XMCD(1)

NAME
xmcd - CD digital audio player utility for X11/Motif

SYNOPSIS
xmcd [toolkitoption ...] [-dev device] [-debug] [-c device] [-X] [-o]

DESCRIPTION
Xmcd is a program that allows the use of the CD-ROM drive as a full-featured stereo compact-disc player for the X window system. See cda(1) for the command-line CD player. xmcd and cda uses the same configuration and support files.

Most of the features found on real CD players are available in xmcd, such as shuffle and repeat, track programming functions, a numeric keypad and track warp slider for direct track access. Additional functions include sample play, A to B segment play, volume control, balance control, etc. Several automation options are also available on CD load, eject, play completion and program exit. A Channel Routing feature allow you to select from several stereo or mono routing options. The volume control slider taper characteristics can also be altered.

A CD database feature allows the CD artist/title and track titles, and other associated general purpose text to be maintained and loaded as the program is started or when a CD is inserted. The CD database contents can be on your local system or queried from a remote CD database server host.

Full feature-specific pop-up help is available for all controls, indicators, text input fields, and lists.

On systems with more than one CD-ROM drive, multiple invocations of xmcd can be used to operate each drive independently.

Xmcd is designed to be easy to use, as the main window is purposely made to resemble a real CD player front panel. All other pop-up windows are also designed to be as intuitive as possible. Moreover, while the use of a mouse is natural with xmcd, all functionality can also be operated via the keyboard. This is in conformance to the guidelines published in the OSF/Motif Style Guide from the Open Software Foundation.

The internal architecture of xmcd is designed to be easily portable to many UNIX operating system variants, and adaptable to the myriad of CD-ROM drives available.

OPTIONS
All standard Xt Intrinsics toolkit options are supported. In addition, xmcd supports the following options:

-dev device
    Specifies the path name to the raw CD-ROM device. If this option is not used, the default device to be used is the first drive set up with the xmcd configuration program (See below).

-debug
    Causes verbose debugging diagnostics to be printed on stderr.

-c device (Solaris 2 only)
    Same as the -dev option.

-X (Solaris 2 only)
    Causes the exitOnEject parameter to be set to True.

-o (Solaris 2 only)
    This option has no effect.

The -c, -X and -o options are provided only on the Solaris 2 platform for compatibility with the action_workman.so auto-startup program, running under the Solaris 2 Volume Manager. See the README file in the xmcd distribution about configuring xmcd for the Solaris 2 Volume Manager.

X RESOURCES
Xmcd has many adjustable X resources to customize its look and feel, as well as its behavior. Notably, the colors of virtually every feature on xmcd's windows can be changed, as well as the text fonts. All text labels can also be changed (for example, to another language).

There are too many resources to list here, but the resource names and their defaults (plus descriptive comments) can be found in the LIBDIR/app-defaults/XMcd file (where LIBDIR is typically /usr/lib/X11). It is not recommended that you change values in the LIBDIR/app-defaults/XMcd file, unless you want the changes to be forced upon all users of xmcd on the system. Instead, make a copy of this file, change the copy as you see fit, then place it in your home directory. Your custom resource settings will then override the defaults when xmcd is subsequently started. Alternatively, you may also place specific resources you wish to override in the .Xdefaults file in your home directory.

DEVICE CONFIGURATION
The X resources described in the previous section affect the general appearance and behavior of xmcd. There are two additional configuration files which are used to adapt xmcd to your site requirements. The first of these contain common parameters, and the second contain configurable parameters that must vary on a per-drive basis. For example, in some cases xmcd must operate the drive differently depending upon the brand and model of the drive. Thus, there must be a separate configuration file for these parameters per-device. The common parameters file is XMCDLIB/config/common.cfg and the device-specific parameters file is XMCDLIB/config/DEVICE (where XMCDLIB is typically /usr/lib/X11/xmcd and DEVICE is the base name of the raw device special file for the CD-ROM drive ; e.g., /usr/lib/X11/xmcd/config/rcd0). A configuration program XMCDLIB/config/config.sh is provided to make maintaining these configuration file easy (Note: on SCO systems the configuration program can also be invoked as "mkdev xmcd").

You should always use the configuration program to set the configuration parameters when installing xmcd for the first time, or when the CD-ROM hardware configuration has changed. If this is not done then xmcd will probably not operate correctly with your CD-ROM drive.

