I Want to set up a headless audio player on raspberry Pi 3B+ but cannot find definitive information on casting to the beta 2.0.
I want to be able to cast from any plex app on iPhone or Android phone to a raspberry Pi/DAC audio endpoint.
This will be a difficult install for me as a pi noob, no linux experience and finding CLI’s confusing…but if the answer is YES!, I will try.
Yes, this is possible.
You’ll be needing a plexamp for desktop of version 1 though, to create the necessary server.json file.
@OttoKerner Thankyou so much for the answer. and the plexamp 1 requirement, which I’m sure is not that well known.
I will try this. Do I install Plxamp 2 for Pi on Raspian or raspberry Pi Os?
Can I ask another question of you? I have installed the plex media player embedded as i detailed here but i dont seem to be able to write to the os.
Do you know if it is possible to write to the os on PMP embedded?
I tried to install a rotary encoder for DAC volume as detailed here but returnes “Read only” messages
2_ Sorry, no idea.
1_ The guide for plexamp is written for raspbian, yes. If you want to try some other deviation of Linux, you’ll have to figure it out by yourself.
@OttoKerner Ok so trying this. Have the latest Rasberry Pi Os (used to be called raspbian) running. My DAC and volume encoder are uinstalled and working correctly.
I copied the server.jason from my windows install of Plexamp 1 (thanks for the file)
…It appears to say the plexamp service is enabled but not active
I got this below
When I enter this below, as the instructions describe.
$ sudo cp /home/pi/plexamp/plexamp.service /lib/systemd/system/plexamp.service
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl enable plexamp
$ sudo systemctl start plexamp
$ sudo systemctl status plexamp
I get this below
● plexamp.service - Plexamp
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexamp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2020-09-05 23:07:24 NZST; 7s ago
Process: 1401 ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /home/pi/plexamp/server/server.prod.js (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)
Main PID: 1401 (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)
Sep 05 23:07:24 root systemd[1]: plexamp.service: Service RestartSec=100ms expired, scheduling restart.
Sep 05 23:07:24 root systemd[1]: plexamp.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Sep 05 23:07:24 root systemd[1]: Stopped Plexamp.
Sep 05 23:07:24 root systemd[1]: plexamp.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Sep 05 23:07:24 root systemd[1]: plexamp.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 05 23:07:24 root systemd[1]: Failed to start Plexamp.
Sorry, I have no idea what I’m looking at.
Have you seen Plexamp for Raspberry Pi - Running but not available to cast to
This is the output when running the commands from Plexamp For Raspberry Pi Release Notes
I installed Raspberry Pi Os - desktop. Plexamp does not seem to even be running.
I did install node js 9.x and seemed to install correctly
Then I’m unfortunately out of ideas. No linux user myself, sorry.
You could try to fetch an older version of Raspbian and try again.
thanks .
Re: Linux… Me neither. My First Pi also. I can just run plex web and cast to it… that works, I just don’t see how to make that headless so it starts up correctly
ok so I’ve tried to do this several times
Now when i enter
$ sudo systemctl status plexamp
its returning
● plexamp.service - Plexamp
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexamp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sun 2020-09-06 00:06:11 NZST; 895ms ago
Main PID: 1394 (node)
Tasks: 6 (limit: 2065)
CGroup: /system.slice/plexamp.service
└─1394 /usr/bin/node /home/pi/plexamp/server/server.prod.js
Sep 06 00:06:11 root systemd[1]: Started Plexamp.
But still not sure how it is used. Cant cast to it.
I uninstalled and reinstalled the Plexamp on windows as i cant see how to sign out of it
After transferring the server.json from desktop to RasPi, you must never start the desktop plexamp again – unless you empty out the whole folder where the server.json resides.
Otherwise you’ll have two clients using the same ID, which is a situation you absolutely must avoid.
Both the controlling and the controlled player must be in the same local network.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/features/casting-flinging-remote-control/
Thanks again
I’ll go through the reinstall plexamp v1, get the server.json process again, then uninstall it. Never using it again or deleting more files was never mentioned as far as I can see.
Seems all smoke and mirrors when we have a newer installable pi Os available with media player embedded (developed up to April 2020). Seems too many unfinished ideas
“Sign out and back into your existing install to get a new identifier/token.”
would have achieved the same
There is nothing “newer” about PMP for the Pi. Plus, it misses the audio features of plexamp. mainly fades and volume levelling.
I cant see any way to sign out of plexamp 1. once signed in the Ui is minimal
If you right click on the Plexamp logo in your application tray it will give you the option to logout. Can I ask what version and where you found it too get the server.json? as so far even though I thought I was using the correct version of Plexamp to get the file (v1.1.0) I still can’t seem to find the server.json file anywhere.
Thanks. I’ll try that when I’m home
From memory the server.json file is in c: users/your username/appData/plexamp/???
It’s C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Plexamp\Plexamp
Thanks
So I found where to sign in/out of plexamp.
I see I have a different server.json file now on the windows install of plexamp 1 from the server.json copied to the Pi
When I SSH into the pi and enter
$ sudo systemctl status plexamp
I still still get returned
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexamp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sun 2020-09-06 22:12:26 NZST; 3s ago
Main PID: 24844 (node)
Tasks: 7 (limit: 2065)
CGroup: /system.slice/plexamp.service
└─24844 /usr/bin/node /home/pi/plexamp/server/server.prod.js
Which appears to say it is running but…
What should I see on my Pi?
I have a installed Raspberry Pi Os with desktop. Should I be able to see an installed app for plexamp?
or is this plexamp just meant to be a background service I can cast to only?
SCRAP ALL THAT
Not sure what happened but now I CAN CAST TO IT FROM ANY DEVICE RUNNING PLEX. YAAAAY!
All plex controllers keep up with whichever one changes and playlist syncs. WOW. and i have hardware volume working on DAC. Seems pretty responsive over wifi too from multiple controllers
Thanks for all who offered help,
Nothing. It is a “daemon”, which means it is running in the background.
You can use Plexamp 1 or the coming 3.2.0 for desktop or one of the regular Plex mobile apps, or the web app to connect to plexamp on the pi and control it remotely.
This is working differently than “chromecasting”, btw. Once you have started playback, you can shut down the controlling app. The player app will fetch the media and play back the queue autonomously.
Out of interest: what did you do to make it work on the modern PiOS?
Were there some additional packets to install or configuration changes to be made?
