All posts by managementboy

Control of the Logitech Media Server using the LogicMachine

Logic Machine, , , ,

I use the Logitech Media Server to stream multi-room audio in our apartment. Lately I wanted to be able to also control the Spotify Plugin from the KNX buttons at home and automate some tasks.

This is a simple user library to allow you to send commands to a player attached to your LMS.

--Functions for Logitech Media Server integration
squeezboxserverip = '192.168.178.2' -- IP of the Logitech Media Server

function unescape(space)
return string.gsub(space, ':', '%%3A') -- the telnet server returns : as %3A
end

function squeezeboxsendcommand(player,command,value)
socket=require('socket')
local client = socket.connect(squeezboxserverip, 9090)
playercommand = player .. ' ' .. command .. ' '
client:send(playercommand .. value .. '\n')
local result=client:receive()
status = string.sub(result, string.len(unescape(playercommand))) --remove the MAC and command to get to the answer
client:close()
os.sleep(0.2)
return(status)
end

function squeezeboxstatus(player)
socket=require('socket')
local client = socket.connect(squeezboxserverip, 9090)
playercommand = player .. ' status'
client:send(playercommand .. '\n')
local result=client:receive()
status = split(result, ' ')
--status = string.sub(result, string.len(unescape(playercommand))) --remove the MAC and command to get to the answer
client:close()
log(status)
return(status)
end

to play a Spotify Playlist you need to add this code to a KNX object.


require('user.squeezebox') --get the user library to access LMS

local player = 'b8:27:eb:ad:6b:c3' --set witch player to access

if (event.getvalue() == true) then
squeezeboxsendcommand(player, 'playlist', 'clear') -- reset any playlist
squeezeboxsendcommand(player, 'playlist add', 'spotify:user:1175125342:playlist:7yCDwOnYZTXFTYymXZxp0t') --get this command from the logs of the LMS when playing the Spotify playlist
squeezeboxsendcommand(player, 'playlist shuffle', 1) -- shuffle, if you want
squeezeboxsendcommand(player, 'play', '') -- now play the list
grp.write('11/6/1', 'Playing Spotify')
else
squeezeboxsendcommand(player, 'playlist', 'clear')
grp.write('11/4/0', false) --turn off player
end

Jessica Pereira (CC BY 2.0)

The most important rule of Diet Club is don’t talk about Diet Club

Geeky Weight Loss, , ,

I am breaking one of the most important rules of my weight loss program. Ray Cronise popularized the rule: The most important rule of Diet Club is don’t talk about Diet Club. It sounds against one’s instinct and intuition. It even seems to contradict some scientific studies that seemed to show that telling your friends that you will loose weight would keep you honest. But that’s not correct. Telling friends and family does the oposite. Although well intentioned, your friends will keep you from completing your goal. First they will give you instant gratification by praising your new goal. This is shown to keep you from achieving it, as your brain will now be happy without having to do the hard work. Even if you could keep that from influencing you, your friends and family will actively or passively make it hard for you to diet. As soon as you tell them, they will want to know why? How? How long? Why again? All this will erode your willpower. My advice: keep your dieting plans to yourself.