What would the ultimate front end be? - Page 2

daristiz · 06-23-2006, 01:01 AM

and what about using mono? is the opensource implementation of .NET ( and c#), and run in linux and windows

sama · 06-23-2006, 02:49 AM

mono seems interesting. But I've found a lovely little gem: FOBS, a JMF plugin for FFMPeg, which is a multiplatform versatile player for divx/dvd/mp3's etc.

I can't see any support for wmv/wma yet tho, still looking

redbullah · 06-23-2006, 02:50 AM

sama says,
"Back in the 386 days, some company made a game called Commanche, which loaded itself in that way."
yes indeed nice commodore days.

What about a Linux Carpc edition? Plus you can find anything you need on internet (like codecs etc) and free. I am almost sure that Linux can be modified for carpc.

sama · 06-23-2006, 06:41 AM

after much thought, I still think doing it as a windows app is the best for one reason... drivers!

Whilst I've managed to find enough info to get java working with all media formats now, there's still the phone controller, radio, tv and the likes, not to forget GPS.

and even if the front end itself does work through mono, x-platform drivers will be cumbersome.

so my verdict is that .net will be the way to go.

daristiz · 06-23-2006, 08:42 AM

Windows App only... sad to hear that....
Support for multiple monitors would be a great feature..

sama · 06-23-2006, 09:58 AM

mulitple monitor support noted.

I will keep in mind through development however to seperate drivers fromthe main code, as to faciliate a port later, should it be needed.

t_bear · 06-23-2006, 10:01 AM

As said before... linux support!

sama · 06-23-2006, 10:13 AM

I can do a media player only for linux, and I would preffer it too to be honest since the OS woudl be free.

However there are little drivers and support for TV cards, Radio's, and GPS apps are in a very optimistic view, minimal (are there even ANY half decent ones?)

I use linux at work lots, but it's just not on my side here I'm afraid.

3onDubs · 06-23-2006, 11:09 AM

One that already has integrated voice control and upon installation, all that would be required would be for you to read a paragraph off the screen and then it would be set for life. It should also support bluetooth integrated phone control and should auto mute upon receiving a call while pausing the music...only to resume upon hanging up.

sama · 06-23-2006, 11:17 AM

cool, stuf about bluetooth phone pairing and behaviour is already in there, but I will look into voice contorll a bit more. Microsoft have a product for the pocketpc called voice command, which is pretty damn neat. you can say things like "dial 02071234567" and it will do just that, and you can say "call jo bloggs" and it will. But even better, you can do "play <song name>" and it does... all that without training.

now if only that can be insatlled on windows... I'll see what can be done.

DemonBob · 06-23-2006, 11:58 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by daristiz

Features:

MULTIPLATFORM!! or at leats that it can run in linux

It can be done with C#.. Check out "the mono project", which is porting C#to linux/unix/mac, quite a few commercial software companies are already using it to port thier once priotery windows software to the linux and unix world. Personally i would look into this, i don't know if anyone has played with it yet, but i've have gotten a few of my windows applications i wrote in C# to compile on linux/unix and run seemlessly with little debugging.

http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page

Edit: Sorry did not see this discussed already till i read the second page.

sama · 06-23-2006, 12:45 PM

it's cool dude.

I have this idea now that might just work! I'm thinking of coding all functions inside a controller layer, and have the presentation layer run over local http. So effectively, it's a webapp! I know that sounds like a strange way of doing things but it does give:

- the ability to use HTML / Flash for the skins
- to use AJAX for live feeds of data (like google maps)
- multiple screens becomes a doddle (multiple web pages)
- media can be streamed and therefore a single player interface becomes easier (from a programmer's and skinner's point of view)
- multiple pc's within the car are possible (u never know)

I'll have to ponder over this possiblity a bit more. any thoughts?

redbullah · 06-23-2006, 12:53 PM

If you can set two screens vertically, it would be usefull. Top screen (non-TS) for viewing things like movie, music data, visulation, odb2 data, gps, etc and second screen (which is TS) just for controls like osk, mp3 control, phone etc (like nintendo dual screen). It would be cool and handy isn't it?
Check the professional sketch below.

replicant · 06-23-2006, 12:55 PM

sama,

i would LOVE to see it done via c# as a web app, mostly because thats what i code in at work. i haven't done much desktop app development, however if this isn't "open source" i guess i couldn't do much anyway. i do like this open forum to ideas, research and discovery is so important in any project, especially web/desktop app related.

i was considering moving to ubuntu as my primary OS at the house and was going to give mono a shot. some of my (non thread related) concerns with mono is integration with sourcesafe on a seperate windows server. yes i'd love to use other subversioning/cvs apps but we use sourcesafe at work (we're a massive microsoft koolaid drinking web shop!)

anyway, back on track, i wish you luck and look forward to what you come up with. i especially like the idea of allowing for the interface to be modified much like you would a website. exclusively using xhtml/css/flash would be awesome. this would negate the need for a seperate "skinning application", the only other concern would be that your rendering engine for the skins would support up-to-date web standards so that the xhtml/css would be rendered up to xhtml 1.1 strict and css2+ spec.

Good luck!
-rep

turbocad6 · 06-23-2006, 12:57 PM

I know nothing about coding anything, & I thought it might be possible to build a simple front end with webpages.... of course I don't know much about web pages either so