Roadmap for Neon Boombox - Page 3

NeonDev · 05-12-2008, 11:58 PM

hrmmm. the server seems to be case sensitive... fixed now. its been a bad week for me and 8B

NeonDev · 05-24-2008, 01:23 AM

Ok quick update on XM. I've decided to really tear into it this weekend and so far things are great.

it has taken me practically all evening but I have successfully been able to pass the audio straight from the line in on my mac to the speakers so you will not need any third party software to use XM with NBB! (except for the driver of course)

the GUI is primitive at the moment. no fancy buttons or the like. give it a few weeks and it will be the best XM solution (that i have seen) for the mac.

thank you all for being patient.

P.S. if any of you have an XM direct or commander I would appreciate you help in testing and such so I can support those devices as well (I only have an XM PCR)

NeonDev · 05-27-2008, 01:45 PM

another update for XM.

sorry It has been kind of slow getting this working I had started the module using the termios library and was having issues with the program locking up waiting for the radio to send data (because i was reading and writing to the device on the main thread) then I discovered a cocoa class that will handle asynchronous communication with the device for me without blocking the main thread. so basically I am rewriting a great deal from scratch but It carries the benefit of having an object oriented I/O controller that any module can use with any device which will help in the future for say GPS or OBD2 modules. It will also listen for devices being attached/removed not that I expect many of you to be adding or removing devices on the fly. the exception is probably ipods/phones which my I/O handler will eventually support for syncing ipod/phone data carputer and using the devices such as using the ipod as the music module library and using the as a bluetooth headset.

now I have also been toying around with being able to record and store audio captured from the XM radio. It will definitely be a feature somewhere down the line its just not a high priority for now.

pepsibobby · 05-27-2008, 03:34 PM

wow that sounds ****in awsome. even if i dont use the software in the car. I want to have XM on my comp with out having to be on the internet.

NeonDev · 05-27-2008, 10:06 PM

doesn't macXM and JXM etc do what I am doing? I know they can command the hardware but I don't know what features either of them have.

on another note after poking around the web I found that what I am working on (object oriented objective-c serial wrapper) already exists here. so once I tie it into my app XM should be really easy to finish

NeonDev · 05-29-2008, 01:37 PM

ok I am to the point where I need people to help me test this on other systems with different radios.

I am posting a special build of NBB only because there is a bug in the current releases implementation of my tableview class which would prevent you from changing the channel unless you clicked on the first table column only. FUTURE BETAS for the XM module will have to be installed by you manually by replacing the radio module bundle located in NeonBoombox/Contents/Resources/Modules with the new download.

EDIT: i have released 9E which incorporates the table view bug fix and so I have removed the special build tho if you previously downloaded it it will still run the new radio module builds for now

basically what I need from you is to install the appropriate driver for you XM radio (for the XM PCR this is the FTDI FT245 driver available here)

after you install and reboot verify that i will be able to communicate with the radio by UNPLUGGING ALL OTHER USB DEVICES and going into terminal and type ls /dev and look for an entry that reads cu.usbserialXXXXXXXX (X means whatever)

if you do not see an entry similar to that please post for me your radio type and the driver you installed and please list any cu devices that appear in terminal that are not bluetooth related

If you pass that last step be sure the audio out on your radio is plugged into the audio in on your mac (if you wand your sound to be controlled through the mac) make sure your sound is not on mute or too low to hear

launch the special build of NBB and launch the radio module. after a few seconds you should hear the radio on channel 1 at this point the module has deployed a background thread that is gathering the data for all your available channels when it is done they should appear on the screen and you can change channel by clicking on them.

if you have trouble at any point inside the program please post the section from you console log regarding the NBB radio module.

NeonDev · 05-29-2008, 01:42 PM

I should mention that the appearance of the test module should in no way be taken for the appearance of the final 1.0 build. it is just for testing so I can make the radio module compatible with other radios besides the PCR

if the module works as expected please post information about your radio. (such as model and driver used)

hammer32 · 05-31-2008, 03:37 PM

After installing the FTDI driver and rebooting I got the appropriate entry in terminal:

Quote:

cu.usbserial-0000201A

I have the XM PCR connected to external speakers. After selecting the Radio module I can hear the audio from XM channel 1. At this point the mic on my MacBook becomes active and plays through it's internal speakers.

After 10 minutes the screen still only shows the exit button. I'm not that adept at finding threads in the console log, but a quick search for 'neon' found the below thread (I'll be more than happy to supply any others):

Quote:

5/31/08 2:19:01 PM [0x0-0x20020].com.Project-X.NeonBoombox[326] profiling:/Users/Brad/Project-X/build/Project-X.build/Release/NeonBoombox.build/Objects-normal/i386/PXModuleLoader.gcda:Cannot open

I exited the radio module, quit Neon Boombox and the XM PCR continues to supply audio to the external speakers. When I relaunched Neon Boombox I selected the Radio module, but the NBB screen froze and required a forced quit to exit.

The next time I launched NBB and went to Radio the XM PCR audio cut for about 10 seconds, then came back (and the station was reset to channel 1) and the station listing appeared about 35 seconds later.

Very cool!

