How to use the headless OS and configure mic/speaker/settings

[vgnmnky]

I've flashed the headless version of the OS to a Pi 3. I then booted it, and the wifi hotspot came up and I connected and then configured it with my wifi, and continued. I can see via my router that it is connected, but what am I supposed to do now to interact with it and make sure the connected devices are recognised/configured? As far as I can tell, there's no webgui, and no SSH (not that I know what the user and password would be). The headless documentation just stops dead there. Of course, I've tried speaking to it ("Hey Mycroft, what time is it?" etc), but there's not a peep back, so I don't know if any of the mic/speaker devices I've tried are correctly configured.

A frustrating experience. Has anyone else got headless working on a Pi 3? For info, I've tried with the old AIY voice kit (free with MagPi years ago) and a Pi-top Pulse, both of which have a mic and speaker, and both of which I've had working before, including with Mycroft years ago. (I initially tried installing it on top of Pi OS lite, with the script, but had issues installing everything it needed).

[mjlill]

The Pi3B+ works well with the Google AIY V1 hat (MagPi issue 55)
#New install of BookWorm 64bit lite
#Burn new image, connect to monitor & kybd for setup
#follow meno for start of local
#Set your user name & add passwd

user pi
passwd createone**

#Now login as the new user:
login pi
passwd your new pw**

sudo raspi-config

#set wifi
#set hostname
#turn off blanking
#enable ssh, spi, (optional i2c, serial (no), hardware (yes))

#set local, tz, keyboard
#Exit NO reboot yet
#check for IP then reboot
ifconfig

Increase swap size for Pi3B+ & Pi4-2g

sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile

set value to be

CONF_SWAPSIZE=1024

sudo reboot

connect ssh or locally into the new Pi

(can connect with the @.local )

#------------------------------------------------

*Prepare:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install git -y

"""
***** Optional Google AIY V1 kit (original) *****
#Edit config.txt
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
add # (to disable for hdmi audio)
#dtparam=audio=on

#Add [all] at bottom of file
dtoverlay=googlevoicehat-soundcard

sudo reboot #(to activate hat audio)

#Verify only googlevoicehat card 0
aplay -l
arecord -l

"""

Do OVOS installer:

copy & paste /type following command line as per installer

sh -c "curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenVoiceOS/ovos-installer/main/installer.sh -o installer.sh && chmod +x installer.sh && sudo ./installer.sh && rm installer.sh"

Accept default settings, optionally is okay to select extra skills
Give a half hour or so to install, it should tell you.

[mjlill]

Sry, MagPi issue 57 :)

[vgnmnky]

That's very helpful, thank you. Yes, it's the one I got with issue 57, still have the magazine + box! Will give this another go today.

[mjlill]

There a few other tips that you may like also. One is that you can make the button led go blinky when mycroft is active. Two is that the button press does work, yetThree the Pi3 doesn't have quite enough omph to use the guiFour a Pi4-2 works very well with it allFive a Pi5 has a hardware difference and the gpio don't work normal (like Pi33 & Pi4) Six moving sd card to a Pi5, you have to rerun the installer to activate the gui (don't know why)Seven volume is at abt 40% after install, use alsamixer to set for ~80-90% or Eight "hey mycroft", "set volume to 90%"Nine I am still learning :) Also I am running Ollama on the same Pi3, not the fastest but the model tinyllama is good Glad to help :) Mike On Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 04:52:44 AM EST, vgnmnky ***@***.***> wrote: That's very helpful, thank you. Yes, it's the one I got with issue 57, still have the magazine + box! Will give this another go today. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[mjlill]

For me the ducting is good, would like to make the AIY push button trigger the waleword detected so one could stop a media event :) (working on that one)

[vgnmnky]

I just can't get it to change the volume. It says it has. I ask it to set it to whatever, then ask it what it's set to. Then decrease it, and ask again, and it says the right things. But the actual volume is always the same level of very loud. 1% sounds the same as 100%.

Got the button LED working, which is nice :) Thank you.

I've listed the skills in /tmp, but I'm not sure that all of them are actually installed/working. Tested a few, and it doesn't know what I'm talking about (I looked up the Git pages for them to make sure I was saying the right things). For example, the parrot one, and a couple of the radio ones.

I suppose I'm not bothered about a gui really, I prefer headless, but a webgui would be cool.

Still, I'm having some fun with it.

[mjlill]

"hey mycroft", "lower volume" should reduce by 10% and anounce the setting

[vgnmnky]

It's very odd, I used those commands. I say "set the volume to 5%" and it says, loudly, "VOLUME ABATED TO 5%". Then I say "what is the volume", and it says (with the same loudness) "THE VOLUME IS AT 40". Same when I say set to 100 (max), and ask what the volume is, it still says 40. Something is resetting/overriding the setting.

[mjlill]

This is audio from the AIY? If setting alsamixer to a lower level it should speak quieter.
With alsamixer open you will see any level changes
"hey mycroft", " make me laugh"

[JarbasAl]

do you have multiple speakers/soundcards? it kinda seems OVOS is changing the wrong sink

what does aplay -l show?

since you are using a hat, maybe disable snd_bcm2835 (the rpi audio jack) completley to ensure it isnt selected?

[vgnmnky]

It sounded like that to me as well, until I realised that the volume was changing back to 40 whenever it was about to speak (I watched alsamixer while this happened). aplay -l only shows the HAT, nothing else.

It's possible I messed something up in .asoundrc or something like that, though I did most of the messing yesterday before I started again with a fresh SD today and followed @mjlill 's instructions.

I have to admit, I get a bit confused with the whole Linux audio ecosystem, pulseaudio, pipewire, alsa, etc, though as far as I know I haven't been messing with anything outside alsa.

[mjlill]

Just stay with the steps out lined. No changes to the basic OS except as the setup goes through. I have done this several times, Pi3, Pi4 & Pi5 with no audio issues for control. It also hears me from across the room in a normal voice
For the AIY V1
aplay -l #card 0: sndrpigooglevoi
arecord -l #card 0: sndrpigooglevoi
ls /etc/asound.conf #No such file or directory

card 0 is the default for alsa
less .asoundrc #as set at install by ovos
pcm.!default pipewire
ctl.!default pipewire

When you say "hey mycroft" the output level is suppose to drop and then return to previous volume level setting when it speaks the response.

[mjlill]

Also
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
add # (to disable for hdmi audio)
#dtparam=audio=on

Adding the hash to the dtparm disables other audio outputs