Request For Comments: Snakeoil 1.2.0 (Gear Isolation)

[hkphantomgtr]

Can't remember how long it has been, probably 3 weeks? Finally have a clear head, so managed to sit down and code some snake oil stuffs. Here're some things to look forward to in Blind Testing U7:

1. For the life of me I cannot remember what is wrong with network configuration. Apparently there is a problem, but I can't remember what that is, so... Kicked it back for now until somebody can remind me what the issue is
   
2. Older versions of MPDs (v17, v18, v19, etc) will be archived off as modules. This will not affect existing installs really, but future firmware (and ISO) will no longer include these players. [Done]
   
3. Further on 2. You can still install these archived players however, they are available as modules to be uploaded. [Done]
   
4. Further on 3. These players will not be gone on a firmware update [Done]
   
5. Yes, this also means any players you have set to be uninstalled currently, will no longer be reinstalled automatically upon a firmware update [Done]
   
6. Now that we have confirmation software update works, I'll try and introduce release upgrade. This will hopefully be a one click process that updates your Ubuntu to 18.04.02 (or whatever new version rolls along)
   
7. Introduce initial support for the creation of a RAM disk.
   

No idea when the firmware will be finished and released. Last two things are pretty straight forward, but I'll be away later today and Monday so it's hard to estimate the time.

And finally, to my fellow HK mates, and this will upset my Chinese friends. Regardless who you are, where you stand, I hope you guys stay safe. I don't have a say in this matter at all. You guys do, and you guys have spoken, and spoken loudly. I am angry, but am proud. Angry at the selective police treatment, angry at the triads, but above all, I'm proud of the HK citizens who spoke with their hearts.

Times like this usually generates the best music, music that will stand the test of time. Please stay safe so you guys can get to enjoy the music from this era later on in life.

Thank you very much, Agent Kith, that's very kind of you.  May the Bless of God with you all the time.

[agent_kith]

Something to look forward to in U7 perhaps? Easy way to create a RAM disk from the WebApp.

Now this feature will in theory turn any player into a memory player. Copying files to and from this disk, and then play is kindda tedious but will think of ways to improve on that in the future.
 

Why the choice of ramfs and tmpfs? Try both and let me know what you think. Technically, using tmpfs may incur some swap disk I/O, and that defeats the purpose of a RAM disk. ramfs don't have that issue, however, ramfs doesn't really tell you if you run out of space. So, with anything hifi - it's all about picking your poison.

Stay tuned.

[hkphantomgtr]

Something to look forward to in U7 perhaps? Easy way to create a RAM disk from the WebApp.

Now this feature will in theory turn any player into a memory player. Copying files to and from this disk, and then play is kindda tedious but will think of ways to improve on that in the future.
 

Why the choice of ramfs and tmpfs? Try both and let me know what you think. Technically, using tmpfs may incur some swap disk I/O, and that defeats the purpose of a RAM disk. ramfs don't have that issue, however, ramfs doesn't really tell you if you run out of space. So, with anything hifi - it's all about picking your poison.

Stay tuned.

I suspect, if SO will copy the next-to-play file into the ram disk at the background while playing the current, then it'll be close to perfect.

[agent_kith]

I suspect, if SO will copy the next-to-play file into the ram disk at the background while playing the current, then it'll be close to perfect.

Not sure that will be ideal, because:

1. Idea of RAM play is to totally take SSD/HDD out of the picture when playing back music
   
2. Copying next song while playing current song still means there's disk IO happening
   
3. Might be worse as a copy operation might take up more IO bandwidth than normal playback
   

Might be better off to just copy the files to this RAM disk, then queue the songs off that. A bit tedious, but if you have the RAM to accomodate 1 or 2 albums, then this isn't a problem.

[hkphantomgtr]

I suspect, if SO will copy the next-to-play file into the ram disk at the background while playing the current, then it'll be close to perfect.

Not sure that will be ideal, because:

1. Idea of RAM play is to totally take SSD/HDD out of the picture when playing back music
   
2. Copying next song while playing current song still means there's disk IO happening
   
3. Might be worse as a copy operation might take up more IO bandwidth than normal playback
   

Might be better off to just copy the files to this RAM disk, then queue the songs off that. A bit tedious, but if you have the RAM to accomodate 1 or 2 albums, then this isn't a problem.

Right! Then may I wish a button can copy the files of current play queue into the ramdisk?

[agent_kith]

Right! Then may I wish a button can copy the files of current play queue into the ramdisk?

Yes. It'll be something similar to that. But that'll come in U8. For now, just need to finish the list of stuffs to get this out the door. But will build on it eventually.

[Bromf]

Left field thinking here....
What if (given enough ram) two ramdisks were created.... then from a loaded playlist the top-most track would be loaded to Ramdisk1.....then moved to Ramdisk2 for playback.
Then the next track from the playlist was loaded to Ramdisk1 whilst the previous track in Ramdisk2 was playing....auto-consume Ramdisk2...

Rinse and repeat..?

Initial start-up would be delayed as the files are loaded and moved but after that it would be seamless...

??

[agent_kith]

Left field thinking here....
What if (given enough ram) two ramdisks were created.... then from a loaded playlist the top-most track would be loaded to Ramdisk1.....then moved to Ramdisk2 for playback.
Then the next track from the playlist was loaded to Ramdisk1 whilst the previous track in Ramdisk2 was playing....auto-consume Ramdisk2...

Rinse and repeat..?

Initial start-up would be delayed as the files are loaded and moved but after that it would be seamless...

??

Can certainly try that, but once it's RAM, latency is at it's lowest, there's no point having a second RAM disk.

Idea is to not play music while we're copying music from SSD/HDD/NAS to RAM disk.. And only start playback when all the files are copied to RAM. This should in theory give the best results (or not).. Time will tell.

[hkphantomgtr]

Left field thinking here....
What if (given enough ram) two ramdisks were created.... then from a loaded playlist the top-most track would be loaded to Ramdisk1.....then moved to Ramdisk2 for playback.
Then the next track from the playlist was loaded to Ramdisk1 whilst the previous track in Ramdisk2 was playing....auto-consume Ramdisk2...

Rinse and repeat..?

Initial start-up would be delayed as the files are loaded and moved but after that it would be seamless...

??

Can certainly try that, but once it's RAM, latency is at it's lowest, there's no point having a second RAM disk.

Idea is to not play music while we're copying music from SSD/HDD/NAS to RAM disk.. And only start playback when all the files are copied to RAM. This should in theory give the best results (or not).. Time will tell.

I'm so expecting......!

[agent_kith]

RAM disk mode is out. But it's too tedious to use at the moment. In U8, I'm going to add a widget in the library page, to allow you to select an album (tree view) from the WebApp. Click a button and the original file sin the RAM disk will be wiped, and the new album music will be copied over.

It'll have the standard error checking for file space and what not. Or whether you want to copy all files in the album, or a selection.

And to finish up on any bugs from the release upgrade.

Less than 20 new features to add before the next big release. As usual time is my biggest enemy, Isolation Gear will be ready when all the ticket's checked off.