Linux Multimedia Station (New Project)

[adwilson]

This thread has been posted initially to allow the exchange of ideas for a possible new project a few of us are interested in working on.

The idea is to create a Linux Multimedia Station, capable of playing DVDs, MP3s, Live TV, Internet and a range of other things, using a web launching front end.

We acknowledge that there are already simular projects out there, however none of them seem to have the portability, reliability or ease of installation that a simple web front end would provide.

Here are the ideas so far:

yongbeng's dream

1) User Interaction

•The user would log in and not see any Linux interface. Straightaway, they would see a full screen interface. This interface would need to be a web browser but the user is not supposed to know it. The interface would need to be full screen with no buttons and address of a web browser.

•There should be a main screen where user can choose what they want to do.

•If the user inserts a CD, they should disable the auto pop up of the folder. They will then do the respective thing they want to do like playing the CD or DVD.


2)Playing MP3

•The user would choose an mp3 on the main screen and choose then a list of songs should appear. This would actually point to a static folder where it would read all the mp3 files. On the top of this play list, the users suppose to be able to choose in alphabetical order of the song.

3)Playing DVD / CD

•From the main screen, the user should be able to choose to play DVD. They must of course first insert the DVD. If no disc is inserted, the screen should prompt to insert DVD / CD. Once inserted, it would play the movies or songs.

•If the one inserted is a CD, it should display the list of the songs and the song that the system is currently playing.

•If the one inserted is an mp3 CD, it should then go into another folder, where this folder would display the mp3 files in the disc. Once a file is selected for playing, the screen should display the information of the songs.


4)Playing TV

•On the main screen, we should display a TV function. Once click, we would go into the TV menu. This TV menu would have few options. One is to record TV, another is to play the recorded TV shows.

•The user should be able to choose what channel they want to record, time and other related information. They would then give this record a name of their choice. This is to enable them to choose easily in the future when they want to watch the recorded show.

•When watching the recorded show, they would just need to choose the name that they recorded, and play.

[adwilson]

Projects we've identified so far along a simular theme:

lomb (http://lomb.abeille.com/index.php?newlang=eng)
(Linux Open Multimedia Box) - still in a very early stage, targets specific hardware

mythtv.org (http://www.mythtv) - geared more towards Live TV, recording it and playing it back, no DVD, MP3, Internet or games support.

[adwilson]

We really are just starting out and all this needs to be put on a website somewhere very soon. any suggestions on where would be great, I don't think we are quite sourceforge or freshmeat material just yet. but we need to be able to exchange ideas and allow multiple people to update the site. If anyone knows of any good free hosting sites that would be great.

As for developing our application, well if its a web based frontend then we're going to need a webserver, I'm using apache, but I don't think we should tie this down to anyone webserver as that may restrict development and portability. I know python or PHP was suggested as a good languages to use, I'm open to either, I have no experience of Python though, but hey, you've got to learn sometime.

I would suggest to start off with we try and use as many existing applications as possible and just launch them from a front end webpage, that way we can quickly get most of the functionality there and then look at makeing it a more instantanous so that it boots up almost immediently.

So if we list out possible apps, we have a few possible choices:

Internet
we want a capable browser which has a fullscreen mode. I think we should look at lightweight ones though with few dependencies as the less software we install hopefully the faster we can boot the system.
>Mozilla (execellent functionality, but slow and heavy on resources)
>gallon (fast, light, but needs GTK and not as many features as Mozilla, no E-mail etc)
>konqueror (I think we need to install most of KDE to use this one, that will slow us down)
>opera (fast, light, but closed source, plus unless we pay for it we get adverts everywhere)
>netscape (its just Mozilla with a different badge on it)

MP3
>xmms (very popular, but not cross platform)
>freeamp
>winamp
>naurtorun
>alsaplayer
>xine (handles a good range of media formats inc video + dvd, problems with encripted dvds)
>mplayer (ditto with xine)
>Some kind of java mp3 player (good for portability, but maybe slow)

DVD
>xine
>mplayer
>oggle
>VideoLanClient
>any others ?

TV
>KwinTV (needs KDE again)
>XawTV (not sure what the dependencies of this are like)

Anyothers ????

