure 118 Replace configuration file ................................................................................................... 71
Figure 119 Configure radio - User interface selection .......................................................................... 71
Figure 120 Configure radio - Confirmation screen ............................................................................... 72
Figure 121 Push-button voltage selection ............................................................................................ 72
Figure 122 Configure radio - wiring selection ....................................................................................... 72
Figure 123 Configure radio - Display interface selection ...................................................................... 73
Figure 124 Olimex OLED flip display ..................................................................................................... 73
Figure 125 Enable SPI Kernel Module ................................................................................................... 74
Figure 126 Enable SPI kernel module option ........................................................................................ 74
Figure 127 Configure radio - I2C interface hex address........................................................................ 75
Figure 128 Configure radio - Enable I2C libraries ................................................................................. 76
Figure 129 Selecting interfacing options in raspi-config....................................................................... 76
Figure 130 Select I2C libraries in raspi-config ....................................................................................... 76
Figure 131 Configure radio - Display type selection ............................................................................. 77
Figure 132 Configure radio audio output option .................................................................................. 77
Figure 133 Touchscreen selection ........................................................................................................ 78

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio xvii

Figure 134 Selecting the type of radio display ...................................................................................... 78
Figure 135 Configuring the HDMI or touch screen display startup ...................................................... 78
Figure 136 Configuring the graphical radio full screen ......................................................................... 79
Figure 137 Selecting the audio output device ...................................................................................... 80
Figure 138 The I2C bus display using the i2cdetect program ............................................................... 81
Figure 139 Basic Alsa sound mixer ........................................................................................................ 85
Figure 140 Configure USB DAC ............................................................................................................. 87
Figure 141 The USB PnP Alsa Mixer ...................................................................................................... 87
Figure 142 Configuring add-on DAC sound cards ................................................................................. 88
Figure 143 Set mixer analogue volume ................................................................................................ 89
Figure 144 Set mixer digital volume ..................................................................................................... 89
Figure 145 Radio web interface .......................................................................................................... 102
Figure 146 Snoopy web interface ....................................................................................................... 103
Figure 147 The Alsa Equalizer ............................................................................................................. 117
Figure 148 FLIRC setup program ......................................................................................................... 119
Figure 149 FLIRC keyboard controller ................................................................................................. 119
Figure 150 HDMI and Touch Screen Display ....................................................................................... 127
Figure 151 Graphical scree information display ................................................................................. 128
Figure 152 Graphical radio search window ........................................................................................ 128
Figure 153 Graphical radio search functions ...................................................................................... 128
Figure 154 Display playlists ................................................................................................................. 129
Figure 155 Display of media tracks ..................................................................................................... 129
Figure 156 Displaying artists ............................................................................................................... 129
Figure 157 Track artwork display ........................................................................................................ 130
Figure 158 Airplay running on a Graphical screen .............................................................................. 131
Figure 159 Changing the graphical screen theme .............................................................................. 132
Figure 160 The vintage graphic radio on a touch-screen ................................................................... 134
Figure 161 Shoutcast playlist web page.............................................................................................. 148
Figure 162 Shoutcast playlist summary .............................................................................................. 148
Figure 163 Live ATC web page ............................................................................................................ 152
Figure 164 WinAmp playing ATC live feed .......................................................................................... 153
Figure 165 WinAmp station information ............................................................................................ 153
Figure 166 MPDdroid set-up screen ................................................................................................... 159
Figure 167 MPDdroid play screen ....................................................................................................... 159
Figure 168 MPDdroid play queue ....................................................................................................... 159
Figure 169 Configuring Icecast2 .......................................................................................................... 181
Figure 170 Over-clocking the Raspberry PI ......................................................................................... 182
Figure 171 Windows media player ..................................................................................................... 184
Figure 172 Firefox embedded media player ....................................................................................... 184
Figure 173 Icecast2 Status .................................................................................................................. 185
Figure 174 Starting the Spotify Receiver ............................................................................................ 189
Figure 175 The radio in Spotify mode ................................................................................................. 189
Figure 176 Spotify connecting to the radio ........................................................................................ 190
Figure 177 Listening to Spotify on the radio ....................................................................................... 190
Figure 178 Spotify playing a music track............................................................................................. 191

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio xviii

Figure 179 Airplay source selection .................................................................................................... 196
Figure 180 Running an Airplay device on the radio with Cloudbreak ................................................ 196
Figure 181 Wiring Raspberry Pi Radio Rotary Encoder version .......................................................... 234

Tables
Table 1 Display Type options ................................................................................................................ 15
Table 2 User interface options .............................................................................................................. 15
Table 3 Radio wiring conflicts ............................................................................................................... 18
Table 4 Controls and LCD wiring 26 pin version ................................................................................... 19
Table 5 Radio and DAC devices 40 pin wiring ....................................................................................... 20
Table 6 LCD module wiring for 26 and 40 pin Raspberry Pi's ............................................................... 23
Table 7 Parts list (LCD versions) ............................................................................................................ 28
Table 8 Remote Control Activity LED .................................................................................................... 39
Table 9 Adafruit backlit RGB display wiring .......................................................................................... 53
Table 10 PulseAudio installation options .............................................................................................. 69
Table 11 IR Sensor Pin outs ................................................................................................................... 92
Table 12 Remote Control Key names and functions ............................................................................. 94
Table 13 WiFi network configuration ................................................................................................... 97
Table 14 Push Button Operation......................................................................................................... 124
Table 15 Rotary Encoder Knob Operation .......................................................................................... 125
Table 16 Graphic screen keyboard command .................................................................................... 133
Table 17 Common MPC commands .................................................................................................... 140
Table 18 Example playlists .................................................................................................................. 140
Table 19 Playlist files and directories.................................................................................................. 141
Table 20 Display classes ...................................................................................................................... 205
Table 21 Sound card Device Tree overlays ......................................................................................... 230
Table 22 UDP messages ...................................................................................................................... 231
Table 23 40-PinPush-buttons/Rotary encoder Wiring ........................................................................ 232
Table 24 26-PinPush-buttons/Rotary encoder Wiring ........................................................................ 232
Table 25 IQaudIO Cosmic Controller Wiring ....................................................................................... 232
Table 26 Pimoroni Pirate radio (pHat BEAT) Wiring ........................................................................... 233
Table 27 40-PinPush-buttons/Rotary encoder Wiring ........................................................................ 233
Table 28 Status LED indications .......................................................................................................... 233
Table 29 Rotary menu switch ............................................................................................................. 233

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio xix

Chapter 1 - Introduction
This manual describes how to create one of the most popular Internet
Radios using the Raspberry PI educational computer. This manual
provides a detailed overview of construction and software installation.

The source and basic construction details are available from the following
web site: https://bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/pi_internet_radio.html

The features of the Raspberry PI internet radio are:

Raspberry Pi Internet Radio

Turn your Raspberry Pi into an Internet Radio using a variety of
designs as shown in this manual.

Media Player
Play your favourite MP3 tracks from a USB stick, SD card or from a
NAS (Network Attached Storage).

Airplay Receiver
This design allows the Raspberry Pi to act as an Airplay receiver.
Music tracks can be played from your Apple or Android mobile
phone or tablet.

Spotify Receiver
Turn your Raspberry Pi into a Spotify Receiver. This requires a
Spotify Premium account.

RSS Feed Reader

This software also allows you to read any configured RSS feed. For
example, your favourite news feed.

Continued on next page.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 1

 Digital Clock
The Internet Radio software displays as standard a digital clock and
date with alarm and snooze functions.

Shoutcast
Shoutcast radio is a streaming audio which is used by some 50,000
Internet Radio stations across the internet. This radio software
allows multiple playlist creation from Shoutcast radio stations by
genre or country which can selected through the radio menus.

Icecast
Icecast is free streaming software which supports a variety of
streams such as MP3 and OGG. Icecast can optionally be installed
on the Raspberry Pi and allows the currently playing station or track
to be streamed around the local network or out to the Internet.

User Interface and displays

This design caters for a number of user interfaces such as push-
buttons, rotary encoders or touch screens. Also, a number of
displays such as 2 and 4-line LCDs, OLED displays, PiFace CAD or full
graphical displays such as HDMI and touch-screen are supported.
Examples are shown later on in this manual.

Web interface
The radio software includes an optional web interface powered by
Apache. This allows stations and playlists to be selected via web
pages on your PC, mobile telephone or tablet.

The eSpeak engine is a small, lightweight text-to-speech (TTS)

program that supports a large number of languages. It is used with
the radio software to assist blind or visually impaired users by
“speaking” the menus. It can also be used with radios without a
screen to navigate the menus.

A full specification can be found in Appendix C – Technical specification on page 228.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 2

Document Overview
This document is organised into the following sections.
Section Topic Page
Chapter 1 Introduction and examples 1
Chapter 2 Hardware overview 10
Chapter 3 Wiring information 18
Chapter 4 Construction details 29
Chapter 5 System software installation 54
Chapter 6 Radio software installation 69
Chapter 7 Configuring the radio 108
Chapter 8 Operation 122
Chapter 9 Troubleshooting 160
Chapter 10 Icecast streaming installation 181
Chapter 11 Spotify Installation 188
Chapter 12 Airplay Installation 192
Chapter 13 Internet Security 198
Chapter 14 Frequently Asked Questions FAQs 202
Chapter 15 Source files 205
Licences Licence, acknowledgments and support 210
Glossary List of abbreviations used 214
Appendix A Radio program files 217
Appendix B Installation cheat sheet 225
Appendix C Technical specification 228
Appendix D Wiring diagrams 232
Index Document index 234

Quick links
Topic Page(s) Topic Page(s)
Adafruit 32 PiFace CAD 41,74
Airplay 192 Playlists creation 140
Buttons (Switches) 109 Radio software installation 69, 108
DAC sound cards 42 Radio software operation 122
Glossary 214 RSS feed
GPIO configuration 109 Rotary encoders 109
HDMI TV or screens 108 Shoutcast 146
I2C backpacks 34 Spotify 188
IQaudIO Cosmic Controller 40 Speech facility (espeak) 104
Interface boards 29 Switches (Buttons) 109
Icecast streaming 181 Touch screens 12,108
IR sensors 38,42,118 USB Sound card 86
LCD displays 16,23 Vintage radios 9
Media 136 Web interface 100
Network drives (NAS) 155 WiFi 96
OLED displays 14,166 Wiring 18
Pimoroni pHat BEAT 14,41,83,233

Please note that there is also a full document index on page 234 at the end of this
document.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 3

Examples

This design caters for both the complete novice and more advanced constructors. Do not be put off
by the size of this manual as it shows a lot of different designs. Simply read through the following
examples and decide which one is the best for you. Some examples are shown in the following
pages. Various examples of the Raspberry PI internet radio can be built using this design.

The latest design supports the Raspberry Pi 7-

inch touch screen. Using the graphic version of
this software, the radio can be operated using
the touch screen or a mouse and HDMI screen
or TV with HDMI. A keyboard can also be
attached and used to operate the radio. The
touch screen version supports the same
functionality as the LCD versions of the radio
except for timer and alarm functions. The touch
screen can also be configured to use either
rotary encoders or buttons.
Figure 1 Raspberry pi 7-inch touchscreen radio

The HDMI/Touch screen version of the radio

can also be configured to run in a window on
the Raspberry Pi desktop. Here it is running on
the HDMI input of a typical flat-screen
television. It can also be configured to use an IR
remote control using a FLIRC USB IR detector.

Figure 2 HDMI Television running the radio

As an alternative to the above design this touch-

screen radio is made to look like a vintage radio
with a tuning dial. The green slider marks the
currently playing station. When a station name
is touched on the screen then the slider jumps
to that position and plays the selected radio
station. The design supports multiple pages of
radio stations which can be scrolled left or right.
The volume control slider is at the bottom of
the screen. This version currently only plays
radio stations and not media or Airplay. The
touchscreen can also be configured to use
Figure 3 Vintage tuning touch-screen radio either rotary encoders or buttons.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 4

 This example shows an Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT
(Thin Film Transistor) touch-screen running the
graphical version of the software (Version 6.7
onwards). This is the smallest screen that is
currently supported.

Installation of the Adafruit TFT touchscreen is

found in the section called Construction using
the Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT on page 36.

Figure 4 Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT

Example of the PI internet radio using an

Adafruit RGB-backlit LCD plate for Raspberry PI
from AdaFruit industries. It has five push
buttons and is one of the easiest options to
construct. If you want to build this into a case
then don’t use the buttons supplied with the kit
but use external buttons.

Figure 5 Radio using the Adafruit LCD plate

Example of a fun radio built using this design

and Lego from Alan Broad (United Kingdom).
This really puts the fun back into computing.

Figure 6 Lego Internet Radio

The rotary encoder switch version of the radio

consists of a Raspberry PI connected to an
Adafruit 20-character x 4-line RGB LCD display
housed. It is all housed in a LogiLink PC speaker
set with two rotary encoders. The rotary
encoders also have push buttons (Push the
knob in). The left one is the Mute switch and
the right one is the Menu switch. The blue glow
in the sub-woofer opening comes from a bright
blue LED.
Figure 7 Pi radio using rotary encoders

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 5

 Example of the PI radio from Jon Jenkins built
into an old Zenith valve radio case. The pictures
below show the inside and top view
respectively. The two original controls have
been replaced by two rotary encoders. The old
valve radio inside has been completely removed
and replaced with the Raspberry PI and radio
components. The LCD display has been built
into the top so as not to spoil the original face
of the radio. This is a fine example of what can
be done with this project.

Figure 8 Old Zenith radio using rotary encoders

Figure 9 Transparent Perspex Radio Figure 10 Perspex radio rear view

The above example built by the author has a transparent perspex front and back panel. It uses a
Raspberry Pi with a HiFiBerry sound card and a Velleman 30 watt amplifier.

This is an example of the radio running on a

Raspberry Pi Zero. In this example it uses a
micro to standard USB adaptor to connect a
simple USB hub. A USB sound dongle and
Tenda wireless adapter are plugged into the
USB hub. A USB to Ethernet adapter can also be
used in place of the wireless adapter. The
display used is the Adafruit LCD plate. Also note
that the Pi Zero comes with an unpopulated 40
pin GPIO interface. You need to either directly
solder wires to the GPIO interface (Not advised)
or solder either a 26 or 40 pin male header
Figure 11 The Radio running on a Pi Zero (Advised).

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 6

This beautiful radio is a fine example of the latest version of the design built by the author. It is using
a Raspberry PI model 2B and rotary encoders with inbuilt push button. The display is a 4 x 20 LCD.
The sound system is a Velleman 30-Watt amplifier (bottom right) and two 5 ¼ inch 50-watt speakers.
It has an IR sensor (Left speaker on the right side) and an activity LED (between the two knobs).

Figure 12 Boom Box radio front view Figure 13 Boom Box Radio rear view

Below is a Raspberry Pi radio built into a old wine box. It uses a 2x8 character LCD and rotary
encoders. The amplifier and loud speakers are from a set of old PC speakers.

Figure 14 Raspberry Pi Wine Box radio Figure 15 Wine box internet radio internal view

Here is a really cute radio made using the

IQaudIO Cosmic Controller and Olimex 128x64
pixel OLED display. The Cosmic Controller
provides an excellent solution where space is
limited or you simply want a very small radio.

The audio output is on the rear of the case.

The lenses over the three LEDs and IR sensor

apertures are simply stick-on transparent
furniture protectors available from most
hardware stores.
Figure 16 Very small radio using the Cosmic Controller

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 7

Below is a fascinating use of both modern and bygone era technology. The radio shown below was
created by Broesel from Villach in Austria. In this design a Raspberry Pi has been used with the
software described in this manual. However, the audio amplifier has been constructed with an ECL84
vacuum valve. The ECL84 valve provides a two-stage mono audio amplifier driving an elliptical wide
frequency response loud speaker. Broesel has very kindly provided the full construction details at
the Radio Board Forum. See: http://theradioboard.com/rb/viewtopic.php?t=6314

Figure 17 RPI radio with two-stage valve amplifier Figure 18 The RPi valve radio chassis view

From version 6.9 onwards the software supports

the Pimoroni Pirate radio with pHat BEAT.

The pHAT BEAT gives high-quality, digital,

amplified, stereo or mono audio and 16 RGB
LEDs, in two rows of 8, which are ideal as a VU
(Volume Unit) indicator, and 6 buttons to
control the radio (Five on the left and one at the
top). See:
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pirate-
radio-pi-zero-w-project-kit

Figure 19 Pimoroni Pirate Radio

The radio supports the PiFace Control and

Display (CAD) board. This is a good choice for
complete beginners but is quite slow. See:
http://www.piface.org.uk/products/piface_cont
rol_and_display/

The PiFace CAD has 5 push buttons, a reset

button (not currently used) and an Infra Red (IR)
sensor. It also has inbuilt support for a remote
control. It has one drawback in that the push
buttons are on the bottom of the unit. The
PiFace CAD uses the Serial Peripheral Bus
Figure 20 PiFace CAD Radio with IR Remote Control interface (SPI) on the Raspberry Pi.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 8

Vintage Radio Conversion

This version of the software allows for the program to be configured without a screen for use with a
vintage radio as shown below:

Figure 21 Philips BX490A (1949) Vintage Internet Radio

The radio is a Philips BX490A manufactured in the Netherlands in 1949. The purpose of this design is
retain as much of the original look and feel of a vintage radio which has been converted to run as an
Internet radio. It does not have any LCD display. In the above example the following controls are
used:
• Far left switch - Simple tone control
• Middle left switch - Volume and mute switch
• Middle right switch – Radio channel (Tuner) or media track selection
• Far right switch – Menu switch (8 positions)
• Push button on right side (Not shown) - Standard menu switch

At the top left the so-called magic eye tuning indicator has been replaced with a Red,Green,Blue
status LED. In the above picture the LED is glowing green (Normal operation). This window also
contains the IR sensor and activity LED for a remote control. If the radio is busy (loading stations for
example) it glows blue. For an error or shutdown the LED glows RED. The IR remote control also
flashes red to indicate IR remote control activity.

The software allows espeak to be configured to ‘speak’ station and search information etc.
The details on how to construct a similar project is contained in the following documents:
http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/documents/Raspberry%20PI%20Vintage%20Radio.pdf

http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/documents/Raspberry%20PI%20Vintage%20Radio%20O
perating%20Instructions.pdf

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 1 - Introduction 9

Chapter 2 - Hardware overview
The principal hardware required to build the radio consists of the following components:
• Current versions of the Raspberry PI computer (Version 1 boards no longer supported)
• Push buttons or rotary encoders for the user interface
• A display such as a HD44870 LCD, OLED or a Raspberry PI touch-screen display

Raspberry Pi computer
The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the United Kingdom by
the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science
in schools.

Figure 22 Raspberry PI Model 3B Computer

More information on the Raspberry PI computer may be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
If you are new to the Raspberry PI try the following beginners guide. http://elinux.org/RPi_Beginners

Earlier versions of the Raspberry Pi have a separate audio output jack and composite video output.
Later versions of the Raspberry Pi have a new AV (Audio/Video) port which combines the audio and
video signals in a single jack. Instead of using a standard composite cable, this new connector
requires a 4 pole 3.55mm AV cable. To complicate matters: not all of these cables are the same!
However existing audio jack plugs are compatible with the new AV connector.

Figure 23 Raspberry PI B+ AV cable

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 10

When choosing a cable, seek an iPod 4 pole AV cable. This will however result in the left and right
audio channels being reversed but otherwise provides the proper connections. Using other cables,
such as a camcorder cable will be hit or miss. Typically, camcorder cables have the wrong pin
connections for Video and Ground. This change also can cause some issues with shared grounding
with audio speakers. If separate audio and composite AV connector is required, these can be split
apart using the same jack inputs as for the model A and B.

Raspberry Pi Zero and Pi Zero W

On the original Pi Zero

network connection is only
possible with either a USB
to Ethernet adapter or a
Wi-Fi Dongle. Note that the
USB is a Micro USB and will
need an micro USB to
standard USB adapter. The
PiJack Ethernet adapter
board is not currently
Figure 24 Raspberry Pi Zero supported. The Pi Zero W
Figure 25 USB Ethernet
has onboard Wifi and adapter
Bluetooth and is a better
choice for the radio.

Note: The Raspberry PI Zero does not have an onboard audio output jack. Sound must be
played through either the HDMI port or a USB sound dongle (See Figure 11) or one of the Pi
Zero DAC boards available from manufacturers such as IQaudIO, HiFiBerry, or JustBoom.

The HD44870 LCD display

The HD44870 LCD interface is an industry standard
interface for a variety of LCD displays. These can
come in various sizes but the two lines by 2x16 or
4x20 character displays are the most popular. The
software for this Internet radio supports either
display. Most of these modules compatible with the
Figure 26 The HD44870 LCD display
Hitachi HD44870 LCD controller so there is a wide
choice of these displays.

The latest displays use OLED displays (Organic Light

Emitting Diode) and give very good results.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED

For pin-out details see LCD pin outs on page 22.

Figure 27 OLED 4 x20 LCD display

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 11

Touch-screens
Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch screen
As an alternative to building a radio using limited LCD screens it is possible to build a radio using the
Raspberry Pi 7-inch or 3.5-inch touch screen or any other HDMI screen (touch-screen or otherwise).
If the screen does not have touch capability then it is possible to use it with a mouse or keyboard or
both. Also, the touch screen can be used in conjunction with rotary encoders or push buttons.

Figure 28 Raspberry Pi 3 with 7-inch touch screen

There is a very good setup guide for the Raspberry Pi touch-screen at:
https://www.modmypi.com/blog/raspberry-pi-7-touch-screen-assembly-guide

Adafruit 3.5-inch TFT

From version 6.7 onwards the radio software supports the Adafruit 3.5-inch TFT touch screen (720 x
480 pixels). The small size can make the controls difficult to use but will still work.

Figure 29 Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT touchscreen

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 12

 Note: This software has only been tested with the Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch screen and the
Adafruit 3.5-inch TFT touch-screen . Smaller than 7-inch screens may prove difficult to
operate. The following resolutions are supported: 800x480, 720x320, 480x320 or 1024x600 pixels.

Please also note that touch screen functionality has nothing to do with the radio software.
Touch screens emulate mouse functions such as click, drag and hover using standard mouse
routines. Should you use another touch-screen other than the one recommended and this does not
work then you need to solve this first (or use a mouse/keyboard). Regrettably the author cannot
provide any support on how to configure other touch screens.

Warning: During testing, a touch screen using USB-OTG (USB On-The-Go) technology was
tried but was unsuccessful. Also attempts to enable USB OTG software seemed to disable
the normal USB ports. USB-OTG technology allows USB devices to act as a host for other USB
devices such as USB storage or cameras. The author regrettably cannot give any support on these
types of screens.

If the screen is displaying upside-down then edit the /boot/config.txt configuration file and add the
following line.
lcd_rotate=2

Reboot the Raspberry Pi for the change to take effect.

Using other touch screens

There are various other touch screens on the market but this version of the software does not
support screen sizes of less the 480 x 320 pixels. There is a screen_size parameter in
/etc/radiod.conf configuration file.
# Size is in pixels. Supported is 800x480 (7" screen) or 720x480(3.5" screen)
# or 480x320 (2.8" or 3.5" screen)
screen_size=800x480

Another important aspect of screen size are the following parameters in /boot/config.txt.
framebuffer_width=1280
framebuffer_height=720

Changing the above can force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus overscan
settings in /boot/config.txt.

If using the Elecrow 7 inch TFT Capacitive touch screen display then see C.2 -Elecrow 7-inch touch-
screen notes on page 229.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 13

Olimex OLED 128x64 pixel screen

The Olimex 128x64 pixel OLED is a low cost, low

power, high contrast LCD display with a UEXT
connector. It is controlled via the I2C interface. The
power supply required is only in the range of 1 uA in
sleep mode, 200 uA in operating mode and 7mA in
display ON mode. View area is 21 x 11 mm. It is
particularly useful where space is very limited.
See:
https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/LCD/MO
D-OLED-128x64/open-source-hardware

Note: The Olimex OLED screen is not a particularly fast device when compared with say an
LCD or graphics screen. However, its biggest advantage is its size.

Pimoroni Pirate Radio

The illustration on the left shows the rear of
Pimoroni Pirate radio. The amplifier consists of dual
I2S DAC/amplifiers for stereo audio (MAX98357A) at
3 Watts per channel.

The Pirate radio comes as a kit (Soldering skills

required).

The Pimoroni software is disabled and the software

from this project used instead. See Installing
Figure 30 Pimoroni Pirate Radio - Rear view Pimoroni Pirate Radio (pHat BEAT) on page 83.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 14

Radio variants
Before starting you need to make a choice which type of radio you are going to build. There are
several combinations of user interface and display type which can be constructed as shown in the
following tables.

Table 1 Display Type options Table 2 User interface options

Display Type User interface

1 Two-line 8-character LCD 1 Five or six push buttons

2 Two-line 16-character LCD 2 Two rotary encoders with push buttons
3 Four-line 16-character LCD 3 Adafruit RGB plate with push buttons
4 Four-line 20-character LCD 4 Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch-screen
5 Àdafruit 2x16 RGB Plate (I2C) 5 Adafruit 3.5 TFT (480x720 pixels)
6 Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch screen 6 Mouse (HDMI/Touchscreen only)
7 Olimex 128 by 64-pixel OLED 7 Keyboard (HDMI/Touchscreen only)
8 Adafruit 3.5-inch TFT touch screen 8 IQaudIO Cosmic controller
9 No display (Vintage radio design) 9 Pirate Radio – 6 push-buttons
10 Pirate Radio (No display) 10 IR remote control – all versions
11 PiFace CAD 2x16 LCD 11 PiFace CAD 6-buttons (Five used)

Any type of HD44870 LCD display can be used with any user interface. The HD44870 can either be
connected directly to the GPIO pins or via a so-called I2C (also known as IIC) backpack.

The Adafruit RGB plate has a two-line 16-character display and comes with five inbuilt pushbuttons.
It also has its own I2C interface using the MCP23017 chip so it does not require a separate I2C
backpack.

The PiFace CAD comes with a two-line 16-character display and comes with six inbuilt pushbuttons.
It uses the SPI interface from Motorola.

The touch screen can be used with or without rotary encoders or push buttons. The touch screen
variants can also use a mouse and keyboard.

It is a simple choice of which display (two or four lines, 8, 16, or 20 characters LCDs or a touch screen
or HDMI screen, OLED display or Pirate radio) and whether to use rotary encoders or push-button
switches as the user interface. The rotary encoder options give the most natural feel for the radio as
most conventional radios use knobs to control the volume and station tuning. The keyboard
interface, whilst supported on the touch-screen versions, is a very limited option.

There is a configuration program called configure_radio.sh which configures the choice of display
and user interface required. It can be safely re-run at any time.

The vintage radio software (Display option 9) specifically intended for converting an old radio to an
Internet radio whilst retaining the original look and feel of the radio. It has no LCD display.
The four lines LCD can display more information than two-line versions.

Note: The touch screen software (gradio.py or vgradio.py) cannot be run at the same time
as the LCD version of the radio software (radiod.py). It is a case of using one or the other. It
is however it is possible to switch between gradio.py or vgradio.py programs during operation.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 15

Connecting the LCD display
There are two ways of wiring up the display:

• Directly connect the LCD to the GPIO pins. This uses six GPIO pins.
• Connection via an I2C backpack. This uses the two-pin I2C interface

The first choice uses more wiring but is the cheapest option. The second choice uses an I2C backpack
which is an extra component to be purchased. However, I2C backpacks are reasonably cheap.

Housing the radio

This manual describes a couple of ways of housing the radio. A few ideas are below:
• A custom-built case as shown in this manual
• Old plastic boxes or food containers
• Construct a case using Lego
• Use a pair of speaker housings that have enough room
• Install in an old vintage radio (really cool)
• Use an old wooden wine box
• Use an old video recorder, CD player or desktop set
• Buy a PC speaker set with enough room to build in the radio.

Figure 31 Some examples of radio cases

Take a look at the constructor’s gallery at

https://bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/pi_internet_radio.html to get some ideas that other
constructors have used.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 16

 Note: Don’t forget to make sure that there is adequate airflow through the radio housing
to allow cooling of the Raspberry PI and other components. If necessary, drill at least five
or six holes at the top and bottom of the housing.

If you decide to use a metal case (not advised) you will need a WiFi dongle with an aerial
mounted externally to the case. Also, the case must be earthed at the main supply both
for safety reasons and to prevent interference with sound and/or the LCD screen

Building in a IR sensor and remote control

The radio can be built with an IR Sensor and

remote control. Also included is an activity
LED which flashes when the remote control is
used.

A TSOP382xx series IR Sensor is used in

conjunction with almost any remote control.
An activity LED can also be added which
flashes every time remote control signal is
detected. The remote control provides the
same functionality as the buttons or rotary
encoders.

Figure 32 IR Sensor and Remote control

The AdaFruit RGB plate can also be fitted

with an IR sensor and activity LED but needs a
model B+, 2B or 3B (40 GPIO pins) and 26 pin
extender as shown in Figure 46 on page 27.

Note that a 40 pin Raspberry PI is

needed as the Adafruit Plate
occupies all 26 pins on the 26 pin versions of
the Raspberry PI. If not planning to fit an IR
sensor and activity LED then the 26 pin
version Raspberry Pi may be used.

Figure 33 Adafruit and IR sensor and activity LED

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 2 - Hardware overview 17

Chapter 3 - Wiring
Table 4 and Table 5 on the following pages 19 and 20 respectively show the interface wiring for both
the push button and rotary encoder versions of the radio. There are two versions of the wiring, 26
and 40 pin versions (Table 4 and Table 5 respectively). The connections used by the radio are
highlighted in yellow. The IQaudIO or JustBoom and newer HiFiBerry DACs require 40 pin versions
of the Raspberry Pi. The 40-pin version of the wiring is recommended for all new projects.

This is where it can get a little confusing. The radio components (LCD, buttons, rotary encoders etc.)
can use either 26-pin or 40-pin wiring as shown in the two tables. The 26-pin version wiring can also
be used on a 40-pin Raspberry Pi. The 40-pin version of the wiring in Table 5 guarantees that there
will be no wiring conflicts with DAC components.

Things get more complicated with HiFiBerry, Justboom or IQaudIO Digital to Audio Converters
(DACs). These devices give excellent audio output quality and naturally many constructors want to
use these. However, they conflict with two GPIO pins that are used for the original radio wiring
scheme.

Table 3 Radio wiring conflicts

Pin GPIO Radio Function Conflicts with Use pin GPIO Note
12 GPIO18 Down switch DAC 19 GPIO10 26 or 40 pin Rpi
15 GPIO15 LCD data 5 IQaudIO Amp Mute 31 GPIO6 40 pin only Rpi

Colour Legend Radio Conflict Alternative wiring

You are strongly advised to use the alternative 40 pin wiring scheme so that IQaudIO and
HiFiBerry products and similar can be used either at the outset or at a later date.

The configuration for the radio is contained in a file called /etc/radiod.conf. By default, this is
configured for the 40-pin scheme. Every component of the radio is configurable in this configuration
file. There is a program called configure_radio.sh that is used to configure the settings in the
/etc/radiod.conf file.

The original 26-pin Raspberry Pi’s had a GPIO conflict with GPIO 18 which was used by DACs. The
down switch now uses GPIO 10 as a result.
down_switch=18

Changed to:
down_switch=10

Note: All settings in the /etc/radiod.conf file use GPIO numbers and NOT physical pin
numbers. So in the above example down_switch is GPIO 10 (Physical pin 19).

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 18

 If using DAC products do not use the 26 pin version of the wiring but use the wiring
shown in Table 5 on page 20.

Table 4 Controls and LCD wiring 26 pin version

Pin Description Radio Name LCD Push Encoder Encoder

Function pin Buttons (Tuner) (Volume)
1 3V3 +3V supply COMMON
2 5V 5V for LCD 2,15
3 GPIO2 I2C Data* I2C Data
4 5V
5 GPIO3 I2C Clock* I2C Clock
6 GND Zero volts 1,3*,5,16 Common Common
7 GPIO 4 Mute volume MUTE Knob Switch
8 GPIO 14 Volume down UART TX LEFT Output A
9 GND Zero Volts
10 GPIO 15 Volume up UART RX RIGHT Output B
11 GPIO 17 Channel Up UP Output B
12 GPIO 18** Channel Down DOWN Output A
13 GPIO 27 LCD Data 4 11
14 GND Zero Volts
15 GPIO 22 LCD Data 5 12
16 GPIO 23 LCD Data 6 13
17 3V3 +3V supply
18 GPIO 24 LCD Data 7 14
19 GPIO 10** Channel Down SPI-MOSI DOWN Output A
20 GND Zero Volts
21 GPIO 9 IR Sensor in (1) SPI-MOSO
22 GPIO 25 Menu Switch MENU Knob Switch
23 GPIO 11 IR LED out (1) SPI-SCLK
24 GPIO 8 LCD E SPI-CE0 6
25 GND Zero Volts
26 GPIO 7 LCD RS SPI-CE1 4

Colour Legend Radio I2C (shared) SPI Interface

* These pins are used for the I2C LCD backpack if used instead of the directly wired LCD to GPIO pins.
** Pin 18 is used by some DACs so pin 10 should be used for the down switch.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 19

Table 5 Radio and DAC devices 40 pin wiring

Pin Description Radio Name Audio DAC LCD Push Encoder Encoder
Function Function Pin Button (Tuner) (Volume)
1 3V3 +3V supply +3V +3V +3V
2 5V 5V for LCD +5V +5V 2,15
3 GPIO2 I2C Data I2C Data I2C Data
4 5V +5V
5 GPIO3 I2C Clock I2C Clock I2C Clock
6 GND Zero volts 0V 0V 1,3*,5,16 Common Common
7 GPIO 4 Mute volume MUTE Knob Switch
8 GPIO 14 Volume down UART TX LEFT Output A
9 GND Zero Volts 0V
10 GPIO 15 Volume up UART RX RIGHT Output B
11 GPIO 17 Menu switch MENU Knob Switch
12 GPIO 18 I2S CLK
13 GPIO 27
14 GND Zero Volts 0V
15 GPIO 22 Mute
16 GPIO 23 Channel down Rotary enc A DOWN Output A
17 3V3 +3V supply 0V
18 GPIO 24 Channel up Rotary Enc B UP Output B
19 GPIO 10 SPI-MOSI
20 GND Zero Volts
21 GPIO9 SPI-MISO
22 GPIO 25 IR Sensor IR sensor
23 GPIO 11 SPI-SCLK
24 GPIO 8 LCD E SPI-CE0 6
25 GND Zero Volts 0V
26 GPIO 7 LCD RS SPI-CE1 4
27 DNC PiDac+ Eprom
28 DNC PiDac+ Eprom
29 GPIO5 LCD Data 4 11
30 GND Zero Volts
31 GPIO6 LCD Data 5 12
32 GPIO12 LCD Data 6 13
33 GPIO 13 LCD Data 7 14
34 GND Zero Volts
35 GPIO 19 IQaudIO DAC+ I2S I2S
36 GPIO 16 IR LED out
37 GPIO 26
38 GPIO 20 IQaudIO DAC+ I2S DIN I2S DIN
39 GND Zero Volts
40 GPIO 21 IQaudIO DAC+ I2S DOUT I2S DOUT

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 20

Colour Legend Radio IQaudIO I2C (shared) SPI Interface

Note: Make sure you are using the correct columns in the above wiring tables. Use column
6 (Push Buttons) for the push button version and the last two columns (Encoder
Tuner/Volume) for the rotary encoder version.

Version 1 boards (early boards)

Version 1 boards only had 26 pins and did not have internal pull-up resistors on the GPIO inputs. It
has become increasingly difficult to support version 1.0 boards and you are advised to purchase a
newer Raspberry Pi board for this project. Tips for using version 1 boards will be retained in this
manual; however, if there is a problem, regrettably no support can be provided. As shown in the
diagram below, wire one side of the switches to the 3.3V pin. Wire the other side of each switch to
the GPIO pin as shown in the last column of the above table. Also wire this same side of the switch
to the GND(0V) pin via a 10KΩ resistor. See Figure 34 below.

To Switch
GPIO

Push button

10K Resistor

To +3.3 Volts To GND (0V)

Figure 34 Push-button Wiring version 1 boards

Version 2, 3 or model B+ boards

Wire one side of the push-buttons the GPIO pin as shown in the last column of Table 5 on page 20.
As from version 6.9 onwards the other side of the switches can be wired to either +3.3V (Original
wiring scheme) or to GND (0V) (Preferred wiring scheme recommended for new projects).
Whichever wiring you use, the radio configuration program will ask which wiring scheme is being
used. Version 2 onwards boards have internal pull up/down resistors and don’t require external
resistors. In fact, including these can cause problems.

Preferred wiring for push-buttons Original wiring scheme for push-buttons

+3.3V
GPIO
Push-button

GPIO
GND (0V) Push-button

Figure 35 Push-button wiring version 2 onwards boards

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 21

Rotary encoder wiring
Mute or Rotary encoders have three
Channel
A Output B Output
switch inputs namely Ground, Pin A and
B as shown in the diagram on the
left. Wire the encoders according
that shown in Table 4 on page 19.
If the encoder also has a push
button knob then wire one side to
ground and the other to the GPIO
To Down To GND (0V) To Up Switch To Mute or
Switch GPIO Channel pin. In the case of the mute
GPIO switch GPIO switch this will be pin 7 (GPIO 4).

Figure 36 Rotary Encoder Diagram Version 1 boards are not

supported but will probably work.

Warning: The push switches (if fitted) on the rotary encoder are wired differently from
the push buttons in the earlier push button versions of the radio. For these encoders one
side of the push button is wired to GND (not 3.3V) and the other to the relevant GPIO.

If using a Revision 1 board it is necessary to use 10K pull up resistors connected between the GPIO
inputs of the rotary encoder outputs and the 3.3-volt line. Do not add resistors if using revision 2
boards and onwards.
This project uses a COM-09117 12-step rotary
encoder from Sparkfun.com. It also has a select
switch (by pushing in on the knob). These are
“Incremental Rotary Encoders”. An incremental
rotary encoder provides cyclical outputs (only) when
the encoder is rotated. The other type is an absolute
rotary encoder which maintains position information
even when switched off (See Wikipedia article on
rotary encoders). These tend to be bigger and more
expensive due to extra electronics required Only
incremental encoders are used in this project.

Figure 37 Rotary encoder with push switch

The rotary encoders used in this project are wired with the COMMON or GND pin in the middle and
the A and B outputs either side. However, some rotary encoders are wired with A and B as the first
two pins and GND (COM) as the third pin. Note that not all encoders come with a switch, so separate
switches for the Menu and Mute button will need to be installed. Check the specification for your
encoders first.

Figure 38 Rotary encoder pin-outs

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 22

 Note: Not all manufacturers’ rotary encoders will work with this project. If they work then
fine if not regrettably you will need to purchase the recommended encoders.

LCD Module Wiring

The following shows the wiring for a directly wired HD44870 LCD controller. It has 16 or 18 pins.
There are two ways of wiring the LCD data lines using either the 26 pin or 40-pin wiring schemes
(Table 4 and Table 5 respectively). For all new 40 pin Raspberry Pi’s the 40-pin wiring is strongly
recommended. The 26-pin version of the wiring can be used on both 26 and 40 pin Raspberry Pi’s.

Table 6 LCD module wiring for 26 and 40 pin Raspberry Pi's

LCD GPIO Pin GPIO Pin Description

Pin 26 pin 26 # 40 pin 40 #
1 n/a 6 n/a 6 Ground (0V) – Wire this directly to LCD pin 5
2 n/a 2 n/a 2 VCC +5V
3 n/a Note1 n/a Note1 Contrast adjustment (0V gives maximum contrast)
4 GPIO7 26 GPIO7 26 Register Select (RS). RS=0: Command, RS=1: Data
5 n/a 6 or 9 n/a 6 or 9 Read/Write (RW). Very important this pin must be
grounded!
R/W=0 (GND): Write, R/W=1 (+5V): Read.
Will damage the PI if not grounded (0V). Wire LCD pin 5
and 1 together
6 GPIO8 24 GPIO8 24 Enable (EN)
7 Data Bit 0 (Not required in 4-bit operation)
8 Data Bit 1 (Not required in 4-bit operation)
9 Data Bit 2 (Not required in 4-bit operation)
10 Data Bit 3 (Not required in 4-bit operation)
11 GPIO27 13 GPIO5 29 Data Bit 4 (D4)
12 GPIO22 15 GPIO6 31 Data Bit 5 (D5) Note if using IQaudIO products GPIO22
conflicts !!
13 GPIO23 16 GPIO12 32 Data Bit 6 (D6)
14 GPIO24 18 GPIO13 33 Data Bit 7 (D7)
15 n/a 2 n/a 2 LED Backlight Anode (+5V) or Red LED (Adafruit RGB
plate ) [2]
16 n/a 6 or 9 n/a 6 or 9 LED Backlight Cathode (GND) or Red LED [2]
17 Optional Green LED (Adafruit RGB plate) [2]
18 Optional Blue LED (Adafruit RGB plate) [2]

If using IQaudIO, HiFiberry or similar DAC products it is necessary to use the 40-pin version of the
wiring (See Table 5).

Note 1: The contrast pin 3 (VE) should be connected to the center pin of a 10K
potentiometer. Connect the other two pins of the potentiometer to 5v (VDD) and 0v (VSS)
respectively. Adjust the preset potentiometer for the best contrast. If you do not wish to
use a contrast potentiometer then wire pin 3 (VE in the diagram below) to GND (0V).

