To most familiar with Linux this is not rocket science but I wanted to document the simple setup I use to allow non-restricted file sharing on the RPi.

This isn't designed to be a secure file server setup as it doesn't have any user authentication but for a local development node it allows quick and easy access.

First ensure Samba is installed:

apt-get install samba

Edit the Samba configuration file:

nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Replace the contents with the below snippet:

[global]
workgroup = workgroup
server string = %h
wins support = no
dns proxy = no
security = share
encrypt passwords = yes
panic action = /usr/share/samba/panic-action %d

[sites]
path = /sites
writeable = yes
broweable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes
force user = root

Finally restart Samba and test the file share

/etc/init.d/samba restart

You can install the player (squeezeslave) on both the server RPi and/or seperate Pi's.

Start by downloading, extracting and renaming the squeezeslave application:

cd /usr
sudo mkdir squeezeslavesrc
cd squeezeslavesrc
wget http://squeezeslave.googlecode.com/files/squeezeslave-1.2-367-armhf-lnx31.tar.gz
tar -xvf squeezeslave-1.2-367-armhf-lnx31.tar.gz
mv squeezeslave-1.2-367 squeezeslave

Ensure you have BZip2 installed:

sudo apt-get install bzip2 -y

Download the following script and setup the initialisation script to run the player when the RPi boots:

wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/softsqueeze/files/squeezeslave/squeezeslave-1.2.311/squeezeslave-1.2-311-src.tar.bz2
tar -xjvf squeezeslave-1.2-311-src.tar.bz2
sudo cp squeezeslave /usr/bin
sudo cp squeezeslave-1.2-311/config/squeezeslave.init.debian /etc/init.d/squeezeslave
sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/squeezeslave
sudo update-rc.d squeezeslave defaults

Get the MAC address from the network information:

ifconfig

Copy the MAC address of eth0 from above and paste in the next snippet. This ensures that multiple slaves can all be used on the same network.
Note that any additional configuration required to be applied to the squeezeslave executable should be included in this file, these options are passed to the executable when it is run.

sudo echo "SBSHOST=\"-F -mac 00:00:00:00:00:00\"" > defaultsqueezeslave
sudo cp defaultsqueezeslave /etc/default/squeezeslave

Start the slave player:

sudo /etc/init.d/squeezeslave start

Open the sound mixer application:

sudo alsamixer

Use the up arrow to increase the maximum volume output from the RPi. Press Esc to save and exit.

You can now open up the Squeezebox Server web admin page in your browser. You should see a slave device in the player drop-down.

To change the player name from 'squeezeslave' to something sensible like 'Living Room', open up the Settings from the server webpage, select the player tab and change the description.

Credits go to DABDig for some of the original instructions.

Player clients can be either 'proper' Squeezebox products or you can use software players together in the same system. I will detail in a seperate post how to setup the RPi to be a Squeezebox client, you can have the player running on the same device as the server or you can have it running on a seperate RPi. You can also choose to synchronise multiple devices to the same music source and therefore stream the same music to multiple rooms!

Please note that credit for the original instructions go to: All Things Pi.

Start by updating libraries and installing some dependencies:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade 
sudo apt-get install libjpeg8 libpng12-0 libgif4 libexif12 libswscale2 libavcodec53

Download and install the Logitech Media Server:

wget http://downloads.slimdevices.com/LogitechMediaServer_v7.7.2/logitechmediaserver_7.7.2_all.deb 
sudo dpkg -i logitechmediaserver_7.7.2_all.deb
sudo service logitechmediaserver stop

Download some helpful scripts from All Things Pi:

wget http://allthingspi.webspace.virginmedia.com/files/lms-rpi-raspbian.tar.gz 
tar -zxvf lms-rpi-raspbian.tar.gz

Patch the Perl bootstrap module:

sudo patch /usr/share/perl5/Slim/bootstrap.pm lms-rpi-bootstrap.patch

Copy files to the correct locations for running and create some symbolic links:

sudo mv arm-linux-gnueabihf-thread-multi-64int /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/CPAN/arch/5.14/ 
sudo mv libmediascan.so.0.0.0 libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib 
sudo mv /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux/faad /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux/faad.old 
sudo mv faad /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/Bin/arm-linux 
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so 
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libmediascan.so.0 
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so 
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2.0.0 /usr/local/lib/libfaad.so.2 
sudo ldconfig

Set permissions for the server files:

sudo chown -R squeezeboxserver:nogroup /usr/share/squeezeboxserver/

Start the server running:

sudo service logitechmediaserver start

Navigate to http://10.0.0.31:9000 (where 10.0.0.31 is the IP of your RPi) and configure the Squeezebox server.

This first article details my basic setup of a Pi including setting a static IP ready for it to be used on whichever project I need.

Download and setup Raspbian as per instructions on the Pi site, let it boot up and find it's IP address (I just let it boot and look at my routers DHCP table). Using Putty (or any other SSH terminal) login to your Pi (user: pi, password: raspberry).

The first thing I like to do is to run the configuration utility in order to set the timezone, change the login password and expand the file system to use all of the available SD space.

sudo raspi-config

I like the coloured prompt even when I'm logged in as root:

cd ~
sudo cp .bashrc /
sudo su
cp /.bashrc ~/
exit

Set a sensible hostname for this Pi. I have adopted a simple convention of colour coding whereby I stick a coloured sticker on each Pi and then name it 'redPi', 'bluePi' etc...

sudo nano /etc/hostname

#/etc/hostname:
redPi

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Change references to raspberrypi to your hostname.

