Thread: The Dream is Alive

Welcome andrewfblack. Glad to have you aboard. I was not sure if you were trying to ask something or just making a statement. However, we have a thread here where we would love to see some screen mock-ups of what you would like to do. Once we release a test version, it should be safe to work on the actual skinning.

John

Wasn't trying to be a lame butt, haha sorry I just got done working a 14 hour shift and didn't read up on what had been going on. Glad to see you are getting it figured out.

No problem. Really. My task is to help where I can and be a sort of P.R. person. Sometimes progress is indeed a bit slow right now. So I like to keep activity happening on the Open Mobile forum so nobody thinks it's a dead project.

That being said, if you want to play, you can download the current build and have at it. It's not a "supported" version right now. And we are not entertaining bug reports etc for it. That will be after the test release is available.

HOWEVER: Not only am I team member (tester), I'm also a user So on a personal note (ie; unofficially) I say try it. I find it useable enough as a single zone implementation. Enough that you can get the feel for it. It is still the plain old default skin, but that is sufficient to play with.

If you try it a multi-zone scenario, you will be disappointed as it contains the few quirks I alluded to above.

John

Originally Posted by detlion1643

Movies do not show up in 660, but the audio is playing for them. It just sits on the main menu.

This is currently correct but not committed.

Originally Posted by detlion1643

Also, in 652 (in car) we couldn't fast forward / rewind videos. Well, you could, put pushing play wouldn't alter the video back to playing, but the audio would play as normal again. Without seeing the videos in 660, I can't tell if it's still messed up.

I was unable to reproduce this behavior in the latest code.

Well, once again I am overdue on posting an update. So, my apologies to those faithful that are waiting to hear.

If you have been following the OpenMobile forum lately, you are aware that there is some skin activity going on. One that is a favorite of mine is the Android theme. Still in the early stages, but is quite promising. We have a couple folks starting to step up to the plate and offering some graphic talent towards the project. Kudos!

There is still a bit of coding going on to make true multi-zone a reality. The biggest challenge has been how the host OS handles certain multiple instances of devices (input, audio, etc.) but work-arounds have been worked up and need proper coding.

Several items that have been accomplished and scheduled to show up in the next commit follow below. Note that I have been told that some of these might change after commit (after all, it's not yet the final "testing only" release.

• [New] Added methods for setting a panel as default when loading it into the ScreenManager. This handles loading panels without names or requests for default panels from the framework.
• [New] Added setting for enabling/disabling cursors
• [New] Added "timing" class to BuiltInComponents (Used for timing purposes regarding debug output)
• [Change] Changed name of IPluginHost.UIHandle to IPluginHost.GetWindowHandle
• [New] Added raise storage event method to PluginHost (and IPluginHost)
• [New] Added method for getting name of AudioDevice based on instance number to PluginHost
• [Change] Moved StorageAnalyzer code from Core to the framework (Media)
• [Change] Changed loading / startup code to speed up graphics initialization
• [Bugfix] Correct a threading problem that blocked video playback.
• [New] Added logging of errors from HAL to debug log (so far only on windows)
• [Change] Changed name of Hal.snd to HAl.Send
• [New] Added comments and description to all methods in PluginHost
• [Change] Moved history class from PluginHost to own file
• [Change] Modefied OM window name to show file version since this holds the current build date
• [Bugfix] Fixed a bug causing the incorrect audio unit to be used at videoplayback
• [New] Added classes and methods for zones and zonehandling
• [Change] Replaced "instance" (AudioUnit instance) with the new class "Zone"
• [New] Added a helper function that wraps around the Using (pluginsettings... code. The new helper is called "OpenMobile.helperFunctions.StoredData.Get/Set"

So you can see, the dream is indeed still alive. From what I see when testing, and what I hear in discussions, it will be worth the delay

Cheers,
John

Updates?

Certainly! I am way overdue. I get lost in my own life like the devs do. And since I started giving updates because I, like others, don't like long periods of silence, I should know better!

Well, many parts of the framework are in the midst of being re-written. Not a complete re-write, but due to changes made to a) make creating plugins easier and b) a better multi-zone experience, these changes need to be propagated thru existing code. This is time consuming given that full time work takes priority.

Following the re-write, All plugins have to be partly recoded, to take advantage of the new methods, etc, that are being implemented, by their respective authors.

The new Android skin is underway (thanks Peter/Andrew). The use of this skin will certainly give OM a new look. Hopefully as things move along we'll get a couple more skins underway.

I am pretty sure that this will not all happen before the holidays.

Perhaps not the best news, but certainly better than no news to be sure.

Well, time once again for an update. We hope that this update will provide some encouragment to those loyal patient folks keeping their eye on us!

The major re-write of the framework in support of multi-zone functionality has been done, just some final touches are still being applied.

On start, OM will auto-configure the available devices into default zones. Basically 1 zone for each screen, with default audio device. Plus one "ALL" zone that includes everything. User can assign which audio devices to go with which zone. Note that input is assigned to screen, and screen is assigned to zone.

Part of the re-write prepared OpenMobile for a future "virtual zone" concept. Get ready for this.....

Virtual Zones: We're all familiar with what a "zone" is for ICE (In-car Entertainment). Basically a grouped set of devices (screen/touch/audio). Our virtual zone concept allows the user to give a name to a zone. The "virtual" part: you can create another zone (let's call it ALL) and assign other zones to it. It would be possible then, to play a movie to ALL zones. Or make a FRONT and REAR zone where FRONT is one screen and REAR has two.

Like I mentioned, this is a future update, but the base code in the framework has been prepped for it.

There are more code changes to be made yet to make skinning even friendlier. Putting more of the responsibility on to the framework instead of the skins. Be warned however, that ALL plugins will be broken. The upside is that fixing them will actually result in less work! The default (built-in) plugins will be re-written by the devs. All other plugins will need to be re-written by their respective authors. And really, we want these changes to be made before releasing a test so we don't give something that is broken or may suffer a major change after.

We're not all that far from a Windows test version (yes, we know it has been promised for a while). After the Windows test version has been released, testing will begin on compatibility with the other OSes (Linux/Mac).

Whew. I think I got that right
John

thanks for the update!