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#245288 - 15/02/2005 19:27 A vote for Sirius [Re: n6mod]
petteri
addict

Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
I voted for Sirius, an integrated solution would be nice, if it supported song seek and had at least 30 presets. Otherwise my PnP unit works well for me. I uderstand that the new Sirius Starbase has a song seek feature. See this link:

http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19470


Edited by petteri (15/02/2005 19:32)

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#245289 - 15/02/2005 19:47 Re: A vote for Sirius [Re: petteri]
n6mod
enthusiast

Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
Quote:
I voted for Sirius, an integrated solution would be nice, if it supported song seek and had at least 30 presets.


The number of presets could be pretty much arbitrary, since that would be in the app.

I wasn't thinking about song seek, that strikes me as such an odd feature. If it's implemented in the 'trunk box' it will be easy, but if it's implemented by the head unit, then it means more work in the app.

Quote:
See this link:

And see me posting at the end of that thread.

I'm PM'ing back and forth with Jeremy about the Starbase as well as the SIR-ALP1, which is much less expensive, mostly because you aren't paying for the head unit.
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.

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#245290 - 15/02/2005 20:01 Re: A vote for Sirius [Re: n6mod]
petteri
addict

Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
Quote:

The number of presets could be pretty much arbitrary, since that would be in the app.

I wasn't thinking about song seek, that strikes me as such an odd feature. If it's implemented in the 'trunk box' it will be easy, but if it's implemented by the head unit, then it means more work in the app.

And see me posting at the end of that thread.

I'm PM'ing back and forth with Jeremy about the Starbase as well as the SIR-ALP1, which is much less expensive, mostly because you aren't paying for the head unit.


I love the song seek. I usually punch in a song I haven't heard before, but I like. Then when its played again I get a few more listens before I decide to explore that artist some more.

I'm hoping most of the features are in the tuner box and that the head unit is just a dumb controller. I never really got to the end of that thread...

Before I "discovered" the Empeg I was considering getting the Kenwood unit to fill the extra DIN space in my car, now I may get both in one! I can't really contribute to this project but if need be I'd pay for a Starbase for some one to play with....

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#245291 - 16/02/2005 01:35 Re: A vote for Sirius [Re: petteri]
n6mod
enthusiast

Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
petteri: Well, I certainly won't stop you from sending me a Starbase. It's not necessary, though. I'll pick one up when I get to that point.

I think I now know enough about the interfaces to support both the XM Direct and the Sirius Starbase. I have some design work to do on what the app should be doing. As it turns out, I do need to be doing SongSeek myself. The plus side of that is that I have a lot more flexibility.

Where I fall flat is writing UI code for the empeg, so if anyone with that experience wants to join the party, I can use all the help I can get.

Mach: Do you have the right serial cable for the XMD? I'm looking at the protocol spec from
Hybrid Mobile and they seem to be one of the favorite vendors for serial cables.

-Z
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.

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#245292 - 16/02/2005 15:50 Re: A vote for Sirius [Re: n6mod]
Jemmi
member

Registered: 03/05/2003
Posts: 131
I have the XM direct cable and am running it into my carputer using a Satellite control program and then all sound from computer goes into line in on Empeg.

I made the cable for about $10. Just as a side note, you do NOT need the 12V taps shown in the wiring diagrams IF you wire up the XM direct per the instructions. I did this to offer the possibility of using the XM commander controller as well.

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#245293 - 16/02/2005 17:41 Re: A vote for Sirius [Re: n6mod]
Mach
old hand

Registered: 15/07/2002
Posts: 828
Loc: Texas, USA
Yes I have the cable. I picked it up from one of the folks at the xm forums but making one didn't look that tough.

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#245294 - 19/02/2005 13:46 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: lopan]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
I find myself saying "hey, I remember that song" all the time listening to the empeg. That's because it's nearly all on there.

Sorry, I need the ability to fast forward and skip whenever I want. On-demand access to 10000 songs isn't available on XM.

Bruno
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#245295 - 21/02/2005 23:59 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: hybrid8]
Jemmi
member

Registered: 03/05/2003
Posts: 131
I'm not sure why you're trying to turn this into an Empeg vs. XM discussion thread. You have what you want and people have an interest in XM or sirius so let it go. Me personally I have an XM controlled by my carputer and the Empeg also. I agree, on access control to 10,000 songs is WONDERFUL and having it shuffle through your music collection is great. I do that most of the time. But I also do not have a radio in my car so XM is a great option... plus I have a 6 year old daughter and she often doesn't enjoy the music I normally listen to so havin an option like XM kids and Radio Disney for the rides to and from school is great for her.

But you have your opinion on this... I just don't see why you must argue it

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#245296 - 22/02/2005 00:17 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: Jemmi]
SE_Sport_Driver
carpal tunnel

Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
I agree and was going to post something similar but decided to just drop it.

I might be able to shuffle between 22,000 traffic and weather reports on my empeg, but I doubt they'll be very timely.
_________________________
Brad B.

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#245297 - 22/02/2005 06:11 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
n6mod
enthusiast

Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
Just a quick update. I'm working on reverse engineering the Starbase protocol at the moment. Once I get that sorted, I'll try to work out a reasonable abstraction layer so we only have to have one app for the two services.

