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Raspberry Pi AirPlay Mirroring server

· 2 min read
Mikael Finstad
Mikael Finstad
mifi

How to setup an AirPlay server on a Raspberry Pi.

Start with a fresh Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye Lite.

Setup WiFi​

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/wpa_supplicant

First run raspi-config and enable WiFi.

wpa_cli -i wlan0
scan
scan_results
add_network
set_network 0 ssid "MYSSID"
set_network 0 psk "passphrase"
enable_network 0
save_config
quit

Install X11​

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-legacy xinit x11-xserver-utils xinput libnss3
sudo usermod -a -G tty pi

sudo nano /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config and change it to:

allowed_users = anybody

Openbox​

Openbox is needed for fullscreen / scaling to work properly. Without a Window manager, the window will probably get cropped.

sudo apt install openbox

Install UxPlay​

Reference: https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay

sudo apt install cmake build-essential pkg-config

# uxplay deps
sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libssl-dev libplist-dev libavahi-compat-libdnssd-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad

Build UxPlay

git clone https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay
cd UxPlay
cmake .
make

To test it:

# one terminal:
startx
# other terminal:
DISPLAY=:0 ./uxplay -bt709 -nh -n TV -fs

Setup audio​

sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-alsa
sudo usermod -a -G audio pi

Edit /home/pi/.asoundrc

pcm.!default {
  type asym
  playback.pcm {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "output"
  }
  capture.pcm {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "input"
  }
}

pcm.output "hdmi:CARD=vc4hdmi,DEV=0"

ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card 1
}

sudo raspi-config then choose: System -> Audio -> HDMI

Setup simple desktop (run on boot)​

We'll use LightDM to provide a desktop.

sudo apt install -y lightdm

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf and change these under [Seat:*]:

autologin-user=pi
xserver-command=X -nocursor

Then nano ~/.xsession:

xset s off
xset -dpms
xset s noblank

openbox &

while true; do
  /home/pi/UxPlay/uxplay -bt709 -nh -n TV -fs -as alsasink -nohold
  sleep 5
done

sudo raspi-config then enable: System -> Boot -> Desktop GUI, automatically logged in as 'pi' user.

Reboot and test!