Note 2: The standard LCD comes with 16 pins. Adafruit supply an RGB backlit LCD with
two extra pins namely pins 17 and 18. These are non-standard. These must be wired to
ground (0 Volts) to work. For more information see the section Using the Adafruit backlit
RGB LCD display on page 53.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 23

The following diagram (Courtesy protostack.com) shows the electrical connections for the standard
16 pin LCD.

Figure 39 HD44870 LCD electrical circuit

The standard LCD comes with 16 pins. Adafruit supply an RGB backlit LCD with two extra
pins namely pins 17 and 18. These are non-standard. These must be wired to ground
(GND 0 Volts) to work. For more information see the section Using the Adafruit backlit
RGB LCD display on page 53.

The Read/Write (RW) pin 5 must be

Wire pin 1 connected to pin 1 (0V). It is very
and 5 important that this pin is grounded!
together If pin 5 is not grounded it will damage the
Raspberry PI. Always wire LCD pin 5 and 1
directly together. Do not rely on grounding pin 5
with a GND wire on the connector. If this wire
drops off then the LCD data lines will be put into
write mode putting +5V on the GPIO pins which
will probably cause irreparable damage to the
Raspberry Pi. If using an I2C backpack this step is
not necessary as it is already done in the
Figure 40 Wire LCD pin 1 (GND) and 5 (RW) together backpack.

Warning – Some LCD displays such as Midas have a different voltage arrangement for Pin
15 and Pin 5 (Contrast). Pin 15 is an output which provides a negative voltage ( VEE)
which connects to one end of the 10K contrast potentiometer and the other end to +5V
(VDD). Connecting +5 Volts to pin 15 will destroy the LCD device.
DO NOT USE THESE DEVICES UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

If using a 16x4 LCD although not directly supported then set the lcd_width statement in
/etc/radiod.conf to 16 (lcd_width=16).

Note: All settings in the /etc/radiod.conf file use GPIO numbers and NOT physical pin
numbers. So in the above example lcd_width is GPIO 16 (Physical pin 36).

From version 5.9 onwards there is a new program called wiring.py which will display
physical the wiring required for the settings found in /etc/radiod.conf. See page 176.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 24

Power supply considerations

The Raspberry Pi uses a standard Micro USB (type B) power connector, which runs at +5V. In general
the Raspberry PI can draw up to 700mA. Many telephone adapters deliver less than that and can
lead to problems. You also need to consider the LCD screen which can also need up to 20mA but
depends on the type of backlight. However due to the extra current that can be drawn by connected
USB or other devices, a 2.5A supply will be needed.

Try to find a power adapter that delivers at least 1.5 Ampere. As mentioned above a 2.5A supply
may be required if USB are used. See the following article. The newer RPi models can draw up to 1.5
Amps if USB peripherals or sound cards are attached.

http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#Power_adapters

The Raspberry PI can be powered either the USB port or via the GPIO header (Pin 2 or 4). Some
prototyping boards such as the Ciseco Humble PI can provide power in this way.
Visit https://www.modmypi.com
This interface board can be ordered with an optional 5-volt regulator. If using the Humble PI try with
regulator use 6v to 7v as the power input to the Humble PI 5v regulator (Not the Raspberry PI).
Trying to use 9v or more will mean that the 5-volt regulator will get far too hot.

If using an adaptor or separate 5-volt Power Supply try to use a switched-mode power supply
adaptor. This take less current and generate less heat that a power dissipation device. If a power
supply is designed to be earthed then use a 3-core cable with live, neutral and earth wires.

Things not to do:

• Do not try to tap off power from the Power supply or transformer used by the speaker’s
amplifier. This won’t work (earth loops) and can cause damage to the PI and peripherals.
• Do not tap off (cascade) from the amplifier DC supply (12 volts for example) with another 5V
voltage regulator. This will most likely cause interference.
• Do not feed power to the PI from two sources (USB hub and Power adapter). Try to use USB
hubs that don’t feed 5 volts back through the USB ports of the Raspberry PI
• Do not connect an untested power supply to the Raspberry PI without checking the voltage
first.

Things to do:
• Use double pole mains switches for isolating the mains supply when switched off. A lot of
European plugs can be reversed leaving the live wire un-switched if using a single pole
switch.
• If using a metal case always earth it and use a three-pin plug with earth pin.
• In general feed the 5-volt supply via the Raspberry Pi rather than via the GPIO header. This is
because the Raspberry Pi is fitted with a so-called poly-fuse for protection.

You should try to use a single power supply switch for the radio. Connect the AC power supply of the
adaptor to the mains switch. This switch can also provide the mains supply to the speaker amplifier.
Also see the section on preventing electrical interference on page 26.

Always consider safety first and make sure that no-one including yourself can
receive an electric shock from your project including when the case is open.
Also see disclaimer on page 211.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 25

Selecting an audio amplifier
There is a wide range of amplifiers that can be used with the radio which fall into four main
categories:

1. A set of PC speakers with amplifier (Logitech or similar) – the simplest option

2. A dedicated AB or Class D stereo amplifier (Velleman or similar)
3. A combined DAC and amplifier from manufacturers such as IQaudIO, HiFiBerry or JustBoom
4. The audio stage of an existing (vintage) radio. Use the PA or record player input (Usually
mono only)

Figure 41 PC speakers Figure 42 Velleman 30W stereo amplifier

Audio
Input

Figure 44 Vintage radio PA input

Figure 43 IQaudIO DAC and 20W Amplifier

The above manufacturer’s boards are examples only and do not imply any specific
recommendations.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 26

GPIO Hardware Notes

The following shows the pin outs for the GPIO pins on revision 1 and 2 boards. For more information
see: http://elinux.org/RPi_Low-level_peripherals.

Figure 45 GPIO Numbers

Note: The B+, 2B and 3B have the same pin-outs.

If connecting any 40 pin interface

board via a 26 way ribbon cable it will
be necessary to fit a 26 pin header
extender and plug the ribbon cable
into it.

Figure 46 26 pin header extender

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 27

Parts List
The following table shows the parts list for the Raspberry PI Internet Radio. This list is for the version
using the HD44870 LCD directly connected to the GPIO pins. If using the Adafruit five button LCD
Plate then don’t order the parts marked with an asterix (*)

Table 7 Parts list (LCD versions)

Qty Part Supplier

1 Raspberry Pi Computer Farnell Element 14
1 Clear Raspberry Case RS Components
1 8GByte SD Card Any PC or Photographic supplier
1 Radio Case See Housing the radio page 16
1 Raspbian Stretch OS Raspberry Pi foundation downloads
2 Four inch loudspeakers From set of old PC speakers
2 Four inch loudspeaker grills Any electronics shop
1 Stereo Amplifier (3 to 35 watt) Any electronics shop
1 Transformer for amplifier Any electronics shop
1 LCD HD44870 2 x 16 Display * Farnell Element 14
1 Prototype board Ciseco PLC
4 Round push buttons * Any electronics shop
1 Square push button * Any electronics shop
2 Rotary encoders if using this option * ** Sparkfun.com
1 26 or 40 way ribbon cable Tandy or Farnell Element 14
5 10KΩ resistors * (Revision 1 boards only) Tandy or Farnell Element 14
5 1K resistors * (Revision 1 boards only) Tandy or Farnell Element 14
1 Four port USB hub (Revision 1 & 2 boards only) Any PC supplier
1 External power supply for USB hub (1200 mA) Any PC supplier
1 26 way PCB mount male connector Any electronics shop
1 26 way GPIO extender (model B+ boards only) ModMyPi and others
1 Mains cable Hardware shop
1 Double pole mains switch with neon Farnell Element 14
5 Male 2 pin PCB mount connectors Any electronics shop
2 Female 4 pin PCB connectors Any electronics shop
1 Female 2 pin PCB connectors Any electronics shop
1 16 pin male in-line PCB mount connector Any electronics shop
1 Stereo jack plug socket Any electronics shop
1 Panel mount Ethernet socket Any electronics shop
1 Adafruit I2C LCD interface Backpack *** http://www.adafruit.com/
1 TSOP38238 IR Sensor Adafruit industries and others
1 Red or Green LED and 220 Ohm resistor Any electronics shop
1 Optional sound card (DAC) IQaudIO, HifFiBerry or JustBoom
Shrink wrap and thin wire for PCB wiring Any electronics shop
* These components are not required if using the Adafruit LCD plate.
** If using rotary encoders.
*** If using the Adafruit I2C backpack

The above list is not relevant if using a touch screen except when used with rotary encoders or push
buttons.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 3 - Wiring 28

Chapter 4 - Construction details
Construction using an interface board
It isn’t necessary to construct the radio connect via an interface board but it does make maintenance
easier and is much more reliable and will be needed if you wish to connect to the Raspberry Pi using
a ribbon cable. Always bring the ribbon cable into the top of the board as shown in Figure 47 below.
If the ribbon cable is connected to the back (underside) of the board the two rows of the 40-pin
connector will be swapped over. In the next section how to use breakout boards is covered which
may be an easier alternative for many constructors rather than building your own.

Figure 47 40-pin Interface board with ribbon cable

The figure below shows a 4x20 HD44870 LCD plugged into the interface board.

Figure 48 Interface board with LCD screen attached

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 29

Below is the other side of the interface board showing the connections to the rotary encoders, an IR
sensor the IR activity LED.

Figure 49 Radio controls connections

Below is the complete overview of the interface card with some test rotary encoders, an IR sensor
the IR activity LED.

Figure 50 Interface board overview

There are various interface boards available on the market for both 26-pin and 40-pin Raspberry PIs.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 30

Construction using breakout boards

When this project was begun in the early days of Raspberry Pi there was very little in the way of
breakout boards. It was necessary to make connections to button, LCDs and Rotary encoders either
direct on the GPIO header or via an especially constructed breakout board. Things became more
complex when digital sound cards (DAC) were introduced as these occupied the GPIO header and
either did not extend the header pins, or if they did so, only extended a few of them.

This has now changed and there is a wide variety of breakout boards available.

Figure 51 GPIO header breakout board

On the left of the above photo is an example of the 4Tronix GPIO breakout and extender board. On
the right of the same photo is the break-out board used with a Raspberry Pi Zero W and an IQaudIO
DAC plus. All 40-pins are now made available, except for those used by the DAC, to attach buttons
and the like to the GPIO pins.

These boards are available from http://4tronix.co.uk

See:
https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/products/gpio-interceptor-gpio-breakout-for-40-pin-raspberry-pi

Note: Soldering skills are required to solder the 40-pin header to the breakout board.
The above breakout board is only shown as an example and many more are available on
the Internet.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 31

Construction using an Adafruit LCD plate
Introduction
This section is for the radio using an Adafruit RGB-backlit LCD plate for Raspberry PI. The complete
instructions for both ordering and building this product are available from the following web site:
http://www.adafruit.com/products/1110 (See tutorials)

Note: Don’t confuse this product (which has an I2C interface chip) with the two-line and four-line
RGB LCDs which Adafruit also sell.

The Adafruit LCD plate is designed to directly

into the GPIO header on the Raspberry PI.
These fit into a female 26 way header. If you
want to connect the Adafruit LCD via a ribbon
cable you will need to mount a 26 way male
header instead of the female header and you
will also need to construct a reversing board
(Shown on the left of the picture on the left).
Because ribbon cable swaps the two rows of
pins over the reversing card is required to swap
the two rows of pins back to their correct
Figure 52 Adafruit LCD plate
orientation.

Back view of the reversing board plugged into

the Adafruit LCD plate.

The GPIO pins used are:

1. 3.3 Volts
2. 5.0 volts
3. SDA0
4. -
5. SCL0
Figure 53 Adafruit LCD plate with ribbon cable adapter
6. Ground

Note 1: If you are going to plug the Adafruit LCD plate directly into the GPIO header on the
Raspberry PI then you don’t need the above reversing plate. Just follow the construction
instructions on the tutorial on the Adafruit site.

Note 2: The “Select” button on the Adafruit plate is the “Menu” button for the radio.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 32

Using other switches
The Adafruit Plate comes with five 4-pin switches which are mounted on the interface board. You
will almost certainly want to use other switches say mounted on a front panel. It doesn’t matter
which type of switch you use as long as it is a push to make type. The only reason that a four-
connector switch is used is for mechanical strength. If you look closely you will see push button
symbol between pins 2 and 4 and 1 or 3 on the component side for four of the switches. Either 2 and
4 and 1 or 3 should be connected to the switches.

It is advisable to solder two posts (male pins) for each switch on the reverse side of the board (The
non-component side). Don’t solder wires directly into the board. It is better to use push-on jumper
wires connected to the switches to connect to the posts on the card.

Note: Rotary encoders cannot be used with the Adafruit Plate as these require three
connections and the Adafruit routines to utilise them are not supplied by Adafruit.

Using the Adafruit LCD plate with the model B+, 2B and 3B
The plate is designed for revisions of the Raspberry Pi. It uses the I2C (SDA/SCL) pins. Adafruit supply
a special extra tall 26-pin header so the plate sits above the USB and Ethernet jacks. For Pi Model B+,
the resistors sit right above the new set of USB ports. To keep them from shorting against the metal,
a piece of electrical tape must be placed on the top of the USB ports.

Using alternatives to the Adafruit display

Caution is advised. There are a number RGB boards which are compatible with the software
provided by Adafruit Industries. Below is such an example of a Chinese 1602 I2C LCD. When
originally tried the backlight wasn’t lit and it was necessary to wire Pin 1 (GND 0V) and Pin 16
(Backlight). This is no longer necessary from version 5.10 onwards as the backlight is software
controlled.

220 or 330
Ohm resistor

Figure 54 Chinese 1602 I2C LCD Figure 55 Enabling the backlight.

Note that the RGB part is a RGB LED that you If running the radio version 5.9 or earlier then
see shining very brightly in the above picture. solder a 220 or 330 Ohm resister between pin
It is not actually lighting up the LCD backlight 1 (0V GND) and pin 16 (Backlight). Version 5.10
unlike the Adafruit RGB plate. or above this is no longer necessary.

To switch off the very bright RGB light switch off the colour definitions in /etc/radiod.conf.
For example: bg_color=OFF

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 33

Construction using an I2C LCD backpack

Skip this section if you are not using an I2C backpack. There are two versions of the backpack
supported:
1. Adafruit I2C backpack using an MCP23017 port expander – Hex address 0x20
2. Arduino I2C backpack using a PCF8574 port expander – Hex address 0x27 or 0x37

The I2C interface only requires two signals namely the I2C Data and Clock. This saves six GPIO pins
when compared with the directly wired LCD interface. See https://www.adafruit.com/product/292.

The radio software also supports the more common PCF8574 chip based backpack popular with the
Arduino hobby computer may also be used. See http://www.play-zone.ch/en/i2c-backpack-
pcf8574t-fur-1602-lcds-5v.html for example.

This is configurable in the /etc/radiod.conf file.

# The i2cbackpack is either ADAFRUIT or PCF8574
# i2c_backpack=PCF8574
i2c_backpack=ADAFRUIT

Note: In previous versions the i2c_backpack parameter was incorrectly shown as PCF8475
instead of PCF8574. Check the /etc/radiod.conf file.

Adafruit I2C Backpack

The Adafruit I2C/SPI backpack interface is shipped

as shown in the diagram opposite. There are no
connectors shipped to connect to the LCD itself to
this interface. These must be ordered separately.

Order a 16 in-line connector.

Figure 56 Adafruit I2C Backpack

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 34

 The diagram shown on the left shows a 2x16
character LCD connected to the I2C backpack.
The wiring right to left is:
1. LAT (Unused)
2. Blue: I2C Data – GPIO pin 3
3. Yellow: I2C Clock – GPIO pin 5
4. Red: +5 volts – GPIO pin 2
5. Black: GND (0 volts) – GND pin 6

The I2C Data (DAT) connects to pin 3 on the

Raspberry Pi GPIO header and the I2C Clock (CLK) to
pin 5 on the GPIO header.
Figure 57 LCD connected to an Adafruit I2C
backpack

Arduino PCF8574 I2C backpacks

These types of backpack are popular with Arduino users. The device address is usually hex 0x27.
Another manufacture may use hex 0x37. This is configurable in the radio configuration program.

The wiring From top to bottom is:

1. GND (0 volts) – GPIO pin 6
2. VCC +5 volts – GPIO pin 2
3. SDA I2C Data – GPIO pin 3
4. SCL I2C Clock – GPIO pin 5

The blue potentiometer on the right is the

Figure 58 Arduino I2C backpack
contrast adjustment.

To use this device either amend the

i2c_backpack=PCF8574
#i2c_backpack=ADAFRUIT
i2c_backpack parameter in /etc/radiod.conf
(Comment out the ADAFRUIT line) or run the
configure_radio.sh program.

Creating the interface board for the I2C back pack

An interface board is recommended to connect the I2C backpack and rotary encoders etc. to the
GPIO interface. Any number of Raspberry Pi prototyping boards are available for all versions of the
Rasberry Pi. The Ciseco Humble Pi prototype board shown in Figure 59 has been discontinued.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 35

 Figure 59 Ciseco Humble PI I2C interface board Figure 60 The I2C backpack interface board

The above figure shows the I2C interface board The above diagram shows the Adafruit I2C
using the Ciseco Humble PI (Discontinued). The backpack connected to the interface board along
header pins in the centre from left to right are, with the rotary encoders. The 26-pin male
I2C interface connector (4 pins), Volume rotary header connects to the GPIO ribbon cable on the
encoder (5 pins), Channel rotary encoder (5 Raspberry PI. On the left is a 6V to 9V power
pins), IR sensor (3 pins) and front panel LED (2 input feeding a 5 Volt regulator.
pins). In this version there are two rows of 18
pins (male and female) to allow different I2C
backpack to be connected. You will normally
only need one or the other.

Construction using the Adafruit 3.5 inch TFT

Note: There are two types of TFT touch-screen available screen available from Adafruit
namely Capacitive or Resistive. The one used in this project was the 3.5-inch Resistive type.

The installation instructions can be found on the Adafruit web site:

https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-raspberry-
pi.pdf

Or from the Bob Rathbone web site:

http://bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/documents/Adafruit/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-
raspberry-pi.pdf

Software installation is also covered in the above manual. Below is the easy installation script from
the manual. The supported resolution is 720 x 480 pixels. Smaller resolutions are not supported.

$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adafruit/Raspberry-Pi-Installer-
Scripts/master/adafruit-pitft.sh
$ chmod +x adafruit-pitft.sh
$ sudo ./adafruit-pitft.sh

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 36

The TFT screen should be calibrated using the evtest program
$ sudo apt-get install evtest tslib libts-bin
$ sudo evtest /dev/input/touchscreen

See the Adafruit manual for the full procedure.

Fitting a wake-up button

One of the features of this radio’s design is that the menu button (LCD versions) or a special key
(Touchscreen version) can do an orderly system shutdown. This is more desirable, and certainly safer
and more convenient than pulling the power plug out. The system when properly shutdown goes
into a so-called halt state. If the power is left connected the Raspberry Pi, it can be woken up by a
button connected between pins 5(GPIO3) and 6(GND).

On the left is the Raspberry Pi unit which is

running the radio on a TV with HDMI inputs as
shown in Figure 2 on page 4. A small black wake-
up button is fitted to the case and connects to
physical pins 5 and 6. When pressed with the
Raspberry Pi in a halt state but power still
applied it will start its boot-up sequence. It
should be noted that pin 5 (GPIO3) is also used
as the I2C data line. Although the button could
still be fitted it is probably not a good idea as it
will disrupt the I2C signal if the wake-up button
is pressed.
Figure 61 Wake-up button

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 37

Installing an IR sensor and remote control

Note: This installation procedure is only for LCD versions of the radio. If using a HDMI or
Touchscreen display see Installing the FLIRC USB remote control on page 42.

IR Sensor
If you wish to use an IR remote control with other variants of the radio then purchase an IR sensor
TSOP38238 or similar. The output in this case will be connected to GPIO 11 (Pin 23) or GPIO 26 (pin
37) for LCD or Adafruit Plate respectively.

The TSOP38xxx series works from 2.5 to 5.5 volts and

is ideal for use the Raspberry PI.

IR sensor Description RPi

Pin 1 Signal Out GPIO in *
Pin 2 Ground Pin 6
Pin 3 ** Vs 3.3 Volts Pin 1
* See Table 11 IR Sensor Pin outs on page 92.
Figure 62 TSOP38238 IR sensor ** Caution; Do not accidently connect to 5 volts

There are equivalent devices on the market such as the TSOP4838 which operate on 3.3 volts only.

See http://www.vishay.com/docs/82491/tsop382.pdf for more information on these IR sensors.

Tip: These IR sensors are very prone to damage by heat when soldering them. It is a
good idea to use a 3-pin female connector and push the legs of the IR detector into
them. If you solder the IR detector directly into a circuit then take precautions by
connecting a crocodile clip across each pin in turn whilst soldering it. See figure below:

Figure 63 Soldering precautions

Remote control
Almost any surplus IR remote control can be
used with this project. Later on it is explained
how to set up the remote control with the radio
software. You will need to install the software
for IR sensor.
See the section called Installing the Infra Red
sensor software on page 91.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 38

Remote Control Activity LED
If wanted an activity LED can be connected to GPIO 11 or 13 depending on the type of radio. This
flashes every remote control activity is detected. It is a good idea to include this.

LEDs have polarity and must be wired correctly

to work. The diagram shows the polarity of a
typical LED. The longer lead is the positive (+)
connection and connects to the Anode (The
smaller terminal inside the LED)
Also the LED must be wired in series with a
resistor to limit the current, typically 100 Ohms
is OK. Failure to do this may cause the LED to
burn brightly for a while then burn out.
Connect the cathode to GND (RPi Pin 6) and the
Figure 64 LED polarity Anode (+) to the GPIO pin shown in the following
table via a 100 Ohm resistor.

The following table shows the GPIO pin used for the LED connections.
Table 8 Remote Control Activity LED

Radio Type Pin GPIO Type of Raspberry PI

Activity LED not fitted none n/a Not applicable
Two or Four line LCD with Push Buttons 23 11 26 or 40 Pin version
Two or Four line LCD with Rotary encoders 23 11 26 or 40 Pin version
Two or Four line LCD with I2C backpack 23 11 26 or 40 Pin version
Adafruit RGB plate with push buttons 33 13 40 pin version only
Vintage radio with no LCD display 16 23 26 or 40 Pin version
Designs using IQaudIO etc. sound boards 36 16 40 pin version only
PiFace CAD with IR sensor 16 23 26 or 40 Pin version

How to configure the LED is shown on in the section called Configuring the remote control activity
LED on page 110.

The illustration on the left shows an Adafruit

RGB plate with IR sensor and activity LED.

The IR sensor picks up 3.3 volts from the

reversing plate and connects the signal
output to Pin 40 (GPIO 21) and GND (pin 39).

The LED connects to pin 33 (GPIO 13) and

ground (pin 34).

Figure 65 Adafruit plate with IR sensor and activity LED.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 39

Construction using an IQaudIO Cosmic Controller
IQaudIO manufacture a comprehensive range of sound devices and controller boards. See their web
site at: http://www.iqaudio.co.uk/

From version 6.6 onwards the radio software provides support for the IQaudIO Cosmic controller.
The IQaudIO Cosmic controller consists of the following:
• A three push-button interface (Channel UP/DOWN and Menu)
• A rotary encoder (Used as volume control)
• Three status LEDs (Normal, Busy and Error)
• A 128 by 64 pixel OLED display (I2C interface)
• Optional IR detector (Ordered separately)

Figure 66 IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED display

The main advantage of this hardware, is that it contains everything required by the radio software.

Figure 67 Lego radio with IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED

If using the IQaudIO Cosmic controller it is necessary to configure it as shown in the section
Configuring the IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED on page 111.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 40

Construction using the Pimoroni Pirate radio

A full set of instruction for building the Pimoroni Pirate radio with pHat BEAT can be found here:
https://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/sandyj/assembling-pirate-radio

Soldering skills are required.

Construction using the PiFace CAD

Fortunately, no soldering or construction is required with the PiFace CAD. Just plug it in and install
and run the software. The PiFace CAD also has an IR sensor which means that it can be used with a
remote control. It is however more sluggish in its operation when compared to other variants of the
radio as the SPI interface on the Raspberry Pi is fairly slow. It also has the disadvantage that the push
buttons are on the bottom of the unit.

Figure 68 PiFace CAD and Rasberry PI Figure 69 PiFace CAD in a case

Various ready-made cases are available from various suppliers. Warning: not all fit properly and
might require some modification.

The PiFace CAD uses the SPI interface (from Motorola)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface_Bus and the section called Installing
PiFace CAD software on page 82 for further information on SPI.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 41

Installing the FLIRC USB remote control

Note: This installation procedure is only for the HDMI or Touchscreen display of the radio. If
using an LCD display see Installing an IR sensor and remote control on page 38.

FLIRC USB Remote Control dongle

The FLIRC USB dongle allows the use of any remote control with your
Raspberry Pi. In this design it is intended for use with the graphical
version of the radio (Touch-screen or HDMI displays). It allows
button presses on a remote control to be mapped to the keyboard
input of the Raspberry Pi. For example, pressing the volume up
button on the remote control will act just like pressing the + key on
keyboard (If so mapped). The graphical version of the radio accepts
key presses. The LCD versions of the program don’t so FLIRC will not
work with the LCD versions. This may however change in a later
version.

More can be found at the FLIRC website: https://flirc.tv

Documentation can be found at: https://flirc.gitbooks.io/flirc-instructions/content/title-page.html

Using DAC Sound Cards

The sound output of the on-board audio jack on the Raspberry Pi is known to be limited. Using a DAC
(Digital Audio Card) will give much better quality and output. Several are available.

HiFiBerry DAC
This version supports the HiFiBerry DAC (Digital Analogue Converter) from HiFiBerry. See
https://www.hifiberry.com. There are a lot of versions of the HiFiBerry DAC.

They split down into two main types:

1. The HiFi Berry DAC using the P5 connector (Older boards but not all)
2. The HiFi Berry DAC PLUS using the 40-pin connector (A+, B+ and Pi2 boards)

Choose the correct HiFiBerry DAC for your Raspberry PI.

HiFiBerry DAC using the P5 connector

The following example is using the version with a normal audio jack plug and a Raspberry B2. Solder
an eight-pin header into the Raspberry B. Connect the eight-pin socket on the HiFiBerry to the eight
pin P5 header on the Raspberry Pi.

See https://www.hifiberry.com/soldering-hifiberry/

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 42

 Pin layout of the P5 Connector:

1 - +5V
2 - +3V3
3 - GPIO28 PCM_CLK
4 - GPIO29 PCM_FS
5 - GPIO30 PCM_DIN
6 - GPIO31 PCM_DOUT
7 - Ground
8 - Ground
These GPIOs are not available on the A+/B+/Pi2
Figure 70 Raspberry PI P5 connector

Figure 71 HiFiBerry DAC plus Connector Figure 72 Pi Radio with HiFiBerry DAC

Create your own P5 connector using an eight Male/Female patch wires as shown in the above left
figure. Although not essential it is a good idea to use shrink wrap to keep the patch pins neatly
together.

The HifBerry DAC Plus using the 40 Pin Connector

The HiFiBery DAC PLUS uses the 40-pin connector and has an unpopulated 40 pin header to extend
the GPIO pins on the HiFiBerry DAC to use with other cards.

The DAC plus uses the 40 pin connector on

new Raspberry PIs. A 40 pin dual in line
male header is required (purchase
separately).

Solder the 40 pin male header into the

component side of the HiFiBerry DAC as
shown Figure 74 below. The Radio
interface card is then mounted on this
header.

Figure 73 HiFiBerry DAC Plus

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 43

 The A+/B+/Pi2 uses the following pins
supporting PCM.
Pin 12 GPIO18 PCM_CLK (Conflict!)
Pin 35 GPIO19 PCM_FS
Pin 38 GPIO20 PCM_DIN
Pin 40 GPIO21 PCM_DOUT
(All set to mode ALT0)

Pin 12 (GPIO) conflicts with the down

switch on the radio. Wire the down switch
to GPIO 10 (Pin 19) and configure the
down_switch=10 parameter in
/etc/radiod.conf.
Figure 74 HiFiBerry mounted on the Rasberry Pi

Note: All settings in the /etc/radiod.conf file use GPIO numbers and NOT physical pin
numbers. So in the above example down_switch is GPIO 10 (Physical pin 19).

The Pimoroni pHat is compatable with HiFiBerry DAC (Not DAC+) and uses the same Device
Tree (DT) overlay.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 44

IQaudIO DAC sound products
The IQaudIO DAC products use several GPIOs currently used by the 26-pin version of radio software.
The radio must be wired as shown in Table 5 Radio and DAC devices 40 pin wiring and NOT the 26-
pin wiring version shown in Table 4. The /etc/radiod.conf configuration file must also be configured
to support these devices.

Figure 75 IQaudIO DAC plus

The switch and LCD GPIO configuration in /etc/radiod.conf must also be changed to match the
wiring shown in Table 5 Radio and DAC devices 40 pin wiring. This can be done with the
configure_radio.sh program.
# Other switch settings
menu_switch=17
mute_switch=4
up_switch=15
down_switch=14
left_switch=23
right_switch=24

# LCD GPIO connections

lcd_select=7
lcd_enable=8
lcd_data4=5
lcd_data5=6
lcd_data6=12
lcd_data7=13

The radio installation program will allow selection of either the 26 pin or 40 pin wiring scheme.
Note: The above configuration is set-up using the configure_audio.sh program to amend
the /etc/radiod.conf during installation.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 45

JustBoom DAC products
The construction using JustBoom products is similar to other sound cards. The radio must be wired
as shown in Table 5 Radio and DAC devices 40 pin wiring and NOT the 26 pin wiring version shown in
Table 4. The /etc/radiod.conf configuration file must also be configured to support these devices.

Figure 77 JustBoom Amp Zero pHAT

Figure 76 JustBoom Amp HAT

The JustBoom Zero boards are used with

stackers or installed directly on the Raspberry Pi
Zero. Some stackers and some 2x20 male
headers on the market though are too thin or
too short to provide good contact with the
board. Use stackers that the pins are squared
and are at least 0.6mm in width. If you are
soldering the 2x20 male header on the
Raspberry Pi Zero make sure that the pins are
Figure 78 JustBoom Zero stacker requirements
0.6mm in width and 6mm in usable height.

Plug a suitable stacker onto the Raspberry Pi

Zero. Plug the JustBoom Zero board on top of
the stacker so that the pins protrude through
the JustBoom Zero board.

Plug the radio interface card or ribbon cable

(not shown) on top of these protruding pins.

Figure 79 Using the 40-pin stacker

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 46

Pimoroni pHat DAC
The Pimoroni pHAT DAC provides an affordable high-quality DAC for the Raspberry Pi. The 3.5mm
stereo jack comes soldered onto the board already. Though designed to match the format of the
Raspberry Pi Zero it is compatible with all 40-pin GPIO Raspberry Pi variants.

Features:
•24-bit audio at 192KHz
•Line out stereo jack
•pHAT format board
•Uses the PCM5102A DAC to work with the Raspberry Pi I2S interface

Figure 80 Pimoroni pHat DAC

Note 1: Do not use the 40 female header that comes with the board but use a 40-pin
extender so that other cards can be used on top of it.

Note 2: The Pimoroni pHat is not completely compatible with the HiFiberry DAC although it
uses the same software driver. In particular to use the Alsa sound mixer a package called
pulseaudio is required. However pulseaudio is not compatible with several of the features of this
package such as the espeak speech package. Normally the pulseaudio package must be removed as
shown in the section called Installing pulseaudio on page 69. The Pimoroni pHat DAC will run fine
without any mixer controls.

Construction Tips and Tricks

This section contains some construction tips which may be useful. It goes without saying that having
the correct tools such as a good fine tipped soldering iron, wire strippers and the like will greatly
help constructing the radio.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 47

Wiring up rotary encoders and switches
Purchase prototype board jumper wires with at
least one end fitted with female connectors. The
best type is the ribbon type particularly in the
case of rotary encoders. Strip off five wires for
the rotary encoder or two for push buttons. Also
it is better to use shrink wrap to cover the wires
after they have been soldered onto the switch or
rotary encoder. This improves both insulation
and strength.

Figure 81 Rotary encoder wiring components

Cut the plugs off the end that is to be soldered to

the rotary encoder or switch. Leave the other
end with female connectors. Using good wire
strippers, strip a few millimetres off the wires.
Separate the wires for about 30 centimetres.

Figure 82 Using wire strippers

Twist the copper strands together as tightly as

possible and tin the wires with a little solder. A
so called “Extra pair of hands” is very useful for
gripping the wires using crocodile clips.

Figure 83 Tinning the wires with solder

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 48

 Tin the switch connections with solder. Cut a few
millimetres of shrink wrap and slide onto the
wires to be soldered. Make sure that the shrink
wrap sleeves are well away from the heat of
soldering iron as these will shrink easily with the
slightest bit of heat. Tack the wire onto the top
of the switch connector. Don’t attempt to twist
the wire around the connector. Just tack it on
top with a little bit of heat from the soldering
iron.

Figure 84 Soldering up the switch

After soldering on all wires push the shrink wrap

over the newly soldered wires. Using a hair dryer
heat the shrink wrap until it has completely
shrunk tightly over the wires.

The finished switch can either be connected

directly to the Raspberry Pi or to an interface
board.

Figure 85 Shrink shrink-wrap with a hair dryer

If using an interface board, the female

connectors can be bound together to form a plug
using a larger piece of shrink-wrap. Slip the
shrink wrap over the female pins and heat with a
hair dryer. This can then be labelled up using
Dymo tape machine or a CD marker pen. Push
the newly created plug onto the male pins on
the interface board.

Figure 86 Connecting the rotary encoder an interface

board

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 49

Preventing electrical interference

One of the most irritating faults that one can have is the LCD screen occasionally either going blank
or displaying hieroglyphics especially when switching on and off other apparatus or lights on the
same circuit. This is due to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI).
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_interference for more information.

EMI can be caused by any number of sources such as fluorescent lighting, switching on and off
equipment on the same circuit as the radio or even electrical storms. If you are using a standard
Raspberry PI USB power supply then you will probably not experience this problem as nearly all are
fitted with a ferrite core (This is the big lump in the cable or may be built in). If you do experience
this problem then try the following solutions one at a time in the order shown below. They can all be
used together if required.

Using a clip on ferrite core on the +5 volt cable

One of the most effective
solutions is to put a clip on
ferrite core on the +5V
cable going to both the
Raspberry Pi and USB hub.
Loop the wire through at
least once. Even a single
loop seems to be enough.
Try this first! Figure 88 Loop +5V supply around the
Figure 87 Clip on ferrite core
core

Fit a mains filter

Try using a mains filter. This
has the advantage that it
can prevent spikes coming
in from the mains and
protect against electrical
storms. The picture on the
right shows an integrated
filter and panel mount
mains socket.
Figure 89 Various mains filters Figure 90 Integrated mains socket
and filter

Use an I2C LCD backback

If all else fails replace the directly wired LCD wiring with an I2C backpack. See the section called
Construction using an I2C LCD backpack on page 34 for further information.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 50

Preventing ground loops

Avoid creating ground loops in the first place during

construction. Ground loop issues usually cause a humming or
electronic noise. Trying to tap off the Raspberry power supply
from the power supply for the amplifier (if used) is one sure
way to create a ground loop. If you experience such a
problem then a 3.5mm Jack Ground Loop Isolator available
from suppliers such as Kenable (http://www.kenable.co.uk )
can prevent unwanted hum on the audio system. Place the
isolator between the Audio output of the Rasberry Pi or sound
card and the amplifier input.
Figure 91 3.5mm Jack Ground Loop
Isolator For further information on ground loops:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)

Connecting up a USB power adapter

It is convenient to connect all power supply
components for the Raspberry Pi, amplifier and
USB hub etc via a single mains switch. USB 240V
AC to +5V power adapters are designed to
connect directly to the mains and not via a mains
switch. One idea is to purchase a European
round pin adapter and use standard electrical
connector blocks to connect the incoming AC
power cable to the two pins of the power
adapter. AC cables to other components such as
the amplifier can also be connected to the
connector blocks. Use electrical tape or shrink-
Figure 92 Connecting up a USB power adapter wrap to isolate the connector blocks.

Cooling the Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is built from commercial chips which are qualified to different temperature ranges;
the LAN9512 is specified by the manufacturers being qualified from 0°C to 70°C, while the
Application Processor (AP) is qualified from -40°C to 85°C. Operation outside these temperatures is
not guaranteed. The temperature of the CPU should not really go above 80°C. If it does the CPU will
throttle back its processor clock speed to reduce the temperature. The official line from the
Raspberry Pi is that does not require cooling even though you can get temperature warnings when
using the Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch screen.

The vcgencmd command can be used to check the CPU temperature.

$ /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp
temp=67.1'C

For most of the radio designs in this document no specific cooling is required. If you need to cool the
Raspberry Pi (Those with touchscreens in particular) then a variety of heat sinks and cooling fans are
available as shown in Figure 93 below. Even with a heat sink good ventilation is necessary.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 51

 A variety of heat sink and cooling fan
kits are available for the Raspberry Pi.
Fans are a less good idea as they will
produce a background hum. Also, as
the CPU gets hot and the RPi is
mounted vertically the adhesive
softens and the fan and its heat sink
tend to fall off unless secured in some
Figure 93 Heat sink kit way. Try to using a heat sink first. Figure 94 Cooling fans

Miscellaneous
Simple tone regulator
It may be that you wish to fit a tone regulator to the radio. Below is one option.
The following diagram and modified text came from Jack Orman at:
http://www.muzique.com/lab/swtc.htm

This tone control circuit that has a response that

can be altered from high cut to high boost as the
knob is turned. The output resistance is constant
so the volume does not vary as the tone control
is adjusted.

Suggested values for beginning experimentation

with are R1=10k, R2=47k, C1=0.022uF and 100k
for the tone and volume pots.
Figure 95 Simple tone control circuit

Note that the above circuit has a lot of attenuation of the audio output so using the
onboard audio output of the Raspberry Pi might result in a disappointing level of
volume. It is recommended to use a sound output DAC or USB sound dongle.

The illustration on the left shows a simple passive tone regulator

board using the above circuit.

The audio output from the Raspberry Pi or DAC is fed into the
board via a standard Audio socket.

Below the input are the connections to the tone regulator

potentiometer mounted on the front panel of the radio.
Below the potentiometer connections are the two 100K presets
for adjusting the output level to the Audio Amplifier.

Below these the Left and Right audio outputs connect to the
Amplifier.

Figure 96 Tone control board

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 52

Using the Adafruit backlit RGB LCD display
The Adafruit backlit RGB LCD has three LED backlights (Red, Blue and Green) which can either be
switched on individually or in various combinations together as shown in the table below:

Table 9 Adafruit backlit RGB display wiring

Switch Red Green Blue Colour Diodes

pin (Pin 16) (Pin 17) (Pin 18) required
1 0 0 0 Off 0
2 0 0 1 Blue 0
3 0 1 0 Green 0
4 0 1 1 Light Blue 2
5 1 0 0 Red 0
6 1 0 1 Purple 2
7 1 1 0 Yellow 2
8 1 1 1 White 3
Common GND Total diodes 9

The diodes used are any low voltage low current diodes such as the
IN4148. So to use all of the above combinations would require a single
pole 8 way rotary switch and logic and nine diodes. The first switch
position is off.
Figure 97 IN4148 diode

• Do not wire anything to position 1.

• Wire pin 16 (Blue) of the LCD backlight to switch position 2.
• Wire pin 17 (Green) of the LCD to switch position 3
• Wire pin 18 (Red) of the LCD to switch position 5
• Wire pin 17 and 18 via two diodes to pin 4 to give the colour light blue
• Do the same for the other two-colour combinations
• Wire pin 16, 17 and 18 to pin 8 via three diodes to give the colour white
• Wire the centre pin of the switch to 0v (GND)

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 4 - Construction details 53

Chapter 5 – System Software Installation
Conventions used in this tutorial
Installation of the radio program requires you to enter lines at the command line prompt. This
requires you to log into the Raspberry PI as user ‘pi’. The default password is raspberry.

Note: Don’t carry out any of the following commands just yet. They are just examples.

Raspberrypi login: pi
Password: raspberry
pi@raspberrypi:~$ Last login: Sun Apr 6 10:18:18 2014 from 192.168.2.100
pi@raspberrypi:~$

The prompt line is displayed ending with a $ sign. The pi@raspberrypi:~ string means user ‘pi’ on
host machine called ‘raspberrypi’. The ~ character means the user ‘pi’ home directory /home/pi. In
this tutorial if you are required to do something as user pi then only the $ sign will be shown
followed by the command as shown in the example below:
$ mpc status

Some of the commands need to be carried out as user ‘root’.

To become root user type in the ‘sudo bash’ command:
$ sudo bash
root@raspberrypi:/home/pi#

Again, the prompt shows the username, hostname and current working directory. However only the
# followed by the required command will be shown in this tutorial. For example:
# apt-get install mpd mpc python-mpd

Some commands produce output which does not need to be shown. In such a case a ‘:’ is used to
indicate that some output has been omitted.
$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
: {Omitted output}
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 1: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Device [USB PnP Sound Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

END OF EXAMPLE COMMANDS.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 54

Entering system commands
If you are new to Linux there are a couple of things that may cause confusion.
1. Entering program names on the command line
2. File path names
3. File permissions

Take the following examples:

$ raspi-config

The following command fails

$ configure_radio.sh
$ -bash: configure_radio.sh: command not found

The following two commands both work.