There are some significant additional capabilities of the Sirius tuner, at least as compared to the available spec for the XMDirect box. That said, taking advantage of those features will require a fair bit of code, so I think I'll leave those for a subsequent release, and just try to get basic tuner control working out of the gate.

-Z
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.

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#245298 - 22/02/2005 11:50 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: n6mod]
petteri
addict

Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
Quote:
Just a quick update. I'm working on reverse engineering the Starbase protocol at the moment. Once I get that sorted, I'll try to work out a reasonable abstraction layer so we only have to have one app for the two services.

There are some significant additional capabilities of the Sirius tuner, at least as compared to the available spec for the XMDirect box. That said, taking advantage of those features will require a fair bit of code, so I think I'll leave those for a subsequent release, and just try to get basic tuner control working out of the gate.

-Z


Great news! Thanks again for working on this. If I can get Sirius and the Empeg in one unit that would be almost unbeliveable. What will the interface on the Empeg look like? Will it be an additional menu item?

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#245299 - 22/02/2005 12:54 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: petteri]
JBjorgen
carpal tunnel

Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
I'm assuming we'll need some kind of way to detect when the player is switched to AUX mode and then bring up the control interface. I imagine Tony C or Mark L. would be able to comment on this in a more knowlegeable way.
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~ John

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#245300 - 22/02/2005 13:20 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: JBjorgen]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14491
Loc: Canada
The most trivial way is to simply poll /proc/empeg_notify and keep an eye on the current "notify_MixerInput" field.

Cheers

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#245301 - 22/02/2005 15:29 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: mlord]
n6mod
enthusiast

Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
Quote:
The most trivial way is to simply poll /proc/empeg_notify and keep an eye on the current "notify_MixerInput" field.

Cheers


I'm actually completely open about how we might implement the UI. One could imagine this gets launched when we select aux, or the inverse, where launching the app selects aux. (can that be done from userland?)

I could even see that this would be an add-on to Emphatic. Tony?

If it were possible to get at the player source (or the guys @empeg wanted to play) my first choice would be to hack the tuner code and present the info from the sat. tuner in the same way as RDS.

Unfortunately, since neither XM nor Sirius covers Cambridge, I can't imagine that the guys @empeg are going to be interested.

The UI side of this is where I'm going to need some help, so if someone with experience writing apps for the empeg wants to help, I'd be most appreciative.

-Z
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.

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#245302 - 22/02/2005 16:45 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: n6mod]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14491
Loc: Canada
I believe that it is almost trivial to inject fake RDS data into the player app. It gets it all through the kernel, and we do have source for that part.

Cheers

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#245303 - 22/02/2005 17:28 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: mlord]
n6mod
enthusiast

Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
Quote:
I believe that it is almost trivial to inject fake RDS data into the player app. It gets it all through the kernel, and we do have source for that part.



I think the changes required to make a the tuner part of the player app do the right thing are more than can be done from 'outside'

We'd need to intercept tuner control events, switch audio inputs, and at best have some funky mapping between frequency and channel number. It *might* work, but I think the time would be better spent building a userland app that controlled the tuner, especially since that gives us a place to build things like song seek.

I could be wrong, though... I'm still working on the back-end, and haven't really started looking at the front-end.

-Z
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.

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#245304 - 22/02/2005 18:48 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: n6mod]
JBjorgen
carpal tunnel

Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
I agree. A userland app that runs when the player is in AUX mode rather than tuner mode seems to give us the most flexibility.

The only advantage I can see to emulating the current tuner would be the ability to use that second serial port instead of fighting for control of the primary one.
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~ John

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#245305 - 04/03/2005 00:24 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: hybrid8]
lopan
old hand

Registered: 28/01/2002
Posts: 970
Loc: Manassas VA
Quote:
Sorry, I need the ability to fast forward and skip whenever I want. On-demand access to 10000 songs isn't available on XM.


?? Yeah we already have that... with the empeg... you don't seem to get that we're looking for an alternative to FM radio do you? Some people like XM, you obviously don't, alls I can say is this probably isn't for you...

Wow, spent a few weeks away from the bbs and this has taken off! Cool...

So are we switching to Sirius? Or both? don't have a subscription but I guess I could switch, is it as cheap as XM?


Edited by lopan (04/03/2005 00:25)
_________________________
Brett 60Gb MK2a with Led's

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#245306 - 04/03/2005 00:32 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: lopan]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
Quote:
is it as cheap as XM?

It will be soon.

Matthew

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#245307 - 04/03/2005 01:10 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: lopan]
n6mod
enthusiast

Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
Quote:

So are we switching to Sirius? Or both? don't have a subscription but I guess I could switch, is it as cheap as XM?


It's as cheap as XM will be in a month.

The switch to Sirius is simply because I'm working on this, and Sirius is the one I care about. (mostly because of NPR) In fact, I think the basic functionality can be done on either. There's a lot more capability in the Sirius tuners from what I can see, though.

I just got my hands on a Starbase, and if I get some time this weekend will get some interface specs (HW and SW) for the Starbase tuner up on the web.

