Ommpc2X Version 0.4.2

[Coder_TimT]

There has been some builds in the Beta section for the last few days, but I feel pretty good about it now, so thought I'd call it a release. First, the obligatory screenshots and then a quick description of what is in the 0.4 series.

* Icon based menu system replaces popup menu, easily navigated with controls or touchscreen
* Now playing screen with player controls and album art.
* Translations text, only English right now. I need translations and then I'm sure stuff won't fit right and I'll have to tweak...
* Key binding configurations. There is a file 'keys' that can be modified to change the default key bindings. Press Select+Start(Home) together to see the current key bindings for each mode(playlist, now playing, etc) you are in.
* Touchscreen seek bar
* New skin/crystal icons(currently depreciated all old skins and only have this one)


Version 0.4.1

• Speedup in switching between main menu and submenus and back
• Increased polling of mpd to increase responsivness of ui
• Unified codebase with WIZ changes
• Removed unused show album art option from options menu
• Removed default directory from skin list in options
• Fixed names in language file of key bindings that were ending up in the options file when saved

Version 0.4.2

• Cut down start-up time by half
• Fixed Add to Queue key binding
• Tweaked touchscreen handling code so that it doesn't miss as many presses

Version 0.4.3

• Only refresh setting screen when needed
• Look for broader range of album art names/types
• Fixed flicker on gp2x wiz
• Fixed songdb thread to wait longer before starting in case mpd db update hadn't started yet(Fixed db update crashed?)
• Choose lang in option menu

Version 0.4.4

• Really fixed db update crash(I think...)I was wrong...again...I think I'm close now though. EDIT: I think it's really fixed now...
• Monospace font in seek bar to avoid seek bar jumping around
• Skin crystal(default is crystal_ts which was oriented for trying to use the touchscreen with your fingers) with smaller font. I'm pretty sure the font is temporary as it doesn't look that terribly great. I left it in play because it supports Korean in UTF-8...I don't know if that is going to solve any issues or not because I'm not sure if what I'm trying to print in the nowplaying are is UTF-8 encoded anyway...but with this font in place we can try...
• Added date and bitrate to the song information display(touch the album art in the now playing screen if you haven't found that yet...)
• Workaround was found for the "detach client" crash: Simply turn off the "Keytone Volume" of the Wiz menu

German translation
Spanish translation
Thanks sbock and Hardyx

Caveats

• Just as with the f100/f200 there are some issues with changing the clock speed while music is playing. It will occasionlly freeze the system.
• Updating the database will cause an occasional crash. Haven't taken the time to track this down yet. Make it the first thing you do after opening when it's needed to minimize the chances.
• There is a possible issue with saving options. If the file gets corrupted, just copy the originals back...or fix by hand.
• Apparently there is some flickering issues on some screens I need to look into...

For those new to this player, here's some information to get you started...

• Ommpc is a frontend for the Music Player Daemon, which is also included in the package and is automatically started/stopped by the program as opposed to actually running as a daemon.
• It is playlist-centric and database driven, so your music collection must be added to the database first(Settings->Update DB). Then songs are played via playlists.
• There are many ways to get your songs in the playlist, you can instantly play a song which immediatly adds it and starts playing, you can also easily add entire folders/artists/albums/genres to a playlist or let the program create a random one.
• Default keys try to keep the system notion that 'B' is action and 'X' is cancel/back. Start/Home brings up the menu and Select toggles the current view.
• Select + Start/Home will bring up a popup list of all keybinding valid on the current screen and Global to the progam
• Some action require pressing and holding a button down. This is represented in the key list as HOLD_.
• Pressing and holding the Start/Home button will lock the screen(but not turn it off currently) and underclock the system. I don't know about the Wiz, but the gp2x can play back 192kbps MP3 or AAC at < 100Mhz when locked.
• There will be a slight delay in adjusting the volume as I had to turn the software mixer on to have the volume display work correctly.
• That should get you started. Have fun.

http://ommpc.googlecode.com/files/ommpc2x-0_4_4b-wiz.zip

Enjoy and let me know how it works for you.
Tim

 

[rx_shorty]

Looks very slick!
I will give it a go!
THANKS

 

[sbock]

Really a nice player with some great features. Much appreciated.
I uploaded the file to the archive and started a thread at the German forum.

http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/wiz.cgi?0,0,0,0,6,184

Thanks for this!

