AstraMac Frontend Progress Update

iKenndac · 03-30-2005, 05:58 AM

Hey there.

I've finally got my AstraMac frontend looking and working somewhat properly. As far as looks go, I'm trying to avoid that "Car Stereo" (brushed metal, blue 'swish' fonts) look that some skins go for.

I've attached screenshots below. Some notes:

- AstraMac uses it's own music database format for info about tracks in it's music library. The AstraMac companion program can currently create an AstraMac music library from an iTunes Library. On startup, AstraMac can read my 2,000 song-strong library in 2-5 seconds.

- Searching can be done by Album title or Artist title. Selecting an Album/Artist puts that single artist/album in the queue. Touching that yellow star with a green arrow in it puts all the artists/albums in the list into the queue.

- Loop modes (bottom-right) go: Off - Song - Album - All

- Shuffle modes (next to loop) go: Off - Songs - Albums. Shuffle albums will play a whole album, then find a random album then play it.

- Eventually, it'll be able to read iPods (it can at the moment, but I haven't got the iPod info into a useable state), CDs, etc.

- Radio will be RadioSHARK.

- Other tabs don't do a lot. DVD sort of works (lists DVDs on your hard drive, plays them with DVD Player).

What do you all think so far?

anthropod · 03-30-2005, 07:04 AM

I really like the look.

It seems like it would be very touch-screen friendly.

I am going to make one suggestion. "System Setup" I would love to see that basic audio video adjustments and nothing more...what I am getting at is that I would love to see actual front end settings more difficult to get to. I can see unruly passengers messing up the front end. You could make those settings available by going to the "System Setup" tab and hitting a "hot" corner. Something less obvious.

Looking really good and Mac like!

Anthony

gqmd · 03-30-2005, 07:22 AM

most importantly of all...where's the GPS tab?

iKenndac · 03-30-2005, 08:16 AM

Thanks for the nice comments

.

Quote: Originally Posted by anthropod

I am going to make one suggestion. "System Setup" I would love to see that basic audio video adjustments and nothing more...what I am getting at is that I would love to see actual front end settings more difficult to get to. I can see unruly passengers messing up the front end. You could make those settings available by going to the "System Setup" tab and hitting a "hot" corner. Something less obvious.

You know what? That's *exactly* my plan. For exactly the same reasons

. System Setup will have really basic stuff (On/Off stuff, mainly) and everything else will be done by a separate application either on the same machine or another computer/palm with network access.

Quote: Originally Posted by gqmd

most importantly of all...where's the GPS tab?

Patience, my friend... all in good time!

DerekICT · 03-30-2005, 08:40 AM

I agree with Antropod....looks very good.

Looking forward to testing this baby out on the new system!

Keep up the good work!

sdashiki · 03-30-2005, 01:04 PM

Will it be skinnable in any way?

slffl · 03-30-2005, 01:20 PM

Once again, WAY to much going on and too small of text and buttons for using it on a 7" screen while driving 60mph.

Grimey · 03-30-2005, 01:24 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by slffl

Once again, WAY to much going on and too small of text and buttons for using it on a 7" screen while driving 60mph.

I don't see why everyone gets hyped up about this. The buttons on your current HU are probably a lot smaller then these, so in actuality it's safer. Not to mention you could always mod the skin later if you really wanted larger buttons.

Nice progress, looking great.

iKenndac · 03-30-2005, 02:12 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by slffl

Once again, WAY to much going on and too small of text and buttons for using it on a 7" screen while driving 60mph.

I dunno.... the tabs at the side and the buttons on the top (Aux/Library/etc) and bottom (Play, etc) seem fine on my 7". The Searching bit needs a little refining, but you shouldn't really be doing that at 80mph anyway... just queue up what you want (or even everything) and use the next/previous album (outer arrows) buttons to skip through them.

Hey, gimme a break - I've been working on it precisely 1 week in total. Rome wasn't built in a day, and all that.

It will probably be skinnable. In fact, I guess I won't have a choice once I make it public...

MvF9884 · 03-30-2005, 08:13 PM

i have got so much respect for u and anyone else who has the technical knowhow to make an interface like this.

i like this the best of all the interfaces ive seen, the side tabs and play buttons are awsome. but i do agree with the others. must HAV NAV

FailedSenses · 03-30-2005, 09:50 PM

I think this looks great. Keep up the good work on this bad boy. Like the guy above me said, much respect to you for the know-how!

TheChiman · 03-31-2005, 09:17 AM

First off, very nice. I like the slimplistic look to it. I thought I'd mention this since no one has yet; syncing playlists w/ iTunes would be a nice feature. Also searching by genere and album, composer, etc. would also be nice. Oh yes and also the GPS.

iKenndac · 03-31-2005, 12:15 PM

Eventually, AstraMac Companion will build the music database live from iTunes, rather from an exported text file (which is what it does now). That's iTunes syncing.

Searching by Artist and Album is already in there... as for Genre and Composer... where would I put the buttons?

Edit: Oh, and as for GPS... doing that would require a GPS program that doesn't suck. At the moment, that doesn't exist for the Mac, and would require programming one. Which takes time.

TheChiman · 03-31-2005, 12:50 PM

Well, it looks like you could fit in one more button so personally I would put in genre instead of composer, as I don't have that extensive of a classical music collection.

As for the GPS, is Route 66 that bad? I've heard it's decent. I mean I'd love to have a system which takes voice commands, tells you ahead of time of impending turns, automatically re-routes you when you miss a turn and whatnot (which actually has me considering Pioneer's new AVIC-D1, w/ iPod adapter instead of a Mac Mini install) but is there actually GPS software on the windows platforms which can do these things?

Bugbyte · 03-31-2005, 11:03 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by TheChiman

..I mean I'd love to have a system which takes voice commands, tells you ahead of time of impending turns, automatically re-routes you when you miss a turn and whatnot (which actually has me considering Pioneer's new AVIC-D1, w/ iPod adapter instead of a Mac Mini install) but is there actually GPS software on the windows platforms which can do these things?

Yes, there is. Several of them do it.

iKenndac - I really like your program. It's clean and a terrific start. Keep it up!

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