# Headless Raspberry + Plexamp paired with Snapcast **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Labs\ **Tags:** plexamp\ **Created:** [February 10, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/headless-raspberry-plexamp-paired-with-snapcast/374263 "2019-02-10T22:08:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chewyf5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3d9bf3/32.png) [@chewyf5](https://forums.plex.tv/u/chewyf5)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/headless-raspberry-plexamp-paired-with-snapcast/374263/1 "2019-02-10T22:08:36Z")
Hello Community, At home, I run Snapcast as my main audio distribution system. My Problem - i was not able to “pair” my plex sound output on a headless Raspberry (and have a cool remote feature). Now Plexamp solved my problem. Its a little complicated but the result is - from my point of view - awesome. First of all, this is a hack based on [plexamp-v1.0.5-pi.tar.gz](https://files.plexapp.com/elan/plexamp-v1.0.5-pi.tar.gz) and a running snapcast setup. Why, because it is using my favorite audio player mpd 🙂 . I don’t know if modern versions still use mpd. Second - I use a raspberry pi 3 with the latest raspbian in my setup My long Way … ( if you don’t like to read this scolle down to the HowTo) At the beginning I followed the install instructions of elan in his [post](https://forums.plex.tv/t/suggestions-for-the-future-headless-rpi-support/218187/56). Spoiler: It was not running as expected. Reason: the bundled mpd was not started correctly. After getting it running ( LD\_LIBRARY\_PATH=/home/pi/plexamp/resources/helpers/linux-arm ./mpd mpd.conf) I found out that the bundled mpd has no support for fifo output. So I tried to use the regular mpd from the debian/raspbian-repos. I used the bundled mpd config - changed the audio output to a pipe - and started the the repo-mpd with the config - success - the node server was able to connect - time for music right now … Not. Next Problem - no music at all - f\*\*\*. Thanks to the user StalkerSVR - he describes in his [post](https://forums.plex.tv/t/suggestions-for-the-future-headless-rpi-support/218187/104) how to get around the problem. Again fire-ing up the node server and - drum roll - it works. After some cleanup i can present the following HowTo HowTo: 1. Configure Plexamp and MPD - Login to your Raspberry and install all the necessary things (nodejs and repo-mpd) > curl -sL [https://deb.nodesource.com/setup\_9.x](https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_9.x) | sudo -E bash - > sudo apt install -y nodejs mpd - Download Plexamp and extract it > wget [https://files.plexapp.com/elan/plexamp-v1.0.5-pi.tar.gz](https://files.plexapp.com/elan/plexamp-v1.0.5-pi.tar.gz) > tar -xzvf plexamp-v1.0.5-pi.tar.gz - Change the the bundled mpd.conf for the use with snapcast > nano plexamp/resources/helpers/linux-arm/mpd.conf . - change audio output in the mpd.conf to a pipe and leave the rest _unchanged!!!_ > audio\_output { > type “fifo” > name “my pipe” > path “/tmp/plexfifo” > format “48000:16:2” > mixer\_type “software” > } - copy it to /etc/ and correct the permissions > sudo cp mpd.conf /etc/ > sudo chown mpd:audio /etc/mpd.conf - for some systemd-foobar _deactivate_ the mpd.service and the mpd.socket in systemd - otherwise the setup will not survive a restart … we will reactivate it later via rc.local > sudo systemctl disable mpd.service > sudo systemctl disable mpd.socket - patch the server.prod.js in /home/pi/plexamp/server/ as mentioned in the [post](https://forums.plex.tv/t/suggestions-for-the-future-headless-rpi-support/218187/104) of StalkerSVR (I uploaded an already patched version: [server.prod.js.patched.tar.gz](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/default/original/3X/f/2/f2a8da16ce58934152ad2c860783663ee665c73c.gz) (693.4 KB)) > tar -xzvf server.prod.js.patched.tar.gz > cp server.prod.js.patched /home/pi/plexamp/server/server.prod.js - Move everything to /opt/plexamp (I like my system cleaned up 😉 ) > sudo mkdir /opt/plexamp > sudo cp /home/pi/plexamp /opt/plexamp yes - this results in /opt/plexamp/plexamp/ … for reason - I like to have my files on one place were i find them again - create a directory for the server.json and link it to the directory /home/pi/.config/Plexamp > sudo mkdir /opt/plexamp/config > mkdir /home/pi/.config > ln -s /opt/plexamp/config /home/pi/.config/Plexamp > chown -R pi:pi /opt/plexamp - copy your server.json from an existing Plexamp Setup to the created directory > scp :~/.config/server.json /opt/plexamp/config/ - edit the systemd service plexamp.service to use the new directory > nano /opt/plexamp/plexamp/plexamp.service change the ExecStart parameter to "/usr/bin/node /opt/plexamp/plexamp/server/server.prod.js > ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /opt/plexamp/plexamp/server/server.prod.js - copy the systemd service plexamp.service to your systemd directory > sudo cp /opt/plexamp/plexamp/plexamp.service /lib/systemd/system 1. Configure the server of SnapCast - For the first run we create the fifo and the permissions by hand - later (the history command is your friend) we copy the same commands to /etc/rc.local > mkfifo /tmp/plexfifo > chown snapserver:snapserver /tmp/plexfifo > chmod 777 /tmp/plexfifo - now we copy the same commands to the /etc/rc.local > nano /etc/rc.local - add the following commands > mkfifo /tmp/plexfifo > chown snapserver:snapserver /tmp/plexfifo > chmod 777 /tmp/plexfifo > systemctl start mpd # mpd is started here for some systemd foobar > systemctl start plexamp # plexamp is started here for some systemd foobar - open the snapserver config … > nano /etc/default/snapserver - … and add the the plexfifo to the server options > -s pipe:///tmp/plexfifo?name=Plex&sampleformat=48000:16:2&mode=read 1. Start the beast > sudo systemctl daemon-reload > sudo systemctl start mpd > sudo systemctl start plexamp > sudo systemctl restart snapserver 1. Pray 😉 2. If you have done everything right you can fire up a plexamp on your desktop or the plexapp on your phone - start a song, change the output to the plexamp player on your raspberry and enjoy the feeling of having the music everywhere 3. **Troubleshooting** As always the are minimal mistakes done by everyone (that includes me!). At first - start every service on a seperate console and check for errors - for plexamp use the following command as the user pi > /usr/bin/node /opt/plexamp/plexamp/server/server.prod.js Check for errors like > error: [MPD] Error connecting:Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:36600 > If thats the case - mpd is not reachable check you mpd config / disable mpd socket and service - for mpd use the command as user pi > mpd --no-deamon /etc/mpd.conf - A good hint that something is going wrong is when mpd is not running on localhost:36600 - in that case check if you disabled mpd via systemd (this error costs me 1-2 h) > systemctl stop mpd.service > systemctl stop mpd.socket > systemctl disable mpd.service > systemctl disable mpd.socket > systemctl start mpd.service If ss -pant tells you that mpd is listening on localhost:36600 mpd is not the show stopper > ss -pant > LISTEN 0 5 127.0.0.1:36600 _:_ users:((“mpd”,pid=487,fd=9)) - Check your rc.local - is the snapfifo create - are the permissions ok - ist mpd started in the rc.local ? - Everything Ok - but I still don’t hear anything - CHeck if you changed to the right output in snapcast 😉 Kind Regards ChewyF5 P.S.: Files i created / used in this HowTo - [server.prod.js.patched.tar.gz](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/default/original/3X/f/2/f2a8da16ce58934152ad2c860783663ee665c73c.gz) (693.4 KB) - [mpd.conf.tar.gz](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/default/original/3X/f/7/f7e935cc6c199a5c66ee6474582414d04e885a5f.gz) (343 Bytes) - [rc.local.tar.gz](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/default/original/3X/9/c/9ce288c0750ea863446309d80d134da0299db108.gz) (452 Bytes) . ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/headless-raspberry-plexamp-paired-with-snapcast/374263/2 "2019-05-11T22:08:39Z")
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