Ommpc2x V. 0.1.1

[Coder_TimT]

Well, it's been a little while since my initial release. I had hoped to be able to truly fix some of the issues related to using ommpc2x as a background player, but haven't fully been able to accomplish that. So I'm going to go ahead and put out this release which has some fixes and some workarounds...

If this is the first you've heard of this music player, head over to the project page for initiation.

Otherwise, here's what's changed...

* Workaround to fix output rate changing while running in background
* Volume will still "jump" occasionally, created optional "watchdog" program to
monitor and reset
* Fixed bug where bookmarks dissappear until restart
* added autorun to sample shortcut script since it was supposed to be there.
* replaced complexSample.sh with watchdogSample.sh
* added forceMenuExit.sh shortcut script in case you crash running an external program and get caught in an autorun loop...
* Migrated to latest version of mpd and recent toolchain

The output rate workaround allows for getting rid of all the sleeping and pausing in the shortcut scripts to try and get them to behave correctly. However, for running apps that don't have any sort of volume control, sometimes the gp2x will decide to "reset" the volume back to a default level still. So I created a "watchdog" program to monitor the volume and reset it back if needed.

Again, not everything is perfect...
* Occasionally mpd will lock when running an external program and you won't be able to get back to ommpc2x. You'll have to reset the gp2x and then will probably have to exit ommpc2x with the forceMenuQuit.sh script in order to kill the autorun. Of the programs I've tried pocketsnes is a big offender. If you exit to the psnes menu and return to your game any number of times, expect this bad behavior. PicoDrive and gpfce seem to be fairly well behaved.
* Occasionally mpd will stop outputting when starting watchdog. It's not locked like above though and exiting your program and returning to ommpc2x will get it outputting sound again.

Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think. Feel free to post any questions or opinions. I don't post often , but do check the boards everyday...so I'm around. The upgrade archives just contain the modified files, they're not too much smaller, but they don't have any config file or what not so you won't accidentely overwrite anything...

Check newest post for download links...

 

[jose1711]

hello, thanks for the new version, i am going to give it a shot right away. just please, next time rename the directory inside the zip to ommpc2x-0.1.1 or similar, this is a standard in u*ix environment. also saves you time when you accidentally rewrite the older version files. thx.

jose

 

[peelie]

hi

i like the random playlist on this player the best!

suggestion - can you keep the volume buttons enabled when you go into disable keypress mode like craigamp does? it is useful when travelling to be able to adjust the volume in relation to outside noise levels without having to re-enable keypress!

cheers

 

[Coder_TimT]

@jose -- I'll keep the naming thought in mind. Generally, that naming convention applies to source archives...I guess it could commonly apply to binary archives also, but I tend to apt-get or at the very least dpkg binary things on my Linux machine so I guess I don't know for certain. But, my thought process is that for the full archive, it contains the config files which contain paths, that I don't want to modify each build...so I leave it in a standard directory and the first time user can just throw it on the sd card with a minimal of config file editing to get started... That's why I created the upgrade archives...unzip those in your original directory and it will just overwrite the modified files... But as I don't like the idea of making 4 archives each build, I'll definitely keep it in mind...

@peelie -- Thanks for the compliment... I forgot about the volume request from the first release. I meant to put that in along with decreasing the locking/unlocking delay time as it seems a little long now. I'll try to get it next time....

 

[DBH]

When i try and run this via gmenu2x (0.9) I just get a black screen any ideas? Do i need to edit those .conf files first?

 

[peelie]

When i try and run this via gmenu2x (0.9) I just get a black screen any ideas? Do i need to edit those .conf files first?

yes if you have not put the Ommpc folder in root; according to site - QUOTE
It expects the "ommpc2x" directory to be placed int the root directory of the memory card(/mnt/sd). If you place the directory elsewhere, you will need to edit applicable lines in the ommc.conf file and any supporting scripts.
(http://code.google.com/p/ommpc/wiki/ommpcHelp)

 

[DBH]

Is ommpc2x able to do internet radio streams? Because some of the mpd control clients support it would be awesome as that way I could finally have a mini internet radio.

 

[Coder_TimT]

Is ommpc2x able to do internet radio streams? Because some of the mpd control clients support it would be awesome as that way I could finally have a mini internet radio.

Currently radio streams aren't supported on the gp2x. As I have some free time, I'll look into getting those added in...

 

[DBH]

Oh please do that is almost a must have feature. It shouldn't be "impossible" I hope.

 

[DawnOfTheRent]

It seems that the album art doesn't get displayed when the first song plays after the player opens (it always waits until the next song..).

Another oddity I found is that it looks for .jpg but not .JPG This is no problem once you know about it, but I spent a good while trying to figure out why my pics weren't being used before thinking to change the extension (You could just change the READ ME to make people aware of this)..

Lastly, there's the "Random" function: I do like the random playlist generator, but is there any way to randomize just a single list of songs. The playlist generator uses the entire music directory, but if someone only wanted to listen to a certain genre could there be a way to load a playlist, and randomize just those songs? If you do try to implement this feature then there are two ways I can think of for a user to "activate"it. It would either have it set up in the config to randomize any playlist you select, and/or you could add the option to the "Playlist Mode" and have the button mapped to [X] when the music playback is stopped, So you could select a playlist, it'd start playing, then if you wanted it randomized you could press [X] to stop the playing then the [X] button would change from "Stop" to "Random" So you could press it again, and it would randomize the playlist (and automatically start playing again using the new random order).

