PiJu

About this project

This is a Raspberry Pi powered jukebox. Background: I had a mini hifi system, with speakers, etc, in the kitchen. In principle, I wanted to switch our old CD collection to digital, but having tried several systems, I'd not found a UI I liked. So, the idea is to use a Raspberry Pi plugged into an existing hifi, with an iPad to control it, and a 7" touchscreen display to the Pi for simple controls too.

I'd previously used https://mopidy.com but found that the API didn't really suit my project's needs. After adding more and more bespoke extensions, I eventually bit the bullet and replaced the entire backend.

Hardware

• RPi 3 model B (or newer)
• 128GB micro SD
• Cable up the RPi (video, keyboard, mouse) but leave unpowered for now

Installation steps

1. Set up the hardware and configure the OS. See <install_hardware_and_os.md>
2. Add music to the server. See <add_music.md>
3. Install the piju server software. See https://github.com/nsw42/piju-server/blob/main/doc/deploy.md
4. If relevant, install the touch-screen UI software. See https://github.com/nsw42/piju-touchscreen/blob/main/README.md
5. Install the web ui software. See https://github.com/nsw42/piju-webui/blob/main/doc/deploy.md
6. If you're not interested in the web ui, you might want to install lighttpd to download music files. See lighttpd_download.md

Troubleshooting: No sound through audio jack

If you find you are not getting audio through the audio jack, it's worth checking that the right kernel modules are being loaded. Run lsmod | grep snd and check that snd_bcm2835 is included in the output.

If it's not, add snd_bcm2835 to /etc/modules and reboot.

I also installed all of the ALSA packages during troubleshooting, which may turn out to be part of the solution.

Once I had sound, audio output was very quiet, so I added a line to my local copy of run.sh that uses the amixer command to set audio output to 100%.

Better quality audio

If you are using one of the audio HATs for the Raspberry Pi (eg I have a HiFiBerry DAC2 Pro) then configure ALSA to make that your default:

Run the command aplay -l, and identify which card is the right one. Eg, with the HiFiBerry card, there is a line that starts 'card 1: sndrpihifiberry ...'

Then, as root, create or edit the file /etc/asound.conf, so that it looks something like this (with the appropriate card number submitted):

pcm.!default {
  type hw card 1
}
ctl.!default {
  type hw card 1
}

Additional systems

The PiJu system supports remote sytems, which act as a caching replica of the main system. Decide which Pi you want to be the main unit, as this is the one where you will add new music. The secondary units have exactly the same hardware configuration as the main server, and just fetch music files from the primary Pi as needed. Installation steps for the secondary systems are similar to that of the main system:

1. Install the OS
2. Install the piju server software, but run the replica subsystem, rather than the main backend, and point it at the main Pi for its source.
3. If desired, install the touch-screen UI software.
4. Instal1 the web ui.
5. Connect to the replica's web ui,