Update 01/'09

jsn · 01-16-2009, 07:08 PM

Hi all!

It's been a while since I last posted some serious updates.
Well, since the last version a lot have changed.
Most important one: We've decided to redo the project.
Started a new project with the same targets;
developing a fast, mobile & versatile, multimedia system.

I started work a couple of weeks ago and made a lot of progress since.
An alpha version will probably come "soon". No promises, but our
semi-moving-target is Q2'09.

It already features a fast indexed database for the media-files.
A lot of processes run with lower priority in background threads.
MP3 decoding will be provided by the BASS audiolibrary, (but future
versions might get plugins to manage other applications like Winamp.)

Skinning? There is no way to use the app without a serious skin ofcourse!
NoTec develops an exclusive skin and does most of the UI-design.
I must say, he does a very good job designing the user-interface.

Skinners also have a full featured, but easy to use, scripting language.
This will be simplistic pascal based. The commands are short and easy to
use and well documented.

Basic GPS functions are already available. (note: this is not the navigation part)
Navigation is still in very, very early development..

For developers, an external API will also become available to develop
plugins and control certain aspects of the application. More details later!

And for those interested, this project is done with Delphi 7.
Yes! Good old Delphi.. Reason: it works and doesn't carry the heavy load of .NET
I have no compatibility issues so far with Vista, although the target platform is XP.

As you see, a lot of work has already been done,
but don't underestimate the amount of work like I did

There is still a lot to do, to make it the best product in the market (or even reach it)!

Just have a little patience, it will arrive!

jsn · 01-16-2009, 07:22 PM

Reserved

NoTec · 01-17-2009, 12:07 AM

Hey everyone, just wanted to show everyone the latest screen shots of just a few of the pages of the skin we are working on. We call this the "Bloom" skin, and for right now the main skin will be orange but we will launch with green, blue, and red versions as well.

Here is the main page first, broken into 4 main categories to branch off from. The "Orb" in the middle will have a plethora of customizable inputs; GPS, Date/Time, Speed, Temp, or anything else that can fit inside there! The Orb, in CarMa, is your baby. You will see it popping up all over CarMa to assist you with navigation and information. No obtrusive logos in your face, hopefully just the information you want, and ways to get there fast.

and here is the main page, with the advanced options enabled, which will put more links on the page that users can customize to their liking. Options like this will be available throughout CarMa for advanced and basic users. Don't worry though, if two people share the vehicle and like to use different configurations - we will be providing profile saving and custom/savable configurations for them.

That is all for now! We will post more pages in the days and weeks to come. Please leave us with any feedback, suggestions or questions you may have. Thanks for looking everyone.

DaveWilliamsTX · 01-20-2009, 01:10 AM

This looks great you guys, we need some active development on the front end lines and its nice to see it happening.

I was just wishing today that my carpc could know when its home, check for wireless connectivity, and then run a syncing script before shutting down. Probably would want a timeout feature to keep it from staying on too long.

Current syncing solutions (at least what I've tried) aren't nearly this slick.

Keep it up!

NSFW · 01-20-2009, 01:24 AM

This looks really promising.

jsn · 01-20-2009, 03:38 AM

Thanks guys!

Right now I'm still working on some open ends on the library-browser.
Work on the database is finished and ID3-tag scanning has been re-implemented, this still needs some work though, it doesn't recognise
all the the tags. I'll probably post another update by the end of this
week!

If you want to leave any requests, by all means!
We have set up another topic to leave those special requests.
Ofcourse we can't implement 100% of all the requests, but we will
seriously consider each entry. (probably also using the poll-mechanism)

dhantiflag · 01-20-2009, 08:13 PM

cant wait!

NoTec · 01-21-2009, 10:49 PM

We have a new update for you guys. Tonight I am going to reveal a ton of new features which we are pretty excited about. These are just temporary screenshot mock ups and are likely to change for the beta and final releases.

First we have the library page. The first thing you should notice are the Headers and Footers. There will be expanded versions of each, and what are you seeing now are the "hidden" or smaller versions of both- that will only display the most important information and buttons. The footer you see is what we are calling the "orb" globally, similar to what you see on the home page screenshot above. The buttons on the right are self explanatory but I will go into details more on those later down the road.

The next screen shot just shows alternate views for the files, here is the Album Cover or Thumbnail view.

Now here is the music page, and/or the playlist page. You will also see the revealed footer. The user can view this by clicking the hidden footer and flicking it upwards. You will than have access to further options by clicking the volume button the on left [for a volume slider] or the home button on the right [to quick navigate to other sections]. These are all animated very smoothly and should provide a very easy user interface interaction. One thing to notice is the rating we have implemented, a love it or hate it system. This will be helpful for auto generated playlists, cleaning up the library later, etc. Lastly, we have a very sexy scrub/timer near the top there. Drag that during playback to skip to any part of the playing track

So that's all we have to show right now. We are really excited about some of these features because they haven't been in any other mobile media programs. Please tell us what you think about them so far, even if you hate them! But just be constructive and say why you don't like them. Thanks again everyone for looking.

victornet · 01-26-2009, 11:06 PM

I love it..

When this fabulous Front-end will come out ?

I really loved it.

Is this will be free? if not how much it costs?

Thanks

NoTec · 01-27-2009, 12:02 AM

We plan to have a closed beta within 90 days and an open beta for you guys here to test it out a few months after that. It will be all be free!

Thank you for your interest!

NoTec · 01-29-2009, 01:43 PM

Just wanted to toss out another update for everyone.
Progress on CarMa is coming along incredibly fast.

We have working builds now with a neigh completed Library, Music, Rating, & Playlist sections of the application. During the month of February we will be working on Video playback and more advanced and customizable Playlist creation and saving.

So some of the features we have working now are a rating [love it, hate it] system for your music which will be incorporated into the dynamic playlists that CarMa is able to generate for you, which also includes most songs played, most recent played, loved songs from the 90's, etc etc etc. These will eventually be customized to whatever parameters you would like in later builds.

We have multiple directory scanning so different users may use different libraries in the program. Files are scanned in the background of CarMa and added to the library dynamically so you are able to still use the program 100% while this happens.

The scrubber is now fully functioning as well.

Playlist counting is also working already. CarMa will automatically keep track of the 10 last files/playlists/folders you have loaded and users are able to flip through these by the click of a button. This number is also configurable.

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