Ask HN: Custom hardware minimal audio panel with volume knob
In my home office, I'd like to install a custom audio panel, next to the room's light switch, by the door as you walk in.
I envision the panel having a large (preferably metallic) black volume knob, with adjacent buttons for "previous track" and "next track".
If possible, pressing the volume knob pauses / plays the currently queued track. Otherwise I can just add a third button to do this.
Then above the volume knob and buttons, I'd like to fit a small OLED display, showing the track name and cover art.
In terms of the hardware / software interface, my goal is to wirelessly send events from this panel to my home PC (which is operating Linux, and which runs 24/7).
On this PC I use cmus, and have a fixed playlist of about 5 extended tracks that I listen to during deep work sessions.
So given the minimal and looping nature of my listening requirements, the basic panel interface I described above is fit for my purposes, and I'd prefer it to not have any other buttons or features.
That being said, I know very little about how to acquire or build said hardware. I also don't know much about interfacing with this sort of hardware, so I would appreciate any advice.
If it helps, I know a little C, and reckon I could figure out how to use a decoder from github if that's the best way to go (but maybe I can just pipe events to cmus?). I also once studied an Arduino manual, and it made good sense, so my plan is to pursue this next as far as hardware goes.
Thanks! ^_^