A simple digital frame that shows "Now Playing" information from a Roon audio zone. It communicates with Roon as an extension. When music is not playing, it cycles through a user-defined slideshow of images.
- Connection: Connects to Roon over Wi-Fi as an extension, so only a power cable is needed, and it can be placed where you like to see it.
- Slideshow: Displays images from a local pictures directory when no music is playing in Roon.
- Analog Clock: Option to enable clock display to intermingle or replace slideshow.
- Roon Metadata: Shows currently playing track information (artist, track title, album art, etc.) for a chosen Roon zone.
- Kiosk Mode: Automatically launches in a full-screen browser on Raspberry Pi OS (with optional display power management).
- Lightweight: Uses a simple Python app and minimal services to run efficiently on a Raspberry Pi.
- Orientation: Landscape mode, portait mode optional.
Assuming you have freshly installed the latest Raspberry Pi OS Lite (bookworm) on an SD card, enabled Wi-Fi and SSH access, and opened a remote terminal to the board.
Update OS and install required packages:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git
Install application:
mkdir ~/work
cd ~/work
git clone https://github.com/igfarm/roFrame
cd roFrame
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
Make a copy of the configuration and update NAME to have a unique name for this device:
cp .env.example .env
nano .env
Start the discovery program, and go to Roon extensions to approve it:
python discovery.py
This will list all available zones. Edit .env file to add update ROON_ZONE to one of those values if you have not done so already.
Add a few images to the pictures folder. In my case, the panel I am using has a resolution of 1024x600, so pictures should be that size. If you don't do this step, you will be rewarded with some modern art on your frame.
Test that things are working as expected by starting the frame application:
python app.py
and open a browser and open the URL of the machine the app is running on as indicated when running the app.
Install required packages:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y xserver-xorg xinit chromium-browser unclutter x11-utils
Create an .xinit file that startx will execute once it starts running:
cd ~/work/roFrame
cp etc/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc
chmod +x ~/.xinitrc
Install the application's service:
sudo cp etc/frame.service /lib/systemd/system/
sudo sed -i "s|PATH|$(pwd)|g" /lib/systemd/system/frame.service
sudo sed -i "s|USER|$(whoami)|g" /lib/systemd/system/frame.service
sudo systemctl enable frame.service
Install the kiosk service:
sudo cp etc/kiosk.service /lib/systemd/system/
sudo sed -i "s|USER|$(whoami)|g" /lib/systemd/system/kiosk.service
sudo systemctl enable kiosk.service
If updating from a previous version:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Allow startx to be started by a service:
sudo sed -i "s|allowed_users=console|allowed_users=anybody|g" /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config
Reboot the Pi:
sudo reboot
The frame should come up and you should see some pictures on the screen.
The application requires the following environment variables to be set.
| Variable Name | Description | Required | Possible Values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CLOCK_SIZE |
Diameter of clock in pixels | No | 0 means autosize. |
0 |
CLOCK_OFFSET |
Clock offset pixels from top of the screen | No | 0 means autosize. |
0 |
DISPLAY_CONTROL |
Enables or disables display control | No | on, off |
on |
DISPLAY_OFF_HOUR |
Hour to turn off the display | No | 0-23 (e.g., 22) |
22 |
DISPLAY_ON_HOUR |
Hour to turn on the display | No | 0-23 (e.g., 10) |
10 |
IMAGE_SIZE |
Album image size in pixels | No | Any number (e.g., 600) |
600 |
NAME |
Unique device name | Yes | Any string (e.g., Display) |
|
PORT |
Application port | No | Any number (e.g., 5006) |
5006 |
ROON_API_KEY_FNAME |
Filename for Roon API key | No | Any filename | roon_api_key.txt |
ROON_CORE_ID_FNAME |
Filename for Roon Core ID | No | Any filename | roon_core_id.txt |
ROON_ZONE |
Roon zone name | Yes | Any string (e.g., Livingroom) |
|
SLIDESHOW |
Enables or disables slideshow | No | on, off |
on |
SLIDESHOW_FOLDER |
Folder path for slideshow images | No | Any folder path (e.g., ./pictures) |
./pictures |
SLIDESHOW_TRANSITION_SECONDS |
Time per slide transition (seconds) | No | Any number (e.g., 15) |
0 |
SLIDESHOW_CLOCK_RATIO |
How often to show the clock | No | 0-100 (0 is never, 100 is always) |
0 |
TZ |
Timezone setting | No | Valid timezone, see Wikipedia | America/New_York |
Display is only on when Roon is playing
DISPLAY_ON_HOUR=0
DISPLAY_OFF_HOUR=0
Display is on from 9AM to 10PM and shows clock when Roon is not playing
DISPLAY_ON_HOUR=9
DISPLAY_OFF_HOUR=22
SLIDESHOW_CLOCK_RATIO=100
Display is on from 1AM to 1PM and shows slide show (or art show) when Roon is not playing.
DISPLAY_ON_HOUR=1
DISPLAY_OFF_HOUR=13
SLIDESHOW_CLOCK_RATIO=0
Display is on from 11PM to 6AM and alternates between slide slide show (or art show) and clock 50% of the time when Roon is not playing.
DISPLAY_ON_HOUR=22
DISPLAY_OFF_HOUR=6
SLIDESHOW_CLOCK_RATIO=50
The systems comes out of the box in Landscape mode. You can also configure it to run in Portrait mode by adding the following line at the top of the ~/.xinitrc file.
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --rotate right
To see the frame service logs:
journalctl -u frame -e
To see the kiosk service logs:
journalctl -u kiosk -e
Restart processes after .env change:
./etc/restart.sh
In my case, this is what I used:
- 10.1" display - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XDK2FRR
- Raspberry Pi 4 with 2GB RAM - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TYK4RL8
- 32GB SD Card - https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128GB-Extreme-UHS-I-Memory/dp/B09X7FXHVJ
It may run on different hardware, but software configuration might be different than described here.
- https://github.com/geerlingguy/pi-kiosk - Inspiration on setting up Kiosk mode
- https://github.com/pavoni/pyroon - Python interface to Roon Core
- https://darko.audio/2025/03/how-to-put-roons-now-playing-screen-on-a-tv-or-monitor/ - Article that gave me the idea of creating this app.
This project was created by Jaime Pereira in 2025.