Probably asked before, but I am curious - are there going to be any more releases from Sonic Blue for the Rio Car or is Beta 11 it?

I ask after personally working on a number of projects in similar situations were no software was released after the project died though in a few cases the developers did carry-on in the spare time for a short period of time.

PS, for those who worked (or work) at Sonic Blue do you know Janet Lansing or Gary Sanders or any of the other 3dfx people who went there?

Also, it is expected that there will still be more software upgrades in the future. Version 2.0 of the software was released in October 2001, despite the EOL announcement the prior month.

Since the empeg team will continue to create new products for Sonic|blue and other OEM partners, the car player will likely be the initial testbed for some of the new software technologies being developed. For example, one possibility is that voice recognition technology might be initially tested as an upgrade for the Rio Car player. Although that's uncertain at this time, it would depend on if it gets included in an upcoming product or not.

That is from the FAQ here.

Hmm, generally management don't care about legacy projects (unless customers make a REALLY BIG fuss). This translates into the developers been given new tasks. If these new tasks use the same code base as the RIO Car then your right I can see we may be in luck (though I can’t see Sonic Blue doing any QA on the releases!) however normally source code is branched for different products and at some point they diverge so much it is not worthwhile trying to update legacy code unless someone has a personal interest.

I'm just trying to figure out if we are in that position now.

Don't get me wrong I only recently purchased my Rio and I did so in the full knowledge that it would be without future upgrades. I was just hoping that Sonic Blue might see fit to release the full source code at some point in time so I can tweak it :-)

What do you think the Empeg team is using in their own cars (aside from any top-secret stuff)? For that reason alone, I expect many more updates.

Greetings!

You can give up on the source becoming public. That issue has already been discussed a few times. Given that the developers / designers / creators of the empeg are still here and active, and are still using the same code base, I suspect that there will be more code along the way. Granted, maybe not in the immediate future, but...

If it is not breaking a confidentiality agreement, could you let us know what release number the current alpha team is using? I know the alpha team is a number of releases ahead, but if you choose to publish any information on the alphas past (what number and when it was released), it might help ease concerns. If the answer is "no", that's fine too...

If it is not breaking a confidentiality agreement, could you let us know what release number the current alpha team is using?

I wish I was under a confidentiality agreement. I am just a sad, uninformed peasant like you.

The last release to the alpha team was v2.00-beta12.

Wasn't there some talk of making this release public a while back ?

Wasn't there some talk of making this release public a while back ?

That would have been before we found the bugs in it... the next beta will definitely be a post-12 version.

Peter

It would be terribly cool if there could be a new release before the west coast meet this weekend. I want to demonstrate RTA there, but the Beta11 bug in the L/R Lock in the equalizer means that anyone who wants to try it will need to be given an ilicit copy of beta12 for the purpose.

Heh, if this tactic works, I suggest we schedule Empeg meets once per month so we can get releases more often. Talk about setting a bad precedent!

If you knew the kind of deadline we have this week you wouldn't ask that

Sorry!

We'll get another public beta out when the current madness calms down a bit.

Rob

Our current major project uses a different codebase, although some of the stuff we're doing on the PC side is likely to benefit car people in future.

The next few projects are likely to use our core codebase, so the car player will benefit more directly. In fact we have already made some MAJOR enhancements to the car software, but we are not incorporating those into the 2.0 branch otherwise the feature creep will never end. I think we need a stable 2.0 before any more features are released (wishful thinking).

Rob

Hey Rob...

MAJOR enhancements to the car software???

[whine] AWWWWW man! These past months I was all fine until I read that line...now I join the ranks of the sallow-skinned nail biters, anxiously awaiting their next fix....[/whine]

Ach. I cannae take it anymoe. I Nee' ma fix.

Well, major under the hood. Paving-the-way-for-new-features sort of stuff.

We might bring some cool toys to Amersfoort, you never know.

Rob

I want to demonstrate RTA there

Well, I guess that fiddling with your equalisation while driving would be an excellent way to cause an RTA...

Peter

Hey, we teased you with features in v2.0 (back when it was going to be v1.1) for months before it was publicly released. Now that v2.0 is nearly finished, we've got to keep up the tradition...

To do that, you have to start replying to posts and threads by simply saying:

"2.00Final".

I used to HATE when all you would do was say "1.1"

No, I mean that we'll start responding with "v3.0"...

Last night I had a dream.....I saw Rob climbing the K2 and when he got to the TOP he saw deep down a big demonstration of Empeg users (I mean owners) all concentrated and in silence just looking to the Top of the mountian....and then Rob shouted Weeeeeeee haaaaaaave madeeeeeeeeeeeeeee soomeeeeeee MAJOOOOOOOOOOOR enhaaaaancements to the car software.....and then everybody started to dance to jump to cry of happiness...violin music in the background...fantastic...then I woke up, I took a shower, drove to work and thought....what a hell was Rob doing climbing the K2?

"History of modern music"

Mario

I was waiting for the part where the avalanch takes Rob down the mountain as the people were stomping at the base demanding the next version. :-D

Calvin

I think you were dreaming about Mark and Hijack...

I think you should stop eating cheese before bedtime.

Rob