[yongbeng]

while.ok...I have this suggestion...it seems like xine is a rather global player..can play the necessary stuffs...so now we need to know to display the information of the songs...another reason for the front end to be a webpage is because of language problem..I've tried freevo...even though I installed the necessary language, it would still be unable to display the language..

as for watching TV...found this 2...dunno if it would work..DVR and XDVR....

I believe PHP would be an ideal choice if it can work...I'm still a beginner...as for python..I haven't started yet!! but as adwilson said..we gotta start sometime rite??

so...really hope to see those comments and suggestion coming in!!

[adwilson]

...I have this suggestion...it seems like xine is a rather global player..can play the necessary stuffs..

I'm glad you said that, I rather like xine :)

I agree to PHP would be an easier starting point than Python

Yongbeng, could you post the links you found for DVR and XDVR, the only references I can find talk about being able to record video on to DVDs, is this what you meant ?

freevo looks nice actually, I'm sure we could get a few ideas from that. When you say language support, how do you think we should go about this in PHP ? I'm afraid I only speak English, but I like the idea of being able to use any language.

As for hosting a site where we can upload code and scribble down our thoughts I found this site on the net freewebspace.net (http://www.freewebspace.net/) Guess now we just have to pick a host.

yongbeng I also set up an E-mail address lmsadmin@btopenworld.com. Send an E-mail to it and I'll give you the account details on how to log onto it. I thought of lms for linux multymedia station ... what do you think ? we can always set up something else if you don't like it.

[yongbeng]

sure!! wilson..below is the address:

DVR (http://dvr.sourceforge.net/)

XDVR (http://xdvr.sourceforge.net/)

yeap!! glad that we have found a HOME!! ha ha...ok.. as for PHP..I don't know how far it's true...seen it before... believe we can sort of make a dictionary table...it would then look up the table..so..like say an african or chinese need to use the system, they would just need to update the necessary field with the respective field..it would work just fine!

as for display the title and info of the song list..while..if the we're able to get the information to display on the web browser...the language barrier is broken...isn't it??so long the language support is installed on the web browser which is the case for almost all the web browser...

sure..I'll send an e-mail soon to the e-mail you gave me!

looking forward for more progress!

[yongbeng]

oh yah..forgot a couple of things...lms sounds quite a cool name! hmm..we give it just that! of cause if along the way..we figure out even cooler names..we changed it! what do you think??

as for freevo..yeah..I agree with you...but it's because the XMLTV thing..which kinda turn me off...but..I really like the way they can handle the remote and the keyboard..and also the interface..looks very neat..

ok..that's all for now..guess I didn't leave out anything!! cya!!

[Stuka]

Just a thought - while a PHP/Web interface is easier to implement, it may be harder to go full screen and would require a browser. A Python (or other language) based client-server system might be more challenging, but would be more along the lines of what you want to present (almost like a graphical shell).

[yongbeng]

while...I believe it should be able to go full screen for a browser...there should be some html code to do that...as for browser...while..if you've been following the thread...we wanted it to be in a browser...it's for the sake of portability as what wilson had mentioned...so...what do you think???thanks for the suggestion anyway!

[Stuka]

Python is available for every common platform, and I know that gtk and wxWindows (both of which have Python bindings) are available for MS and Linux platforms (and probably Mac OS X at least). However, making it a client-server architecture means you can implement different clients for different client machines if desired, and doesn't require any specific browser capabilities on the client machines. It's harder to do, yes, but it allows you more flexibility, and what have you. Again, you can also have a graphical shell running as a client on the server PC, so you get the real effect you want - booting into a generic interface (at least after log-on, but that shouldn't happen often if it's handled right).

[adwilson]

Wow, looks like we've generated some interest here yongbeng.

Stuka, I hear what you're saying about Python and you're absolutly right, however I think myself and yongbeng where hoping to get something off the ground as quick as possible (i.e. before we loose interest in the project LOL :) ) Once we have prototyped the ideas and feasibility in a rough and ready PHP webpage. I agree Python may well be the way to go, it does offer many advantages over PHP as you've pointed out, but for day one (and perhaps our short term sanity) I think PHP should give us a good start to explore the possibilites. Once we have a better idea of where we're going we Python maywell be the way forwards, its certainly getting a lot of good press.

yongbeng. I need you to E-mail lmsadmin@btopenworld.com If you do that I can give you the username and password for that account. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to post that out on the forum as then anyone can use it to send spam and get us (or me anyhow) into trouble. Stuka that goes for you too if you want to join us, I promise we wll think about python and if you keep nagging us its even more likely we would go down that road :)