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ ./configure_radio.sh

$ /usr/share/radio/configure_radio.sh

The third command has a ./ in front of it, the first one doesn’t. Why?
The reason is that the raspi-config program is in the /usr/bin directory which is in the PATH
environment directive. This can be seen with the following command.
$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/game
s:/usr/games

The second program is located in the /usr/share/radio directory which is not in the PATH directive.
The ./ in front of the command means that the program or script will be found the current directory.

So, this means for programs not in directories specified in the PATH environment directive, you must
either specify the full path name to the command or change to its directory and then enter the
command with a ./ in front of it.

In the system prompt for user pi you will see a ~ character. The ~ character means the home
directory for the current user, this case pi. So ~ is the same as /home/pi.
pi@raspberry3:~ $

For information on file permissions see the following link:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_permissions_and_attributes

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 55

Editing configuration files

At various points during the installation procedures in this manual you will be asked to edit certain
configuration files such as /etc/radiod.conf (The radio configuration file) or /boot/config.txt (The
boot configuration file). There are various text editors that can be used but the main ones in the
case of the Raspberry Pi are:

1. Nano - nano is a small, free and friendly editor particularly suited for use by beginners.
2. Vi – vi is usually the professional user’s choice of editor. It is very powerful but a lot harder
to use for someone unfamiliar with it.

Usage:
nano <filename>
or
vi <filename>
Where <filename> is the name of the file to be edited.

See https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/linux/usage/text-editors.md for an overview of

available text editors.

It is important to know that most configuration files are owned by root so you may be able to read
them but not write them. For example:
$ nano /etc/radiod.conf

This will allow you to read the file but not change it. To give user pi temporary root user permissions
so that you can save changes to the file use the sudo command in front of the editor command:
$ sudo nano /etc/radiod.conf

Or
$ sudo vi /etc/radiod.conf

Note: Make sure that you edit the file /etc/radiod.conf and not
/usr/share/radio/radiod.conf which is the distribution file. The latter is copied to the /etc
directory during installation and configuration.

Using the Vi editor

This is too big a subject to cover here. Type “Using vi” into a search engine such as Google or Bing to
display various tutorials on how to use vi.

Using Nano
When nano is started it will display the contents of the file being edited. For example,
/etc/radiod.conf. In this example the following screen will be displayed.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 56

 Figure 98 The nano file editor

Hold down the Ctrl key and press the letter G on the keyboard to display the help text. The following
screen will be displayed:

Figure 99 The nano editor help screen

The ^ character means the Control-key (Ctrl). So for example ^O above is Ctrl + O. For more
information on nano see https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.0/nano.html

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 57

System Software installation
There is a cheat sheet in Appendix B – Cheat sheet which contains a list of installation instructions.

A lot of very useful Raspberry Pi documentation will be found at:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation

The latest version of the operating system is called Raspbian Stretch (Raspbian Linux 9). Create a
new SD card with Stretch.

Note: The touch-screen version of the software requires a desktop version of the
operating system so use Rasbian Stretch and not the Lite version. Although it is
possible to upgrade Lite to use a desktop, it is beyond the scope of this manual. Only
use Lite for LCD versions of the radio.

Note: The Raspberry Pi 3B+ released in March 2018 needs Raspbian Stretch from
March 2018 or later. The Pi 3B+ will not boot with earlier versions of the operating
system.

Raspbian Stretch download (recommended)

http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

SD card creation
Use at least an 8 Gigabyte Card. Create an SD card running the latest version of Raspbian Stretch or
Stretch Lite. See the Image Installation Guides on the above site for instructions on how to install
the Raspbian operating system software.

Upgrading from Raspbian Jessie to Stretch

You are strongly advised not to upgrade Raspbian Jessie to Raspbian Stretch. The reasons are:
1. The upgrade takes nearly two hours. It is quicker to create a Stretch SD card from scratch.
2. The operating system keeps locking the root account when powering off and on.
3. The wpa_suplicant system used by WiFi does not start up.
4. This version of the radio will work fine with Raspbian Jessie
If you want to use Stretch the create a new SD card from an image downloaded from the Raspberry
Pi Foundation web site.

Log into the system

Boot up the Raspberry Pi with the new SD card with the Debian Stretch operating system. If you
have used Stretch desktop then a graphical desktop will be displayed. Start a terminal session by
clicking on the black terminal icon on the top left of the screen. With Stretch Lite only a log in
prompt will be displayed. In such a case log into the Raspberry Pi as user pi and using the password
raspberry. Alternatively log in using SSH (See following section).

Using SSH to log into the Raspberry PI

If using a PC or MAC it is possible to use SSH (Secure Shell) to log into the Raspberry Pi. You will need
to install either Putty or Bitvise on a PC to provide an SSH client. However, the latest version of
Stretch requires SSH to be enabled first. Due to increasing security concerns SSH is disabled by
default on Raspbian images. See https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/a-security-update-for-raspbian-
pixel/. There are two ways to enable SSH:

1. Add a file called ssh to the boot sector of the SD card

2. Use the raspi-config program to enable SSH.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 58

Add a file called ssh to boot sector
The boot partition on a Pi should be accessible from any machine with an SD card reader, on
Windows, Mac, or Linux. If you want to enable SSH, all you need to do is to put a file called ssh in the
/boot directory. The contents of the file don’t matter: it can contain any text you like, or even
nothing at all. When the Pi boots, it looks for this file; if it finds it, it enables SSH and then deletes the
file. Insert the SD card into the SD card reader. On a Windows PC run the cmd program by typing
“cmd” in the Windows search box. Now change to the drive letter where the SD card is. In the
following example this is D: Type “D:” then type “echo 0 > ssh”.

Figure 100 Enabling SSH on the boot sector

Boot the Raspberry Pi with this SD card.

Enabling ssh in raspi-config

Using a keyboard and HDMI screen connected to the Raspberry Pi log into the system as user pi.

After logging in run raspi-config. Select “Advanced options” and select option A4 to enable SSH.
$ sudo raspi-config

Figure 101 Enabling SSH

Reboot the Raspberry Pi after which it will be possible to log into the Raspberry Pi using SSH.
$ sudo reboot

After logging back in the following message is displayed.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 59

 SSH is enabled and the default password for the 'pi' user has not been
changed. This is a security risk - please login as the 'pi' user and type
'passwd' to set a new password.

Note: Security is becoming more and more of an issue for devices connected to the internet.
If SSH has been enabled then please change the user password at the first opportunity. See
the section called Chapter 13 - Internet Security page 198 for further information on security issues.

Preparing the Operating System for software installation

Update to the latest the packages
Run the following command to update the library list.
$ sudo apt-get update

Run the following command to upgrade to the latest packages for this release.
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

The above command will take some time!

If you have an older version of the Raspberry Pi then update the firmware.
$ sudo rpi-update

Reboot the Raspberry Pi.

$ sudo reboot

Important: After upgrading the system the repository locations may no longer be valid. Re-
run apt-get update to refresh the package list. Failing to do this may result in packages
failing to install.

Re-run the update command to update the library list.

$ sudo apt-get update

Once you have updated the operating system login to the system and run raspi-config.
$ sudo raspi-config

Warning: If you are intending to run the touch-screen/HDMI version of the radio, do not be
tempted to start removing components of the pygame software such as games as this may
unfortunately remove graphic libraries used by the radio software.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 60

Disable booting to the desktop environment
If you are planning to use a touch-screen or HDMI display skip this section.

The desktop environment is not required for the LCD versions of the Radio and takes a lot of
processing power. It is enabled by default in Stretch but is not installed with Stretch Lite. If you are
not planning to use the touch-screen or HDMI version of the radio then disable it. Select option 3
Boot options

Figure 102 Disabling the graphical desktop

Figure 103 Desktop enable/disable selection

Select option B1 Desktop/CLI.

Figure 104 Console login selection

Select option B1 or B2 to disable the desktop and select OK

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 61

Setting the time zone
The Raspian Stretch operating system is usually set to UK time. The easiest way to set the time zone
for your country if you are in a different time zone is to use the raspi-config program and select
“Localisation Options”:

Figure 105 Setting the time zone

Select option 4 “Localisation Options”, Use the tab key to move to <Select> and press enter.
The above screen is using the Bitvise SSH client program (See Putty on the web).

Figure 106 Selecting the time zone

Select the “Change Timezone” option. Again, use the tab key to move to <Select> and press enter.

Figure 107 Saving the timezone

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 62

Select the region your country is in, Europe for example. Use the tab key to move to <OK> and press
enter. The program will then display a list of time zones for the selected region.

Figure 108 Time zone country selection

Select the correct one and save it by tabbing to <ok> and pressing the enter key. The time zone will
be updated. Exit the program once finished.

Changing the system hostname and password

It is a good idea to change the system password for security reasons especially if your raspberry PI is
connected to a network with a wireless (WIFI) network. Changing the hostname is also a good idea
as it makes identifying your radio on the network much easier. If you wish to do this, change the
default hostname from ‘raspberrypi’ to something like ‘piradio’ or ‘myradio’.

Both the password and hostname can be changed using the raspi-config program.

Figure 109 Changing the Raspberry PI password

Option 1 is used to change the password. Make sure you record your new password somewhere
safe (It is easy to forget it).

The hostname is changed in option 2 Network Options:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 63

 Figure 110 Changing the hostname

Enter new UNIX password:

Retype new UNIX password:

As the password is entered nothing is displayed. This is normal. You will be asked if you wish to
reboot the system. After you reboot the system you will see the new hostname at the login prompt.

pi@piradio:~$

In the above example the new hostname is piradio. Once the hostname has been changed the
program will ask if you wish to reboot. Answer “yes” to reboot.

Configuring the Wi-fi Connection

This is a new option in Stretch and may not be available in earlier versions of Stretch. On later
versions of the Operating system you may be asked to select the country you are in for legal WiFi
channel selection. Select option N2:

Figure 111 Setting up the Wi-Fi in raspi-config

Now enter the SSID and passphrase for your network. Save the settings and reboot the Raspberry
PI. If this option is not available then use the procedure Configuring a wireless adaptor on page 96.

Figure 112 Entering Wi-Fi credentials

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Reboot the system. After reboot it is possible that you may see the following message:
Wi-Fi is disabled because the country is not set.
Use raspi-config to set the country before use.

In such a case re-run rasp-config. Select localisation options and select I4 to set Wi-Fi country:

Figure 113 Setting up the Wi-fi country

Select your country from the dropdown menu and exit the raspi-config to save the setting.

Setting up the locale

As default the language used by Raspbian is English. To change this in Advanced options select
option I1 Change Locale.

Figure 114 Selecting change locale

Select a locale beginning with the two-letter international code for your country and language.

Usually this will be a locale containing the string ISO or UTF-8.

fi_FI.ISO-8859-1 (Try this one first)
fi_FI.ISO-8859-15@euro
fi_FI.UTF-8

In the following example for the Netherlands the locale is this nl_AW UTF-8 for the Netherlands (nl).

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 65

 Figure 115 Generating the locale.

Warning: Do not be tempted to generate “All locales” as this is not necessary and will take a
very long time.

Press OK to continue. The program will now generate the selected locales.
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
en_GB.UTF-8... done
nl_AW.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.

The following screen is displayed:

Figure 116 Selecting the locale

Select the required locale nl_AW in this example and press OK to save. The new locale will become
active after the next reboot.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 66

Install other required packages

Install the ffmpeg video converter

This section is only applicable if the HDMI/Touchscreen version of the radio is to be used. If using an
LCD version of the radio then skip this section. The ffmpeg video converter is required to extract
artwork (if included) from music files mpeg files. Install ffmpeg video converter with the following
command:
$ sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Reading package lists... Done

:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:

ffmpeg : Depends: libavdevice57 (>= 7:3.2.10) but it is not going to be
installed
Depends: libsdl2-2.0-0 (>= 2.0.4) but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

If the installation fails with the above message re-run the apt-get update command to update the
library list and retry installing ffmpeg.

$ sudo apt-get update

Run the following for further information about ffmpeg.

$ man ffmpeg

Install python-requests
If you are running Stretch Lite it is necessary to install python-requests for the Shoutcast program as
this is not loaded by default. This step should not be necessary if using the Stretch desktop operating
system.

$ sudo apt-get install python-requests

Install libraries for the Olimex OLED

If using the IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED is also necessary to install libffi-dev plus other
necessary libraries. If you are not using the IQaudIO controller then skip this section. Carry out the
following instructions.
$ sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential libi2c-dev i2c-tools python-dev

If using Raspbian Lite also install the python-pil package:

$ sudo apt-get install python-pil

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 67

Install the Scratch package
This section is only applicable if the HDMI/Touchscreen version of the radio is to be used. If using an
LCD or OLED versions of the radio then skip this section. Scratch used to be installed by default,
however, in the latest version of Rasbian Desktop it isn’t.

Scratch is not actually used by the radio software but the graphic files in the
/usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds directory are used for the background wallpaper of the full
feature graphical radio.

The background wallpaper is set by the following parameter in /etc/radiod.conf and can be
amended to use a different background.
wallpaper=/usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds/Nature/beach-malibu.jpg

To install scratch run the following:

$ sudo apt-get install scratch

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 5 – System Software Installation 68

Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software
Music Player Daemon Installation
If you haven’t already done so upgrade the system packages as shown in Update to the latest the
packages on page 60.

After reboot install the Music Player Daemon (mpd) and its client (mpc) along with the Python MPD
library.
$ sudo apt-get install mpd mpc python-mpd

Answer yes ‘y’ when asked to continue.

If the installation says it cannot find the above packages then re-run the update command to update
the library list and retry installing.
$ sudo apt-get update

Note: If installing on Stretch Lite this will take quite a long time as there are a lot of software
libraries to be installed.

Note: At this stage there are no playlists configured so the music daemon won’t play
anything. The play lists are created when the radiod Debian Package is installed in the next
section.

Installing pulseaudio
The pulseaudio package may or may not be installed. This has been different between various
releases of the operating system. Currently the pulseaudio package causes a lot of problems with
the radio software, in particular espeak. If you do not intend to use espeak and need pulseaudio, for
example, for blue-tooth devices or pHat BEAT then install it. The following table shows the options:

Table 10 PulseAudio installation options

Type of radio installation Install pulseaudio

Using speak No
Pimoroni Pirate Radio with pHat BEAT Yes
LCD display radio No
HDMI or touch-screen displays No
Bluetooth sound devices Yes

The radio installation program will configure the Music Player Daemon to use pulseaudio instead of
alsa. Note: The Pimoroni installation software for Pirate Radio installs pulseaudio.

To install pulseaudio:
$ sudo apt-get install pulseaudio

To remove pulseaudio:
$ sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 69
Also remove unwanted libraries.
$ sudo apt autoremove

Install the Radio Daemon

Note: If you are installing the software for a Pimoroni Pirate radio with pHat beat it is
necessary to first install the Pimoroni software as show in the section called Installing
Pimoroni Pirate Radio (pHat BEAT) on page 83.

The Raspberry PI Internet Radio software is distributed as a Debian package. This can be
downloaded from http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/pi_internet_radio.html
Either download it to your PC or Macintosh and copy it to the /home/pi directory or get it directly
using the wget facility.

To use the wget facility first copy the download link from the above page (Right click on the link). Log
into the Raspberry PI. Now use wget to the software package:
$ wget http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/packages/radiod_6.9_armhf.deb

Run dpkg to install the package.

$ sudo dpkg -i radiod_6.9_armhf.deb

The dpkg program will install the files.

(Reading database ... 131542 files and directories currently
installed.Preparing to unpack radiod_6.9_armhf.deb ...
Raspberry PI internet radio installation
Stopping radiod service
Unpacking radiod (6.9)

Configuring the radio

Once that is done the installation will run the configure_radio.sh script. This update the
configuration settings in /etc/radiod.conf.

Note: This configuration program does the basic configuration to get the radio going with
the hardware you are using. More complex configuration options are explained in Chapter 7
– Configuration on page 108.

The configuration program is automatically run when installing the radio package but can safely be
run at any time using the following commands:
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./configure_radio.sh

The installation script detects if this is a software upgrade and if that is the case displays the
following screen. Normally select option 2 if upgrading the software. This means that the
configuration will not be changed.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 70
 Figure 117 Configure radio – Upgrade

If you selected option 1 above and you are upgrading the software from a previous version, the
program will ask if you wish to overwrite the existing configuration. Unless you have a heavily
modified configuration you may safely overwrite the configuration file:

Figure 118 Replace configuration file

If option 1 is selected the existing configuration will be replaced. A backup copy of the original
configuration is written to /etc/radiod.conf.save. The following screen will then be displayed:

Figure 119 Configure radio - User interface selection

Even if you are using a touch screen or HDMI display you still can select option 1 or 2. Only select
option 3 if you are only going to use a HDMI or touch screen display with no buttons or rotary
encoders and with or without a mouse. pHat BEAT and PiFace CAD come with their own push-
buttons so select option 5 or 6 respectively.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 71
 Note: This configuration program can be re-run at any time in the future. Change directory
to /usr/share/radio and run configure_radio.sh. To do this run the following:

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./configure_radio.sh

Select option 1 if push buttons are being used or option 2 if using rotary encoders. This screen and
all following screens have the option to not change the configuration. The program will then ask you

Figure 120 Configure radio - Confirmation screen

If the push-button interface is selected, the program will ask how they have been wired. As from
version 6.9 push-buttons can be wired to either +3.3V(The original scheme) or GND(0V).

Figure 121 Push-button voltage selection

Select the correct voltage that the push-buttons have been wired to, either GND(0V) or +3.3V.
The program will now ask which version of the wiring has been used during construction:

Figure 122 Configure radio - wiring selection

Normally select the 40-pin option unless you have used the 26-pin wiring scheme. See Table 4
Controls and LCD wiring 26 pin version and Table 5 Radio and DAC devices 40 pin wiring.
Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 72
Confirm selection and continue to the next screen:

Figure 123 Configure radio - Display interface selection

Select the correct option for the display interface and confirm selection. Again, it is possible leave
the configuration unchanged.

If option 5 – ‘HDMI or touch screen display’ was selected the go to the section called Installing the
HDMI or touch screen on page 78.

If option 2, 3, 4 or 6 was selected then this will require the hex address to be configured. Otherwise
the program will skip the screens in the next section and go to the section called Select the type of
LCD display on page 77.

If option 6 (Olimex OLED) was selected then the following will be displayed:

Figure 124 Olimex OLED flip display

This option sets the flip_display_vertically parameter in /etc/radiod.conf to yes or no and allows
the Olimex OLED display to be flipped vertically.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 73
Configure SPI Kernel Module

Skip this section unless installing PiFace CAD.

If installing the radio on PiFace CAD it is necessary to enable the SPI interface. If PiFace CAD was
selected the following message will be seen:

The PiFace CAD display requires the

SPI kernel module to be loaded at boot time.
The program will call the raspi-config program
Select the following options on the next screens:
5 Interfacing options
P4 Enable/Disable automatic loading of SPI kernel module

Press enter to continue:

Press enter and select option 1:

Figure 125 Enable SPI Kernel Module

Figure 126 Enable SPI kernel module option

Select the option P4 SPI. The following screen is displayed:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 74
Select Yes to enable the SPI kernel module. Select “Finish” to exit.

Configure the I2C interface

Skip this section unless using a device which uses the I2C interface. If the OLED display or one of the
I2C backpacks or Adafruit RGB plate was selected then the following screen will be seen:

Figure 127 Configure radio - I2C interface hex address

At this stage you may not know what the Hex address for PCF8574 devices is so simply select option
1 or 2 depending upon whether you are using an Adafruit or Arduino backpack. These use different
I2C integrated circuits namely MCP23017 (Adafruit) or PCF8574 (Arduino). For the OLED display
select option 4. Once you have installed the I2C libraries (described later) you can run the
configure_radio.sh program again to change to the correct hex address.

The following text will be displayed if I2C libraries are required

The selected display interface type requires the
I2C kernel libraries to be loaded at boot time.
The program will call the raspi-config program
Select the following options on the next screens:
5 Interfacing options
P5 Enable/Disable automatic loading of I2C kernel module

Press enter to continue:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 75
 Figure 128 Configure radio - Enable I2C libraries

The raspi-config program now runs. Select 5 “Interfacing options” then option P5:

Figure 129 Selecting interfacing options in raspi-config

Figure 130 Select I2C libraries in raspi-config

Select - P5 I2C Enable/Disable automatic loading of I2C kernel module. The following screen will be
displayed. Select yes to enable the ARM I2C interface.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 76
Select the type of LCD display
Skip this section if you are not using an LCD display directly connected to the GPIO pins. Confirm the
selection and continue to the next screen to select the type of LCD display. This section is not
relevant for a HDMI or touch screen.

Figure 131 Configure radio - Display type selection

Select the type of display to be used and confirm the selection. The installation script asks if you wish
to configure the audio device:

Figure 132 Configure radio audio output option

You should select option 1 to run the audio device configuration program.
If you selected option 1 then go to the section Configuring the audio output on page 79.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 77
Installing the HDMI or touch screen software
This section is only relevant if configuring an HDMI or touchscreen interface. If using an LCD display
then skip this section. The following screen is displayed:

Figure 133 Touchscreen selection

Select the type of screen that is connected to the Raspberry Pi.

Figure 134 Selecting the type of radio display

Select which radio program to start-up. . See Figure 1 Raspberry pi 7-inch touchscreen radio and
Figure 3 Vintage tuning touch-screen radio on page 4.

Figure 135 Configuring the HDMI or touch screen display startup

Normally select option 1 to automatically start the gradio.py program when the Graphical Desktop is
loaded. This copies a desktop configuration to the file /home/pi/Desktop/gradio.desktop file.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 78
 [Desktop Entry]
Name=Radio
Comment=Internet radio
Icon=/usr/share/radio/images/radio.png
Exec=sudo /usr/share/radio/gradio.py
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Terminal=false
Categories=None;

There is also a similar file created called gradio.desktop for the vintage graphical radio.

The installation script also copies the graphic screen configuration to /etc/radiod.conf. It also
disables start-up of the radiod service which is only used for the LCD versions of the radio.
Now select the option to display the radio full screen (7-inch touchscreen) or in a desktop window
(Large HDMI monitor or TV).

Figure 136 Configuring the graphical radio full screen

Configuration of the HDMI/Touch screen is shown in the section Configuring the HDMI or Touch
Screen on page 108.
Operation of the HDMI/Touch screen is shown in the section called Operation of HDMI and touch
screen displays on page 127.

Now go to the section Configuring the audio output on page 79.

Configuring the audio output

If building a new radio start by using the Raspberry Pi on-board audio output jack. Leave configuring
a digital audio card such as HiFiberry or IQaudIO until later.

The installation will run the configure_audio.sh script.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 79
 Figure 137 Selecting the audio output device

Note: This configuration program can be re-run at any time in the future. Change directory
to /usr/share/radio and run configure_audio.sh. To do this run the following:

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./configure_audio.sh

Installing the Python I2C libraries

This needs to be carried out for all displays which use I2C (OLED and Adafruit RGB plate) or
backpacks (Arduino or Adafruit). Enter the following commands to add SMBus support required for
Python I2C support:
$ sudo apt-get install python-smbus

Note: python-smbus may already be installed on Raspian Stretch but not the Lite version
If you are using a revision 2 Raspberry Pi (Newer boards) carry out the following:
$ sudo i2cdetect -y 1

If you are using a revision 1 Raspberry Pi (Old boards) carry out the following:
$ sudo i2cdetect -y 0

This will search /dev/i2c-0 (Old RPIs) or /dev/i2c-1 (Later versions) for all address, and if correctly
connected, it should show up at 0x20 for the Adafruit LCD Plate or normally 0x27 for the Arduino
PCF8574 backpack but might be another address such as 0x3F. The OLED 128x64 pixel display uses
address 0x3C. See Figure 138 The I2C bus display using the i2cdetect program.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 80
 Figure 138 The I2C bus display using the i2cdetect program

If the following is seen instead then it is necessary to run enable the I2C module at boot time using
raspi-config.
Error: Could not open file `/dev/i2c-1' or `/dev/i2c/1': No such file or
directory

If problems with i2cdetect are still encountered, then edit the /boot/config.txt file using sudo nano
and change the following line:
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on

Change to:
dtparam=i2c_arm=on

Reboot and retry the i2cdetect program.

Note: If the Arduino PCF8574 backpack is using another address other than 0x27 then you
must modify the i2c_address parameter in /etc/radiod.conf. For example, if the backpack
is using the address 0x3F then modify the i2c_address parameter to match this as shown in
the example below:

# The i2c_address parameter overides the default i2c address. 0x00 = use default
# Some backpacks use other addresses such as 0x3F, then set i2c_address=0x3F
i2c_address=0x3F

Once both of these packages have been installed, you have everything you need to get started
accessing I2C and SMBus devices in Python. Now reboot the Raspberry PI.
$ sudo reboot

The Radio should start automatically. If not then go to the section called Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting
on page 160.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 81
Installation log
A log of the changes made by the configuration program will be written to the
/usr/share/radio/install.log file.

Reboot to enable the software

The software is installed in the /usr/share/radio directory. Now reboot the Raspberry PI.
$ sudo reboot

Once rebooted the software should run and music should be heard out of the on-board audio jack. If
not go to the section called Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting on page 160.

The radio daemon (LCD versions only) can be started and stopped with the service command:
$ sudo service radiod start
$ sudo service radiod stop

This will also stop and start the MPD daemon.

To prevent automatic start-up of the radio at boot time run the following command:
$ sudo systemctl disable radiod

To re-enable it:
$ sudo systemctl enable radiod

Installing PiFace CAD software

Before running the radio on the PiFace CAD it is necessary to install the PiFace CAD Python library.
Run the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install python-pifacecad

The SPI maximum frequency has changed to 125000000 after kernel 4.9.43, however the pifacecad
software can't support the default frequency. You can read about this at the following link:
https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/2165

To correct this problem it is necessary to modify /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-

packages/pifacecommon/spi.py to limit the SPI frequency.
$ sudo vi /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pifacecommon/spi.py

It is very likely that this problem my be fixed in a later release of the kernel and that the following
patch will not be necessary.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 82
Edit the “spi transfer struct” from
# create the spi transfer struct
transfer = spi_ioc_transfer(
tx_buf=ctypes.addressof(wbuffer),
rx_buf=ctypes.addressof(rbuffer),
len=ctypes.sizeof(wbuffer)
)

To:
# create the spi transfer struct
transfer = spi_ioc_transfer(
tx_buf=ctypes.addressof(wbuffer),
rx_buf=ctypes.addressof(rbuffer),
len=ctypes.sizeof(wbuffer),
speed_hz=ctypes.c_uint32(100000)
)

Warning. Do not forget to add the comma (,) to the end of the previous line. Restart the PiFace CAD
radio. Also run update the Raspberry Pi firmware to the latest version.
$ sudor pi-update

Installing Pimoroni Pirate Radio (pHat BEAT)

Install Pimoroni software
To use the Pimoroni Pirate radio with pHat BEAT it is necessary to install the Pimoroni software and
test the radio using the Pimoroni software first. Do this before installing the Rathbone radio
software. The Pimoroni software uses the VLC media player and not MPD.

Once the Pimoroni software is installed and tested it is then necessary to disable the Pimoroni radio
software and install the Rathbone radio software as shown in Chapter 6 - Installing the radio
Software on page 69. Only the VU meter software is used by the Rathbone software.

To install the Pimoroni software carry out the following:

The following instructions are based on the following link:

https://github.com/pimoroni/phat-beat/blob/master/projects/vlc-radio/README.md

Run the following command:

$ curl https://get.pimoroni.com/vlcradio | bash

The following will be displayed.

:
If you want to see what this script does before running it,
you should run: 'curl https://get.pimoroni.com/vlcradio'
:
Do you wish to continue? [y/N] y

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 83
Enter y to continue. The installation script will take some time to install and build the software.
Reboot the Raspberry Pi and test the Pirate radio.
$ sudo reboot

Note: This author does not provide any support for the Pimoroni software or VLC
media player. If you have problems getting the Pimoroni software to run then contact
https://forums.pimoroni.com/c/support

Disable Pimoroni software

To install To disable the Pimoroni software run the following commands:
$ sudo systemctl disable vlcd
$ sudo systemctl disable phatbeatd
$ sudo reboot

Install the Rathbone Internet radio software

Do the following:
1. Now carry out the instructions shown in Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software on page 69.

2. Since the Pirate Radio does not have a screen it is necessary to install espeak as shown in
the section called Installing the speech facility on page 104 to hear choices when using the
menu button.

Configuring HDMI or Touchscreen

If using a touch-screen or HDM TV/Monitor add the following lines to /boot/config.txt.
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=4
hdmi_cvt 800 480 60 6 0 0 0
max_usb_current=1

If the screen upside-down then add the following line.

# Rotate screen 180
lcd_rotate=2

Apply patches to the radio software

Patches will be announced on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/bob_rathbone. Follow this Twitter
feed for announcements about new patches.

Patches can be viewed at http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/pi_internet_radio.html

Patches take the form:

radiod-patch-<version>-<patch-number>.tar.gz
Where; <version> is the package version number, 6.9 in this case.
<patch-number> is the patch number from 1 onwards.

For example:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 84
 radiod-patch-6.9-1.tar.gz

To apply this patch (if it exists) run the following:

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ wget http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/packages/radiod-patch-6.9-
1.tar.gz
$ tar -xvf radiod-patch-6.9-1.tar.gz

To see the details of the patch run the following command:

$ cat README.patch

Setting the mixer volume

All sound output goes through a mixer. After rebooting the Raspberry Pi run the alsamixer program
without any additional parameters:
$ alsamixer

The following screen is displayed:

Figure 139 Basic Alsa sound mixer

The above illustration shows the bcm2835 Alsa Mixer. There is only one mixer control called PCM
(Pulse Code Modulated). Adjust the volume to 100% if not already set by using the Up and Down
keys on the keyboard. Press the Esc key or Ctl-Z to exit the program.

It is also possible to set the volume for the on-board mixer volume with the amixer program.
$ amixer cset numid=1 100%
numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume'
; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=1,min=-10239,max=400,step=0
: values=400
| dBscale-min=-102.39dB,step=0.01dB,mute=1

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 85
Configuring other sound devices

Other sound devices can be used with the radio. Currently supported are the following devices:

• CMedia USB speakers or devices (See page 86)

• Sound cards such as HiFiBerry, IQaudIO, JustBoom and Pimoroni pHat DAC and DAC+
products (See page 87)

To check if the audio device is present run the aplay command.

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 0: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA]
Subdevices: 8/8
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 1: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Device [USB PnP Sound Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

In the above example Card 0 is the on-board devices namely the audio output jack and HDMI. Card 1
is a USB PnP sound device.

To configure other sound devices run the configure_audio.sh utility.

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ ./configure_audio.sh

Configuring a USB sound device

To configure a USB DAC sound devices such as CMedia speakers or sound dongles run the
configure_audio.sh utility.

To configure USB audio devices run the Run the configure_audio.sh utility.
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ ./configure_audio.sh

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 86
 Figure 140 Configure USB DAC

Reboot when prompted. After rebooting the Raspberry Pi run the alsamixer program.
$ alsamixer

The following screen is displayed:

Figure 141 The USB PnP Alsa Mixer

Use the Left and Right keys to position on the ‘Speaker field’. Adjust the sound level using the Up
and Down keys (80% in the above example). Pres Esc key or Ctl Z key to exit.

Configuring a Sound Card

This section covers configuration of add on DAC boards such as HiFiBerry, IQaudIO and JustBoom
DAC, DAC+ and Amplifier products. Older versions of the HiFiBerry DAC that used the 26 pin GPIO
header are not supported.

To configure add on audio cards run the Run the configure_audio.sh utility:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 87
 $ cd /usr/share/radio
$ ./configure_audio.sh

Figure 142 Configuring add-on DAC sound cards

Select option 4, 5, 6 or 7 depending upon the HiFiBerry device being used an press OK.
Reboot when prompted by the next screen.

The Pimoroni pHat is compatable with HiFiBerry DAC (Not DAC+) and uses the same Device Tree (DT)
overlay so select HiFiBerry DAC if using the pHat.

After rebooting run the alsamixer program.

$ alsamixer

Use the left and right keys to select the mixer control (Analogue) and use the up down keys to
change the volume to 100%.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 88
 Figure 143 Set mixer analogue volume

Next use the right key to position on the “Digital” mixer control and use the up down keys to change
the mixer volume:

Figure 144 Set mixer digital volume

Testing the Music Player Daemon MPD

This section provides useful information on the operation of the Music Player Daemon (MPD) and its
client (MPC) or diagnostics if no music is heard when the Radio is started.

If no music is being heard check the status of MPD:

$ sudo service mpd status
mpd is running.

If the following is seen:

$ sudo service mpd status
mpd is not running ... failed!

Start the MPD daemon.

$ sudo service mpd start
Starting Music Player Daemon: mpd.

If no music is heard check that there are playlists configured using the music player client mpc
playlist command (sudo isn’t necessary):
$ mpc playlist
Nashville FM
RAI Radio Uno
RAI Radio Duo

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 89
 Prima Radio Napoli
Radio 1 Nederland
:

If no playlists are shown run the create_stations.py program as shown in the section called Creating
new playlists on page 141.

Manually configuring sound cards

Unless you have a need to manually configure some other sound card or need to troubleshoot a
non-working card you can skip this section. Configuring a HiFiBerry DAC is shown in this example Edit
the /boot/config.txt and add the following line to the end of the file depending upon the version
you are using.

dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus

See https://www.hifiberry.com/guides/configuring-linux-3-18-x/ for other devices.

Modify the audio_output section in /etc/mpd.conf to support the HiFiBerry DAC and software
mixer.
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "HiFiBerry DAC"
device "hw:0,0"
# mixer_type "hardware"
mixer_type "software"
:

Reboot the Raspberry PI.

$ sudo reboot

If no music is heard run the alsamixer program and set the volume to at least 80% as shown in the
previous section on HiFiBerry devices.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 90
Configuring MPD to use pulseaudio
In this version pulseaudio is removed due to the fact that for some unknown reason MPD has
problems if pulseaudio is installed and MPD is configured to use the default ALSA system. However,
more and more people want to use the Pi as Bluetooth speakers which requires pulseaudio
MPD can be configured to use either the default Alsa sound system or the Pulse audio server. If you
want to use pulseaudio, stop the radio and install pulseaudio:

$ sudo systemctl stop radiod

$ sudo apt-get install pulseaudio

Either re-run the configure_radio.sh program or manually change the audio_output type statement
in /etc/mpd.conf to pulse.
audio_output {
# type "alsa"
type "pulse"
name "IQAudio DAC+"
device "hw:0,0"
mixer_type "software"
:
}

Reboot the Raspberry Pi to restart the radio.

$ sudo reboot

Installing the Infra Red sensor software

If installing version 6.3 download and install the patches shown in the section Apply patches to the
radio software on page 84.

If you haven’t already done so update the operating system first.

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Install lirc with the following command:

$ sudo apt-get -y install lirc

Now you must create an /etc/lirc/lircd.conf for your remote control.

Either download one from here:

http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/

Or generate one yourself with the following command:

sudo irrecord -f -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 91
It is necessary to install the python-lirc package.

Note: Earlier versions of Raspbian Stretch do not have the python-lirc package in its
repository which means it must be downloaded from the author Tom Preston at GitHub.
Normally python-lirc it can be installed using apt-get as shown below.

Try using installing python-lirc with the following command:

$ sudo apt-get -y install python-lirc

If the package isn’t found see https://github.com/tompreston/python-lirc/releases

At the time of writing the latest release of the package was 1.2.1. To download this package run the
following command:
$ wget https://github.com/tompreston/python-
lirc/releases/download/v1.2.1/python-lirc_1.2.1-1_armhf.deb

Note: The above command is all one line. Now install the software:
$ sudo dpkg -i python-lirc_1.2.1-1_armhf.deb

If you carried out the above command then edit /etc/lirc/lirc_options.conf and change the driver
name in the [lircd] section from ‘devinput’ to ‘default’.
[lircd]
Nodaemon = False
driver = default

The following step requires configuration of the lirc-rpi dtoverlay in /boot/config.txt file using the
following table:

Table 11 IR Sensor Pin outs

Radio Type Pin GPIO Type of Raspberry PI

Two or Four line LCD with Push Buttons 21 9 Any (No DAC)
Two or Four line LCD with Rotary encoders 21 9 Any (No DAC)
Two or Four line LCD with I2C backpack 21 9 Any (No DAC)
Adafruit RGB plate with push buttons 36 16 40 pin version only
All versions using DAC sound cards 22 25 40 pin version only
IQaudIO Cosmic Controller and OLED display 22 25 40 pin version only

If using the separate IR sensor and activity LED configure lirc-rpi in the /boot/config.txt file with the
lirc-rpi device details. Edit the /boot/config.txt file and add the correct dtoverlay statement to the
end of the file:

For all radio versions except the Adafruit plate:

dtoverlay=lirc-rpi,gpio_in_pin=9,gpio_in_pull=high

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 92
Do this for the AdaFruit plate.
dtoverlay=lirc-rpi,gpio_in_pin=16,gpio_in_pull=high

For 40 pin versions using IQaudIO products or other DAC cards.

dtoverlay=lirc-rpi,gpio_in_pin=25,gpio_in_pull=high

Save the /boot/config.txt.

Now copy the lircrc.dist file to /etc/lirc/lircrc
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo cp lircrc.dist /etc/lirc/lircrc

Reboot the Raspberry Pi

$ sudo reboot

Now test your remote control with the mode2 command. You should see lots of codes when you
press buttons on the remote control.
$ sudo mode2 -d /dev/lirc0
space 5358604
pulse 4591
space 4459
pulse 651

If you see the following output then edit /etc/lirc/lirc_options.conf and change the driver name in
the [lircd] section from ‘devinput’ to ‘default’ as previously shown.

Using driver devinput on device /dev/lirc0

Trying device: /dev/lirc0
Using device: /dev/lirc0
Running as regular user pi
Partial read 4 bytes on /dev/lirc0

Check that the lirc0 device exists. If it doesn’t exist you cannot continue. Check that the
/boot/config.txt file has been correctly configured as shown above.
$ ls -la /dev/lirc0
crw-rw---T 1 root video 246, 0 Jan 1 1970 /dev/lirc0

It is now necessary generate a configuration for the remote control then first move the distributed
/etc/lirc/lircd.conf file out of the way.
$ sudo mv /etc/lirc/lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.org

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 93
Now run the configuration program.
$ sudo irrecord -f -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

If you see the following

irrecord: could not open /dev/lirc0
irrecord: default_init(): Device or resource busy
irrecord: could not init hardware (lircd running ? --> close it, check
permissions)

Run the following command:

$ sudo service lircd stop

If the problem persists, make sure the /boot/config.txt file has been correctly set up as previously
shown and that a reboot was carried out.

Follow the instructions in the irrecord program exactly!

The irrecord program will ask you for the names of the buttons that you want to configure. You may
not make your own names up. You must use the names shown in the first column of the following
table and which are defined in /etc/lirc/lircrc.

It is a good idea to just start with the basic keys for volume up and channel change and when you
have the remote control working re-configure with all of the keys shown in Table 12 Remote Control
Key names and functions.

Table 12 Remote Control Key names and functions

Key Names Normal Search Source Options

KEY_VOLUMEUP Volume up Volume up Volume up Volume up
KEY_VOLUMEDOWN Volume down Volume down Volume down Volume down
KEY_CHANNELUP Channel up Channel up Channel up Channel up
KEY_CHANNELDOWN Channel down Channel down Channel down Channel down
KEY_MUTE Mute sound Mute sound Mute sound Mute sound
KEY_MENU Step menu Play selected Load tracks/stations Next menu
KEY_UP Not used Previous artist Toggle source Previous option
KEY_DOWN Not used Next artist Toggle source Next option
KEY_LEFT Not used Track up Not used Toggle option
KEY_RIGHT Not used Track down Not used Toggle option
KEY_OK Step menu Play selected Load tracks/stations Next menu
KEY_LANGUAGE* Voice on/off Voice on/off Voice on/off Voice on/off
KEY_INFO* Speak info Speak info Speak info Speak info
* Only used if speech (espeak) is implemented for visually impaired persons.

Note: The KEY_OK and KEY_MENU do the same thing.

The actual list of available names that may be used can be displayed with the following command:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 94
 $ sudo irrecord --list-namespace

There are more than 440 key names but only use the ones defined in the list above.

Start the radio software if not already running.

$ sudo service radiod start

Configure the irradiod daemon to start at boot time and start it

$ sudo systemctl enable irradiod
$ sudo service irradiod start

The activity LED will flash a few times however it is necessary to reboot the system to enable the
new IR remote configuration.
$ sudo reboot

Now test the remote control with your newly configured remote control.

Testing the remote control

If there are problems with the remote control you can test using ircat which will display the key
codes that have been programmed. Stop the irradiod daemon first and restart service lircd.
The service name to start lirc has changed between releases. In older releases it is
called lirc and the newer release it is called lircd. Use the correct name in the
following commands:

$ sudo service irradiod stop

$ sudo service lircd start
{ or service lirc start }
Loading LIRC modules:.
Starting remote control daemon(s) : LIRC :.
Starting execution daemon: irexec:.

Now run ircat and press each key on the remote control in turn:
$ ircat piradio
KEY_VOLUMEUP
KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
KEY_CHANNELUP
KEY_CHANNELDOWN
KEY_MENU
KEY_MUTE
KEY_UP
KEY_RIGHT
KEY_LEFT
KEY_DOWN
KEY_LANGUAGE
KEY_INFO

Use Ctrl-C to exit. If keys are not responding repeat the previous Remote-Control installation
procedure.

Check that the radio is listening on UDP port 5100 (or as configured in /etc/radiod.conf).

