Leia DS - a DS application running on Nokia N800/810

[sommerfee]

Any chance of a port for Maemo 5, or is it possible to run Leia DS under Maemo 5 "as is"?

No idea. I didn't had the time to investigate in Maemo5 so far, but maybe it works as it is? If you try it out please report!

[MarkP]

installation catalogues have been changed so don't think can install as is without updating that aspect at least?

Maemo5 porting guide is at http://wiki.maemo.org/Documentation/Mae ... troduction

Wasn't sure from this how much needed doing?

[sommerfee]

installation catalogues have been changed so don't think can install as is without updating that aspect at least?

Since LeiaDS is not (yet) listed in any application catalogue but is autonomous instead this shouldn't be a problem.

Wasn't sure from this how much needed doing?

Since I didn't had the time so far to look at the Maemo5 software development kit I'm unsure, too.

Axel

[Ducky]

Edit: issue with Windows 7 Media Server settings solved.

[sommerfee]

Edit: issue with Windows 7 Media Server settings solved.

I'm glad to hear that.

Although disabling specific Media Server and/or Media Renderer in LeiaDS is planned for a future release, there is nothing like that in the current release.

Axel

[sommerfee]

Version 0.5 alpha3 is now avaliable at
http://leiads.sommerfee.f-m.fm/experimental/

From the changelog:

* Last.fm support: Album art & Radio
* Support for hard keys of the SmartQ 5 device (from SmartDevices Inc.) added
* Revised error handling
* Bugfix: Faster searching of media server with multiple IP addresses

Some screenshots:



Happy testing!

Axel

P.S.: For playing Last.fm Radio you need a good & reliable (W)LAN connection and must be a paying customer of Last.fm. See http://www.last.fm for details.

[sommerfee]

Version 0.5 alpha4 is now avaliable at
http://leiads.sommerfee.f-m.fm/experimental/

From the changelog:

* Adapted to Twonky Media Server 5.1
* Further adaptions to SmartQ-like devices
* The <Toggle Fullscreen> key used to be F6, changed to F11
* Context menu added to Library items (not complete yet)
* <Play> button added to the Playlist toolbar
* Customisation of Library and Now Playing
* Customisation of Keys (Nokia & SmartQ only)
* Bugfix: Pressing the <back> button while browsing will be handled correctly now (Nokia only)
* Bugfix: Leia does not crash anymore when the WLAN connection goes down during browsing (Nokia only)

Happy testing,
Axel

[sommerfee]

Due to a mistake I did in the building process the version I have build yesterday was crap, I'm sorry. I just uploaded a properly build version. (I marked this version "0.5 alpha 4b" in the About Dialog, so if you see the "b" there the version is ok.)

Axel

[_noel_]

Hi Axel,

For my opinion this version is a big step forward!
The nokia UI now can be fully handled with the keyboard - very nice :D

Question: Is there a nokia keyboard shortcut to scroll a whole page in the list views?
Scrolling with the cursor keys is a little bit slow and cumbersome for a artist view with some hundred artists

Wish: is it possible to jump to list entries with the keyboard? (E.g. type "bl" and jump to artist "Blues Company")

Kind regards and thanks for the new version
Eberhard

[sommerfee]

Hello Eberhard,

Question: Is there a nokia keyboard shortcut to scroll a whole page in the list views?

No, but this is IMHO a very good idea! I will implement this in the next alpha version.

Wish: is it possible to jump to list entries with the keyboard? (E.g. type "bl" and jump to artist "Blues Company")

Not yet but this is on my todo list for the version 0.5.

Axel

[_noel_]

Hello Eberhard,

Question: Is there a nokia keyboard shortcut to scroll a whole page in the list views?

No, but this is IMHO a very good idea! I will implement this in the next alpha version.

Something like <Scroll Down> & <Right Shift> would be appreciated

Regards
Ebe

[teatime]

Wish: is it possible to jump to list entries with the keyboard? (E.g. type "bl" and jump to artist "Blues Company")

Not yet but this is on my todo list for the version 0.5.

