linux-voice-assistant/docs/linux-voice-assistant-2mic-install.md

Linux Voice Assistant on RaspberryPi with ReSpeaker 2‑Mic — Installation & Configuration Guide

Created using ChatGPT 5 with the following prompt:

      Using the following github document as a guide
      https://github.com/rhasspy/wyoming-satellite/blob/master/docs/tutorial_2mic.md,
      take the attached bash history of commands and create a similar document
      detailing the installation and configuration of this linux-voice-assistant project.

Modeled after the Wyoming Satellite two‑mic tutorial, adapted from actual shell history.

This guide reproduces a working setup of the linux-voice-assistant project with Wyoming OpenWakeWord and MicroWakeWord on a Raspberry PI Zero 2W and a Respeaker 2‑mic HAT (e.g., seeed-2mic-voicecard). It assumes a fresh system with sudo access and the default "pi" user. Included is the option to use PipeWire or PulseAudio instead of ALSA.

Prerequisites

• Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)
  • Linux 6.12.34+rpt-rpi-v8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.34-1+rpt1~bookworm
  • (2025-06-26) aarch64 GNU/Linux
• Default Python 3.11+ recommended
• A ReSpeaker 2‑mic sound card or compatable
• Network access to your Home Assistant instance

1. Install system packages

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install libportaudio2 build-essential git \
      libmpv-dev mpv python3.11-dev 
sudo reboot

2. Get the code

git clone https://github.com/imonlinux/linux-voice-assistant.git

3. Install ReSpeaker drivers

chmod +x ~/linux-voice-assistant/respeaker2mic/install-respeaker-drivers.sh
sudo ~/linux-voice-assistant/respeaker2mic/install-respeaker-drivers.sh 
sudo reboot

4. Linux Voice Assistant (LVA)

cd ~/linux-voice-assistant/
script/setup

5. Choose your install option "Choose your Adventure!"

Pick one of the following install paths. Expand a section to see the exact steps.

Tip: All services run in user mode (requires loginctl enable-linger);

PipeWire (user-mode services)

Prep (PipeWire): Follow the PipeWire tutorial first: the tutorial.

Enable linger (required for user services to start after reboot):

sudo loginctl enable-linger pi

Install LVA user-mode services:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user

cp ~/linux-voice-assistant/service/linux-voice-assistant.service    ~/.config/systemd/user/linux-voice-assistant.service

Enable & start:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now linux-voice-assistant.service

Verify:

systemctl --user status linux-voice-assistant --no-pager -l

PulseAudio (user-mode services)

Prep (PulseAudio): Follow the PulseAudio tutorial first: the tutorial.

Enable linger (required for user services to start after reboot):

sudo loginctl enable-linger pi

Install LVA user-mode services:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user

cp ~/linux-voice-assistant/service/linux-voice-assistant.service   ~/.config/systemd/user/linux-voice-assistant.service

Enable & start:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now linux-voice-assistant.service

Verify:

systemctl --user status linux-voice-assistant --no-pager -l

ALSA (user-mode services)

No extra audio stack needed. If you’re using a different sound card/driver, confirm device names:

arecord -l
aplay -l

Enable linger (required for user services to start after reboot):

sudo loginctl enable-linger pi

Install LVA user-mode services:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user

cp ~/linux-voice-assistant/service/linux-voice-assistant.service     ~/.config/systemd/user/linux-voice-assistant.service

Enable & start:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now linux-voice-assistant.service

Verify:

systemctl --user status linux-voice-assistant --no-pager -l

Optional (MQTT Controls)

🔌 MQTT Controls Overview

The Linux Voice Assistant (LVA) creates several MQTT entities under the Home Assistant MQTT Discovery protocol. Each entity is prefixed by your LVA's unique device ID defined with the --name field in the LVA User-Mode Serviced Unit (e.g., linux_voice_assistant).