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 95
 $ sudo netstat -an | grep 5100
udp 0 0 127.0.0.1:5100 0.0.0.0:*

Disabling the repeat on the volume control

If you wish to disable the repeat on the volume control the edit the /etc/lirc/lircrc file,
set repeat = 0, for KEY_VOLUMEUP and KEY_VOLUMEDOWN definitions.
begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_VOLUMEUP
config = KEY_VOLUMEUP
repeat = 0
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
config = KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
repeat = 0
end

Configuring a wireless adaptor

This section is only needed for earlier versions of the operating system. The wireless adaptor is now
configured using raspi-config. See section Configuring the Wi-fi Connection on page 64.

If you need to manually configure a wireless adaptor for the radio then follow this procedure.
Choose a wireless adapter that has been approved for the Raspberry PI or use the model 3B with in-
built WiFi adapter. See the following link for approved Raspberry PI peripherals:
http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals

Install the wireless adapter

Switch off the Raspberry PI and plug in the adaptor into one of the USB ports. Power the PI back on
and log in. Check to see if your wireless adapter has been recognised by running the lsusb command.
pi@raspberrypi:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless
Adapter

The above shows a Ralink (Tenda) wireless adaptor but this will vary depending on the adapter that
has been installed.

Configure the adaptor

The configuration is contained in the /etc/network/interfaces file as shown below
$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)

# Please note that this file is written to be used with dhcpcd

# For static IP, consult /etc/dhcpcd.conf and 'man dhcpcd.conf'

# Include files from /etc/network/interfaces.d:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 96
 source-directory /etc/network/interfaces.d

You do not need to change this file. To configure a static IP address, see Configuring a static IP
address on page 99). The file to be amended is shown on the line beginning with wpa-roam and is
/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf. Edit this file.
It will only contain a couple of lines.

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

Add the following after the above lines:

network={
ssid="YOUR_SSID"
scan_ssid=1
psk="YOUR_KEY"
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP
auth_alg=OPEN
}

Substitute YOUR_SSID and YOUR_KEY with the actual SSID and key for your wireless router. The
above configuration is for a router using WPA encryption. If your router is using the older WEP
encryption then you will need to adapt the configuration to use WEP. See next section.

Explanation of the network fields

Table 13 WiFi network configuration

Field Description
ssid your WIFI (SSID) name
scan_ssid A value of 1 means broadcast and value of 2 means a hidden SSID (Normally enter a
value of 1)
psk Your WIFI password
proto Your choice of RSN or WPA. RSN is WP2 and WPA is WPA1. (most configurations are
RSN)
key_mgmt Either WPA-PSK or WPA-EAP (pre-shared or enterprise respectively)
pairwise Either CCMP or TKIP ( WPA2 or WPA1 respectively)
auth_alg OPEN option is required for WPA and WPA2 (other option, SHARED & LEAP)

The only problem with the above configuration is that the psk key is in plain text and can be read by
anyone who has access to the Raspberry PI. It is possible to increase security by generating a so-
called passphrase with the wpa_passphrase command. For example if your ssid is mywlan and the
WIFI password is abcdef1234 then use the following command to generate the passphrase.

# wpa_passphrase mywlan abcdef1234

network={
ssid="mywlan"
#psk="abcdef1234"
psk=53a566e0ccf03ec40b46e6ef4fc48b836e428fb0fd5e0df95187ba96e60ce7ce
}

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 97
Copy and paste the passphrase into the psk parameter into the
/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file. Do not include any quotes around it. Remove the
comment line which shows the original key (#psk=”abcdef1234”)

Operating the wireless interface

If configured correctly the wireless adapter will start up when the Raspberry PI is rebooted.

The adaptor can be started and stopped with the following commands:

root@raspberrypi:/home/pi# ifup wlan0

and
root@raspberrypi:/home/pi# ifdown wlan0

To see what SSIDs are available run the iwlist command as shown in the following example:
root@raspberrypi:/home/pi# iwlist wlan0 scanning | grep ESSID
ESSID:"mywlan"
ESSID:"VGV751926F4B9"
ESSID:"prime"
ESSID:"Sitecom6A212C"

Troubleshooting the wireless adapter

Problem – Starting the wireless adapter gives the following message:
# ifup wlan0
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1
Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or
directory
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_cli daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1

This is due to an incorrect /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file. The problem is due to an

incorrect configuration. For example, a space after the ssid= directive as shown below.
network={
ssid= "homelan"
scan_ssid=1
psk="d762c954df"
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP
auth_alg=OPEN
}

Solution: Correct the error and run the ifup wlan0 command.

Problem: The following is seen:

root@raspberrypi:/home/pi# ifup wlan0
ifup: interface wlan0 already configured

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 98
Solution: This isn’t actually an error. Just run the ifdown wlan0 command and retry the ifup wlan0
command. It should then work.

Configuring a static IP address

The Raspberry PI Ethernet network interface comes configured out of the box to use DHCP (Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol) when using Raspbian Stretch or a similar operating system. This means
it is given an IP address by the (home) router for a particular lease period. This also means that if the
Raspberry PI is switched off for any length of time it may get a different IP address from the one it
had previously. This may not be very convenient especially if you are using the web interface or a
mobile app to control the radio. There are two possible choices here:

1. Configure the home router so that DHCP delivers a fixed address based upon the Raspberry
Pi’s MAC address. This is called DHCP IP address reservation.
2. Configure the Raspberry Pi with a static IP address.

Configuring DHCP in a router

It is beyond the scope of this manual to show how to reserve DHCP IP addresses and will vary
anyway between routers. Also, it isn’t always possible configure the router. Take a look at the
following link for a good example of how to do this: http://lifehacker.com/5822605/how-to-set-up-
dhcp-reservations-so-you-never-have-to-check-an-ip-address-again
Alternatively search the internet with the name of your router and the term “DHCP IP address
reservation”.

If DHCP IP address reservation isn’t an option then it is possible to configure a so-called static IP
address which will not change between reboots. To do this you must find out the IP address of your
router (gateway) and netmask for your network. Do this with the netstat command as shown below:

$ netstat –r -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
0.0.0.0 192.168.1.254 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0

In the above example the IP address of the gateway is 192.168.1.254. Your router’s IP address will
almost certainly be different. Take a note of the gateway IP address and the subnet (Genmask) of
your network. In this case that is 255.255.255.0. You will need to use these values to configure the
interface. The next thing you need is a free IP address in your network. There will be lots of them but
approximately 50 to 100 of them will be claimed for the DHCP pool. The only way to know what
DHCP is using is to log into your router and look at the configuration. If this isn’t possible or you are
unsure of what to do then pick one somewhere in the middle of the network range. For example, in
the above network you could choose 192.168.1.125. Check that it isn’t already in use somewhere
else in your network. Check it with the ping command. If you see 100% packet loss then the IP
address you have chosen isn’t in use in your system so you can use it.

$ ping -c 4 192.168.1.125
PING 192.168.1.125 (192.168.1.125) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.8 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.8 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.8 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.8 icmp_seq=4 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.1.125 ping statistics ---

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 99
 4 packets transmitted, 0 received, +4 errors, 100% packet loss, time 3012ms

Ethernet static IP configuration

Edit the /etc/dhcpcd.conf file using sudo nano or sudo vi. Go to the bottom of the file to see an
example of a static IP address (commented out).

# Example static IP configuration:

#interface eth0
#static ip_address=192.168.0.10/24
#static routers=192.168.0.1
#static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 8.8.8.8

Remove the # character from the interface definitions and modify the IP addresses as required.
However, use an IP address which is clear of the DHCP pool. An IP address 150 or higher will
probably be safe.
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.0.150/24
static routers=192.168.0.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 8.8.8.8

Note IP 8.8.8.8 is the IP address of Googles public DNS (Domain Name System) servers.

Save the file and reboot the system. After reboot; log into the Raspberry PI using the new IP
address. If unable to log in connect a keyboard and screen and reboot. Log in and troubleshoot the
problem.

Installing the Web interface

MPD has several web clients. See the following link: https://www.musicpd.org/clients/ The one used
in this example is called Snoopy (No longer listed) is used in this version the radio software.

Install Apache
Install Apache the web server. Make sure that the system is up to date with the following commands
otherwise installation of Apache may fail.
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Now install Apache and the PHP libraries for Apache as user root.

Run the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install apache2 php libapache2-mod-php

This will take some time. If the above fails run the following command and re-run the installation:
$ sudo apt-get -f install

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 100
Test the Apache web browser
Point your web browser at the IP address of the Raspberry PI. For example: http://192.168.2.51.
You should see the following display.

Install the Web Browser server pages

It is now necessary to install the web pages for the Radio. Download the correct radio web pages
Debian package from the Bob Rathbone web site.

For Raspbian Stretch run the following:

$ wget http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/packages/radiodweb_1.7_armhf.deb

Now run:
$ sudo dpkg -i radiodweb_1.7_armhf.deb

This package will install the radio web pages in the /var/www/html directory and the CGI scripts in
/usr/lib/cgi-bin directory. It will also enable the CGI scripts module.

The following error message may appear:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 101
 apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain
name, using 127.0.1.1. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress
this message

The message may be ignored or it can be suppressed by editing the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file
and adding a ServerName directive.

Edit /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file.

Add the following line anywhere in the apache2.conf file.
ServerName localhost

Start the radio web interface

Point your web browser at the IP address of the Raspberry PI. For example: http://192.168.2.11 .
You should see the following display:

Figure 145 Radio web interface

Now click on the ‘Radio’ tab. If the radio software is running you will see the following:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 102
 Figure 146 Snoopy web interface

Click on any station in the list to select a station. After a short pause the station should start playing
if it is online.

Currently there are four music sources that can be

selected namely Radio, Media, Airplay and Spotify.

The desired source can be selected from the source

drop-down selection box. Click on the required
source then click on ‘Submit’ button to load the
selected source in the radio.

The Shoutcast tab is explained in Using the Shoutcast Web Interface on page 147.

Note: The radio tab only displays radio stations or media tracks from MPD. It is not currently
capable of displaying Spotify or Airplay details which can only be seen on the radio itself.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 103
Changing the Web Interface Radio photo
If you want to change the photo displayed by the web interface, then replace the jpeg photo file at
/var/www/html/images/radio.jpg. Try to adjust the size on disk to about 50K using a suitable photo
editor such as Photo Shop. Copy the new jpeg photo to the pi home directory with any ftp program.
Now copy it to the web pages image directory using sudo.
$ sudo cp radio.jpg /var/www/html/images/.

If the new image looks stretched then it may also be necessary to change image proportions in the
<img..> statement in /var/www/html/index.html file. Find the following line in the index file and
adjust the width/height values to display the photo with the correct proportions.

<img border="0" src="images/radio.jpg" width="780" height="580"></td>

Installing the speech facility

It is possible to configure speech for visually impaired and blind persons who cannot read the
display. As channels are changed or stepping through the menu the radio will “speak” to you. This
excellent idea came from one of the project contributors, see Acknowledgements on page 212). This
facility requires installation of the espeak package.
See http://elinux.org/RPi_Text_to_Speech_(Speech_Synthesis)

The speech facility makes use of the /var/lib/radio/language file as already described in the section
called Creating a new language file on page 114

Install the espeak package:

$ sudo apt-get install espeak

Enable the speech facility in /etc/radiod.conf and restart the radio.

# Speech for visually impaired or blind listeners, yes or no
speech=yes

The verbose setting speaks the station or track details every time it is changed. However it can take a
long time to move through the tracks or stations whilst speaking. Usually set this to no.
verbose = no

To get the right balance between speech volume and the normal radio volume adjust the
speech_volume parameter percentage (10-100%)
speech_volume=30

The /var/lib/radiod/voice file

The /var/lib/radiod/voice file contains the espeak command (or part of it).

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 104
 $ espeak -ven+f2 -k5 -s130 –a

Where -v is the voice (en+f2 = English female voice 2), -k is capitals emphasis, -s is the voice speed
and -a is amplitude (0-200), the -a parameter is filled in by the radio program.

Testing espeak
You can test espeak with the following command (Stop the radio first).
$ espeak -ven+f2 -k5 -s130 -a20 "Hello Bob" --stdout | aplay

To see the capabilities of espeak see the website http://espeak.sourceforge.net/ or run:

$ espeak –h

If no sound is heard then then test using the aplay program. The espeak system will not work if
aplay is not working. Test with aplay and a suitable wav file.
$ sudo mpc pause
$ aplay /usr/share/scratch/Media/Sounds/Vocals/Singer2.wav

If still no sound check what devices are configured using aplay.

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 0: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA]
Subdevices: 8/8
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 1: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Device [Generic USB Audio Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

In the above example there are two devices namely bcm2835 ALSA (normal audio jack output) and
Generic USB Audio Device. If using either a HiFiBerry DAC or IQaudIO device then create the
/etc/asound.conf file using nano:
$ sudo nano /etc/asound.conf

Add the following lines:

ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1
}

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 105
 pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "plughw:0,0"
format S32_LE
}
}

The format S16_LE is an alternative format but does not work with HiFiBerry DAC. The above
statements set up the default mixer and PCM sound device respectively to use card 1.

If using the USB (Card 2 device 1) then change the device definition in the above file.
pcm "plughw:1,0"

Retest with aplay (No need to reboot).

Note: This author does not provide support for espeak.

Speech Operation
At the moment the speech function is highly experimental and will be developed further if there is
the demand. The best use is with the remote control which includes a button for toggling sound on
and off and another button to speak information about the station or track as well as speaking the
time. These buttons are set up in the section called Installing the Infra Red sensor software on page
91.

The Rotary encoder version of the radio is the best implemented. The MUTE switch is now the
“Speak information” switch. To mute the radio, hold the button in for two seconds and release.

Suppressing an individual message

It is possible to suppress speech of an individual message by adding an exclamation mark (!) to the
beginning of the message string in the language file. For example if you do not wish to hear the time
when speaking information then change the_time parameter by adding an ! character to the
beginning of the text to be spoken as shown in the example below:

the_time: !The time is

The exclamation message is removed if the message is displayed on a display. Only speech is
affected.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 106
Keeping the radio software up-to-date

The Radio software may be updated from time to time especially if a new
version of the operating system is released or a new feature is added to
the software. To keep up to date follow the author on Twitter at:
https://twitter.com/bob_rathbone (https://twitter.com/bob_rathbone)

Backing up the SD card

Having spent a lot of time and effort installing and configuring the Radio software it is a very good
idea to create a backup of the SD card should it ever become corrupted. There are various ways of
doing this. For backing up under Linux see:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/linux/filesystem/backup.md

One of the easiest ways of backing up the SD card on a Windows machine using Windows Disk
Imager (Win32DiskImager) described in the following link.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26463

This allows you to create a copy of the SD card in ann image (.img) file. This can then be compressed
using winzip/Zzip or any other zip utility to reduce the space on disk.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 6 - Installing the radio Software 107
Chapter 7 – Configuration
This section covers manual configuration of the radio. A number of programs are provided to help
with configuration. These are:

1. configure_radio.sh – Configure the basic radio interfaces.

2. configure_audio.sh – Configure the audio output.
3. set_mixer_id.sh – Configure the Alsa mixer volume control ID (normally called by the radio
program)

The above programs are found in the /usr/share/radio directory and are normally used to configure
the radio and audio output. The following descriptions cover manual configuration and those
configuration parameters not set by the above programs.

Configuring the HDMI or Touch Screen

In the /etc/radiod.conf file there is a section called [SCREEN] as shown below. This is the
HDMI/Touch Screen default configuration.
# Graphics (touch screen) screen settings
[SCREEN]
# Size is in pixels. Supported is 800x480 (7" screen) or 720x480(3.5" screen)
# or 480x320 (2.8" or 3.5" screen) or 1024x600 (Maximum)
# Also see framebuffer_width and framebuffer_height parameters in /boot/config.txt
screen_size=800x480
fullscreen=yes

# Screen save time in minutes, 0 is no screen saver

screen_saver=0

# Title %V = version %H = hostname

window_title=Bob Rathbone Internet Radio Version %V - %H
window_color=turquoise
banner_color=white
labels_color=white
display_window_color=lightblue
display_window_labels_color=black
slider_color=darkgreen
display_mouse=yes

# Wallpaper backgrounds. See /usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds

wallpaper=/usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds/Nature/beach-malibu.jpg

# Set date format for graphic screen

dateformat=%H:%M:%S %A %e %B %Y

# Allow switching between vgradio and gradio

switch_programs=yes

# The following is specific to the vintage graphical radio

scale_labels_color=white
stations_per_page=40
display_date=yes
display_title=yes

Parameter Explanation
fullscreen Set to yes or no. If using a large HDMI monitor or TV set to no.
window_title Title to display in the desktop window if fullscreen=no
window_color Window background colour if wallpaper (See below) not specified.
banner_color This is the colour of the time and date banner.
labels_color This is the colour of the radio and MPD option labels.
display_window_color This is the background colour of the station/track display window.
display_window_labels_color Colour of the display window text.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 7 – Configuration 108

slider_color The color of the slider in the slider window next to the search window.
display_mouse Future use – hide mouse yes/no.
wallpaper Background wall paper. Any jpeg or gif file can be specified.
See directory =/usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds.
dateformat The format for displaying the time and date banner.

The following settings are specific to the vintage graphical radio:

scale_labels_color This sets the color of the station names on the tuning scale
stations_per_page This is the maximum number of stations that will be displayed on each page.
display_date Display the date at the top of the screen yes/no
display_title Display the station title at the bottom of the screen yes/no

All parameters use the American spelling for color and not the British spelling.
The wallpaper parameter overrides the window_color parameter.

The parameters allow any theme to be configured for the HDMI or Touch Screen window.

Configuring GPIO outputs

Apart from changing the down_switch GPIO setting to be compatible with the HiFiBerry DAC it is
not normally necessary to change the GPIO settings for the switches, rotary encoders or LCD display
connections. The default settings match the wiring configuration shown in Table 4 on page 19.
Unless here is a need to change the GPIO configuration skip this section.

All switches, rotary encoders and LCD display settings are configurable in the /etc/radiod.conf file.

If the GPIO assignments are changed in the /etc/radiod.conf file then these must
match the actual physical wiring for your radio project.

Switches and rotary encoders GPIO assignments

The default switch settings including the rotary encoders are shown below. Normally there is no
need to change these as they are set by the configure_radio.sh program.

# Switch settings for 40 pin version (support for IQaudIO)

menu_switch=17
mute_switch=4
up_switch=24
down_switch=23
left_switch=14
right_switch=15

Disabling button or rotary encoder GPIOs

From version 6.8 onwards it is possible to disable a button or rotary encoder GPIO configuration. For
example, if you are building a radio with an amplifier with its own volume control you may not need
the music player daemon volume control as well. In this case set these to 0 to disable them.
menu_switch=17
up_switch=24
down_switch=23
mute_switch=0
left_switch=0
right_switch=0

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 7 – Configuration 109

This will free the GPIOs originally configured for the volume control for other uses (14, 15 and 23 in
this example).

LCD display GPIO assignments

The default LCD settings for a 40 pin Raspberry Pi are shown below. Again, there is no need to
change these unless your wiring is different. Again, setting these to 0 disables the outputs.

# LCD GPIO connections for 40 pin version of the radio

lcd_select=7
lcd_enable=8
lcd_data4=5
lcd_data5=6
lcd_data6=12
lcd_data7=13

Configuring button interface with pull up resistors

This applies to the radio with push buttons only. The original design of the radio wires the push
buttons from low to high (GND 0V to 3.3V). It is now more usual to configure the buttons to operate
from high to low (3.3V to GND 0V). This is the case for rotary encoders. It may be easier to wire up
the buttons to GND 0V. In such a case it is necessary to configure the pull_up_down parameter in
/etc/radiod.conf to ‘up’ as shown below.
# Pull GPIO up/down internal resistors (Applies button interface only).
# Default:down
pull_up_down=up

Configuring the remote control activity LED

It is useful to have an activity LED which flashes every time the remote control is pressed. How to
wire the activity LED is shown on page 39. Which pins you connect to will depend on the type of
radio you are building. Table 8 on page 39 shows the required LED connections. Boards such as the
the AdaFruit RGB plate will need a 40 pin Raspberry PI as all the first 26 pins are occupied but the
plug in card.

Configure the LED in /etc/radiod.conf for to pin 11 GPIO 23 for all versions except AdaFruit plate or
Vintage radio. For Adafruit RGB plate configure either remote_led=0 (No LED) or GPIO 13 (pin 33).
For the vintage radio use GPIO 23 (Pin 16). See the section called Remote Control Activity LED on
page 39.

# Output LED for remote control, default GPIO 11 (pin 23) or

# GPIO 13 (pin 33) for AdaFruit plate
# remote_led=0 is no output LED
remote_led=11

Testing the remote control activity LED

It is possible to test the activity LED with the remote_control.py program.
$ cd /usr/share/radio/
$ sudo ./remote_control.py flash

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Or use the service command:
$ sudo service irradiod flash

The irradiod script calls the remote_control.py program. The activity LED should flash about six
times. If not then check that the remote_led parameter in the /etc/radiod.conf configuration file is
correctly set and that the activity LED is correctly wired (See LED wiring on page 39).

Changing the date format

The date is configured in the /etc/radiod.conf file using the dateformat parameter:
dateformat=%H:%M %d/%m/%Y

The default configuration is: %H:%M %d/%m/%Y

Where: %H = Hours, %M=Minutes, %d= Day of the month, %m=month, %Y=Year

It is possible to change the date format (for example for the United States) by changing the format.
Some valid formats are:
%H:%M %m/%d/%Y US format
%H:%M %d-%m-%Y Minus sign as date separator
%d/%m/%Y %H:%M Reverse date and time
%H:%M %m%d Short date display for Olimex OLED

Seconds can also be displayed:

%H:%M:%S %d/%m/%Y Display seconds (%S) on 20 character displays only

Configuring the IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED

The configure_radio.sh program can be used to set the configuration to use the 128 by 64 pixel
OLED supplied with the Cosmic controller. This sets the display_type parameter to OLED_128x64.

display_type=OLED_128x64

When running with the Cosmic controller OLED screen there are two relevant settings in the
/etc/radiod.conf file which are not set by the configure_radio.sh program.

The OLED display can be flipped vertically by setting the flip_display_vertically parameter to yes.
flip_display_vertically=yes

Note: If upgrading you will need to add this parameter to the [RADIO] section of the
/etc/radiod.conf file.

The three LEDs on the Cosmic Controller board are driven by the status_led_class.py program. This
class was originally written for the Vintage radio but is now also used with this board. Configure the
following parameters in /etc/radiod.conf as shown below:
rgb_red=14
rgb_green=15
rgb_blue=16

The left LED means an ERROR, the middle LED means NORMAL operation and the right-most is BUSY.

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If you want to switch off the status LEDs then set them to 0. However, GPIO 15 is switched on
automatically at boot time. To switch it off add the following two lines to /etc/rc.local.
gpio -g mode 15 out
gpio -g write 15 0

Set the date format so that it displays fits the display.

dateformat=%H:%M %d%m

Configuring the Adafruit LCD backlight colours

Some Adafruit displays such as the rgb-negative Adafruit LCD allow changing the colour of the
backlight. This is configurable in the /etc/radiod.conf file. The colours that can be used are RED,
GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW, TEAL, VIOLET and WHITE or OFF (No backlight).

The colour settings in the /etc/radiod.conf file

# Background colours (If supported) See Adafruit RGB plate

# options OFF, RED, GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW, TEAL, VIOLET, WHITE
bg_color=WHITE
mute_color=VIOLET
shutdown_color=TEAL
error_color=RED
search_color=GREEN
info_color=BLUE
menu_color=YELLOW
source_color=TEAL
sleep_color=OFF

Note: Always use the American spelling ‘color’ in all commands and not the British spelling
‘colour’.

Configuring startup mode for Radio or Media player

The radio can be configured to start in RADIO, MEDIA, LAST modes or a playlist name. The default is
_Radio. To change this, edit /etc/radiod.conf and change the startup=_Radio parameter to RADIO,
MEDIA or LAST to start the radio with the last playlist used in the previous run. For example:
# Startup option either RADIO,MEDIA or LAST a playlist name
startup=MEDIA
#startup=_Radio

Alternatively, the radio can be configured to load a specific playlist. To display the available playlists
run the following command:
$ mpc lsplaylists
USB_Stick
_UK_stations
Beatles
_Radio
:

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To configure the radio to start with a specific playlist change the startup= statement.
#startup=RADIO
startup=USB_Stick

If you configure startup=RADIO the program will load the first available Radio playlist. Likewise if you
configure startup=MEDIA the program will load the first available Media playlist.

Configuring the volume display

The volume can be displayed as either text or as a series of blocks. This is configured in
/etc/radiod.conf using the volume_display parameter. The default is text.

# Volume display text or blocks

volume_display=text

12:01 30/08/2017
WPJR Country
Lonestar – Mr. Mom
Volume 75

To display the volume as a series of blocks change this to ‘blocks’:

volume_display=blocks

12:01 30/08/2017
WPJR Country
Lonestar – Mr. Mom


If the timer or alarm functions are being used then the volume display reverts back to
text display so as to allow display of the alarm or timer values.

Configuring the volume range

This setting affects the volume control sensitivity.

The MPD daemon has a volume range from 0 to 100. The volume is incremented or decremented by
one each time the volume button is pressed or rotary encoder is turned a notch. This means a lot of
turns of the knob or pushes of the button to change the volume the full range. Also, different
devices are more sensitive than others.

For example, the Adafruit plate version allows very rapid change of the volume and the default
range of 0 to 100 is not a problem. The rotary encoder version of the radio requires a lot of twisting
of the volume knob to get from 0 to 100.

This volume_range parameter allows you to set the volume range to increase the sensitivity of the
volume control as shown below. For example, if the volume range is set to 20 you will see the
volume displayed from 0 to 20 however the MPD volume is incremented by 5.

Increment = 100 / Volume range. For example, 100/20 = 5

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So, if the volume displayed on the LCD is 10 and the range is 20, then the MPD volume is 10 x 5 =
50%.

The volume range is configured in /etc/radiod.conf configuration file using the volume_range
parameter:

# Volume range 10, 20, 25, 50 or 100

volume_range=20

Ideally you should choose a volume range number that divides into 100 equally as shown above
however other values will work.

Changing the display language

The language file is stored in /home/pi/radio/language directory. This contains the text that will be
either displayed or spoken. The default language is English. The language.en file is copied to
/var/lib/radiod/language. The language file (if present) file is loaded during start-up of the radio. If
not present the default English text is used.

The format of each entry in the language file is:

<label>:<text>
For example:
select_source: Select source

It is possible to display all the labels and text by running language_class.py.

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ ./language_class.py
airplay: Airplay
alarm: Alarm
alarmhours: Alarm hours
alarmminutes: Alarm minutes
colour: Colour
consume: Consume
current_station: Current station
information: Information display
loading: Loading
loading_media: Loading media library
loading_radio: Loading radio stations
main_display: Main
media_library: Media library
menu_find: Find
menu_option: Menu option:
menu_search: Search
:

Creating a new language file

To create a new language file by running the language_class.py program and redirecting the output
to a file called language.<new> where <new> is the country code. For example, to create a language
file in Dutch, the country code is nl.

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 $ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./language_class.py > language/language.nl

Now edit the text (Not the labels) in the language/language.nl file. It isn’t necessary to change every
message. Lines beginning with # are for any comments.

# Nederlands text for uitspraak

main_display: Hoofd menu
search_menu: Zoek menu
select_source: Media selecteren
options_menu: Opties menu
rss_display: RSS beeld
information: Informatie beeld
the_time: De tijd is
loading_radio: Radio zenders laden
loading_media: Media laden
search: Zoek
source_radio: Internet Radio
source_media: Muziek selectie
sleeping: Slaapen

Finally copy the new language file to /var/lib/radiod/language (Omit the country code) and restart
the radio.
$ sudo cp language/language.nl /var/lib/radiod/language
$ sudo service radiod restart

Configuring an RSS feed

To display an RSS feed it is necessary to create the /var/lib/radiod/rss file with a valid RSS URL. For
example:
http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/uk/rss.xml?edition=int

The above is the RSS for the BBC news feed however any valid RSS feed may be used. If the
/var/lib/radiod/rss is missing or contains an invalid RSS URL then this mode is skipped when
stepping through the menu. The software comes with a valid BBC RSS feed file in the
/var/lib/radio/rss file. You can test the feed first by pasting it into your PC’s web browser URL and
pressing enter.

If configured, the RSS feed will be automatically displayed by stepping through the menus.

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Configuring the Alsa Equaliser

Note: The author of the radio software does not currently have a configuration that is
compatible with either Pulseaudio or Airplay. If you wish to use either Pulseaudio or Airplay
you cannot currently use the Alsa equalizer. This may change in a future release.

Install the Alsa equalizer plugin with apt-get:

$ sudo apt-get install -y libasound2-plugin-equal

Amend the “device” parameter in the audio_output block in /etc/mpd.conf configuration file.
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "IQAudio DAC+"
#device "hw:0,0"
device "plug:plugequal"
mixer_type "software"
}

In the above example we are using an IQaudIO card but may be any sound card.

Save the existing asound.conf file just in case you need to restore the original file
$ sudo cp /etc/asound.conf /etc/asound.conf.save

Edit the /etc/asound.conf file as shown below:

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm plugequal;
}
ctl.!default {
type hw card 0
}
ctl.equal {
type equal;
}
pcm.plugequal {
type equal;
slave.pcm "plughw:0,0";
}
pcm.equal {
type plug;
slave.pcm plugequal;
}

If your sound system is using card 1 (for example a USB audio device) then change the hardware
settings in the above configuration to use card 1.
:
type hw card 1
:
slave.pcm "plughw:1,0";

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Reboot the Raspberry Pi.
$ sudo reboot

After reboot run the Alsa Equaliser as user mpd. It will not work if called as either user pi or root
(sudo).
$ sudo -H -u mpd alsamixer -c 0 -D equal

If using card 1 change the -c 0 parameter above to -c 1.

The following screen will be displayed:

Figure 147 The Alsa Equalizer

Use the Tab key to move along to the desired equalizer frequency to be changed. In this example, it
is the <2KHz> block. Use the up and down arrows to adjust the level. The settings are saved in the
/var/lib/mpd/.alsaequal.bin file. Changes to the sound should be heard.

Note: If you set a particular frequency value too high you will cause unpleasant distortion to
the sound output.

Disabling the Alsa equalizer

Restore the original asound.conf file:
$ sudo cp /etc/asound.conf.save /etc/asound.conf

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Restore the original “device” parameter in the audio_output block in /etc/mpd.conf configuration
file.
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "IQAudio DAC+"
device "hw:0,0"
#device "plug:plugequal"
mixer_type "software"
}

Reboot the Raspberry Pi to restore the original sound configuration.

Configuration of the FLIRC USB dongle

Note: This installation procedure is only for the HDMI or Touchscreen display of the radio. If
using an LCD display see Installing the Infra Red sensor software on page 91.

It is first necessary to install FLIRC. First install the necessary libraries.

$ sudo apt-get install libhidapi-hidraw0 libqt5xmlpatterns5

Add the FLIRC repository by running the following:

$ curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/Flirc/repo/script.deb.sh | sudo bash

Install the flirc package

$ sudo apt-get install flirc

Reboot the Raspberry pi in Desktop mode.

Click on the left-hand program icon (A Raspberry) and select Accessories. In Accessories select Flirc.
The following screen will be displayed. However, on a 7-inch touchscreen you may not be able to see
the whole FLIRC window. In this case use the procedure called Configuring FLIRC from the command
line on page 119. The first time you run this program it may ask you if you want to upgrade the
firmware (Version v4.4.2 at the time of writing).

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 7 – Configuration 118

 Figure 148 FLIRC setup program

On the Controllers drop down menu select the Full Keyboard controller.

Figure 149 FLIRC keyboard controller

Now map the buttons on the remote control to the keys shown in Table 16 Graphic screen keyboard
command on page 133. For example, press the letter m on the above keyboard and then press the
Mute button on the Remote Control. For volume control up press Shift key followed by the + key on
the keyboard, then press the volume up button on the remote control. Do the same with the – key
for volume down. Full instructions for configuring FLIRC are to be found at:
https://flirc.gitbooks.io/flirc-instructions/

Configuring FLIRC from the command line

If using a small touchscreen there may not be enough room to see the Flirc screen. If so do the
following:

1) Amend the fullscreen=yes parameter to fullscreen=no in /etc/radiod.conf

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 7 – Configuration 119

 2) Reboot the Raspberry PI
3) When rebooted open a terminal session on the desktop (Don’t use remote SSH).
4) In the terminal window on the command line run the following:

$ flirc_util format

Now record the buttons:

$ flirc_util record up
Press any button on the remote to link it with ‘+‘

‘up’ is the name of the key. Now press the Channel Up key. The following will be displayed:
Successfully recorded button.

Repeat the command for each key name.

They are:
pageup, pagedown,
+, -,
left, right,
up, down,
return,
l(small letter L), p, a,
r, t, c, s, m and d.

In the case of the + and – keys press shift first, followed by the + or – key.
Test and if necessary repeat key-mapping. If configuring on an HDMI Television do not configure
volume (+-) or mute (m) keys as the TV will provide these functions.

The configured keys can be displayed with the flirc_util keys command.

$ flirc_util keys

Recorded Keys:
Index hash key
----- --------- ---
0 7D14E297 down
1 ED385097 up
2 58C86297 right
3 41787497 left
4 BF8F6297 return
5 AB616762 r
6 2676D097 t
7 B6536297 c
8 9206E297 s
9 590C3E97 l
10 E8E8D097 p
11 C49C5097 a
12 F1EFD097 e
13 B9F03963 escape
14 D1F15097 pageup
15 53DA6297 pagedown
16 9F5BE297 escape
17 A8DDF497 left_ctrl Q

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 18 66FFBE97 d

Saving the configuration:

flirc_util saveconfig my_flirc_config

Saving Configuration File 'my_flirc_config.fcfg' to Disk

[========================================>] 100%

Configuration File saved

There is also a loadconfig command.

What if a key does not work after configuring it.

First delete the key by its index. In this example the key d (Display Window) command isn’t working.

$ flirc_util delete_index 18

Re-record the key

$ flirc_util record d
Press any button on the remote to link it with ‘+‘
Successfully recorded button.

Re-test and repeat until a reliable ‘hash’ is received from the remote control.
If a key is multiply defined delete the first one you see by its index.
13 B9F03963 escape
14 D1F15097 pageup
15 53DA6297 pagedown
16 9F5BE297 escape

$ flirc_util delete_index 13

Re-test and if necessary re-record.

There is a help facility for the flirc_utility.

$ flirc_util help

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 7 – Configuration 121

Chapter 8 - Operation
Operation of LCD versions
This section assumes that the LCD screen is working correctly, the MPD daemon is installed and
tested and that there is an Internet connection available. This section is for LCD versions only. For
graphical radios see Operation of HDMI and touch screen displays on page 127.

Starting the program

The program must either be run as root user or using sudo.
The basic operation of the program is:
$ sudo service radiod start|stop|restart|status|info|version

Where start: Start the radio program.

stop: Stop the radio program.
restart: Restart the radio program.
status: Show the status of the radio daemon.
info: Show program information
version: Show the version number of the program

To start the radio:

$ sudo systemctl start radiod

To stop the radio:

$ sudo systemctl start radiod

The following System V commands will also work:

$ sudo service radiod start
$ sudo service radiod stop

To display the status either use the program directly or use the sudo service radiod status
command:
$ sudo service radiod status
● radiod.service - Radio daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/radiod.service; enabled; vendor
preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2017-11-08 10:06:19 CET; 3h 55min ago
Main PID: 1619 (python)
CGroup: /system.slice/radiod.service
└─1619 python /usr/share/radio/radiod.py nodaemon
:
{The last relevant log entries will be displyed here}

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 122

To see what version of the software you are running:
$ sudo service radiod version
Version 6.9

To display information about the running program:

$ sudo service radiod info
radiod.py Running PID 1877
Music Player Daemon 0.19.21
Raspbian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)
Linux stretch 4.9.41-v7+ #1023 SMP Tue Aug 8 16:00:15 BST 2017 armv7l
GNU/Linux

The above shows the process ID of the radio, the Music Player Daemon version and operating
system details.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 123

Radios with push buttons operation
The original radio has five buttons, four function buttons and one menu button. However, the new
design can also support a sixth button which is the mute button. The Menu button changes the
display mode and the functions of the left and right-hand buttons as shown in the following table. If
using rotary encoders please see Table 15 on page 125.
Menu button - Changes the display mode and the functions of the buttons.
Table 14 Push Button Operation

Volume buttons Channel buttons

LCD Display Mode Right button Left button Up button Down button
Mode = TIME
Line 1: Time Volume Up Volume Down Station/Track Station/Track down
Line 2: Station or up
Track

Mode = SEARCH
If source = RADIO Volume Up Volume Down Scroll up radio Scroll down radio
Line 1: Search: station station
Line2: Radio Station

Mode = SEARCH
If source = MEDIA Scroll up through Scroll down Scroll up Scroll down through
Line 1: Search artists through artists through track track
Line2:
MusicTrack/Artist

Mode = SOURCE
Line 1: Input Source: Volume Up Volume Down Cycle up Cycle down through
Line2: Radio or Media Mute Mute through Airplay, Radio and
playlist or Airplay Airplay, Radio Media playlists
and Media
playlists
Mode = OPTIONS
Line 1: Menu Toggle selected Toggle selected Cycle through Cycle through
Selection mode on or off. mode on or off. Random, Random, Consume,
Line 2: <option> Set timer and Set timer and Consume, Repeat, Reload Music,
Options are Random, Alarm Alarm Repeat, Reload Timer, Alarm Time
Consume, Repeat, Music, Timer, Set and Streaming:
Reload Music, Timer, Alarm , Alarm
Alarm ,Alarm Time Time Set and
Set (Hours), Alarm Set Streaming
(Minutes), Streaming:

Mode = RSS (1)

Line 1: Time Volume Up Volume Down Station/Track Station/Track down
Line 2: RSS feed Mute Mute up
MODE = IP address
Line 1: IP address Volume Up Volume Down Scroll up Scroll down through
Line 2: Station or Mute Mute through track track or radio station
Track or radio station
Note: If the /var/lib/radiod/rss file is missing then the RSS mode is skipped.
If it contains an invalid RSS URL, this will be displayed on the LCD.

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Radios with rotary encoders operation
This option is for a radio with rotary encoders with push buttons. The volume knob when pushed in
is the Mute sound function. Likewise, the tuner knob when pushed in is the Menu switch.
The Menu button (Tuner knob depressed) changes the display mode and the functions of the
clockwise and anti-clockwise operation of the knobs as shown in the following table.
Menu button - Changes the display mode and the functions of the buttons.
Table 15 Rotary Encoder Knob Operation

Volume knob Tuner knob

LCD Display Mode Clockwise Anti-clockwise Clockwise Anti-clockwise

Mode = TIME
Line 1: Time Volume Up Volume Down Station/Track up Station/Track down
Line 2: Station or Track

Mode = SEARCH
If source = RADIO Volume Up Volume Down Scroll up radio station Scroll down radio
Line 1: Search: station
Line2: Radio Station

Mode = SEARCH
If source = MUSIC Scroll up Scroll down through Scroll up through track Scroll down through
LIBRARY through artists track
Line 1: Search artists
Line2:
MusicTrack/Artist

Mode = SOURCE
Line 1: Input Source: Volume Up Volume Down Cycle up through Cycle down through
Line2: Radio or Media Mute Mute Airplay, Radio and Airplay, Radio and
playlist or Airplay Media playlists Media playlists

Mode = OPTIONS
Line 1: Menu Selection Toggle Toggle selected mode Cycle through Random, Cycle through
Line 2: <option> selected on or off. Set timer Consume, Repeat, Random, Consume,
Options are Random, mode on or and Alarm Reload Music, Timer, Repeat, Reload
Consume, Repeat, off. Set timer Alarm Time Set, Music, Timer, Alarm ,
Reload Music, Timer, and Alarm Streaming and Alarm Time Set,
Alarm and Alarm Background colour(1) Streaming and
Time(Hours), Alarm Background colour(1)
Time(Minutes) set and
Change colour(1),
Streaming on/off.

Mode = RSS (2)

Line 1: Time Volume Up Volume Down Station/Track up Station/Track down
Line 2: RSS feed
MODE = IP address
Line 1: IP address Volume Up Volume Down Scroll up through track Scroll down through
Line 2: Station or Track or radio station track or radio station

Note 1: The colour change option is only available for the AdaFruit RGB plate
(ada_radio.py). Note 2: If the /var/lib/radiod/rss file is missing or contains an invalid
RSS URL then the RSS mode is skipped.

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Mute function
Pressing both volume buttons together or in the case of a rotary encoder with a push button
(Volume) will mute the radio. If voice is enabled then then operation is slightly different (See section
on espeak). Press either the volume up or down switch to un-mute the radio. If you change channel
or use the menu switch the radio will also be un-muted. If the alarm is set then the radio will go into
sleep mode.

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Operation of HDMI and touch screen displays
The graphical screen
The HDMI and Touch Screen versions of the program can be started in three separate ways.
1. Automatically when starting the desktop
2. By clicking on the radio icon on the desktop
3. By manually starting the program from the command line

To start the radio from command line run the gradio.py program:
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./gradio.py &

Starting the radio from the desktop. Click

the icon shown here on the desktop.

In all cases a screen similar to the following will be displayed. In this example fullscreen=no.

Figure 150 HDMI and Touch Screen Display

Date
Banner Display
window

Search
Search
Up
Options

First
page

Search
window Search
slider

Last
page
MPD
Options
Search
Down

Volume Channel Mute Source

Slider button button selection

Clicking the mouse on a control such as station Up/Down or touching it do the same thing. In the
following description we will only refer to “clicking”. By this, also touching a control is also meant.

