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An open source media receiver for hackers

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Kast

An open source streaming stick with a few tricks up its sleeves

alternatively,

An extensible open-source daemon for displaying arbitrary media on the big screen.

Goals / Guiding Principles

  • To achieve a user experience on par with the Google Chromecast
  • To preserve the privacy and respect the attention of the user
  • To provide an extensible platform for developing lightweight big screen experiences
    • Note: The "Chromecast Use-case" is considered the first class use-case

Guiding Principles

  • Less UI is better UI

Features

  • HTTP API that allows playing of any youtube-dl supported URLs
  • Random pictures when idle

Design

In its current implementation, Kast acts as a mediator between multiple processes (modules) which share exclusive access to the screen. The HTTP API allows local clients to invoke functions from each module, which may decide to pre-empt the current module (the default of which being the slideshow module). Once the running module is terminated, the new module is run. When any module terminates without being pre-empted, the slideshow module is automatically loaded. In addition to the slideshow module, the media module allows any youtube-dl supported media to be streamed.

Installation

Currently based on Raspbian Lite:

  • DD raspbian lite to SD card
  • touch ssh in boot if desired
  • Set passwords (passwd and sudo passwd)
  • raspi-config
    • Set hostname
  • ssh-copy-id
  • sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    • PermitRootLogin no
    • PasswordAuthentication no
  • Install dependencies: apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get install vlc chromium-browser unclutter lightdm bspwm python-pip pulseaudio
  • Optional: Install dev dependencies apt-get install golang git
  • Install youtube-dl sudo pip install --upgrade youtube_dl
  • sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
    • Find or set these values:
      • autologin-user=pi
      • autologin-session=bspwm
  • Clone the repo and go build / download the binary
  • Copy kast to /usr/bin/ and copy the service files to /etc/systemd/user/
  • Enable kast.service with the --user flag
  • Reboot

You can now build and run the binary with DISPLAY=:0 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000 kast

To speed up boot:

https://www.myhelpfulguides.com/2018/10/20/how-improve-raspberry-pi-boot-time-raspbian-lite/s https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/5256/how-can-i-improve-boot-time-on-raspbian

  • Disable services:

    • avahi-daemon
    • bluetooth
    • triggerhappy
  • Edit configs

    • /boot/config.txt
      • boot_delay=0

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