DAB DAB+ FM Digital Radio Development Board

[Mickz]

Hi Mike,

Great bit of SW. Not sure whether you are have addressed this but after resume form hibernate, no sounds comes from radio. To get sound back, I need to turn radio off then on again. Other than that, very responsive and zippy. Again not sure whether this has been suggested before but a volume slider on main window would be handy. Maybe by dragging upwards on the sound icon to increase and drag down for decrease? Win7 64bit

Hi moss, yes hibernate issue is caused by removal of power from the DAB module in hibernate, after resume the SW thinks the module was reset while playing. An FE really should be designed to allow an option for an application to be closed on Hibernate and reopened on resume because not all external apps used in an FE will do this correctly or at all.

I don’t have this problem as I just tick an option on my FE to do this for me on an app by app basis, some need it and some don’t. However I can code a power off/on with resume into the app and I may do that as soon as I get a spare 20 minutes as it takes time to test it on a couple of machines.

The volume slider thing comes back to using Touch screen control of volume in a vehicle which is a pet dislike of mine, but I understand that sometimes you have no other easy option. I guess this is where a Plugin is required to overlay the FE volume control on the radio app.

I’ll see what I can do with your idea, otherwise I may just have an option in settings to place the volume up/down back on the menu for anyone who needs it until a plug is made. The only thing with adjusting the Radio volume "on the Module" is when you go back to the FE all other volume levels will now be different to the radio so I assume you are using this outside of an FE, that's why I treat it as a preset level.

Apology for this long winded answer but I’m trying to clarify were some of the (strange) programming decisions I make come from, properly a closed and narrow perspective from my world I guess, but I’m willing to change it where I can to help make this app useful for others

[Mickz]

Hi moss, what the hell, I just added power Off-On for suspend (took all of 20 seconds so untested), when you get a chance can you try it, let me know if it works. New app uploaded.

[mos33y]

Hi moss, what the hell, I just added power Off-On for suspend (took all of 20 seconds so untested), when you get a chance can you try it, let me know if it works. New app uploaded.

Hi Mike,

Confirmed: resume after hibernate now works on win7 home 64bit.

Re volume slider:
This is not a big issue anyway as I intend to use the FE's volume anyway. Now that I think about it, the volume option given with the board is prob used to 'fine tune' during setup and testing, and use the main volume for everyday use.

I have come to trust your judgement on such matters Mike ;-)
Your electronics kung-fu is stronger than mine, master!

[Mickz]

Hey mos if you get a chance I made some changes to the font size of status info, I felt it was too large, if you get a chance can you download the app and see if it looks ok on your setup.

[pierrotm777]

I found that the last font size is too little . For the comport setup, the font is ok

[Mickz]

Thanks for trying it, however the only font change is the small station info text. So everything else is the same. What % is the font size scroll bar set to in Screen settings?


EDIT: I also forgot to mention that the full application may need to be downloaded as I made some graphic changes yesterday.

[mos33y]

Hi Mike,
By status info, do you mean the red text? if so, than I personally would like it a little smaller. Also, not sure whether the station sends the text this way but I have noticed some stations have the red line text scroll eg MIX1065 (syd) and others do not like nova969. Having the text slow scroll would look nice.

Also, I am a sucker for some LCD fonts in the status area, like the red text , station name (top right), clock etc. Not the seven segment fonts but more like http://www.fontspace.com/jecko-development/jd-led3. To me this makes it 'feel' like a radio - sounds silly, I know.

Have a play around and see if it looks ok.

Another suggestion: The signal strength percentage would look good if replaced with cell phone status bars. Not too may, the usual 5 bars and if user wants exact signal percentage (as it currently is), than they can click on the bars and toggle between the two.

And I checked the new build with resume after hibe and all came on ok ;-)

[Mickz]

What I’m thinking of doing is making individual display fonts, style, colour and size selectable. So if you want a special font just add it to windows and select it. As far as underline text, that’s the station. I found with scroll speed that stations sending max length text sometimes don’t display the complete text in time if the speed is to slow. I can put a speed adjustment in for that.

Slightly off topic and on the subject of scrolling text, it’s an idea to check the relevant road transport regulations as some do not allow scrolling text to be visible to the driver while in control of the vehicle. Now I know most thumb their noses at this but the fines can be huge. They make you take the vehicle to get recertified as legal. Not a pleasant or low cost option for some of us and this is why I don’t like touch screen control any more. They have cameras here that look through the windscreen from a mile away to see if you are reaching for the dash or using a phone etc. Yes I know you also reach for other controls, it’s getting ridiculous but it is what it is.

My own application version does not have scrolling text as such. I display the text one line at a time with the last 5 characters from the previous line included at the start of the next line with a pause between each line. This allows longer pause times to read the text and is nowhere near as noticeable to the authorities and in IMHO is easier to read at a glance when driving.

Again thanks for the feedback, I’ll keep massaging the app as I get time. Oh and thanks for checking resume from hibernate, glad it worked first go.

[mos33y]

Valid point re scrolling text. I am not one to mess with law and get silly fines. Rather spend the money on my carpc! I like the idea of selectable text also. Must say, I have had the radio running for a few hours last night with aerial on desktop, with reception only dropping twice for approx 1 sec during the entire period on dab - this is not bad, in my book.

Looking forward in trying it in the car with a stock jeep aerial (amped).

[SNOtwistR]

Hey Mickz any chance you could give DL one last test. We have a hard time testing over on this side of the pond. The current build is posted on DL forum. It seems functionally complete. I love how comlpete you make your app. SNO