2015-07-16, 00:16
This is a quick project I want to throw together and I only have 4 days to get it working. We leave for the Arizona White Mountains on Tuesday next week. Normally I would not ask for any advice or guidance, and would figure it all out on my own. But considering my deadline, I was hoping there might be someone that has either tried this, or at least knows where I can go to get some information and some guidance, to cut down on the trial-and-error and tweaking time needed to make this happen. With my existing hardware, and the available online software, it should be doable.
This is a dual-purpose project. I'll explain further down, and I will try to keep this brief!
I have an older '98 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 Liter 4x4 that actually has the stock cassette deck radio. It kicks butt actually as far as sound. I tried using a cassette adapter with an audio cord but the heads are either dirty, or it just doesn't position right, but it sucks for playing MP3's from my smart phone.
And I do not WANT to use my smart phone.
So I ordered a Bluetooth to FM transmitter device. The
GOgroove FlexSMART X2 Bluetooth Wireless In-Car FM Transmitter with USB Charging , Music Control and Hands-Free Calling. LOL yeah a long description. They are fairly popular on Amazon. Lots of other features I do not really care about, like hands-free, charging, etc. All I care about is getting my audio broadcast via FM at a frequency I set, and tuning to it on my stereo like a rolling broadcast station. WOOHOO!
Now the fun stuff! I have two RPi's. One is the newer version 2 with quad core, and the other is the older single core. If I can get away with this on the older one, then I have finally found a use for it! The new quad core has 4 usb ports though and that would eliminate the need for a powered hub.
The idea I had was to plug in a 160gb Intel SSD with my selected music library, have the RPi loaded (sd card) with Debian Linux and XBMC or OSMC, a blue tooth dongle (to talk to the fm transmitter I bought - Kinivo BTD-400), and hopefully be able to set up my smartphone (Droid 4) to be able to control playback through Kodi using the RPi's blue tooth dongle. If not, I can use a wireless keyboard that has worked for me before when I use it as a HTPC. And what I love the most is I can pull the microSDHC card that I have working and build this project on the new one.
ONE of the problems is (there are so many) is that although I can connect a HDMI 5" display to see what is happening, I'd rather have this control on a smart phone. Song selection from a list, pause-continue, rewind, etc. The smartphones are androids... Motorola Droid 4's. Maybe the FM transmitter I bought can actually send control information back through the blue tooth connection. It has all sorts of control buttons and stuff.
I will power the RPi2 with a power 12amp 5v power brick that will charge while it supplies. I already tested that and it works pretty good.
That's basically it, and I guess, the ability to play FLAC in Linux which I never seriously tried. 3/4 of my collection is FLAC. For those that do not know, that is Free Lossless Audio Codec.
Any and all suggestions would be so very much appreciated. You don't have to tell me how to do it, just steer me in the right direction. I dream of someday having this all in a nice and neat metal box under my seat, but I understand this is a prototype, and I have plenty of peg board, velcro wraps, and space to make this happen.
My wife just read this and it scared the SH*T out of her. LMAO!
Thank you so much for your valuable time!!! -Hop
OH ALMOST FORGOT! The dual purpose... I want to be able to pull this out of my Jeep, pair it with my Bose SoundLink Color speaker, along with the power brick that should be fresh from charging in the Jeep while we drive, and take it fishing with us to continue to hear our Led Zeppelin, Boston, Chevelle, SlipKnot, and Foo Fighters! ROCK ON!!!
This is a dual-purpose project. I'll explain further down, and I will try to keep this brief!
I have an older '98 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 Liter 4x4 that actually has the stock cassette deck radio. It kicks butt actually as far as sound. I tried using a cassette adapter with an audio cord but the heads are either dirty, or it just doesn't position right, but it sucks for playing MP3's from my smart phone.
And I do not WANT to use my smart phone.
So I ordered a Bluetooth to FM transmitter device. The
GOgroove FlexSMART X2 Bluetooth Wireless In-Car FM Transmitter with USB Charging , Music Control and Hands-Free Calling. LOL yeah a long description. They are fairly popular on Amazon. Lots of other features I do not really care about, like hands-free, charging, etc. All I care about is getting my audio broadcast via FM at a frequency I set, and tuning to it on my stereo like a rolling broadcast station. WOOHOO!
Now the fun stuff! I have two RPi's. One is the newer version 2 with quad core, and the other is the older single core. If I can get away with this on the older one, then I have finally found a use for it! The new quad core has 4 usb ports though and that would eliminate the need for a powered hub.
The idea I had was to plug in a 160gb Intel SSD with my selected music library, have the RPi loaded (sd card) with Debian Linux and XBMC or OSMC, a blue tooth dongle (to talk to the fm transmitter I bought - Kinivo BTD-400), and hopefully be able to set up my smartphone (Droid 4) to be able to control playback through Kodi using the RPi's blue tooth dongle. If not, I can use a wireless keyboard that has worked for me before when I use it as a HTPC. And what I love the most is I can pull the microSDHC card that I have working and build this project on the new one.
ONE of the problems is (there are so many) is that although I can connect a HDMI 5" display to see what is happening, I'd rather have this control on a smart phone. Song selection from a list, pause-continue, rewind, etc. The smartphones are androids... Motorola Droid 4's. Maybe the FM transmitter I bought can actually send control information back through the blue tooth connection. It has all sorts of control buttons and stuff.
I will power the RPi2 with a power 12amp 5v power brick that will charge while it supplies. I already tested that and it works pretty good.
That's basically it, and I guess, the ability to play FLAC in Linux which I never seriously tried. 3/4 of my collection is FLAC. For those that do not know, that is Free Lossless Audio Codec.
Any and all suggestions would be so very much appreciated. You don't have to tell me how to do it, just steer me in the right direction. I dream of someday having this all in a nice and neat metal box under my seat, but I understand this is a prototype, and I have plenty of peg board, velcro wraps, and space to make this happen.
My wife just read this and it scared the SH*T out of her. LMAO!
Thank you so much for your valuable time!!! -Hop
OH ALMOST FORGOT! The dual purpose... I want to be able to pull this out of my Jeep, pair it with my Bose SoundLink Color speaker, along with the power brick that should be fresh from charging in the Jeep while we drive, and take it fishing with us to continue to hear our Led Zeppelin, Boston, Chevelle, SlipKnot, and Foo Fighters! ROCK ON!!!
