This simple project is meant to drive VLC using a numeric keypad. Uses hidraw to acquire and decode input data from keypad. Uses STDOUT (or TCP/IP with netcat) to communicate to VLC running in server mode.

Create a directory where all media files to played are located (e.g. /home/pi/music). Put all contents in such directory organizing them in sub-directories with numeric names (e.g. 1, 45, 345,...). Use symbolic links for convenience. To play all media contained in one of the directories, just enter the corresponding number with the keypad and press Enter. If pressing Enter twice, the playback is stopped and playlist is cleared. Use the other keypad keys for controlling:

• volume: +, -
• fast forward: numlock
• playlist navigation: /, *
• pause: .

Install vlc and optionally netcat.

Edit /etc/rc.local and add the following line to it to launch VLC at startup

/home/pi/jukebox/jukebox /home/pi/music | runuser -l pi -c "/usr/bin/vlc" &

If using netcat, add instead:

runuser -l pi -c "/usr/bin/vlc --intf rc --rc-host :50000 &"
sleep 5
/home/pi/jukebox/jukebox /home/pi/music | /bin/nc localhost 50000 &

A Raspberry power button can be easily added: see Pi Power Button.

The Activity LED can be retargeted following instructions provided here: Activity LED. In short, add the following line

dtparam=act_led_gpio=17

to /boot/config.txt