

I put a Raspberry Pi into a radio from the 80's to get a portable AirPlay device - jeena
https://jeena.net/rp-airplay-radio

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CPLX
I love this, it's a great hack. It seems like the real sweet spot for a
project like this though would be to capture the AirPlay audio at a line level
and patch it into existing speakers and power amplification circuit. That way
you could capture the existing audio quality of a device that had good sound
reproduction but is otherwise obsolete. Was such an approach considered?

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jeena
Considered yes, but I'm coming from computer science, not electronics so I
just didn't know what all the parts are doing and it will take time before I
learn about it. I'm eager to learn it but it is quite complex and a lot of
work which would get in the way of finishing the project within a short time
frame. The next time I will go one step further, I promise :)

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herval
Mine's a Doctor Who's Tardis + Pi running Mopidy (raspbian + some packages for
playing music from multiple services, airplay support and remote control with
a webapp). Making the thing was totally worth the cost :)

Some photos on FB:
[https://facebook.com/hervalfreire/albums/10152327503600754/?...](https://facebook.com/hervalfreire/albums/10152327503600754/?ref=bookmark)
(planned on doing a blog post but got sidetracked building other things)

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patrickdavey
If & when you get time, I for one would be very interested to read the blog
post! Even just a list of the packages you used (with the airplay support +
associated webapps) would be handy!

I've just set mine up for timelapses at the moment. Nothing fancy, but it does
make for pretty videos every day :)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxBJN5Pd_E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxBJN5Pd_E)
(since this one, have worked out how to turn the LED off, and I don't take it
through the night any more).

Good times, love the pi.

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jeena
This looks cool! So you take a picture with a web cam every couple of minutes
or something?

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patrickdavey
Yip, once a minute between sunrise and sunset (now) and then run a little
script to turn it into a video, and then use a nice little cli (googlecl) to
upload it to youtube (though that has been slightly tempermental). It's really
really straightforward.

Basic instructions here: [http://wiki.psdavey.com/my-setup-for-
timelapse.html](http://wiki.psdavey.com/my-setup-for-timelapse.html)

~~~
patrickdavey
And today was really quite nice too :)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBxa59p8zcU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBxa59p8zcU)

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noir_lord
I'm about to do something similar except I'm using an old AM Test Transmitter
from the 50's as the chassis
[http://imgur.com/a/FtamZ](http://imgur.com/a/FtamZ) (thing has valves and
still works!).

It has enough space to put in a pi,dac,amp into the middle box in the second
picture (which is perfectly centred) then I'm going to build some mdf cabinets
and put the speakers either side (with lots of dampening).

Going to keep (and make work) all the front switches, power output (top right
rectangle) is going to be replaced with a backlit LCD display and the tuning
dial (main face) is going to be kept but backlit with LED's that change color
to indicate station/volume.

On the back, audio output (in case I want to use external speakers) plus HDMI
and USB connections (so I can plug a monitor and keyboard in to do config
without disassembly).

Case had so much internal space I was tempted to put a media PC in it but I
have one already and a radio seems fitting somehow.

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DenisM
I realize that the fun of hacking is the point here.

However if all you want is a working device, here's one for $60:
[http://www.amazon.com/iHome-AirPlay-Rechargeable-Wireless-
Sy...](http://www.amazon.com/iHome-AirPlay-Rechargeable-Wireless-
System/dp/B009P2QUFS/) And there are much cheaper choices if you stick to
bluetooth.

For hacking things together, there is a $30 dongle that takes power and
delivers 3.5mm audio: [http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Receiver-Supports-
Portable-WF-...](http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Receiver-Supports-Portable-WF-
RADU/dp/B00L26YDA4/)

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davidholmesnyc
I like the concept. Seems like a fun weekend project. I might have to try it
someday. Thanks.

~~~
salgernon
I'm doing a similar "fun" project this weekend (for some definition of fun) -
wiring up an rPi to a 1982 ADDS Regent TTY @ 9600bps. The Pi is installed
internally with wifi and takes power from the terminal; all the other
connections are internal to the terminal. So, plop it down in any room, turn
it on, and have a fun conversation piece / something to play nethack on.

There is a critical mass issue with things like this in needing to have
several of the microcontroller devices available, so you don't feel bad about
"burning" on by actually embedding it in a project.

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paul9290
Does it play audio perfectly in sync between the two devices and if so can u
easily add/create additional speakers? Fill your house with audio on the
cheap?

~~~
jeena
No, it works like the AirPort Express, it buffers a couple of seconds (perhaps
5 or something) and first then plays it. This is build in into the AirPlay
protocol to prevent gaps in the audio.

~~~
paul9290
Would you be interested in creating speakers using this method that play and
are controlled in sync?

If so, we (SpeakerBlast.com) might be able to help.

~~~
nitrogen
[http://www.hackerposse.com/~rozzin/journal/whole-home-
pulsea...](http://www.hackerposse.com/~rozzin/journal/whole-home-
pulseaudio.html) may be interesting for those looking for synchronized multi-
device audio (I am not the author).

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BorisMelnik
Even more interested in his meat drying posts, that looks like a fun hobby
I've been meaning to find something non-tech to do.

