Squelch 1.0.2
Supports:
Input : Ogg Vorbis.
Output : ALSA, aRts, esd, IRIX, OSS, NULL, Solaris, raw, AU, WAV...
(anything supported by libao)
Features:
* Vorbis tag editor.
* Fancy playlist.
Benefits over most other audio players (except perhaps alsaplayer):
NO stalling the interface while busy !
NO waiting for track info to be read !
NO dropout while machine load high !
NO gaps between tracks !
NO dragging/dropping new files. Auto update !
NO patented input decoders.
NO stupid skins.
NO stupid visualisation plugins.
NO overriding your window manager.
NO reappearing somewhere off-screen because you changed resolution.
NO bugs ! Anything you think is a bug is your imagination. Tell me anyway.
Drawbacks in relation to some other audio players:
* Loading the entire libqt-mt into memory just to run one application is
a waste. Not much I can do about this.
* How to use it:
- Start squelch.
- Press the 'spanner' ('wrench' if you speak US English) icon to open the
setup dialog.
- Type (or browse to) the directory where you keep your audio.
If you don't keep it all in one place, you can symlink it all together.
- Choose your output driver.
- Say OK to your changes.
- Watch. You should see a little window pop up, showing you the names
of tracks that squelch has found. If you open the playlist window
(use the 'magnifying glass') then you can see the tracks being put
into a tree.
- When squelch has finished scanning, have a look around the tree and
choose the tracks you want to hear. Pressing the '+' icon will increase
their score, and they will appear in the 'real' playlist in the bottom
half of the window. Pressing the '-' will decrease their score. Pressing
the 'pen' will allow you to edit the 'tags'.
* Notes:
- Tracks with a score of 0 are removed from the 'real' playlist. Tracks
with higher scores appear first in the playlist. So if you're a big
Soundgarden fan (and who isn't ?) you can give high scores to your
Soundgarden albums and you'll get to hear them first.
- Changes to the playlist are auto-saved when you haven't made any
alterations for about 1/10s.
- Keybindings for main window:
h - previous track
l - next track
escape - stop (and rewind playlist)
space - play / pause
return - restart track
Why h/l for previous/next ? I use vi and I like vi keybindings for all
my apps.
- You can set defaults for Qt applications by editing your .Xdefaults file.
For example, I have this in ~/.Xdefaults:
squelch*font: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
This saves typing squelch -font '-*-helvetica-medium-r-normal....'
- OSS drivers are stupid. If you try and open an OSS device while another
application is using it, your application will block. squelch does
output in a thread, so the app doesn't block, but if you try to open
a locked OSS device then output won't work and the output thread will
be blocked. You can unlock the device by stopping whichever app is
using it, or you can restart squelch, which is what I do. Actually,
I just use ALSA exclusively now.
Anyone know how to test if OSS devices are busy ? It would be nice
to have something like device_is_busy() in libao to avoid situations
like this.
- Example for installing .desktop file and icons for use with KDE2:
cp squelch.desktop /opt/kde/share/applnk/Multimedia/
for size in 16 32 48
do
cp hi${size}-app-squelch.png \
/opt/kde/share/icons/hicolor/${size}x${size}/apps/squelch.png
done
- You can force squelch to have no borders if you want. See your
window manager's documentation. If you're running KDE, try
kstart --type Override squelch -geometry [something]
Requirements:
* Ogg Vorbis libraries (at least RC2, including libao.)
Try at: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/download/
* Qt-2.2.x, compiled with -thread option.
Try at: ftp://ftp.trolltech.com/qt/source/
Getting updates:
* If you want to know when I release a new version of squelch, just send
me an email saying so. When you don't want any more updates, just tell
me.
TODO:
* Probably nothing. I have other things to do. If you want to take over
maintaining, please let me know.
Me:
Rik Hemsley (rikkus) <rik@kde.org>