[EDIT 03/11/2008] This version is out of date. Latest version you can find here (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21593).

Hello to all who are interested in using iLiad as a music player.
I can offer brand-new information about my current porting project.

First a bit of history:
It started all months ago. Adam B. ported the Music Player Daemon [mpd] & the command line client mpc. You find the thread here (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10288).
I got a new toy [Yamp!]. I have added some shell scripts to make all features of mpd/mpc useable in iLiad's Contentlister.
This is working, last update was uploaded some time ago.

GUI is better than command line bundled with shell scripts in Contentlister:
My current jukebox 2.x is working, but it could be better, of course.
# mpd is compatible to more formats like mpc or flac. Hey, this is geeky, a lossless format on iLiad. It is working on my iLiad.
# The next great step is replacement of the command line client mpc with a Graphical User Interface [GUI] client. I have chosen Gimmix. It is "working", problems are described below. Screenshots are attached.
# I wanna have full access to music library during running ipdf/mobipocket/fbreader

fake FAQ:
[never asked, but could be asked; I decide what FAQ is and what not. :p]
Q: We have mpd & mpc. Why change a winning horse?
A: Switching from command line to GUI is a evolutional step. W/o evolution we wouldn't get progress.
Q: Can Gimmix playback xvid, divx files, control my coffee cooking machine, calculate next week lottery's numbers, or enable iLiad's top secret colour mode (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11371)?
A: No & never will.
Q: That's bad. Why?
A: Your car isn't a rocket plane.
Q: Hey yokos, do you own a mp3 player?
A: Yes, an iLiad. My old Sony MZ-R50 [a MD Walkman] doesn't count.
Q: Can I control music [switching song etc] during reading a pdf?
A: Yep, isn't this cool? This was not possible with command line/Contenlister.

current status/problems of project:
Gimmix is running on my iLiad. This is much more sexy than these entries in Contentlister.
:dtw:
http://projects.mobileread.com/iliad/users/yokos/Gimmix.in.compact.mode.png
Problems [-> therefore not published yet, but it will be soon, hopefully not iRex' "soon"]:
# 4 icons in Gimmix are missing [very odd] -> error message of run.sh below gives a first clue
# right-button click of stylus would be cool, because Gimmix has got [right button] Clicking in dialogs
# window of Preferences dialog is too small Solved
# The font of artist/track title is too big.
# The names of playlists generated by mpd are not userfriendly: like genre.100. Solved
# Refreshing screen as always [not a real problem]

run.sh 2> run.error.txt:
(gimmix:980): libglade-WARNING **: unknown property `urgency_hint' for class `GtkWindow'
(gimmix:980): libglade-WARNING **: unknown property `do_overwrite_confirmation' for class `GtkFileChooserButton'
(gimmix:980): Gtk-WARNING **: Could not find the icon 'gnome-fs-home'. The 'hicolor' theme
was not found either, perhaps you need to install it.
You can get a copy from:
http://freedesktop.org/Software/icon-theme/releases
(gimmix:980): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_tree_view_column_cell_layout_pack_end: assertion `! gtk_tree_view_column_get_cell_info (column, cell)' failed

[I]A small episode of porting/Removing the greatest bug of Gimmix:
It's past 2 o'clock in the morning .
Gimmix has a huge bug. What is the problem? Playback stops all the time, because of this stupid progress bar.
Gimmix tries to update the progres bar [mm:ss, visual position in song], the playback is clipped. What a crap!
I can't publish something like this.
After tweaking the file /mnt/cf/_local/share/gimmix/gimmix.glade [which I knew already because I have set the main
window to GDK_WINDOW_TYPE_HINT_DIALOG in this file] the bug is gone. I have set a value to "False". Yamp! :knuddel:

Gimmix' home (http://gimmix.berlios.de/) with screenshots of Gimmix on a Linux PC.

[I]explanation of screenshots:
#1 Gimmix couldn't connect to mpd, because it was not running. [I haven't started mpd.] Gimmix is a client of mpd.
#2 Gimmix/compact mode
#3 Gimmix/full mode
#4 Gimmix/information dialog
#5* Gimmix/mobi [Toolbar/Pagebar moved Gimmix out of bottom of screen]
#6* Gimmix/ipdf
*I removed progress bar as described above.
#7 Gimmix/Playlist Manager/entries in Programs folder.

