Okay, Hijack v304 is out:

-- the "exec_once=" option is replaced with ";@EXEC_ONCE "
-- the "exec=" option is replaced with ";@EXEC "
-- note the lack of an '=' sign on the new forms above!!!!

For example:

   [hijack]

   ;@EXEC_ONCE /sbin/gpsapp

-- when running on DC power, the player executable is always started with the "-s-" flag, to free up the serial port for GPSApp and friends

-- support has been added for a new I2C based fan thermostat/controller under development by another BBS member. Three new config.ini options now exist for this device, and they have no effect if the unit lacks the new hardware required: fan_control=1, fan_low=45, fan_high=50

Hopefully this all still works, but I'm sure y'all will test it and let me know!

Cheers

MARK, YOU DA MAN!!!!

Mark, after all of your work, I realize I may have been mistaken by saying that Emplode didn't like lines with the same keyname.

<- Sheepish embarrassment.

I had tried using emplode to edit the config.ini and add lines with the same keyname earlier today (trying to add exec_once twice) and it didn't take. That's what I based my earlier report on.

However, I just tried adding a line with a different keyname and it still didn't work. I think I may be looking at a bug in Emplode that's unrelated to same-keynames. What I said might still be true, or it might not, I'm not sure. I'm trying to figure out why I've got trouble editing config.ini via Emplode right now and I haven't gotten to the bottom of it.

For now, I'm using FTP to edit the file and I'll see if I can come up with more answers later tonight.

YEah, well, whatever (thanks!)

Just let me know if GPSApp still has trouble (or not) with the serial port when in the car and using the new EXEC stuff to launch it directly.

Cheers

and using the new EXEC stuff to launch it directly.

GPSapp and empacman don't appear on the Hijack menu any more.

Hijack 304, double-checked by running the breakout game, config-ini double checked with FTP, contains:

[hijack]
;@EXEC_ONCE /drive0/var/gpsapp/gpsapp
;@EXEC_ONCE /drive0/var/empacman/empacman

Formerly, with Hijack 303, I had:

[hijack]
exec_once=/drive0/var/gpsapp/gpsapp
exec=/drive0/var/empacman/empacman

and that worked.

Am I doing something wrong?

drat.. 'guess I gotta test it myself.. gimme a sec..

Yup.. goofed.. misplaced two lines of C.

v305 as soon as my notebook can build it.. (about 7 minutes, I believe)..

/me keeps pressing "Refresh" at the Hijack site....

Okay, it works now.. but I'm rebuilding again.. decided to fix the error status so that "255" becomes "-1" as it was intended to be.. so, another six minutes or so.

Then please let me know if the "-s-" flag for the player is working as intended in the car.

Cheers

Then please let me know if the "-s-" flag for the player is working as intended in the car.

Will do. I've got a short errand to run as soon as I get the software installed, and I'll test the software on that errand.

Okay, go!

Installing kernel now...

Initial check after the reboot says...

Looks good, Empacman and GPSapp show in the menu. Will test the serial port thingy once I get it out to the car.

I did reinstall an .upgrade file prior to this, so I know I've erased the hacked init and the serial port test will be valid. Talk to you in a little while.

Thanks!

Okay, cool, serial port hack worked fine. Mark, you da man. Now I can do complete software upgrades without having to re-hack GPSapp. This is The Business.

Hey, anyone got a link to a version of Emptris that binds to the Hijack menu?

http://www.trejan.com/empeg/#EMPTRIS

Mark, when playing around with this, I loaded emptris, empacman, empsoko, and GPSapp. All would show on the hijack menu, but as I ran them, they would eventually drop off the hijack menu. This is running one app, then another, etc... Emptris always stayed, but the rest disappeared. This was using the ;@EXEC_ONCE, and I also tried using just ;@EXEC on all of the program calls. Is this how it is "supposed" to function?

Installing these was much easier! Thank you for making 3rd party apps easier to run!

No, any well-behaved programs should stay on the menu indefinitely.

