piCRT

piCRT is a Raspberry Pi-powered retro media player written in Go and Svelte, with a terminal-style UI, designed for automated video playback and remote control.

📜 Features

• 🔹 ASCII/BBS-style UI
• 🔹 Categorised media playback (e.g., Anime, JDM, Longplays)
• 🔹 Remote control via a web UI.
• 🔹 Runs on a Raspberry Pi with a Go backend & SvelteKit frontend.
• 🔹 Auto-starts on boot using systemd.

Screenshots

🚀 Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the Repository

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/piCRT.git
cd piCRT

2️⃣ Build & Deploy

On Your Dev Machine (Arch/Linux/MacOS):

GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 go build -o server main.go
cd svelte-ui
npm install
npm run build
cd ..

Transfer to Raspberry Pi

scp -r server pi@<PI-IP>:/home/pi/piCRT/
scp -r svelte-ui/build pi@<PI-IP>:/home/pi/piCRT/build/

Or SSH into your Raspberry Pi and use the deployment script:

ssh pi@<PI-IP>
cd /home/pi/piCRT
./deploy-to-pi.sh

3️⃣ Setup systemd Service

On Raspberry Pi:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/piCRT.service

Paste the following:

[Unit]
Description=piCRT Go Server
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/pi/piCRT/server
Restart=always
User=pi
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/piCRT
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
Environment="PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter), then enable & start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable piCRT
sudo systemctl start piCRT

4️⃣ Access the UI

• Open http://<PI-IP>:5000/ in a browser.
• Use the UI to browse & play videos.

🛠️ Development Workflow

Updating Code & Deploying

Use the provided script to sync files and restart the server:

./deploy-to-pi.sh

Or SSH into your Raspberry Pi and run:

ssh pi@<PI-IP>
cd /home/pi/piCRT
./deploy-to-pi.sh

Checking Logs & Debugging

sudo systemctl status piCRT   # Check service status
journalctl -u piCRT --follow  # View logs

📜 TODO & Future Features

• ✅ Add dynamic thumbnails for videos.
• ✅ Implement category filtering.
• ✅ Support for YouTube links.
• 🛠️ Improve mobile UI.

🖥️ Tech Stack

• Backend: Go
• Frontend: SvelteKit + Tailwind CSS
• Deployment: systemd + SSH + SCP