play_eve_sounds.py

Small utility to play a random MP3 from a local sounds/ folder at a random interval between 30 and 60 seconds. Intended to run on a Raspberry Pi but works on other Linux/macOS systems too.

Setup

Install a system player (recommended) or pygame (fallback).

On Raspberry Pi (Raspbian / Raspberry Pi OS):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mpg123
# optional: sudo apt install -y omxplayer vlc

Or install pygame (if you prefer Python playback):

python3 -m pip install --user pygame

Usage

Make the script executable and run it:

chmod +x play_random_sound.py
./play_random_sound.py --scan
# or explicitly use the built-in SOUND_FILES list
./play_random_sound.py

Options

• --scan - ignore the SOUND_FILES list in the script and auto-discover .mp3 files inside sounds/.
• --min N and --max N - override the minimum and maximum wait intervals (seconds).

Notes

• The script prefers system players (mpg123, mpg321, omxplayer, cvlc). If none are available it attempts to use pygame.mixer as a fallback.
• Stop the script with Ctrl-C.

Example

# Play random sounds discovered in sounds/ with default 30-60s intervals
./play_random_sound.py --scan

# Play using 10-20 second intervals instead (for testing)
./play_random_sound.py --scan --min 10 --max 20

Troubleshooting

• If you see "No valid sound files found" ensure files are named *.mp3 and placed in the sounds/ directory next to the script.
• If the system player is missing, install mpg123 or vlc or install pygame with pip.

Starting the script automatically

1. Create /etc/systemd/system/play_random_sound.service with the following:

[Unit]
Description=Play random EVE sounds
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/path/to/project
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/path/to/project/play_eve_sound.py --scan
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
# Environment=PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1  # optionally useful for immediate logs

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

2. Enable and start the service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now play_random_sound.service