We don't have any webserver to host our page on as yet, but the link I posted earlier gives us loads of free ones to choose from. I was also reading one of your other posts, am I right in saying you already have a webserver of some kind yongbeng ? I know you where having somekind of DNS problems. Would you like us to use that one ? or do you prefer a free one that someone else hosts ? We just need somewhere to put code really so we can both get at it.

yongbeng, I like your idea of a dictionary table and then slotting in the different languages as we need them. Do you think we need a database to store this table in or would flat file do ? My only concern is the more servers we use, webservers, databases and so on, they are all going to slow the machine down and a Multimedia Station needs all the power it has for important things like playing DVDs, mp3's TV and so on :) Do you think some kind of XML dictionary file would do the trick ?

As for the name, sure we can change that to whatever, it was just something I thought of quickly to get us started, its based on XMMS actually thats the X MultiMedia Station.

I'll go and have a look at those DVR and XDVR links you posted

[adwilson]

Ok I've had a look at DVR and XDVR and they look good, lets get them in. Another thing I was thinking we could add is some of the best linux games, like tuxracer, make it a bit more like some kind of Xbox or playstation, that is kind of dependent on what games we can find though and if people have a joypad for their computers.

[yongbeng]

hi wilson!! finally back at home..!!!I've mailed you...by the way...where're you from???wondering what time is over at your side...mine here is 3am..

okie...to reply to this thread..while..I'm quite open to all sorts of language...our main priority is to get it to work fast rite?? as I've said in my mail...while..I'm kinda weak in programming..so... dpending alot on the project teamates...but I'll try my best to participate!! I promised!!

ok...that's about it for now..wilson...do let me know if you have received my mail...ok???cya!!

[adwilson]

Sorry Yong Beng,

I only just got your E-mail, that address seems to be playing up, maybe we should change it.

great news about getting the webhost, Lets get cracking with a webpage for the project. I think we need to start off with the project details or the aim of the project, we can probably copy and paste your dream from this thread and put it on the website.

So the new LMS website is http://www.anzwers.org/free/lms/
Nothing on it yet, but check it out reall soon to see how we're doing.

[adwilson]

Yong Beng, I can't seem to reply to your PM messags, so I'll post my reply here.

I think you're right about the databse, we should drop the idea of having a database at least for the short term, because it does make it less portable. Well spotted. I think we should be able to do most of what we want to do using XML files or some other simple file format though.

As for the website, yeah E-mail the username and password to the address I gave you earlier, you might want to change the password first though if you have used the same password on anythig else you access.

[yongbeng]

hi wilson...I've sent you several PM...so check it out...

[yongbeng]

ok! I'm confuse..which mail do you want me to mail you?? btw...do you have yahoo messanger or MSN messanger?? think we can communicate better that way??or are you logging off soon??

[adwilson]

I agree, I have Yahoo Messenger, I'll E-mail you my ID.

[hggs]

I would like to join the lms proyect if you guys are still working on it. I am just starting out with PHP but I have a nice background in Java, HTML, CSS and XML. Also, I am about 1 month into using Linux and I'm hooked.:D

I am on the process of researching what else could be needed for the frontend, looking into Java or JavaScript on my part, but willing to go with Python or PHP if you guys feel its best.

Also, I am from a Spanish speaking country in the Caribbean (Dominican Republic), so I can help with both a Spanish and an English version of the system (I am a fluent speaker/writer of both languages :D )

Hope to hear soon from you guys!

[hggs]

As for a Web site for forums, uploading codes and stuff, how about Topcities? (http://www.topcities.com) 150 Mbs of web space and Forum included? I believe its a good place to start.

Go lms! :)

[raz0rblade]

Get a sourceforge account for the project, that way it will gain more popularity :D

[adwilson]

hggs, good to hear from you, of course you can join. We have a very simple initiation procedure at the moment :) E-mail lmsadmin@btopenworld.com and we'll get back to you. Your skills will be most useful, especially as now we can have a spanish version!, thats cool.

Topcities and sourceforge both sound good. There is already a project very simular to ours on sourceforge already called oxine. I think we will be following this project closely as we are both using xine as our back end to play DVDs, MP3, TV etc etc, the big difference is they are writing a fullscreen skin for it and we're writing a web front end.

