jaecksch/snapcastbox

Small OS based on Buildroot for SNAPCAST Multiroom audio

SnapcastBox

Small OS based on Buildroot for SNAPCAST Multiroom audio system Actual based on Buildroot 2017.11.2, snapos 0.13.0 and snapcast 0.13.0 Currently only Raspberry Pi 1 and Raspberry Pi Zero W are supported.

Goal

Goal is to build a fast booting rock solid embedded linux system to run snapcast on it. Configuration (Hostname, WLAN SSID and Passwort) should be edited user friendly. Target Hardware is in as first step the Raspberry Pi Platform for snapclients.

Description

Buildroot is configured to run out of the RAM. Therefore it can be switched off at any time. Also there is no need for difficult partition. Just copy a bunch of files on the SD card adapt the config files and that's it.

Installation

Download the latest build from the release page or build it by yourself

1. Extract the zip file to a standard SD-Card (root directory)
2. Edit the file "hostname" and give the client his name in the network
3. Put the SD-Card to the RaspberryPi and boot into the system. Network is configured via DHCP. snapclient will start automtically

Build instruction

Download the files

1. Create a working directory (e.g. work) and enter it
2. Download and extract Buildroot-2017.11.2 to 'buildroot-2017.11.2'
3. Download snapcastbox

work $ git clone http://github.com/jaecksch/snapcastbox

4. Download buildroot package of snapcast from snapos

work $ git clone -b v0.13.0 http://github.com/badaix/snapos

Build the system

1. Prepare building

work $ cd buildroot-2017.11.2
buildroot-2017.11.2 $ make BR2_EXTERNAL=../snapcastbox:../snapos/buildroot-external rpi0w-client_defconfig

2. Build the system

buildroot-2017.11.2 $ make

Now it takes some time to download all stuff and compile snapcastbox. The result is stored at

buildroot-2017.11.2/output/images/snapcastbox-rpiclient.zip

Roadmap for Client

1. Run on RaspberryPi 1B with analogue output as proof of concept
2. Add Raspberry Pi Zero W with WIFI support
3. Enable I2S Based Speaker Driver (HifiBerry MiniAmp)
4. Build minimal custom kernel