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Don't worry I haven't been pulled into a black hole, lost at sea or trapped in an evil dungeon, but it has been awhile since the last blog post, so let's recap on what has happened since then.
Change of software
Initially I plumped for Libre ELEC, but after a few days of tinkering and research I went for osmc as it is based on Raspbian and as such I thought it would provide the best platform for tinkering...read more on that later in this post.
Broken Screen
My Hyper Pixel screen was damaged and that left me with a large black mark across the screen and the touch interface has stopped working. This is a damn shame! Pimoroni instantly sent me a replacement unit, kudos and thanks to them! I replaced the screen and I saw lovely crisp images across the screen, and analog audio via the 3.5mm headphone jack. So for a while I was very happy and started to plan the build process...but then...
Incompatible Software
So the touch interface of the Hyper Pixel doesn’t work with osmc, even after using the automatic install from Pimoroni and following it manually. The screen works beautifully and if I could I would use a mouse to control the player, but that adds another mouse to my desk and I don’t want to do that! So this left me a little disheartened and sad about the project.
Failure?
No part of a project can be considered a failure if you learn something from it and I learnt quite a lot from this project.
Building a project to a specification is never set in stone, the specification can change due to customer requirements evolving as part of the process. The project can deviate based upon the result of testing possible solutions and some will lead you down a path that provides no useful end, but the information learnt along the journey is priceless.
Failing is just an iteration, a First Attempt In Learning if you will, and this FAIL has changed my specification and requirements and this is thanks to a chance encounter with a colleague who played a movie using the Official Raspberry Pi screen kit. The touch interface worked and the picture was good enough, sadly not Hyper Pixel quality, but it will do the job!
So the goals for this project remain the same
Project Goals
- The project should connect to my home wifi.
- It should have its own screen and speaker.
- Input will be via a touchscreen.
- I like to watch YouTube videos and listen to podcasts.
- I want to watch films on the device.
- It should connect to my hard drive via a network share.
But the kit that I need will change due to the new choice of screen.
- A Raspberry Pi 3
- 16GB micro SD card with LIBREELEC installed
- The Official Raspberry Pi Screen
- An Official Raspberry Pi 2.5A Power Supply
- A speaker
- A case
- Purchase an MPEG library to playback MPEG video.
So now I have my new plan, I can carry on with the build, which will form the final part of this series. Which will be out later this week!