Notes, Thanks, and FAQ


Thanks Without you, Streamer2 may not have happened

  1. Everyone. Thanks for the suggestions, bug reports, etc.
  2. CISC for the really good, clean RealAudio code, making it easy to port to StormC.
  3. Stephane Tavernard for mpega.library
  4. Halil Ibrahim Tasova for Streamer2 Turkish Catalog
  5. Ole Martin Bjørndalen for MakePath code
  6. Dirk Stoecker for xadmaster.library
  7. Dink for Z! track parsing code
  8. The Revillos, for RealAudio test files. Sucba, Scuba!


Notes: I gained 12 pounds while Streamer2 was being written, because I didn't feel like going to the gym. Now I have lots of work to do on my belly!

FAQ Things I ask myself.

Q: Why Streamer2?
A: Streamer's code couldn't take any more modification. In order to make it easier to add/change things in Streamer, it had to be re-written. It's not version 2.0: it's a totally new proggy.

Q: Why require OS 3.5?
A: One word: ReAction! I have nothing against Magic User Interface: I LOVE MUI! But the developer documentation wasn't as good as what's on the Amiga Developer CD for ReAction. Plus, if AmigaOS continues development, ReAction GUI will get better, whereas MUI has been stagnant for years.

Q: Will Streamer2 work with Ibrowse? Genesis?
A: YES!! Streamer used to make a copy of the socket and use it in the main program, and the Streamer Net Process. I did away with that: all of the network stuff is done exclusively in 'Net Process now.

Q: Warum sind die Deutscher ubersetzungen so schlimm sein? Bist du Blode?
A: Ich bin ein Berliner.

Q: Why does the audio take so long to start/stop?
A: If you use an external player, it has to continue until Streamer writes an end-of-file to the audio FIFO buffer. I haven't figured out a way to CTRL-C an external player. In the Internal player, you have to wait for the HTTP connection to close before a break is sent to the audio player process.

Q: Why doesn't my external player work?
A:Usually, your player is trying to get an exclusive lock on the PIPE file. Homie don't play dat. Try configuring the program not to use AsynchIO, that's one suggestion. Also, your pipe and queue-handler may not work right. You could try replacements from AmiNet.

Q: Why doesn't Install configure IBrowse/Voyager?
A: Their Arexx interfaces don't support it. I could do raw writes to their preferences files, but if the formats change, I could totally hose your MIME settings.

Q: Does Streamer2 support PIPE streaming?
A: Yes! You would configure your browser to use pipe streaming with regular MP3 files, so they will play as they download. Otherwise you will have to download the entire file first and then play it. For shoutcast files (.pls and .mpu), pipe streaming is NOT necessary because Streamer2 will use it's own network client to retrieve the file.

Q: I want to translate Streamer2 into another language. How?
A: The strings inside the program are listed in the Streamer2.cd file in this archive. Step 1: Replace these strings in your own language. Step 2: Use the CatComp program to make this a valid catalog file. Place this file in LOCALE:/streamer2.catalog. Please send me the catalog, and I will include it in the distribution next time!

Q: Why does Streamer guru right after it loads?
A: Early versions of OS 3.5 have a version of penmap.image which doesn't work correctly with button.gadget. Penmap.image is used to render the server type icon in the correct colours inside of a button object to the left of the timer. You may need a newer version of penmap.image.

Q: Where can I find the currently-playing track?
A: You have to choose Project->Information from the menu. I didn't like the idea of putting it in the scrolling window, because sometimes it takes forever to show the track name. Note that track names are only sent by ShoutCast servers. If you have a lightening bolt icon shown in Streamer, you're connected to one.

Q: Why doesn't my RealAudio/RealMedia file play?
A: RealAudio files are not all the same. Much like AVI video files, they can have different codings. Streamer supports 14.4, 28.8, and DNet. If you want Amiga owners to be able to hear these files, you may need to use an older version of RealAudio to encode the files. (I think we support everything up to Real G2).

Q: I use a MPEG hardware (MAS, Flipper), and I don't hear anything, but I am getting data from the network. Why?
A: The MAS chip used in Amiga MPEG hardware is very old. It does not support MPEG version 2, which allows bitrates less than 32Kbps. If you are listening to a stream with a bitrate lower than that, you may have to switch to an Internal player.

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