Axel

Awesome! This is probably the only thing I miss in Leia. Apart from this missing feature, it's perfect! :D

[sommerfee]

Version 0.5 alpha5 is now avaliable at http://leia.sommerfeldt.f-m.fm/experimental/

From the changelog:

* RadioTime support: Presets
* Linn Cara6 support: Radio Presets
* Bugfix: "typeahead find" fixed in Browser and Playlist (but not working on the Nokia N810 yet)

If the RadioTime username is set to "Linn DS" (this is the default), the station preset list will be retrieved from the Linn DS (needs Cara6), otherwise the station preset list will be retrieved directly from radiotime.com (does not need Cara6).

Unfortunately I had only little time for Leia in the past weeks, so I decided to take care of Cara6/RadioTime only and not to implement "typeahead find" and scrolling by page on the Nokia N810 in this version, I'm sorry.

Furthermore the new "Radio Service" in Cara6 is not supported. Supporting this would need some days to implement, and in its current implementation (Cara6) there is IMHO not much benefit in doing so since all radio stations can be played via "Playlist Service", too. (But IMHO the new Radio Service is great when using the Linn remote.)

Axel

P.S.: Unfortunately Last.fm support is broken when using Cara6. There is not much I can do about this since Cara6 tries to access every track more than once which is permitted by Last.fm. Hopefully Linn will offer a solution for this in upcoming firmware releases. See also http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=6695

[sommerfee]

Although there is a lot of unfinished "road works" inside Leia (Last.fm, RadioTime, context menu, SmartQ adaption, customisation, ...) I decided to put Leia into beta stage since Linn has released Cara6 and the current version 0.5 of Leia contains not only RadioTime Presets support but also important adaptions to the current Twonky version 5.1.x.

The new beta version 0.5-6 can be found here:
http://leia.sommerfeldt.f-m.fm/unstable/

From the changelog:
* Local Internet Radio folder added
* Workaround for Last.fm Radio played on Linn Cara 6 firmware

Known issues:
* Not all translations are done yet
* Ugly volume toolbar items in SmartQ version, no volume bar

Happy testing!
Axel

[lejonklou]

15 thousand hits on your Leia thread, Axel. That's impressive!

As I haven't tried Leia myself, I wonder how your volume control works in detail. Is it a sliding bar that, once altered, sends an RS-232 command to set the preamp to a specific volume? Are there any options or safeguards (such as a max volume setting)?

Is there any possibility of increasing/decreasing volume one step at a time? Does any program offer this? Right now I can only remember sliding bars on the ones that I've used.

[SaltyDog]

PlugPlayer and/or Songbook has the volume control with a slider and the ability to tap the speaker icon on either end of the slider control. The slider is too sensitive for my taste. The Slider on ChoursDS is much better, but that is the only way to control it on the iPad I think.

[sommerfee]

As I haven't tried Leia myself, I wonder how your volume control works in detail. Is it a sliding bar that, once altered, sends an RS-232 command to set the preamp to a specific volume?

It is a sliding bar with a "+" and a "-" icon beside it which can also be used to alter the volume by +-1 step. (And there is a mute icon as well.) [1]

Furthermore the Nokias and the SmartQ have "+" and "-" hard keys which you can be configured to either control the volume as well, or to skip the current track. On the Nokia 770 the "+" and "-" hard keys have a repeat function, unfortunately they haven't on the Nokia N8x0. (Not sure about the SmartQ.)

Leia only talks to the DS itself (using UPnP over Wifi), but the DS can be conntected to the preamp via RS232. This way Leia can do volume changes and all volume changes done via Linn remote (or the hard keys on the preamp or other software like Kinsky Desktop) will be reported to Leia by the DS.

Are there any options or safeguards (such as a max volume setting)?

I think all the Linn preamps have such option. The max volume will be reported to the DS and the DS will report it to Leia, so putting the slider to the max. position will only set the max volume which is setup in the preamp.

Do you think there should be an additional option for this in Leia? (If you think this could be useful I could implement it, no problem.)

Is there any possibility of increasing/decreasing volume one step at a time? Does any program offer this? Right now I can only remember sliding bars on the ones that I've used.

Leia can (via +/- icons and via hard keys), don't know about all the others.

[1] Unfortunately this is only available in the Nokia version of Leia yet. But since I need this for myself on the SmartQ as well this will be implemented for all the other versions very soon.

[SaltyDog]

Is the Nokia more available and better priced in the EU than the US?
I haven't ever actually seen one yet.

[sommerfee]

Is the Nokia more available and better priced in the EU than the US?

