GiantDisc Complete Clients
| Client | Description | Recommendation | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm client | The Palm client offers all funtions that are necessary to use and manage the GD jukebox system. It allows to efficiently retrieve and play tracks, albums and playlists. It has also recording, importing and deletion capabilities, and it supports the management of the jukebox system. | The Palm client is the recommended standard client for GiantDisc. The jukebox system has been designed to be entirely controlled by this client software. | The Palm client is part of the standard GD distribution |
| Jajouka - Python/GTK client | A very nice looking interface based on Python/GTK. It is widely platform independent and has been tested on Linux and Win machines. | Due to its ease of use and functional completeness it can be recommended as general interface for end users. | Jajouka has been designed by Andy Balcombe. It can be downloaded here |
| Phil's Web client | This web interface is very nice looking, and offers all important jukebox functions to find and play albums or individual tracks. The interface is a quite new design, and it is still being developed. | Due to its ease of use and functional completeness it can be recommended as general interface for end users. | The client software has been designed by Philipp Heckel. It can be downloaded at http://gd.philsworld.de |
| GD Web client | The web client is based on Apache/PHP and mainly allows to view and edit track and album informations. Playlists can't currently be modified, and the only way to play tracks is by dowloading them to the local computer. It offers just a small number of functions that are not available in the Palm client. | This web interface is rather a feasibility study than an end user product. It's main purpose is to serve a a basis for developers of serious web clients for GD. | The GD web client is part of the standard GD distribution |
GiantDisc Lightweight Clients
Lightweight clients only cover a small subset of full clients. Typical functions are display the currently played track, start/stop/pause playing, skip to next track etc. Usually they can only be used in conjunction with a more complete interface (palm, web, ...).
| Client | Description | Recommendation | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCD client | A simple interface, typically consisting of a LCD display with 4x20 alphanumeric characters and 4-8 input keys. Other displays and key numbers are supported too. The interface just offers very basic playlist controls like start/stop/pause playing and displaying of the current track title and artist. | The LCD/keys client is particularly useful with stand-alone set top boxes or mobile GD jukeboxes. | The LCD client is part of the standard GD distribution |
| LIRC client | This interface controls a GD server with a common IR remote control. It allows the same actions like the LCD client. | The LIRC client is useful as addition to a fixed GD system in a living room. | The LIRC client has been designed by Wolfgang. It can be downloaded in the contributions section. |
| Bluetooth via Sony-Ericsson T68i Phone Client | With this client a GD server can be controlled with Sony-Ericsson T68i mobile phone over bluetooth. You get the usual playlist functions and it also displays the currently played track on the phone screen. | The BT T68i client is useful as addition to a fixed GD system in a living room. | The client software has been designed by Gabriel Indurskis. It can be downloaded at his website |
Note for Developers of GD Clients
The Palm client accesses to the server through a simple text based protocol. Older versions of alternative clients usually didn't connect to the main server, but they directly accessed to the database and shell scripts and commands.
Directly reading and manipulating the database is a actually a bad idea. The internal representation of the data has always changed and will be further developed. A better way to implement clients is to make them communicate to the same server as the Palm client does, using the same protocol.
As of GD version 1.34-beta6 it is possible to attach as many clients to a single server as required.