• TIL: echo dot has a speaker

    davedarko • 05/22/2017 at 07:23 • 0 comments

    The echo dot currently runs for 55 Euros and I couldn't resist buying one! The option to chose your own speaker instead of paying 120 Euros more for the full echo was almost reason enough for me - but to my surprise I discovered that the echo dot also has an (admittedly crappy) speaker! It's enough to chat along and use IFTTT with adafruit.io+alexa receipts to switch the lights on by saying "echo trigger Küche ein" etc. - nice!

    # Bridge to Adafruit.IO
connection adafruit
address io.adafruit.com:1883
username ADAFRUIT_USERNAME
password ADAFRUIT_KEY
start_type automatic
cleansession false
notifications false
try_private false
topic inTopic in 0 "" davedarko/feeds/

    It took me a while to figure out that the "remote_username" and "remote_password" on my raspberry had to be replaced by "username" and "password", since the mosquitto version on my PI is (still?) too old? [adafruit.io - bridge mqtt] To get some debug informations, stop the mosquitto service and start it as a program.

    cd /etc/mosquitto/conf.d/
sudo systemctl stop mosquitto.service
mosquitto -c mosquitto.conf

  • PCM1863 board soldered

    davedarko • 11/25/2016 at 21:23 • 0 comments

    TSSOP30 boards I had to design are here! Not sure when I will have the chance to play with them though.

  • 3/4 connected

    davedarko • 10/23/2016 at 14:18 • 1 comment

    so I'm able to ssh into 3/4 pi zeros, when the bridge is setup, but I can't get to PIzero4 - sooo annoying!

  • and another one

    davedarko • 10/23/2016 at 10:02 • 0 comments

    So this board is supposed to be a stamp "USB to testpoint" connector. But as soon as I ordered the thing I noticed it would totally make sense to add a mosfet for controlling power to it and maybe add the run pin and another dedicated pin for remote shutdown and remote reset. Ah well. Feels like midnight.

  • TSSOP-30 breakout board for PCM1863

    davedarko • 10/22/2016 at 22:50 • 0 comments

    not sure if it'll actually work, but to connect the PCM1863 and play around with it on the Raspberry PI, almost like this one, but backwards:

    http://hackaday.com/2015/12/10/audio-streaming-on-the-cheap-with-an-rpi-zero/

    I couldn't find any breakout boards for tssop30 and I had to design the footprint/part in eagle anyways, so this happend:


  • guide

    davedarko • 10/22/2016 at 20:46 • 0 comments

    http://raspberryjamberlin.de/zero360-part-2-connecting-via-otg-a-cluster-of-raspberry-pi-zeros-to-a-pi-3/

    This is basically what I'm following to set up the cluster. Meh, so much for me doing the hard work :D Every SD card is flashed on configured (at least that what I hope).

    I'm waiting for the currently printing 4th version of my minimal cluster holder.

    I think I have the center of the usb plugs and and everything else right, now. This will integrate fine into my cluster build. I've added Letters for USB and Ethernet to not confuse orientation. The SD cards all have to point in the same direction, imo.

    The only thing annoying me at the moment is the usb cable management. A self made 4port usb to 4 single micro usb plugs is in development, but for now I use the Anker 15cm cables. There's definitely room for improvement.

    For better fitting an angled network cable should be acquired as well :D

    I'm still too much of a wuss to solder the usb ports directly and I wan't a clean looking build.

  • case redesign and contest goals

    davedarko • 10/15/2016 at 21:46 • 0 comments

    This is my newest attempt on a mac pro inspired design, but this time it's supposed to fit the pi zero cluster. I'm going to make a special usb cable with angled connectors and a self made 2x2 usb connector. The holder for the pi zeros is the third version I'm printing right now. There is a 5x5cm fan planned and also a "16bit" neopixel ring. So this has all the stuff for a rage-filled-comment-filling blog entry:

    • too many Raspberry PI zeros nobody gets
    • an ineffective cluster not worth the money for a cluster
    • a 3D printed case printed with a printer nobody wants to pay for
    • a fan on a Raspberry PI
    • too many blinking lights, possibly controlled by an arduino

    So this is what I'm trying to do for the contest:

    • Get the cluster going
    • finish a case and make it free / downloadable
    • run alexa services

  • researching soundcards for the cluster

    davedarko • 10/15/2016 at 16:42 • 0 comments

    If I want to use the cluster with the alexa service then I need to find an I2S, SPI or I2C soundcard to get microphone input. I can't really use USB soundcards, since all 4 ports are taken by the 4 PI zeros and vice versa.

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=57069


    pi dac+ and hifiberry dac+ don't have any ADCs but in the datasheet of the used chip 5102A there was also the PCM1863 that might be able to help me out. not sure. Cheapest chip is 5-7euros on ebay.

    http://www.ti.com/product/pcm1863/

    Same for this board here.

    http://www.ebay.de/itm/UDA1380-Board-Stereo-MD-CD-Mp3-Audio-Decoding-Decoder-Module-Development-Kit-AL-/272160416012?hash=item3f5e06610c:g:MnYAAOSwP~tW3i8q

  • Zero luck

    davedarko • 10/11/2016 at 20:10 • 4 comments

    Printed some helpers.

  • for the future

    davedarko • 08/19/2016 at 20:05 • 0 comments

    Installation of alexa services on a pi zero. Alexa is IFTTT compatible and so is mqtt?

    https://github.com/amzn/alexa-avs-raspberry-pi

    http://frederickvandenbosch.be/?p=1701

    https://www.hackster.io/devicehub-net/do-button-from-ifttt-home-automation-example-494a1a