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Post by Chuck Elliot on Jan 12, 2015 11:01:32 GMT -5
 I’ve started some experiments with the latest version of the Raspberry PI, the B+ model. This board sells on Amazon for about $35. With it, a mini-USB charger and a few “odds and ends” it is a complete computer system. For a little history on why this was developed see this link: About Raspberry PI. I concur completely with their appraisal that learning to use a spreadsheet and word processor does not prepare one for a career in IT or computer science. In the UK and worldwide this little unit is being used by kids to grasp the fundamentals of the OS, programming, robotics and other aspects of computer usage. This is being done by 10 year olds in some cases. Many different operation systems and utilities are available for free download including: - Raspbian (A version of Debian Lynix)
- RaspBMC(An XBMC Media Center port)
- OpenELEC(Another XBMC Media Center port)
Many add on boards are available to expand the feature set of the basic board. The X300 by Suptronics adds sATA drive support, Bluetooth, IR, RTC, SPDIF via Toslink, Wireless Ethernet, USB expansion and power conversion to the model B+. The board just stacks on top of the B+.  Currently, I have configured the B+ to connect to Windows both for shared files access and Remote Desktop connection. My first use of this system will be to create a media server. If there is interest here I will add more in the future. Chuck |
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Post by drtrey3 on Jan 12, 2015 11:09:39 GMT -5
I wish I had the knowledge to do this sort of thing, it speaks well of you that you do. Please keep posting as I enjoy the read.
Trey
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Jan 12, 2015 11:24:05 GMT -5
I wish I had the knowledge to do this sort of thing, it speaks well of you that you do. Please keep posting as I enjoy the read. Trey You're never too old to learn - and it's fun while you keep the Alzheimer's away. In many cases it's just fear. Hell, thy have 10 year old kids using this. A great source of info on the RPI is an online mag called the MagPI: Link to MagPI There have been around 30 issues in the last couple of years - all good starter info. |
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Post by cwmcobra on Jan 12, 2015 11:28:33 GMT -5
Yes Chuck, please keep the info coming! Love it!
Chuck
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Post by linvincible on Jan 12, 2015 11:57:23 GMT -5
Tried "picoreplayer" as a Logitech client on a model B, worked great!
Didn't buy one of those I2S stackable dacs though, since I needed the space for the IR remote board (capable of powering on/off the Pi)
maybe I'll try to find another dac solution, the audio out of the Pi isn't that great... (but it's for the office with the noisy computer and 1h use per week max so not very important)
what dacs have you tried? Beside DC-1 ;o)
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Jan 12, 2015 12:15:30 GMT -5
Tried "picoreplayer" as a Logitech client on a model B, worked great! Didn't buy one of those I2S stackable dacs though, since I needed the space for the IR remote board (capable of powering on/off the Pi) maybe I'll try to find another dac solution, the audio out of the Pi isn't that great... (but it's for the office with the noisy computer and 1h use per week max so not very important) what dacs have you tried? Beside DC-1 ;o) I plan on using the HDMI output to my XMC-1 as a first try, second will be the X300's optical out. I did try playing a video, "Empire Strikess Back", ripped with Handbrake to my computer monitor last night as it has a HDMI input, but no audio. No sound, but it looked great! The analog audio output is known to suck on the RPI, but what do you want for a $35 computer. I'm sure there is an I2S interface for the RPI, so a miniDSP product should work too. |
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Post by djoel on Jan 12, 2015 13:20:02 GMT -5
Cool, love to hear about this project so please keep it coming.
Dan
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Post by cburbs on Jan 12, 2015 14:04:07 GMT -5
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Post by garbulky on Jan 12, 2015 14:16:04 GMT -5
Very neat. I've heard about this device but don't know exactly what its implications are. Please keep posting. Thanks.
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Post by dad311 on Jan 12, 2015 14:31:15 GMT -5
You might want to give Volumio a look. Ita a audiophile bit-perfect media player. volumio.org/ |
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Post by linvincible on Jan 13, 2015 3:03:51 GMT -5
You might want to give Volumio a look. Ita a audiophile bit-perfect media player. volumio.org/still progress to be done to play DSD : latest version supports DSD but none of the famous I2S DACs we can simply plug on (over) it do... With a recent search I found this: ES9018K2M XMOS DSD DXD 384kHz USB DAC with Bit-perfect volume control and SPDIF input
trying to get confirmation from vendor it will do it from a RPI. miniDSP solution would be nice but no DSD support... if I find nothing and am brave enough I'll try an I2S external dac (if inexpensive) and make my own connector... that's a lot of ifs ;o) |
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Post by cburbs on Feb 2, 2015 12:39:28 GMT -5
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Feb 2, 2015 13:41:31 GMT -5
The Pi II looks like a great improvement over the 1.
