Building a Volumio based Streamer

[chander]

Dear DIYers & RPi enthusiasts.

A friend of mine left his Rpi 3 Model B+ & hifiberry Digi 2 Pro with me as he was unable to do anything with it. As I have been out of the tinkering world for a long time, this got me excited to tinker again.

I have decided to make a streamer with volumio + a 7.9 inch screen from waveshare with DSI controller.

A few questions please -

1 - Does HiFiberry Digi Pro 2 Gpio header allow GPIO passthrough? I would like to add a on/off switch to the system, hence was wondering as the GPIO header on the rpi will be used by hifiberry.
2 - I chose a screen with DSI as I could use a single high current USB C to power all 3 of these - screen + pi + hifiberry. NOW - If number 1 is possible - does anyone know - if this would also shut down the screen?
3 - If number 1 is possible - can anyone help me out with a pre-made on/off switch - I am really bad at soldering, and would like to avoid it at all costs.
4 - Not sure if this is still possible - but is Spotify connect available on free volumio?

Links for all things in the build -

HiFiBerry Digi2 Pro | HiFiBerry

https://www.waveshare.com/7.9inch-dsi-lcd.htm

Buy a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ – Raspberry Pi

1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core processor, dual-band wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2/BLE, faster Ethernet, and Power-over-Ethernet support (with separate PoE HAT)

www.raspberrypi.com

Thanks a ton!

 

[Subbu68]

Dear DIYers & RPi enthusiasts.

A friend of mine left his Rpi 3 Model B+ & hifiberry Digi 2 Pro with me as he was unable to do anything with it. As I have been out of the tinkering world for a long time, this got me excited to tinker again.

I have decided to make a streamer with volumio + a 7.9 inch screen from waveshare with DSI controller.

A few questions please -

1 - Does HiFiberry Digi Pro 2 Gpio header allow GPIO passthrough? I would like to add a on/off switch to the system, hence was wondering as the GPIO header on the rpi will be used by hifiberry.
2 - I chose a screen with DSI as I could use a single high current USB C to power all 3 of these - screen + pi + hifiberry. NOW - If number 1 is possible - does anyone know - if this would also shut down the screen?
3 - If number 1 is possible - can anyone help me out with a pre-made on/off switch - I am really bad at soldering, and would like to avoid it at all costs.
4 - Not sure if this is still possible - but is Spotify connect available on free volumio?

Links for all things in the build -

HiFiBerry Digi2 Pro | HiFiBerry

https://www.waveshare.com/7.9inch-dsi-lcd.htm

Buy a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ – Raspberry Pi

1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core processor, dual-band wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2/BLE, faster Ethernet, and Power-over-Ethernet support (with separate PoE HAT)

www.raspberrypi.com

Thanks a ton!

Not sure of RPi GPIO headers could be accessed through the HAT. It should be possible I think.

The screen gets power from RPi header, isn't it? So when powering down RPi it should also get switched off IMO.

I am adding a ON / OFF push button to my Asus Tinker Board 2 S that already has separate header for it. I purchased a set of jumper used for RPi GPIO connections to bread board and would snip the male side of a pair and solder to a small PB and plugging in the female side to the GPIO. That soldering is going to be a simple work or two wires to solder. I think you shouldn't fret about it.

If you have a screen won't you have the Shutdown from that? Would you need a push button?

 

[chander]

The screen gets power from RPi header, isn't it?

The Rpi - gets the power thru the Screen - DSI connector allows that. So Power to Screen via USB C - the DSI from Screen to RPI & rpi to HiFiBerry via GPIO.

If you have a screen won't you have the Shutdown from that?

The screen in question hasn't got one sadly.

Thanks!

 

[Subbu68]

The screen in question hasn't got one sadly.

Thanks!

I meant to use the shutdown option on the screen like Win, Debian etc.

 

[Subbu68]

The Rpi - gets the power thru the Screen - DSI connector allows that. So Power to Screen via USB C - the DSI from Screen to RPI & rpi to HiFiBerry via GPIO.

Is it not the other way? I have seen a video of installing the screen on RPi. The screen has a set of wires to connect to power on GPIO. Can DSI carry power?

 

[chander]

Is it not the other way? I have seen a video of installing the screen on RPi. The screen has a set of wires to connect to power on GPIO. Can DSI carry power?

from what I understand - the DSI carries power & & display to the rpi.