The Nokia N8x0 aren't available anymore since September 2009, so you only get them used. (The price of a used Nokia N800 is about $100 in the US and 100 Euro in EU.)

There is a Nokia N900 available now, but I don't know if Leia will run on it since I'm not aware of anyone who tried it.

[lejonklou]

Thanks Axel! I really appreciate the info.

I'm fiddling with RS-232 options at the moment, trying to make sure they always work as expected. Which isn't easy! For example, the twin MUTE function I've recently added to the Kikkin 2 seems impossible to implement without alteration of control point software (like Leia).

Max volume is a feature in current Linn preamps, yes. But I don't have it in Kikkin, so connecting Kikkin to RS-232 requires the software to be well designed. No slipping of finger producing 100 in volume!

I will get back to you regarding such an option in Leia, but before I implement RS232 in any of my products, I'd like to see if there's an optimal way of making most things work, all the time and on any software.

I should really be spending my time with audio critical parts, rather than this... :roll: Any volunteers?

[sommerfee]

Hi Fredrik,

For example, the twin MUTE function I've recently added to the Kikkin 2 seems impossible to implement without alteration of control point software (like Leia).

Although I would be glad doing adaptions in Leia for your Kikkin, I fear that the DS must be altered for such extensions, too. (And I don't think Linn will do this.) Since Leia has no access to the RS232 interface but uses UPnP instead all commands will be "translated" by the DS. One example:

If Leia wants to alter the volume to 30 it would send this to the DS:

Code: Select all

POST /Ds/Preamp/control HTTP/1.1
HOST: 192.168.0.10
CONTENT-LENGTH: 244
CONTENT-TYPE: text/xml; charset="utf-8"
SOAPACTION: "urn:linn-co-uk:service:Preamp:4#SetVolume"

<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" s:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"><s:Body><u:SetVolume xmlns:u="urn:linn-co-uk:service:Preamp:4"><aVolume>30</aVolume></u:SetVolume></s:Body></s:Envelope>

The DS will translate this into a format which the preamp will understand (e.g. "$VOL +1$"), and send it via RS232 to the preamp.

The other way: A user has altered the volume to 31 (via Leia or Remote or Kinsky or...). The DS will receive this information from the preamp via RS232 (AFAIK it's "$VOLUME = 31$"), and will inform Leia about this in UPnP slang:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?><e:propertyset xmlns:e="urn:schemas-upnp-org:event-1-0"><e:property><Volume>31</Volume></e:property></e:propertyset>

So if you want to make sure your Kikkin2 will work with the DS you must use exactly the same RS232 command set as the Linn preamps do.

[sommerfee]

Since I got no bug reports on Leia 0.5-6 I just put Leia into "release" state. You'll find this version here:

http://leia.sommerfeldt.f-m.fm/stable/

See also http://leia.sommerfeldt.f-m.fm/

Axel

[yellowelans4]

Hi Axel,

just changed my server to Twonky 5.1 and I am getting a problem that I think also affected Plugplayer.

If you use Leia to play an album then all is OK with 'now playing' and artwork if however you take a look in Kinsky Desktop then all you get in 'now playing' is the URl string for the music location listed by track. I think this is a Twonky issue but if I use Kinsky then all is displayed correctly.

This might need a tweak to Leia to correct the problem?
cheers
Keith

[sommerfee]

Hi Keith,

I think this is a Twonky issue but if I use Kinsky then all is displayed correctly.

I just took a look at it and it seems to be a Leia issue. It seems that Leia is not sending 100% correct meta data to the DS if the source of this meta data was Twonky 5.1 or 6.0.

This might need a tweak to Leia to correct the problem?

I just did that and put a new Windows version to http://leia.sommerfeldt.f-m.fm/testing/ ... _win32.zip

Could you please try this version out and report? If this will fix this issue for you, too, I will do a proper release of it.

(I hope this Windows version is sufficient for testing for you, if not please drop me a note for what platform do you like to have such test version of Leia.)

Axel

[yellowelans4]

Hi Axel,

I actually use a Nokia 810 so it was this version that I originally noticed the problem on - however I have just installed your revised windows version and all looks fine, artwork and playlist are reflected correctly back to Kinsky Desktop - great service Axel !- a new release of Leia will be coming shortly I guess.
Many thanks Keith