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The display window

The display window normally displays the Radio station or Media rack that is currently playing.
Clicking in the display window changes the third line to display the RSS feed if configured. A second
click in the same window displays version details, IP address and hostname.

Figure 151 Graphical scree information display

In this example the hostname is ‘stretch’. The version number will be different for later releases.
Two IP addresses are displayed (Wireless and Ethernet).

The search window

The search window normally displays the contents of the currently selected playlist.

Figure 152 Graphical radio search window

Click on a station in the list selects it. Clicking in the slider window or dragging the slider re-positions
the list. The current position, 16 in this example, is displayed next to the slider. The length of the
current playlist, 28 for this playlist, is displayed at the bottom of the slider window.

Clicking on the Up and Down arrows travels up and down the list. Clicking on the left double arrow
goes to the first page in the list. Clicking on the right double arrow goes to the last page in the list.

Figure 153 Graphical radio search functions

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Clicking on the Playlists radio button selects the available playlists. This shows the playlists for radio
or media such as the USB stick or Network share. It also shows ‘airplay’ which is not really a playlist
but is a source, but can be selected here. Click on the desired playlist in the search window.

Figure 154 Display playlists

In the following example the USB stick playlist was selected. Once a playlist selected the list is
displayed.

Figure 155 Display of media tracks

Clicking the Artists radio button displays the list of artists in the search window. Once clicked the
search window positions on the first song of that artist’s tracks.

Figure 156 Displaying artists

Note that if you click on the ‘Artists’ radio button when displaying Radio stations, it will always be
forced back to the ‘List’ display as Artist selection is not relevant for Radio stations.

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Smaller TFT screens
Screens with a resolution equal to or less than 420 x 320 pixels will display slightly different than
previously shown. Only one line will be displayed in the search window. There are no options for
Random, Repeat or Consume due to lack of space.

Search
list type

The search list type (Playlist, Station/Track list or Artist) is cycled through by clicking on the Search
list type button. All other controls work the same as shown in Figure 150 on page 127.

Artwork display
If the music track has artwork and the ffmpeg (See Setting up the locale on page 65) package has
been installed then the artwork will be displayed. Clicking on any of the radio search buttons will re-
display the search window. The artwork cannot be displayed until the track is re-selected.

Figure 157 Track artwork display

Note that the two grey push buttons now display ‘Track Up/Down’ instead of ‘Station Up/Down’.
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Volume and Mute controls
The volume is controlled by a slider at the bottom left of the
window. Clicking on the loud-speaker at the bottom of the
screen mutes the sound and displays the mute icon as shown
on the left. Any volume control change un-mutes the radio.

Source selection
Click on the down arrow on the right of the Source selection to
select the Source namely Radio, Media, Airplay or Spotify. The
radio will select the first playlist in that source. Re-selecting the
same source will select the next playlist for that Source.

Other graphic window controls

Music Player Daemon(MPD) options Random, Repeat, Consume and Single are selected using the
square push buttons on the bottom left of the window. Only the Random option is stored for the
next time.

Running Airplay on the HDMI touchscreen

Airplay must first of all be installed on the Raspberry Pi. See Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay on page
192 for instructions how to do this. To select Airplay either select it from the Sources drop-down box
or from the playlists in the search window.

Figure 158 Airplay running on a Graphical screen

Connect to the Raspberry Pi from an Airplay compatible mobile device or run an App such as
CloudBreak. The hostname to connect to is displayed when Airplay is first opened in the Display
Window as shown below:

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In this case the hostname is ‘piradio’. To exit Airplay, press the left button at the bottom of the
screen. The other button on the right has no label and doesn’t do anything in Airplay mode.

Changing the graphical radio theme

The colour scheme and background are largely configurable in the [SCREEN] section of the
/etc/radiod.conf configuration file. Button colours cannot be configured.

Figure 159 Changing the graphical screen theme

One good personalisation is to use your own favourite holiday picture as the background.
wallpaper=<path to your photograph>

Window and label colours can be changed to your own preferences. In the above screen the
wallpaper option has been disabled, so the window_color option is used.
# Graphics (touch screen) screen settings
[SCREEN]
fullscreen=yes
window_title="Bob Rathbone Internet Radio Version"
window_color=turquoise
banner_color=black
labels_color=black
display_window_color=lightblue
display_window_labels_color=black
slider_color=purple
display_mouse=yes
switch_programs=yes
screen_saver=0

# Wallpaper backgrounds. See /usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds

#wallpaper=/usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds/Nature/beach-malibu.jpg
# Set date format for graphic screen
dateformat=%H:%M:%S %A %e %B %Y

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 # The following is specific to the vintage graphical radio
scale_labels_color=white
stations_per_page=40
display_date=yes
display_title=yes

Python pygame colour constants

See https://www.webucator.com/blog/2015/03/python-color-constants-module/
However, be aware that not all colours are supported on the Raspberry Pi version of pygame.

Graphic screen keyboard controls

The HDMI/Touchscreen version accepts input from the keyboard. It is limited and is only included as
a keyboard may be connected to the Raspberry Pi when using an HDMI screen. The normal interface
is either touch screen or mouse and not the keyboard.

Table 16 Graphic screen keyboard command

Key Description Key Description

Page Up (PgUp) Channel/Track Up Up Arrow Search Up
Page Down (PgDn) Channel/Track Down Down Arrow Search Down
+ Key Volume increase Left arrow Go to first search page
- Key Volume decrease Right arrow Go to last search page
R Toggle Random L Select Search List
T Toggle Repeat P Select Search Playlists
C Toggle Consume A Select Search Artists
S Toggle Single M Toggle Mute on/off
D Cycle display window ESC Exit program
X Switch between vgradio and gradio

You may be interested how the screen-shots in this section were created. A Windows based
server called XMing was run on the Windows PC. X-Forwarding is then enabled in the SSH
program (Putty or Bitvise etc). A SSH terminal session was started and the gradio.py program
started which is then displayed on the PC desktop. Then clicking on the graphic radio window at
pressing Alt and PrtScn keys together copies the window to the system clip-board where it can be
pasted into a document. Operation is however very sluggish so the method is not recommended for
normal use.

The Vintage Graphic Radio

As an alternative to the gradio.py program there is a touch-screen version of the radio called
vgradio.py. This radio program only can play radio stations and not other Media (USB stick for
example) or Airplay.

Note: This radio program can only play radio stations and not other Media such as a USB
stick or Airplay, nor are there currently any plans to change this. If you want to play media
you will need the full feature gradio.py program previously described.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 133

 Figure 160 The vintage graphic radio on a touch-screen

This allows a radio to be constructed to look like a vintage radio with a sliding tuning dial.
The pages scroll through the stations so hundreds of stations can be added.
When you touch the name of a station on the tuner dial the green slider jumps to that location and
plays the selected station.

The double arrows at the top of the of the screen allow you to page through the stations.
At the bottom is the round volume slider. Under that is the title of the currently playing song.
The blue arrows are used to step through the stations one at a time.
The mute button is on the right-hand side of the screen. This design can also be combined with
rotary encoders or switches.

To run this radio, either run the configure_radio.sh program or amend the
/home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart configuration file to run vgradio.py instead of
gradio.py.

@lxpanel --profile LXDE-pi

@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE-pi
@xscreensaver -no-splash
@point-rpi
@sudo /usr/share/radio/vgradio.py

This radio is designed to work with a single radio playlist. This is normally the _Radio playlist. You
should configure the radio to start with this playlist by amending the startup parameter in
/etc/radiod.conf.

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 startup=_Radio

However, this does not mean that you cannot have multiple radio playlists. If you have more than
one radio playlist then by using the page up button (Double right arrow) it is possible to scroll
through to the current playlist to the end and then onto the next playlist. In this case the new
playlist name will be displayed in the very top-left of the screen.

You cannot currently scroll back to the previous playlist but must continue scrolling through the
pages until you reached the desired playlist.

If using the FLIRC remote control dongle then it is only necessary to program the following keys:
pageup, pagedown, left, right, up, down.

Switching between graphics programs

From version 6.4 onwards it is possible to switch between the full feature graphical radio (gradio.py)
and the vintage graphical radio (vgradio.py). First configure the switch_programs parameter in the
[SCREEN] section of /etc/radiod.conf.

switch_programs=yes

Restart the program. The switch icon on the left will appear towards the top of the
right-hand side of the screen. By clicking on it the program will switch between the
two versions of the desktop radio programs. There will be a very short pause in the
music stream whilst it is doing the switch-over.

Configuring a screen saver

Note: The xscreensaver program described here does not appear to work if the radio
program is in full screen mode. This will probably be addressed in a later release.

Modern LCD displays are not as susceptible to screen burnout as the old cathode ray tubes of old.
However continuous static screen displays will eventually cause shadowing. It is therefore a good
idea to install a screen saver. The standard one for Raspian is called xscreensaver. To install it run
the following:
$ sudo apt-get install xscreensaver

After installation of the screen saver it can be configured in the desktop preferences menu. This
allows configuration of time, screen saver or a blank screen. Choose a not too busy screen saver or
the blank screen option.

There is also a program called xscreensaver-command for command line manipulation of the screen
saver. However, the advice is not to use it as, at the time of writing, it causes severe problems with
both the console and desktop display.

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Playing Media
Playing MP3 and WMA files
The radio software also allows you to play music from the following sources:

1. From a USB stick

2. From a music directory on the SD card (Create this yourself)
3. From a Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Playlists for all of the above can be created using the the create_playlist.sh program.

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./create_playlist.sh

See the section on Creating Media playlists on page 143 for a detailed description of this program.

Playing music from a USB stick

Put your music tracks on a USB stick (MP3 and WMA files only) and insert it into the USB port of the
Raspberry PI. Reboot the PI. Once the Radio program is running, push the Menu button until "Input
source" is displayed. Press either the left or right button to change the source to "Music Library".
Now press the Menu button again. The music on the USB stick will now be loaded.

Playing music from the SD card

With large (32GB) SD cards now available music can be stored on in one or more directories on the
SD card. It is necessary to first create a directory in /home/pi as user pi and then link it in the
/var/lib/mpd/music/ directory. Carry out the following instructions as user pi to create mymusic for
example:

$ mkdir /home/pi/mymusic

Using FTP, copy the music from a PC to the /home/pi/mymusic directory and reload the library via
the options menu. Now run the create_playlist.sh program.Select option 3 (SD card).

Playing music from a Network Attached Storage (NAS)

This is a bit more involved to set up. See the section called Mounting a network drive on page 155.

Organising the music files

For the search routines to work properly the music must be organised in a certain way. The files must
be placed in the top-level directory of USB stick. The search routines use the first directory as the
artist’s name and the music files themselves as the track name. For example:

Elvis Presley/The 50 Greatest Hits Disc 1/01 That's All Right.mp3

In the above example the first directory is set up with the artist name and this will appear in the
search. The next directory “The 50 Greatest Hits Disc 1” is not used by the search routines. The file
name “That's All Right.mp3” without the mp3 extension becomes the track name in this example.

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MPD Logging
All logging for the MPD daemon is to the /var/log/mpd/mpd.log file by default.

Radio program logging

The Radio program logs to a file called /var/log/radio.log. See example log below:

2018-12-17 08:20:44,852 INFO Board revision 2

2018-12-17 08:20:44,877 INFO OS release: Raspbian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)
2018-12-17 08:20:44,889 INFO Linux raspberry3 4.14.50-v7+ #1122 SMP Tue Jun
19 12:26:26 BST 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux
2018-12-17 08:20:47,921 INFO Connected to MPD port 6600
2018-12-17 08:20:48,112 INFO UDP Server listening on localhost port 5100
2018-12-17 08:20:48,125 INFO UDP listen:remote 0.0.0.0 port 5100
2018-12-17 08:20:48,126 INFO IP 192.168.2.69
2018-12-17 08:20:51,212 INFO Radio running pid 1542
2018-12-17 08:20:51,214 INFO Radio ['/usr/share/radio/radiod.py',
'nodaemon'] Version 6.9

There are six levels of logging namely CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG or NONE.
This is configured in the /etc/radiod.conf file.
# loglevel is CRITICAL,ERROR,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG or NONE
loglevel=INFO

Configuration and status files

The main configuration file is /etc/radiod.conf. See section A.1 Files added to the system on page
217. This file is normally maintained by the configure_radio.sh program. This is run at installation
time but can be safely run at any time.

There are some other configuration and status files in the /var/lib/radiod directory. These are:

alarm Alarm setting in t:hh:mm where t is the alarm type (t=0=off)

current_station The current radio station
current_track The current music track
language Espeak language definition file
mixer_volume Used by Airplay to set mixer volume (See page 194)
mixer_volume_id Mixer volume ID (Used primarily for Airplay volume control)
rss RSS feed URL
share The NAS share instruction
stationlist The user list of radio station URLs
streaming Icecast2 streaming on or off
timer Timer (Snooze) value in minutes
voice The espeak voice file
volume The volume setting

It isn’t normally necessary to change most of these files. However, the stationlist, share, language
and rss file will need to be edited as required. The other files are maintained by the radio or
configuration programs. When the radio program starts up the it uses the last settings, for example,
the volume setting.

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Using the Timer and Alarm functions
Note: The Rasbian operating system synchronizes time over the Internet. It does this using
the timesync service. This service is a light-weight, client only, time synchronisation service,
using the Network Time Protocol (NTP).

There is a timer (Snooze) and alarm function (LCD and OLED versions only). The timer and alarm can
operate individually or together. The timer when set will put the radio into Sleep Mode when the
timer expires. The Alarm can be set to either On, Repeat or “Weekdays only”.

Setting the Timer (Snooze)

Press the Menu button until the “Menu Selection” is displayed. Press either the channel UP or
DOWN control until “Timer off” is displayed on line 2 of the LCD screen. Now push the volume UP
button to set the timer. Use volume UP and DOWN to adjust the timer which will be displayed as
“Timer hh:mm:ss” where hh=hours, mm=minutes and ss=seconds. The Timer can be set up to 24
hours in increments of one minute. Once the timer is set, press the Menu button; the display will
return to TIME mode.

On a four line LCD display the timer will be seen counting down after the Volume display on line 4.
On a two line LCD display the timer count down will be displayed on line 1 after the time display.

When the timer expires (reaches zero) the radio will enter SLEEP mode. Sleep mode can only be
exited by pressing the menu button.

To switch the timer off go back to the timer menu as described above and reduce the timer to 0
using the volume DOWN control. This will switch off the timer.

The timer function uses the /var/lib/radiod/timer file which will contain the value of the timer in
minutes when it was successfully fired. You do not need to change the contents of this file.

Setting the Alarm

The Alarm menu has three settings:

• The alarm type (On, off, repeat etc)

• The Alarm Hours time ( Pressing menu in this mode puts the radio into Sleep mode)
• The Alarm Minutes time ( Pressing menu in this mode puts the radio into Sleep mode)

Press the Menu button until the “Menu Selection” is displayed. Press either the channel UP or
DOWN (Or rotate rotary encoder) until “Alarm off” is displayed on line 2 of the LCD screen. Using
the volume UP control cycle through the options which are

• Alarm off - The Alarm is switched off

• Alarm on – The Alarm is on for one time only. Once the alarm is fired it will return to off.
• Alarm repeat – The Alarm will be repeated every day and not switched off.
• Alarm weekdays only – The Alarm will only fire Monday through Friday. It is not reset.

Now move to “Set alarm time:” using the channel UP control. The current alarm time will be
displayed on line 2 of the display. Using the volume UP and DOWN control adjust the alarm time
(Hours or Minutes) to the required setting. If you do not wish to put the radio into sleep mode at this
stage then use the channel UP/DOWN control to move away from the “Set alarm time:” option and
Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 138
press the Menu button. If you press the Menu button whilst in the “Set alarm time:” option and the
Alarm is set to anything except off then the radio will enter Sleep mode and display the alarm on line
2 for a two-line LCD or on line 4 for a four-line LCD.

Note: Sleep mode can only be exited by pressing the Menu button.

The alarm function uses the /var/lib/radiod/alarm file which will contain the current alarm type and
time. The format is t:hh:mm where t is type (0=off, 1=on, 2=repeat, 3=weekdays only) and hh:mm is
hours and minutes (24 hour clock). You do not need to change the contents of this file.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ALARM RELIES UPON THE SELECTED RADIO STREAM TO BE
AVAILABLE WHEN THE ALARM WAKES UP. THIS CANNOT BE GUARANTEED AS THE STATION
FEED MAY BE OFF AIR OR THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE INTERNET CONNECTION. YOU SHOULD
NOT THERFORE RELY SOLEY ON THIS ALARM FUNCTION IF YOU HAVE AN IMPORTANT
APPOINTMENT OR A PLANE OR TRAIN TO CATCH FOR EXAMPLE. ALSO SEE DISCLAIMER ON PAGE
211.

Using the Alarm and Timer functions together

The Alarm and Timer functions can be used together. For example you want to set your radio to a 30
minute snooze time before going to sleep and to sound the alarm in the morning. Simple set the
Timer to the required elapse time and then set the alarm as described in the previous section. Press
the Menu button and the timer will be seen counting down followed by the alarm time on line 4 or
line 1 for the four-line and two-line LCD respectively.

Music Player Clients

MPD is designed around a client/server architecture, where the clients and server (MPD is the
server) interact over a network. A large number of graphical and web based clients are available for
MPD and are to numerous to mention here. Please see the following link for further information on
MPD clients: http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Clients. The main client used in this project is MPC.

Using the MPC client

Everything you should normally wish to do can be done using the radio. However there may be
occasions that you wish to test or control music selection, volume etc. using MPC. It is also useful
for diagnosing Music Player Daemon problems.

Log into the Raspberry PI using the console or SSH login. To start playing music run:
$ mpc play

To see a list of all available commands, run:

$ mpc help

Here are some frequently used mpc commands:

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Table 17 Common MPC commands

MPC command Description

mpc Displays status (mpc status also does the same)
mpc current Displays currently playing station or track
mpc next Play next song
mpc prev Play previous song
mpc play n Play station or track where n is the track or station number
mpc volume 75 Set volume to 75%
mpc stop Stop playing
mpc random <on|off> Toggle shuffling of songs on or off
mpc repeat <on|off> Toggle repeating of the playlist
mpc clear Clear the playlist
mpc consume <on|off> When playing tracks remove from the playlist once played
mpc playlist List loaded radio stations or streams
mpc listall List all songs in the music directory

Adafruit RGB Plate changing colours

This section is only relevant for the Adafruit RGB plate. When running the radio with an Adafruit RGB
plate, it is an option to change the colour of the display. Push the menu button until “Menu
selection”. Push the channel button until “Select color” is displayed. Now push the volume button to
cycle through the colours. The available colours are red, green, blue, yellow, teal, violet, white or Off
(No backlight). Note that the program uses the Amircan spelling ‘color’

Shutting down the radio

You can simply switch the power off. This doesn’t normally harm the PI at all. However, if you want a
more orderly shutdown then press the menu button for at least three seconds. This will stop the
MPD daemon and issue a shutdown request to the Raspberry PI. Wait at least another ten seconds
and then power off the Radio.

Creating and Maintaining Playlist files

Note: The creation of playlists has completely changed from earlier 5.x versions of the
program. Read the following carefully for an understanding of the new playlists structure.
To use existing play-lists, see the section called Using old 5.x Radio playlists on page 144.

Previous versions of the radio only allowed three playlists namely Radio, USB stick or Network share.
This has completely changed in version 6.0 onwards. It is now possible to define as many playlists as
you wish. For example:

Table 18 Example playlists

Playlist Name Type File name Description

Radio Radio _Radio.m3u Playlist with radio stations
BBC stations Radio _BBC_stations.m3u Playlist with only BBC radio stations
German stations Radio _German_stations.m3u Playlist with only German radio stations
USB stick Media USB_Stick.m3u Playlist with the contents of the USB stick
Network Media Network.m3u Playlist with the contents from a network share
Country Media Country.m3u Playlist with just country music
Rock and Roll Media Rock_and_Roll.m3u Playlist with just Rock and Roll music

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You may have as many or few playlists as you like. All playlists are stored in /var/lib/mpd/playlists
and must have a .m3u file extension. All radio stations begin with an underscore “_”. The reason for
this is that the radio program has to handle and display Radio and Media playlists differently. The “_”
at the beginning of the playlist file name identifies the playlist as a Radio playlist. It also has the
added advantage that it puts all the Radio playlists at the beginning of the list of available playlists.

Creating new playlists

There are four ways to create playlists:
1. Create Radio station playlists with the create_stations.py program
2. Create Media playlists from either USB stick or Network share using create_playlist.sh
3. Use the Shoutcast (get_shoutcast.py) program or web interface
4. Manual creation of your own Media playlists

The create stations program

The create_stations.py program is used to create playlists in the /var/lib/mpd/playlists directory. If
you wish to understand more about playlist files see the section called Overview of media stream
URLs on page 150.

The directories and files used by the create_stations.py program are shown in the following table:

Table 19 Playlist files and directories

Name Type Description

/usr/share/radio/station.urls File Initial distribution file containing sample stations
/var/lib/radiod/stationlist File The file containing the users list of radio stations
/usr/share/radio/station.urls File Initial distribution Radio playlist. This is copied to
/var/lib/radiod/stationlist during program installation.
/var/lib/mpd/playlists Directory Location of MPD playlists
/var/lib/mpd/music Directory Location of media files for either a USB stick or a Network share

The /var/lib/radiod/stationlist file is the file that should be maintained by you to create Radio
playlists. When this create_stations.py program is first run it copies the distribution file station.urls
to the /var/lib/radiod/stationlist file. You may then modify the /var/lib/radiod/stationlist file.

The format is: (<playlist name>)

Example: (Radio)

The above will create a playlist called _Radio.m3u and will contain the title and URLs for each
station. Now add or remove radio station definitions in the stationlist file. The first statement in the
station definition is the name of the playlist in brackets:

The format is: [<title>] http://<url>

Example: [BBC Radio 4 extra] http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4x.asx

After modifying the stationlist file run the create_stations.py program to create the Music Player
Daemon playlists.

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Below is an example of part of a stationlist file stored in /var/lib/radiod directory. This file is the
source of all radio playlists.
# Radio stations
(Radio)
# United Kingdom
# The following links are iPhone streams (m3u files)
[BBC Radio 1] http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/bbcradio1.pls
[BBC Radio 2] http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/bbcradio2.pls
[BBC Radio 3] http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/bbcradio3.pls
:
# Dutch stations
(Dutch radio)
[NPO Radio 1] http://icecast.omroep.nl/radio1-bb-mp3
[NPO Radio 2] http://icecast.omroep.nl/radio2-bb-mp3
[NPO Radio 3fm] http://icecast.omroep.nl/3fm-bb-mp3

In the above example two Radio playlists are defined by the names in round brackets namely;
(Radio) and (Dutch radio).

The create_stations.py program itself is very easy to use. Just run it with sudo in the
/usr/share/radio directory:
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./create_stations.py

This will create the playlist files in the /var/lib/mpd/playlists directory. Using the example shown
above this will produce two files called _Radio.m3u and _Dutch_radio.m3u in the MPD playlists
directory. To create a log file of the program run the following:
$ sudo ./create_stations.py | tee playlist.log

You can examine the playlist.log file to see what actions the create_stations.py program carried out
and if there were any errors.

The program will ask if you wish to delete any old playlists:
Processed 46 station URLs from /var/lib/radiod/stationlist
There are 2 old playlist files in the /var/lib/mpd/playlists/ directory.
Do you wish to remove the old files y/n: y

Normally answer ‘y’ unless you don’t wish to remove the old files. Note that old playlists files with
the same name as the new ones will always be overwritten.

If you want to avoid the above prompt then there are two other parameters that you may use.
--delete_old Delete old playlist files in the MPD playlist directory
--no_delete Don’t delete old playlist files in the MPD playlist directory
Example:
$ sudo ./create_stations.py --no_delete

Finally there is a help parameter:

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 $ sudo ./create_stations.py --help

Creating Media playlists

The radio program comes with a program called create_playlist.sh. This creates a single playlist for a
USB stick, SD card location or a network share.
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./create_playlist.sh

The following screen is displayed.

Select option 1 initially.

Answer “Yes” to create the playlist from the USB stick.

Enter a filter name or enter for no filter.

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Select Yes to continue.

The program will suggest a name for the playlist but you may choose any name (But do not make it
too long).

The program continues by creating a playlist called USB_stick.m3u in /var/lib/mpd/playlists.

sudo service radio stop
sudo service mpd stop
Mounted /dev/sda1 on /media
cd /var/lib/mpd/music/
/var/lib/mpd/music
sudo find -L media -type f -name *.mp3 -or -name *.ogg -or -name *.flac >
/tmp/list29073
sudo mv /tmp/list29073 /tmp/USB_Stick

===========================================================
58 tracks found in directory media (No filter)
mv /tmp/USB_Stick.m3u /var/lib/mpd/playlists/USB_Stick.m3u
sudo service mpd start
mpc stop
volume: 58% repeat: off random: off single: off consume: off
mpc update media
Updating DB (#1) ...
volume: 58% repeat: off random: off single: off consume: off

Specifying a playlist filter

The program will then suggest the playlist name The_Beatles.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 144
You will note that spaces in the playlist name have been replaced with underscores(_).
This is just for the file name. When the playlist is displayed in the radio program the underscores will
be converted back to spaces. The program will now create a playlist with the name
The_Beatles.m3u (or whatever name was given).

sudo service radio stop

:
29 tracks found in directory share matching "The Beatles"
mv /tmp/The_Beatles.m3u /var/lib/mpd/playlists/The_Beatles.m3u
:
Updating DB (#1) ...
volume: 58% repeat: off random: off single: off consume: off

Specifying multiple filters

More than one string may be specified in a filter. To do this specify the filter strings with a pipe
character (|) seperating them,for example:

This will filter all songs from ZZ Top, The Beatles and Elvis or any other titles that contain these
names. However this may not be want is wanted. Maybe songs by Elvis are wanted and not songs
with ‘Elvis’ in the title. For example Dire Straits – Calling Elvis. In such a case use the / character to
only look for directory names beginning with ‘Elvis’ . The above filter becomes:
ZZ Top|Beatles|/Elvis
Restart the radio to reload all new playlists. Using the / character gives a more accurate playlist.
Please note that filters are not case sensitive. Filter ‘Elvis’ and ‘elvis’ will return the same result.

If you selected option 3 (SD card) you will be prompted for the location where you have installed you
music files. This location must pre-exist and have music files.

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Accessing Shoutcast

From version 6.5 onwards it is possible to create playlists from the Shoutcast database. See
http://www.shoutcast.com. Shoutcast provide what can best be described as “fringe” radio stations.
They do have a few stations by country but not many. If you are hoping, for example, to get all the
United Kingdom BBC radio stations you will be disapointed. However their support for radio stations
by genre is very good, for example: rock, jazz, country or classical. This version of software provides
two methods of creating playlists from the Shoutcast database:

1. Using the get_shoutcast.py program

2. Using the shoutcast tab in the radio web interface.

Using the get_shoutcast.py program

Running the program with no parameters will produce the following usage message:
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ ./get_shoutcast.py
This program must be run with sudo or root permissions!

Usage: sudo ./get_shoutcast.py id=<id> limit=<limit>

search="<string>"|genre="<genre>" install
Where: <id> is a valid shoutcast ID.
<limit> is the maximum stations that will be returned
(default 100).
<string> is the string to search the shoutcast database.
<genre> is the genre search string.
install - Install playlist to MPD without prompting.

See http://www.shoutcast.com for availble genres.

If you see the following message then install python-requests as shown in the section called Install
python-requests on page 67.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./get_shoutcast.py", line 19, in <module>
import requests
ImportError: No module named requests

The program must be run with sudo. In the following example we want to get fifty jazz stations.
$ sudo ./get_shoutcast.py genre="jazz" limit=50
Extracting shoutcast stations: genresearch
Processing URL:
http://api.shoutcast.com/legacy/genresearch?k=anCLSEDQODrElkxl&limit=50&genr
e=jazz
Abc Lounge
Smoothjazz.com Global
:
:
Created 50 records in /usr/share/radio/playlists/_jazz.m3u
Do you wish to copy this playlist to /var/lib/mpd/playlists [y/n]: y

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 146

Answer ‘y’ to install the new playlist.
Copied /usr/share/radio/playlists/_jazz.m3u to /var/lib/mpd/playlists
Reload playlists: OK

This will copy the new _jazz.m3u playlist to the /var/lib/mpd/playlists directory. The program will
also signal the radio program to reload its playlists so that the new playlist can be accessed straight
away.

If you answer ‘n’ to the above question your new playlist will be saved in /usr/share/radio/playlists
repository. You can copy it later, if so wished, to the MPD playlists directory.
$ cd /usr/share/radio/playlists
$ sudo cp _jazz.m3u to /var/lib/mpd/playlists

You must use sudo to do this.

The program requires an authorisation key. This is embedded in the program and it is not necessary
to specify it. If it ever changes or expires a new authorisation key must be configured in
/etc/radiod.conf.

shoutcast_key=anCLSEDQODrElkxl

You need to get this key directly from http://www.shoutcast.com.

Note: Access to the Shoutcast is a free service made available through the goodwill of the
folks at Shoutcast. It can be withdrawn at any time if over-used or abused so please do not
set up any facility, such as scripting, which will stress their servers.

Using the Shoutcast Web Interface

The radio web interface now has a Shoutcast tab. Click on Shoutcast tab to open the interface. Fill in
the search form and press the Submit button once and wait until the summary page is displayed.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 147

 Figure 161 Shoutcast playlist web page

The summary page will be displayed. You should see the Reload playlists: OK message which means
that the new playlist is available in the radio.

Figure 162 Shoutcast playlist summary

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 148

Using old 5.x Radio playlists
Old 5.x playlists are not compatible with this version of the radio. However, the
/var/lib/radiod/stationlist file can still be used. Do the following:
1. Stop the radio
2. Copy the old stationlist file to /var/lib/radiod/stationlist
3. Remove most of the (title) statements from the /var/lib/radiod/stationlist file
4. Remove all old playlists from /var/lib/mpd/playlists directory
$ sudo rm /var/lib/mpd/playlists/*

5. Run the create_stations.py program as previously described.

If you find upon running the Radio that you have a lot of radio playlists. Reduce the number by
removing title statements in the stationlist file as previously mentioned. These are the names in
brackets – for example (BBC Radio). Re-run the create_stations.py program.

Radio stream resources on the Internet

There are a lot of resources on the Internet how to find PLS and M3U files so simply search for “PLS
or M3U files” through the search machine of your choice. Below are some good sources of radio
streams around the world.

http://www.listenlive.eu http://www.publicradiofan.com

http://www.radio-locator.com For UK and Irish listeners

http://bbcstreams.com/ http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/

Getting a radio stream from a web browser

To copy a URL open the web page in any browser on a

PC and right click on the URL. Select properties from
the drop-down list. For internet explorer will show a
window similar to the illustration on the left will be
displayed:

Copy and paste the URL into the /var/lib/radiod/stationlist file. Add the title in square brackets as
shown in the previous section. Other browsers may provide options such as ‘copy link’or ‘save link
as’. This is browser dependant.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 149

Overview of media stream URLs
A deep understanding of this section is not necessary but can be useful when creating playlists. This
section is provided for background information only. At first the whole business of how music
streams are provided can be quite confusing. The URLs on a radio station web page can be of
different types, for example:

1. A URL pointing to a M3U playlist file (MPEG3 URL). This format is used by MPD.
2. A URL pointing to a PLS playlist file (Shoutcast Play List)
3. A URL pointing to an ASX playlist file (Advanced Stream Redirector)
4. A URL which is an actual stream such as MP3 (MPEG 3) or AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)

1, 2 and 3 are so called redirector URLs and point to a playlist file containing one or more URLs to the
radio stream(s) itself. The create_stations.py program tries to figure out what type of URL that it is
and create a playlist from it. This is the facility you should use rather than trying to create your own
playlists which can be quite time consuming.

M3U Files
M3U stands for MPEG3 URL. This is the format that MPD itself uses. The following Wikipedia article
explains the M3U file format:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U

The Music Player Daemon uses m3u files. An example M3U file is shown below:
radio10.m3u playlist file
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1, Radio 10 Gold NL
http://icecast.streaming.castor.nl:80/radio10

These playlist files have the m3u file extension. i.e. <filename>.m3u. The first line is the header and
must be #EXTM3U. The second line is #EXTINF: and is information about the radio stream. The -1
means unlimited play length. This is followed by a comma and then the name of the radio station
(Radio 10 Gold in this case). The third line is the URL (icecast in this case) for the radio stream. More
than one radio stream may be defined in the m3u file. You do not need to create this type of file
yourself. Modify the stationlist file and run create_stations.py.

M3U files may also contain a simple list of file paths to media files. For example:
media/Steve Miller Band/Album onbekend/0726 Steve Miller Band - The
Joker.mp3
media/Stories/Album onbekend/Stories - Brother Louie.mp3
:

In this version of the radio the program knows that these are media files as opposed to radio
playlists because they do not start with an underscore ‘_ ‘ which is the convention that the radio
program uses for a radio playlist (It is not a general convention).
Note that in the above example media is a directory (or a link to it) in the /var/lib/mpd/music
directory and that the ‘/’ character is omitted.

PLS file format

A good place to start is the following Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLS_(file_format)

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 150

A PLS playlist file does not contain any music files itself, but rather points to music files stored
elsewhere. The PLS file format is often used to play Internet radio streams, for example, if you want
to play a radio stream from Shoutcast, you can copy the PLS file URL of the station from the site and
play it in a desktop media player like Winamp. A PLS file will be similar to below

[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=2
Version=2
File1=http://206.217.213.16:8430
Title1=Blues Radio UK
Length1=-1
File2=http://205.164.62.13:8030
Title2=Absolute Blues Hits
Length2=-1

The PLS file always starts with the [playlist] statement. The NumberOfEntries statement must match
the number of streams defined in the PLS file (Two in the above example). Set the Version number
always to 2. There is a Filen, Titlen and Lengthn where n is the entry number.

ASX file
The Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX) format is a type of XML metafile designed to store a playlist
of Windows Media files for a multimedia presentation. An example ASX file is shown below.

<ASX version="3.0">

<ABSTRACT>http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_bristol/</ABSTRACT>
<TITLE>BBC Bristol</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>BBC</AUTHOR>
<COPYRIGHT>(c) British Broadcasting Corporation</COPYRIGHT>
<MOREINFO
HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_bristol/" />
<PARAM NAME="HTMLView"
VALUE="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_bristol/" />
<Entry>
<ref href="mms://wmlive-
nonacl.bbc.net.uk/wms/england/lrbristol?BBC-
UID=1523a2f20f858eb0ba0a4385918e6433df886bb650e021b4446ff486f8204e3a&amp;SSO
2-UID=" />
</Entry>
</ASX>

Direct stream URLs

These URLs tend to end with .mp3 or _SC or AAC etc. However, there are others. For example:

http://mp3.streampower.be/radio1-high.mp3
http://7639.live.streamtheworld.com:80/977_MIX_SC

You can determine if a URL is a direct radio stream by using the wget program.
# cd /tmp
# wget http://mp3.streampower.be/radio1-high.mp3
--2014-03-14 13:08:10-- http://mp3.streampower.be/radio1-high.mp3
Resolving mp3.streampower.be (mp3.streampower.be)... 80.200.255.61
Connecting to mp3.streampower.be (mp3.streampower.be)|80.200.255.61|:80...
connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [audio/mpeg]

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 151

 Saving to: `radio1-high.mp3'

[ <=> ]
365,281 15.8K/s

If wget doesn’t exit and you see the <=> characters moving backwards and forwards then it is a URL
to the radio stream itself. You will also see Length: unspecified in the output. Press control -C to exit
wget. Remove the file that wget created (/tmp/radio-high.mp3 in this case).

Listening to live Air Traffic Control (ATC)

For those interested in aviation this is a fascinating use of the radio. Live ATC net provide streaming
of live ATC transmissions from airports the world over. Their web site is http://www.liveatc.net/

Figure 163 Live ATC web page

Not only do these streams provide the live ATC conversations but also the in the station information
ATIS (Aerodrome Terminal Information Service). This consists of coded weather information which
all pilots can understand.

One way to add these stations to a radio playlist is to install WinAmp on a PC. Enter either the ICAO
or IATA code of the station in the search box on the Live ATC web site, for example EHAM or AMS
(Schiphol, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) .

Click on the MP3 player LISTEN option. The station will be loaded and shortly WinAmp will start
playing the stream.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 152

 Figure 164 WinAmp playing ATC live feed

Right click in the top left box (Display elapsed time of 1:05 in this example). The station information
will be displayed.

Figure 165 WinAmp station information

The URL for the stream is shown in the top box. http://d.liveatc.net/eham03_rdr_e_inb
The stream name is: EHAA Radar Sector 2 East Inbound
The station Title shows the ATIS information.
EHAM 130955Z 25016KT 9999 FEW020 BKN024 19/14 Q1021 NOSIG

Using the URL shown create a playlist to /var/lib/radiod/stationlist for the live traffic ATC as shown
in the following example.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 153

 (Air traffic)
[EHAA Approach Departures] http://d.liveatc.net/eham4
[EHAA Radar Sector 2 East Inbound] http://d.liveatc.net/eham03_rdr_e_inb
[EHAA Radar SW] http://d.liveatc.net/eham02_rdr_sw
[EHAA Radar 3 South] http://d.liveatc.net/eham02_rdr_s
[EHEH Approach] http://d.liveatc.net/eheh2_app
[CYYT] http://d.liveatc.net/cyyt
[KJFK Gnd Tower] http://d.liveatc.net/kjfk_gnd_twr
[CYYZ Tower] http://d.liveatc.net/cyyz7

Now run the create_stations.py program to create the playlists.

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./create_stations.py

Now restart the radio or use the menu to reload the radio stations (Select source option):
$ sudo service radiod restart

Finally select the new ATC station(s).

Finding out ICAO and IATA airport codes

Try sites such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_by_ICAO_code:_A

Decoding ATIS information

See site http://www.met.tamu.edu/class/metar/quick-metar.html or search for ATIS decode.

In the following example:

EHAM 130955Z 25016KT 9999 FEW020 BKN024 19/14 Q1021 NOSIG

EHAM Amsterdam Schiphol, the Netherlands

130955Z 13th of the current month. Time 09:55 Zulu (UTC)
25016KT Wind 250 degrees at 16 Knots
9999 Visibility 10 Kilometres or greater
FEW020 Few clouds at 2000 feet
BKN024 Broken cloud at 2400 feet
19/14 Temperature 19 degrees Celsius. Dew point 14 degrees Celsius
Q1021 Barometric pressure 1021 Millibars (Will be given in Inches Mg in US airports)
NOSIG No significant weather.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 154

Mounting a network drive
It is very likely that you may have your music on a shared network drive and want to play the music
through the radio. There are two main types of network drive protocols used by Raspbian Stretch on
the Raspberry Pi namely:

• CIFS – Common Internet File System

• NFS – Network File System

The protocol used for CIFs is SMB (Server Message Block – Microsoft). Previously connections to
SMB was via a product called SAMBA but has been largely replaced by the mount using the CIFS
option in the Linux. The steps to mount the network drive are as follows:

1. Find out the IP address of your network drive.

2. Create and test the mount command using either NFS or CIFS.
3. Copy the mount command to /var/lib/radiod/share file.
4. In the Radio menu select “Music Library” as the source and press “Menu” again to load
5. Update the playlists to include the files on the new share (Network drive).

This procedure assumes that you already have your Network Drive configured and working with your
PC and can play music via the PC. In the examples below a Synology Network Drive was used with a
volume called Volume1 with a directory called “music”. The IP address for the Synology Network
drive used was 192.168.2.6.

First stop the Radio software when creating and testing the mount command.

Don’t configure /etc/fstab to do the mount of the network drive. Although this is the usual way of
mounting shares however the radio program needs total control of the mount and un-mount
process.

The general syntax for the mount command is as follows:

mount -t <type> -o option1,option2,… <remote IP address and directory>

<mount point>

Where: <type> is either nfs or cifs.

-o option1,option2 are the mount options.
<remote IP address and directory> Is the IP address and music directory path
<mount point> This will always be /share for this program

Finding the IP address of the network drive

Only general guidance can be given here. Nearly all network drives have a web interface. The IP
address was almost certainly provided from DHCP in your home router. The IP address will be the IP
address of the Web Interface. Look at your network drive documentation for further information.

The CIFS mount command

The following example mount command assumes that you have a guest user configured with
password ‘guest’. Adapt the command as required.
mount -t cifs -o username=guest,password=guest,uid=pi,gid=pi,vers=1.0
//192.168.2.6/music /share

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 155

The above command is all on one line. The uid and gid parameters set the ownership of the music
files to user pi. The vers statement is the CIFS version and can be 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 depending upon the
NAS storage. The share directory is created when you first run the Radio program so there is no need
to create it. If the command was successful you should be able to display the music from the
network drive. Go to section called Display the share directory on page 156.

Older NAS drives sec security option

Older NAS drives may also require the sec=ntlm option to the -o line. The sec option is the
authentication protocol and determines how passwords are encrypted between the server and
client. Security mode ntlm used to be the default authentication method but that is now become
ntlmssp. If you are accessing a network drive which doesn't support ntlmssp you have to add
sec=ntlm to the options as shown below:

-o username=guest,password=guest,uid=pi,gid=pi,sec=ntlm

Many NAS devices use older technology so they often only use ntlm authentication. There are other
authentication methods such as ntlmv2 but most are not currently supported with the Raspberry Pi
OS.