Regards,
Stephan

 

[mepuldera]

what a great player!
i've used this player when F200 was mine,
and new version of ommpc2x for wiz is much improved.
works fine on my wiz. thanx
but, there r some issues to be fixed, if possible.
first, maximum volume is not enough. i think it'll be better if volume gets louder.
and 'detach player' menu doesn't work. wiz just show the black screen.
i hope these problems fixed someday, Coder_TimT

 

[sbock]

first, maximum volume is not enough

Hmm, that's strange. Try to change software volume to off in the options menu, save and restart the player. Is it now better?

 

[momosxp]

There are problems with the integratet player. The volume adjust there will set it as a global volume. So other apps will have that volume as a maximum limit.
So you have to go to the integrated player and set it to maximum. Then Ommpc2x will reach higher volume, too.

edit: i put it on sd/app/oompc and now when i want to update db i get back to the wiz menu.
Also there is a really bad flicker at the virtual keyboard screen.

 

[Coder_TimT]

There are problems with the integratet player. The volume adjust there will set it as a global volume. So other apps will have that volume as a maximum limit.
So you have to go to the integrated player and set it to maximum. Then Ommpc2x will reach higher volume, too.

Good to know, thanks.

edit: i put it on sd/app/oompc and now when i want to update db i get back to the wiz menu.
Also there is a really bad flicker at the virtual keyboard screen.

Did you update the paths in the config file, either via the settings menu or manually edit ommpc.conf? If so, then maybe try a couple of more time, there is currently an intermittent crash updating the db...

 

[momosxp]

edit: i put it on sd/app/oompc and now when i want to update db i get back to the wiz menu.
Also there is a really bad flicker at the virtual keyboard screen.

Did you update the paths in the config file, either via the settings menu or manually edit ommpc.conf? If so, then maybe try a couple of more time, there is currently an intermittent crash updating the db...

I updated it via the settings menu on first start.

that's my conf file:

albumArtRoot=/mnt/sd/audio/
cpuSpeed=533
cpuSpeedLocked=200
drawIcons=1
host=127.0.0.1
language=us-en
musicRoot=/mnt/sd/audio/
nextPlaylistNum=5
playlistRoot=/mnt/sd/audio/
port=6600
programRoot=/mnt/sd/app/ommpc2x/
showAlbumArt=false
skin=crystal_ts
softwareVolume=on
timeout=10

tried again and now, i don't get back to wiz menu. But there isn't anything which let you know if it's done with updating db or not.

 

[Coder_TimT]

....

tried again and now, i don't get back to wiz menu. But there isn't anything which let you know if it's done with updating db or not.

There is in the Music Library section. There should be an text overlay stating "Updating Database". I'm not sure my reasoning for it only showing up there is valid, so I won't expound on it. I'll add that to me todo list...

 

[promisedplanet]

Does Ommpc update the database as a background process? The menu is responding very slowly.

Actually I can't get it to respond to button presses at all, it only responds to touchscreen. Select + Menu doesn't bring up a key binding popup list. Pressing either button separately doesn't appear to do anything.

I drilled down to the Player Options menu, which still only responds to touchscreen. Pressing a button results in a flicker, as if doing a screen refresh, after about a five second delay. I don't think I have any way of leaving the Player Options menu, as I can't scroll. As I was typing this, Ommpc appeared to crash and I was returned to the Wiz menu.

 

[Coder_TimT]

Does Ommpc update the database as a background process? The menu is responding very slowly.

Yes, the db update takes place in it's own thread...

 

[promisedplanet]

Does Ommpc update the database as a background process? The menu is responding very slowly.

Yes, the db update takes place in it's own thread...

Is it necessary to actually select the "Update DB" option in order to cause this to happen? I edited the .conf file manually to specify the various paths. When I start up Ommpc, the menus respond very slowly as I described in my last post, as if the db update thread is already running.

 

[Coder_TimT]

Does Ommpc update the database as a background process? The menu is responding very slowly.

Yes, the db update takes place in it's own thread...

Is it necessary to actually select the "Update DB" option in order to cause this to happen? I edited the .conf file manually to specify the various paths. When I start up Ommpc, the menus respond very slowly as I described in my last post, as if the db update thread is already running.

