Firstly, Thanks to all of your help and previous posts, I now have displayserver, volume adjustment and tetris (via Frank's / tony's picker) working.

I would like to know what other utilities have been compiled for the empeg, I am particularly looking for:

The ability to Telnet into it (is that there already ?)
An FTP server
A Text editor for script editing

Can anyone recommend anything like this. Is there a central repository for this kind of stuff?

MK2 Red S/n 949

Well, the empeg is almost a Debian box, so you could try http://www.debian.org/. Look for the ARM packages.



Roger - not necessarily speaking for empeg

Thanks, I will have a look.

I am new to Linux so just wanted to see what I can do.

MK2 Red S/n 949

I now have displayserver, volume adjustment and tetris (via Frank's / tony's picker) working.

Remember that I didn't write any of the software in that picker. All I did was assemble a few different pieces of software and create step-by-step instructions on how to install it all together. The original authors are all credited in the readme file.

Telnet, FTP, and text editing can all be installed in the same way you'd install them on any other Linux system. Those things are stripped out of the system by default, but you can stick them on the hard disk if you really want to. It isn't trivial to do it because of all the dependencies, and I've never done it before, but I know some folks have been able to do it successfully. Do some searches on this BBS for old threads about installing FTP and you'll see some discussions on the subject.

___________
Tony Fabris

A Text editor for script editing

As I don't have a MkII, ftp and telnet aren't really interesting
for me I haven't looked into it - but IIRC others have reported
success here on the board.

For an editor I'd suggest ae:
ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/binary-arm/base/ae_962-26.deb
which is probably the smallest editor available. It is also quite easy to use...

I don't recall whether the slang
(ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/binary-arm/base/slang1_1.3.9-1.deb)
library was already on the empeg or not.

/Michael

I had a look at the Dedian site but it all a bit scarey for me. The files seem to be in some DEB proprietry archive format which I presume will install into the croscompiler and need compiling for ARM. I don't have any of this so was asking for ready comiled executables for the empeg. I can cope with zmodem and limited bash knowledge but compiling C is a different matter.

I think I will have to make a Linux partition at home and play some more rather than being at risk of asking too many inept questions. That way I can 'break' my PC at home to my hearts content without being without music!

Thanks for your help anyway.

MK2 Red S/n 949

Yes, Yes, credit where credit is due and all that. People can write the most amazing apps but they are useless to me unless someone tells me how to use them in simple terms.

I think you did that Tony... Thanks.

Oh and Frank, Displayserver is just fantastic

MK2 Red S/n 949

Nope. The deb format is simply a tar.gz file with an associated description file. There's no source to compile. If you can get a binary of dpkg for ARM (it's in base.tgz), you can use it to install the binary deb packages.

It's a little scary, but there's no compilation involved -- unless you want there to be.

I'll put some information on my website about how to get a basic Debian installation on the player at some point soon.

Roger - not necessarily speaking for empeg

Edited by Roger on 10/04/01 11:26 AM.

Maybe I do want complication or at least I am finding difficulty avoiding it. :-)

I did as recommended and downoaded the dpkg-awk_1.0.0.deb..deb file from debian.org. Unfortunately, this is in the same .deb format. I have tried with Winrar and Winzip to extract it (normal tar.gz is OK normally) but no luck.

I'M STUMPED !!

MK2 Red S/n 949

People can write the most amazing apps but they are useless to me unless someone tells me how to use them in simple terms.

I know what you mean. I have been looking for a way to install software-packages using a windows gui. My idea was to have a windows app use the serial line to stop the player and use the appropiate commands to upload executables to the empeg using the zmodem protocol. I couldn't find any zmodem routines for Delphi, so this is put in the background for now... Maybe there is some way to use OLE/DCOM to control hyperterm???
The current idea is to have one excutable(displayserver 2.0), which must be transferred to the empeg using hyperterm. After starting the executable, you could use a webbrowser to configure the software. I have got a stable framework now, which includes the ability to upload files to the empeg from your webbrowser. Now it is time to setup some userinterface to administer the whole. (which will also include an editor to directly edit files on the empeg)
The ability to upload files also means that the disk should be mounted read-write, so I will have to define some states; in car you should not have your disk mounted rw.
Anyway, I hope to have something usable in a few weeks...

Frank van Gestel

.deb packages are 'ar' archives containing files called data.tar.gz and control.tar.gz. There's a file in there called debian-binary, and I assume that source packages have a file called debian-source.

To get the data.tar.gz file out of the deb file, use:

ar p deb-file data.tar.gz

If you install Cygwin (see here), you can run ar under Windows. Then send the tar.gz file to the player, and use tar (which is installed in the developer image by default, IIRC) to extract it.


Roger - not necessarily speaking for empeg

Well Frank, Maybe I can do some of the helping for a change?

http://www.hallogram.com/supercom/

This would appear to allow you to do all the Zmodem and ASCII stuff on the empeg and looks like it will work from delphi.



MK2 Red S/n 949

that looks like a powerfull toolkit to me... I also did find others which offer zmodem-functionality; most of them at the same price as stated at hallogram.
I am not going to pay $400 for a freeware-project on empeg though. If anyone has this toolkit, they could generate a DLL which has got the zmodem routines in and distribute it freely. At least that's what it says at the page :

License Information
Executables developed using SuperCom can be distributed royalty free.



Frank van Gestel

License Information
Executables developed using SuperCom can be distributed royalty free.

Hmm, that was the only bit I read, I did not realise it was 400 for the package in the fist place. Sorry.

I will keep looking though, this would seem to be a good way to get the GOOD STUFF on the empeg for people like me.



MK2 Red S/n 949

After starting the executable, you could use a webbrowser to configure the software. I have got a stable framework now, which includes the ability to upload files to the empeg from your webbrowser. Now it is time to setup some userinterface to administer the whole. (which will also include an editor to directly edit files on the empeg)

COOOOOL.

When do we get it?


The ability to upload files also means that the disk should be mounted read-write, so I will have to define some states; in car you should not have your disk mounted rw.

IMHO, the read-write state should happen only when sending files and saving edited files. At all other times it should be read-only, even when in the house.

I've noticed that if you mount the disks read-write, it only takes "a long time" the first time you do it. Subsequent ROMs and RWMs are fast. If your web interface just toggled RO and RW on-the-fly, the end-user would only get the "wait" on the first save.

___________
Tony Fabris

been looking for a way to install software-packages using a windows gui

Ewwwww, just don't forget the .tar.gz for those of us who are afraid of windows, OK?

-Mike

I may be interrested in contributed a few dollars if needed.

Marius (Escort Cab + Mark II)