Sorry for the bit of rambling in the last paragraph, Despite these features which I feel it lacks it's still favorite audio player. Keep up the good work.

Some minor ideas for the look/feel of this player are:
Pushing on the left or right of the stick could go up/down ten places on the list while in Playlist Mode. I think Craig Amp May have done something like this, and it helps scroll through the playlist faster.
There is no "position bar" showing how much of the song remains, this isn't much of an issue since you have the elapsed time and remaining time.. it's just more of a "ooh, pretty" sort of thing.
If there was a "play on startup" option that automatically played the last active song when the player closed that would be great.
Also, a feature I liked with Craig Amp was when the buttons were on "Hold" it would allow you to tripple click [L] or [R] to change tracks. I think that was a great feature than any media player could use.
As far as doing volume control while it's on "Hold".. I think it could benefit from this, but only if it was like [SELECT] plus [VOL +] or [VOL -]. I hate putting the GP2X in my pocket and having the [VOL +] button get pressed... it's kind of discomforting.
When the Volume is in the two digit numbers it pushes the file type out of the box it's displayed in while using the "contrast" skin.
When a button needs to be Held in to preform the function have the function displayed in Bold or All caps or something. Or have it set up as a graph, where all the "press button" functions are in a left column, and all the "hold button" functions are on the right.

Ok, those last two I might be able to change by doing tinkering with the skins themselves, I haven't had a chance to try it yet so I figured I'd throw them in anyways (but you probably don't have to worry anything about them)

But seriously, even if you don't care for any of these ideas, you are still doing an excellent job.

 

[Coder_TimT]

Replies inline...

It seems that the album art doesn't get displayed when the first song plays after the player opens (it always waits until the next song..).
I don't actually have much album art, so haven't noticed this...but from remembering another old bug it doesn't suprise me. I'll take a look before the next release.

Another oddity I found is that it looks for .jpg but not .JPG This is no problem once you know about it, but I spent a good while trying to figure out why my pics weren't being used before thinking to change the extension (You could just change the READ ME to make people aware of this)..
Whoops, yeah, I'll either modify the Readme or change the code...

Lastly, there's the "Random" function: I do like the random playlist generator, but is there any way to randomize just a single list of songs. The playlist generator uses the entire music directory, but if someone only wanted to listen to a certain genre could there be a way to load a playlist, and randomize just those songs? If you do try to implement this feature then there are two ways I can think of for a user to "activate"it. It would either have it set up in the config to randomize any playlist you select, and/or you could add the option to the "Playlist Mode" and have the button mapped to [X] when the music playback is stopped, So you could select a playlist, it'd start playing, then if you wanted it randomized you could press [X] to stop the playing then the [X] button would change from "Stop" to "Random" So you could press it again, and it would randomize the playlist (and automatically start playing again using the new random order).

Sorry for the bit of rambling in the last paragraph, Despite these features which I feel it lacks it's still favorite audio player. Keep up the good work.
Rambling paragraph okay, because I kind of stopped reading after I got to "randomize a single playlist" because that feature is there...I just failed to document it. A single push of the 'A' button with toggle the playmode from normal/Random/Repeat+Random/Repeat. Random picks a random song from the list, Repeat will repeat the playlist when it's finished....

Some minor ideas for the look/feel of this player are:
Pushing on the left or right of the stick could go up/down ten places on the list while in Playlist Mode. I think Craig Amp May have done something like this, and it helps scroll through the playlist faster.
Good idea.
There is no "position bar" showing how much of the song remains, this isn't much of an issue since you have the elapsed time and remaining time.. it's just more of a "ooh, pretty" sort of thing.
Yeah, that's currently a limitation of my gui programming skills... It'll probably happen someday.
If there was a "play on startup" option that automatically played the last active song when the player closed that would be great.
Will be in the next release. A fellow named Michael(not sure of userid here..speak up if you see this) submitted some patches to me, one of which was to continue the last playing song at the point it was playing when restarting...
Also, a feature I liked with Craig Amp was when the buttons were on "Hold" it would allow you to tripple click [L] or [R] to change tracks. I think that was a great feature than any media player could use.
As far as doing volume control while it's on "Hold".. I think it could benefit from this, but only if it was like [SELECT] plus [VOL +] or [VOL -]. I hate putting the GP2X in my pocket and having the [VOL +] button get pressed... it's kind of discomforting.
Also in the next release, I chose the 'B' button plus volume buttons. Might do the same 'B' + triggers to change tracks to implement the same functionality mentioned above...
When the Volume is in the two digit numbers it pushes the file type out of the box it's displayed in while using the "contrast" skin.
I didn't think anyone would actually use 'contrast'. I'll get that fixed.
When a button needs to be Held in to preform the function have the function displayed in Bold or All caps or something. Or have it set up as a graph, where all the "press button" functions are in a left column, and all the "hold button" functions are on the right.
In reference to the little "help bar"? Generally, unless I left something out. the normal action is listed first and the the hold action is listed after the '/'. I guess there are some instances where there isn't a normal action so only the hold action is listed and that is probably confusing...

Ok, those last two I might be able to change by doing tinkering with the skins themselves, I haven't had a chance to try it yet so I figured I'd throw them in anyways (but you probably don't have to worry anything about them)

But seriously, even if you don't care for any of these ideas, you are still doing an excellent job.
Thanks for the feedback, ideas, and encouragement...

 

[DawnOfTheRent]

You absolutely RULE!!

 

[mwolson]

Hi Coder_TimT -- I'm the guy who sent in the "resume playback on start" patch.