Rpi Zero w/ Two Different Inexpensive USB Audio Cards

Rpi Zero with a Generic Low Cost USB audio Card & Zero with USB and a PCM2704 chip from Texas Instruments.

Lowest cost Rpi audio solution I have found is using the Zero with a inexpensive wifi card and a USB music card, total cost $10. I found audio popping with this scenario. But at a slight increase to $11.50 the sound quality is much nicer using a USB with the PCM2704 chip from Texas Instruments. Both options require additional $'s evaluation for microsd card and power supply. My friends at the Raspberry Pi Discussion Forum turned me onto the PCM2704 low cost USB card that in my opinion outputs nice acceptable sound quality (thanks clacktronics for the suggestion).

MoOde software over wifi from Rpi Zero powered USB hub w/PCM2704 audio.

USB is complicated here, but will be simplified. Zero has a camera too.

Inexpensive USB audio, PCM2704 on bottom; both work on Zero w/MoOde, hot swapping is OK

I will be reducing the USB wiring by soldering the wifi and USB audio with PCM2704 in place above the zero, then put into a small case with power input and audio output jacks showing. My initial attempt to reduce the USB Hub was a complete disaster, disassembling the case and trying to solder the USB Audio card to the USB Hub did not work for me, mostly due to my poor soldering capabilities.

The USB Hub which was destroyed by trying to attach the USB Audio directly.

My goal is to get a tiny package, something like a tic tac container. As you can see, the Rpi0, USB Audio and wifi can easily fit except the USB Hub isn't there.

ENERGY
A pi Zero running v3.0 MoOde used 5.16V and 0.19 amps which is 0.98 watts running a USB audio card and a wifi dongle through a USB hub. While starting up this used more power for a very short period of time. 1 watt powered the pi Zero headphones, slightly higher when performing wifi interactive communications. The Rpi3 used 0.26 amps or 1.35 watts for the same functionality. 

Solar powered w/Li-ion battery, Rpi0 with USB Audio, wifi and small speaker.

This tiny solution would enable an inexpensive car audio system controlled by a cell phone. Or just listen with headphones. 

CHROMECAST AUDIO
The comparison of these USB audio systems needs to be compared to a Google Chromecast Audio because the Chromecast has great functionality with lots of audio software. Other very low-cost solutions exist that don't have an amplifier including the items in the photo below (counterclockwise from the top: Rpi0, USB audio card, USB audio card with optical SPDIF, Chromecast Audio with analog and optical SPDIF).

The Chromecast Audio puck is $25 US and has the functionality of a wifi enabled Rpi with audio output, similar to the Rpi0 and USB SPDIF output card shown above. There may be audio quality differences. Through software, I am thinking that the USB audio can be configured to mimic the Chromecast Audio functionality. This may require some skilled software people. It is quite easy to connect many audio services to the Chromecast Audio puck.

The audio evaluations has been broken out into the following audio sections:

• Introduction (Hardware, Software, Energy)
• Blog on the SMSL USB DAC off a RPI 2
• Rpi Zero w/ Two Different Inexpensive USB Audio Cards (this post)
• Rpi with Supstronics x400 HAT
• Grateful Dead Playing in Parks

And a related post, Uniqueness of the Rpi.

Breadmaker

It is ridiculous how much gluten free bread costs at the markets. And the loaves are tiny. I've been contemplating how to bake my own for a few years now. A well respected bread maker by Zojirushi of Japan became available to me. Purchased at a reasonable price. It had been at the 2nd hand store for a few months. I went on a particular day that made the price low with multiple discounts. A quick check on the internet showed these sell new for $200 or more, so I took a chance.

The n15 by Zojirushi

It is a bit industrial, lots of metal and an exposed heating element inside the baking compartment. Some clunky sounds while the dough is being prepared. One interesting aspect is that it only uses 500 watts of power. That means I can run it off my solar inverter. I've always been an advocate of solar cooking.

After getting it home, the internet revealed a user manual and some recipes. I wanted to try it out with a standard flour recipe first to determine if is working properly. So miraculously got all the right ingredients from our kitchen, and a couple from the store. Buttermilk and yeast was purchased.  I think the yeast was the problem on my first batch of standard white bread. I purposely purchased the yeast packages with the latest expiration dates, but that didn't seem to matter. It was dead for my purpose. The loaf didn't rise, only half a loaf, very dense and slightly burnt around the sides.

