Tune in to communities around the world with the push of a button.
When I get home at night, I like to tune into the world with the push of a button. I've lived in lots of different places—from Dunedin, New Zealand, to Santa Fe, New Mexico—and in each town, I've come to love a radio station (usually a community radio station) that embodies the spirit of the place. With the push of a button, I can get a bit back in sync with each of these places and also visit new communities, thanks to internet radio.
Why build your own internet radio receiver? One option, of course, is simply to use an app for a receiver. However, I've found that the most common apps don't keep their focus on the task at hand, and are increasingly distracted by offering additional social-networking services. And besides, I want to listen now. I don't want to check into my computer or phone, log in yet again, and endure the stress of recalling YAPW (Yet Another PassWord). I've also found that the current offering of internet radio boxes falls short of my expectations. Like I said, I've lived in a lot of places—more than two or four or eight. I want a lot of buttons, so I can tune in to a radio station with just one gesture. Finally, I've noticed that streams are increasingly problematic if I don't go directly to the source. Often, streams chosen through a "middle man" start with an ad or blurb that is tacked on as a preamble. Or sometimes the "middle man" might tie me to a stream of lower audio quality than the best being served up.
So, I turned to building my own internet radio receiver—one with lots of buttons that allow me to "tune in" without being too pushy. In this article, I share my experience. In principle, it should be easy—you just need a Linux distro, a ship to sail her on and an external key pad for a rudder. In practice, it's not too hard, but there are a few obstacles along the course that I hope to help you navigate.
My recipe list included the following:
- A used notebook with an ultra low voltage (Core 2 Duo) processor.
- An audio interface with an optical TOSLINK.
- pyradio: an open-source Python radio program.
- An external keypad.
Figure 1. My Hardware Setup
Why a notebook and not a Raspberry Pi or ship of a similar ilk? Mostly due to time—my time in particular. It's not too hard to find a high quality notebook about ten years old for about $50, so the cost is really not that different, and I find the development platform to be much quicker.
from Linux Journal - The Original Magazine of the Linux Community http://bit.ly/2K3NgXI
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