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Now, for my next trick

BadassBob

BadassBob

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Me, as well as many others here, are users of the Logitech Squeezebox. This got me thinking, what if you could DIY your own Squeezebox? Afterall, the Squeezebox software is open source. Well kids, I think Ive found the way, and its not that expensive either. As a matter of fact, this project will cost me less than $100, cheaper than even a used Squeezebox Classic. However, Im not betting on it sounding better than the analog outputs of any Squeezebox, be it Duet, Classic, or Touch, but it will be compatible with USB DACs :). For the better part of a year, there have been many raves about a new credit card-sized product called the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a small ARM-based motherboard, which includes 256MB of RAM, a 700MHz ARM CPU, 10/100 LAN, USB 2.0, and a SD card slot. All for the price of $35. Another good thing, the OS support. Many modern Linux distros all run on ARM. Debian, Fedora, and Arch all have ARM distributions. Being that Im a Debian guy, thats what Ill go with on this build. The main thing I may have to fight with is getting SqueezePlay working properly with an ARM system, which shouldnt be overly difficult. SqueezePlay will make any device appear as another Squeezebox to Logitech Media Server, it also has a nice GUI interface, should I decide to up the budget and include a LCD touchscreen. The biggest pitfall with the Raspberry Pi, demand has far outstripped supply, as theres a 12 week lead time from the place I ordered from (Allied Electronics). Between the board ($35), chassis ($17), micro-USB wallwart ($10), and a 4GB Class 10 SD Card ($7), I believe this will have tons of potential, alll for ~$70. Not bad in my book, and itll be able to be controlled by any tablet or smartphone that can control a Squeezebox :D

Heres a detailed pic of the Raspberry Pi:

351321-raspberry-pi.jpg
 
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On a related note, Team XBMC is working on an ARM-based XBMC distro thats compatible with the Raspberry Pi. Being that it can decode 1080p natively, this will make for a nice budget streaming media player. :yes:
 
Subscribed. XBMC was the first thing to come my mind too when I saw this thing. :yes:

If it only had coax.:sigh: Sh!tton of potential though.

You could probably shove this and a laptop HDD (USB to SATA) into a touchscreen monitor and have yourself a Sooloos type server (complete with DAC if you use a Halide cable) :banana:
 
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Just read an article saying they're upping the production of these to something like 4000 a day so they should become available easier soon.
 
I'm interested in your progress too as I already have a pi. I will note that the usb bus doesn't play well with my wyred sound dac 1 (skipping,hiccups with hi rez files) but did/does work fine with my hrt music streamer II. I honestly don't know why there is a difference between the 2 dacs and this problem but their is.
 
I think it has something to do with the USB receiver in the DAC itself. Through my research, Burr Brown PCM27XX receiver chips work the best. Ive been reading about I2C modules that should expand the USB DAC compatibility.
 
Ooooohh I'm so interested in the Rasberry Pi. I'll probably be springing for one this weekend. I can't wait to DIY some cool projects with it.
 
I've been reading about these super tiny "PC's" for a while now. It just boggles the mind that you can have such a PC in the same size as a pack of cigarettes that just a couple of years ago you needed a desktop or laptop. I have a ton of ideas. 1saleaday has 64 gig USB sticks for $19.99. Drop Ubuntu on it, load from the USB, add a tiny wireless-N, load up a media player, attach to home network, and go HDMI out to TV. Stick the cigarette sized Rasberry Pi on the back of the TV with double sided tape. BAM!!! A fully capable and totally hidden network attached media player - in HI DEF!. Or I can use them for my iPanels instead of scraped laptop mobo's - and they're smaller, silent, run coller, and cost less. Just a ton of ideas. I can't wait for mine to come in.
 
That case is pretty sweet. The Adafruit's clear case is neat too.

I have a Tascam 100 usb dac so maybe I could build something like this on a tight budget. I'm looking forward to the end product.
 
We received our Raspberry Pi back on June 4th (I was one of the impatient ones up early on the go live morning reloading RS's site till I got in). It has been a steep learning curve (total noob to Linux) but also a ton of fun. I have two different SD cards each with a different OS. One has the latest 'wheezy' distribution for Python and Scratch programming (for the kids) and some web surfing and Quake III (for me), last weeks update has made thing much snappier. The second card has RaspBMC running as a media center. It's hard to believe something so small is so capable.
The cases that are becoming available are very cool, too bad they cost 1/3 to 1/2 as much as the Pi itself! I put our Pi in a small plastic project case that set me back about $4, the cuts are a little sloppy but now I don't have to worry about the cats sitting on the bare board.
 

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