First attempt at bread making ingredients.

Ingredients placed into bread maker baking pan, yeast on top.

I went to the store to get some new yeast, instant yeast, a pound of it for less than $5.  While at the store, the puppy had jumped up on the stove and ate some of the first bread baking experience. He hasn't done anything like that since he was new born, a year ago. Bad dog.

Ingredients for second batch, salt (1t), sugar (2T), yeast (2.25t), butter (2T), flour (3C) by weight and buttermilk (1.25C).

The second loaf did the rising that it was supposed to, but for some reason collapsed. My son had been playing his euphonium at the loudest volume I had ever heard. After the second rise of the bread I had peeked into the maker and saw a nice dome on the loaf which had risen to near the top of the baking pan.When all the baking was finished, the dome had collapsed. No worries.

Collapsed bread next to baking pan.

Looks OK, right?

Taste testers indicated that the bread is good!

Bread, some eatin...

My next try will again be a white loaf during a quite part of the day, probably with powdered milk.  I am working towards the gluten free version very soon.

By the way, third try on the white bread was excellent.

Quick video of bread-maker completing and first look at white bread. still trying to upload the video.

Bread didn't collapse, yeah!

Looking better, and tastes....great!

********* Gluten Free *********

Customer service at Zojirushi said gluten free cannot be done with the n15. The recipes and instructions for gluten free are challenging.  The preset programs aren't right, and all the ingredients listed in any recipe were double what my breadmaker could handle, so I halved as best as possible. And I used a pre-packaged gluten free mix which included at least three of the parts needed. 

Ingredients with associated packages

From Left to Right: baking pan, yeast (1.5t), apple vinegar (1.5t), honey (1.5T), salt (0.75t), flour mix (2C), 2 eggs beaten, milk (0.75C). Not shown, vegetable oil (1.5T).

The program I selected does kneading, two rises for 2 hours, then 44 to 52 minutes of baking.
A newer model breadmaker with a specific program for gluten free shows 17 minutes knead, 5 minutes rise1, 5 minutes rise2, 25 minutes rise3 and 60 minute bake. So I'm just trying my best on this first attempt with a wrong program. Plus I was using some proven live instant yeast, instead of active dry yeast recommended on the newer model. This yeast stuff is quite complicated.

The first attempt for gluten free wasn't a success.

First rise took much too long, as did the second one. Note finger pressed into dough shows it had started to bake.

With at least 30 minutes left on the baking program, I took the loaf out because it looked done from the top.

Bread is edible, but not at all right.

This particular bread maker isn't set up for gluten free, unless you wanted to be uber creative and manually mix the yeast in an hour after the other ingredients were mixed, wait 5 minutes, punch it down, wait 5 minutes, punch it down and then keep an eye on the baking time. Let me know if you want me to try this.

So the moral of the gluten free breadmaker story is, get a bread making machine that specifically has a gluten free program, something like this: knead, rise for 5 minutes, knock down, rise for 5 minutes, knock down then wait a few minutes and bake. 

************ Back to White Bread ************

I purchased some powdered Buttermilk blend, 12 oz for $4.52: 1 C Buttermilk = 4 T blend + 1 C water. That is about $0.95 per loaf. I also picked up some flour at the bulk bin for $0.74/LB; about $0.60 per loaf. For powdered bread, just add water this is a very good scenario.

Successful Irish soda bread, with gluten.

A Irish Soda bread baking was successful using the following ingredients: salt (1t), sugar (2T), yeast (2.t), butter (2T), raisins (0.3C), flour (3.3C) by weight, caraway seeds (2t), water (1.3C) and buttermilk powder (1T). There were three rise sessions in the breadmaker. Took 260 watt-hours of energy, 4 hours to complete the cycle and 0.5 hour to cool down. The taste was dominated by the caraway seeds. Not like I remember as a child, perhaps it was coated in powdered sugar back then. Below is a picture. I ate that slice in the hopes that I can tolerate gluten if fresh baked.

