Running LMS on Raspberry Pi for newbie to the Pi

[rbl]

Hi - I want to run LMS on a Raspberry Pi (rather than Win10) for a bunch of reasons. I have zero experience of the Pi and still need to buy one. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I need it to:

- connect to 3 wired SB3s and a wireless SB Radio, all sync'd

- play a 200GB FLAC library

- stream internet radio - ideally to include BBC iPlayer (or PlayHLS)

- the Raspberry Pi can be either wired or wireless (would slightly prefer wired for reliability when syncing)


Questions:

- which Pi version to buy? The lastest Pi 4? Or a cheaper Pi 3 B+? Or something else?

- is there a beginners guide to get me going? I don't even know which operating system to use! I am used to Windows and DOS (! - remember that?)

[d6jg]

Hi - I want to run LMS on a Raspberry Pi (rather than Win10) for a bunch of reasons. I have zero experience of the Pi and still need to buy one. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I need it to:

- connect to 3 wired SB3s and a wireless SB Radio, all sync'd

- play a 200GB FLAC library

- stream internet radio - ideally to include BBC iPlayer (or PlayHLS)

- the Raspberry Pi can be either wired or wireless (would slightly prefer wired for reliability when syncing)


Questions:

- which Pi version to buy? The lastest Pi 4? Or a cheaper Pi 3 B+? Or something else?

- is there a beginners guide to get me going? I don't even know which operating system to use! I am used to Windows and DOS (! - remember that?)

As it is going to be an LMS server then Pi4 with 4GB RAM. You should definitely wire it. You also need to to add a USB HD to store your music. The Pi4 benefits from USB3 so look for a 1TB USB3 SSD disk.
As to OS look at piCoreplayer. No Linux skills required and lots of help here which will explain how to install it, add LMS and generally get it going.

[d6jg]

Pi 4 Starter Kit

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Pi-Hut-Raspberry-Starter-White/dp/B07V9Y1SR4/ref=sr_1_8?crid=1VQO8AGAT9CD5&dchild=1&keywords=raspberry+pi+4+kit&qid=1587055299&sprefix=raspberry+pi+4%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-8

USB3 2TB HD - This one is NOT SSD

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/WD-Elements-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B06W55K9N6/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2N1H1GZTNZQ8A&dchild=1&keywords=usb3+ssd+external+drive&qid=1587055378&sprefix=usb3+ssd%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-8

USB3 1TB SSD

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-MU-PA1T0B-Portable-SSD-1TB/dp/B074M774TW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2N1H1GZTNZQ8A&dchild=1&keywords=usb3+ssd+external+drive&qid=1587055487&sprefix=usb3+ssd%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-3

[Paul Webster]

Quick extra thing ... if your music is on a networked storage device (like a WD MyCloud) then you can access that from the RPi - there would be no need to buy an extra USB disk.

Get an official power supply for the RPi 4

Also - think about some optional components
micro hdmi adapter
case

Edit:
If you go for a starter kit like d6jg referred to then the optional parts above are covered.

[kidstypike]

Just to add -

The kit recommended by @d6jg is okay, but I'd bin the case as being not fit for purpose, the Pi4 runs hot - https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/v...3500&start=250

Get one of these instead -

[rbl]

As it is going to be an LMS server then Pi4 with 4GB RAM. You should definitely wire it. You also need to to add a USB HD to store your music. The Pi4 benefits from USB3 so look for a 1TB USB3 SSD disk.
As to OS look at piCoreplayer. No Linux skills required and lots of help here which will explain how to install it, add LMS and generally get it going.

Perfect. From a quick look it seems that piCorePlayer is a very stripped down o/s focused on audio stuff. So a couple of questions:

- will I be able to stream radio, esp. using BBC iPlayer (or PlayHLS), via LMS (as I do in Win10)?

- will I still be able to use the Pi for all the other sorts of things that it can do. (e.g. use temperature sensors)?

[kidstypike]

Perfect. From a quick look it seems that piCorePlayer is a very stripped down o/s focused on audio stuff. So a couple of questions:

- will I be able to stream radio, esp. using BBC iPlayer (or PlayHLS), via LMS (as I do in Win10)?

- will I still be able to use the Pi for all the other sorts of things that it can do. (e.g. use temperature sensors)?

LMS running on a Pi/piCorePlayer is no different to LMS/Win10.

Not sure what you mean by temperature sensors? piCorePlayer displays it's own CPU graph.

[rbl]

Not sure what you mean by temperature sensors? piCorePlayer displays it's own CPU graph.

