Author Topic: Manager Software for Linux, MacOS X (and Windoze) (Read 22421 times)

para · « **on:** April 01, 2005, 10:10:48 pm »

Hi all,
I just want to let you know that I'm currently planning to start a project to build an unofficial PB music manager for Linux, MacOS X and Windoze!

It's going to use the Qt framework (C++) which makes it easy to compile it for the different operating systems. The project will aim at providing a solution for all of you who're missing a nice GUI application which runs natively under Linux and OS X, adding greater flexibility and control over the way the PB library is built.

Unfortunately this board doesn't provide a poll at the moment those please give me your feedback by stating your opinion:

- Would it be useful to you?
- Which OS and desktop environment do you use?
- What are you missing in PMM?
- Anything else?

Thanks, Para

madj42 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 19, 2005, 03:39:42 am »

- Would it be useful to you?
Hell yes...
- Which OS and desktop environment do you use?
Fedora Core 3 and Gnome... I'm down with a KDE (Qt) PMM.
- What are you missing in PMM?
Nothing really but the Linux support.

Paul · « **Reply #2 on:** April 19, 2005, 12:18:52 pm »

1) Yes, it would be useful.
2) FreeBSD (desktop? what desktop?), Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Home
3) It would be nice to have the functionality of phatvoice built in, so that I don't have to run PhatMark, PMM, the PhatVoice to get everything right.

Lots more nitpicky suggestions, but I'll save them for later. Do you have access to the beta tester board for PMM? If so, you'll want to browse through it - there are lots of feature suggestions in there from before the 3.0 PMM was released.

para · « **Reply #3 on:** April 19, 2005, 05:59:56 pm »

Hi guys, thanks for your feedback! Well, I'm going to build it to a certain maturity level before it's published on sourceforge...
It's going to include the basic features in a first step. This means database and playlist creation. In a second step the dynamic playlists and database updates (i.e. syncing DMS <-> db contents) should follow. The third step is going to include the TTS generation. Maybe I'm switching the second and third steps ;-)
Anyway, I'm going to publish it on sf.net as soon as the first step is done and it's working as a first CVS snapshot release! By that time it should already be possible to "influence" the database "layout"

to overcome some of the major PB drawbacks IMHO.

Stay tuned!

madj42 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 21, 2005, 02:22:37 pm »

How are you going to do the TTS stuff? Are you going to use the AT&T true voices for linux version or do you think you'll use finale?

para · « **Reply #5 on:** April 21, 2005, 04:30:48 pm »

Well, that depends. In the final version there might be support for different systems.
At the moment I want to use Festival as it's free compared to AT&Ts version...

madj42 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 24, 2005, 05:26:03 am »

Oops thats what I meant was festival.. I'm still thinking of some midi app for windows. argh..

para · « **Reply #7 on:** May 04, 2005, 10:57:54 pm »

Hi guys!
I just want to let you know the latest facts about the upcoming tool (on sourceforge.net)...

Code: [Select]



2005-05-04:

* General
  - Improved object model
  - Added some more GUI handlers
  
* Library
  - Added (artist/album/genre) idx file handling
  - Added (artist/album/genre) num_tracks.db file handling
  - Added (artist/album/genre) alpha.db file handling

  
2005-05-01:

* General
  - Improved object model

* Library
  - Improved tracks.db handling
  - Added tracks.idx handling

  
2005-04-30:

* General
  - Initial import
  - TODO: ogg/flac support, festival settings in tool, online update

* Browser
  - Works fine (incl. database filter!)
  - TODO: possibly add more then one audio source

* Library
  - ID3 scanning works fine
  - Collection handling works fine (incl. filter)
  - Click on collection or part of it refreshes view
  - Speech synthesis demo for ID3 tags works fine
  - TODO: mp3 length retrieval, playlist handling, DMS handling

* Tools
  - Speech synthesis demo works fine
  - Basic preferences are saved/restored
  - TODO: TTS creation, TTS regexp, INI editor, save more options

As you might see the basic PMM feautures are nearly done. Even some extras are already in place

I think I'll be able to publish a first CVS snapshot or maybe a first alpha release in a few days!

As soon as it's done I'm going to put it (and also some screenshots) on sourceforge.net to give everyone interested the opportunity to contribute

Stay tuned, Para

Paul · « **Reply #8 on:** May 05, 2005, 03:29:11 am »

Thanks for the hard work para!

para · « **Reply #9 on:** May 05, 2005, 10:57:35 am »

Thanks mate, I think we're just creating what we're missing from others...