WARNING: If xmcd is not correctly configured, you may cause xmcd to deliver commands that are not supported by your CD-ROM drive. Under some environments this may lead to system hang or crash.

You can override some of the device-specific configuration parameters by adding your own configuration files. Xmcd will also look in the HOME/.xmcdcfg/common.cfg and HOME/.xmcdcfg/DEVICE files for common and device-specific parameters (where HOME is your home directory and DEVICE is as specified above). Parameters found in this file will override the system defaults (except those parameters that cannot be overridden; see the comments in the XMCDLIB/config/device.cfg for details).

USING XMCD
The basic functions of xmcd are designed to operate the same way as on a real stereo CD player. The pictorial symbols used on the main window buttons are intended to illustrate the function in a non-language-specific manner. You can also change all main window buttons to display a text label instead of the pictorial symbols, by clicking the display check-box button (the "A" symbol enclosed in a box) located at the upper left hand corner of the main window.

The CD database and track programming functions are operated via the CD Database/Track Program Editor pop-up subwindow. You activate the subwindow by pressing the cddb/prog button (file cabinet symbol) on the main window (See "CD DATABASE" below).

There will not be a per-item description of all the features, because full on-line help is available (See "ONLINE HELP" below).

ONLINE HELP
For general information about xmcd, click the help (question mark symbol) button on the xmcd main window. You can also get specific help information about each button, control, indicator, text entry area, selection list by positioning the mouse cursor over the desired item, then clicking the third mouse button. A pop-up window will appear, containing the relevant help text.

TRACK PROGRAMMING
You can program xmcd to play only certain tracks, in a custom sequence. To do so, invoke the CD Database window (by pressing the cddb/prog button on the main window). Select the desired track by clicking on the entry in the Track list, and click the Add button to add to the play sequence. Notice that the track number appears in the Play sequence text field. You can also type the track numbers, separated with commas, directly in the Play sequence field. Repeat until all desired tracks have been entered, then press the Play/Pause button (on the main window) to start the program play.

When a program sequence is defined, the prog indicator in the main window display area "illuminates". To erase the program sequence, press the Clear button on the CD Database/Program Editor window.

CD DATABASE
The CD Database feature of xmcd allows you to enter the CD artist/title, track titles, other free-form text (such as band information, lyrics, etc.) associated with the disc and tracks, and a track play program. After this information is typed in and saved to a database file, it will automatically appear on the xmcd CD Database window when the same CD is inserted again.

You must perform a "save" operation (press the Save button) after typing in the database information before ejecting the CD or exiting, or the information will be lost. If this is the first time this CD database entry is being stored, you will be asked to select a category (rock, classical, jazz, etc.) under which to classify the CD. The category is used by xmcd to determine the actual directory in the filesystem to write the database file.

You must type the CD information into the database because the CD's table of contents (TOC) contains only the number of tracks and the starting address of each track, but not the actual disc and track titles.

The CD database window should prove to be intuitive to use. You may use the on-line help system to obtain specific help information about the various buttons and items.

The CD database information is stored in text files, one per CD, in a designated directory (category). The path of this directory is XMCDLIB/cddb/CATEGORY, where XMCDLIB is the directory specified by the XMcd.libdir resource, and CATEGORY is the category name selected when Save is performed. See the description of XMCD_CDDBPATH in the ENVIRONMENT section below.

You may view the list of directories that xmcd will search for CD database files by pressing the About... button and viewing the pop-up information window.

The file name of each CD database entry is a hexadecimal representation of a special "magic" number computed by xmcd based on the number of tracks, track timings, and other available information about this CD. This method is used because there is no reliable unique CD identifier to be found on the CD itself (the CD standard allows for a readable IPC/barcode but very few CDs actually contain such information).

Since different pressings of the same CD may sometimes contain slightly different track timings, the resultant magic number computed by xmcd on these CDs will be different. Thus, if you load a CD that is not the same one that a CD database entry was created with (but is actually the same CD title), xmcd may not recognize it and display the database information automatically when you insert the CD. In this event, you can search the CD database and find the appropriate entry, and establish a "link" to it. To do so, press the Link button, and select the appropriate category on the popup window. Xmcd will then present another pop-up window containing a list of all CD database entries in the specified category (that has the same number of tracks as the currently inserted disc). Select the appropriate entry and a link will be made in the CD database.

