Not sure where to post this, so if mods think it should go elsewhere, feel free to move.
I've been working on a project, and was going to save posting it until I'd finished up, but I came across a few posts about people having issues with their NAS, and thought I'd share an easier way. Or, for anyone else who's interested in a tiny, low powered NAS that they can connect their headset to directly.
What you see is a Raspberry Pi B3+, a 4TB Western Digital My Passport drive, a 4-port powered USB 3.0 hub, a dual 3A 5V power plug and USB-C cables it came with, standoffs, screws, and panel mount extension ports for ethernet, HDMI, and micro USB. It's all getting mounted in an old gutted out ATX power supply box, modified to fit the components in the back, as by the cutout I already did. You obviously don't need to go this elaborate, but this is just what I do. Oh...and a wireless keyboard/mouse and dongle. You also need a microSD card, 8GB's or more. The dual power supply, is so I can feed both the Pi and the USB hub with 3A each...I'm splitting one of the micro USB cables and wiring a plug end on it to connect directly to the hub. For more portability, it can be powered by a dual 3A Anker battery.
https://www.amazon.ca/Anker-PowerCore-Portable-Double-Speed-Recharging/dp/B01JIWQPMW
Here's the steps...
** note: the $ is to specify commands to be typed...you type everything after the $, not including the $.
* download Raspbian Stretch image, not the Buster image:
I've been working on a project, and was going to save posting it until I'd finished up, but I came across a few posts about people having issues with their NAS, and thought I'd share an easier way. Or, for anyone else who's interested in a tiny, low powered NAS that they can connect their headset to directly.
What you see is a Raspberry Pi B3+, a 4TB Western Digital My Passport drive, a 4-port powered USB 3.0 hub, a dual 3A 5V power plug and USB-C cables it came with, standoffs, screws, and panel mount extension ports for ethernet, HDMI, and micro USB. It's all getting mounted in an old gutted out ATX power supply box, modified to fit the components in the back, as by the cutout I already did. You obviously don't need to go this elaborate, but this is just what I do. Oh...and a wireless keyboard/mouse and dongle. You also need a microSD card, 8GB's or more. The dual power supply, is so I can feed both the Pi and the USB hub with 3A each...I'm splitting one of the micro USB cables and wiring a plug end on it to connect directly to the hub. For more portability, it can be powered by a dual 3A Anker battery.
https://www.amazon.ca/Anker-PowerCore-Portable-Double-Speed-Recharging/dp/B01JIWQPMW
Here's the steps...
** note: the $ is to specify commands to be typed...you type everything after the $, not including the $.
* download Raspbian Stretch image, not the Buster image:
http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/images/raspbian-2019-04-09/2019-04-08-raspbian-stretch.zip
* write to disk
* insert into Pi, attach monitor and keyboard/mouse, and power up
* first boot, complete the initial setup
reboot
* if you have one of the new Raspberry Pi 4's, then skip this next step
* if you have a Raspberry Pi 3B+, then complete the following:
$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARMv6-compatible processor rev 7 (v6l)
BogoMIPS : 697.95
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp java tls
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x0
CPU part : 0xb76
CPU revision : 7
Hardware : BCM2708
Revision : 1000002
Serial : 000000000000000d
* copy the serial number, as you need this for the codec licenses... ~$5.
* enter serial number and add to cart
* then go to http://www.raspberrypi.com/vc-1-license-key/
* enter serial number again and add to cart
* finish the transaction...your keys will be emailed to you
* mine took a few hours, but it could be the next day.
* once you have your keys, then add the following in config.txt:
* if you have Raspberry Pi 4, then just add the lines beneath the 'decode' keys.
