Argon (SMS-based player with XMB GUI)

[user112]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/argon-ps2/

v. 0.7.1
- Minor fixes.

v. 0.7.0
- Radio - Metadata;
- Radio - Tags, check the example - <categories>/<tag>;
- Radio - fixed freezing due to a lost connection;
- Music - fixed OSD;
- Photos - speedup, smoothing and rotation (Square);
- XML - some changes;
- Menu - more additions.

v. 0.6.0
- Menu - redesigned (unfinished);
- XML - some changes.

v. 0.5.2
- Alternative path for the configuration file - <xml_path> (for example <xml_path>mc0:/BOOT</xml_path>);
- Settings - probably fixed;
- Fixed ISO MPEG-4 decoder (by EEUG);
- Loading icon;
- Logging - use with the supplied ps2link (other versions may have incompatible network drivers);
- Semaphores are broken as usual - so wait for the loading icon to stop.

v. 0.5.1
- AAC decoder - audio (.m4a) and video (.mov, .mp4, .m4v) files (using Melo AAC Decoder - http://sourceforge.net/projects/melo/);
- <server_record> renamed to <login_info>;
- <shortcut> renamed to <ule_path>;
- Videos - grouped by folders;
- Semaphores are still broken - so don't start movie playback until all folders are loaded or while thumbnails are being created, etc.

v. 0.5.0
- Multiserver support:
- <cifs> - <server_record> - login infos (as much entries as you want);
- <paths> - actual paths, using //server/share/folder format (//server/share to access all folders is supported, //server to access all shares is not);
- For cdfs use //localhost/cdfs (no mass and no subfolders - until I'll find the cause of these nasty freezes);
- TCP/IP settings moved to Argon.xml - edit <tcpip>;
- Updated SMS part (MPEG playback - .mpg and .m2p only);
- QuickTime/MP4 demuxer (that doesn't mean H.264/AAC/etc. decoders);
- Settings - connect with a browser:
- WARNING: Argon.xml is sent in a clear form - including passwords - if you don't like that, port some SSL library (like http://www.matrixssl.org/);
- it's possible to add some flash/java based configuration menu instead - contact me if you are interested;
- Much faster loading;
- Semaphores are still broken - so don't start movie playback until all folders are loaded or while thumbnails are being created, etc.;
- HDD support (launching only, untested).

v. 0.4.0
- SMB support - define up to 2 shares (smb1: and smb2 in Argon.xml, everything else like in SMS (enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, etc.);
- Almost fixed Radio - most stations should work;
- Much faster folder parsing;
- Most playback controls should be fixed;
- Semaphores are broken again - so don't start movie playback until all folders are loaded or while thumbnails are being created, etc.;
- Even if your PS2 is not network connected you still have to create mc0:/sys-conf/ipconfig.dat file;
- host: support is dropped and mass: is untested and it doesn't support HDD.

v. 0.3.5
- Radio is working, but pretty much everything else is broken (like playback controls, etc.);
- Added semaphores so there should be no crashes anymore, although there could be freezes;
- Photos - grouped by folders, should be more usable;
- Weather - support for Fahrenheit degrees, change <units> to us.

v. 0.3.3
- Radio support, although very preliminary - no GUI and lots of crashing (edit Argon.xml to add stations - ip addresses only);
- Updated SMS part to v.1.8(rev.2);
- START - refresh folders, SELECT - stop;
- RC support - only for consoles with the IR sensor;
- Supported devices: host, mass, cdfs, mc;
- Some fixes here and there, and likely some bugs.

v. 0.3.0
- Many overall improvements - it's now almost usable (shorter loading times, multithreaded folder parser, etc.);
- Music – partially working (GUI is unfinished and don't press START or SELECT);
- Movies - fixed NTSC playback;
- Photos - thumbnails (may hang on large files);
- Weather - added XOAP server IP address to Argon.xml.

v. 0.2.4
- Movies - partially working (uses settings from SMS config file) - edit <movies> in Argon.xml;
- Music – hangs (after showing the SMS GUI);
- Weather - added support for different weather maps (there is a sample in Argon.xml);
- Preliminary NTSC support - edit Argon.xml.

