After moving to a newly constructed floor at Staplegun (where I work), the developers (all 4 of us) chose to switch to an open floor-plan. One of the big updates included in this move was that we now had a shared audio system with speakers all around, and with us working in very close proximity to one another, it became very important for each of us to easily be able to control the music selection. The sound system had no “smart” attributes or network connectivity, so at the most basic level, we could have just hooked up an audio cable from our phones to the auxiliary input and played music that way – but our sound system hub is in our server room, which is nowhere near where we work, so that quickly got thrown away as a plausible option. Other than hooking up a bluetooth connector or some other third-party-connection widget with cables going into the speaker, we were pretty much out of luck. Or so we thought.
We realized we had a spare Raspberry Pi lying around, which has an audio output as well as an ethernet cable input. Theoretically, we could somehow connect to the Pi over our network and stream music from the Pi. Now “how” was the big question. On top of that, we all use Slack heavily at work, so could we take it one step further and control our music selection via Slack? Sounds farfetched, I know – but that’s exactly what we did, and I want to show you how you can do it too.
Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Open Hardware is In, New CircuitPython and Pi 5 16GB, and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!