$ sudo nano /boot/config.txt
* scroll to bottom and add:
decode_MPG2=0xxxxxxxxx
decode_WVC1=0xxxxxxxxx
max_usb_current=1
gpu_mem=256
#dtoverlay=rpi3-disable-bt
#dtoverlay=rpi3-disable-wifi
* then save: [CTRL]+, [Enter] then [CTRL]+, [Enter]
* then complete the commands below:
$ sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
* edit to look like below:
@lxpanel --profile LXDE-pi
@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE-pi
# @xscreensaver -no-splash
#Disable screensaver:
@xset s noblank
@xset s off
@xset -dpms
point-rpi
* then save: [CTRL]+, [Enter] then [CTRL]+, [Enter]
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils
$ echo 'GOVERNOR="performance"' | sudo tee /etc/default/cpufrequtils
$ sudo systemctl disable raspi-config
$ cd /sys/devices/system/cpu
$ sudo sh -c "echo performance > cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor"
$ sudo sh -c "echo performance > cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor"
$ sudo sh -c "echo performance > cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor"
$ sudo sh -c "echo performance > cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor"
* then check to see the changes:
$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
$ cd
$ sudo swapoff -a
$ sudo update-rc.d -f dphys-swapfile remove
$ sudo rm /var/swap
$ sudo apt-get purge dphys-swapfile dphys-config
$ sudo nano /etc/fstab
* if /swapfile'....' is still in the list, then comment out the line:
#/swapfile
* then save: [CTRL]+, [Enter] then [CTRL]+, [Enter]
$ sudo reboot
* then open termianl again, and complete the following:
* check to see swapfile was removed:
$ free
* it should say:
Swap: 0 0 0
* then check cpu GOVERNOR set to 'performace' stuck:
$ cpufreq-info
* check to see all cores are set to:
current policy: frequency should be within 600 MHz and 1.40 GHz.
The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use within this range.
current CPU frequency is 1.40 GHz.
* if so, then continue:
$ sudo apt-get install gparted gedit ntfs-3g network-manager network-manager-gnome openvpn openvpn-systemd-resolved network-manager-openvpn network-manager-openvpn-gnome samba samba-common-bin synaptic
$ sudo apt purge openresolv dhcpcd5
$ sudo apt-get autoremove
$ sudo ln -sf /lib/systemd/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
$ sudo mkdir /home/shares
$ sudo mkdir /home/shares/public
$ sudo chown -R root:users /home/shares/public
$ sudo chmod -R ug=rwx,o=rx /home/shares/public
$ sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf
* scroll down to '##### Authentication #####' and add below: (use [CTRL]+, enter search string, hit [enter])
security = user
* now scroll/search to [homes] and add:
read only = no
* then scroll to very bottom and add:
[public]
comment = public storage
path = /home/shares/public
valid users = @users
force group = users
create mask = 0660
directory mask = 0771
read only = no
* then save: [CTRL]+, [Enter] then [CTRL]+, [Enter]
$ sudo /etc/init.d/smbd restart
$ sudo smbpasswd -a pi
* enter new password and verify
* then shut the pi down, attach external drive and power back on:
$ sudo init 0
* back to the terminal:
$ sudo gparted
* look for external drive from drop-down tab to the right...by default it should be sda1, but can change if more than 1 usb drive attached.
* copy /dev/sd*, then right-click the drive (not the unallocated partition), then select 'information' at the bottom. Now, copy the UUID: number, then close both the information window, and gparted window. You should now be back at the terminal.
$ umount /dev/sdb1 (whatever your drive is)
$ sudo mkdir /home/shares/public/disk1
$ sudo chmod -R ug=rwx,o=rx /home/shares/public/disk1
$ sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /home/shares/public/disk1
$ sudo nano /etc/fstab
* add the following:
UUID=Your-UUID-Number /home/shares/public/disk1 auto defaults,user,nofail 0 2
* then save: [CTRL]+, [Enter] then [CTRL]+, [Enter]
$ sudo reboot
* digital clock settings: (right-click clock)
%a %d %b %y %I:%M %p
$ sudo raspi-config
* scroll down to '5 Interfacing Options'
* select P2 SSH
* scroll down to '5 Interfacing Options'
* select P3 VNC
* select finish
$ sudo reboot
* the network up-down arrows should now be 2 red X's... right-click, 'remove wireless...from panel', then right-click the space it leaves, and 'remove spacer from panel'.
* right-click the network cable icon on the panel
- edit connections
- add
- wifi
- Connection name: whatever you choose
- SSID: whatever you choose
- Mode: Hotspot
- Band: A (5 GHz)
- Channel: 40
- Device: wlan0
- wifi security tab:
- Security: WPA & WPA2 Personal
- Password: whatever you like
* save .. should now see your Access Point, and it should say 'now' under 'last used'.