First beta is out!/added 7th screenshot with Playlist Manager

Great work so far. Very impressive.

Pretty soon, you'll have more ports than me. :) Especially if I don't get shell access soon.

Let me know if you need help with anything. Looks like you're doing great on your own though :2thumbsup

Great work so far. Very impressive.

Pretty soon, you'll have more ports than me. :) Especially if I don't get shell access soon.

Let me know if you need help with anything. Looks like you're doing great on your own though :2thumbsup
I have read somewhere sometimes sometinig about usage of the button on stylus. Was it here? Or on iRex's site.

[EDIT:] First I got this error message when trying to start gimmix:/usr/local/bin/gimmix: symbol lookup error: /usr/local/lib/libglade-2.0.so.0: undefined symbol: g_object_ref_sink all the time. But everything was ok. It's just a missing libgobject-2.0.so.0 in lib folder. :tipsy:

The factory stylus doesn't really have a button. It looks like it, but it doesn't.

If you have another stylus, you can get button 2 and 3 working on it with a version of the calibration package. This thread (http://forum.irexnet.com/viewtopic.php?t=1336) at the iRex forum should have all the info you'll need to set it up.

The factory stylus doesn't really have a button. It looks like it, but it doesn't.

If you have another stylus, you can get button 2 and 3 working on it with a version of the calibration package. This thread (http://forum.irexnet.com/viewtopic.php?t=1336) at the iRex forum should have all the info you'll need to set it up.
Thx, all linked tar.gz download. It's time to play with it, but I don't have another stylus.
I also added a plugin for those who don't have a fancy stylus. It's called the 'taphold' plugin and it lets you put the tip down and hold for a short period (configurable, defaults to half-second), and it will turn the tap into your button 3 (or whatever button you configure).
Oh, this would be nice.
The theme package (http://freedesktop.org/software/icon-theme/releases/hicolor-icon-theme-0.5.tar.gz) that maybe solves the missing icon problem.

I have uploaded first beta. I hope you like it.

gmpc is another mpd client, it is more complex than gimmix, it offers more features like cover/artist images, lyrics tags.
A screenshot of running gmpc on my iLiad is attached.
In the position of the CD image would live the cover art if cover art/plugin is found/installed.

Playback is clipped because patched libX11 wants to update screen all the time. [movement of progress bar, update of current playing position]
In gimmix I disabled the progress bar by editing the xml file of the glade interface. This should work here, too.

Those icons in Gimmix are missing which were introduced in a newer version of GTK+ than used on iLiad.
Fixing the glade interface solves this. :D
Right now I am struggling a bit withe the glade program. I want to get the 2 right vbox buttons in the top hbox to get a much smaller window. I have the feeling it is easier to edit the xml file directly. :rolleyes:
The artist/song title will be disabled in next version for the same reason.
The version of glade with comes with openSUSE 10.3 is pretty old & has got no undo feature. :smack:
Compiled recent version of gimmix doesn't start because it can't find a shared library. :smash:

# Screenshot shows the program glade which can be used to edit the interface of gimmix. [openSUSE 10.3, German localisation].

[EDIT] Current old version of jukebox uses non stripped libraries.:p

I installed the beta of jukebox 3.0 -- works pretty nicely, though some settings I could only do through the contentlister interface, except that I only get the left channel. Is there something I can do?

I installed the beta of jukebox 3.0 -- works pretty nicely, though some settings I could only do through the contentlister interface, except that I only get the left channel. Is there something I can do?

Very old firmwares had got the right channel missing bug.
your editing reason: "Solved the problem -- fussy miniplug socket, I guess." So, Is it working now?

New version of jukebox is in preparation [latest gimmix version, stripped libraries, fixed gimmix icons...].

Very old firmwares had got the right channel missing bug.
your editing reason: "Solved the problem -- fussy miniplug socket, I guess." So, Is it working now?

New version of jukebox is in preparation [latest gimmix version, stripped libraries, fixed gimmix icons...].
Yes, it is working now, I just have to be careful about which miniplug cable I use (I remembered the postings about those early firmware problems, which confused me -- nice to have some definitive words).
I am looking forward to the new version -- thank you for your efforts.