INTERACT FORUM

Devices => JRiver Id -- Hardware by JRiver => Topic started by: Mysticeti on April 28, 2015, 04:39:15 pm

Title: Id Pi with touch screen as wall-mounted controller for whole house audio?
Post by: Mysticeti on April 28, 2015, 04:39:15 pm

Monoprice offers a very reasonably priced six source/six zone amp (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10918&cs_id=1091801&p_id=10761&seq=1&format=2#reviews) for whole house audio applications.

However, the wall mounted controllers are really bare bones and offer nothing in the way of track information or other metadata.

So what I was wondering... how hard it would be to cook up something like the "Id Pi" with a touch screen (or any screen really, if there's some hard buttons).  Some example screens are here: https://www.adafruit.com/categories/160

Ideally the Raspberry Pi + screen would be wall mountable (via a standard double or single gang electrical box), powered using PoE, and have at least one "hard" button for power toggle.  For ideal usability I'd like to see 5 or 6 hard buttons: power toggle, vol up & down, next "track"/previous "track", and "next source" but that may be a tall order. :)

The audio output of the Pi would be optional.  In my situation I'd rather this Id Pi variant be used as a remote to control JRiver Media center running on a system located next to the Amp powering the zones.

(Apologies if this has already been discussed here.  I tried searching this forum for "id pi" but I got zero hits.)

Title: Re: Id Pi with touch screen as wall-mounted controller for whole house audio?
Post by: bob on April 30, 2015, 01:38:43 pm

Quote from: Mysticeti on April 28, 2015, 04:39:15 pm

Monoprice offers a very reasonably priced six source/six zone amp (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10918&cs_id=1091801&p_id=10761&seq=1&format=2#reviews) for whole house audio applications.

However, the wall mounted controllers are really bare bones and offer nothing in the way of track information or other metadata.

So what I was wondering... how hard it would be to cook up something like the "Id Pi" with a touch screen (or any screen really, if there's some hard buttons).  Some example screens are here: https://www.adafruit.com/categories/160

Ideally the Raspberry Pi + screen would be wall mountable (via a standard double or single gang electrical box), powered using PoE, and have at least one "hard" button for power toggle.  For ideal usability I'd like to see 5 or 6 hard buttons: power toggle, vol up & down, next "track"/previous "track", and "next source" but that may be a tall order. :)

The audio output of the Pi would be optional.  In my situation I'd rather this Id Pi variant be used as a remote to control JRiver Media center running on a system located next to the Amp powering the zones.

(Apologies if this has already been discussed here.  I tried searching this forum for "id pi" but I got zero hits.)

Look in the Linux forum. There are a lot of people playing with Pi.

Title: Re: Id Pi with touch screen as wall-mounted controller for whole house audio?
Post by: Hilton on May 07, 2015, 06:14:07 am

Quote from: Mysticeti on April 28, 2015, 04:39:15 pm

Monoprice offers a very reasonably priced six source/six zone amp (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10918&cs_id=1091801&p_id=10761&seq=1&format=2#reviews) for whole house audio applications.

However, the wall mounted controllers are really bare bones and offer nothing in the way of track information or other metadata.

So what I was wondering... how hard it would be to cook up something like the "Id Pi" with a touch screen (or any screen really, if there's some hard buttons).  Some example screens are here: https://www.adafruit.com/categories/160

Ideally the Raspberry Pi + screen would be wall mountable (via a standard double or single gang electrical box), powered using PoE, and have at least one "hard" button for power toggle.  For ideal usability I'd like to see 5 or 6 hard buttons: power toggle, vol up & down, next "track"/previous "track", and "next source" but that may be a tall order. :)

The audio output of the Pi would be optional.  In my situation I'd rather this Id Pi variant be used as a remote to control JRiver Media center running on a system located next to the Amp powering the zones.

(Apologies if this has already been discussed here.  I tried searching this forum for "id pi" but I got zero hits.)

Touch screens is one of the next things on my list to play with.  Start a thread in the Linux forum. I already have playback control sorted via Bluetooth and a button for pause/play. Adding extra buttons would be a cinch now.

Title: Re: Id Pi with touch screen as wall-mounted controller for whole house audio?
Post by: Hilton on May 07, 2015, 07:07:07 am

Thinking about it, I think it may be possible to do what you want more cost effectively with cheap android tablets and a custom case for the wall.

Title: Re: Id Pi with touch screen as wall-mounted controller for whole house audio?
Post by: Mysticeti on May 07, 2015, 08:10:02 am

Thanks for the info.

A cheap (small) tablet might be cost effective.  I'm not sure if I could work any physical buttons into that scenario so relaxing that requirement might be necessary.

The Amazon Fire HD6 is pretty cheap (http://"http://www.cnet.com/topics/tablets/best-tablets/budget-tablets/").  Creating a custom case and mounting solution that can hide the PoE wiring starts to get complicated though.  I'm doubtful I could pull that off.

The search for the perfect solution continues! :)