 

[Subbu68]

from what I understand - the DSI carries power & & display to the rpi.

DSI is a serial interface with ability to power the display not reverse me thinks. Host is RPi

 

[mbhangui]

Dear DIYers & RPi enthusiasts.

A friend of mine left his Rpi 3 Model B+ & hifiberry Digi 2 Pro with me as he was unable to do anything with it. As I have been out of the tinkering world for a long time, this got me excited to tinker again.

Lucky guy. The RPIs are in short supply. You struck gold

I have decided to make a streamer with volumio + a 7.9 inch screen from waveshare with DSI controller.

A few questions please -

1 - Does HiFiberry Digi Pro 2 Gpio header allow GPIO passthrough? I would like to add a on/off switch to the system, hence was wondering as the GPIO header on the rpi will be used by hifiberry.

I took a look at the hifiberry. It does allow you to connect other wires though a GPIO connector above. You can use male to male jumpers. There is a wiringpi library. Using that you can decide which pins to use and detect when the voltage to that pin becomes zero and subsequently execute the shutdown command. This will require some knowlege of linux to do that.

2 - I chose a screen with DSI as I could use a single high current USB C to power all 3 of these - screen + pi + hifiberry. NOW - If number 1 is possible - does anyone know - if this would also shut down the screen?

Yes. It will shutdown the screen. On RPI4 there is a bug where the USB doesn't get powered off, but I use a hack to turn off the power on shutdown on RPI4. RPI3 doesn't have the faulty hardware mistake of RPI4. I use https://github.com/mvp/uhubctl to compensate for the RPI4 engineering mistake.

3 - If number 1 is possible - can anyone help me out with a pre-made on/off switch - I am really bad at soldering, and would like to avoid it at all costs.
4 - Not sure if this is still possible - but is Spotify connect available on free volumio?

IMHO you will be better of without volumio, dietpi, etc. Just install the official image from Raspberry PI foundation. Install raspotify, mpd, lms server, etc and you will be done. These 3rd party addons may help newbies get off the feet but they don't do everything right. Regarding volumio, it is just an extra layer over the base which continues to remain the RPI OS. So if you install raspotify, it will very much work with the free volumio. But you will require the paid spotify subscription.

 

[Subbu68]

Lucky guy. The RPIs are in short supply. You struck gold

Indeed @chander you struck gold. RPi are being sold at 3 or even 4 times recommended price. I had dropped the idea of making a streamer because of this. Then Tinker 2S 4GB was available much cheaper than even US (I think it was a mistake by the seller) and went for it.

I was about to point you to @mbhangui for guidance and he chipped in before that .

I installed a push button for ON / OFF on TINKER. A short push it switches ON and long push shutdown. It has a header for it.

 

[Subbu68]

from what I understand - the DSI carries power & & display to the rpi.

From the picture of the interfaces on the display it looks like the 5V header on it mates with the GPIO of RPi to provide power. DSI pinout has 3.3V. Can it power RPi?

 

[chander]

From the picture of the interfaces on the display it looks like the 5V header on it mates with the GPIO of RPi to provide power. DSI pinout has 3.3V. Can it power RPi?

Apparently it does - I will only find out on Thursday as that is when I get the screen
The video demonstrating the screen shows, that it can power Rpi 3/4 etc on DSI to "remove cable clutter"

As Rpi sadly doesn't have a dedicated power module on the board, the GPIO 5/6 pin a re used, that also is being used by the hiBerry - so was hoping that i can use the 5/6 pin on HifiBerry hat GPIO to run the power on/off script. Lets see.

Thanks

 

[Subbu68]

As Rpi sadly doesn't have a dedicated power module on the board, the GPIO 5/6 pin a re used, that also is being used by the hiBerry - so was hoping that i can use the 5/6 pin on HifiBerry hat GPIO to run the power on/off script. Lets see.

Thanks

Coming from Asus Tinker, I am having a doubt.

When I have a display connected to Tinker, I can click the power menu on the screen and choose to it shutdown, restart, hybernate etc. Can it not be done on RPi? It can be connected to your TV or monitor and tested. In this case you won't need a push button or tinker with it to add it on GPIO.

 

[mbhangui]

Coming from Asus Tinker, I am having a doubt.

When I have a display connected to Tinker, I can click the power menu on the screen and choose to it shutdown, restart, hybernate etc. Can it not be done on RPi? It can be connected to your TV or monitor and tested. In this case you won't need a push button or tinker with it to add it on GPIO.

