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I want to build a home-made multi-room home sound system.

I'm looking for a single board computer device with a minimal hardware configuration. In my thoughts, my only requirements are:

  • Wi-Fi connection;
  • Audio output;
  • Push button to config wireless network through WPS;
  • An LED to show current network status;
  • Optionally, an RJ45 connection for development through SSH.

Actually no video output is required, nor additional USB ports.

What could be the cheapest solution for my needs?

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  • 2
    WPS is bad, m'kay? security.stackexchange.com/questions/33283/…
    – Agent_L
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 11:20
  • would something like the chrome audio dongles work for you?
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 12:39
  • @Agent_L mmhmh no.. WPS pin is bad, WPS push button is fine. Please read more on WPS..
    – Jack
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 15:26
  • @JourneymanGeek thanks for hint, it is a nice toy, and even if not intended for a multiroom use, it can probably be adapted for this purpose. Anyway I'm curious to find solution below 39€.
    – Jack
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 15:51
  • @Jack WPS anything is pretty bad... it's being retired because it's superseded by the greater security offered by WPA2-PSK. Though it is at least better than WEP.
    – ArtOfCode
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 22:23

2 Answers 2

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I'm looking for something similar to this myself; currently I'm using a CHIP from NextThingCo; you'd have to write the software yourself for what you want, but it runs standard linux.

  • Wi-Fi connection
    • CHIP can connect to two wifi networks (or provide one). There's no ethernet, however.
  • Audio output
    • CHIP has a TRRS jack
  • Push button to config wireless network through WPS
    • CHIP can program two of the gpio pins for this
  • An LED to show current network status
    • There's a shell script for that at thom-nic/chip-network-status-led
  • Optionally, an RJ45 connection for development through SSH
    • run an ssh server
    • install a serial driver and connect it to your computer with a USB cable
    • usb keyboard/mouse and video output via TRRS/hdmi/vga

Items:

  • CHIP: $9 + ~$5-7 s/h
  • Power adapter: 2amp usb charger
  • Recommended: small power bank or lithium battery
  • Optional: case $2

This works fine for me with gmrender-resurrect, though I compiled it myself rather than installing from the repo. Currently I'm looking for something slightly more powerful that I can run BubbleUPnP server on as well, for transcoding (it doesn't seem able to start up).

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1
  • The CHIP is dead! Long live the ESP32 !!
    – Mawg
    Commented Nov 17, 2021 at 17:22
3

Your best bet is one of the Rasbperry PI 2 or 3 is $35 The PI 3 does actually have built-in wifi, but no WPS button or activity leds. They both have a RJ45 for hard wiring with activity leds.

You need a 5V adapter,SD card, USB wifi adapter and shipping and handling will bring the cost up a bit more.

Give up on the WPS and wifi activity leds and save $10-$20. You can then get a USB dongle if you really need a WPS dongle and wifi activity leds.

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