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Simple internet radio build

An internet radio build using the following software/hardware components:

The project will be accompanied by step-by-step build instructions, starting from the easy bare-bone internet radio to customizing both hardware and firmware.

Ultimate goal is to have it enclosed in a Thomson TG784n router as a radio case, as unfortunately I couldn't find a way to flash OpenWRT or DD-WRT to that router, although it would've made the whole thing probably a lot easier.

Build 1 - basic software setup

This version will only be controlled via SSH access, so in order to start/stop/change the music playing, you will have to log in to the Raspberry from a remote computer.

  1. prepare sd card with DietPi
  2. install DietPi with
  1. add an internet radio station using mpc add ....
  2. play using mpc play

Build 2 - controlling from a smartphone

To add some more control over what to play, let's make the radio controllable via a smartphone.

  1. install Node.js and git client using dietpi-software
  2. install MPD.FM according to the instructions
  3. edit /etc/systemd/system/MPD.FM.service to change node path in ExecStart from /usr/bin/node to /usr/local/bin/node
  4. systemctl restart MPD.FM to really start, now with the updated node path
  5. edit /home/srv-mpd-fm/MPD.FM/data/stations.json to your likings

Build 3 - basic interaction using a pushbutton

  1. wire toggle button to pin 6 (GND) and pin 12 (GPIO18) of the rPi
  2. create controller python script to start/stop playback (copy thom-pi/basic/radio.py to /home/srv-mpd-fm/thompi/radio.py)
  3. create systemd service to autostart controller script (copy thom-pi/radio.service to /etc/systemd/system/radio.service)
  4. enable the radio service using systemctl enable radio.service to automatically start boot
  5. start the radio service using systemctl enable radio.service to start the radio contoller