The NFS mount command

The following NFS mount example assumes the NFS protocol has been configured for the music
directory.
mount -t nfs -o ro,nolock 192.168.2.6:/volume1/music /share

A few things to note here; the NFS mount command uses the volume name (volume1 – can vary),
The CIFS mount command doesn’t. The second thing is that the IP address and remote directory are
separated by a colon (:). If the command was successful you should be able to display the music
from the network drive.

Display the share directory

If the mount was successful using either CIFS or NFS you should be able to display the /share
directory with the ls command.
# ls -la /share
total 4
drwxrwxrwx 85 pi pi 0 May 10 14:18 .
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 Jul 15 17:57 ..
drwxrwxrwx 4 pi pi 0 May 10 14:16 Albert Hammond
drwxrwxrwx 3 pi pi 0 May 10 14:16 Alexander Curly
drwxrwxrwx 3 pi pi 0 May 10 14:16 Allen Price & Georgie Fame
drwxrwxrwx 3 pi pi 0 May 10 14:16 Al Martino
drwxrwxrwx 3 pi pi 0 May 10 14:16 Animals
drwxrwxrwx 4 pi pi 0 May 10 14:16 Aretha Franklin
drwxrwxrwx 3 pi pi 0 May 10 14:16 Armand

The important thing apart from seeing the files is that you should see that the files are owned by pi
and group pi.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 156

Un-mounting the /share directory
To un-mount the share directory use the umount command (not unmount).
# umount /share

Copy the mount command to the configuration

Once the mount command is working copy it to the /var/lib/radiod/share file.
For example for the CIFS mount command:
# echo “mount -t cifs -o username=guest,password=guest,uid=pi,gid=pi
//192.168.2.6/music /share” > /var/lib/radiod/share

The above command is all on one line.

Note: If you decide to directly edit the /var/lib/radiod/share file instead of using the above
command then do not include quotations marks around the command.

Load the music library

Now run the radio program. The radio stations will be loaded. Cycle through the menu until Input
Source: is displayed. Press the channel up or down buttons to select Music Library.

Now press the Menu button. The program loads whatever playlists it has in its database, and will
most likely be only those from the USB stick if installed. However the playlist for the new share files
are not yet in the MPD database. The playlist needs to be updated in the following section.

Update the playlists for the new share

Select Music Library Now cycle through the menu until Menu Selection: is displayed. Press the
channel up or down buttons until the Update list:No is displayed. Use the Volume buttons to toggle
the display to Update list:Yes.

Now press the Menu button. This will cause the MPD database to be cleared and updated from all
the files loaded in the /var/lib/mpd/music directory including the new share. This can take some
time ( Several minutes) if the Network Drive contains a large amount of music files. During this
process the Radio program will ignore any button depressions and you will see the first Initialising
(Library) and then Updating (Library).

Disabling the share

To disable the share simply put a hash character (#) at the beginning of the line in the
/var/lib/radiod/share file as shown in the example below. Alternatively remove the share file
altogether.

# mount -t cifs -o username=guest,password=guest,vers=1.0

//192.168.2.6/music /share

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 157

Further information

Mount points
For your information if you display the /var/lib/mpd/music directory you will see two soft links to
the /share and /media directories for the network drive and USB stick respectively. You may also see
a link called sdcard to the location of the music library on the SD card.
$ ls -la /var/lib/mpd/music/total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 7 12:37 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 mpd audio 4096 Apr 7 11:02 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jul 7 12:17 media -> /media
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jul 7 12:37 sdcard -> /home/pi/mymusic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jul 7 12:17 share -> /share

These links are created automatically by the Radio program. If these are missing they can be re-
created with the ln -s command.
$ cd /var/lib/mpd/music
$ sudo ln -s /media
$ sudo ln -s /share
$ sudo ln -s /home/pi/mymusic sdcard

This shouldn’t normally be necessary as the links are created by the program when it creates the
media and share mount points.

Troubleshooting mount problems

See section called Cannot mount remote network drive on 167.

Controlling the Music Player daemon from Mobile devices

Android devices
There are a number of Android Apps capable controlling the Music Player Daemon from an Android
such as a smart-phone or tablet. One of the most popular seems to be MPDdroid See the following
link: https://github.com/abarisain/dmix/releases or download from the Android Play Store.

MPDdroid allows you to control a MPD server (Music Player Daemon) and stream from it. It is a fork
from an earlier program called Pmix and adds various new features and streaming support. The
radio daemon is completely integrated with MPD clients such as mpc and MPDdroid

Load the MPDdroid App use the Keep pressing the back To switch to the play list drag
Google Play Store on your device. button to exit and then re- the play screen to the left.
Go to the settings menu and select start the MPDdroid App. The The current station list or
WLAN based connection. Select play screen should be play list will be displayed. Tap
Host and fill in the IP address of the displayed as shown below. on the desired station or
radio and press OK. Set up the Volume, pause, fast track to play it. Drag the play
Streaming url suffix to mpd.mp3. forward/back can all be screen to the right to return
controlled from this screen. to the play screen.
All other settings can be left at their
defaults.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 158

Figure 166 MPDdroid set-up screen Figure 167 MPDdroid play Figure 168 MPDdroid play
screen queue

Note: MPDdroid is third party software and no support can be provided by

bobrathbone.com.

Apple devices
Download mPod – MPD Remote Control Software from the Apple store or at following link:
http://antipodesaudio.com/mpd.html . Run mPod, it will automatically find the Raspberry Pi
running the Music Player daemon.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 8 - Operation 159

Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting
Also see the section called Using the diagnostic programs on page 174. If you need to create a log
file in DEBUG mode see the procedure for doing this on page 178.

Installation problems
The Raspberry Pi will not boot
This is always worrying if this happens but doesn’t always mean that the situation is irrecoverable. It
often indicates a SD card corruption problem. Connect the HDMI output of the Raspberry Pi to the
HDMI input of a TV set and attach a USB keyboard. Reboot the Pi. If you see the following:

[....] An automatic file system check (fsck) of the root filesystem failed.
A manual fsck must be performed, then the system restarted. The fsck should
be performed in maintenance mode with the root filesystem mounted in read-on
[FAIL] ... failed!
[warn] The root filesystem is currently mounted in read-only mode. A
maintenance shell will now be started. After performing system maintenance,
please CONTROL-D to terminate the maintenance shell and restart the system.
... (warning).
sulogin: root account is locked, starting shell
root@raspberrypi:~#

With Raspbian Stretch you may are asked to press enter which brings up the dollar $ prompt
Cannot access console, press enter to continue
$

Enter a root password that you can remember.

$ sudo passwd root
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
Password successfully changed
$ sudo reboot

When reboot has finished you will be asked to enter the root password you just entered which will
take you to the # prompt.

Then run the following commands:

# umount /
# fsck -y /dev/mmcblk0p2

This will, with luck, correct the file system. When fsck has finished reboot the system. Once
rebooted use vi or nano to modify /etc/default/rcS. Add the following line to /etc/default/rcS.
# automatically repair filesystems with inconsistencies during boot
FSCKFIX=yes

Finally reboot the Raspberry Pi.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 160

 $ sudo reboot

Missing package dependency problems

If an attempt is made to install the radio software without first installing mpd and mpd-python the
following will be seen:
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of radiod:
radiod depends on python-mpd; however:
Package python-mpd is not installed.
radiod depends on mpc; however:
Package mpc is not installed.
radiod depends on mpd; however:
Package mpc is not installed.

To correct this first install the missing packages as shown in the section Music Player Daemon
Installation on page 69. Now run the following:
$ sudo apt --fix-broken install

Now re-run the radio software package installation.

Confused or unsure of wiring

All wiring is configurable in /etc/radiod.conf. The physical wiring must match the configuration in
the configuration file. Run the wiring.py program (See page 176). Adapt either the configuration or
wiring to match each other. The configuration in /etc/radiod.conf uses GPIO numbers and not
physical pin numbers.

Unexpected message during an upgrade

It is possible one of the files has been changed in a new package. For example:

Configuration file `/etc/logrotate.d/radiod'

==> Deleted (by you or by a script) since installation.
==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
What would you like to do about it ? Your options are:
Y or I : install the package maintainer's version
N or O : keep your currently-installed version
D : show the differences between the versions
Z : start a shell to examine the situation
The default action is to keep your current version.
*** radiod (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ? Y
Installing new version of config file /etc/logrotate.d/radiod ...
Executing post install script /var/lib/dpkg/info/radiod.postinst
update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing

If you see this enter a Y to install the new file unless you have a good reason not to do so.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 161

HDMI/Touchscreen problems
HDMI/Touchscreen does not start
Is it already running but not displaying? Stop it with the following command:
$ sudo /usr/share/radio/gradio.py stop

If it is not starting on reboot then re-run the configure_radio.sh program as shown in the section
Configuring the radio on page 70. Select the option to start the program at boot time.

HDMI/Touchscreen is displaying upside-down

The standard orientation is with the connectors for power and HDMI at the bottom of the screen.
However, with the official Raspberry case, it has the cables at the top. If the screen is displaying
upside-down then edit the /boot/config.txt configuration file and add the following line.
lcd_rotate=2

Reboot the Raspberry Pi for the changes to take effect.

See the following guide:
https://www.modmypi.com/blog/raspberry-pi-7-touch-screen-assembly-guide

The touch screen displays a lightning symbol

This is an under-voltage warning. See:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/warning-icons.md
Use at least a 1.5 ampere (1500 mA) power supply.

The touch screen displays a thermometer symbol

The Raspberry Pi is getting too hot. Improve airflow to the Raspberry Pi. Do not ignore this waring.

Sound is heard but the graphical radio program will not start
This is almost certainly due to the fact that the radiod service is running. Either re-run the
configure_radio.sh program to reconfigure or run the following commands.
$ sudo systemctl stop radiod
$ sudo systemctl disable radiod

The HDMI/Touchscreen program only displays a blue screen

This is due to missing scratch files in /usr/share/scratch/Media directory. To correct this install
scratch as shown in the section called Install the Scratch on page 68.

The graphic version of the radio does not start automatically

This is due to a missing autostart file since the Raspbian desktop released in November 2018.

1) Install patch radiod-patch-6.9-3.tar.gz or later as shown in Apply patches to the radio

software on page 84.
2) Re-run the configure_radio.sh program as shown in Configuring the radio on page 70.
3) Re-boot the Raspberry Pi.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 162

Trouble shooting problems with MPD

Most problems are due to the following:

• Incompatibility with the pulseaudio package
• Sound mixer volume set to zero or very low volume
• Incorrect setup of the /etc/mpd/mpd.conf file
• If using a sound card, no driver loaded in /boot/config.txt
• The Raspberry Pi audio is configured to use the HDMI output instead of the output jack or
sound card.

Check the audio jack cable first before doing anything else.
The /var/log/mpd/mpd.log file is the place to look first if all other things seem normal.

Remove the pulseaudio package unless required for Bluetooth audio devices.

$ sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio

Re-run the configure_audio.sh program as shown in the section Configuring the audio output on
page 79. You must do this to configure MPD to work with pulseaudio.

If using the onboard audio output there should not be a problem. The standard /etc/mpd.conf
settings should be OK. Only if pulse audio is not removed or the Alsa mixer volume is not set can it
lead to lack of sound. See Music Player Daemon Installation on page 69.

If using a USB or HiFiBerry DAC:

1. Check to see if the DAC is visible using aplay -l command

2. Check that the /etc/mpd.conf is correctly configured.
3. Check that the mixer volume is correctly set.
4. For HiFiBerry DAC ensure /boot/config.txt contains the correct dtoverlay statement.

See Configuring other sound devices on page 86.

MPD fails to install

During installation of MPD some files return a 404 error (Not found) the following message is seen.
Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with –fix-
missing?

This is due to that an update was not previously carried out as shown in the section called SD card
creation on page 58. Perform the update and upgrade as shown and re-install MPD and MPC.

Music Player Daemon won’t start

The MPD daemon logs to the /var/log/mpd/mpd.log file. Examine this file for errors. The MPD
daemon is dependent on good M3U files so check that these are correct as described in the section
called Creating and Maintaining Playlist files on page 140.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 163

The MPD program may display a socket error
When starting the MPD daemon the following message is seen:

Starting Music Player Daemon: mpdlisten: bind to '[::1]:6600' failed: Failed

to create socket: Address family not supported by protocol (continuing
anyway, because binding to '127.0.0.1:6600' succeeded)

If this message is seen in the MPD log file this is simply because IP version 6 (IPv6) isn’t installed so
the message doesn’t affect operation of the MPD.

To prevent it from happening configure the bind_to_address parameter in the /etc/mpd.conf file to
“any”. The installation procedure should normally set this anyhow.

The MPD daemon complains about the avahi daemon

The following message is seen in the /var/log/mpd/mpd.log file

Apr 10 15:37 : avahi: Failed to create client: Daemon not running.

Change the zeroconf_enabled parameter in the /etc/mpd.conf file to “no” . This is normally set in
the radio package installation procedure. The avahi daemon is used to configure systems without a
network connection but is not enabled by default. It is not required for this design.

LCD Problems
LCD screen not showing anything
Check that the wiring conforms to the wiring list on page 15. Make sure that pin 3 is grounded (0V)
to give maximum contrast or if a contrast potentiometer is fitted then make sure it is at the
maximum setting. Make sure the correct Radio variant has been selected. Re-run the
configure_radio.sh program as shown in the section Configuring the radio on page 70.

Run the test_lcd.py program to see if the LCD displays anything. This runs independently of any
other software and can be used stand alone. Run the wiring.py program (See page 176).

The LCD only displays hieroglyphics

This can be caused by incorrect wiring of the LCD. This problem has also been experienced with
faulty LCD hardware particularly when re-booting the Raspberry PI.

Check the wiring conforms to the wiring list on page 15. In particular check the data lines to pins 11,
12, 13 and 14 (See LCD wiring on page 22). Retest the LCD using the test_lcd.py program.
If the wiring is correct run the configure_radio.sh script to select the correct revision of the board
and restart the program. Run the wiring.py program (See page 176).

The LCD displays hieroglyphics or goes blank occasionally

If the LCD is normally working OK but goes wrong when switching on and off lights this is due to
Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). See the section Preventing electrical interference on page 50.

LCD backlight not working

Check that pins 15 and 16 of the LCD display have +5V and 0V (GND) respectively.
See on LCD Module Wiring on page 23.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 164

LCD only displays dark blocks on the first line
This is normal when the raspberry PI starts up. The display should work with the test_lcd.py
program. If the test_lcd.py program still doesn’t display anything then check that the wiring
conforms to the wiring list on page 19. If you are using the Adafruit LCD plate the make sure that you
are running the ada_radio.py program and not one of the other programs (See Table 1 on page 15).
configure_radio.sh script to select the correct radio daemon. Run the wiring.py program (See page
176).

The LCD displays the message “No playlists”

Cause: There are no playlists found in /var/lib/mpd/playlists. Check to see if there are any playlists
in /var/lib/mpd/playlists. You should see files with the m3u extension.

$ ls /var/lib/mpd/playlists/
_Air_traffic.m3u Network.m3u _Radio.m3u USB_Stick.m3u

If no m3u playlist files are present then run the create_stations.py program.

$ sudo ./create_stations.py –delete_old

:
:
New radio playlist files will be found in /var/lib/mpd/playlists/

Restart the radio.

Constant alternate display of Station Name and Volume

Problem: The LCD screen continually switches between displaying station name and volume. Also
the radio log file displays "ERROR radio._setVolume error vol=nn” where nn is the volume level. This
is due an incompatibility with the pulseaudio package.
Solution: Remove the pulseaudio package.
$ sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio

Adafruit LCD backlight problems

When using an AdaFruit Blue/White 2x16 character display, if stepping through the menus the
backlight goes off and on. This is because with this type of display the backlight is only using one of
the RGB inputs. To solve this problem, set all backlight colours except sleep_color to WHITE.
bg_color=WHITE
mute_color=WHITE
shutdown_color=WHITE
error_color=WHITE
search_color=WHITE
info_color=WHITE
menu_color=WHITE
source_color=WHITE
sleep_color=OFF

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 165

I2C and SMBUS problems
Import errors
The following is seen:
$ sudo ./radiod.py nodaemon
Radio running pid 825
:
ImportError: No module named smbus

The cause is that the python-smbus package has not been installed as shown in the section Installing
the Python I2C libraries on page 80.

The following is seen:

$ sudo ./radiod.py nodaemon
Radio running pid 825
:
ImportError: No module named PIL

The python-pil package has not been installed as shown in the section Install libraries for the Olimex
OLED on page 67.

PiFace CAD and SPI problems

PiFace CAD not detected
When running the radio configured for PiFace CAD the following is seen when running the radio in
nodaemon mode.
pifacecad.core.NoPiFaceCADDetectedError: No PiFace Control and Display board
detected (hardware_addr=0, bus=0, chip_select=1).

This is due to the Raspberry Pi being unable to operate with the default speed of the SPI bus. Edit
spi.py program file as shown in the section Installing PiFace CAD software on page 82. Also update
the RPi firmware by running rpi-update.

Olimex OLED problems

Radio does not start with Olimex screen
Run the program in no daemon mode as shown in the section called Running the radio program in
nodaemon mode on page 178.

Traceback (most recent call last):

:
ImportError: No module named PIL

If the above is seen then the libraries for the Olimex display have not been installed. Carry out the
instructions as shown in the section called Install libraries for the Olimex OLED on page 67.

If the problem is not missing libraries check wiring and connections to the OLED as these can be
easily damaged.

OLED Screen is displaying upside down

This can be changed by setting the flip_vertical setting in /etc/radiod.conf to yes or no.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 166

 flip_display_vertically=yes

Rotary encoder problems

Run the test programs shown in the section called Testing rotary encoders on page 175.
These programs display the configuration found in /etc/radiod.conf. Does this match the actual
wiring? If not, either correct the wiring or amend the switch settings in /etc/radiod.conf.
Check wiring in particular the common pin must be connected to ground (and not 3.3 volts).

Button problems
This section applies to push button radios only.

Buttons seem to be pressing themselves

Version 1 boards only. The symptoms are that it looks like buttons are generating their own signals
i.e. they appear to being continually pressed although they are not being operated. In particular the
MENU button displays this problem. This is because the inputs are “floating”. All inputs for the
button operated radios (Not Adafruit plate) need to be pulled down to ground using a 10K resistor
for version 1 boards. Newer version 2.0 or later boards have inbuilt pull-up/pull-down resistors. The
radio software enables the internal pull-down resistors so doesn’t require external resistors.

Stream decode problems

The radio may display a message similar to the following:

ERROR: problems decoding http://173.244.194.212:8078

This is due to an invalid URL (In the above example this is http://173.244.194.212:8078) in one of the
M3U files. Locate the offending URL in the play list file in the /var/lib/radiod/stationlist file. Either
correct the radio stream URL or remove it all together. Re-run the create_stations.py program. Also
check that the file URL is not the pointer to the playlist file (See section Creating and Maintaining
Playlist files on page 140.

Cannot mount remote network drive

There are just too many possibilities to cover all of these here. However a few common problems
are covered here:

Error: mount error(112): Host is down

Cause: Missing or incorrect vers statement.
The vers parameter can be 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0. The mount.cifs man page incorrectly states that version
1.0 is the default. This is correct for the Stretch OS. Try adding vers=1.0 to the mount statement in
/var/lib/radiod/share.
...uid=pi,gid=pi,vers=1.0 ...

Error: mount error(115): Operation now in progress

Cause: Most likely an incorrect IP address

Error: NFS mount hangs

Cause: Most likely an incorrect IP address

Error: mount.nfs: access denied by server while mounting <ip address>:/music

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 167
Cause: The volume name is missing – for example /volume1/music

Error: mount error(16): Device or resource busy

Cause: The share mount directory is in use because a mount has already been done. Run the umount
command.

Error: mount error(2): No such file or directory

Cause: The path specified in the mount doesn’t exist

Error:
mount.nfs: rpc.statd is not running but is required for remote locking.
mount.nfs: Either use '-o nolock' to keep locks local, or start statd.
mount.nfs: an incorrect mount option was specified
Cause:
You need to include the “–o noclock” option.
If the error isn’t in the above list then search the web for suggestions.

Sound problems
Noisy interference on the radio
If there is noise interference when playing the radio and this is still present even when the radio is
muted this can be for several reasons. This can happen with a wired Ethernet connection and a Wi-Fi
dongle are connected to the Raspberry Pi and the Ethernet activity is being picked up by the Wi-Fi
dongle. This can be cured by using either a wireless adapter or the Ethernet connection and not
both. Another common cause can be an inadequate power supply. See on Power supply
considerations on page 25. Unfortunately, the later 40 pin versions of the Raspberry Pi seem to be
more prone to interference. The recommendation is to use a USB DAC or a suitable DAC card.

Humming sound on the radio

This is usually due to a ground loop somewhere in the design. See the section called Preventing
ground loops on page 51.

Music is first heard at boot time then stops and restarts

This only happens if the MPD daemon has been enabled to start at boot time. The reason that music
is initially and then stops is because the MPD daemon is started at boot time and restarted when the
radio software starts. To disable this behaviour, use the following:

$ sudo systemctl disable mpd

This will stop MPD starting at boot time. Starting of the MPD daemon is completely controlled by the
radio software. The radio package installation procedure now automatically disables the Music
Player Daemon at boot time.

USB sound device won’t play

The /var/log/mpd/mpd.log file shows the following message:

<date> : mixer: Failed to set mixer for 'My ALSA Device': failed to set ALSA
volume: Invalid argument

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 168

This can happen with certain USB devices. The radio may start but stops almost immediately and
displays the “Radio stopped” message on the LCD screen. The MPD daemon if run on its own plays
OK but the volume can’t be changed using the mpc volume command.

If problems are experienced with your USB device (Tenx Technology for example) then add the
mixer_type “software” parameter to the /etc/mpd.conf file.

audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "MyUSB DAC"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
format "44100:16:2" # optional
#mixer_device "default" # optional
#mixer_control "PCM" # optional
#mixer_index "0" # optional
mixer_type "software" # Add this line for USB devices
}

HiFBerry or other types of DAC no sound

Check first if the card is visible using the aplay command. The DAC card should be visible.
$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplus], device 0: HiFiBerry
DAC+ HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0 []
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

If using version 5.6 or earlier the onboard devices will be seen as shown below.
# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 0: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA]
:
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 1: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplus], device 0: HiFiBerry
DAC+ HiFi pcm512x-hifi-0 []
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The reason is that the configure_audio.sh in version 5.8 onwards disables the on-board devices by
changing the dtparam in /boot/config.txt to off:
dtparam=audio=off

Re-run the configure_audio.sh program as shown in the section Configuring the audio output on
page 79.

If the DAC card is still not visible check the following:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 169

Check that the B output of the channel rotary encoder is wired to GPIO 10 (pin 19) and not GPIO 18
(pin 12). GPIO18 is used by the DAC plus. Also check that the down_switch parameter in
/etc/radiod.conf is set to 10 (Comment out down_switch=18) to reflect the actual wiring.
#down_switch=18
down_switch=10

Make sure that the /boot/config.txt file contains the following line.
dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus

Finally modify the audio_output section in /etc/mpd.conf.

The Device parameter should point to the correct card.

audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "DAC"
device "hw:0,0"
#format "44100:16:2" # optional
mixer_device "PCM"
mixer_control "PCM"
mixer_type "software"
}

If your card is configured as card 1 (Run aplay -l to determine this) then amend the device statement
to 1 as shown below. This is most likely if using a USB sound dongle.
device "hw:1,0"

Reboot the Raspberry Pi and retest.

Cannot change volume when running Airplay

This is most likely caused by the wrong mixer volume ID. In normal radio operation is controlled by
MPD. As Airplay is nothing to do with MPD, the volume when using Airplay is controlled through the
Alsa mixer. Run the following amixer controls command to identify the mixer volume ID.

The mixer volume ID can be identified as shown in the following command example.
$ amixer controls | grep -i volume
:
numid=4,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Playback Volume'
numid=8,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Capture Volume'
numid=6,iface=MIXER,name='Speaker Playback Volume'

Run the set_mixer_id.sh program to set the mixer volume id in /var/lib/radiod/mixer_volume_id

file.
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./set_mixer_id.sh

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 170

Volume control errors
The following error or similar is seen in the log file:
ERROR volume._setVolume error vol=50: [52@0] {setvol} problems setting
volume

Set the mixer_type to “software” in /etc/mpd.conf.

audio_output {
:
mixer_type "software"
:
}

Operational problems
Radio daemon doesn’t start or hangs
This is almost certainly a problem with either the MPD daemon or failed internet connection. Check
the network connection and run installation tests on the MPD daemon. Occasionally a bad playlist
file can also cause this problem. You can check that your Raspberry PI has an internet connection
with the ip addr command. The example below shows interface eth0 connected as IP 192.168.2.22.

# ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state
UP qlen 1000
link/ether b8:27:eb:fc:46:15 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 192.168.2.22/24 brd 192.168.2.255 scope global eth0

Volume control not working with DAC or USB speakers

This is hardware dependant. Not all USB hardware and drivers work with mixer type “hardware”.
If this problem is being experienced try setting the mixer_type parameter to “software”. Edit the
/etc/mpd.conf file and change the mixer type to software.
mixer_type "software"

Remove the # at the beginning of the line to enable software mixing and save the file. Restart the
radio software.

Note: This solution was provided by one of the constructors and is untested by the author.

The radio keeps skipping radio stations

MPD will automatically skip bad stations. Remove any bad URLs from /bvar/lib/radiod/stationlist
and re-run create_stations.py.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 171

IR remote control problems
The irrecord program complains that lircd.conf already exists
When running the following command:
$ sudo irrecord -f -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

The following message is displayed:

irrecord: file "/etc/lirc/lircd.conf" already exists
irrecord: you cannot use the --force option together with a template file

This is because the existing /etc/lirc/lircd.conf has not been moved out the way. Run the following
command:
$ sudo mv /etc/lirc/lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.org

See the instructions in the section called Installing the Infra Red sensor software on page 91.

The irrecord cannot open /dev/lirc0

If the following is seen when running the irrecord program:
irrecord: could not open /dev/lirc0
irrecord: default_init(): Device or resource busy
irrecord: could not init hardware (lircd running ? --> close it, check
permissions)

Run the following command and retry the command:

$ sudo service lircd stop

Remote control software does not start up

Check that there are no problems with the remote_contol.py program (Called by service irradiod)
$ cd /usr/share/radio/
$ sudo ./remote_control.py nodaemon
remote control running pid 13299

Make a note of the pid (in this example it is 13299). Operate the volume up and down. The following
should be displayed:
KEY_VOLUMEUP
KEY_VOLUMEDOWN

To stop the program run using the previously noted pid (13299).
$ sudo kill -9 13299

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 172

If the remote_control.py program is working OK make sure that the irradiod service is enabled to
start at boot time. Enable using systemctl.

$ sudo systemctl enable irradiod

Reboot the Raspberry Pi

$ sudo reboot

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 173

Using the diagnostic programs
The diagnostic code for testing various components of the radio is contained in the various class
code files themselves. For example lcd_class.py (Test LCD display). First stop the radio and then run
the relevant class code.

The classes that contain diagnostic code are as follows:

• lcd_class.py Test the LCD screen (Directly wired to the GPIO)
• lcd_adafruit_class.py Test the Adafruit LCD plate and buttons
• lcd_i2c_adafruit.py Test the Adafruit I2C backpack
• lcd_i2c_pcf8574.py Test LCD with a PCF8574 I2C backpack
• lcd_piface_class.py Test PiFace CAD display and buttons
• button_class.py Test push button switches (Directly wired to the GPIO)
• rotary_class.py Test rotary encoders (Directly wired to the GPIO)
• rotary_class_alternative.py Test rotary encoders using alternative driver

A number of other programs are supplied and can also be used for diagnostics.
• display_model.py Display Raspberry Pi model information
• display_current.py Display current station or track details
• wiring.py Display wiring as configured in /etc/radiod.conf

All diagnostic programs are supplied in the /usr/share/radio directory. Change to this directory first!
$ cd /usr/share/radio

All programs require the ./ characters in front of the name to execute unless called by their full
pathname. All of those using the GPIO interface also require to be called with sudo.

Running the radio program in diagnostic mode

This is one of the first things you should learn to do. Running the radiod.py program in nodaemon
mode will display any errors it encounters. Use Ctrl-C to exit the program.
$ sudo ./radiod.py nodaemon

Using the LCD test code

$ sudo ./lcd_class.py

The above program will display the following text on the LCD:

Bob Rathbone
Line 2: abcdefghi

Line 2 scrolls the alphabet followed by 0 through 9.

The lcd_adafruit_lcd.py program does the same except it also prints a message on the console
screen when a button is pressed.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 174

Testing push buttons program
Test push buttons directly wired to the GPIO pins.
$ sudo ./button_class.py
down_switch
up_switch
right_switch
left_switch
menu_switch
Pull Up/Down resistors DOWN
Button pressed on GPIO 17
:

Pressing the switches should show on the screen as shown in the above example.

Testing rotary encoders

This program does a simple test of the rotary encoders.

$ sudo ./rotary_class.py
Test rotary encoder Class
Left switch GPIO 14
Right switch GPIO 15
Up switch GPIO 24
Down switch GPIO 23
Mute switch GPIO 4
Menu switch GPIO 17
Tuner event 1 CLOCKWISE
Tuner event 2 ANTICLOCKWISE
Volume event 1 CLOCKWISE
Volume event 2 ANTICLOCKWISE
Tuner event 4 BUTTON UP
Tuner event 3 BUTTON_DOWN
Volume event 4 BUTTON UP
Volume event 3 BUTTON_DOWN
Volume event 1 CLOCKWISE
Volume event 2 ANTICLOCKWISE

You can also try

$ sudo ./rotary_class_alternative.py

The remote_control program

The remote_control.py program listens on the IR interface for commands from the Remote Control.
The remote_control.py program is started from the irradiod service. It then passes commands to
the radio program. The remote control program provides complete control of the radio and can
change menu options, do searches etc. just as the same as the knobs or buttons. It normally
communicates with the radio program using UDP port 5100 on the local network interface.

The display_model program

This program displays the Raspberry PI model details.
$ ./display_model.py
000e: Model B, Revision 2.0, RAM: 512 MB, Maker: Sony

In this example 000e=Manufacturers revision, B=Model, 2.0=Revision, 512MB RAM, Maker=Sony.

If you are unsure of the model or revision of the Raspberry PI use this program to find this out.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 175

The display_current program
This is a useful diagnostic that prints out the raw information available from the MPD daemon. The
radio daemon uses the same libraries as this test program.

$ ./display_current.py

id: 32
pos: 7
name: Blues Radio UK
file: http://206.217.213.16:8430
title: 04 Billy Jones Blues - I'm A Bluesman
current_id 8

Status
songid: 32
playlistlength: 25
playlist: 31
repeat: 0
consume: 0
mixrampdb: 0.000000
random: 0
state: play
xfade: 0
volume: 75
single: 0
mixrampdelay: nan
nextsong: 8
time: 22:0
song: 7
elapsed: 22.400
bitrate: 96
nextsongid: 33
audio: 32000:24:2

uptime: 28
db_update: 1400354144
artists: 228
playtime: 23
albums: 132
db_playtime: 302046
songs: 1297

To find out the exact meaning of all these fields please refer to the standard python-mpd
documentation at https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-mpd/ or http://pythonhosted.org/python-
mpd2/topics/getting-started.html.

The wiring program

The wiring.py program displays a wiring list based upon the configuration that it finds in
/etc/radiod.conf. In the following example the 40-pin wiring (See Table 5 on page 20) has been
selected during installation. The first column shows the GPIO setting in /etc/radiod.conf. The
second column (Pin) shows the physical pin for that GPIO. For example, in the left_switch
parameter in /etc/radiod.conf has been set to GPIO 23 which is physical pin 16 on the 40 pin GPIO
header.

The program displays three wiring sections namely:

1. SWITCHES – Rotary encoder and push button wiring
2. LCD – Directly connected LCD wiring
3. OTHER – Remote control and activity LED, I2C backpacks

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 176

 $ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./wiring.py
Radio wiring scheme based upon configuration in /etc/radiod.conf

--------------- SWITCHES ----------------

GPIO Pin Switch Rotary
==== === ====== ======
23 16 <------> Left switch A
24 18 <------> Right switch B
6 <------> Gnd 0v C
4 7 <------> Mute switch < GND 0V
14 8 <------> Down switch A
15 10 <------> Up switch B
6 <------> Gnd 0v C
17 11 <------> Menu switch < GND 0V

Pull Up/Down resistors DOWN

Push button switches must be wired to +3.3V

Rotary push switches must always be wired to GND 0V

----------------- LCD ------------------

GPIO Pin Function LCD pin
==== === ======== =======
5 29 <------> Lcd data4 11
6 31 <------> Lcd data5 12
12 32 <------> Lcd data6 13
13 33 <------> Lcd data7 14
8 24 <------> Lcd enable 6
7 26 <------> Lcd select 4
2 <------> VCC +5V 2,15
6 <------> GND 0V 1,16
10K Pot <------> Contrast 3

----------- OTHER ------------

GPIO Pin Function
==== === ========
16 36 <------> Remote led
3 5 <------> I2C Data
2 3 <------> I2C Clock
25 22 <------> IR Remote (See /boot/config.txt)

Currently the wiring for the vintage radio RGB Led and Menu switch are not shown.
In the above output the connections are descriptive. The parameters found in /etc/radiod.conf can
be displayed with the -p option:
$ ./wiring.py -p
Radio wiring scheme based upon configuration in /etc/radiod.conf

--------------- SWITCHES ----------------

GPIO Pin Switch Rotary
==== === ====== ======
23 16 <------> left_switch A
24 18 <------> right_switch B
6 <------> GND_0V C
4 7 <------> mute_switch < GND 0V
14 8 <------> down_switch A
15 10 <------> up_switch B
6 <------> GND_0V C
17 11 <------> menu_switch < GND 0V
:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 177

In the above display the left_switch label is the parameter found in /etc/radiod.conf.
If the wiring shown in the wiring.py program then either amend the wiring to match the wiring list
shown in the output of the wiring program or amend /etc/radiod.conf to match the actual wiring.
The program also has a help function (-h option).

$ ./wiring.py -h
Usage: ./wiring.py -p -h
Where -p print parameters, -h this help text

Running the radio program in nodaemon mode

If for some reason the radio program stops or crashes without explanation (particularly if you have
modified the code), it can be extremely difficult to see what is happening as the radio software runs
as a so-called system daemon.

There is a way to run the software in foreground mode. In this case stop the radio and change to
/usr/share/radio directory and run the radio program with the nodaemon option.

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./radiod.py nodaemon

If the program crashes it will display a stack trace which will give the file name and line numbers
where the program crashed. Use Control-C to exit nodaemon mode (This will also display a stack
trace which is normal and is not an error).

In the case of gradio.py and vgradio.py, these are not daemons and can be run as shown in the
example for gradio.py below:
$ sudo ./gradio.py

Creating a log file in DEBUG mode

You may be asked to supply a log file in DEBUG mode for support purposes.
Stop the radio and remote control if running:
$ sudo service radiod stop
$ sudo service irradiod stop

Edit the /etc/radiod.conf file and switch on DEBUG mode as shown below.
# loglevel is CRITICAL,ERROR,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG or NONE
loglevel=DEBUG

Remove the old log file:

$ sudo rm /var/log/radio.log

Start the radio and remote control if required:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 178

 $ sudo service radiod start
$ sudo service irradiod start

Operate the radio including the operation you are having with.
Send the /var/log/radio.log file to [email protected]

Switch off DEBUG mode by editing the /etc/radiod.conf file and as shown below.
loglevel=INFO

Displaying information about the Raspberry Pi

There are a number of standard facilities to provide information about the Raspberry Pi which may
be useful when diagnosing a problem.

Displaying information about the Operating system

Display /etc/os.release using the cat command
$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="9"
VERSION="9 (stretch)"
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianForums"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianBugs"

Display the kernel details

Display the kernel version using uname.
$ uname -a
Linux stretchpi 4.9.41-v7+ #1023 SMP Tue Aug 8 16:00:15 BST 2017 armv7l
GNU/Linux

Displaying the GPIO information

The gpio readall command can be used to display the GPIO configuration.
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+-Model B2-+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
| BCM | wPi | Name | Mode | V | Physical | V | Mode | Name | wPi | BCM | Switch
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+----++----+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
| | | 3.3v | | | 1 || 2 | | | 5v | | |
| 2 | 8 | SDA.1 | IN | 1 | 3 || 4 | | | 5V | | |
| 3 | 9 | SCL.1 | IN | 1 | 5 || 6 | | | 0v | | |
| 4 | 7 | GPIO. 7 | IN | 1 | 7 || 8 | 0 | IN | TxD | 15 | 14 | Left
| | | 0v | | | 9 || 10 | 0 | IN | RxD | 16 | 15 | Right
| 17 | 0 | GPIO. 0 | IN | 0 | 11 || 12 | 0 | IN | GPIO. 1 | 1 | 18 |Up/Down
| 27 | 2 | GPIO. 2 | OUT | 0 | 13 || 14 | | | 0v | | |
| 22 | 3 | GPIO. 3 | OUT | 0 | 15 || 16 | 0 | OUT | GPIO. 4 | 4 | 23 |
| | | 3.3v | | | 17 || 18 | 0 | OUT | GPIO. 5 | 5 | 24 |
| 10 | 12 | MOSI | IN | 0 | 19 || 20 | | | 0v | | | Down*
| 9 | 13 | MISO | IN | 0 | 21 || 22 | 0 | IN | GPIO. 6 | 6 | 25 | Menu
| 11 | 14 | SCLK | IN | 0 | 23 || 24 | 0 | OUT | CE0 | 10 | 8 |
| | | 0v | | | 25 || 26 | 1 | OUT | CE1 | 11 | 7 |
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+----++----+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
| 28 | 17 | GPIO.17 | ALT2 | 0 | 51 || 52 | 0 | ALT2 | GPIO.18 | 18 | 29 |
| 30 | 19 | GPIO.19 | ALT2 | 0 | 53 || 54 | 0 | ALT2 | GPIO.20 | 20 | 31 |
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+----++----+---+------+---------+-----+-----+

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 179

 | BCM | wPi | Name | Mode | V | Physical | V | Mode | Name | wPi | BCM |
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+-Model B2-+---+------+---------+-----+-----+

* Alternative down switch for HiFiBerry DAC+ compatibility.

The physical pins are shown in the center numbered 1 to 26 and 51 through 54 (for a model B2) in
this example. The above output is for a radio using a directly wired LCD and push buttons. For
example:
Physical pin 8 is BCM GPIO 14 and mode is configured as an input for the left switch and is currently
low (V column is 0).

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 9 -Troubleshooting 180

Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices using Icecast2
Inbuilt MPD HTTP streamer
The MPD daemon can be configured to use its own inbuilt streamer. However this requires a special
MPD client such as gmpc on the PC. It cannot be easily accessed from a web browser. If you wish to
use the inbuilt streamer see the following URL:
http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Built-in_HTTP_streaming_part_2

Introduction to Icecast
You may wish to play the output of the Radio through your PC speakers or a mobile device such as a
tablet or telephone. This is possible to do this using Icecast. For more information on Icecast see the
following Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icecast .

Please also refer to Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Streaming Media on page 210.

Installing Icecast
Install icecast2 using the install_streaming.sh script.

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./install_streaming.sh
Starting Icecast2 integration with the Music Player Daemon
The Icecast2 installation progra will ask if you wish to configure Icecast2.
Answer 'yes' to this. Configure Icecast as follows:
Icecast2 hostname: localhost
Icecast2 source password: mympd
Icecast2 relay password: mympd
Icecast2 administration password: mympd
Continue y/n: y

Enter ‘y’ to continue. The Icecast2 installation program will ask if you wish to configure Icecast2:

Figure 169 Configuring Icecast2

Answer ‘yes’ to this. Configure Icecast as follows:

Icecast2 hostname: localhost

Icecast2 source password: mympd
Icecast2 relay password: mympd
Icecast2 administration password: mympd

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices 181
using Icecast2
It is important that you replace the default password ‘hackme’ with ‘mympd’ and that you leave the
Icecast2 hostname as ‘localhost’. The installation program continues configuration. The icecast2
server will be started:
Done Configuring icecast2..
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-18+deb8u6) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (215-17+deb8u5) ...
Configuring Icecast2
Copying /etc/icecast2/icecast.xml to /etc/icecast2/icecast.xml.orig

Check that the PI Radio stream (Output 2) is enabled

$ mpc outputs
Output 1 (My ALSA Device) is enabled
Output 2 (PI Radio MPD Stream) is enabled

Check that MPD has established a connection with the icecast2 server
$ netstat -tn | grep :8000
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:59096 127.0.0.1:8000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:8000 127.0.0.1:59096 ESTABLISHED

This completes the installation of Icecast2 however you may need to configure the clock speed.

Overclocking older Raspberry PI’s

With older versions of the Raspberry Pi it will almost certainly be necessary to over-clock to handle
Icecast2 streaming using the raspi-config program. Medium over-clocking seems to be sufficient.
Note that the later versions of the Raspberry Pi cannot be overclocked and are fast enough anyhow.

Run raspi-config. Select option ‘Overclock’. After a warning screen about over-clocking has been
displayed, the following screen will be displayed:

Figure 170 Over-clocking the Raspberry PI

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices 182
using Icecast2
Select ‘Medium’ to start with. Reboot the Raspberry PI when prompted. Re-test the radio with
streaming switched on.

Icecast2 Operation
The radiod daemon has full control over the Icecast2 service and stops and starts it as required.
When the radio is first switched on the Icecast2 streaming service will not normally be enabled
unless it was enabled as shown below by an earlier run of the radio software.