Once that's done, I'll start working on a simply empeg app that can drive the Starbase. Running an XM direct should be just a matter of swapping out the commands.

Where the XM Direct falls flat is things like TuneSelect. I think the head unit is polling all the channels to do TuneSelect, whereas the Starbase will proactively send a program ID when (any? some?) channels start new songs.

So, I'll do Sirius first, and will probalbly pick up an XM direct tuner to play with at some point.

-Z
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.

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#245308 - 05/03/2005 00:01 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: n6mod]
lopan
old hand

Registered: 28/01/2002
Posts: 970
Loc: Manassas VA
I might just have to wait til you get the XM stuff done, being that I just bought my wife the xm skifi boombox setup for christmas and we're on the family plan... Maybe sirius will come up with something were you can trade your hardware in to switch ok maybe not... but one can hope...
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Brett 60Gb MK2a with Led's

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#245309 - 18/04/2005 09:29 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: lopan]
petteri
addict

Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
Any updates on this project? Sirius has lost AAR but I'm keeping them anyway. I'll be able to d/l the shows and play them on the empeg anyway!

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#245310 - 18/04/2005 22:16 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: petteri]
n6mod
enthusiast

Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
I'm actually just climbing back into reality, after having been buried under some projects that have consumed all of my time lately.

So, this is back on my to-do list, and will likely get some attention in the coming weeks.
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.

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#245311 - 19/04/2005 11:09 Re: XM on empeg? [Re: n6mod]
petteri
addict

Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
Good news then! Jeremy over at SBS had a new site put up dealing with the inner workings of the Starbase. But he has since shut it down, I presume because of pressure from Sirius. I'm guessing you have picked his brain and know all of that stuff by now anyway.

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#245312 - 03/05/2005 20:36 Re: SIRIUS on empeg! [Re: petteri]
BaBa
new poster

Registered: 18/01/2002
Posts: 11
Loc: Ventura, CA USA
I can't wait for the day that I see this on my empeg!! I can't really provide any help as far as programming but I would be happy to donate a few bucks!


Attachments
255103-SirEmpeg.jpg (404 downloads)


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#245313 - 18/10/2005 12:20 Re: SIRIUS on empeg! [Re: BaBa]
petteri
addict

Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
anything new with this project?

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#245314 - 16/11/2005 03:11 Re: SIRIUS on empeg! [Re: petteri]
elph
new poster

Registered: 22/01/2002
Posts: 27
I thought this might be interesting for those who have some interest in getting Sirius working on the empeg... it's a serial(db9) interface for a sirius adapter:

http://www.rush2112.net/

Now all that's needed is a little programming

-elph

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#245315 - 18/02/2006 13:16 Re: SIRIUS on empeg! [Re: elph]
adavidw
addict

Registered: 10/11/2000
Posts: 497
Loc: Utah, USA
For anyone that's still paying attention to this, I found this new XM Direct adapter. It takes the song info from XM and wraps it up into RDS and sends it out an antenna line (with rf modulated audio as well).

It seems like this might make the job a little easier to get XM interfaced. Out of the box, it will get the song info on the XM display, but you have to use it's included remote to change channels. I'm almost surely going to get one to hook up to my empeg this way (except bypass the line out audio from the xm direct to run that to the amp).

To get a nicer level of integration, someone would just have to code up a way to have some button presses send out some specific serial commands while in tuner mode. Or (more ambitious), make a separate app that handles the channel changing and gets it's display stuff by pulling the RDS info out of the kernel. I'm assuming the song info is on the serial, and if someone wanted to write an app like that, they could just get the song info off the serial and bypass the whole requirement for a tuner. However, since no one's done that yet, I'm trying to simplify.

With this box, it seems like the simplest way to get this to work would be if hijack's ir_translate allowed you to map button codes to arbitrary serial commands. If that could happen, you just flip the empeg into tuner mode and the display stuff is all handled for you, and whatever buttons you've set up on the remote would change the xm channels for you. Anyone know if there's any way to set up ir_translate this way? If not, does anyone have a Mark Lord genie lamp handy they could rub for such a feature request?
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-Aaron

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#245316 - 21/02/2006 12:12 Re: SIRIUS on empeg! [Re: adavidw]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Thanks for the heads-up on the RDS unit. I already have an XM Direct box, so taking a chance on this is only $50 for me. I pre-ordered from Crutchfield and can't wait to check it out. Hopefully they use RDS to its maximum potential and not just the call-letter data field US radio loves to abuse.
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-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#245317 - 22/02/2006 04:28 Re: SIRIUS on empeg! [Re: robricc]
adavidw
addict

Registered: 10/11/2000
Posts: 497
Loc: Utah, USA
Quote:
Hopefully they use RDS to its maximum potential and not just the call-letter data field US radio loves to abuse.


Word. That's my big hope as well. In an ideal world, however, it would some customizability. It should default to putting the info in the message part. But, for cars like my dad's Prius which won't show the message while the car's moving, have a way to switch it to "super-hacky-psuedo-scrolling-in-the-call-letters mode".
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-Aaron

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