I can now make a multitude of bread recipes with gluten in the old breadmaker. Trick for my high altitude of 6,000 feet is to use less yeast. Feel free to leave comments, hope this helps someone with their baking.

$5 Music Box Server

After posting about the uniqueness of the Raspberry Pi 2 last year, I have purchased a 3 and a Zero.  This has all been tinkering, figuring out how low cost internet of things computers like the Raspberry Pi family can be put to good use.

This Blog post is about using the Zero 1.3 version to host a music library and shuffle songs to a stereo for listening. I am using a standard Raspbian Jessie operating system that was originally built on the Raspberry Pi 3, but works in the Zero with no issues. It is loaded on a 16 GB microSD card which boots the Zero. My only issue with the Zero is limited USB ports. If I had one more USB available, I could remote control the Zero music using WiFi.

I like Banshee music player because it has a graphic equalizer and has an Android phone app for remote control. I can't say that I understand all the Banshee functionality, but it seems to work for this particular application. Here is the music box server story.

Busy photo showing Raspberry Pi Zero (lower right) and other peripherals.

A few years ago I ripped all my music CD's to FLAC files, a lossless format that I thought would be good for future use. I now have many music folders, and 7,000 music files to choose from that were originally my CD music collection. I put them all onto a $35 hard drive for archiving, the Western Digital PiDrive with 314 gigs of storage, of which about 200 gigs is used by the FLAC file storage.  You can get any storage device you choose, not endorsing the WD hardware. I don't consider this hard drive cost associated with the music server because it is a backup archive. That hard drive is shown in the photo above. It has a bright white light. That is connected to the USB power cord, which then sends the power to the Raspberry Pi Zero. The hard drive USB data cable is connected to the USB data hub (red light in above photo) which also has a wireless keyboard, wireless trackball mouse and USB audio card. The red wire is the analog music which delivers the music to my stereo amplifier. Lots of wires.

The Raspberry Pi Zero has a HDMI mini to standard plug which the monitor is plugged into.

The monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse can be removed from the setup once the music is playing and in shuffle mode.  I have checked the power usage, it is 37 watts with the monitor, and 4 watts without. The hard drive, Zero and USB hub with peripherals use only 4 watts of power.

4 watts of power used for music box server without monitor.

The power is managed by a plug-strip with monitor, high amp output USB power and the USB hub power. Turning the plug-strip on boots up the Zero and goes into desktop mode. I click on the Banshee program and wait until it is fully loaded by watching processor utilization. Then select all artists and hit play. It shuffles the songs, and I get to listen to a random selection of my own music. I assume I could automate the process of running Banshee and automatically playing if necessary.

Raspberry Pi Zero ver 1.3 Running Music Box Server

As far as the music quality is concerned, it is OK. The very inexpensive USB music card has both audio output and microphone input. I assume I can get a DAC solution with much higher quality, I just haven't seen the right solution for my purposes yet. Waiting on some Kickstarter Pi DAC that can provide a SPDIF input (Please don't tell me about the Cirris Logic DAC, way too complicated).

This $5 Zero version 1.3 isn't easy to purchase. I had to wait on vendors mailing lists until they were back in stock. It seems amazing the functionality/price ratio for these systems on a chip (SOC) devices. There are peripheral costs. The Raspberry Pi Foundation keeps the costs low by not having additional functionality which each use case may not require.

Hope this is an interesting Blog. Feel free to comment. Thanks.

This post has been included in an audio evaluation has been broken out into the following audio sections:

• Introduction (Hardware, Software, Energy)
• $5 Music Box Server (this post)
• Rpi Zero w/ Two Different Inexpensive USB Audio Cards
• Rpi with Supstronics x400 HAT
• Grateful Dead Playing in Parks

And a related post, Uniqueness of the Rpi.

Good audio document https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/how-to-play-sound-and-make-noise-with-your-raspberry-pi/.

Garbage at Ski Area Slopes

In a few day's time I was able to visit four different ski areas and perform a standardized exploration of how much garbage could be found. Here is that experience.