Switching on streaming
Before you can listen to the streaming on the PC or mobile device it is necessary to start the Icecast2
streaming daemon. It must be switched on first.

Use the options menu (Press menu button three times). Step through the menu option using the
Channel up/down buttons until “Streaming off” is displayed in the LCD display (assuming Icecast is
installed). Press either Volume button and after a short delay the text should change to “Streaming
on” in the LCD display. Press the menu button again to exit the options menu.

This starts the Icecast2 service. It also writes the word “on” or “off” to a file called
/var/lib/radiod/streaming. This is file is used to enable or disable the Icecast streaming function at
boot time.

Starting Icecast2 manually

Use the following command:
$ sudo service icecast2 start

To stop it again:
$ sudo service icecast2 stop

Enabling Icecast2 at reboot time

It isn’t necessary to enable the Icecast2 service at boot time as the radio program will start it
depending on the contents of the /var/lib/radiod/streaming file. Should you wish to enable
streaming at boot time then enable it with the following command:

$ sudo update-rc.d icecast2 enable

Or
$ sudo systemctl enable icecast2

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices 183
using Icecast2
Playing the Icecast stream on Windows
To play the Icecast2 radio stream on a PC point your web browser at the IP address of the radio on
port 8000 and the mpd mount point. In the following example the IP address of the radio is
192.168.2.8. So, this would be:

http://192.168.2.8:8000/mpd
This will normally open the default media player.

Figure 171 Windows media player

Figure 172 Firefox embedded media player

You will be prompted if you wish to save or open the radio stream. Always select open using the
configured media player. The selected radio station or music track should be heard through the PC
speakers. At this point you may wish to mute the sound from the radio itself. Simply reduce the
volume to almost zero.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices 184
using Icecast2
 Note: It is probably possible to configure Windows 10 Edge or Internet Explorer 11 to use
Windows Media player instead of TWINUI. Note: If the mute function is used it will stop
the Icecast stream.

Running the Icecast Adminstration web pages

Using the same IP address as shown in the previous example but without the mount point will bring
up the administrator window:

http://192.168.2.8:8000

The following screen should be displayed. If not continue to the troubleshooting guide at the end of
this chapter:

Figure 173 Icecast2 Status

Initially the server status screen is displayed. If you click on the Administration tab the you will be
prompted for the login credentials.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices 185
using Icecast2
Log in as admin with user admin password mympd.

Playing the Icecast2 stream on an Apple IPad

This is exactly the same as playing the Icecast2 stream on a Windows PC.

1. Open the Safari browser.

2. Type in the Icecast2 URL. For example http://192.168.2.11:8000/mpd
3. Click the M3U button

This should open the iTunes Player and after a short time should start playing the radio stream.

Playing the Icecast2 stream on an Android device

1. Open your web browser
2. Type in the Icecast2 URL. For example http://192.168.2.11:8000/mpd (don’t include .m3u)
3. When asked to “Complete action with” select your Android System then Music player

The Icecast stream should start playing. It is important not to key in mpd.m3u at the end of the URL.
It must be mpd only.

Visual streaming indicator

When streaming is switched on an asterix ‘*’ character is displayed as a visual streaming indicator in
the LCD display on the Raspberry PI radio. When the ‘*’ character is displayed this indicates that the
Icecast2 streaming is switched on.

For the four line 20 character display the visual indicator is displayed after the time on the first line.
09:26 02/05/2014 *

For the two line by 16 character display there isn’t the room to do this so it is displayed after the
Volume or Mute message on the second line.
Volume 75 * or Sound muted *

Troubleshooting Icecast2
Help for general problems with icecast2 can be found on the forums at http://www.icecast.org/

Icecast2 has two log files in the /var/log/icecast2 directory namely access.log and error.log. The
error log may give a clue as to the problem.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices 186
using Icecast2
Below is a simulated error caused by mis-configuring the shoutcast entry in /etc/mpd.conf file. Here
the hostname ‘piradio’ has been configured in the /etc/mpd.conf shoutcast entry instead of
‘localhost’.

$ tail -f /var/log/mpd/mpd.log
Apr 07 10:43 : output: Failed to open "PI Radio MPD Stream" [shout]: problem
opening connection to shout server piradio:8000: Couldn't connect

Problem - Icecast streaming page says it can’t be displayed.

Possible causes:
• The icecast service is not running on the radio.
o Start it either from the Radio options menu (Streaming on) or run sudo service
icecast2 start on the Rasperry PI and retry.
• Incorrect IP address or missing port number in the URL.
o See Icecast2 Operation on page 183

Problem – No Mount Point displayed

Possible causes:
• This is mostly due to a mis-match in the MPD configuration and the Icecast2 configuration.
o The icecast configuration is file is /etc/icecast2/icecast.xml . Make sure that all of
the passwords are set to ‘mympd’. The password ‘hackme’ will not work.
• There is no /mpd directory or the permissions are incorrect.
o Check that the /mpd directory exists and that the permissions are set to 777. See
Installing Icecast on page 181.

Problem - Cannot play the stream on my Android device

There are a number of Icecast players which can be downloaded onto Android and play Icecast2
streams across the network without problem. However, the usual Android System Music player
should work. The most likely cause of this problem is keying in an incorrect URL (Maybe adding .m3u
to the end). See Playing the Icecast2 stream on an Android device on page 186.

Problem – Music keeps stopping or is intermittent

This is difficult to give a definitive answer to this problem. It must be remembered that running
MPD and Icecast2 together on a Raspberry PI is pushing the Raspberry PI to its limits. It can also
depend on your network or the PC you are using. Personal experience showed no problem playing a
stream on PC with a wired network connection however a Laptop connected over a wireless network
did not work well. Trying to play two or more devices on the MPD/Icast2 stream is also likely to
result in poor results.

Try over-clocking the Raspberry PI using the raspi-config program. Medium over-clocking seems to
be sufficient. See Overclocking older Raspberry PI on page 182. The icecast streaming facility is a fun
thing to try out but if it doesn’t work properly or is causing you stress; switch the streaming facility
off.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 10 - Streaming to other devices 187
using Icecast2
Chapter 11 - Setting up Spotify
The radio can also be set up as a Spotify receiver. You will still need a Spotify App
on your telephone, PC or Tablet. You will also need a Premium Spotify account
and not just a free or trial version.

More information at https://www.spotify.com

Spotify installation
As from version 6.7 onwards you can install Raspotify from Dave Cooper.
First carry a system update and upgrade as shown in Update to the latest the packages on page 60
Now download the Raspotify software with the curl command.
$ curl -sL https://dtcooper.github.io/raspotify/install.sh | sh

This will both download and install Raspotify. In the /etc/default/raspotify configuration file you
will see the OPTIONS line for Spotify account details. It is not necessary to configure your account
details as these will be picked up from the connecting Spotify App on your PC or Mobile.
#OPTIONS="--username <USERNAME> --password <PASSWORD>"

Edit /lib/systemd/system/raspotify.service and disable the restart options.

#Restart=always
#RestartSec=10

The radio will automatically stop and start Raspotify but it may be started and with the following
commands:
$ sudo systemctl start raspotify
$ sudo systemctl stop raspotify

You can also check the status with systemctl.

$ sudo systemctl status raspotify
● raspotify.service - Raspotify
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/raspotify.service; enabled; vendor
preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2018-05-30 11:41:20 CEST; 1h 0min ago
Process: 4072 ExecStartPre=/bin/chown raspotify:raspotify
:

Disable Raspotify from starting at boot time. Starting and stopping Raspotify is done by the radio.
$ sudo systemctl disable raspotify

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 11 - Setting up Spotify 188

Spotify operation

To start the Radio as a Spotify receiver either select Spotify from the Playlists (LCD or OLED versions)
or from the Sources window in the touchscreen version:

Figure 174 Starting the Spotify Receiver

The following window will appear however a different message may appear on the second line of
the display window:

Figure 175 The radio in Spotify mode

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 11 - Setting up Spotify 189

 To use Spotify you will need a Spotify App on your
telephone, PC or Tablet.

As previously mentioned you will need a Premium

Spotify account and not just a free or trial version.

On the radio, press the Menu button until you come to

the sources selection. Press channel Up or Down until
you see Spotify displayed.

Press the Menu button again and the radio will stop the
MPD player and start raspotify.

Now click on Connect to a device in the Spotify

application. You should see an entry called Spotify
Connect with the hostname of your radio.

Figure 176 Spotify connecting to the radio

Click on the Spotify Connect device for the radio (piradio

in this example).

The Spotify application will switch from the current

device (PC, mobile phone or tablet) to the Raspberry Pi
radio.

You can control the volume either from the Spotify

Application or using the volume control on the radio.

To exit Raspotify on the Raspberry Pi press the Menu

button and then select another source such as the
radio.

Figure 177 Listening to Spotify on the radio

The Spotify application will connect the Raspotify application on the Radio.

In the case of the touchscreen version of the program the following screen will be displayed:

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 11 - Setting up Spotify 190

 Figure 178 Spotify playing a music track

In the case of the LCD or OLED version of the radio the title line above will be displayed on the
second line of LCD or OLED screen.

Note: Raspotify unfortunately does not supply the Artist information. Only the track name is
supplied by librespot which is used by Raspotify. There is currently no solution for this.

Exiting Spotify
For the LCD and OLED versions press the Menu button until the Select source: window is displayed.
Select any other source (playlist) to exit.

In the case of the touchscreen version of the radio, press the “Exit Spotify”button at the bottom of
the screen.

Troubleshooting Raspotify
Installation problems
If the curl command to install the Raspotify software fails then carry out a system update and
upgrade as shown in Update to the latest the packages on page 60.

Retry the curl command.

Raspotify exits with a 101 error code

This is almost certainly an authentication fault. Check your user name and password are correctly set
up in /etc/default/raspotify and retry.

Note: The author does not directly support Raspotify.

Report Raspotify issues to https://github.com/dtcooper/raspotify/issues

Raspotify comes with an MIT licence. See https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 11 - Setting up Spotify 191

Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay
If you have not already done so, carry out a system and firmware upgrade, as shown in Preparing the
Operating System on page 60. Airplay uses a program called shairport-sync from Mike Brady.
Airplay is based upon the procedure in the following link:
http://www.redsilico.com/multiroom-audio-raspberry-pi

Do not use the procedure in the above link. Use the procedure described below as it has
been greatly modified to work with the radio software.

Installation script
From version 6.5 onwards there is an installation script called install_airplay.sh.
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ ./install_airplay.sh

This will install both shairport-sync and configure the radio to use it.

If the script fails with a dependency error for PHP. Run the following:
$ sudo apt-get -f install

Re-run install_airplay.sh.
Only if this script fails try the manual procedure below. Otherwise skip the next section.

Manual procedure
Install the necessary build library modules and the git program:
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential git xmltoman

Install other build libraries:

$ sudo apt-get install autoconf automake libtool libdaemon-dev libasound2-
dev libpopt-dev libconfig-dev libssl-dev

The above instruction is all on one line.

If running on Stretch it will be necessary to install the following libraries:

$ sudo apt-get install libdaemon-dev libpopt-dev pkgconf libconfig-dev

Install the Avahi daemon required for Airplay network discovery.

$ sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon libavahi-client-dev

Edit the /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf file (use sudo nano). Scroll down a few pages until you see the
following line:
pcm.front cards.pcm.front

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay 192

Change this line to:
pcm.front cards.pcm.default

Create a development directory and change to it:

$ mkdir -p projects/airplay
$ cd projects/airplay

Build and install shairport-sync:

Get the source from github and configure the build.
$ git clone https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync.git
$ cd shairport-sync
$ autoreconf -i -f

If autoreconf is missing for any reason install it with the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install dh-autoreconf

There is a problem with autoreconf which causes it to fail unpredictably. At the moment, it
seems very unreliable. Below are some suggestions if it exits with an error.

If autoreconf does fail with the following message then make sure that the latest packages are
installed. The autoreconf program can take several minutes.
autoreconf: 'configure.ac' or 'configure.in' is required

Carry out the procedure in section Update to the latest the packages on page 60 and retry.

If autoreconf still fails run the following command and then retry the above autoreconf command:
$ autoreconf -m

Note that the above command will fail but somehow it seems to (sometimes) cure the problem. Re-
run the autoreconf -vif command.

Now configure the package build files (It is the configure script which is created by autoreconf)
$ ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc --with-alsa --with-avahi --with-ssl=openssl
--with-metadata --with-systemd

Now build and install shairport-sync:

$ make
$ sudo make install

The last command installs the shairport-sync-metadata program in the /usr/local/bin directory and
the distribution configuration file in /etc/shairport-sync.conf.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay 193

Change back up one directory
$ cd ..

Test Airplay (shairport-sync) – Stop the Music Player Daemon first:

$ mpc stop
$ shairport-sync
Successful Startup

Now run Airplay on an Airplay mobile phone or tablet. Search for connected devices which should
include the raspberry pi. Play a music track which should be heard on the radio. Use control-C to
exit. Use Control-C to exit shairport-sync.

Install the shairport metadata reader

To display the track metadata (Artist, Title and Album) on the display screen, it is necessary to install
the shairport-sync-metadata-reader from Mike Brady.
$ git clone https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync-metadata-reader
$ cd shairport-sync-metadata-reader
$ autoreconf -vif
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

The last command installs the shairport-sync-metadata-reader program in the /usr/local/bin

directory.

Configuring the Airplay feature

Below are the configuration parameters found the Airplay section of /etc/radiod.conf affecting the
Airplay (shairport-sync) function in the radio.
[AIRPLAY]

# Airplay activation yes or no

airplay=no

# Mixer preset volume for radio and media player if using sound card
# Set to 0 if using onboard audio or USB sound dongle.
# If using a sound card set to 100% initially and adjust as neccessary
mixer_volume=0

# Mixer volume ID (Airplay) Use command 'amixer controls | grep -i volume'

# to identify mixer volume control ID
mixer_volume_id=1

If upgrading from an earlier version of the radio and you selected “Do not update existing
configuration” during installation then the [AIRPLAY] section will be missing from
/etc/radiod.conf. If this is the case then copy the above lines to the end of the file.

Enable Airplay in /etc/radiod.conf

airplay=yes

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay 194

Set the mixer output volume ID (Volume control for Airplay). Run
$ amixer controls | grep -i volume

Identify the ID (numid) for the playback volume for your device.
For sound cards or HDMI using digital volume control this is likely to be similar to the following.
numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='Digital Playback Volume'

For onboard jack sound output

numid=6,iface=MIXER,name='Speaker Playback Volume'cd

Modify or add the mixer_volume_id for your device in /etc/radiod.conf. For example:
mixer_volume_id=6

The mixer_volume parameter has a very special use and is used to preset the mixer volume
(alsamixer) if using a DAC sound card or HDMI output. It is not relevant if using the onboard audio
jack as output and must be set to 0. The reason it is needed is that Airplay can only be controlled by
the mixer level unlike the radio which uses Music Player Daemon volume commands.

For on-board audio changing the mixer volume is not relevant as it is controlled by MPD. In this case
set it to 0:
mixer_volume=0

For sound cards or HDMI set it to somewhere between 80 and 100.

mixer_volume=90

Airplay service check

Check that all is well with D-Bus. The following
$ sudo systemctl start shairport-sync
Failed to get D-Bus connection: Unknown error -1

If the above error message is seen install systemd-sysv:

$ sudo apt-get install systemd-sysv

Reboot the Raspberry Pi.

$ sudo reboot

See the following section on how to use Airplay.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay 195

Using Airplay on the radio
Using Airplay on a HDMI/Touchscreen is described in the section called Running Airplay on the HDMI
touchscreen on page 131. LCD versions of the radio are described here.

Press the menu button until Input Source: is

displayed.

Turn the channel button (or Up/Down switches on

a push-button radio) until Airplay receiver
appears.

Press the menu button one more time. The word

Airplay will be displayed on the bottom line along
Figure 179 Airplay source selection
with ‘Unknown artist’ and ‘Unknown title’.

Now use the Airplay device to connect to the raspberry PI (varies according to device software). Start
playing the music tracks and this should start being heard on the radio which also displays the Artist,
Track and Album on the LCD display. The volume is adjustable if correctly set-up. The mute also
works in the normal way but does not pause or stop the Airplay stream as this can only be done
from the device running Airplay.

Figure 180 Running an Airplay device on the radio with Cloudbreak

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay 196

The above example is using an evaluation copy of CloudBreak running on an Android mobile
telephone. See: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nav.aoaplayer

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 12 - Setting up Airplay 197

Chapter 13 - Internet Security
This is a section that probably will not concern
most people as their Raspberry Pi is not exposed
to the internet. However, with more and more
cases of such devices such as web cams and
other Internet connected devices being hack by
unscrupulous hackers, Internet Security is an
aspect of home computing that must be taken
seriously. These incursions can be used to
mount Phishing (harvesting bank details etc.) or
Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDOS) on
the wider community as a whole. More and
more Internet providers are choosing to block
compromised user’s systems from access to the
Internet until the infection is removed.

Some golden Internet Security rules

Always change the user pi password from the system installation
default. When installed the password for user pi is ‘raspberry’. It
will be the first password that will be attempted by a hacker. The
password can easily be changed using the raspi-config program
(See Changing the system hostname and password on page 63).
The user pi is very dangerous if hacked as with the command sudo
bash the hacker then has user root privileges and can do anything
they want including installing Phishing or DDOS software. Don’t
give them the chance!

Never ever use insecure protocols/programs such as Telnet , Rexec

or FTP across the Internet. The problem with all such programs is
that the login username and password are un-encrypted and can
be discovered by a hacker using eavesdropping software. The use
of such software to access the Raspberry Pi will attract hackers like
flies around a honey-pot.

If access to the Raspberry Pi across a network is required (for

example a headless RPi) then use Secure Shell (SSH) for terminal
access and Secure Copy (SCP) for file transfer. On the latest
releases of Raspbian Stretch SSH is disabled for security reasons.
How to enable this is shown in Using SSH to log into the Raspberry
PI on page 58. For extra security use SSH keys (explained later)

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 13 - Internet Security 198

 Install firewall software such as fail2ban. The Raspbian Stretch
operating system has a firewall called iptables which can be
configured to block or allow access to specific ports from a specific
IP address or range. The fail2ban software is an enhancement to
iptables which monitors certain ports for hacking attempts and
adds a blocking rule to the iptables configuration. More on this
later. The fail2ban software is a good defence against so-called
brute-force dictionary attacks.

SSH keys installation

Raspberry Pi ssh keys
If using SSH across the Internet, changing the password for user pi will afford some limited
protection. However a hacker can still access the system with SSH and try to log in as user pi. They
can still try (often using software) to try and guess the software. By using SSH keys a greater level of
protection is afforded as person logging in must be in possession of the SSH keys.

Log in as user pi and then run the ssh-keygen program. Just press enter when asked any questions.
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -C “raspberrypi”
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/pi/.ssh/id_rsa):
Created directory '/home/pi/.ssh'.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/pi/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/pi/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
c0:54:96:d9:2d:a5:d0:d0:7c:68:91:8a:5f:e2:a5:9d pi@pixelpi
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 2048]----+
| ..=O.*. |
| o .o.X.o |
| o. o.o |
| ..o o |
| oS* . |
| + E |
| |
| |
| |
+-----------------+

Two keys are generated, one public and one private in the .ssh directory. The key id_rsa.pub is the
public key. The id_rsa file is the private key.
$ ls -la .ssh/
total 16
drwx------ 2 pi pi 4096 Feb 16 12:40 .
drwxr-xr-x 19 pi pi 4096 Feb 16 12:40 ..
-rw------- 1 pi pi 1675 Feb 16 12:40 id_rsa
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 392 Feb 16 12:40 id_rsa.pub

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 13 - Internet Security 199

Generate a client key
It is also necessary to generate SSH keys on Typically Putty and Bitvise are a very popular choice for
SSH clients. There is already so much documentation on the Internet on how to generate SSH keys
for both Putty and Bitvise that it is not repeated here. Search the Internet for instructions.

Add client public key to Raspberry Pi authorised keys

On the Raspberry Pi create or edit the /home/pi/.ssh/authorized_keys.
$ cd /home/pi/.ssh/
$ vi authorized_keys

Paste or copy the Public key created on the PC to the authorized_keys file. (Some output in the
following text omitted).
ssh-rsa
AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAQEAuX+NEQoQECPN2d+Lu+qL2exMT/ICYbrNax6DVWBtKGzTxFOb
:
LeiaFbI3tWyi+ZPXg8Swhr1OaPN6l2E/fnAQPbGl2S+YMtcIXknNiwVGL8RB3D8N/Q== rsa-
key-20170216

Finally connect to the Raspberry Pi from the PC client using the publickey method. If this works OK
disable password login method. Edit vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config and disable PAM and Password
authentication.
PasswordAuthentication no
:
UsePAM no

Firewall set-up
Linux has a firewall facility built-in to the kernel called iptables. Rules may be added to iptables to
allow or deny access to system services as required. However, iptables is static and has to be
configured with any new rules. The fail2ban program enhances iptables by dynamically adding rules
as required. For example, if a hacker attempts five unsuccessful logins using SSH then fail2ban blocks
that IP address from connecting to the SSH port by adding a blocking rule to iptables. The following
commands install and enable fail2ban.

$ sudo apt-get install fail2ban

$ sudo systemctl enable fail2ban

Below is an example of a blocked host (195.22.126.242)

$ sudo iptables -L
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
:
Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
:
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
:
Chain fail2ban-ssh (2 references)
target prot opt source destination
REJECT all -- 195.22.126.242 anywhere reject-with icmp-port-unreachable

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 13 - Internet Security 200

However, rules added by fail2ban will be lost if the Raspberry Pi is rebooted. An additional package
called iptables-persistent can be added so that rules added by fail2ban can be made permanent. The
following command allows installation.
$ sudo apt-get install iptables-persistent

The following command can be used to make the iptables rules persistent after a reboot. Run the
following command before rebooting.
$ iptables-save

Search the internet for more information on iptables and fail2ban.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 13 - Internet Security 201

Chapter 14 - Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What is the login name and password?
The default login name is: pi
The default password is: raspberry
You should change this at the earliest opportunity. See Chapter 13 - Internet Security on page 198.

Why are the radio stations not in the order that they were defined?
Playlists are loaded by the radio daemon in alphabetic order using the playlist name.
When loading an individual playlist, MPD loads the stations in the order that they are defined in each
individual playlist. This has been improved by sorting the playlist.

It helps greatly to group stations of the same type into a single playlist. For example group all BBC
radio stations into a single playlist.

The only way to get all of the radio stations in the order that you define them is to define a single
playlist, for example myplaylist:
(myplaylist)
#
# United Kingdom
[BBC Radio 1] http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r1.asx
[BBC Radio 2] http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r2.asx
[BBC Radio 3] http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r3.asx
:
:
[RAIradio3] http://www.listenlive.eu/rai3.m3u

This will produce a single playlist called myplaylist.m3u with the stations loading in the order that
they have been defined in the /var/lib/radiod/stationlist file. Make sure there are no blank lines
between station definitions otherwise this terminates the playlist. All remaining stations will end up
in there own single playlist file.

Why are some station names not being displayed in the web interface?
The reason for this is that some stations don’t send the name with the stream. If you run the mpc
playlists command you will see that some radio stations shows only the station URL and not the
name:
$ mpc playlist
RAIradio2
:
BBC Radio 4 extra
http://icestreaming.rai.it/1.mp3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 6
BBC Radio 5 live

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 14 - Frequently asked questions 202
(FAQs)
The only way around this is to complain directly to the radio station to ask them to amend their
stream to include the station name and title details. The only way reason that the station name is
seen with the radio program is that it picks up the names out of the station list file.
The snoopy web interface can’t do this however.

Why doesn’t the web interface display URLs until a station is selected?
When the Snoopy web interface is loaded it loads the playlists found in the /var/lib/mpd/playlists/
directory. Snoopy displays the URLs but doesn’t appear to use any titles defined in the playlists. It
only displays the radio station information (if present) once it starts streaming from a particular
radio station. Snoopy is third party software over which this author has no control.

Why are music tracks played randomly when loaded?

This is the default behaviour when the music library is loaded in version 5.2 or earlier. This has
changed in version 5.3 onwards. Random always defaults to “off” when the radio is selected.
However when the music library is selected the value stored in the /var/lib/radiod/random file is
used. This value can be changed in the selection menu by selecting “Random off” after loading the
music which will store the new value in the /var/lib/radiod/random file. So the radio software will
remember the desired random setting for the music library when it is restarted.

Can the volume be displayed as blocks instead of Volume nn?

Yes, it can. Volume is displayed by default as “Volume nn” where nn is 1 to 100. This can be
changed as shown in section Configuring the volume display on page 113

Why do I see a station number on LCD line 3?

For version 3.3 onwards if no song information is available then the station playlist number followed
by the stream speed. In the following example Radio 1 is not transmitting any song information. It is
number 37 in the play list. The speed from the stream is 96 Kilobit. The displayed stream speed can
also continuously change for some radio stations where the stream speed is variable.

12:01 23/08/2015
Radio1
Station 37 96K
Volume 75

Is it possible to change the date format?

Yes. Please see the section called Changing the date format on page 111.

Is there a pause & resume function?

Yes, but it is called mute and un-mute. The mute function also stops or pauses the MPD player. If
playing a radio station, a “stop” command is carried out. If playing a media track a “pause” is carried
out. The reason these are different is that media may be safely paused but in the case of a radio
station pausing causes buffering and jumping to the next station when the radio resumes normal
playing. See the
Note 1: The colour change option is only available for the AdaFruit RGB plate
(ada_radio.py). Note 2: If the /var/lib/radiod/rss file is missing or contains an invalid
RSS URL then the RSS mode is skipped.

Mute function on page 125.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 14 - Frequently asked questions 203
(FAQs)
Is there a reboot or shutdown option?
There is only a shutdown option. Hold the menu button in for at least three seconds. The radio will
stop and should display “Radio stopped” on the display. Wait ten seconds and then power off the
Raspberry Pi. Powering back on achieves the same effect as a reboot. Also see Fitting a wake-up
button on page 37.

Why do I see a different station name from the one in the playlist?
The station information displayed comes from the stream itself. The name entered in the playlist
definition is only used in the search function. This was a design decision because the station
information is only available once a particular radio station is selected so only the playlist name can
be initially used. If the station transmits the station title this is used instead.
Run the display_current.py program to see all the information that comes from the stream (It is
quite interesting).

What Rotary Encoder can I use for this project?

The rotary encoders illustrated in this guide are COM-09117 12-step rotary encoders from
sparkfun.com. The radio uses so called “Incremental Rotary Encoder”. An incremental rotary
encoder provides cyclical outputs (only) when the encoder is rotated. The other type is an absolute
rotary encoder and maintains position information even when switched off (See Wikipedia article
and my tutorial on rotary encoders).

The cheaper smaller rotary encoders are usually incremental encoders. Absolute rotary encoders are
usually bigger and more expensive as they house more electronics. If unfortunately, the seller
doesn't provide a specification then there is a small risk that they may not run with this software.

Note: Not all manufacturers’ rotary encoders will work with this project. If they work then
fine if not regrettably you will need to purchase the recommended rotary encoders. You
can also try the alternative rotary class which may just work with your encoders.

Can this code or documentation be re-used in other projects?

Yes, it can. You can even use it commercially, provided that you do so under the terms of the licence
distributed with this package. The software and documentation for this project is released under the
GNU General Public Licence and may be re-used it other projects. See Licences on page 210.

You do not need to ask permission to re-use this code or documentation as it is already permitted in
the licenses.

Can I use an Electronic Ink display?

The answer is not at the moment. There are a number of electronic ink displays on the market such
as the Pimoroni Inky pHat and the Waveshare. These displays appear to only suitable for static
display of information and do not handle dynamically changing screens. However, looking at on-line
demo’s the Waveshare device can handle partial screen updates which may make it viable. This is
currently being assessed.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 14 - Frequently asked questions 204
(FAQs)
Chapter 15 - Source files
This section is only of interest if you are considering developing your own version of the software or
wish to use one of the classes in your own software.

The source consists of several source modules all written in Python using Object Orientated
techniques. The source will be visible in the /usr/share/radio directory once the Radio package has
been installed. The radio Debian package is available at
http://www.bobrathbone.com/pi_radio_source.htm .

For those who want to develop their own product all source is also available from Github. See
Downloading the source from github on page 209.

The Radio program

The radiod.py program is the top level radio program for the LCD versions of the radio and provides
the logic for operating the radio. It is called from the systemd radiod.service script in the
/lib/systemd/system directory.

The Radio Daemon

The radio_daemon.py code allows the LCD radio program to run as a background daemon. It allows
start, stop, restart, version and status commands.

The Display Class

The display_class.py program is only used by the LCD (including PiFace CAD) and OLED versions of
the radio and is responsible for displaying messages on the various types of display. It uses the
display_type parameter in the /etc/radiod.conf configuration file to load the correct LCD display
software. Depending upon the actual device configured it will load one of the following:

Table 20 Display classes

Display class file Description display_type

lcd_class.py LCDs with a directly connected HD44870 interface LCD
lcd_i2c_adafruit.py LCDs with an Adafruit I2C backpack LCD_I2C_ADAFRUIT
lcd_i2c_pcf8574.py LCDs with a PCF8574 I2C backpack LCD_I2C_PCF8574
lcd_adafruit_class.py LCDs with an Adafruit RGB plate LCD_I2C_ADAFRUIT
lcd_pifacecad_class.py Piface CAD 2x16 LCD with push buttons PIFACE_CAD
oled_class.py Solomon Systech SSD1306 OLED Display (IQaudIO) OLED_128x64
no_display.py No display attached (vintage radio/Pirate Radio) NO_DISPLAY
The above settings are performed by the configure_radio.sh program.
The Adafruit RGB plate also uses an i2c class courtesy of Adafruit Industries (renamed to
i2c_class.py).

The Graphical Screen radio programs

The gradio.py and vgradio.py programs are the radio programs for the HDMI/Touchscreen version of
the radio and is launched on the graphical desktop of the Raspberry Pi. It is optionally called from
the Desktop/gradio.desktop script in the /home/pi directory. The vgradio.py program gives a
vintage radio look and feel to the radio display.
In the case of both programs the display_type parameter in /etc/radiod.conf is set to GRAPHICAL
and is set by the configure_radio.sh program.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 15 - Source files 205

The Graphics display class
The graphic_display.py class performs auxiliary display functions such as scrolling and screen
mapping for the gradio.py and vgradio.py programs.

The Graphics controls class

The gcontrols_class.py handles the creation of all graphics controls and widgets for the graphic
version of the radio. It also uses the SGC widget routines in the sgc sub-directory from Sam Bull and
Michael Rochester.

The OLED class

The cosmic_class.py is the display interface for the SSD1306 128x64 pixel OLED display supplied with
the IQaudIO Cosmic controller. This class is a wrapper for the routines from Olimex Limited in the
sub-directory oled. It drives the OLED screen although not all functions are used by the radio.

The button class

The button_class.py detects all button presses from the push button radios (Not the Adafruit RGB
nor the PiFace CAD which have their own buttons using I2C and SPI interfaces respectively). It passes
button press events up to the event class described later.

The rotary class

The rotary_class.py and rotary_class_alternative.py detect all rotary encoder events from the radios
fitted with rotary encoders. It passes rotary encoder events up to the event class described later.

The Cosmic controller Class

The cosmic_class.py is used as the user interface for the IQaudIO Cosmic controller. This provides
the interface for three-button and rotary control interface on the controller board.

The Event class

All user interfaces in the radio software generate a largely common set of events. These are handled
by the event_class.py. The event_class.py program accepts events from the following sources:
• The gradio.py and vgradio.py graphical radio programs
• The radiod.py radio program
• The push button interface user interface (button_class.py)
• The rotary encoder user interface (Either rotary_class.py or rotary_class_alternative.py)
• The IR remote control user interface (remote_control.py)
• The radio web user interface running on an Apache Web server

The Menu class

The menu_class.py code provides the logic for stepping through the various menus and their
options.

The Message class

All messages are generated from the message_class.py program. This uses message labels to load
the correct text to be displayed or spoken. By using labels and the language_class.py software, the
radio can be configured to use any language using a Latin character set. It provides messages to
display various menu’s, time, station and track information.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 15 - Source files 206

The language class
The language_class.py provides the text for both the radio display or the espeak package. It reads
the /var/lib/radiod/language file (if present) and passes the text to both the message class and if
used. It is used by the message class to deliver messages in the users own language.

The Log class

The log_class.py routine provides logging of events to /var/log/radio.log file.

The Volume class

The volume_class.py program handles all volume and mixer functions for the radio, Spotify and
airplay.

The Configuration Class

The config_class.py reads and stores the radio configuration from the /etc/radiod.conf file

The RSS class

The rss_class.py routines allow sequential gets from an RSS feed. These feeds are provided from
news providers such as the BBC. This class gets the RSS feed defined in the /var/lib/radiod/rss file.

The Translate class

The translate_class.py is used to convert special international character sets (particularly from RSS
feeds). It does this by first converting them to escape sequences and then to displayable ascii
characters (These will show up in DEBUG logging). These ascii characters are then passed to the LCD
class where they may are converted again to a valid character in the standard LCD character set.

The create_stations program

The create_stations.py program creates playlist files in the /var/lib/mpd directory using a list of web
links (URLs) with titles as input. This program creates standard playlists for use with with MPD. The
operation of the create_stations.py program is covered in detail in the section on managing playlist
files on page 140.

The display_current program

The display_current.py program is a small diagnostic program which displays the information for the
current radio station or track. It is only used for trouble-shooting and it will not normally be used.

The display_model script

The display_model.py program displays the revision, cpu, memory and maker (If known) of the
board. It is only used for trouble-shooting and it will not normally be used.

The configure_radio.sh script

The configure_radio.sh script is normally called during installation of the Radio Debian package but
may be run by the user at any time. It selects the correct board revision and radio program variant. It
configures the display to be used and the user interface.

The playlist creation program

The create_playlist.sh script creates playlists from music directories on either a USB stick or a
Network drive such as a NAS. It has the ability to accept filters to make a more selective playlist.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 15 - Source files 207

The configure_audio.sh script
The configure_audio.sh script selects and configures the Audio output. It currently supports
selection of the on-board audio jack, HDMI output, USB DAC, HiFiBerry and IQaudIO DACs.

The set mixer id script

The set_mixer_id.sh script works out the “Speaker Playback Volume” mixer ID and configures the
mixer_volume_id in /var/lib/radiod directory. This information comes from the amixer controls
command. This mixer ID (integer) is used to set a default mixer volume for MPD and also is used for
volume control when using Airplay. The set_mixer_id.sh script is normally called from the radio
program (all versions), usually after a reboot, if the mixer_volume_id parameter has been removed
by the configure_audio.sh program. This script also completes configuration of HDMI audio if
selected in the configure_audio.sh program. It is not normally necessary to run this program
separately but can be safely run at any time.

The remote control daemon

The remote control daemon consists of the remote_control.py and the rc_daemon.py program files.
There is a service start stop script called /etc/init.d/irradiod. This is configured for the correct
program by the configure_radio.sh program during installation. The server_class.py program is used
for communication between the remote-control daemon and the radio program.

The UDP network communications class

The remote control daemon uses the udp_server_class.py program which communicates over the
local TCP/IP network using UDP port 5100 as the default; however, the port is configurable in
/etc/radiod.conf. When a button is pressed on the remote control this program sends the button
identity (See Table 12 Remote Control Key names) to a UDP server running in the radio program. It is
also used to send commands from the Web Interface to the radio program.

Button press → IR remote control daemon → UDP message over network → Radio program.

The Status LED class

The status_led_class.py is called by the vintage radio software. A Red Blue Green LED is driven to
indicate status of the radio as there is no LCD screen. See the Raspberry Pi Vintage Radio
supplement.

The Airplay Class

The airplay_class.py file contains the routines for stopping and starting the shairport-sync daemon
and for getting artist, title and album of the playing track. It is used when Airplay is selected as the
source.

The Menu Switch class

The menu_switch_class.py code supports an 8-position rotary switch (Not encoder) as an alternative
method of operating a simple menu system. It is meant to be used with the vintage radio software
but can be used with any variant.

The init file

The __init__.py file contains a couple of global definitions plus the package version number.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 15 - Source files 208

Downloading the source from github
This is only of interest if you wish develop your own version of the Raspberry PI radio based upon
the mainstream source code. Otherwise simply install the Install the Radio Daemon the radio
software as shown on page 70. You can view the Raspberry PI source at
https://github.com/bobrathbone/piradio6

Note: This may be out of date compared to the latest version.

Before you can download the source from Github it is necessary to install git. For more information
on git see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(software)

Install git with the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install git

Make a development directory and change to it:

$ mkdir /home/pi/develop
$ cd /home/pi/develop

Now clone the github piradio repository:

$ git clone git://github.com/bobrathbone/piradio
Cloning into 'piradio'...
remote: Counting objects: 71, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (52/52), done.
remote: Total 71 (delta 13), reused 64 (delta 9)
Receiving objects: 100% (71/71), 185.33 KiB | 334 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (13/13), done.

This will create a sub-directory called ‘piradio’ which will contain the entire source. Also in the
/home/pi/develop/piradio directory you will also see a directory called .git (dot-git). This is the
control directory for git.

Note: Don’t forget that if you use the service radiod stop|start commands that this will start
and stop the software in contained in /usr/share/radio (If you installed from the package).

You will not necessarily need to use git any further unless you wish to save your changes under git
control. To find out more about git and for general support and documentation see:
http://git-scm.com

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Chapter 15 - Source files 209

Licences, acknowledgements and support
Licences
The software and documentation for this project is released under the GNU General Public Licence.

The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or GPL) is the most widely used free software license,
which guarantees end users (individuals, organizations, companies) the freedoms to use, study,
share (copy), and modify the software. Software that ensures that these rights are retained is called
free software. The license was originally written by Richard Stallman of the Free Software
Foundation (FSF) for the GNU project.

The GPL grants the recipients of a computer program the rights of the Free Software Definition and
uses copyleft to ensure the freedoms are preserved whenever the work is distributed, even when
the work is changed or added to. The GPL is a copyleft license, which means that derived works can
only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software
licenses, of which the BSD licenses are the standard examples. GPL was the first copyleft license for
general use. This means that you may modify and distribute the software and documentation
subject to the conditions of the licences.

See http://www.gnu.org/licenses for further information on the GNU General Public License.

The licences for the source and documentation for this project are:
GNU General Public License. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
GNU AFFERO General Public License. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html
GNU Free Documentation License. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html

Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Streaming Media

This is an unbelievably complex subject. The author is not a lawyer and cannot offer any legal advice
on this subject. If you decide to stream your music content or relay a radio station stream back out
to the internet or within a public building or space then you should seek legal advice.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_aspects_of_downloading_and_streaming

In general Radio stations are providing a stream to promote their radio station. As media providers
they should have arrangements in place to make the content that they provide is legally streamed
across the Internet but not all do. The question is it legal to listen (or view) such content is a complex
one and subject to local and international laws and which vary considerably.

If you implement Icecast or any other streaming technology to re-stream content within your own
home then provided that this is not streamed back out to the Internet or a public location then one
would think that you will not encounter any problems (but you never know).

If you stream music tracks or relay radio stations back out onto the internet or public space then
almost certainly you will be infringing a copyright law or intellectual property rights somewhere. The
penalties for such an infringement can be severe.

WARNING: YOU USE THE ICECAST STREAMING IN THIS PROJECT AT YOUR OWN RISK ESPECIALLY IF
YOU MAKE THE STREAM CONTENT AVAILABLE ACROSS THE INTERNET OR PUBLIC SPACE, EVEN IF
YOU ARE JUST RELAYING AN EXISTING MEDIA STREAM, LEGAL OR OTHERWISE.

Also see the Disclaimer on page 211.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Licences, acknowledgements and support 210
Disclaimer
THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
CONTRIBUTORS 'AS IS' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BELIABLE FOR
ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF
USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR
OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION,
EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Technical support
Technical support is on a voluntary basis by e-mail only at [email protected]. If there are any
problems with this email address then also CC [email protected]. Before asking for support,
please first consult the troubleshooting section on page 160. I will always respond to e-mails
requesting help and will never ignore them. I only ask that you do the same (i.e. Did my suggestions
help or not?). Be sure to provide the following information:

• What have you built (Adafruit or normal LCD variants, sound cards etc)?
• Which program and wiring version are you running?
• A clear description of the fault.
• What you have already done to locate the problem?
• Is anything displayed on the LCD or Graphics screen?
• Did you run the test programs and what was the result?
• Switch on DEBUG logging as described on page 137, run the program and include the
/var/log/radio.log file. Also run sudo service radiod info.
• Did you vary from the procedure in the manual or add any other software?
• Please do not answer my questions with a question. Please supply the information
requested.

Please note that support for general Raspberry PI problems is not provided. Only issues
relating to the Radio software will be investigated.

For general Raspberry PI support see the following site:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/

For support on Music Player Daemon issues see the help pages at the following link:
http://www.musicpd.org/

For issues relating to Icecast2 streaming see:

http://www.icecast.org

For those of you who want to amend the code to suit your own requirements please note: I am very
happy to help people with their projects but my time is limited so I ask that you respect that. Please
also appreciate that I cannot engage in long email conversations with every constructor to debug
their code or to teach Python.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Licences, acknowledgements and support 211
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Matt Hawkins for the original LCD screen driver routines. It made the job of writing the
lcd_class.py much easier.

