How complete is it?

mustanglou · 08-19-2007, 07:27 PM

Version of CarFrontEnd: 1.0a3

First, let me say Bravo to the author! I'm really excited about using and contributing to this project.

edit: Okay, I read through the changelog and I think I figured out the source of the problem. The iTunes plugin is not loading. I'm trying to upgrade my iTunes to the latest version.

I have a question though... I installed it (correctly as far as I can tell - I couldn't find any docs) and it runs, fills the window, I see a menu button, it sayss carfrontend, displays the current time, gives me a volume control, but... That's it! Can it play songs yet? What am I missing? Thanks

Here's a screen shot of what I get:

Clicking on the blue "carfrontend" icon in the center has no effect...

iamgnat · 08-19-2007, 08:55 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by mustanglou

edit: Okay, I read through the changelog and I think I figured out the source of the problem. The iTunes plugin is not loading. I'm trying to upgrade my iTunes to the latest version.

I have a question though... I installed it (correctly as far as I can tell - I couldn't find any docs) and it runs, fills the window, I see a menu button, it sayss carfrontend, displays the current time, gives me a volume control, but... That's it! Can it play songs yet? What am I missing? Thanks

Here's a screen shot of what I get:

There should be an iTunes button below the date and time.

Sorry, this issue was buried at the end of the original CarFrontEnd thread. I had this happen on my Mini when I released 1.0a2. I updated to the latest iTunes, 10.4 revision (I was still at .7

), QuickTime, and security patches and everything worked fine after.

If you are still having issues after upgrading everything, see if any messages get logged to your console or system logs (use Applications->Utilities->Console if you aren't familiar with Unix) and let me know what's there.

-dave

mustanglou · 08-19-2007, 09:07 PM

Thanks for replying. I upgraded iTunes and got it working... sort of. The iTunes plugin works when I go to plugins>iTunes. It does not appear to work if I click on the iTunes "quick launch?" button on the left side of the screen.

The bigger problem is what I think is the next song button. When I tap it, the screen on my lilliput slowly fades to black (but, the backlight is still on and the on screen menus still work). It's really bizarre. I can login through vnc and see everything normally. If I put the computer to sleep, it still wakes with the screen black. If I reboot, the screen (on the lilliput) returns to normal as the computer shuts down and stays that way until I press the next song button again. In addition to that problem, the next song button doesn't actually appear to do anything (i.e., it doesn't change songs). If I quit carfrontend, the screen still stays black, which is really weird. If I tap on the next song button again (using either the lilliput [where, I'm basically guessing where the button is b/c i cant see the screen] or vnc) the screen reappears for a moment but then fades to black again.

I thought part of this might still be to me running an older version of OSX (i was running 10.4.9) so I upgraded to 10.4.10. BTW, I'm using a PPC mini. The problem is still present. Any suggestions?

Edit: I haven't checked the console for an error yet but I will tomorrow. Thanks for replying Dave...

iamgnat · 08-19-2007, 09:36 PM

Uh. Um. Yeah..

...

Oh

!!!! That's my fault

I was playing around with something when I demoed it to my local MUG and apparently forgot to undo the source changes

I'll get a new version up in a few minutes. Sorry about that.

-dave

iamgnat · 08-19-2007, 10:40 PM

Ok, both issues (Quick Slots and Next Track) and put up a new installer up.

Sorry about that and thanks for pointing it out.

-dave

mustanglou · 08-20-2007, 07:11 AM

Hah! No problem and believe me, I totally understand as I've done that on more than one occasion myself!

I'll try out the new version you posted and respond this afternoon hopefully.

-Andrew

Edit: FYI, the link you post to the message above does not work but I found it using a link from another page.

mustanglou · 08-20-2007, 02:30 PM

Okay, I upgraded to 1.04 and it works like a charm! Thanks Dave!

iamgnat · 08-20-2007, 02:48 PM

No problem, that's what i'm here for

Glad it works now.

-dave

DrZiplok · 08-21-2007, 03:57 AM

Dave,

Just hijacking this thread since Lou had the same symptoms I do - no response to any actions in the UI (have to cmd-opt-escape to kill it).