---

🎤 Microphone Mute (switch entity)

Controls the microphone mute state.

• MQTT Discovery Topic: homeassistant/switch/<device_id>_mute/config
• Name: [LVA Name] Mute Microphone
• Icon: mdi:microphone-off
• Functionality: Toggles the microphone mute. When muted, the LEDs will display a dim red solid effect.

---

💡 LED Control for Linux Voice Assistant

These are MQTT entities created by the Linux Voice Assistant for controlling its integrated LEDs (e.g., DotStar, NeoPixel). These entities integrate seamlessly with Home Assistant via MQTT Discovery, allowing you to manage LED effects, colors, brightness, and the number of connected LEDs directly from your Home Assistant interface.

---

🔢 Number of LEDs (number entity)

This entity allows you to specify the physical number of addressable LEDs connected to your device.

• MQTT Discovery Topic: homeassistant/number/<device_id>_num_leds/config
• Name: [LVA Name] Number of LEDs
• Functionality: Sets the total number of LEDs.
• Important: This setting requires a restart of the LVA service file to take effect, as the LED hardware driver needs to be re-initialized. The value is persisted in preferences.json.

---

✨ State-Based LED Controls (select and light entities)

For each distinct LVA state (Idle, Listening, Thinking, Responding, Error), a select entity for choosing an effect and a light entity for controlling color and brightness are created.

• States:
  • idle (e.g., [LVA Name] Idle Effect, [LVA Name] Idle Color)
  • listening (e.g., [LVA Name] Listening Effect, [LVA Name] Listening Color)
  • thinking (e.g., [LVA Name] Thinking Effect, [LVA Name] Thinking Color)
  • responding (e.g., [LVA Name] Responding Effect, [LVA Name] Responding Color)
  • error (e.g., [LVA Name] Error Effect, [LVA Name] Error Color)

select Entities (Effect Selector)

• MQTT Discovery Topic: homeassistant/select/<device_id>_<state_name>_effect/config
• Name: [LVA Name] [State Name] Effect
• Icon: mdi:palette-swatch-variant
• Functionality: Allows selection of an animation/effect for the specific LVA state.

light Entities (Color & Brightness Control)

• MQTT Discovery Topic: homeassistant/light/<device_id>_<state_name>_color/config
• Name: [LVA Name] [State Name] Color
• Functionality: Controls the color and brightness for the specific LVA state when the selected effect uses color. Supports RGB color mode and brightness.

---

🎨 Available LED Effects

The following effects can be selected via the [State Name] Effect (select) entities:

Effect Name	Description
Off	All LEDs are turned off.
Solid	All LEDs display a single, constant color.
Slow Pulse	LEDs slowly fade in and out.
Medium Pulse	LEDs fade in and out at a moderate speed.
Fast Pulse	LEDs rapidly fade in and out.
Slow Blink	LEDs turn on and off slowly.
Medium Blink	LEDs turn on and off at a moderate speed.
Fast Blink	LEDs rapidly turn on and off.
Spin	A single LED "spins" around the strip.

Edit LVA config.json file:

nano ~/linux-voice-assistant/linux_voice_assistant/config.json

Add MQTT configuration entries to LVA config.json file:

  "mqtt": {
    "host": "192.168.1.2",
    "port": 1883,
    "username": "mqtt_username",
    "password": "mqtt_password"
  }

Example of complete config.json file Note: Change the MQTT values to match your system!

{
  "app": {
    "name": "Linux Voice Assistant"
  },
  "mqtt": {
    "host": "192.168.1.2",
    "port": 1883,
    "username": "mqtt_username",
    "password": "mqtt_password"
  }
}

Enable & start:

systemctl --user restart linux-voice-assistant.service

Verify:

systemctl --user status linux-voice-assistant --no-pager -l

Optional (Grove Port LEDs)

This optional configuration support the use of the ReSpeaker 2Mic Grove Port with APA102 LEDs.

