Feature Request - Retain State After Upgrade

[HalfBit]

Having just upgraded VortexBox to get the USB Backup / Virtual CD improvements, I found my software player did not work. It had reverted from squeezeslave to vortexbox-player which does not currently synchronize with hardware players. Thanks to Ron Olsen, I know how to change back to squeezeslave. I would like this to be automated and/or made part of a GUI selection.


It seems that once a VB user has selected an option, like which software player to use, that option should be preserved from VB version to version, without user interaction. Those selections would be best if they did not require user command-line interaction, but rather radio-button-type selections that are preserved in a local configuration file for that VortexBox.


Andrew, is this a practical request?

-mike

[andrew]

This will only happen if there are updates to the VortexBox player. But for now you will need to make sure squeezeslave is enabled.

[HalfBit]

Andrew said:This will only happen if there are updates to the VortexBox player. But for now you will need to make sure squeezeslave is enabled.


I think you wrote that change from SqueezeSlave to VortexBox-Player will happen each time there is a VortexBox-Player change and that you will not automate save and restore of player selection and you will not make which player the user wants a part of a GUI selection.


If I read what your wrote correctly, you say no to this feature request. Is that correct?

[HalfBit]

HalfBit said:
Andrew said:This will only happen if there are updates to the VortexBox player. But for now you will need to make sure squeezeslave is enabled.


I think you wrote that change from SqueezeSlave to VortexBox-Player will happen each time there is a VortexBox-Player change and that you will not automate save and restore of player selection and you will not make which player the user wants a part of a GUI selection.


If I read what your wrote correctly, you say no to this feature request. Is that correct?




TTT

[Ron Olsen]

Hi Mike,


I think you know the answer to your question already...


I sent Andrew a switch-player script that will let you switch between VortexBox Player and Squeezeslave:

switch-player squeezeslave

will activate Squeezeslave (and deactivate VortexBox Player), and

switch-player vortexbox

will activate VortexBox Player (and deactivate Squeezeslave).


If Squeezeslave ever stops working, you can reactivate it using this script.


I also sent Andrew an updated Squeezeslave rpm that does not disable automatic startup at boot time. The new rpm also has an improved /etc/init.d/squeezeslave that works well with switch-player.


While not the GUI interface that you want, this should help if you run into problems down the road.


I haven't heard back from Andrew, but I hope he will make these available in the VortexBox repository.

[Ron Olsen]

Hi again, Mike.


I just learned something new: if you turn off VortexBox Player via

chkconfig vortexbox-player off

then future updates to VortexBox Player will not re-enable it.


Thus your selection of Squeezeslave as your player will be maintained.


I hope this addresses your issue.

[HalfBit]

Ron Olsen said:

Hi again, Mike.


I just learned something new: if you turn off VortexBox Player via

chkconfig vortexbox-player off

then future updates to VortexBox Player will not re-enable it.


Thus your selection of Squeezeslave as your player will be maintained.


I hope this addresses your issue.





Hi Ron,


Yes, chkconfig vortexbox-player off as you describe will work for me.


As to the feature request, my intent was to suggest a means to make VortexBox more user-friendly and "Appliance"-like. Most VB users would prefer to avoid connecting a keyboard and display or installing a remote program because they must use command-line text. Because similar features have been implemented at the GUI level, I thought that state-retention and GUI player selection and was a valid candidate for user friendliness.


As to knowing the answer, I do not. I did understand Andrew's statement regarding updates to the VortexBox player was meant to explain how it works now. When Andrew used the phrase "for now you will need to make sure squeezeslave is enabled" I was left wondering if he misunderstood the feature request or if he understood the request and wanted to aviod refusing the request. In that he did not respond to the follow-up, and has responded to issues that are unrelated to VB in the interim, I conclude that he refuses the feature request, yet that's only an assumption.


Being curious, I used the chkconfig - -list command to before issuing the chkconfig vortexbox-player off command. I noticed that for vortexbox-player, even though I had issued service vortexbox-player stop and confirmed it with service vortexbox-player status, in the list, vortexbox player 0, 1, 2, & 6 were shown as "off while 3, 4, & 5 were shown as "on". After issuing chkconfig vortexbox-player off all seven are "off". I do not know what those seven items relate to, and thought you might know, and might be interested.


Thanks for going to the trouble of looking into this.


-mike