I'm running fully patched up 10.4 on an original 17" MBP; the only quirk might be that I have an external monitor as my main desktop. iTunes is at 7.3.2.

No console messages, no messages to standard out/error if I launch the app from the terminal. Can I get more info out? Perhaps I need to reboot after installing?

Thanks! Let me know if there's more info I can help with.

= Mike

iamgnat · 08-21-2007, 09:27 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by DrZiplok

Just hijacking this thread since Lou had the same symptoms I do - no response to any actions in the UI (have to cmd-opt-escape to kill it).

Does it come up in this state, or does it enter this state after you press a button (e.g. the iTunes button)?

Is the time advancing in the clock?

When you press cmd+opt+esc, does it die immediately, or does it continue to hang for a bit?

Quote:

I'm running fully patched up 10.4 on an original 17" MBP; the only quirk might be that I have an external monitor as my main desktop. iTunes is at 7.3.2.

You've upgraded to the 1.0a4 version of CarFrontEnd?

If you open Activity Monitor in your second display, what does it say about CFE? (not responding, eating CPU, just sitting there, etc..)

Same problem if you only run a single display? (shouldn't matter, it works fine on my MacPro with two monitors and my old PB when I had it hooked up to a projector for a demo)

Quote:

No console messages, no messages to standard out/error if I launch the app from the terminal. Can I get more info out? Perhaps I need to reboot after installing?

No more info from the command line, sorry.
No you shouldn't need to reboot.

Is this a fresh install of CFE, or an upgrade? Have you tried reinstalling CFE? How about deleting it (from /Applications and /Library/Frameworks) before reinstalling?

-dave

P.S. No need to hijack, we have our own forum

iamgnat · 08-21-2007, 12:24 PM

Well ain't that spiffy

I just loaded a4 on my Mac Pro and it has the same issue that you describe (are all the UI elements grouped in the center of the screen?). I works on my MBP though (haven't gotten it out to the Mini yet).

I'll poke at it before I go home tonight and see if I can't figure it out.

-dave

DrZiplok · 08-21-2007, 02:04 PM

Dave,

Fresh install of CFE, not an upgrade.

UI elements are aligned to screen edges/corners as they would be on a smaller display.

CFE is ticking over using 3-4% of the CPU, not doing anything particularly obvious. Time continues to update sanely.

cmd-opt-esc causes it to quit immediately.

HTH, happy to try anything new you come up with.

Oh, also it looks like you might have an obi-wan with the left side of your buttons; there's a thin white stripe between the left half-circle and the button body itself.

= Mike

iamgnat · 08-21-2007, 03:59 PM

Ok, I think I found the problem. Not seeing your screen, i'd have to guess (based on my case) that the elements were not where they were supposed to be.

The problem on my Mac Pro was attributed to the elements being bound to the wrong side

This was actually causing the buttons to appear under the splash view so you couldn't click on them.

There is a weird artifact issue going on when I switch driver sides though (again, didn't see this on my MBP) that I still need to track down though.

Apparently my installer package is not compatible with the Tiger version of PackageMaker so I can't offer a new installer until some time this evening, but if you are familiar with Xcode feel free to grab the latest changes and compile it yourself to see if that fixed your issue as well. It will probably be late tonight (go home, dinner, dog to vet, spend time with wife who is gone for a week and a half starting tomorrow, then build new installer

) before I get a new installer.

Off to futz with the artifacting before I get out of here.

BTW - The lines on the buttons are a known issue. They are better on some screens/resolutions than others. It is an artifact how I piece together the background image for them. I would like to dynamically generate the backgrounds, but I don't understand all the image drawing and core image stuff (and haven't found anyone that does yet). I really need to take another crack at fixing it as they irritate the hell out of me.

-dave

iamgnat · 08-21-2007, 09:28 PM

Ok. I've bundled up 1.0a5 and put it up. See the change log thread for the details, but hopefully this fixes your issues.

Let me know.

Thanks,
-dave

DrZiplok · 08-22-2007, 12:14 AM

Looks like it's working as intended, now; thanks.

Since you're still working on the UI, I'll zip the lip for a bit, but I'll keep watching. I would definitely ignore the button cosmetics issue for now and work functionality. 8)

= Mike