Yes, you have to run the update command. One thing to be aware of is that there is delayed initialization for each section, so the first time you enter a section there will be a small(maybe 1/2 second) initialization delay before it's loaded...then when you visit is subsequently it should be faster. So you might check and make sure that not what your experiencing... Otherwise, it's been mentioned to me that the interface seems a bit slow...actually slower than on the f100/f200. I'm investigating if I'm using the correct SDL initialization flags for the wiz...we'll see if anything comes from that...

 

[promisedplanet]

Yes, you have to run the update command. One thing to be aware of is that there is delayed initialization for each section, so the first time you enter a section there will be a small(maybe 1/2 second) initialization delay before it's loaded...then when you visit is subsequently it should be faster. So you might check and make sure that not what your experiencing... Otherwise, it's been mentioned to me that the interface seems a bit slow...actually slower than on the f100/f200. I'm investigating if I'm using the correct SDL initialization flags for the wiz...we'll see if anything comes from that...

Thanks for your reply. What do you think about the issue where it only responds to touchscreen, and not buttons?

 

[Coder_TimT]

Does Ommpc update the database as a background process? The menu is responding very slowly.

Actually I can't get it to respond to button presses at all, it only responds to touchscreen. Select + Menu doesn't bring up a key binding popup list. Pressing either button separately doesn't appear to do anything.

I drilled down to the Player Options menu, which still only responds to touchscreen. Pressing a button results in a flicker, as if doing a screen refresh, after about a five second delay. I don't think I have any way of leaving the Player Options menu, as I can't scroll. As I was typing this, Ommpc appeared to crash and I was returned to the Wiz menu.

Sorry, I missed you're full post on this. Sorry you're having troubles. I haven't seen anything like this before and none of what you're describing here sounds "normal" at all... I would try a fresh copy to the SD card maybe and try again from the beginning?

Pressing and holding the Menu button should lock keys AND touchscreen and underclock the system so it could give similar issues if it wasn't working quite right, but it shouldn't start up in that state...

 

[promisedplanet]

Sorry, I missed you're full post on this. Sorry you're having troubles. I haven't seen anything like this before and none of what you're describing here sounds "normal" at all... I would try a fresh copy to the SD card maybe and try again from the beginning?

Pressing and holding the Menu button should lock keys AND touchscreen and underclock the system so it could give similar issues if it wasn't working quite right, but it shouldn't start up in that state...

Actually I had it installed in NAND. I had the path modified appropriately in the .conf file. I now have it installed on my SD card, and the button presses are working as expected.

I just now did an Update DB, which caused control to return to the Wiz menu, though the Wiz menu then was responding very slowly, as if the DB update thread is still running (?). I've run Ommpc again and selected Music Library, and it's displaying "Updating Database". Does this indicate that the DB update thread is actually running, or has this status been determined from some information left behind in a file after I previously selected Update DB and the client crashed (or appeared to crash)?

I have a lot of MP3s in my music folder, probably over 2000, so I'll let it run for a while. ;-)

Thanks for your help.

 

[Coder_TimT]

I don't store that flag anywhere, so Im guessing mpd is restarting the db update when it gets killed before finishing. I'll have to research that a little to be 100% certain. 2000 songs is going to take a bit... I ran some benchmarks on the gp2x at one point but don't remember the exact numbers...probably need to do that again...

Actually, after re-reading where you say the wiz menu was running slowly, I would bet the client crashed, but mpd actually continued to run in the background. So when you started ommpc back it just reconnected to the already running mpd...

Now as for how long. I wouldn't expect much over 5-6 minutes to add 2000 songs. I timed my f200 and it took 35 seconds for 250 songs...so that scales up to 6 minutes for 2000.

 

[Coder_TimT]

Original Post updated with link to version 0.4.3 and listing of changes.

 

[EvilDragon]

Wow, very nice player for my car

Just a small question:
Is it somehow possible browsing the music database and adding an album the the playlist? (or remove the current playlist and put the selected album into the playlist?)
And I didn't manage to remove a track from the playlist yet.

Thanks for that awesome looking player.

 

[sbock]

Nice new release. Unfortunately the db crashes still occur. Not very often, but they are there. Language support now works great.

@RX Shorty
We still need a Dutch translation. Interested?