Sony Stalk in Hijack: last chance for suggestions

Okay, it's near time to move this item up from my back burner. The past bunch of Hijack releases have concentrated on improving system stability, and fixing player/Hijack bugs. At present, things are pretty stable (sure, reboot fails once in a while, but I've done about all I want to with that one).

So, the Sony Stalk controls. I'm going to implement basic stalk support next, allowing codes to be intercepted and translated somehow within Hijack. I've kinda dreaded doing this, because I know it will (temporarily) break existing IR translations in the process, but..

I think the Stalk interface just integrate into the existing [ir_translate] syntax, using distinct button names that begin with 'K', as in 'KSource' for the "Source" button on the Stalk. This allows translations in both directions, as in (pointless example):

[ir_translate]

KSource=Source    ;; make stalk Source button act same as Rio Source button

Source=KSource   ;; make Rio Source button act same as Stalk Source button

And so on. By default, I'm going to use the letter 'K' as shown.

Anybody wanna help me out here? Like, not like, different letter, different scheme..

Just tryin' to minimize rework after I go and implement something.

Cheers

I know your preference for brevity and dislike for wordiness... but for simplicity sake... howabout:

[ir_translate]
StalkSource=Source
Source=StalkSource
StalkATT=Hush

etc...

I don't play on using a stalk... but if i was, it's just much more user friendly than "K". I know i know... too much typing. =]

And another important question: What shall Hijack call the buttons?

Here are the names I am considering this minute:

KVolUp, KVolDown, KSeekUp, KSeekDown, KOff, KMode, KAtt, KSel, KDspl, KSource (I got these from the Sony Operating Instructions).

The Up/Down pairs apply regardless of which orientation the unit is mounted. A separate [hijack] parameter will be created for this: "stalk_on_left=1" (default is '0').

Pushing the KVol control "in" will act as a Shift (.S) modifier only.

-ml

I think the names need to be short here, due to the current player software limitation on the size of config.ini. I also suspect that Stalk owners/users are the ones most likely to exceed the max permited config.ini file size (4095 bytes).

Cheers

We will also need a syntax for tweaking the A-to-D conversion ranges for each button. I'm thinking something complex like:

stalk_buttons=xx,xx,yy,yy,zz,zz, ...

basically a pair of hex values for each button, specifying the range of A/D values per button. This syntax requires no new code in the config.ini parser, making it nice and lightweight since practically nobody will ever use it.

Speaking of which.. it would be very useful to know what the player software currently uses for A/D range values for each button. Anyone in the know want to help out here?

Thanks

-ml

There is a table near the bottom on this riocar.org page. I think it is based on Hugo's post which I can't find.

Peachy!

In reply to:

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Here are the names I am considering this minute:

KVolUp, KVolDown, KSeekUp, KSeekDown, KOff, KMode, KAtt, KSel, KDspl, KSource (I got these from the Sony Operating Instructions).

The Up/Down pairs apply regardless of which orientation the unit is mounted. A separate [hijack] parameter will be created for this: "stalk_on_left=1" (default is '0').

Pushing the KVol control "in" will act as a Shift (.S) modifier only.

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The Stalk_on_left=1 parameter in config.ini - why bother - Emplode already has a similar purpose parameter in config.ini (stalk_side=rhs (or =lhs, or none)).
This is settable via the properties in emplode - the same screen that lets you specify whether you Tuner is in Europe or the US).

That way folks can use Emplode to set their Stalk settings AND (importantly) you cannot set your 'hijack' stalk setting differently from the players settings this way.

If would be real confusing if I had my stalk either not enabled in emplode or on the opposite side to the hijack setting.

Now if you want a parameter to enable stalk mappings in hijack - sure put something in the [hijack] section in config.ini, that way the player can still honour the real stalk messages if it ever gets any - and they will be for the correct orientation of the stalk.

re: button names - are these case sensitive or will they work if all lowercase?
The suggested set of button names look fine to me.

My home-made stalk adapter has only 4 inputs - would I need to specify lots of empty ranges for the buttons I don't have? IWBNI there were a seperate config line for each button, but I can understand if that's unwieldy from your side.

BTW, I'd love this feature, as my -vol button seems to be right on the edge of tolerance and doesn't work for the first five minutes or so.

stalk_side=sss sounds good to me.

-ml

You are probably the only person who will ever use this feature, so I'd like to keep the memory footprint very small for it. Thus, a single specification.

Cheers

In reply to:

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Speaking of which.. it would be very useful to know what the player software currently uses for A/D range values for each button. Anyone in the know want to help out here?

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The the Riocar.Org Developer Info knows...

I have no idea how to find that info on RioCar.Org again, other than by searching the BBS for your post, and then clicking on the Link.

Is there a better way?

Also, the info there has at least one error: the v2beta values for "front/back" and "middle" overlap.. wrong.

??

In reply to:

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I have no idea how to find that info on RioCar.Org again, other than by searching the BBS for your post, and then clicking on the Link.

Is there a better way?

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Yes - save the link somewhere.

Or, from the top of RioCar.Org, follow "Developer Info", "Mk2 Hardware", "More Details on the Tuner Module's Wired Remote Interface".

In reply to:

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Also, the info there has at least one error: the v2beta values for "front/back" and "middle" overlap.. wrong.

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Hmm, I never noticed that. Perhaps the ranges are only inclusive in one direction - IOW, like [a0,b5) or (a0,b5].

P.S. sorry for the late reply - I've been away for a couple of weeks, skiing in Norway (where the Empeg saved my reputation by getting the daylight-savings change correct when everyone else forgot).