Just to give a quick update, we do really need a webpage up soon, we have a skelton for it, but it is really drab and very basic, YongBeng is having a look to see what he can do with it now.

We have gone down the PHP root initially, but are still open to python, especialy if we hit a dead end on PHP, but basically all web technoligies are open to us. We have managed to get a php webpage to call xine, however we currently have a couple of display problems. If we call xine in Xwindows, we can't open the display as apache is not running under the same user as the user runing the browser (we tried running apache under the same user, but it didn't help). The other way we can run xine is in framebuffer mode, which works great, with just one snag, it crashes the PC because we are trying to run Xwindows (for the browser) and framebuffer (for xine) at the same time. We're currently looking at how to get the browser running in framebuffer mode as well to get around that problem.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

[radial]

Hi, if you guys would like some proper hosting i'd be happy to donate some space, it'd have cPanel 6, FTP, SSH control and you can install almost anything you want as long as it doesn't hog server resources.. I'd set it up with XController & Fantastico so forums and portals are ready to install as you want them etc...

PM me if you're interested :)

Radial.

PS: Forgot to mention, i'd be happy to help out with site design also, and anything else the project might need :)

[adwilson]

radial, hgg, thanks very much for both of your offers of websites, we seem to have them popping out of our ears at the moment LOL.

I don't mind where it is hosted really. Maybe we should even think about the possibliity of having some site mirrors, but lets just get one plage up and running first. Thanks for putting our dream up at http://lmsadmin.topcities.com/, hgg. If you E-mail us your address at lmsadmiin@btopenworld.com then I can put you in touch with Yong Beng, he's looking at the website side of things at the moment. Like I said we have a skelton ready to upload, but its really basic and seriously lacking in content. But E-mail us and we can get cracking. The only reason we get people to E-mail lmsadmin@btopenworld.com first is not everyone is keen about giving their E-mail address out openly on the forum. Once we get an E-mail from you we can give you access to the lmsadmin@btopenworld.com account then we can all see whats going off.

radial, thanks for the offer of help, we need all the help we can get, can you E-mail us too at lmsadmin@btopenworld.com ?

Cheers, hope to hear from you both soon !

[yongbeng]

Hi everyone!!wow!! seems like for just this 2 days I was down with flu and sleeping my way through, we manage to gathe rsome crowds!!! I'm flattered!!

okie..I've set up a website at the following address:

LMS Website (http://lmsadmin.topcities.com)

It's still undergoing heavy construction and we welcome all helps that is needed!! thanks in advance!!

hi radial...have a look at the website and give me your opnions! it you wanna join the project..mail to the address Wilson had written in the thread and we'll give you the necessary information..in that way, you should be able to change the website and improve our image!!

hggs: welcome aboard!! I'll be putting the "todo" list up soon and currently, me and wilson talk over the messager...maybe you can consider getting one and we can discuss online when we meet up!

ok...let me know if anyone has any doubts! cya guys!!

[yongbeng]

Hi Chris, I've receive a mail and send you a reply...do mail me if you have any problem logging into any of the services..

Hi hggs...we've yet to receive a mail from you...we need you to send a mail to
lmsadmiin@btopenworld.com (http://mailto:lmsadmiin@btopenworld.com)

then we would be able to get in touch with you and send you the contact address..in the meantime...

okie..that's all for now...see you all soon in our project website!!

[adwilson]

Hello all,
Firstly if anyone is still following this post, then I appologise for the lack of activity recently, we've been hard at work on LMS (have a look at our site http://lmsadmin.topcities.com to see how far we've got)

Secondly, I'm posting cause we've hit a rather important issue. We can now run Xwindows programs from PHP webpages, but in order to do so we have to open up the Xserver to accepting connections from the outside world using xhost +, this presents some major security issues as I believe anyone can then execute programs under that users xsession. We need to allow apache to run Xwindows programs, but granting local access to the apache user, using xhost +localhost:nobody doesn't seem to work. Any ideas on how to fix this ? Also does anyone know how to set the xhost back to the defaults afterwards ? is it just xhost - or would that denny the local user that started the Xsession access too ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Alan

[yongbeng]

Hi guys...I had posted onto our website..but just in case you have not check it out...I ran into a problem with XINE..

XINE Problem (http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=101595)

okie..I'll continue to do it

[adwilson]

First LMS Screenshots available on http://lmsadmin.topcities.com