Raspberry Pi AirPlay setup

It took a while to find a reliable ‘set it and leave it’ configuration for my Pi-powered AirPlay network. Here’s the config I settled on, with thanks to Ray Wenderlich and Pi My Life Up.

Update: I’m no longer using this config because Shairport doesn’t support AirPlay 2 for multi-room synchronisation. A set of second-hand AirPort Expresses have taken up the role with no problems to report.

Write disk image to SD card (or just use Etcher) #

1. Identify the address of your SD card.
   df -h
2. Unmount the card with, replacing ‘disk1s1’ with your SD card address.
   sudo diskutil unmount /dev/disk1s1
3. Write the image to the card, replacing the image location and disk address.
   sudo dd bs=5m if=~/Downloads/wheezy-raspbian.img of=/dev/disk1s1
4. Pop the card into the RPi and boot up.

Update everything #

1. sudo apt-get update
2. sudo apt-get upgrade
3. sudo dpkg --configure -a

Expand file system and change hostname #

1. Open the configuration client.
   sudo raspi-config
2. Network options > change hostname
3. Advanced options > expand filesystem

Set static IP #

1. sudo nano /etc/dhcpd.conf
2. Add the following, changing addresses for your own network:

   interface eth0
   static ip_address=172.16.10.255/16
   static routers=172.16.10.1
   static domain_name_servers=172.16.10.1
   

3. Using WiFi? Use this version instead, again changing the addresses for your own network:

   interface wlan0
   static ip_address=172.16.10.255/16
   static routers=172.16.10.1
   static domain_name_servers=172.16.10.1
   

Disable Wi-Fi power management #

1. sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
2. Find iface wlan0 inet manual.
3. Add wireless-power off below it so you’re left with the following:

   iface wlan0 inet manual
   wireless-power off
   

4. sudo reboot

Update firmware and packages, add new audio driver and change default audio port #

1. sudo rpi-update
2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get upgrade
4. sudo nano /boot/config.txt
5. Add the following:

   audo_pwm_mode=2
   

6. sudo mixer set numid=3 1

Install prerequisites and perl net-sdp #

1. sudo apt-get install git libao-dev libssl-dev libcrypt-openssl-rsa-perl libio-socket-inet6-perl libwww-perl avahi-utils libmodule-build-perl
2. git clone https://github.com/njh/perl-net-sdp.git perl-net-sdp
3. cd perl-net-sdp
4. perl Build.PL
5. sudo ./Build
6. sudo ./Build test
7. sudo ./Build install
8. cd ..

Install and run shairport #

1. git clone https://github.com/hendrikw82/shairport.git
2. cd shairport
3. make
4. Run Shairport, replacing ‘TheJukebox’ with your chosen AirPlay name.
   ./shairport.pl -a TheJukebox

Set volume level #

1. alsamixer
2. Set to your desired level. I use 85%.

Daemonise shairport #

1. cd shairport
2. sudo make install
3. sudo cp shairport.init.sample /etc/init.d/shairport
4. cd /etc/init.d
5. sudo chmod a+x shairport
6. sudo update-rc.d shairport defaults
7. sudo nano shairport
8. Delete the existing ‘DAEMON_ARGS’ line. 9 Add the following, replacing ‘TheJukebox’ with your chosen AirPlay name:
   

   DAEMON_ARGS="-w $PIDFILE -a TheJukebox"