control multiple instances of softwares?

[V_J]

I got a bit side tracked: I would need a good webinterface to make it work nicely, and discovered the Tornado plugin. As it is all new to me, I thought it would be nice to practise by making a web interface to control my amplifier (through serial port), which meant that I extended the Marantz Serial plugin (my first steps in Python)... Still working on that web interface (it already displays all the statusses of the amplifier, now adding controls), but I have a bit less time than before...

On the mulitroom thing: I currently use some wireless speakers (not dlna or so) I had lying around, but it limits control. I still plan to go ahead with my initial plan, and use a seperate instance of winamp to control what goes through those speakers. My current plan:
- finish Marantz web interface
- set XBMC on media computer (currently using seperate programs, not too convenient)
- make webinterface on EventGhost for XBMC / Winamp (for wireless speakers)

But I will not focus on it too much: I will probably move to your suggestion of using a Raspberry PI:). I noticed they have a very nice touch screen, PiTFT, which does not seem too complicated to install. Not sure yet if the touch part works with RaspBMC or OpenElec, but it works with Raspbian: I assume it will work with XBMC on Rapsbian. This is not the most performant way of running XBMC, but should be good enough for music). The latest XBMC supports a touchscreen interface, so if there is an XBMC skin that keeps things readable on 320x240 resolution, it might be the basis for a perfect internet radio with a nice interface... It would just lack Wake On Lan, but may be able to find a way around that as well. Using RaspBian would also allow more uses (e.g. simple web browsing using preset favorites).

[V_J]

Small update... I still did not manage to find time and realized I would not be able to make an extensive interface.

But there is hope: my brother changes his Squeezebox multiroom system to Sonos, so I can have his Squeezeboxes. And I started googling a bit. On AVS forum, I found that a guy is using muliple instances of Softsqueeze on a single system, to achieve what I'm trying to do with EventGhost and the multiple instances of WinAmp. One big difference: you can use the web interface of Logitech Media Server (which has to run for the Squeezeboxes) to control all of them. And control involves everything: playlists, internet radio, synchronization, ... And there is an EventGhost plugin for that server. So I can move away from the WinAmp, and use that approach. This saves me the need to make the interface for internet radio/playback, and I can use it also for the real Sqeeuzebox units.
I should be able to use different web interfaces, and just need to put them togehter in one webpage (e.g. make one page with frames) to switch between them.

edit: the link to the thread on AVS forum: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/36-home-v ... ne-pc.html

[Sem;colon]

and just need to put them togehter in one webpage (e.g. make one page with frames) to switch between them

...That's exactly what I did for some other things, like my TV recorder (Argus TV)

[V_J]

It is a bit rethinking my strategy, but general things stay the same: 2 SoftSqueeze (or SqueezeLite or SqueezePlay, haven't decided yet, but it does not matter much - the first two for sure allow their identifier to be set, not sure of SqueezePlay allows two instances) instances in stead of 2 WinAmp. Control can be via the Logitech Media Server (web interface), or any client on a tablet, and via the SqueezeBox EventGhost plugin. I could keep this as I planned (main zone and second zone), but in addition add the control for the physical units in exactly the same way. XMBC has its own webinterface, so no problem with that either, so it just leaves a web interface for the amplifier, which is now much less necessary.

I might actually be able to finish this functionality (without the amplifier) some day!

[awehring]

Quite interesting your thread. Thanks for keeping us informed.

With your Squeeze / XBMC solution, is EventGhost still necessary? Both have a web interface and can be controlled by a tablet or smartphone remotely, if I understand correctly.
EventGhost would allow a unified user interface for both, but only with a large effort. If you are a perfectionist, you could pimp it up with terRemote (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3859).

BTW, many complain about the poor audio output quality of the Raspi. Maybe not even good enough for the kitchen (luckily you do not need it anymore).

[Sem;colon]

With your Squeeze / XBMC solution, is EventGhost still necessary? Both have a web interface and can be controlled by a tablet or smartphone remotely, if I understand correctly.

It depends on what you want to do. For control it's not necessary. Eventghost is an automation tool, it allows your hardware and software to interact, this gives you far more possibilities.

BTW, many complain about the poor audio output quality of the Raspi. Maybe not even good enough for the kitchen (luckily you do not need it anymore).

I never used the analog audio jack, but if you use digital audio via HDMI it's very good

[V_J]

With your Squeeze / XBMC solution, is EventGhost still necessary? Both have a web interface and can be controlled by a tablet or smartphone remotely, if I understand correctly.
EventGhost would allow a unified user interface for both, but only with a large effort. If you are a perfectionist, you could pimp it up with terRemote (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3859).

I'm not a huge fan of smartphone/tablet controls. It works great, don't get me wrong, but I'm already all the time charging one or more devices. Normally, I keep wifi on the phone off, so to just switch on music, I would first have to enable wifi, launch the app, ... For simple things, I prefer a genuine remote: one button to switch on the PC, one button to start the music (set receiver correctly, etc.). And in that scenario, I need EventGhost to optimally use an IR remote in the living room: it needs to control XBMC, Squeezebox(es) and my receiver (via RS232). It may be easier with a physical Squeezebox in the livingroom, but I'm not sure it is necessary there: the PC is in that room and I can run SoftSqueeze on it.

A programmable remote would allow a bit of the functionality, but EventGhost would still allow for better customization. I also would like to see if I can integrate it with my home automation system: I have one switch near the door that now switches off all the lights. It would be nice if it would also switch off Squeezeboxes and computer. The home automation system also offers me a nice tablet interface, so long term planning is adding audio control to that. Ideally, I was thinking of assigning a wall switch to just switch on/off audio, but it involves so many different things that this whole home automation integration is the very last step.

[m19brandon]

Eventghost, web dev and home automation are my hobbies, so I choice to invest my time programming them. However, I could choose to use the prepackaged UIs and everything would work great but I would be less happy.