TouchPlayer Documentation

TouchPlayer 1.0.7

Note to self: Port mplayer to Touchpad

I have been working on porting mplayer over to the Touchpad.  When I work on projects, I write a note to myself at the end of the day to remember where I left off.  This is a copy of those notes.

Play mkv, avi, flv and wmv files on webOS Touchpad

This article is no longer maintained, please see TouchPlayer Documentation.

One thing the touchpad clearly lacks is the number of supported video formats available. Out of the box, the mp4 container with h.264 codec is pretty much it.  If all of your videos are in this format already, you can benefit from the hardware acceleration that the stock video player provides for this codec.

If you want to play any other format, you have a few options:

1. Convert your existing media to mp4 h.264 with an app like Handbrake. Leave it running overnight to take advantage of spare CPU cycles.
2. Run a media server like Playon that transcodes media on the fly.  You need a reasonably fast cpu to do this (atom powered servers do not apply) as you are converting and serving the video real-time.
3. Get a new video player for your touchpad.

This article is going to explore the 3rd option in more detail.

WebOS Camera Patch: Advanced Camera Configuration

UPDATE 2: What was formerly the Self-Timer and Burst-Frame patch has been replaced.  To maintain compatibility with older camera patches, the new patch combines the following patches into a single Tweaks-supported patch:

• Video camera flashlight
• Capture with volume-key
• Shutter sound
• Self-Timer and Burst-Frames

Lab Notes – Hacking file_storage.c

Progress Update

I made attempt 3 to use file_storage.c as a means of presenting an ISO image on the Pre as a CD-ROM drive over USB.  I tried grabbing several of the more recent versions of file_storage.c from git.kernel.org in an attempt to back-port them to the 2.6.24 kernel.

I found the following:

Using the Homebrew Javascript Service Framework

The Homebrew JS Service Framework

WebOS 2.x allows us to create services using node.js.  Services are great, but by default they run in a jail that prevents them from accessing the entire device.  For many services this is fine because there is no need to do anything outside of this jail.  On the other hand, there are some services that are only useful if they have root access.  To obtain root access, these services can use Jason Robitaille’s Homebrew Javascript Service Framework for webOS, hereto referred to as HJSF.

This article is going to explore the essential configuration requirements and validation steps for using HJSF in a node.js service.

Stories of Warning for HP (Palm)

A warning for those who enter

 

What are the consequences of a device whose mass storage driver is down-revved?  What dangers loom on the horizon for those that ignore these dangers?  It is these questions that I seek to answer through the use of two extremely realistic and likely scenarios.

Shiva 3D for Mobile Games

Why Use a Game Engine?

If you are an aspiring game developer, you might have considered whether a game engine is right for you.  There are a lot of game engines out there and I’m not going to try and compare the qualities of Unreal Engine vs Unity vs Shiva.

Maybe you’re like me and have rolled some subset of your own 2D or 3D engine in the past using SDL, openGL or XNA.  If you’re also like me, you probably have about a half-dozen or so projects that have been shelved because you either stopped having fun, got frustrated at one of the minutia of tiny details or realized that you did things horribly wrong.  Sounding familiar?