It can be definitely done on RPI if the display is a touch screen

 

[chander]

Coming from Asus Tinker, I am having a doubt.

When I have a display connected to Tinker, I can click the power menu on the screen and choose to it shutdown, restart, hybernate etc. Can it not be done on RPi? It can be connected to your TV or monitor and tested. In this case you won't need a push button or tinker with it to add it on GPIO.

Ah - I never even considered that

It can be definitely done on RPI if the display is a touch screen

The display is a touch screen -with an on/off button at the back. So it definitely it is a possibility.

***Thank @Subbu68 @mbhangui - I will keep you guys posted.

 

[Subbu68]

It can be definitely done on RPI if the display is a touch screen

Can it not be done with even HDMI monitor just like a PC, Mac, Tinker etc.? Only thing need a mouse.

 

[mbhangui]

Can it not be done with even HDMI monitor just like a PC, Mac, Tinker etc.? Only thing need a mouse.

Indeed it can be done. It can also be connected to any unused HDMI port on the tv or av receiver. But the thing is (for me) using a monitor is cumbersome when listening to music. Nothing works better for me than a good old remote. So I have removed USB IR receiver and all remotes that I could find from my trash and I use the power button on the remote to shutdown my Raspberry PI usbridge. That USB IR dongle is from an old ATI TV tuner card that I was using with my media center PC. The remote is a standard windows MCE remote. I use the same remote for pause, play, next, previous, volume control and subwoofer volume control. With Linux IR control you can program any remote to do any thing.

 

[Subbu68]

Indeed it can be done. It can also be connected to any unused HDMI port on the tv or av receiver. But the thing is (for me) using a monitor is cumbersome when listening to music. Nothing works better for me than a good old remote. So I have removed USB IR receiver and all remotes that I could find from my trash and I use the power button on the remote to shutdown my Raspberry PI usbridge. That USB IR dongle is from an old ATI TV tuner card that I was using with my media center PC. The remote is a standard windows MCE remote. I use the same remote for pause, play, next, previous, volume control and subwoofer volume control

View attachment 76227

That's true, using monitor is cumbersome. I was suggesting Chander to test that while waiting for his screen. Perhaps I was not clear in my post earlier.

What is that USB dongle for IR remote? I have a defunct media player of Toshiba .how can the IR be used with Tinker?
I think we are hijacking Chander's thread

 

[mbhangui]

That's true, using monitor is cumbersome. I was suggesting Chander to test that while waiting for his screen. Perhaps I was not clear in my post earlier.

What is that USB dongle for IR remote? I have a defunct media player of Toshiba .how can the IR be used with Tinker?
I think we are hijacking Chander's thread

Any IR dongle that connect to the USB port will do. After that one has to install lirc and configure it with any existing remote to recognize the IR code and carry out any action.

LIRC - Linux Infrared Remote Control

LIRC - linux infrared remote control

www.lirc.org

This IR dongle used to be the most popular with people building HTPC on linux

New HP USB MCE Windows Media Center Infrared IR Receiver Windows 7 Vista | eBay

1 x HP USB Infrared Wireless Receiver. Genuine HP. Plug & Play.

www.ebay.com

This too is very popular and I am using it with another raspberry PI.

 

[Subbu68]

Apparently it does - I will only find out on Thursday as that is when I get the screen
The video demonstrating the screen shows, that it can power Rpi 3/4 etc on DSI to "remove cable clutter"

As Rpi sadly doesn't have a dedicated power module on the board, the GPIO 5/6 pin a re used, that also is being used by the hiBerry - so was hoping that i can use the 5/6 pin on HifiBerry hat GPIO to run the power on/off script. Lets see.

Thanks

Hi Chander

Happened to get the MIPI DSI pinout of Asus Tinker and is below. It is a 4 lane MIPI-DSI and is standardised across the industry it seems. It has 3.3V supply to the display and there is no 5V supply on it. So as I wrote earlier the header on the display PCB may be mating with the GPIO socket of RPi to feed power.

RPi uses 2 lane MIPI -DSI I think.

 

[surfatwork]

I am not an expert on dsi, but as far as I know, the raspi can't be powered through the dsi connector. You'll need to power it through the usual power socket, or via gpio.

In your proposed config, if input power to the system goes to the display and then to the raspi, how will shutting down the raspi cut power to the screen?