Grove Pigtail	Function (on ReSpeaker Hat)	Solder to LED Strip
⚫ Black Wire	Ground (GND)	GND (Ground)
🔴 Red Wire	Power (VCC)	VCC / 5V (Power)
🟡 Yellow Wire	GPIO12 (Signal 1)	DI (Data Input)
⚪ White Wire	GPIO13 (Signal 2)	CI (Clock Input)

Edit LVA config.json file:

nano ~/linux-voice-assistant/linux_voice_assistant/config.json

Add Grove (GPIO) configuration entries to LVA config.json file:

  "led": {
    "led_type": "dotstar",
    "interface": "gpio",
    "clock_pin": 13,
    "data_pin": 12,
    "num_leds": 10
  }

Example (LVA config.json file with MQTT and Grove Port enabled) Note: Change the GPIO values to match your system!

{
  "app": {
    "name": "Linux Voice Assistant"
  },
  "mqtt": {
    "host": "192.168.1.2",
    "port": 1883,
    "username": "mqtt_username",
    "password": "mqtt_password"
  },
  "led": {
    "led_type": "dotstar",
    "interface": "gpio",
    "clock_pin": 13,
    "data_pin": 12,
    "num_leds": 10
  }
}

Enable & start:

systemctl --user restart linux-voice-assistant.service

Verify:

systemctl --user status linux-voice-assistant --no-pager -l

6. Connect to Home Assistant

If HA does not discover the new LVA:

1. In Home Assistant, go to "Settings" -> "Device & services"
2. Click the "Add integration" button
3. Choose "ESPHome" and then "Set up another instance of ESPHome"
4. Enter the IP address of your voice satellite with port 6053
5. Click "Submit"
6. During the registration process, use the wake word that is displayed on the registration page. Default is "OK Nabu".

7. Verification

• Use "journalctl --user -u linux-voice-assistant.service -f" to check for errors. Debugging is enabled.

• Expect logs like Connected to Home Assistant

• Look for [OWW] Detection: name=... followed by re-arming/cycling

• Ask: “What time is it?” and confirm TTS reply

• If you do not get a voice response, check the Voice Assistant that you choose during registration has a voice assigned to it.

  Settings -> Voice assistants -> Assist (the assistant you configured) -> Text-to-speech -> Voice

8. Change OWW detection model

After the LVA is registered with HA, you can change the Wake Word model used in the ESPHome Voice Assistant entity.

Project OWW models include:

alexa_v0.1.tflite       -> Alexa
hey_jarvis_v0.1.tflite  -> Hey Jarvis
hey_mycroft_v0.1.tflite -> Hey Mycroft
hey_rhasspy_v0.1.tflite -> Hey Rhasspy
ok_nabu_v0.1.tflite     -> OK Nabo **(I had to say OK Nobu)**

Additional community provided OWW models available from this repository: https://github.com/fwartner/home-assistant-wakewords-collection

You just copy the ones you want into the ~/linux-voice-assistant/wakewords/openWakeWord directory. If a model is currupted, the LVA will fail to start. Each model added will need a corresponding json file. (note the json file names matches the tflite name)

Example

Add Model:

/linux-voice-assistant/wakewords/openWakeWord/hal_v2.tflite

Create Json:

/linux-voice-assistant/wakewords/openWakeWord/hal_v2.json

Contents:

{
  "type": "openWakeWord",
  "wake_word": "HAL",
  "model": "hal_v2.tflite"
}

Word of warning. I have had problems with some of the community provided wake words. YMMV

9. Switching between ALSA, PW, or PA see section 5.

If you intend to switch from PA or PW to ALSA, you must first stop and disable the corresponding user-mode services.

###PulseAudio

sudo systemctl --user stop pulseaudio.service

sudo systemctl --user disable pulseaudio.service

###PipeWire

sudo systemctl --user stop pipewire.service

sudo systemctl --user disable pipewire.service