In case this package has been downloaded from somewhere else, or you've downloaded it and since forgotten what it is:
-It's a set of very basic tools for using the EMP-500 digital audio player
from EZ-AV, using Linux or some other Unix-like system such as (hopefully)
Mac OSX. The latter seems a reasonable idea particularly as the player is
claimed to work with Macs, but I'm not sure if the official software has
Mac versions, so it could be that the player works on Macs in much the same
way as it does with Linux.
The website is
http://www.angelfire.com/super2/duologue/software/ezav.html
There should also be a project page for it at Freshmeat.net shortly, in
case the site moves.
It is made by me alone so far, and is not endorsed by EZ-AV in any way. It's distributed under the GPL, a copy of which is included.
So far, this stuff has been for reverse-engineering the PFL video file that came with the player. I've managed to get vaguely viewable frames out of it. I've also managed to put frames of my own back into it!
Initial attempts turned out to leave the frames backwards but I didn't notice because I didn't go so far as to design a test-card for it. First release was somewhat rushed because it was a few days before I was due to leave on a long holiday and I had lots else to do for it (I got the player to take with me). Second release is just a quick bugfix to make the scripts work the way they're claimed to- no further functionality has been added and they're no friendlier to use.
While on holiday, I managed to use the official software on a Windows PC, and assembled a set of extra example files (including a basic test-card) to add to the single video that came preloaded on the player. I understand the format a lot better now and should be able to make these tools far more useful when I get certain other projects out of the way first. Meanwhile, this release is strictly able to do a bit as it is, if you have the patience, so any Linux or Unix users do at least have hope that it is possible to use some of the nicer features of these players.
I'd be very interested in whether I could add more to this- more features and especially other models (if any owners of such devices want to get in touch, they should not send any attachments over about 50k or so without at least asking me first).
The tools are "basic" in that they're command-line only. If you have no experience of using the command-line, you might well find it confusing, especially the parts involving stdin, stdout, and pipelines. On top of that, I don't have any official specifications, I'm just working it out for myself- so the code is very incomplete and fairly uncertain.
- REQUIREMENTS
NETPBM tools (IE, the programs which work with Portable Pixmap Files)
"expr" should be available for your system hopefully
"xloadimage" is required by the viewframe.sh script, although I imagine many other image viewers would work too if you changed it to use them. If you don't have this or a suitable replacement, the other scripts will still work just as well, you just won't be able to view frames directly.
If you don't have "tcc", you should remove the "#!/usr/bin/tcc" type lines from the files repackrgb12.c and unpackrgb12-b.c (or whichever), and compile them using GCC or whatever you have. I can't explain that ATM, I assume you know that much. You'd then have to change the various scripts that call those .c files to call the versions you compiled.
If you do have "tcc" installed, it should work ok without changes. It was just a lot easier for me to code this way, as I was in a rush. Still am.
If you don't have any C compiler at all, then you won't be able to use this software. AFAIR, OSX users have a "developer's tools" CD available that has a suitable version of gcc on it. Don't ask me about that though, I really don't know much about Macs.
You don't need the "findquot.icn" program, it's just there for historical reasons. You'd need Icon to run it anyway.
Tom Barnes-Lawrence, February-April 2006
tomble@usermail.com
[again, please DO NOT send large attachments unless I agree for you to
do so first!]