All posts by Thomas W-P

Moving RPizeBox to git

November 19, 2013Geekinessgit, python, quad seven segment display, Raspberry pi, RPizeBox, spotify, squeezebox, squeezeliteThomas W-P

500D_1901

Now I have the proof of concept for the RPi, I wanted to improve the code and have long term plans to make it remember tracks we skip, as well as allowing a blacklist! I wanted to keep some sort of version control, and this is where git comes in. I have been aware of git for a while but don’t really know much about it.

I now have created my own git hub for RPizeBox at https://github.com/thomaswwp/RPizeBox. I also forked PyLMS (which appears to be abandoned) and will eventually include it in my build as a module, rather than simply importing the code.

I have reduced the code to two scripts, but this looks like it has increased the CPU overhead to about 6%, so I may revert to what I had before.

I have also made a Fritzing diagram of the setup for future reference.

I also found that the skip forward button was broken on the remote, so just remapped other buttons.

LIRC setup on RPi #2

November 15, 2013Geekinessfrustration, RPizeBoxThomas W-P

After, much MUCH frustration in failing to get LIRC to recognise my remote on my spare RPi, I set it up fresh on the actual RPizeBox, just to see what happened. The steps were something like those described on alexba.in but I am copying them here. Spot the minor change. Thanks alexba.in!

sudo apt-get install lirc

Add this to /etc/modules file:

lirc_dev
lirc_rpi gpio_in_pin=25

Change /etc/lirc/hardware.conf file to:

########################################################
 # /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
 #
 # Arguments which will be used when launching lircd
 LIRCD_ARGS="--uinput"
 # Don't start lircmd even if there seems to be a good config file
 # START_LIRCMD=false
 # Don't start irexec, even if a good config file seems to exist.
 # START_IREXEC=false
 # Try to load appropriate kernel modules
 LOAD_MODULES=true
 # Run "lircd --driver=help" for a list of supported drivers.
 DRIVER="default"
 # usually /dev/lirc0 is the correct setting for systems using udev
 DEVICE="/dev/lirc0"
 MODULES="lirc_rpi"
 # Default configuration files for your hardware if any
 LIRCD_CONF=""
 LIRCMD_CONF=""
 ########################################################

Restart lircd so it picks up these changes:

sudo /etc/init.d/lirc stop
sudo /etc/init.d/lirc start

It worked immediately. Here are the remote codes appearing.

pi@hood ~ $ sudo irw
0000000000001826 00 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 01 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 02 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 03 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 04 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 05 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 06 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 07 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000001826 08 0/10 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000007026 00 08 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000007026 01 08 Sony_RMT-CS33AD
0000000000007026 02 08 Sony_RMT-CS33AD

I set up pylirc the easy way this time!

sudo apt-get install python-pip
sudo pip install pylirc2

Easy.

I then downloaded the pylirc_test.py and its conf file as suggested in the Voice of Reason and optimistically ran it. And nothing happened at all, which was very disappointing indeed. But I am one step closer I guess. Maddening that it didn’t work with the other RPi.

I then found this glorious page from 2009 by Will Miro. It helped me make a config file that worked and finally I got the test page responding. I think that is enough for now.

LIRC setup on RPi

November 15, 2013GeekinessRPizeBox, squeezeboxThomas W-P

Notes on getting pylirc installed on my RPi.

pylirc seems to be abandoned, but pylirc2 exists albeit on flaky server? I manually downloaded setup.py and pylircmodule.c from

http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~rockstar/pylirc2/trunk/files/24

to folder /home/pi/pylirc2

sudo apt-get install lirc python-dev liblircclient-dev
cd ~/pylirc2
sudo python setup.py install

But I couldn’t get pylirc working 🙁

Racking off the Quince

November 13, 2013UncategorisedOld Manse Quince 2013.11Thomas W-P

500D_1850

It was supposed to be tomorrow, but I will be busy all day, so I brought the racking off forward. I am still not sure I understand about the correct temperature and Wine Making Guides just says “warm”. I am confused to put the question in the excellent and responsive Home Brew Forum (1st and 2nd fermentation temperatures).

I did learn something today though – that I should “splash” the first racking in to the demijohn:

Splashing the wine into the new jar will encourage some aeration, and some more yeast will grow and this new yeast will feed on any haziness that may still be present… …Only the first racking should be splashed into the new demijohn and additional rackings should be done quietly without splashing.

from Wine Making Guides

This made sense to me, but I found it AFTER I had designed and built my “smooth flow” racking funnel that you can see in this picture. It worked well but I then had to remove the rubber tube so I could splash it in to the next demijohn.

The resulting mixture is the delightful golden colour that cider appears to like. It already tastes acceptable, so I hope it will improve from there.

The OG was 1,110, and it has come down to 1,070. Using an Alcohol By Volume (ABV) calculator (there are loads if you google) this gives me an alcohol content of 5.3% so far which is more like cider than wine. Maybe it needs to be somewhere warmer.

Quince Wine 2013.11

Date	Specific Gravity	Alcohol Content
4th November 2013	1,110	0%
13th November 2013	1,070	5.3%
27th December 2013	1,038	9.5%
15th February 2014	1,035	9.9%

Disconcerting noises from the utility room

November 12, 2013UncategorisedBlue Boar Brown 2013.11 (Kit)Thomas W-P

I love the carbon dioxide bubbling. It is mesmerising and a wonderful indicator of nature doing its job. But does sound a bit weird. My wife finds the bubbling disconcerting when in an empty house. She says it induces nausea because it sounds like someone’s bad indigestion!

You can make up your own mind.

Wallop Where?

Exercise, geekiness