More PiFi Updates.

With the recent launch of the Raspberry Pi 2, with it's 4-core processor and more memory, I had to see if it would make Logitech Media Server run a bit more snappily.  Using it with the PiFi also meant getting a new DAC board, since the original HiFiBerry that I have won't fit the pins of the new Pi2 layout (which is the same as the B+).  I decided to try the IQaudIO Pi-DAC+ just to be different.  I've no complaints about the HiFiBerry I've been using, and I've no reason to believe that the latest offerings from them are inferior to the IQaudIO device (they use the same chip at least), I just thought it was worth trying the competition since the cost of the thing wasn't exactly going to leave me starving if I hated it and had to buy something else.  I don't hate it, it sounds lovely.  Better than the original HiFiBerry (which uses a different chip to the current ones, so don't conclude anything from that) and better than my CD player.

I've also done a new cradle for the Pi2 and SSD - in tasteful mauve.  This also meant printing another back for the glowing badge - there it is at the top of this post..


The two buttons are also new.  The green one switches the power on, the red one asks the Pi2 to shutdown nicely.  When the shutdown finishes, the power goes off automatically.

You can see the circuit board a bit better in this photo.  It communicates with the Pi2 by means of a couple of GPIO pins.  The shutdown request generated by the red button goes to a pin which is monitored every 5 seconds by a little Python script.  If that pin is high then it sends another pin high, and issues a "sudo shutdown -h now".  The power control circuit ignores that event, but, when shutdown has finished the Pi2 sends all the GPIO pins low and the falling edge is used to shut off the power.  If any of my legions of followers request it, I'll post some more detail about that.  Might just do it anyway.


Meanwhile, the back panel has also changed - I've used these two connectors from Maplin.  I'm considering splashing out on some Lumberg 0332 series DIN connectors, but for now these are much better (IMO) than the standard coaxial power connectors (that's the 2-pin one on the right) and those ghastly RCA phonos.  You noticed, perhaps, that I removed them from the DAC board?  Audio out is now from a right-angle PCB header underneath the board to the 3-pin socket on the left in this photo.

The photo below shows a side view, and you can see the two thin wires (red & white) which connect the power control board to the GPIO pins.  Rather than mess with more header pins, I simply soldered them on and used a PCB header on the power control board to allow me to disconnect them.

On the software front, it's much the same.   The major difference, and a vast improvement, is that the SSD now has 2 partitions - its still mostly a big NTFS partition to store the music files, but there's now a small (4GB) ext4 partition for the Linux rootFS - i.e. the operating system.  Once the basic kernel is loaded from the SD card, the rest of the boot sequence is done from the rootFS partition on the SSD.   The NTFS partition is the first one, so the USB lead to the SSD can be plugged straight into a Windows PC for rapid file transfer.  Thanks to Sam Hobbs for the tutorial on that subject.  I've moved the DHCP and DNS duties for my home network onto another Pi (well, I had a spare now). There is still a DHCP server and DNS on the PiFi which now only looks at the WiFi interface as it is needed to connect wireless devices to control the PiFi when no wired network is available.

Finally, to answer my initial query, yes, the Pi2 is a very worthwhile improvement.  Not only does it boot up much quicker and scan the library a lot quicker, it responds noticeably more snappily to navigation requests, especially when using folder navigation.