See some benchmarking:
Unfortunately, the USBs weren't changed to USB 3.0. The PI must be booted from the SD card, but it can be set to run on an external USB drive. USB 3.0 would have given a nice increase in throughput!
I've been playing with Volumio and other PI programs and features. I have a HD SPDIF add-on board on order from the UK and some other stuff.
Of note also is that the Raspberry PI folks are working with MS to bring Windows 10 to the Pi 2 community for FREE!
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Post by cburbs on Feb 2, 2015 13:54:44 GMT -5
I may order this one as my current B is on the fritz and why not!
How are you liking Volumio?
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Feb 7, 2015 11:49:05 GMT -5
I finally got my package from the UK. This was primarily the HiFiBerry Digi+ add on card. This card provides an I2S driven SPDIF connection for both coax or Toslink.  Card mounted to Raspberry PI:  I have been using Volumio to test playback. The sound is excellent. Volumio supports many types of playback: Internet Radio, NAS and local USB storage. I'm using USB with an older 1.5TB drive for now. This external drive may be formatted in either FAT32 or NTFS. This makes it easy to swap onto your main computer to move large numbers of files. Volumio presents its GUI via the web so it may be used on your PC , tablet or phone. Volumio is a few revs away from being completely solid IMO, but it works pretty well.   |
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Post by cburbs on Feb 12, 2015 14:31:35 GMT -5
Chuck can you attach screen shots of your playback and system settings from volumio?
What are you drive the Volumio with?
I have Volumio running on my old Pi B right now with the HiFimeDIY Sabre USB DAC ES9023 96Khz/24bit dac pulling my music from my Server.
I just ordered the following as I plan on ordering the Pi2 once it becomes available again so I will just swap the B+ out with the Pi2.
Kootek 5V 2A Universal Micro USB Charger Adapter Power Supply for Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi Model B+ (B PLUS) 512MB Computer Board
Flirc Raspberry Pi 2 and B+ Case w
Samsung 16GB EVO Class 10 Micro SDHC
This one I will be hooking up to the HiFime 9018 Asynchronous High resolution USB DAC and testing.
I am also going to test each Pi with the following software -
Volumio
RuneAudio
SqueezePlug
PiCorePlayer
PiMusicBox
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Feb 12, 2015 15:47:07 GMT -5
Chuck can you attach screen shots of your playback and system settings from volumio? What are you drive the Volumio with? I have Volumio running on my old Pi B right now with the HiFimeDIY Sabre USB DAC ES9023 96Khz/24bit dac pulling my music from my Server. I just ordered the following as I plan on ordering the Pi2 once it becomes available again so I will just swap the B+ out with the Pi2. Kootek 5V 2A Universal Micro USB Charger Adapter Power Supply for Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi Model B+ (B PLUS) 512MB Computer Board Flirc Raspberry Pi 2 and B+ Case w Samsung 16GB EVO Class 10 Micro SDHC This one I will be hooking up to the HiFime 9018 Asynchronous High resolution USB DAC and testing. I am also going to test each Pi with the following software - Volumio RuneAudio SqueezePlug PiCorePlayer PiMusicBox See settings below. My whole Volumio setup is a PI B+ (Also waiting for the PI 2), HiFiBerry Digi+, 1TB Seagate USB drive and an Apple USB charger. The usb drive has the following folder structure Music/ALAC, Music/FLAC and Music/Playlists. I had to modify the /etc/mpd.conf file to move the playlists from the SD card to the USB drive. I also increased the buffer size from 2048 to 8192 in this file. The Volumio system is driving my XMC-1 via TOSLink. It sounds better than my PC also using output via TOSLINK. Chuck  |
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Post by cburbs on Feb 12, 2015 17:17:21 GMT -5
Thanks Chuck! Enjoy the Pi setup.
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Post by linvincible on Feb 16, 2015 4:03:02 GMT -5
just received the Pi 2 and tested with Volumio : could pass to USB DAC every format in my library (FLAC 16/44 -> 24/192 and DSD64/128)
waiting for an I2S DAC backpack as first test and then hdmi brekout board to send out I2S to external DAC... hope the later works!
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Post by djoel on Feb 16, 2015 10:08:58 GMT -5
Hey what you guys using as a case?
Dan
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