Setup a static IP address:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

#/etc/network/interfaces:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 10.0.0.31
gateway 10.0.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 10.0.0.0
broadcast 10.0.0.255

Restart the device for the settings to take affect.

sudo shutdown -r now

Log into the Pi using the static IP and new password.

That's it for now, stay tuned for setup guides for Node.js and Squeezebox...

In Keil this is found in the C/C++ tab of the project options. Enter 'STARTUP_FROM_RESET' in the preprocessor symbols box (put it in without the quotes).

One really nice feature of these that I've been using to program the device is the USB bootloader function, connecting to a USB port using only a handful of resistors and a PNP transistor the device appears as a USB flash drive and allows new firmware to be dropped on easily. This allows for rapid development and powers the board too all with a single USB cable.

They are readily available from major suppliers such as and are under £5 each.

To start I ordered some small dev PCBs from Seeed Studio's Fusion PCB Service. These cost less than £1 each for 10 boards.

More on programming them soon...

I am looking at using them as small nodes to take sensor reading and send information back to a central controller, although they are capable of much more and are very cheap.

Click on the Organise button in a Windows folder:

And select the Folder and search option:

On the search tab select "Always search filenames and contents" option:

Close this dialog and search as normal, this might take a while but you should get your results!

The most basic navigation simulation is shown above, navigating from one point to the other with NO obstructions!

I have setup a test environment in VB.NET where the start and end positions can be defined by clicked the left and right mouse buttons in the workspace. An obstruction can be defined by dragging a rectangle in the workspace. The system works on a very simple system of checking whether a particular vector between two points is clear of obstructions, if an obstruction is found between the two points then the program creates a list of which obstruction corners it can move directly to without hitting anything. From each of these potential paths the system iterates through and checks whether it can reach the target from there and so on.

The function for checking whether the path between two points is clear of obstructions is given below.

      ''' <summary>
      ''' This method checks if the vector path between two points is clear of obstruction
      ''' </summary>
      ''' <param name="pntStart">The start point</param>
      ''' <param name="pntEnd">The end point</param>
      ''' <returns>True if the vector between the two points is clear of obstructions, else False if an obstruction is found</returns>
      Private Function blnVectorClear(ByVal pntStart As Point, ByVal pntEnd As Point) As Boolean
            'Work out the gradient between the two points
            Dim dblX As Double = 0
            Dim dblY As Double = 0
            Dim dblGradient As Double = (pntEnd.Y - pntStart.Y) / (pntEnd.X - pntStart.X)

            'If the dominent axis is the Y axis
            If Math.Abs(pntEnd.Y - pntStart.Y) > Math.Abs(pntEnd.X - pntStart.X) Then
                  'Invert the gradient
                  dblGradient = 1 / dblGradient

                  'Determine whether to work up-down or down-up
                  Dim intStep As Double = 1
                  If (pntEnd.Y - pntStart.Y) < 1 Then
                        intStep = -intStep
                  End If

                  'Loop through each point in the Y plane
                  For intY As Double = 0 To (pntEnd.Y - pntStart.Y) Step intStep
                        'Calculate the position in the X axis for this Y position
                        'y = mx + c but where x &amp;amp; y are reversed!
                        dblX = (dblGradient * intY) + pntStart.X
                        dblY = intY + pntStart.Y
                        
                        'If there is an obstruction in this position
                        If blnCheckCollision(dblX, dblY) Then
                              'Vector is not clear!
                              Return False
                        End If
                  Next
            Else
                  'Determine whether to work left-right or right-left
                  Dim intStep As Integer = 1
                  If (pntEnd.X - pntStart.X) < 1 Then
                        intStep = -1
                  End If

                  'Loop through each point in the X plane
                  For intX As Double = 0 To (pntEnd.X - pntStart.X) Step intStep
                        'Calculate the position in the Y axis for this X position
                        'y = mx + c
                        dblX = intX + pntStart.X
                        dblY = (dblGradient * intX) + pntStart.Y

                        'If there is an obstruction in this position
                        If blnCheckCollision(dblX, dblY) Then
                              'Vector is not clear!
                              Return False
                        End If
                  Next
            End If

            'Vector has been checked and is not obstructed!
            Return True
      End Function

      ''' <summary>
      ''' This function checks whether a specified point in the workspace is within one of the defined obstructions
      ''' </summary>
      ''' <param name="dblX">The X position within the workspace to check</param>
      ''' <param name="dblY">The Y position within the workspace to check</param>
      ''' <returns>True if the position is within an obstruction</returns>
      Private Function blnCheckCollision(ByVal dblX As Double, ByVal dblY As Double) As Boolean
            'Loop through each of the boxes defined as obstructions
            For Each objBox In m_colBoxes
                  'If the X and Y position given is within the bounds of this obstruction
                  If dblX > objBox.Left And dblX < objBox.Right And dblY > objBox.Top And dblY < objBox.Bottom Then
                        'Collision found!
                        Return True
                  End If
            Next

            'No obstruction found
            Return False
      End Function

Future development needs to work out all of the possible paths between the two points and calculate the most efficient route to take.