The original instructions on how to use Rotary Encoders came from an excellent article by Guy
Carpenter. See:
http://guy.carpenter.id.au/gaugette/2013/01/14/rotary-encoder-library-for-the-raspberry-pi/
To Adafruit Industries for their excellent LCD plate and I2C code. See http://www.adafruit.com.

To Steffen Müller for his article on Streaming audio with MPD and Icecast2 on Raspberry Pi.
See http://www.t3node.com/blog/streaming-audio-with-mpd-and-icecast2-on-raspberry-pi/

To contributors such as Alan Broad who supplied photos of the Lego example of the radio plus code
contribution.

To Mike Whittaker for his contribution on how to drive the USB speaker set. To other contributors
such as Jon Jenkins for his excellent implementation using an old Zenith radio.

Thanks to Michael Uhlmann for the work he did testing various Android Apps for MPD. Also, Simon
O’Niel who carried out configuration and testing of Cmedia sound dongle.

To Open Electronics Magazine for their excellent article on the Raspberry PI radio using the Adafruit
LCD plate. See http://www.open-electronics.org/internet-radio-with-raspberry-pi/

To Joaquin Perez, Broadcast Engineer, Leeds for the backlight dimmer and circuit diagram.

To Luboš Ruckl for his work on the Rotary encoder class (adapted from code by Ben Buxton) and the
PCF8574 LCD class (adapted from code by an unknown author but believed to be from the Arduino
community).

To Béla Mucs from Hungary for his brilliant idea to support speech for visually impaired and blind
persons. This facility uses the espeak package.

Gordon Henderson https://projects.drogon.net/ for the GPIO wiring utility.

To http://www.allaboutcircuits.com for Figure 63 Soldering precautions.

Jim Downey from Mobile Alabama, the USA for his article on the backlight for Chinese 1602 I2C
LCDs. See http://mbvmc.org/LCD_Backlight.pdf

Tomás González, Sevilla, Spain for his changes to lcd_adafruit_class.py (Previously ada_lcd_class.py)
to switch on the Chinese 1602 I2C LCD backlight.

To the authors of the SGC Widget routines. Copyright (c) 2010-2012, Sam Bull and Michael Rochester

To ModMyPi (https://www.modmypi.com) for their excellent Pi products and setup guides.

Icons used in the graphic versions of the radio. Clipart library http://clipart-library.com
and IconSeeker http://www.iconseeker.com

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Licences, acknowledgements and support 212
Thanks to Olimex Limited for their SSD1306 OLED routines which were used in the oled_class.py
program and for their excellent technical support. See http://www.olimex.com. Original source
https://github.com/SelfDestroyer/pyMOD-OLED.git

Thanks to Gordon Garrity at IQaudIO http://iqaudio.co.uk for his help and sponsorship to develop
the radio to support the IQaudIO Cosmic Controller and SSD1306 OLED display.

Thanks to Pimoroni for their excellent Pirate radio using pHat BEAT software and hardware. See
http://pimoroni.com for further information.

Thanks to PiFace UK for their PiFace CAD product. This makes a very easy entry level radio using this
software. See http://www.piface.org.uk/

To all constructors of this project who have sent in photos of their radio’s and their ideas for
improvement and the many appreciative e-mails that I have received from them.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Licences, acknowledgements and support 213
Glossary

AC Alternating Current - In this context 110V or 220V

AP Application processor (Also see CPU)

DC Direct Current - In this context +5V or +3.3V

AAC Advanced Audio Coding

ALSA Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

ASX Advanced Stream Redirector

ATC Air Traffic Control

CGI Common Gate Interface – Executable Server Side scripts

CAD Control and Display (PiFace) – No longer supported in this version

CD Compact disc - In this context CD marker pen

CIFS Common Internet File System

CPU Central Processor Unit

DAC Digital to Analogue Converter (Digital audio to analogue in this case)

DOS Denial of Service – Attack software aimed at taking down an Internet service (Web etc)

DDOS Distributed Denial of Service – DOS attack from hundreds or thousands of computers

DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DNS Domain Name System. Converts a URL such as google.com to a IP address or addresses

DSP Digital Signal Processing/processor (In this context it is mixer control)

DT Device Tree (Overlay). Device (Sound cards) configuration in /boot/config.txt in Raspbian

EMI Electromagnetic Interference (For example fluorescent lighting etc.)

FLIRC A USB device and software which maps an IR remote control to the keyboard

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface for audio and video plus Ethernet interface.

GPIO General Purpose IO (On the Raspberry PI)

I2C Industry standard serial interface (Philips now NXP) using data and clock signals

IIC Alternative name used by some manufacturers for I2C

I2S Inter-IC Sound (Used in DAC interface) from Philips (Now NXP)
Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Glossary 214
IP Internet Protocol

IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4

IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6

IATA International Air Transport Association

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

IR Infra-Red (sensor) for use with infra-red devices such as remote controls

LCD Liquid Crystal Display

LE Low Energy – In this context Bluetooth LE (Bluetooth 4.0 core specification)

LIRC Linux Remote Control software

M3U MPEG3 URL

MAC Media Access Control (address)

MMS Microsoft Media Server Internet protocol

MPC Command line client for MPD

MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group

MPEG3 Music encoding standard from MPEG

NAS Network Attached Storage

NFS Network File System

NTP Network Time Protocol

MPD Music Player Daemon

OLED Organic Light Emitting diode

PA Personal Amplifier (Input to audio stage of a vintage radio)

OS Operating system (Raspbian Stretch in this case)

PC Personal Computer

PCM Pulse-Code Modulation is a method used to digitally represent sampled analogue signals

PHP A server-side scripting language designed primarily for web development

PID Process ID

PLS MPEG Playlist File (as used by Winamp)

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Glossary 215

RSS Really Simple Syndication – Web feed usually containing news items

SD San Disk Memory Card commonly found in cameras and Smartphone’s

SPI Serial Peripheral Interface (Motorola) used by PiFace CAD

SSH Secure Shell – Encrypted terminal

SSID Service Set Identifier. An SSID is the public name of a wireless network.

SVI Standard Volume Indicator. Another name for VU meter/indicator

TCP/IP The common name for network protocols used by the Internet and computer networks.

TFT Thin Film Transistor – Used in display technology and touch-screens

TTS Text-To-Speech (eSpeak in this case)

TV Television (In this case with one or more HDMI inputs)

UDP Universal Datagram Protocol. A connectionless network protocol over IP.

URL Universal Resource Locator (A link to a Web page for example)

USB Universal Serial Bus

USB OTG USB On-The-Go, software to support USB devices (Not supported with this radio)

VDD Voltage Drain Supply

VEE Voltage Emitter

VLC Media player used by Pimoroni software (Not used by this radio software)

VSS Voltage Source Supply

VU Volume Unit – Volume meter/indicator also known as SVI (Standard Volume Indicator)

WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security algorithm considered less secure than WPA

WIFI Wireless Network using the 802.11 Wireless Network protocol

WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) – Also see WPA2

WPA2 Wi-Fi Protected Access version II, an enhanced, more secure version of WPA.

XML Extensible Mark-up Language. A web technology used for transmitting data structures

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Glossary 216

Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio Program
A.1 Files added to the system
/etc/radiod.conf
This is the main configuration file for the radio program. It is mainly configured by the
configure_radio.sh program.
# Raspberry Pi Internet Radio Configuration File
# Configuration file for version 6.0 onwards
# 40 pin version to support IQ Audio and other sound cards
# Also 26 pin version radios use this file

[RADIOD]

# loglevel is CRITICAL,ERROR,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG or NONE

loglevel=INFO

# Startup option either RADIO,MEDIA or LAST a playlist name

#startup=RADIO
startup=_Radio

# Set date format, US format = %H:%M %m/%d/%Y

dateformat=%H:%M %d/%m/%Y

# Volume range 10, 20, 25, 50 or 100

volume_range=20

# Volume display text or blocks

volume_display=blocks

# MPD port number (Do not change unless MPD reconfigured)

mpdport=6600

# Remote control communication host and port Default localhost 5100

remote_control_host=localhost
remote_control_port=5100

# Remote control UDP server listen host either 0.0.0.0 (All interfaces) or
localhost
remote_listen_host=localhost

# Output LED for remote control, default GPIO 11 (pin 23) or

# GPIO 13 (pin 33) for AdaFruit plate or PiFace CAD (40 pin RPi needed)
# Use GPIO 16 (pin 36) for designs using IQAudio DAC cards etc.
# remote_led=0 is no output LED
remote_led=0

# Display playlist number in brackets yes or no

display_playlist_number=no

# Background colours (If supported) See Adafruit RGB plate

# options OFF, RED, GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW, TEAL, VIOLET, WHITE
bg_color=WHITE
mute_color=VIOLET
shutdown_color=TEAL
error_color=RED
search_color=GREEN
info_color=BLUE
menu_color=YELLOW
source_color=TEAL
sleep_color=OFF

# Status LED (Typically for vintage radio) Normally 27,22,23 respectively

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 217
Program
 rgb_green=0
rgb_blue=0
rgb_red=0

# Menu rotary switch (optional) Normal values are 24,8 and 7 respectively.
Value 0 disables
menu_switch_value_1=0
menu_switch_value_2=0
menu_switch_value_4=0

# The i2c_address overides the default i2c address. 0x00 = use default
# Some backpacks use other addresses such as 0x3F, then set i2c_address=0x3F
i2c_address=0x00

# I2C normaly uses bus 1 on the I2C interface. However the very first
Raspberry
# used bus 0. If you are using a very old Pi then set i2c_bus=0
# Run ./display_model.py to see what model Pi you are running
i2c_bus=1

# Speech for visually impaired or blind listeners, yes or no

# Needs espeak package - sudo apt-get install espeak
speech=no
# Speech volume as a percentage of the normal MPD volume
speech_volume=40
# Verbose - yes = each station change is spoken
verbose=no

# Set the user interface to 'buttons' or 'rotary_encoder'

# These can also be used in conjunction with a graphical/touchscreen display
#user_interface=rotary_encoder
#user_interface=rotary_encoder
user_interface=rotary_encoder

# Switch settings for 40 pin version (support for IQAudio)

menu_switch=17
mute_switch=4
up_switch=24
down_switch=23
left_switch=14
right_switch=15

# Pull GPIO up/down internal resistors (Applies button interface only).

# Default:down
pull_up_down=down

# Display types
# NO_DISPLAY = No display connected
# LCD = directly connected LCD
# LCD_I2C_PCF8574 = Arduino (PCF8574) or Adafruit I2C backpack
# LCD_I2C_ADAFRUIT = Adafruit I2C backpack
# LCD_ADAFRUIT_RGB = LCD I2C RGB plate with buttons
# GRAPHICAL = Graphical or touch screen display
# OLED_128x64 = 128x64 pixel OLED

display_type=GRAPHICAL

# Display width, 0 use program default. Usual settings 16 or 20

display_width=0
display_lines=0

# LCD GPIO connections for 40 pin version of the radio

lcd_select=7
lcd_enable=8
lcd_data4=5
lcd_data5=6
lcd_data6=12

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 218
Program
 lcd_data7=13

# Some rotary switches do not work well with the standard rotary class
# Rotary encoder driver. Set to "alternative" to use the alternative rotary
encoder class
rotary_class=standard
#rotary_class=alternative

# Action on exiting radio. Stop radio only or shutdown the system

# exit_action=stop_radio
exit_action=shutdown

# Shoutcast ID
shoutcast_key=anCLSEDQODrElkxl

# OLED parameters
# Flip display vertically (yes or no) OLED only at present
flip_display_vertically=no

# Splash screen
splash=bitmaps/raspberry-pi-logo.bmp

# Graphics (touch screen) screen settings

[SCREEN]
# Size is in pixels. Supported is 800x480 (7" screen) or 720x480(3.5"
screen)
# or 480x320 (2.8" or 3.5" screen)
screen_size=480x320
fullscreen=no
# Title %V = version %H = hostname
window_title=Bob Rathbone Internet Radio Version %V - %H
window_color=turquoise
banner_color=white
labels_color=white
display_window_color=lightblue
display_window_labels_color=black
slider_color=darkgreen
display_mouse=yes

# Wallpaper backgrounds. See /usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds

wallpaper=/usr/share/scratch/Media/Backgrounds/Nature/beach-malibu.jpg

# Set date format for graphic screen

dateformat=%H:%M:%S %A %e %B %Y

# Allow switching between vgradio and gradio

switch_programs=yes

# The following is specific to the vintage graphical radio

scale_labels_color=white
stations_per_page=40
display_date=yes
display_title=yes

[AIRPLAY]

# Airplay activation yes or no

airplay=no

# Mixer preset volume for radio and media player if using sound card
# Set to 0 if using onboard audio or USB sound dongle.
# If using a sound card set to 100% initially and adjust as neccessary
# Old name was mixer_volume
mixer_preset=100

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 219
Program
/etc/logrotate.d/radiod
This file causes the /var/log/radio.log to be rotated so that it doesn’t continue to grow and fill the
disk.
/var/log/radio.log {
weekly
missingok
rotate 4
compress
notifempty
maxsize 150000
copytruncate
create 600
}

Old log files are compressed and renamed, for example /var/log/radio.log.1.gz.

/etc/init.d/radiod
This is the start stop script for the radio daemon. The NAME parameter must be changed to point to
the correct radio program. This is done by the configure_radio.sh shell script which is called during
the installation procedure.
# Change NAME parameter this next line to the version of the daemon you are
using
# Choices are radiod.py, radio4.py, rradiod.py, rradio4.py, ada_radio.py,
# rradiobp4.py or rradiobp.py
# No spaces around the = character
NAME=radio4.py

This script is linked to the start stop run levels in the /etc directory.
For example:
ls -la /etc/rc2.d/S03radiod
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Nov 8 14:28 /etc/rc3.d/S03radiod ->
../init.d/radiod

/lib/systemd/system/radiod.service
This file is part of the new systemd startup services and has been added from version 5.8 onwards to
increase compatibility with the new systemd start-up and shutdown routines.
# Radio systemd script
:
[Unit]
Description=Radio daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/share/radio/radiod.py nodaemon

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

/etc/init.d/asound.conf
This file is only added if a DAC or USB sound device is added and is needed for espeak and aplay

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 220
Program
 # Set default mixer controls
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
}

# Set default PCM device

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "plughw:0,0"
format S32_LE
}
}

/etc/init.d/irradiod
This is the service start stop script for the remote control daemon. This starts and stops the
/usr/share/radio/remote_control.py program which handles the remote control for the IR
interface.

/etc/lirc/lircrc
This file contains the button definitions for the remote control to Pi radio interface.
begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_VOLUMEUP
config = KEY_VOLUMEUP
repeat = 1
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
config = KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
repeat = 1
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_CHANNELUP
config = KEY_CHANNELUP
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_CHANNELDOWN
config = KEY_CHANNELDOWN
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_MUTE
config = KEY_MUTE
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_MENU
config = KEY_MENU
end

begin

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 221
Program
 prog = piradio
button = KEY_LEFT
config = KEY_LEFT
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_RIGHT
config = KEY_RIGHT
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_UP
config = KEY_UP
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_DOWN
config = KEY_DOWN
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_OK
config = KEY_OK
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_LANGUAGE
config = KEY_LANGUAGE
end

begin
prog = piradio
button = KEY_INFO
config = KEY_INFO
end

# End

The Desktop file gradio.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Radio
Comment=Internet radio
Icon=/usr/share/radio/images/radio.png
Exec=sudo /usr/share/radio/gradio.py
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Terminal=false
Categories=None;

The Desktop file vgradio.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Vintage Radio
Comment=Vintage Internet radio
Icon=/usr/share/radio/images/Vintage.png
Exec=sudo /usr/share/radio/vgradio.py
Type=Application

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 222
Program
 Encoding=UTF-8
Terminal=false
Categories=None;

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 223
Program
A.2 System files modified by the installation
All files to be modified by the installation process are first copied to <filename>.orig.

/etc/modules
If the i2C interface is installed then the i2c-dev module definition is added to this file. A reboot is
required to load the module.
snd-bcm2835
i2c-bcm2708
i2c-dev
# Original file stored as /etc/modules.orig

/boot/config.txt
This is amended if installing the IR software by adding the lirc-rpi device definition. For example:
dtoverlay=lirc-rpi,gpio_in_pin=9

It may also be modified to support HiFiBerry DAC and DAC+. For example:
dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus

For IQaudIO devices the relevant overlay will be specified.

dtoverlay=iqaudio-dacplus,unmute_amp

From version 5.8 onwards the configure_audio.sh program disables the onboard sound devices
when configuring a sound card by changing the following line in /boot/config.txt from:
dtparam=audio=on

To:
dtparam=audio=off

The lxsession autostart file for desktop radio

The /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart file is modified to start gradio.py or vgradio.py

if so configured.
@lxpanel --profile LXDE-pi
@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE-pi
@xscreensaver -no-splash
@point-rpi
@sudo /usr/share/radio/gradio.py

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix A - System Files used by the Radio 224
Program
Appendix B – Cheat sheets
The following cheat sheet is a list of the basic commands to install MPD and the radio software.

B.1 Operating system and configuration

Update OS
$ sudo apt-get update
:
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo reboot

Run raspi-config to set up hostname, pi user password and timezone.

$ sudo raspi-config

B.2 Music Player Daemon and Radio software

Install MPD and MPC
$ sudo apt-get install mpd mpc python-mpd

Download radio package

$ wget http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/packages/radiod_6.9_armhf.deb

Install radio package

$ sudo dpkg -i radiod_6.9_armhf.deb

If using I2C components install python-smbus

$ sudo apt-get install python-smbus

If using PiFace CAD (SPI interface) install python-pifacecad

$ sudo apt-get install python-pifacecad

To install sound cards

$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo ./configure_audio.sh

IQaudIO Cosmic controller and OLED

$ sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential libi2c-dev i2c-tools python-dev

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix B – Cheat sheets 225

B.3 Installing the Pimoroni Pirate Radio software

$ curl https://get.pimoroni.com/vlcradio | bash

B.4 Installing Web Interface

Install Apache and the PHP libraries for Apache.
$ sudo apt-get install apache2 php libapache2-mod-php

Download the web interface package

$ wget http://www.bobrathbone.com/raspberrypi/packages/radiodweb_1.4_armhf.deb

Install the web interface package

For Raspbian Stretch:
$ sudo dpkg -i radiodweb_1.5_armhf.deb
dpkg -i radiodweb_1.4_armhf.deb

B.5 Installing remote IR software

Install lirc and lirc-python with the following commands:
$ sudo apt-get -y install lirc
$ sudo apt-get -y install python-lirc

Configure /boot/config.txt for lirc-rpi overlay to match the wiring for the IR sensor.
dtoverlay=lirc-rpi,gpio_in_pin=25,gpio_in_pull=high

Copy the button definitions to /etc/lircrc and reboot the Raspberry Pi.
$ cd /usr/share/radio
$ sudo cp lircrc.dist /etc/lirc/lircrc

Generate the lircd.conf file using the remote control.

$ mv /etc/lirc/lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.old
$ sudo irrecord -f -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

Enable the irradiod service to start up at boot time.

$ sudo systemctl enable irradiod

Configure the remote activity LED in /etc/radiod.conf to match the wiring for the LED.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix B – Cheat sheets 226

 remote_led=16

Test the LED

$ sudo service irradiod flash

B.6 Enabling speech facility

Install the espeak package:

$ sudo apt-get install espeak

Enable the speech facility in /etc/radiod.conf and restart the radio.

# Speech for visually impaired or blind listeners, yes or no
speech=yes

B.7 Installing Spotify

Download the Raspotify software with the curl command.
$ curl -sL https://dtcooper.github.io/raspotify/install.sh | sh

This will both download and install Raspotify.

Edit /lib/systemd/system/raspotify.service and disable the restart options.

#Restart=always
#RestartSec=10

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix B – Cheat sheets 227

Appendix C – Technical specification and other notes
C.1 – Technical specification
The specification of the Raspberry PI internet radio is:
• The software runs on Raspbian Stretch (Debian 9) on all Raspberry Pi’s except version 1
• Uses the standard Music Player Daemon (MPD)
• The following displays are supported:
o Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch screen or HDMI screen
o Most 3.5-inch touch screens
o 2 x 16-character LCD
o 2 x 8-character LCD
o 4 x 16-character LCD
o 4 x 20-character LCD
o Adafruit LCD plate with 5 push buttons (I2C interface)
o Adafruit 3.5-inch TFT touch-screen
o A 128 by 64-pixel OLED display
o PiFace CAD with 2x16 LCD
• The LCD can be directly interfaced via GPIO pins or using an I2C backpack interface
• Optional IR sensor and remote control using LIRC or
• Clock display or IP address display
• Five configurable user interfaces are available:
o Five push button operation (Menu, Volume Up, Down, Channel Up, Down)
o As alternative to the above rotary encoders may be used
o Touchscreen with Mouse/Keyboard interface
o IQaudIO Cosmic controller with three push buttons and rotary encoder
o Pimoroni Pirate radio using pHat BEAT sound card and VU indicator
o PiFace CAD with six push-buttons (Only five are used)
• Support for Digital sound cards such as HiFiBerry, IQaudIO, JustBoom or Pimoroni
pHat/BEAT
• Vintage radio conversion to internet radio supported
• Timer (Snooze) and Alarm functions (Not touch screen version)
• Artist and track scrolling search function
• Plays music from a USB stick, SD card or from a Network drive (NAS)
• Menu option to display a single RSS news feed
• Web interface using Snoopy
• Control the radio from either an Android device or iPhone and iPad
• Plays Radio streams or MP3 and WMA tracks
• Can function as a Spotify receiver (Needs a premium Spotify account)
• Optional support for Apple Airplay speaker using shairport-sync.
• Play output on PC or on a mobile device using ICECAST streaming
• Playlist creation program using a list of URLs (M3U file)
• Playlist creation from the Shoutcast database via command line or Web interface
• Fully integrated with mobile apps such as Android MPDdroid or Apple mPod
• Speech for visually impaired and blind persons using espeak
• Support for European character sets (Limited by LCD capabilities)

Please note that this is not a consumer product. No claims are made to suitability for all
users. It is solely intended as a fun construction project. Please also see Disclaimer on
page 211.

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix C – Technical specification and 228
other notes
C.2 -Elecrow 7-inch touch-screen notes

Below are some notes on how to set up the Elecrow 7 inch TFT Capacitive touch screen display, with
1024x600 Resolution.

Please note, much of this information was supplied by a third-party and has not been
tested by the author. Therefore, any support by the author is limited.

Add the following to /boot/config.txt file.

hdmi_force_hotplug=1
max_usb_current=1
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=1
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_cvt 1024 600 60 6 0 0 0
hdmi_drive=1

If when running in full screen mode (fullscreen=yes in /etc/radiod.conf) you see a small window
surrounded by a thick black border then in /boot/config.txt file amend the following:

framebuffer_width=1280
framebuffer_height=720

To
framebuffer_width=800
framebuffer_height=480

Also set the screen_size parameter in /etc/radiod.conf.

screen_size=800x480

Both files must be edited using sudo. For example:

$ sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Further information on the Elecrow touch-screen can be found at:

https://www.elecrow.com/wiki/index.php?title=7_Inch_1024*600_HDMI_LCD_Display_with_Touch
_Screen

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix C – Technical specification and 229
other notes
C.3 Sound card DT Overlays
The following table contains the known Device Tree (DT) overlays for various sound cards. The third
column contains the DT overlay statement that needs to be added to the /boot/config.txt
configuration file. This is either done by running the configure_audio.sh program or by directly
editing /boot/config.txt.

Table 21 Sound card Device Tree overlays

Manufacturer Sound Card DT Overlay

HiFiBerry DAC+ Light/DAC Zero/MiniAmp dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac or Pimoroni pHat
HiFiBerry DAC+ standard/pro dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus
HiFiBerry Digi/Digi+ all models dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi
HiFiBerry Amp+ dtoverlay=hifiberry-amp
IQaudIO Pi-DAC+ dtoverlay=iqaudio-dacplus
IQaudIO Pi-DigiAMP+ dtoverlay=iqaudio-dacplus,unmute_amp
IQaudIO Pi-DACZero dtoverlay=iqaudio-dacplus
IQaudIO Pi-DAC PRO dtoverlay=iqaudio-dacplus
IQaudIO Pi-Digi+ dtoverlay=iqaudio-digi-wm8804-audio
JustBoom Amp, Amp Zero, DAC and DAC Zero dtoverlay=justboom-dac
JustBoom Digi and Digi Zero dtoverlay=justboom-digi
Pimoroni Pimoroni pHat (HiFiBerry compatable) dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac

In all cases, disable the on-board sound system by modifying the dtparam=audio=on parameter in
the /boot/config.txt configuration file to off:
dtparam=audio=off

Configuring other audio devices

For other audio devices, the DT overlays can be found in the /boot/overlays/ directory. See the
/boot/overlays/README file. For example, to enable the Cirrus WM5102 you would add the
following line to the end of the /boot/config.txt configuration file:
dtoverlay=rpi-cirrus-wm5102

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix C – Technical specification and 230
other notes
C.4 UDP messages
This section is only of interest to developers wishing to interface with the radio program.
These are messages (events) sent to the UDP listener in the radio_class.py program. These are sent
from the IR remote control program and from the Shoutcast program & web interface.

Table 22 UDP messages

Message Source Description

MUTE_BUTTON_DOWN Remote control Mute button held down
KEY_VOLUMEUP Remote control Not used, same as KEY_RIGHT
KEY_RIGHT Remote control Volume up or menu up function
KEY_VOLUMEDOWN Remote control Not used, same as KEY_LEFT
KEY_LEFT Remote control Volume down or menu down function
LEFT_SWITCH Radio class Left switch pressed
RIGHT_SWITCH Radio class Right switch pressed
KEY_CHANNELUP Remote control Not used, same as KEY_UP
KEY_UP Remote control Channel up or menu up function
KEY_CHANNELDOWN Remote control Not used, same as KEY_DOWN
KEY_DOWN Remote control Channel down or menu down function
KEY_MENU Remote control Menu function on remote control pressed
KEY_OK Remote control OK key on remote pressed
KEY_LANGUAGE Remote control Toggle speech facility on/off
KEY_INFO Remote control Toggle info on/off
MEDIA select_source.cgi script Cycle through Media playlists
RADIO select_source.cgi script Cycle through Radio playlists
AIRPLAY select_source.cgi script Select Airplay as source
SPOTIFY select_source.cgi script Select Spotify as source
INTERRUPT select_source.cgi script Not used
RELOAD_PLAYLISTS shoutcast.cgi script Reload (new) playlists

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix C – Technical specification and 231
other notes
Appendix D – Wiring diagrams and lists
The following tables shows the wiring for the various versions of the radio. These configurations are
normally set up by the configure_radio.sh program with the exception of the Vintage radio.
See Configuring the radio on page 70. It is also necessary to set the pull_up_down parameter in
/etc/radiod.conf depending on wiring.

D1 Push Button and Rotary Encoder 40-pin wiring

The following table shows the wiring for the 40-pin push-buttons or rotary encoders.

Table 23 40-PinPush-buttons/Rotary encoder Wiring

Buttons/Encoders Pin GPIO Configuration Radio function

Menu button 11 17 menu_switch Menu
Channel down button/Rotary switch A 16 23 down_switch Channel down
Channel up button/Rotary switch B 18 24 up_switch Channel up
Mute button 7 4 mute_switch Mute sound
Volume down button/Rotary switch A 8 14 left_switch Volume Down
Volume up button/Rotary switch B 10 15 right _switch Volume Up

D.2 Push Button and Rotary Encoder 26-pin wiring

The following table shows the wiring for the 26-pin push-buttons or rotary encoders.

Table 24 26-PinPush-buttons/Rotary encoder Wiring

Buttons/Encoders Pin GPIO Configuration Radio function

Menu button 22 25 menu_switch Menu
Channel down button/Rotary switch A 19 10 down_switch Channel down
Channel up button/Rotary switch B 11 17 up_switch Channel up
Mute button 7 4 mute_switch Mute sound
Volume down button/Rotary switch A 8 14 left_switch Volume Down
Volume up button/Rotary switch B 10 15 right _switch Volume Up
Set pull_up_down=up in /etc/radiod.conf depending on wiring.

D.3 IQaudIO Cosmic Controller wiring

The following table shows the wiring for the IQaudIO Cosmic controller.

Table 25 IQaudIO Cosmic Controller Wiring

Physical control Pin GPIO Configuration Radio function

Left hand push button 7 4 down_switch Channel down
Middle push button 29 5 menu_switch Menu
Right hand push button 31 6 up_switch Channel up
Rotary encoder A input 16 23 left_switch Volume control
Rotary encoder B input 18 24 right_switch “ “
Rotary encoder Switch 13 27 mute_switch Mute switch
Left status LED 8 14 rgb_red Error status
Middle status LED 10 15 rgb_blue Busy status
Right status LED 36 16 rgb_green Normal status
IR sensor 22 25 In /boot/config.txt Remote control

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix D – Wiring diagrams and lists 232
D.4 Pimoroni Pirate Radio wiring
The following table shows the wiring for the Pimoroni Pirate radio (pHat BEAT). Orientation is with
the basic push buttons on the left-hand side. The menu button is on the top left-hand side.

Table 26 Pimoroni Pirate radio (pHat BEAT) Wiring

Pimoroni buttons Pin GPIO Configuration Radio function

On Off button 32 12 menu_switch Menu
Channel Up button 29 5 up_switch Channel up
Mute button 31 6 mute_switch Mute sound
Channel Down button 16 13 down_switch Channel Up
Volume Up button 36 16 right_switch Volume Up
Volume Down Button 37 26 left_switch Volume Down

The On/Off button used in the Pimoroni Radio software re-assigned as the menu switch with the
Rathbone radio software. All LCD outputs are set to zero (No display).
Set pull_up_down=up in /etc/radiod.conf

D.5 Vintage Radio Push-button/Rotary Encoder 40-pin wiring

The following table shows the wiring for the 40-pin push-buttons or rotary encoders. This set-up
must be manually configured in /etc/radiod.conf. It cannot currently be configured by the
configure_radio.sh script.

Table 27 40-PinPush-buttons/Rotary encoder Wiring

Buttons/Encoders Pin GPIO Configuration Radio function

Menu button 22 25 menu_switch Menu
Channel down button/Rotary switch A 19 10 down_switch Channel down
Channel up button/Rotary switch B 11 17 up_switch Channel up
Mute button 7 4 mute_switch Mute sound
Volume down button/Rotary switch A 19 10 left_switch Volume Down
Volume up button/Rotary switch B 11 17 right _switch Volume Up

Table 28 Status LED indications

GPIO Pin LED Function

23 16 Red Error condition, shutdown in progress, IR activity (If configured)
22 15 Blue Busy condition such as start-up, loading or changing radio stations or tracks.
27 13 Green Normal operation such as playing stations or tracks.

Table 29 Rotary menu switch

GPIO Pin Switch value

24 18 1
8 24 2
7 26 4

Combining the above switch values gives a composite switch value of 0 through 7.
0=Idle, 1=Speak current station/track, 3=Search mode, 4=Source menu, 5=Options Menu 6,7 unused

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Appendix D – Wiring diagrams and lists 233
D.6 Raspberry Pi Rotary Encoder version with backlight dimmer
The following wiring diagram was provided by Joaquin Perez, Broadcast Engineer, Leeds. He also
shows the circuitry to dim the backlight using a BS170 Mosfet transistor (Software to support the
LED dimmer to follow in a later release).

Figure 181 Wiring Raspberry Pi Radio Rotary Encoder version

Index
1602 I2C LCD, 33 ASX, 150, 151, 214
26 way ribbon cable, 27, 28 audio jack plug, 42
AAC, 150, 151, 214 AV, 10, 11
activity LED, 7, 17, 39, 92, 95, 110, 111 backup, 107
Adafruit, 5, 6, 17, 23, 24, 28, 32, 33, 34, 35, Bitvise, 58, 62, 200
36, 38, 39, 53, 80, 92, 110, 112, 113, 140, Bluetooth speakers, 91
165, 167, 174, 205, 211, 212, 228 breakout boards, 31
AdaFruit, 5, 17, 93, 110, 125, 203 CAD, 8, 41, 110, 214
AdaFruit industries, 5 CGI, 101, 214
AdaFruit RGB plate, 17, 110, 125, 203 CIFS, 155, 156, 157, 214
airflow, 17 CloudBreak, 131, 197
Airplay, 131, 192, 194, 195, 196, 208, 228 colours, 112, 140
Alarm, 124, 125, 137, 138, 139, 228 COM-09117 12-step rotary encoder, 22
alsamixer, 85, 87, 88, 90, 117, 195 configure_radio.sh, 15, 18, 35, 45, 70, 72, 75,
amplifier, 7, 25, 26, 28, 51 91, 108, 109, 111, 134, 137, 162, 164, 165,
aplay, 54, 86, 105, 106, 163, 169, 170, 220 205, 207, 208, 217, 220, 232
Arduino, 34, 35, 80, 81 constructor’s gallery, 16
asound.conf, 105, 116, 117, 220 cooling fans, 51

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Index 234

Cosmic controller, 15, 40, 67, 111, 206, 225, I2C interface, 14, 15, 16, 32, 34, 36, 40, 75, 76,
228, 232, 233 218, 228
Cosmic Controller, 92 Icecast2, 137, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186,
DAC, 18, 19, 20, 42, 43, 45, 46, 52, 72, 86, 87, 187, 211, 212
90, 105, 106, 109, 163, 168, 169, 170, 171, interface board, 25, 27, 29, 30, 33, 35, 36, 49
180, 208, 214, 224 Internet Security, 198
daemon, 69, 82, 89, 95, 98, 113, 122, 137, iPad, 228
140, 158, 159, 163, 164, 165, 168, 169, 171, iPhone, 228
176, 178, 181, 183, 202, 205, 207, 208, 220, iPod 4 pole AV, 11
221 iptables, 199, 200
date format, 111, 203 iptables-persistent, 201
DDOS, 198 iptables-save, 201
Device Tree, 230 IPv4, 215
DHCP, 99, 155, 214 IPv6, 164, 215
DNS, 100, 214 IQaudIO, 232
Domain Name System. See DNS IQAudio, 11, 15, 18, 20, 21, 23, 26, 28, 39, 40,
dpkg, 70, 101, 161, 225, 226 45, 67, 79, 86, 87, 91, 92, 93, 105, 109, 111,
DSP, 214 116, 118, 206, 208, 224, 228
DT. See Device Tree IR, 7, 8, 17, 19, 20, 28, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 92,
Elecrow, 13, 229 95, 175, 208, 215, 221, 224, 228
Electromagnetic Interference, 50, 164, 214 IR sensor, 38
electronic ink displays, 204 IR Sensor, 17, 19, 28, 38, 92
EMI, 50, 164, 214 Jessie, 28, 58, 61, 62, 69, 99, 155
equalizer, 116, 117 Jessie Lite, 11, 58, 61, 69, 228
espeak, 9, 94, 104, 105, 106, 126, 137, 207, JustBoom, 18, 26, 46, 87, 228
212, 220, 227, 228 language file, 106, 114
eSpeak, 2, 216 LCD, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 28,
fail2ban, 199, 200 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 50, 53, 72, 80, 92,
ferrite core, 50 112, 114, 122, 124, 125, 133, 138, 139, 164,
ffmpeg, 67, 130 165, 169, 174, 183, 186, 203, 207, 211, 212,
firewall, 199 215, 228
firmware, 60, 192 LED Backlight, 23
fsck, 160 LED dimmer, 234
FTP, 198 lirc, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 172, 221, 224, 226
GPIO, 6, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 32, 34, LIRC, 95, 215
35, 36, 38, 39, 43, 44, 87, 92, 110, 174, 175, Locale, 65
214, 228 M3U, 149, 150, 167, 186, 215, 228
GPIO header, 25, 32, 35, 87 MAC, 99, 215
GPIO pins, 17, 19, 27, 28, 32, 34, 43, 175, 228 mains filter, 50
Ground Loop Isolator, 51 micro USB, 11
HD44870, 10, 11, 15, 23, 28, 205 mixer_volume, 137, 194, 195
HD44870 LCD, 29 MP3, 136, 150, 228
HDMI, 11, 54, 59, 86, 105, 160, 163, 169, 195, MPC, 89, 139, 140, 163, 215
208 mpd, 54, 69, 89, 90, 136, 137, 139, 141, 142,
heat sink, 51, 52 157, 158, 159, 163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169,
HiFiBerry, 18, 20, 26, 42, 43, 44, 86, 87, 88, 90, 171, 176, 181, 186, 187, 203, 207, 212, 225
105, 106, 109, 163, 169, 180, 208, 224, 228 MPD, 69, 82, 89, 100, 113, 114, 122, 137, 139,
hostname, 63, 64, 187, 225 140, 142, 157, 158, 159, 163, 164, 168, 169,
housing the radio, 16 171, 176, 181, 182, 187, 202, 203, 207, 212,
I2C, 19, 20, 28, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 50, 76, 215, 228
80, 81, 92, 212, 214, 228 MPDroid, 158, 159, 228

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Index 235

mpeg, 67, 151 Raspotify, 188
MPEG, 150, 215 Red Blue Green LED, 208
MPEG3, 150, 215 remote control, 8, 17, 38, 39, 41, 91, 93, 94,
nano, 56, 57 95, 106, 110, 175, 178, 208, 221, 228
NAS, 136, 137, 156, 215, 228 Revision 1 board, 22
Network Time Protocol, 138, 215 Rexec, 198
news feed, 115, 228 rotary encoder, 5, 15, 18, 21, 22, 36, 113, 126,
NFS, 155, 156, 167, 215 138, 174, 204, 228
NTP, 138, 215 rotary encoders, 5, 6, 7, 15, 17, 22, 23, 28, 35,
OLED, 11, 15, 40, 67, 75, 80, 111, 206, 213, 36, 124, 125, 204
215, 228 Rotary encoders, 22, 28, 33, 39, 92
Olimex Limited, 206, 213 RSS, 115, 124, 125, 137, 203, 207, 216, 228
Organic Light Emitting Diode, 11 screen saver, 135
OS, 28, 156, 215 SD, 216
PC, 5, 16, 28, 70, 115, 136, 149, 155, 181, 183, SD card, 107
184, 186, 187, 215, 228 Secure Shell. See SSH
PC speakers., 184 Serial Peripheral Bus interface, 8
PCF8574, 34, 35, 212 service mpd, 89
PCM, 44, 106, 215 service radiod, 82, 95, 115, 122, 178, 179, 209
pHat BEAT, 8, 14, 41, 69, 70, 83, 233 shairport-sync, 192, 193, 194, 195, 208, 228
Phishing, 198 Shoutcast, 103, 141, 146, 147, 148, 150, 151
Pi Zero, 6, 11 speech, 104, 106
Pi Zero W, 11 speech_volume, 104
PID, 215 SPI, 8, 34, 41
PiFace, 8, 41, 214, 221 SPI interface, 15, 41, 74, 225
PiFace CAD, 2, 15, 39, 41, 71, 74, 82, 83, 166, Spotify, 188, 189, 190, 191, 228
216, 217, 228 SSD1306, 206, 213
PiFace Control and Display, 8 SSH, 58, 62, 139, 198, 216
PiJack, 11 SSID, 97, 216
Pimoroni, 8, 41, 233 Stretch, 58, 61, 80, 198, 199, 215
Pimoroni pHat, 44, 88, 230 systemd, 220
Pimoroni pHAT, 47 TCP/IP, 208, 216
Pimoroni Pirate radio, 83 Telnet, 198
Pirate radio, 8, 14, 41, 233 TFT, 5, 13, 15, 36, 37, 216, 228
PLS, 149, 150, 151, 163, 215 timesync, 138
potentiometer, 35, 164 timezone, 62, 63, 225
power adapter, 25 tone control, 9, 52
power supply switch, 25 touch screen, 4, 12, 13, 15, 228
pulseaudio, 47, 69, 91, 163, 165, 167 TSOP38238, 28, 38
Putty, 58, 62, 200 TSOP382xx, 17
pygame, 60, 133 type of radio, 15
radiod.conf, 34, 35, 44, 95, 104, 110, 111, UDP, 95, 175, 208, 216
112, 114, 137, 178, 179, 204, 207, 208, 217, URL, 115, 124, 125, 137, 149, 150, 151, 152,
227 167, 181, 186, 187, 202, 203, 215, 216
Random, 124, 125, 203 USB, 6, 11, 25, 28, 33, 50, 96, 136, 157, 158,
Raspberry PI, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 17, 25, 28, 32, 168, 169, 171, 212, 216, 228
36, 38, 39, 42, 43, 50, 54, 70, 81, 82, 90, 92, USB adaptor, 6
96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 110, 136, 139, USB stick, 136, 157, 158, 228
140, 164, 171, 175, 182, 183, 186, 187, 209, USB to Ethernet adapter, 6, 11
211, 212, 214, 228 USB-OTG, 13
Raspbian Jessie, 58 version 1.0 boards, 21

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Index 236

vi, 56 WIFI, 63, 97, 216
vintage radio, 9, 16, 110, 208 Win32DiskImager, 107
Vintage radio, 26, 39, 110, 228 wiring, 18, 19, 22, 23, 28, 35, 53, 111, 164,
VLC, 83 165, 167
wake-up button, 37 wiring diagram, 234
web interface, 99, 102, 103, 104, 155, 202, WMA, 136, 228
203 WPA, 97, 98, 216
Web interface, 100, 102, 228 WPA2, 97, 216
WEP, 97, 216 XML, 151, 216
wget, 70, 101, 151, 152, 225, 226 xscreensaver, 134, 135
WiFi, 96 xscreensaver-command, 135

Bob Rathbone |Raspberry PI Internet Radio - Index 237