Thanks again,

Sean

NeonDev · 05-31-2008, 04:06 PM

hmmmm. I forgot to mention that for people with mics on their computers you may need to change your default audio input to "line in" the audio midi setup app in utilities
otherwise you will hear yourself instead of the radio. I will eventually fix it to automatically use line in instead of the default input

as for the problems mentioned I will likely need the console output to diagnose the problem. if you open /applications/utilities/console and select "console messages" from the lefthand list. then filter the results by typing "neon boombox" in the search field that should display every thing i need.

from my own testing I think occasionally the read operation on the radio is timing out.

I will release a new build today with an extended timeout and a fix for NBB crashing when you launch the radio module and it cannot find a radio.

glad it worked for you eventually.

NeonDev · 05-31-2008, 08:09 PM

this build doesn't fix or extend any functions but it does extend the read timeout to 10 seconds and does fix a crash for when a radio is not found. it also sets the audio input to the line in instead of the OS default so you should no longer have to set your default to line in for audio to work.

I remind you all that release 9E (or the previous special build) is required in order to change channels by clicking on their table view entries.

install by replacing the current radio module located at:
"neon boombox/contents/resources/modules"

note that at certain times NBB may appear to lock up. don't force quit it until you have waited for a bit some radio communication is still taking place on the main thread causing the program to block until the read is completed. each read will timeout after 10 seconds to prevent an infinitely long block in the event communication becomes impossible

NeonDev · 06-11-2008, 03:30 PM

So the next release of NBB will be the big 1.0.

Here is a rundown of the features that it will add (ignore the unofficial 9G

)

1. modules will be able to execute apple scripts upon launch and exit. most useful for "embedding" 3rd party applications

2. as mentioned above I'm targeting the ability to embed 3rd party applications to cover the functions NBB is lacking. I will release an updated sample project that should allow users to easily edit the scripts as well as alter the interface. using the SDK they will be able to do a lot more too if so inclined.

3. the volume controller will be a lot better both graphically and functionally. Almost a complete rewrite.

4. scroll as you drag is finally back, and in much better condition. by that I mean it will actually work decently and IMO is better than scrolling without it. It also opens the door for iPhone like kinetic scrolling somewhere between 1.0 and 2.0

5. will see the final 1.0 SDK complete with documentation. all NBB modules I have written use the SDK classes 100% so anything that they use in their interfaces (table views, arrangeable buttons, custom slider, etc) is accessible to 3rd parties along with other functions/features.

6. some general bug fixes and improvements. I believe I have completely solved all my thread issues that would occasionally crash NBB on startup

7. I'm hoping a new NBB original visualizer will be done by then.

Now what you wont see. the XM module will not be included in the 1.0 release, but a new beta of it will come out about the same time. the new radio module build will now display station logos (thank you Bugbyte) and the table will auto scale its columns for your resolution. additionally there will be signal strength indicator. (i know thats not much but Im getting there

)

I want to be sure and squash all the bugs I can. If there are some bugs in the CURRENT build I didn't specifically address above please inform me so I can address them.

NeonDev · 08-08-2008, 06:42 PM

ok, well with the 1.0 final done, it is time to move on to 1.X

I looked at the poll I ran a while back and came up with a plan that i feel meets the most wanted features with the most realistically achievable in the short term

here is what to expect from the next major release (prolly NBB 1.1):

1. bygbyte has kindly offered to let me borrow his XM direct so I can add support for the XM direct to the radio module. With that said, look for a much better and feature complete radio module in the next major release. (ill post a semi complete mockup below)

2. since it was heavily voted for and something I have a pretty good grasp on I will come up with a global control pallet that the previously active module will be able to attach itself to and publish controls to. this will be useful for controlling music playback while browsing the internet(if there were an internet module...),from the home screen, or from another program.

3. since hanzov69 was kind enough to donate an OBD2 interface you can expect at least some amount of OBD2 data to be available in some fashion. details will come later.

4. last but not least I will attempt to reach a middle ground of sorts for those who would like more control over the look of NBB. completer skins and even themes are a vast undertaking and honestly compared to adding functionality are not a priority. What i will do, however is add a few more controls for color adjustments and a controller for screen brightness.

NeonDev · 08-08-2008, 06:50 PM

ok here is a rough draft of what i have in mind for the XM module. the only thing missing that i want for now is a checkbox of sorts for each station so that it can be added to the favorites section that will be accessible through a standard filter button like the ones at the bottom. once I get bugbytes subed radio I will be able to determine all the available genres for filtering. (filters will be customizable the same way they are in the music module). I'm thinking I will need to allow for more than 5 filters to be out at once, what do you think?

hammer32 · 08-09-2008, 10:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by NeonDev

ok here is a rough draft of what i have in mind for the XM module. the only thing missing that i want for now is a checkbox of sorts for each station so that it can be added to the favorites section that will be accessible through a standard filter button like the ones at the bottom. once I get bugbytes subed radio I will be able to determine all the available genres for filtering. (filters will be customizable the same way they are in the music module). I'm thinking I will need to allow for more than 5 filters to be out at once, what do you think?

I think the favorites are a great idea. Could the radio and music modules remember which playlist/favorites list you were in the next time you switch to another module and back again?

Thanks!

Sean

NeonDev · 08-11-2008, 06:48 PM

Quote:

I think the favorites are a great idea. Could the radio and music modules remember which playlist/favorites list you were in the next time you switch to another module and back again?

the music module does remember what playlist/artist/etc you are in when you leave and comeback...

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