Maybe the ones that "drop off" are doing something silly like trying to write to stdout/stderr, which are now NULL -- the old install method probably left stdout/stderr "connected" to the serial console.

Mmm.. actually, it might not hurt for the "new' method to also leave them connected to the serial console for stdout/stderr. I'll look into it.

Cheers

Okay, v307 is now out.

-- fixed possible bug with "old style" GPSapp installs
-- EXEC'd applications now start up connected to serial console for stdin, stdout, and stderr -- so they can do printf/fprintf for errors/info etc..

If you'd like to test the new EXEC capability, try this in config.ini:

[hijack]
;@EXEC /bin/bash

The above lines cause the player startup to pause with a shell prompt on the serial console. Player init continues after you "exit" from the shell.

Cheers

wow, this is exciting!

now if someone else could just come up with standard method of installation...

That's the beauty of it. No installation needed. Just copy the files anywhere to /drive0 and put the config.ini line in place and you're done.

v309 is out, and fixes some nasty interactions from v307 and also from the brief existance of v308.

-ml

Mark, after all of your work, I realize I may have been mistaken by saying that Emplode didn't like lines with the same keyname.

I got to the bottom of the problem, and yeah, it had nothing to do with Emplode and key names.

The problem is that I was messing with the EXEC lines already, and was launching these third-pary applications even when in AC mode (I was not using the @DC macro).

Having one of these third-party applications running (not sure if GPSapp was the culprit or if it was empacman) prevents the synch from working right. I don't know exactly why, I think it has something to with the drives being busy when the synch tries to unmount and remount them. For instance, I get errors that the drive is busy when I try to unmount or remount from the shell prompt if these apps were running.

So yeah, silly me, the syntax change wasn't needed. Sorry.

Great but could you translate that into simpleton for me

as i have said before " its got no pistons it can't possibly work !"

That's the beauty of it. No installation needed. Just copy the files anywhere to /drive0 and put the config.ini line in place and you're done.

I was referring to a more powerful idiot-proof installation management system. One that does not require knowing how to copy files or what drive0 is or how to modify the config ini. One that people used to working with large hammers can handle.

Some great ideas have been thrown around in years past, and I've been playing with an idea (from a theoretical standpoint) for the last few days. More to follow in the next hour.

John

Do the apps still interfer with the sync in v309 Hijack?

Do the apps still interfer with the sync in v309 Hijack?

Interesting question. I don't know, not sure I want to try since I was having to do the FSCK thing a whole bunch as I was messing with all of this and I don't want to induce another instance of that.

What's missing, though? I guess just a utility to do the necessary bits with ftp and modify config.ini.

See, that's what I'm saying. Now that it's down to one FTP transfer, a CHMOD, and a config.ini edit, it's really simple enough now so that anyone can do it. An install tool really isn't necessary at all.

Wow, Mark.. At this rate you'll surpass my own company's rate of putting out software revisions! :> But thanks! Love it!

(My company has over 500 revision in the two years that I've been there. Scary.)

Me.

Hi Mark,
This looks very interesting, i like what you have done. I deleted my hacked preinit, and converted my programs to start with your EXEC. Now my question. Before i was using bitts? launcher to load all my extra program from your hijack menu. The way the launcher worked was, you would setup in the config.ini your programs, and menu structure. Then in the Hijack menu i would only see "Launcher" This would be the only program starting up at bootup. When i go into launcher, and start telnet, or pacman, or emptriv, or sokoban... etc... it would then load the program into player memory, and return to the hijack menu, where that program i clicked would now be in the hijack menu. So when i would click on that items hijack menu, it would start the program.

So i guess, my question would be, does your EXEC, and EXEC_ONCE load each started program into memory reducing the cache size for music? or does it only use memory when your using the program? If this is a pile of jibberish, let me know and i will retype it

Oh, i just thought of another thing. I was using the tts to speak the date and time on startup. But, with preinit, i could pause player startup while a program was running. This is needed for the tts, other wise she will stutter while the empeg is still booting up. Is there anyway you could add the abilty to pause the empeg bootup while a script is running?

Anyways, thanks again mark for the endless hijack releases