Tag: Ubuntu

PyRadio

Read a quick post at from Linux Journal about setting up PyRadio. Admittedly the hardest part was finding a valid URL for stations as many hide or obscure their urls behind a block of JavaScript.

Additionally, this is a great way to listen to streaming radio without a website hogging your CPU and RAM.

If you are using Peppermint or any other Ubuntu 18.04 based distribution that supports snap packages you can grab PyRadio by running the following commands in the terminal.

sudo apt install snapd
sudo snap install pyradio

I visited TuneIn.com where I was able to inspect their player and collect the necessary public urls to mp3 streams while they were playing.

This is my first use of a snap application so I’m not certain the configuration path will be identical on your system.

stations.csv configuration location in my user account.

Once up and running I opened stations.csv in vim and added the NPR station streams I collected earlier.

stations.csv configuration example.

Here are those URLs if you would like to test them.

  • http://kcrw.streamguys1.com/kcrw_192k_mp3_on_air_internet_radio
  • http://kcrw.streamguys1.com/kcrw_192k_mp3_e24_tunein
  • http://kcrw.streamguys1.com/kcrw_192k_mp3_news_tunein
  • http://kpcclive1.publicradio.org/kpcclive/

After saving the .csv and restarting PyRadio my new stations appeared for selection.

With all it’s faults I still like Unity Desktop

I’ve always preferred Unity desktop’s HUD and Lens over GNOME’s Activities. In all likelihood I’ll keep both desktop environments installed after Bionic Beaver is released later this week.

GNOME has a better workflow but I never liked the amount of vertical space wasted between the top bar and window below.

Unity’s Lens are largely useless, so perhaps I’ll drop both for a more traditional approach.

Lubuntu minimal with i3wm had been my primary desktop since December so its the strongest contender.

I may hop to other flavors like Budgie, XFCE or MATE.

Peppermint is another option although it won’t be based on 18.04 for a few months.

Testing i3wm in Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver

Testing i3wm in Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver

I merely installed i3 and some of my favorite settings from my previous i3 setup. The only thing to note is the additional RAM usage at about 1GB in here vs my previous Lubuntu minimal 16.04 setup. I presume much of the RAM is reserved for the additional functionality at the Kernel level vs Lubuntu which is far more lightweight.

However, this does appear crisper and just as snappy.