HELPFILE&BUSINESSHELP
ISSUE387|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MAY2020 121
I’ve had aChromebook forafew months,
and recently set up an account formy
partner on it. We went to staywith her
parents forthe second time since I
bought it, only to findthatthe computer
hadn’t remembered their wireless
network, despitemehaving connected
to it before.Mypartner logged in and
added the network, and was prompted
to share it with other users; once she’d
done so,Icould also use it. Ican’t
understand why the computer ‘forgot’ a
wireless network it had already been
connected to.Any ideas?
Charles HeadChromebooks handle multiple users in a
different waytoWindows PCs. With the
latter,each user has to log in every time
theywant to access asession on the PC,
providing apassword if they’ve set one.
Each user’s session is maintained separately to any other logged-in
users, so there’s no need forusers to trust each other –theycan
still have secure access to all of their usual resources, including
wireless networks.
On aChromebook, each user only needs to provide their
password once per session, after which users are considered
‘trusted’ until theylog out or the computer is restarted. It’s amore
lightweight implementation of multiple user sessions, and akeydifference is that some of the resources available to all users depend
on which user signed in first. In your case,yourpartner must have
logged on first at her parents’ house,restricting the available wireless
networks to those she had previously joined.
Had you logged on first,you both would have been able to access
the network. Youcan get around the problem in the future by
ensuring that when connecting to any networks, you always agree to
the option, ‘Allow other users of this device to use this network’.ChromebooknetworkconfusionIwas very interested in the ‘Make a
Touchscreen Jukebox’ project (Advanced
Projects,Shopper383). Ihaveacouple of
questions regarding the self-contained unit.
Ihaveanold Denon micro hi-fi system
(consisting of aDRA-F102DAB AM-FM/DAB
receiver and aDCD-F102 CD player) hooked
up to quality speakers. Although this is an
old system, it is in good working order and I
would like to use it to playmyCDcollection
stored on aSynology DS213 NAS, which is
connected to my home network.
The Denon receiver has several unused
phono inputs. Could Iconnect the mini-jack
on the Raspberry Pi to the phono inputs
using asuitable lead with phono plugs and
a3.5mm stereo jack? If this is possible,is
the Pi, together with the Rhythmbox
software,capable of connecting to my
home Wi-Fi network to playthe music
stored on my NAS?
Bob BryneThe short answer is yes, but we would advise
using an audio HAT(hardware-attached-on-
top) to get decent sound quality.The Pi’s
built-in audio is fine forbasic use,and you
could use amini-jack-to-phono cable to feed
your amp,but an audio HATwill give you
better-quality audio,and possibly phono
outputs too.Full stream ahead
APiZero is ideal formusic streaming, as
it’s small, cheap,low-power and has plenty of
processing power.That can be paired with a
pHATdaughterboard, which is the same size
as the Pi Zero.
Pimoroni’s pHATDAC costs only £13 but
uses amini-jack output, while the JustBoom
DAC Zero pHATcosts £20 and the Allo Mini
BOSS pHATcosts £40. If your amp can accept
digital inputs, you might want to consider adigi pHATwith an S/PDIF output, such as
the JustBoom Digi Zero pHAT(£24). Most of
those pHATs have compatible cases fora
neat and easy build.
Once you’ve got your hardware,just install
RhythmBox on the Pi (searching the Software
Manager is easiest) and connect to the music
library on your NAS. Youcan use the same
tricks we used in the article to auto-load
Rhythmbox and set up the touchscreen.⬅Ifother
people useyour
Chromebook,
make sure you
allow them access
to new networks⬆Thhhechhheap,lllow-powerRaspbbberryPiiiZeroiiisanexcellllllentchhhoiiiceffformusiiicstreamiiing