$ sudo reboot
* to link contents from multiple directories into 1 shared directory, do the following for each directory:
$ ln -s /BASE/* /TARGET/
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That's it. After that, put your headset on, go to Wifi settings, and find the Pi...whatever you called it, and connect to it using the password you set. After that, go to the Quest library, open Skybox, and select Network on the side panel. Open the directory with your files, and it will fill the screen with thumbnails of the files. You are done and ready to stream using the Pi.
Also, I sideloaded VNC, and enabled VNC in the Pi, creating a remote desktop connection, controlling the Pi from the Quest. I also got streaming working, from the Quest to the Pi...but unfortunately, it's slow as hell. That's using adb and scrcpy. The author of scrcpy thinks it might be ffmpeg, or that it's just not optimized for the Pi. I'm still testing with it, thinking I 'might' be able to stream directly to Kodi. If not, I'm getting a Raspberry Pi 4B in another month...they just came out. The Pi3B+ has 1GB DDR2 RAM, 4 USB 2.0 ports, onboard dual band WIFI, bluetooth, and a 4 core 1.4GHz ARM processor. The RAM is shared between the CPU and GPU, so the GPU gets 512MB at the most. But...the Rapsberry Pi 4B....up to 4GB's DDR4 RAM, a 1.5GHz processor, wifi and bluetooth, and now has 2 USB 2.0 ports, with another 2 USB 3.0 ports. Use a Sandisk Extreme portable SSD drive for the OS, running at USB 3.0 speeds, and this little beast will be pretty fast. It's also supposedly capable of 4K @ 60fps, so I'm hoping streaming on it will be a bit smoother. Once I've got that down, I'll post that up as well. Cheers.
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That's it. After that, put your headset on, go to Wifi settings, and find the Pi...whatever you called it, and connect to it using the password you set. After that, go to the Quest library, open Skybox, and select Network on the side panel. Open the directory with your files, and it will fill the screen with thumbnails of the files. You are done and ready to stream using the Pi.
Also, I sideloaded VNC, and enabled VNC in the Pi, creating a remote desktop connection, controlling the Pi from the Quest. I also got streaming working, from the Quest to the Pi...but unfortunately, it's slow as hell. That's using adb and scrcpy. The author of scrcpy thinks it might be ffmpeg, or that it's just not optimized for the Pi. I'm still testing with it, thinking I 'might' be able to stream directly to Kodi. If not, I'm getting a Raspberry Pi 4B in another month...they just came out. The Pi3B+ has 1GB DDR2 RAM, 4 USB 2.0 ports, onboard dual band WIFI, bluetooth, and a 4 core 1.4GHz ARM processor. The RAM is shared between the CPU and GPU, so the GPU gets 512MB at the most. But...the Rapsberry Pi 4B....up to 4GB's DDR4 RAM, a 1.5GHz processor, wifi and bluetooth, and now has 2 USB 2.0 ports, with another 2 USB 3.0 ports. Use a Sandisk Extreme portable SSD drive for the OS, running at USB 3.0 speeds, and this little beast will be pretty fast. It's also supposedly capable of 4K @ 60fps, so I'm hoping streaming on it will be a bit smoother. Once I've got that down, I'll post that up as well. Cheers.
It started out as a simple portable NAS and 5 GHz hotspot, so you could take your videos with you on the go, as well as having a dedicated 5GHz wifi connection that doesn't drop out like it does on many people's routers who have both 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections. But I also wanted casting capabilities, with the possibility of capturing gameplay directly on the Pi. The NAS works, and with an external wifi dongle (TP-Link Archer T4UH), the 5GHz hotspot has an 866 Mb/s connection, which should be good enough for connecting more than 1 headset at a time, though I haven't tested yet. I could only get 72Mb/s with the onboard wifi chip, which is why I bought the external dongle. That, and I'm mounting the Pi and hard drives in a gutted out metal power supply box, so the external dongle for better signal. As for casting...the older Raspberry Pi 3B+ only had 1GB of RAM, so casting was limited to only 320x320, with only 5MB/s. With the RPi4 and it's 4GBs of RAM, I can cast using 1000x1000, with a 720p output resolution, and a bitrate of 35MB/s, without any noticeable lag whatsoever. As soon as I figure out the audio portion, I'll work on capturing. Hopefully.
