[MAC + Raspbian] Boblight
#1
Hello All,

I just finished the Boblight installation and I want to let you know, how I made it.
I'm sure most of you already can imagine how to install boblight and how it works. However, it may help somebody someday for a smooth installation. I was running into some problems, because I didn't understand some backround...

This is what I got:
http://youtu.be/nC49Ubq7OgQ
Second Video with tuned config:
http://youtu.be/rOFJkhdn8cU

First of all, there are several possibilities to get an ambient light or rather Ambilight clone on your HTPC. Other solutions I'll mention later. I like to show you the installation based on Arduino Uno, 50* WS2801 LEDs (2 sets of 25 LEDs) and the
Official Boblight addon:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116331

My HTPC is a Mac Mini 2010. I'm running Mac OS 10.7.5 and xbmc 12.3 + Boblight addon.
TV is a 40" Philips.

My installation works with a network deamon. This means, HTPC's + xbmc's work is done by being something like a video grabber. The grabbed information will be sent to the daemon. The Arduino Uno, which is connected to the daemon, will process this information and controls the LEDs. Thats it.

I preferred to start by testing the LEDs and the Arduino, followed by mounting everything to the TV. It's up to you if you like to mount everything first....


PART I ---> Adalight
I've chosen a 50 LEDs config for my 40" TV and this is what I had to order:
1x http://www.adafruit.com/products/50
2x http://www.adafruit.com/products/322
1x http://www.adafruit.com/products/368
1x http://www.adafruit.com/products/276 (I used a German version with 20W 5V/4A)
1x http://www.adafruit.com/products/578

After all parts has been arrived, I started to get the Arduino working by following this guide:
http://learn.adafruit.com/adalight-diy-a...v-lighting
-> this guide includes everything, so no need to describe further.

If you like to test if it works properly, you can do this with the stand alone scetch.
http://learn.adafruit.com/adalight-diy-a...ced-topics


Here you see the scetch config for 50 LEDs (standard scetch contains a config with 25 LEDs)

{0,8,9}, {0,7,9}, {0,6,9}, {0,5,9}, {0,4,9}, {0,3,9}, {0,2,9}, {0,1,9}, {0,0,9}, // Bottom edge, left half

{0,0,8}, {0,0,7}, {0,0,6}, {0,0,5}, {0,0,4}, {0,0,3}, {0,0,2}, {0,0,1}, {0,0,0}, // Left edge

{0,1,0}, {0,2,0}, {0,3,0}, {0,4,0}, {0,5,0}, {0,6,0}, {0,7,0}, {0,8,0}, // Top edge

{0,9,0}, {0,10,0}, {0,11,0}, {0,12,0}, {0,13,0}, {0,14,0}, {0,15,0}, {0,16,0}, // More top edge

{0,16,1}, {0,16,2}, {0,16,3}, {0,16,4}, {0,16,5}, {0,16,6}, {0,16,7}, {0,16,8}, // Right edge

{0,16,9}, {0,15,9}, {0,14,9}, {0,13,9}, {0,12,9}, {0,11,9}, {0,10,9}, {0,9,9} // Bottom edge, right half


PART II ---> Mounting the LEDs
After successful setup, I started to mount the LEDs.
There is a very good URL which helps to get it mounted properly:
http://tvgloria.hu/
-> Just type in your details and you'll get a wallpaper which shows the correct position of every LED.


Here is a picture how it looks like:

Image


These are the parts I used to mount the LEDs
http://amazon.de/dp/B00BIM8JUM
http://amazon.de/dp/B007N2MQQ4


PART III ---> boblightd (daemon)

There is no Mac OS compiled boblight daemon, so you'll need a Linux distribution.

I used Raspberry Pi to setup the daemon.
http://www.amazon.com/RASPBERRY-MODEL-75...spberry+pi

Note: The RPi power connector is micro USB type. Usually everyone has such a cable in some drawer. For the first installation I used the iPhone charger to power the RPi.
Final power solution will be mentioned below.


http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Clas...d+class+10
SD Card with 4 Gigs should be fine as well - more important it is to have a class 10!

Because I'm a noob in terms of Linux/Unix etc., I was really happy when I found and begun with NOOBS: http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads



Follow the quick start guide: http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/up...e-v2_1.pdf



Choose Raspian as OS
When it has been installed successful, you'll have to do some settings:
-enable SSH
-set user password
-if RPi gets its IP by DHCP, tell your router to give it always the same IP
-> this is important, because you have to set the daemon IP in xbmc boblight add-on!


Following commands has to be done in RPi console now:

Quote:sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install make gcc g++ subversion

Quote:svn checkout http://boblight.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ /home/pi/boblight_source

Quote:cd /home/pi/boblight_source/
./configure --without-portaudio --without-x11 --without-libusb

Quote:make; sudo make install

Quote:sudo nano /etc/rc.local

following you'll have to put before "exit 0" to autostart boblight while start-up
Quote:/usr/local/bin/boblightd -f &

Quote:sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf
you'll have to put a "#" backlist spi-bcm2708
should look like this
Quote:#blacklist spi-bcm2708

Quote:sudo ldconfig


Once the RPi is configuerd you don't need to have a display connected anymore.
I used vSSH (iPad App) to get connected to the console. Works very good.
In addition you can just use the OSX terminal

OSX Terminal command:
ssh pi(standard-username-RPi)@IP-of-RPi
then you'll be asked for the password

Following you'll find additional information of
Boblight Daemon:
https://code.google.com/p/boblight/wiki/boblightd
Boblight Config:
https://code.google.com/p/boblight/wiki/boblightconf

PART IV ----> Powering
So - finally we come to powering those boards. Both, the Arduino and the RPi are going to be powered by one USB hub:

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Hi-Speed-7-...+usb+hub+7

First plug-in the power cord of the USB hub. Then use one of the front ports to power the RPi (doesn't have to be a charging port). After successful start-up, plug-in the USB-host cable (next to the power of the USB hub) to one of the device ports of the RPi. Then plug the Arduino to USB hub.

Now you'll need to find out, which serial port the Arduino got from RPi

Quote:sudo dmesg

will show lots of devices.
At the end of the list there'll be something like ttyACM0

The serial port you'll have to type in the boblight.conf


If you have an equivalent setup to mine, you can use my boblight.conf

Type this in Raspberry terminal - this will download and rename the file and put it in the right directory:

URL = https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7281...light.conf

Quote:sudo wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7281...light.conf -O /etc/boblight.conf
-> mine isn't fine-tuned so far, but it'll work.


March 12th - optimized version (hscan / vscan | color & gamma adjustment)
-> pastebin

Quote:sudo wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7281...-scan.conf





Once everything works you can start to mount the boards to the backside of you TV
I used http://amazon.de/dp/B00AGOMHNI to mount. Was most convenient Big Grin

I like to thank all these guys, which put a lot of effort in making this possible!
Especially Memphiz and bobo1on1 which made the official add-on and all those who help maintaining it!

------------------------------------------ kodi FTW ---------------------------------------------

I hope this helps. If there is somesthing wrong in this guide, or if you have any questions, please let me know.


Other Ambilight clones are:

- Hyperion https://github.com/tvdzwan/hyperion/wiki...t-for-RPi)
-> haven't tried this, but this should work without Arduino Uno

- Lightpack http://lightpack.tv/

blatzheber
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