BR_Internet_Radio

This is a simple Internet radio built using mpd/mpc and Flask with Buildroot. Please note, that this repository contains also sources taken from python-mpd2 project ( https://github.com/Mic92/python-mpd2 ) and flask-wtf project ( https://github.com/lepture/flask-wtf ).

It has been developed for Orange Pi Zero board, but testing was also performed in virtual machines (Virt 64 and Vexpress-A9) emulated in QEMU.

Building

To build the Linux image, enter the appropriate directory and run the "build.sh" script. It should automatically download the buildroot, unpack it, configure and build the image.

Running

In case of the real hardware (currently only Orange Pi Zero), you should transfer the compiled files to the SD card. You may simply write the generated sdcard.img to the card using dd tool.

Simplified update for Orange Pi Zero

When updating the image, I usually simply copy the "zImage", "sun8i-h2-plus-orangepi-zero.dtb", and "boot.scr" files from output/images directory to the first partition of the SD card, and unpack the output/images/rootfs.ext4 file to the second partition (after erasing it first). That procedure leaves the "u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin" loader not updated, but that's usually not a problem. Of course you may update it using the dd tool (replace /dev/sdX with the name of the device corresponding to your SD card):

dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=1024 seek=8

Running in virtual machine

To test your radio in a virtual machine, run the "runme" file in the appropriate directory.

Using

After the machine starts, the radio should start playing the first station. You may control the radio via simplistic web interface available on the 8810 TCP port. In case of the virtual machines it is forwarded to the 8888 port on the host machine.

Porting to another board

If you want to port that project to another BR-supported board, you should prepare the Buildroot configuration. You should start with make yourboard-defconfig and then enter the appropriate modifications:

• Change the toolchain to external one.
• Set the root password (in my configurations it is set to "MyRootPassword" of course you should change it).
• Select /dev management (Dynamic using devtmpfs + eudev).
• Select alsa-utils and inside: alsamixer and speaker-test
• Configure rootfs overlay directories: ../../common_overlay ../overlay.
  • When your virtual machine boots, you may produce the asound.state file using the command /usr/sbin/alsactl --file /tmp/asound.state store. That file should be copied via SSH to the host and stored as ../overlay/root/.config/asound.state
• Select dropbear package.
• Select mpd package and its appropriate options:
  • select the curl input plugin
  • select converter plugins
  • select decoder plugins (I've selected all except tremor).
• Select Python3 and its modules:
  • internal modules: readline,ssl,sqlite,zlib, xml, xz
  • external modules: python-flask, python-flask-babel, python-flask-login, python-wtforms, websockets
• Select ifplugd
• Select screen