The Dream is Alive

I hopefully will be helping as well to get it running under Linux. I have multiple x86 boxes I can play around with it on along with VM boxes but I am aiming to run OM on a couple of ARM boards under Linux. Been kicking around the idea of trying to get it to run under Android but that doesn't appear to be a simple task at all.

When I get more involved maybe I can have my own OM avatar... ;)

Ps looking nice...

I did have a comment about the "Clear" button but can't recall if I just thought about it or posted it to you. Think it might be confusing and might want to change its function a little.

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Originally Posted by redheadedrod

I did have a comment about the "Clear" button but can't recall if I just thought about it or posted it to you. Think it might be confusing and might want to change its function a little.

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The "Clear" button is a "acknowledge notifications and hide the dropdown menu"

Hi chaps, have been a long time fan.
Best wishes for the new year btw.

Hows progress? Any news?

mspw: Thanks for the best wishes!

OM has come quite a long way. Most notable is ease which devs can make plugins. The most recent source is always available for download. Although its still not a "finished" product.

Not sure how far back you are familliar with OM. The main user interface is different. Currently the Main Menu looks about the same. But beyond the 9 buttons, the top and bottom are quite different. I don't think the basic default plugins have been overhauled yet. Although I don't think that will become a huge undertaking. The framework is still being tweaked. A new and improved Weather plugin is on the horizon. My character based LCD plugin has reached the point of "working".

Borte will likely chime in. He can give you a better status on when that might happen.

Cheers.

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Originally Posted by mspw

Best wishes for the new year btw.

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Thanks

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Originally Posted by mspw

Hows progress? Any news?

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We've been keeping a good pace in the last months. A lot of changes in the framework of OM. Most of the current changes has been focused on the skinning and user side of OM, lots of changes to make things easier for coders.

The main highlights of the new changes are a new CommandHandler and DataHandler framework that allows for easy mapping and integration of commands and data to both skin controls and external units like the LCD plugin mentioned here. Things like mapping actions to a button press (can even be a button at something like a steering wheel control or some other external device) is as simple as a one line command.

Also a lot of changes to the default skin has been done while others are in progress to make it more visually appealing and keeping up with today's animated user interfaces.
Usually building an advanced skin meant that it had to be done in Flash but we can now do all that directly in OM and still render at 100+ fps!

Thanks for the update fellows, it all sounds groovy. Very much looking forward to the next update.

I would like to update folks still following. While the framework is still not finished, we have started working on some of the plugins. HD Radio, the LCD Character display (MyLCD supporting Matrix Orbital), GPS (independent of actual Nav program - which is being looked at as well), a new Weather plugin.

Of special note is the use of a new media player engine. I hear that it is extremely more flexible than what was in use previously. :)

There are SO many new built-in features to make developing plugins way easier than in the early days. As I mentioned in my Character LCD thread, if I can do it, many other can.

There are just so many features I cannot begin to list them here. But some of the highlights I especially appreciate :

- screen transition affects - user selectable
- default startup command (after OpenMobile starts, run the command). Can be used to specify a default startup plugin
- command to execute after settable inactivity timeout (I choose to switch to the full screen clock)
- user specified text and highlight (focus) colors
- multi-zone support, with full sync between zones (example: if 2 or more zones are watching the same video)

- container object that holds other objects (for plugin developers, really nice)
- subscribable data sources notify your plugin when data from other sources/plugins has changed (again, for the devs)

Most enhancements can only really be appreciated by plugin developers. Which in turn would be appreciated by users :nod:

Just thought I would share. Hopefully soon I will post some video clips of things in action.

John