The Link feature alleviates the need to type in CD database information again and avoids duplicate CD database entries.

In very rare occasions it is possible that the magic number of a CD conflicts with that of another. This is a problem that will be addressed in a future release of xmcd.

A master xmcd CD database of thousands of CD titles is available for Internet anonymous FTP. See the README file of your current xmcd distribution for details. You are encouraged to contribute to this database by sending CD database entries (that you typed in) to the archive. The master CD database is updated periodically with new user-contributed entries. This version of xmcd makes CD database contribution easier with the Send button on the CD database/Track Program Editor pop-up subwindow. Pressing this button causes the CD database entry (associated with the currently loaded CD) to be mailed to the xmcd CD database archive maintainer. You should use this feature only if your computer is configured to send Internet electronic mail.

Xmcd now also has the ability to query a remote CD database server host for CD database information. Thus, it is no longer necessary to keep a full copy of the CD database locally. If your system is connected to a TCP/IP network (such as the Internet) and has access to a server system running the CD database server program, you can configure your xmcd client to query the server. The cddbPath parameter or the XMCD_CDDBPATH environment variable is used to configure the use of a remote server. See the ENVIRONMENT section below for details.

While xmcd is running, the file /tmp/.cdaudio/curr.nnnn (where nnnn is the hexadecimal representation of the CD-ROM's device number) contains the device node path, CD database category and disc identifier information pertaining to the currently loaded CD. Other applications may read this file to identify the currently loaded disc.

ENVIRONMENT
Several environment variables are currently recognized by xmcd, and are described as follows:

XMCD_LIBDIR
    This is used to override the XMcd.libdir resource. This parameter is the directory path under which xmcd's configuration files, help files, and CD database files are located. The default value of XMCD_LIBDIR on most systems is /usr/lib/X11/xmcd.

XMCD_CDDBPATH
    This is used to override the cddbPath common configuration parameter, which is a list of CD database category directories to be used under XMCDLIB/cddb (where XMCDLIB is the directory root specified by the XMcd.libdir resource or the XMCD_LIBDIR environment variable). Also, remote CD database hosts can be specified.

    rock;classical;jazz;newage;soundtrack;misc

    This string will cause xmcd to search the following directories for CD database files:

    XMCDLIB/cddb/rock
    XMCDLIB/cddb/classical
    XMCDLIB/cddb/jazz
    etc.

    You may also specify absolute path names in the XMCD_CDDBPATH entries. Example:

    rock;classical;/home/john/industrial;~john/punk;~/cddb/jazz

    Finally, you may also specify a remote CD database server hosts which xmcd can use to query CD database information. The syntax is @hostname[:port]. The hostname can be a fully qualified host name or an IP number. Example:

    country;folk;@abc.fubar.com;@xyz.snafu.com

HOME
    This is used to determine your home directory. If HOME is not defined, then xmcd tries to obtain it from the /etc/passwd file. The home directory path is used by xmcd to locate the .xmcdcfg directory.

NOTES
Not all CD-ROM drives support all features that appear on xmcd. For example, most SCSI-1 drives do not support a software-driven volume control. On these drives the xmcd volume control slider may have no effect, or in some cases it is made to function as a mute control (i.e., it will snap to the full-off or full-on positions only). Similarly, the caddy lock, eject and index search buttons found on xmcd may not have any effect on drives that do not support the appropriate functionality.

FILES
$HOME/.xmcdcfg/*
XMCDLIB/cddb/*
XMCDLIB/config/config.sh
XMCDLIB/config/common.cfg
XMCDLIB/config/device.cfg
XMCDLIB/config/.tbl/*
XMCDLIB/config/*
XMCDLIB/help/*
LIBDIR/app-defaults/XMcd
BINDIR/xmcd
MANDIR/xmcd.1
/tmp/.cdaudio/*

SEE ALSO
cda(1), wm2xmcd(1), X(1).

AUTHOR
Ti Kan (ti@amb.org)
AMB Research Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.A.

Xmcd also contains code contributed by several dedicated individuals. See the README file in the xmcd distribution for information.

Comments, suggestions, and bug reports are always welcome.