I am new to Khadas.
I have just purchased a VIM3L, a Tone 1 board, and a touch screen.
My task is to create an audio player, with a number of tracks that will be stored on the device.
So, streaming / WiFi/Internet is not required.
Is there a recommended / suggested path to take, for a newbie, to get an audio player up and running?
I have very little experience with Linux, but more with Android.
I have also seen posts talking about Volumio - can this Volumio be customised to hide a lot of menu options etc. from the end user, so they just get to choose the tracks from a list - more like a jukebox?
If anyone has any pointers to bring me somewhat out of the dark, I would appreciate it.
Once I get my hands on the right reading material or examples, or tutorials, I can get busy learning.
However, sometimes the most important decisions are made right at the start - which OS to use etc.
Currently volumio images need to be fixed to the latest version, but it is quite easy to set up and use Tone1 with running the VIM3L on Android/Ubuntu/Debian images. TS050 touch screen is also supported in these OSes, but not in volumio.
If you are familar with android, you can go ahead with that!
Else, if you are looking for a simple and lightweight linux based player, you can grab the linux desktop image variants and choose from the plethora of various different audio players on linux.
I’ve linked some guides for you down below for you to check them out, there are a lot of very nice GUI audio apps.
Thank you for the quick reply and all the information and links
I didn’t realise that the TS050 touch screen was not supported by volumio, which is a deal breaker.
The project is to design a self contained player, portable, with touch screen, pre-loaded audio files.
So, it looks like I am down to Android or Linux.
The examples you posted are all Linux. Are any / all of these customisable? Are these projects that a user can edit and re-build, if using the appropriate development studio? Or are they pre-compiled distributions (or whatever the correct term is, sorry), that you just install, and run?
Thank you again for the initial response. Hopefully I can pick the correct path to take in a few days
Yes, they are all open source projects that you can modify compile and build yourself, or you can install them directly from the package manager.
for my example, I just run:
$ sudo apt install gnome-music
for others, you can refer to the flatpak instructions of installing them
There isn’t really a customisable music player persay, but the general overlay of the app’s screen is like what you ask for, so just the tracks, albums etc.
You could create your own client if you like, but for simplicity i think you can follow using these ones directly
I went down the Android path for a few weeks, but I am finding the results very unsatisfactory.
It is time for me to explore the other option.
You listed several Gnome examples above.
I have researched but can’t discover what the clear path to do the following is:
(Using a Windows PC)
Download an example Gnome (music player ) application
Install necessary software / libraries / IDE in Windows, to allow editing of Gnome project
Build project to create image / installer file for use on VIM3L
For example.
Do I install GTK on Windows?
Is this enough / do I need anything else?
I’m bouncing around from website to website to YouTube but really can; t see a clear picture of what is involved.
You do not need to install on build any app in your host machine, you need to obtain a linux image like ubuntu or debian and install it on your VIM3L.
In my example image, I installed the debian image and updated the version from (debian bullseye 11 to bookworm 12), installed the gnome 40 desktop, and the gnome music app.
After this you can power on your VIM3L, connect up your screen or monitor with keyboard and mouse and install the apps you want directly from the command prompt.
after that setup, you don’t need to connect anything again, you can simply open the apps from the touchscreen and play the music as you like.
I had no issue getting Android up and running on the VIM3L – that was straightforward / easy.
What I then wanted to achieve was to modify an Android app, and get it running on the VIM3L – again, this was straight forward.
My next objective was to get this Android app to launch automatically, when the VIM3L powers up – I haven’t been able to get this to happen yet. I tried a few apps that do this, like Fully Single App Kiosk, with no success.
Even if I get this to work, then I still haver the boot up image (the Khadas image, which I think I am able to replace), and the Android startup animation. To get rid of this animation I think requires rebuilding Android etc. So, I think this will be a lot of work and I am not sure if I will be able to get the results I want – a nice clean startup of my Android app, after the VIM3L is powered up.
That’s why I am thinking that the Linux route might be the way to go. I understand that I can obtain a Linux image and install it on the VIM3L, but what I needs to do after that is get a sample audio application for Linux, and then modify it to suit my requirements. This, I think, involves editing a project built with/in GNOME? And that is where my questions were going – I don’t understand what is required to build/edit a project for Linux, but to do it on a Windows PC.
I believe you need the audio application to launch on start up, which is possible to do.
I have mentioned there is no projects to build/compile. you just need to install the app directly on the device with commands.
eg.
$ sudo apt-get install gnome-music
Then you need to open gnome tweaks app, and add gnome-music application to the startup applications menu, That’s all
I would try installing Ubuntu or Debian image, Ubuntu will be simpler to install and work with. Download and install the gnome image and try these steps.
Thanks - I will try that.
However, what you describe seems to be running the Gnome Music app on startup.
I have an additional requirement - to be able to edit/modify the app (or a similar audio app), so I can customize it to my requirements. To do this, I assume I need to be able to open the source code/application on my Windows PC, edit the project, and re-build it.