First steps in this journey were taken at Mary Jane ski area in Winter Park Colorado on July 4th. I walked up the Panorama lift up to Parson's Bowl and then came back down a different route. Along this and all the journey's I used existing foot paths as much as possible. I left as little footprint as possible at all times. For this first trip, I was targeted at getting some of my own garbage that had been left, a telemark ski binding cable. I had lost it in 20" of snow powered on-top of 12" more powder. But found it exactly where I had remembered loosing the piece.

At the bottom of the ski slope I collected all the garbage and took a picture to document the amount of garbage. Below is the Mary Jane litter.

Then, I was taking a trip from Colorado to San Francisco and decided to stop at ski areas along the way. First stop was Park City Utah. I standardized the trip up the mountain, going 1,000 feet up, under a random ski lift, then came back down a different route.

Next stop was Heavenly Valley just south of Lake Tahoe in California. Same routine, 1,000 feet up, then a different route down.

Last stop on this journey I stopped at Alta just east of Salt Lake City. 

plus there was this extra garbage that I had collected, but didn't have space to carry up and down so left on the well traveled maintenance road.

Looking back on the photos it appears to me that Park City was the cleanest. But I had thought Alta was best. At least the wild flowers were the best I have ever seen. 

There are many more examples of garbage on the ski slopes in the form of abandoned infrastructure. Concrete foundations, piping, wires left exposed. 

When traveling back I was possibly going to hike up Steamboat Springs, but while traveling through I didn't have the energy. Some Forest Service people told me that those slopes have lots of garbage. What I would like is to have a Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) relationship that first develop the standard audit process, then can grant access to ski areas to compare and contrast the land stewardship cultures. Hope this journey helps keep our ski areas as clean as possible. The irony that I had my own trash that needed to be picked up isn't lost on my experience. 

Of course, the air travel miles that skiers use is far greater an environmental impact than any of this litter.  

Whale Story

Wrote this a few days ago, July 9th, 2016. It was a four part message.

Part 1

Stayed over in Stinson Beach last night, then this morning moved to the public parking area and backed the car into a space right at the beach. Had some excellent Prius brew coffee and a crock pot stew of chipotle sauce with tuna on previously home toasted corn tortillas. Then I headed out walking north on the beach. Hadn't really explored that previously. Took some photos along the way, one of a ocean surge wall to protect the beach property next to a home with PV panels. Two different strategies for climate change. It was overcast but burning off, cool ocean breezes.

As I was contemplating the waves, each new wave sweeping out the old and bringing in a new event, new opportunities, new reality, I noticed a paddle boarder up ahead.  Not much happening that time of the morning. Earlier I had seen some boats close to shore, couldn't tell if they were tour boats or fishing boats. There was some bird commotions too. And then I saw a whale's back. The paddle boarder was right near it, and paddling in the direct the whale was heading. Then I saw a clearer sighting, took my phone out and started shooting photos. Some really good views of the whale(s) feeding very close to shore, possibly 100 to 200 yards off shore. The feeding died down, whales gone, and the paddle boarder was moving along in the same direction as I was and then came to shore in front of where she was staying. Her camera battery had died, but I sent her some photos I had taken to her e-mail account. One very excited paddle boarder.

Continued to walk as far as I could north, 2.5 miles, then turned around. I began wondering why I didn't  go into the ocean when I saw the whales? They were so close, I could have swam with them. People travel the world and pay enormous fees for such an opportunity. How would that work? Is it too cold? Would it be safe? How far out would the whale need to be for me to go swimming? Could I strip down to my underwear, they are black and look like swim trunks?

Let me know if you want to know the rest of the story.

******************

Whale Story, Part II

Where was I, oh yeah, walking back. Planning, thinking if I see another whale what would be the conditions that would get me into the water. If I was to take off my clothing I would need to weigh them down because it was getting a little windy. I picked up a rock and continued walking carrying the rock.

Well guess what?

