recommended: An Appletalk network, AppleScript or other OSA
PowerPC native: yes (compiled w/ PPC alignment and 604 optim.)
Scriptable/Recordable: yes
description:
Remote Remote GH is an audio CD controller. But, not only can it control audio CDs in the computer you are sitting at, it can also control the playback of CDs which are in another Mac on your Appletalk network, whether it is across the room or across campus.
preparing a remote computer:
1) Go to the remote computer whose CD player you want to control. Go to the ╥Sharing Setup╙ control panel and click on the ╥Start╙ button for ╥Program Linking╙.
2) Go to the ╥Users & Groups╙ control panel and create a user identity for yourself. Be sure to click on the ╥Allow user to link to programs on this Macintosh╙ button within your identity/password file.
3) a) if AppleScript is enabled on this computer, take the enclosed ╥AudioCDgh╙ file and place it in the folder :System Folder:Extensions:Scripting Extensions. Remote Remote requires the version which came with it.
b) if AppleScript is not on the remote computer, place a copy of ╥Remote Remote GH╙ and launch it. You will be able to control the CD drive through it as long as it is running.
4) Confirm that the computer is properly setup to play audio CDs (perhaps by trying to play something).
5) Leave an audio CD mounted in the CD ROM.
running Remote Remote GH:
Launch Remote Remote GH. A CD controller window will open up, which will be active if there is a CD ROM drive attached to your computer and there is an audio CD in that drive. You can use the standard icon button controls in the window to control local playback. There are two buttons with black triangles in the icons: the Play/Pause/Continue button and the Sound Level button; quickly clicking on the Play/Pause/Continue button will toggle between playing and being paused, while clicking and holding down on this button will bring up a menu of tracks to start playing at; clicking and holding down on the Sound Level button will bring up a graphical menu from which to select how loud you want your music to play. If you prefer, all the commands accessible from the buttons are available in the Control menu.
If you have setup a remote computer as described above, select ╥Target Computer ...╙ from the ╥Control╙ menu. A dialog will come up to allow you to choose possible scriptable applications on your network. If you have used setup choice 3b, select the copy of Remote Remote GH running on the remote computer; if you are using setup choice 3a, select the ╥Finder╙. Enter your user name and password. If all goes well, you are now in control of the remote CD drive.
status symbols:
In the bottom, left hand corner of a control window is an icon representing what drive is being controlled:
half a Mac: the control window doesn't have a CD ROM to control.
one Mac: the control window is directly controlling a CD drive attached to this machine.
two Macs: the control window has an active connection controlling a CD drive on a computer somewhere on the AppleTalk network.
time symbols:
The current time mode is indicated by the icon next to the computer(s) icon.
X = no time being displayed
Counterclockwise arrow + partially filled circle = time left in track
Counterclockwise arrow + fully filled circle = time left in disk
Clockwise arrow + partially filled circle = time into track
Clockwise arrow + fully filled circle = time into disk
AppleScripting:
Remote Remote GH, by itself, supports all the audio cd information and control commands of the AppleScript extension AudioCDgh. In addition, it supports an additional parameter to the play command of the form: play audio cd using track program {1,5,3,3,4}, a corresponding monitoring command of the form: if (playing track program in drive 1) is not equal to true then..., and a informational command to get a track programs you have stored using the AppleCD Audio Player of the form: get AppleCD track program
In general, if you want to learn about scripting Remote Remote GH, read the provided example scripts, record a few scripts, and read the scripting dictionary using the Script Editor.
Remote Remote GH does not support recording commands sent to remote drives or passing scripted commands through to remote drives. It is suggested you try directly controlling the remote copy of Remote Remote or the AudioCDgh extension using commands of the form:
tell application "Finder" of machine "Brahms"
-- you will need the AudioCDgh extension loaded on both local and remote machines
play audio cd
end tell
or
tell application "Remote Remote GH (FAT)" of machine "Dakota" of zone "Accounting"
-- use your own machine and zone names, of course
play audio cd using track program {11,5,3,4,5,11} -- can't use playlist with AudioCDgh+Finder
end tell
or
set targetApp to (choose application with prompt "Select a copy of Finder or Remote Remote")
-- requires the Choose Application scripting extension
tell targetApp as application
set cd volume in drive 1 to 50
play audio cd
end tell
It is probably preferable speedwise to do your scripting through Remote Remote as the AudioCDgh extension has to run some setup code for every message sent to it.
Leonard Roesenthol has released an extension, OSA Menu, which puts a global menu of scripts in the menu bar. I think you might find it useful in conjunction with Remote Remote GH. If you have Internet access, try finding it at: ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/_Development/osa/osa-menu-102.hqx
This is subject to change, of course.
about the author:
Glenn R. Howes is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, whose research involves the improvement of chemically amplified resists for use in Xray lithography. He is an accomplished Mac programmer with numerous free, shareware, and commercial products to his credit.
Glenn will be available for employment in January 1996 as a) a Mac programmer b) a PhD analytical chemist c) a hybrid of both. If you have such a job opening, let him know.
contacting the author:
Glenn╒s e-mail address is grhowes@kagi.com (this is a forwarding service which will get his e-mail to wherever he is and whatever he is doing). Until January 1996, you can also use grhowes@students.wisc.edu
distribution:
Remote Remote GH may be distributed under the following conditions: a) no charge is made for the program itself b) only a nominal fee for disks and shipping is charged c) all files in this package are kept together.
The SUMEX info-mac archive and its mirrors and its CD ROM version are given permission to distribute this version. Same with the Univ. of Michigan archive, mirrors and CD ROM. Same with the Arizona Mac Users group. Same with the Japanese version of MacUser. Same with the German version of the Tao of AppleScript. Every other commercial vendor or online service is asked to please ask permission, you will probably get it if your name doesn't begin with M end with t and have icrosof in the middle.
Using Remote Remote GH or AudioCDgh to control a remote computer without the permission of the computer╒s owner, system manager or primary user is prohibited, nor can you use either for malicious reasons. If you do so, consider your license to use this software revoked.
for a more convenient local audio cd controller:
Use Audio Strip GH (soon at version 1.3.1); look for a link to the most recent version on Glenn╒s home page: http://www.xraylith.wisc.edu/~howes/
about the product:
Remote Remote GH was written in C++ using Metrowerks CodeWarrior version 7 and the PowerPlant framework.
thanks to:
The beta testers, especially Martin J. Koistinen whose suggestions make up much of the interface.
Glenn╒s high school chemistry teacher, Richard Bringedahl, who started him on the road to becoming a chemist.
people ask:
╥How can you make money giving away such a fine program?╙
