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Old 12-08-2006, 01:20 AM   #1
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nGhost Media Center Linux Frontend

Tired of being bored with windows? Sick of being trapped into an operating system that isn't as customizable as you would like? Now here is a good reason to try out Linux: nGhost Media Center.

Features include:
  • Support for Ipods, mp3 players, removable drives, etc
  • Subscribe and Listen to your favorite netcasts on the road
  • Remotely add and change settings over the network with any Linux or Windows PC
  • Run your favorite GPS application via Wine or Crossoveroffice
  • Beautiful graphics using SDL
  • Excellent searching capabilities using the MySQL database engine

The latest version is 0.93.6. While still in the alpha stage, nGhost is about 2 weeks from being a beta so I'm hoping to get more people to help in the testing.
Name:  mainmenu.JPG
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Size:  48.6 KB
Website
Check out the screenshots:
Screenshots
Download Link:
Download
Installation howto:
Ubuntu Edgy Howto
Current Version info:
nanonymous forum
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Last edited by kev000; 05-01-2007 at 04:28 PM.
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Old 12-08-2006, 06:08 PM   #2
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i don't mean to offend you, but it is pretty ugly. i can help with the ui design if you want.
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Old 12-08-2006, 08:50 PM   #3
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Notes on the GUI

Quote: Originally Posted by tominated View Post
i don't mean to offend you, but it is pretty ugly. i can help with the ui design if you want.

The GUI design is patterned after the age old saying "less is more". When I look at other front ends all I see is buttons. It seems like developers were asking "how many buttons can you fit on the screen?". I took a different approach: The less options people have (as far as buttons go), the quicker they can navigate through the interface to find what they want. I decided to categorically organize the buttons into something that made sense.

With the advanced graphics engine I'm using, I wanted to take the graphics to a higher level. I wanted to use some of the effects provided by the engine to create for some "eye-candy". Thus the GUI uses nice transparencies, and will incorporate some nice motion effects and transitions between menus. I believe this to be an advancement over many of the current front-ends that are used today.

That said, I'm a coder not an artist. Although I spend a fair amount of time working on how the GUI looks, functionality also needs attention. I don't want to sound like functionality is more important because it's not. To many programs fail or succeed based upon appearance alone. I believe there definitely should be a very defined balance between functionality and the user interface. Functionality is basically useless if it is beyond what people can understand clearly through the interface.

In conclusion, if there are any here that are willing to help in the design of the skin and user interface I will gladly provide documentation for it. Re-skinning nGhost is by design as easy as "paintbrush"... literally. Please visit the nanonymous forum if you are interested.

Thanks for the input
cheers,

-kev
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Last edited by kev000; 12-08-2006 at 09:17 PM.
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Old 12-13-2006, 01:06 AM   #4
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nGhost Media Center Beta Preview

Here is a short video preview of the upcoming nGhost media center beta.

video and notes

NGMC should be up on the server as early as next week.
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Old 12-18-2006, 12:05 AM   #5
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nGhost Media Center Beta is now ready for download

Download Site
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Old 12-19-2006, 03:48 PM   #6
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you didn't take into consideration what i told you

if you want i can help with making graphics and stuff
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Old 12-19-2006, 07:02 PM   #7
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skin link

For those interested in helping with the gui design and skinning here is what you'll need:

Gui Image Files

nGhost skinning howto

Thanks

-kev
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Old 12-26-2006, 12:21 AM   #8
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I just put the newest version of nGhost on the server. If anyone wants to take a look feel free. I also posted a picture of a sample custom skin (that I drew up in a few minutes using paint) as an example of what you can do to skin nghost.

Download | Version Notes | Skinning
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Old 05-15-2007, 07:45 PM   #9
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nGhost is officially getting a new skin and skinning engine, so check out the website and forum for more details on that.
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