Up ahead there were more people on the beach in one place. This was noticeable because the beach was quite empty.  They were looking out into the ocean. And again, the tell tale signs of birds. Then, again, spotting of a whale back's. It was feeding time again, but the whale(s) were a bit out, possibly too far out to safely go swimming closer. As I walked towards the people, a humpback came up out of the water filling it's mouth with fish. It smiled, it's head two yards out of the ocean surface. And it was closer, possibly a football field away. The people watched, and I did too. It seemed like things were dying down as I passed the people. They were dispersing. I sat down on the high side of the beach, took my shoes & socks off and removed my hat, sat down. Waited..waited, like coyote waits. Then it happened, a whale, closer, came out of the ocean heading my way. I made my move. 

Took off my long sleeve highway-orange shirt, dropped my pants, packed them into my hat along with the rock and went into the ocean. I swam out as far as I could still stand in the water. Waited. Yes, it was cold. Colder than I would have thought, but not the coldest ocean I've experienced. A whale, again looked like a humpback, was slowly going down the shore line feeding. It came about 100 yards away. Nice to see up closer. Of course I was sending it telepathic messages to come see me. It seemed like I was in water that was too shallow for a face to face meeting. The whale(s) came up a few times.

It calmed down again, and to keep from getting too cold I rode a wave to the shore and got out drying myself next to my tiny beach camp site.

Again, whale(s), so I went back into the ocean. Why not, I was still a little wet, and this time the whale looked even closer. So I ran in, yelling to a couple standing there "It's headed this way!"

I went a little further out, still able to stand, on my tippy toes and still breath air. I noticed the whale was breathing too, heading right towards me. I was 50 yards out, and it was another 50 yards. Birds were flying above, feeding on scraps a whale might have missed. It was now perpendicular to me and the beach, rising up out of the ocean, more than usual, crusty mouth of what looked to me like a humpback's head. We said hello, and it was on its way past. A few more feedings, then gone. I rode an excellent wave back to the shore, standing up after the ride in one foot of water. Walked back and dried off. As I left my beach site I remembers to look back and my hat was still in the sand. Further down the beach I couldn't find my sunglasses. So went back to my camp but they were not there. A pair of sunglasses I had found were now lost. Funny, I had just picked up some broken sunglasses off the ground at Heavenly Valley ski resort the day before. Waves of ownership. No worries, I have one more pair of sunglasses that I had found still in the car.

It feels like I have good whale karma. I remember seeing a whale every day while in Hawaii at each of the different islands. It just seems to happen. Like it did today. Maybe someday I will be able to ask a whale if we have met before?

But the story doesn't end there, something else just happened....

************

Whale Story Part 3

So the other thing that happened later on in that day was after I had taken a nap in the car.

But first I have to explain a little bit more why I got out of the water the last time. You remember, I had been swimming within 50 yards of the whale? Well, at the same time I saw a dorsal fin. Now, I am no Marine Biologist, but I thought to myself that is either another whale or possibly a shark. Well, seeing as there was  feeding going on, and again I am not a marine biologist, I thought it would be a good idea to get out of the water.

Now, back to the afternoon event after I had taken a nap in the car. I walk out to the ocean, and right there and then there is a whale with its nose sticking up out of the ocean having just grabbed a mouth full of fish. Ocean water running out of its mouth. More wales were feeding up and down the coast. I tried to get a selfy photo of myself and a whale. You have any idea how difficult that is? Getting a picture of a whale back or a whale coming up out of the ocean is tough enough. I don't know if I was successful, many photos but I can't see off my phone if there are any successful whale selfies. Will let you know...

The next morning I got up early and drove away from Stinson beach, but not before going out to the beach. Deserted except for a person sleeping on the life guard stand. No whales, no boats, no other people.

However, as I drove up, up and up out of the low lying town I noticed something else. Let me know if you are still interested in one more installment of this story.

*************

Whale Story Part 4

As I was saying, I was driving up up and up out of the town of Stinson Beach after having spent a day with whales.

As I drove up, I notice boats heading towards the beach, and more boats, and in the distance even more. Then I noticed the tell tale signs of blow holes spewing water out into the air above the ocean surface. From the high vantage point I was able to see many different areas where whales were coming above the water. And then I saw it, for the first time, a tail. The ocean was so calm that morning not like the day before when it was choppy. I hadn't seen any tails. I didn't see any mouth above the ocean, but lots of black backs. At one point I counted five blow hole events at the same time. Hard to say how many of the majestic mammals where under the surface that day.

