…code, cg, electronics, projects…

This weekend I finally knocked out the final hardware config for me to consider the “Raspberry FM” project complete.  What is this project exactly?

• It’s an experiment I gave myself to combine a Raspberry Pi, Makey Makey, MicroRAX, and MPlayer to create an auto-on internet radio player.
• I called it ‘Raspberry FM’ after a combination of the Raspberry Pi, and Soma FM, my favorite internet radio station.

Pic & vid of the final result (more pics at the bottom) :

The YouTube video shows off changing the volume & station.

Previous Steps

1. Install MPlayer, stream some music
2. Configuring MPlayer to play nicely with the Makey Makey, and create custom MPlayer playlists
3. Auto-login and auto-run program on Raspberry Pi startup

Final Step: Building the enclosure, putting it all together…

There are a lot of Raspberry Pi enclosures over on Thingiverse ready for printing on my Makerbot Replicator.  But I needed something to also support the Makey Makey.  I knew I could modify one of those files, but I was interested in trying a different media, my MicroRAX kit.  I’d done some mockups with it earlier (bookholder, quad-copter frame), but nothing permanent, and this seemed like the perfect use case.  And it turned out great… other than the fact I actually had to have the Raspberry Pi in another enclosure, so that it wouldn’t short-out with all the exposed metal.  Luckily I had an acrylic laser-cut case that came with my Maker Shed Raspberry Pi Starter Kit.  Had I not had that case, I probably would have printed out a minimal one.

Other things I learned is that the Makey Makey can be driven directly off the RPi’s USB port:  No external powerd USB hub needed.

The final hardware setup was thus:

• Makey Makey connected to Raspberry Pi over USB.
• Raspberry Pi powered via wall-wart.
• Raspberry Pi connected to internet via Ethernet.
• Raspberry Pi connected to stereo system over headphone-jack.
• Whole thing wrapped up via MicroRAX.

Going further…

If I was to extend this project, these are some things I’d think about:

• Switch out the tethered Ethernet for WiFi.
• Hook up a battery-pack and speakers:  Make it a portable boom-box.
• Splice in a toggle-switch for on\off.
• Have some sort of better integration with MPlayer & Python, or use some other music player entirely:  Have LED’s that represent each station in the playlist that light up showing which one your on, or even a simple LCD screen broadcasting the station name and volume level.
• Hook up awesome fruit to the MakeyMakey to make it a fruit activated radio turner.  That one should be pretty easy