Release CENTRAFUSE BETA 2 (1.3)

veetid · 07-15-2005, 05:00 AM

It's finally here. CENTRAFUSE BETA 2 is ready for testing. Go to:

http://www.centrafuse.com

Click on Beta Testers and fill out the form. Make sure you have .NET framework 1.1 and DirectX9... I don't have a manual yet, but most everything should be easy to figure out. DO NOT try to delete your config.xml to reset CENTRAFUSE anymore, this will not work in 1.3... I will run through a couple of things.

The song time toggles between elapsed and remaining. You can now play data CDs by simply copying any audio/video files to a CD in any directory structure... It will be scanned and loaded into the playlist. The album art works with "folder.jpg" and "name of the file.jpg", the same setup as XP. There is an advanced manager option for the media manager. This makes the "+" add music to the "open" playlist. This can be queue, favorites, or any saved playlist. Going to playlists and going forward or double clicking any option on the list loads that playlist. For example if you clicked playlists, went into a saved playlist, hit library, selected an album, and hit "+"... That album would automatically be saved into that playlist. This is a little more confusing than the default. The default simply adds everything to your queue, which you can save to a playlist using the save icon. To clear the queue, simply highlight it in the list and hit the minus "-" symbol. The same goes for favorites. The radio presets function slightly different. Holding for 3 seconds set the preset, holding for 5 seconds allows you to edit the name of that preset.

To setup your external applications edit the "external.xml" file in the system folder. From here you can add apps with an executable path and a window name. There are also a few new features. All the main buttons actions are configurable. Edit "buttonactions.xml" and you have a list of actions to choose from. For example, you would edit "external.xml", add in the settings your GPS program in App1, rename it to GPS, edit "buttonactions.xml", set GLOBAL1's action to APP1, and then the first button on the main left nav would say GPS and load your GPS program. The main page looks empty right now, but the list of possible actions will grow because all plugins will be a possible action. The next release of CENTRAFUSE should come with multiple plugins by default...

There are other config files you can edit in system folder... "hotkeys.xml" will allow you to change your hotkeys, "speech.xml" will allow you to change your voice commands, and "vfd.xml" will allow you to edit the VFD output options... The other's are used by the system...

That is a basic run down of some of the less than obvious features, but there are loads more to discover.

David

stevieg · 07-15-2005, 05:04 AM

Excellent news!!!!

Well done! I can't wait to try it!!!!

CavityCr33p · 07-15-2005, 05:15 AM

w00t! Thanx David and E!

Mr.Fabio · 07-15-2005, 05:22 AM

Going immediately to register and Download!!
Thanx David!

ret · 07-15-2005, 05:32 AM

nice car front end

thx for it!!!

Uno3whO · 07-15-2005, 05:46 AM

Seems to be working great. Time to go to sleep

Under apps careful with the size of name you give your programs in the xml file, you dont really have much room to fit it nicely inside the button. You will see what i mean

sim · 07-15-2005, 05:46 AM

I have registered as a beta tester, how long should I have to wait for the email with download details?

rickster · 07-15-2005, 05:46 AM

thanks David/Ebomb

theheel · 07-15-2005, 06:00 AM

wow... at first it looked difficult to program the external apps.. but after doing it was a LOT simpler than it looked.

This Release seems amazing... good thing i stayed up till 5am to get it

Jahntassa · 07-15-2005, 06:07 AM

A suggestion for the site: On the registration page, if you need the phone number formatted as just numbers, you might want to put next to it (Format: xxxxxxxxxx) instead of clearing the form and giving an error..

Waiting for the email now!

deskcom · 07-15-2005, 06:59 AM

Love the new site david

SOS · 07-15-2005, 07:55 AM

Tried it out for an hour or so. Must say, it´s fast, but not quite production ready IMO.

These are the things I noticed (was annoyed about :-) ):

Media Manager, whenever you push something, it doesn´t automatically open it, so I have to press the "right" button. The fewer button presses the better in a car. I know double-click works, but that´s difficult when driving.
Where is the one-click option in the setup?

When browsing down through a list, there is no fast way to skip a LOONG way down, except pressing "down" a 100 times. I have a LOT of artist and albums.... it takes for ever, and is difficult in the car.

The "direct-load" feature is gone. I think CF is way to playlist oriented, a lot of us guys don´t sit around making playlists for all kinds of driving, some times I change my mind and decide to hear something else. I have to clear the queue, find my album (through a LOT of clicks), add it and load the queue. It takes WAY to many clicks from the homepage until i have a new album loaded

There is a confirmation box whenever you add to the playlist, now that´s annoying.

In general I find that the Media Manager has become a lot worse than before. More complicated, more clicks required, bad overview and problematic to use while driving.

I simply don´t like the bright grey color of the skin, but that´s a one man oppinion

I just think the skin looks kinda "cheap" with that "easy-on-the-eyes-cool" blue, and that cheap 80´s plastic grey

I know this is a first, looking forward to bugfixes, an official ToDo list and all the plug-ins

cold_fusion · 07-15-2005, 08:00 AM

Like the new site David/ebomb!

Once downloaded its going in the car this evening!

Good effort guys!

CavityCr33p · 07-15-2005, 08:01 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by SOS

The "direct-load" feature is gone. I think CF is way to playlist oriented, a lot of us guys don´t sit around making playlists for all kinds of driving, some times I change my mind and decide to hear something else. I have to clear the queue, find my album (through a LOT of clicks), add it and load the queue. It takes WAY to many clicks from the homepage until i have a new album loaded

[/b]

I agree completely about the playlist thing, you can't really just pick a song and start playing it.

Cheekz185 · 07-15-2005, 08:10 AM

David,

Everytime i go to download i get PAGE CANT BE FOUND????