There seemed to be a mad rush for the boats of all different sizes to get to see the whales. I don't know how long the whales had been there, and don't know if they have left, but I did. And feel blessed to have been so close, so lucky to have seen this event. That is my whale story.

And then this happened a few day's later in the San Francisco Bay:

http://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-photography-scuba-ocean-news/video-rare-humpback-whale-encounter-san-francisco-bay/ 

Tele Anyone?

Telemark skiing that is...

Been telemark skiing since the late 1980's  but didn't commit and throw away my downhill skis till somewhere around 1992. I am getting worse, and the gear is getting better so I tend to maintain a constant level of competency. 

Mary Jane ski area used to have an excellent class for keeping up on technique, it was called TeleDaze. They seem to have stopped that program unfortunately. 

Gear
Skis were all made about the same time, cable bindings. Leather boots are 30 years old but surprisingly I still have them and they work for mild activities. Hard plastic boots are for area skiing and back-country. Also shown are things that go in the backpack like shovel and first aid kit. Two different sets of skins there, full and half skins allow you to ski up hill to get to your favorite places. I am overdue for a new set of skis, ones with rocker technology. Just so I can keep up with my deteriorating body ~smiley~.

My favorite back country place, because I had a part in the construction, is Broome Hut where I happen to be a Hut Master. 

Tele to work video

Best book hands down is Allen & Mike's Really Cool Telemark Tips. The book has an animation if you flip the pages, which wouldn't work with a e-book version.  Great short concepts to work on for each outing. 

And no respectable blog would be complete without a mention to avalanche preparedness. Don't go into unsafe places. Don't bundle together, use appropriate gear. I've always thought that there should be an avalanche app, where if the phone tumbles the GPS sends out an alarm for locating the skier. Free idea that can help all. 

Outside Magazine Lesson's Learned and Colorado Avalanche Preparedness report on 2013 disaster.  2016 news isn't good. 

Hope this helps answer any questions..... Joe Mc.

New KCR Trail, Lower Cougar

New KCR Trail, Lower Cougar

By Joseph McCabe 11/3/2015

For those who haven't been blessed to actually experience the new trails, here is a quick report.

The start of the Lower Cougar Trail shows its curvy, sinuous track cut into the slope on the south part of Ken Caryl Ranch. It gently slopes upward in the foothills of the ranch.

I”ve been on many trails in my days, and this one is an excellent trail. There are secret spots where nature provides a shaded, wetter feeling. This trail reminds me of Chautauqua up in Boulder without the flatirons.

Just off Valley Parkway before you get to Amaranth Dr, up into the foothills a 1.9 mile hike gets you to an intersection that can take you back along a relatively flat 1.9 mile trail to the Massey Draw trail. The new October map has all the deets, including the under construction Upper Cougar Trail currently accessible to the 6600 foot mark. There you will see Egyptian like wall building efforts on the tricky switchbacks. All being built by volunteers who carefully pick huge rocks and slide them into the right locations. You can join the community by sending an e-mail to the trail club, be sure to give your KCR street address.

To me, KCR stands for Kind Cyclists Rule. Whenever I mountain bike ride, I always leave space for hikers, never skid and am not in a race. Some of the switchbacks require a slow careful negotiation going up hill. And some of the down hill on this trail can be deceivingly gentle, until you come to a sharp right turn before a deep 8 foot deep ravine dive. Lately, I have been running this trail, taking an hour round trip to the site of the volunteers building the new section at 6600 feet. A 600 foot elevation from my doorstep. Can’t wait till it gets up to 7,300 feet. Now that will be a serious work out for these old bones.

Here is a detail from the on line trail map as of October 2015:

from http://ken-carylranch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/KCR-Open-Space-MapRevOct2015.pdf

Thanks to all the volunteering and the funding for the professional building of these trails. An excellent partnership. Couple of 3D spherical photos uploaded on my Google+ account, click on the photo withing Google+ to see the cool 3D view. You can scroll around, look up and down and see the full views. Juncture of Lower Cougar trail in KCR and in this one you can see the wall built by the volunteers. 

Hope this helps understand the new trails. They are excellent.