Some more details:
At the moment festival and libid3 are being used as the only external libraries. This means you have to install (at least) these packages in order to run it and the -dev versions to compile it yourself:

libid3 (id3 tagger)
festival (speech synthesis)
libestools (speech tools, used by festival)
libesd (enlightenment sound daemon, used by speech tools)
libncurses5 (terminal handling, used by speech tools)

Shouts and respect to judb and all the other hardware hackers!

Para

AndyMan · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2005, 01:40:59 pm »

Keep going para,

I won't be much help on this cause I'm runnin windoze this end, I'm linux clueless so I wouldn't be much help anyways

Andy

para · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2005, 01:52:40 pm »

Well, it works on Windows, too! The only knowledge needed is C++

Ok, at the moment Qt's free open source edition is only available for Linux and MacOS at the moment. The upcoming Qt4 will (available in approx. two month) even support windows for free...

Para

AndyMan · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2005, 03:17:39 pm »

OK, looks like I'm gonna be the windoze test bed!

The main issue I can see from a windoze point of view is either makefile scenario, or, C++ project file. A C++ project file woud be easier although a makefile can be instantiated from the dos prompt

para · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2005, 05:10:19 pm »

You'll get a Makefile which is generated by qmake (part of Qt). After that the usual make does the rest...
Of course you're free to integrate these things in your favourite IDE. There're some Qt HOWTOs which describe that procedure for Visual Studio AFAIK.

Para

madj42 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 15, 2005, 06:42:23 am »

Good to see the progress your making on the tool. Thanks for all the work as it will save me the hassle of using my brother's computer for PMM.

para · « **Reply #15 on:** May 16, 2005, 12:16:26 am »

Atcha service

Well, I think it'll take just a few more days... Right now the basic database files are already written and I'm completing the playlist handling and the global track.dat links!
The first CVS snapshot (maybe already an alpha release) won't contain any loading of existing files. This mean you've to build the whole thing when you need to update something... It sounds bad but that feature is going to be added next! Apart from that my tool includes some nice goodies which might decease the use of playlists

I'll announce it ASAP!

Para

para · « **Reply #16 on:** May 19, 2005, 10:55:51 pm »

Update:

I've recently added the basic playlist handling. Although it needs some further features like sorting (lists and contents), deleting and dynamic updates all relevant phatbox files are created fine and even signed where applicable!

The only things missing for the alpha release are the creation of profiles.ini (holds the number of disks) and tracks.dat (use for inter-mode linking)!

As soon as these are available I'll publish it!

Stay tuned, Para

para · « **Reply #17 on:** May 30, 2005, 08:14:06 pm »

Ok guys,
lot's of work has been done and I'm finally approaching the first release! As I'm saying this for a couple of days now, you'll now get the first appetizer

This is the project website!

Obviously it's only a place to start from showing some recent screenshots. I hope it'll get more content over the time...

The code as such works really nice for my box and the only missing thing is still the update of profiles.ini. It's not hard to do so we should see the fist release this week! As another benefit of waiting I can announce that also the TTS creation works fine (RegExp still to come)

Another big surprise is the tool's performance (measured with my 20GB DMS):

	PMM	Phat4X
Indexing MP3s	approx. 6 minutes	approx. 90 seconds
Deleting DMS	approx. 4 minutes	approx. 10 seconds
Saving DMS	approx. 5 minutes	approx. 20 seconds

Now it's up to you - gimme your feedback!

PS: Please use the official website's forums to discuss project related topics from now on so others (non PhatHack members) can participate...

para · « **Reply #18 on:** May 31, 2005, 06:24:26 pm »

Here we go! The first alpha release is online!

As you know this release might contain tons of bugs and is only capable of doing the very basic things needed to use your DMS directly under Linux...

I'd like to freeze the feature additions now and just add the missing things for the existing features to reach beta status.

IMHO the open tasks for the first beta release are:
- Find and fix as many bugs as possible
- Check the existing functionalities during day-to-day use
- Confirm complete PhatBox compatibility
- Improve sorting for playlists and database items

IMPORTANT:
As it seems the PhatBox needs to have at least one playlist to work!
As long as I figured out why the best solution is to just create a playlist which contains all tracks and call it "Default"...

Now it's your turn, but please be patient with me!

Para

LindsayLohan · « **Reply #19 on:** June 01, 2005, 05:55:03 am »

I just downloaded the source to check it out. Wicked sick! I don't program in C++ ever (still mostly C), but this almost makes me want to start using it.

Oh yeah, and I just have to say, I enjoyed looking at your code because you don't "cuddle" your elses.

Awesome!

News:

Author Topic: Manager Software for Linux, MacOS X (and Windoze) (Read 22421 times)