[ATTACH]30088[/ATTACH]

I mean the various accessories that can be added to the Pi - sensors, motors etc.. It seems that piCorePlayer is a stripped down o/s focusing on audio and I am just wondering if there is any major loss of Pi functionality (over and above LMS) as a result?

[kidstypike]

I mean the various accessories that can be added to the Pi - sensors, motors etc.. It seems that piCorePlayer is a stripped down o/s focusing on audio and I am just wondering if there is any major loss of Pi functionality (over and above LMS) as a result?

LMS on wheels?

No, no motors or sensors.

[raglencross]

I have used Picoreplayer on a RPi4 and it is an excellent LMS server/player. However, if you want to use your RPi4 for other programs as well as LMS install the Raspian OS per raspberrypi.org. That site will give you full instructions on how to do this, as well as instructions and info on many other aspects of using the RPi. In my case, I wanted to run PLEX as well as LMS on my RPi4, so after using Picoreplayer for a while, I switched to Raspian to allow for the installation of Plex (and other programs) which I couldn't do with Picoreplayer. Google is your friend when it comes to getting instructions for things you want to do on the RPi that aren't covered on raspberrypi.org.

[d6jg]

I have used Picoreplayer on a RPi4 and it is an excellent LMS server/player. However, if you want to use your RPi4 for other programs as well as LMS install the Raspian OS per raspberrypi.org. That site will give you full instructions on how to do this, as well as instructions and info on many other aspects of using the RPi. In my case, I wanted to run PLEX as well as LMS on my RPi4, so after using Picoreplayer for a while, I switched to Raspian to allow for the installation of Plex (and other programs) which I couldn't do with Picoreplayer. Google is your friend when it comes to getting instructions for things you want to do on the RPi that aren't covered on raspberrypi.org.

I totally agree but without any Linux skills I think that may be a bit of a struggle. If the principle purpose is to get a working LMS then I’d stick with piCorePlayer but suggest getting a second Pi - perhaps a 3B - to learn some Linux.

Not sure whether it’s been wholly answered but BBC iPlayer, Spotify and any plugin that works on W10 will work on a piCorePlayer based LMS

[truscellino]

A month ago I put together a PicorePlayer server/player on rpi B+ (4 years old device) with official touchscreen, without previous experience of raspberry Pi or LMS. I started with the guidance material on PicorePlayer website:
https://www.picoreplayer.org/main_getting_started.shtml
https://www.picoreplayer.org/main_howto.shtml
I also asked a couple of things on this forum and got answers.

Everything worked flawlessly pretty much, Once PicorePlayer is installed and running, the configuration via web pages is very clear and effective. LMS, jivelite (if you have a touchscreen) and squeezelite, everything can be set up. I would say it's probably simpler than doing it on Windows 10,,,

[truscellino]

I mean the various accessories that can be added to the Pi - sensors, motors etc.. It seems that piCorePlayer is a stripped down o/s focusing on audio and I am just wondering if there is any major loss of Pi functionality (over and above LMS) as a result?

Well yes, my understanding is that PicorePlayer is designed to be minimal and just contains the components to run LMS / jivelite / squeezelite and a simple web server for configuration purposes. The whole systems is loaded in RAM, which is remarkable. You can add some extensions, but you won't get a full desktop-type environment for fun scripts/automation projects. You can still multi-boot (with something like BerryBoot) and use other operating systems on the raspberry Pi, as and when needed.

[teeitup]

Another option - Max2Play

Another option is Max2Play.
I use it on the Pi that plays in my car.

With Pi's, having multiple MicroSD cards makes trying, testing and comparing different installs a breeze.

Good Luck,

[bpa]

Not sure whether it’s been wholly answered but BBC iPlayer, Spotify and any plugin that works on W10 will work on a piCorePlayer based LMS

With regard to BBCiPlayer plugin. It has no dependent helper application and works on all LMS systems regardless of OS. BBC uses AAC so standard LMS AAC transcoding is required for any player which does not support native AAC.

There are 2 version of PlayHLS plugin.
PlayHLS V2.* has no dependent helper applications & works on all LMS systems regardless of OS. HLS streams use either AAC or MP3 codec and so LMS transcoding will be used to play the streams.
PlayHLS V1.* uses ffmpeg and so has to be installed. Some users have repurposed PlayHLS V1.* to play non HLS streams by taking advantage of ffmpeg capabilities.


The internet streams/services that are played with BBCiPlayer and PlayHLS often require https support. LMS needs to be at least version 7.9.2 for https support and also LMS uses underlying OS support for https with IO::Socket::SSL and this should be at least V2.* (V2.066 is current) - otherwise some streams/services may fail to play. These limitations are the exact same as running LMS on W10. LMS distribution on W10 is simple as all required modules are bundled into single installation.