v. 0.2
- Requires an internet connection;
- Edit Argon.xml to define folders to be parsed - <music> and <photo> (you can add several entries), and the path to uLaunchELF;
- Weather (using the service provided by The Weather Channel) - working. Edit Argon.xml to set you location (here is an explanation on how to obtain your location ID: http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/09/29/weather.html). Pressing X on the weather screen will display a satellite image;
- Radio – categories list implemented;
- Photo - working, but libjpeg is damn slow. Thumbnails are shown for only the first five JPEGs (to speedup loading). Left/right - previous/next;
- Music – thumbnails implemented (folder.jpg or AlbumArtSmall.jpg);
- Still single threaded - takes ages to load...

v. 0.1
- Nothing, except the menu itself, is working, not even thumbnails;
- No support for CD/DVD and HDD, only host: and USB (so, you can only start it from there);
- No media change notifications.

Controls
X - confirm, O - cancel
START - refresh, SELECT - back to top

Not licensed for commercial distribution and use.


ELF Loader 1.1
- Boots the inserted disc if no ELF is found;
- File size reduced.

ELF Loader 1.0
- Goes to PS2 Browser if no ELF is found;
- Changed name to ELF Loader (cause I'm thinking about adding network support).

USB Loader
- Loads ELF from a given path (BOOT.XML) (supports mc: and mass: only);
- Beware, tested with Argon and uLaunchELF only;
- Double-check that the path is correct, or you'll be stuck with a nice error screen.

[ahmadka2]

is there a documentation available for this program ?

[hip203]

I have tried using a 1gb thumb drive .....boot up swiftly and UI reponsiveness is better...
1.) Yeah jpg is working!!!..but it is much more slower(compared what was implmented on ULE by Polo)
2.) but when using a 40gb usb hdd ..program jammed ..I think the program just jam up because too many thing to list up!!

Well UI resposiveness is better now.....JPG is working(but anyway to T/on and T/off function would be great cause srolling down the thumbnail sometimes jamed the program.......
Great work...

Any chance on implementing OGG Player ? even the smallest powered processor ....on nokia ngage could play ogg audio files? : )

[j c]

I can't seem to get it to load using PS2Link 1.46. See my attached log file. Seems like it gets stuck in a loop trying to get some resources.

If I use ULE host with PS2Client Loader and just browse to the folder Argon is in and launch it everyting loads fine.

[camintmier]

Looks interesting. Any way to change it from PAL to NTSC though? I started it up on my NTSC machine, and the screen started rolling. Also, I tried copying the files (after editing the XML) onto my HDD, and running it from there, but for some reason it wouldn't work. Oh well.

Later,

[user112]

is there a documentation available for this program ?

There is a read_me.txt, what problems do you have?

jpg is working!!!..but it is much more slower

That is strange. Are you sure? Got to take a look at Polo's implementation.

I think the program just jam up because too many thing to list up!!

In Argon.xml remove anything under <movies> and <music> - they aren't working anyway. And set <photos> to the exact folder with jpegs (I'm not sure about the ending slash though - try without it first).

Any chance on implementing OGG Player?

If someone will port a decoder, maybe. But there are much more higher priority goals - take a look at Developers part.

I can't seem to get it to load using PS2Link 1.46.

Try putting ps2client.exe in Argon directory and launch it from there. Tell me if that worked.
Btw. that log doesn't look like it's from PS2Link 1.46. I'm not getting those "File closed successfully..." messages.

Any way to change it from PAL to NTSC though?

Nope, but I thought that all NTSC TV's support PAL too. I'll look for some quick fix though.

I tried copying the files (after editing the XML) onto my HDD

Currently it supports mass and host only... I have a slim PS2.

[rami1]

To understand EEUG's code is not easy , as the code is super efficient.

[<__>]

I think it would be cool to list movies subfolders as you can with mp3s, this would make it easier to navigate if you have a lot of films and tv shows like I do.

One little problem I had though, I tried to map uLaunchELF but it wouldn't let me unless I moved it to the BOOT folder on the memorycard (I have it in BEDATA-SYSTEM as BOOT.ELF usually.) I tried a few times with no joy.

Good work so far, I think you read my mind though because when I first got my psp I was saying to a friend that it would be cool to have the same menu system on the ps2 for something like sms.

[camintmier]

Nope, but I thought that all NTSC TV's support PAL too. I'll look for some quick fix though.

Actually I think you have it backwards, most Pal tvs support NTSC, at least 99% of the PAL tvs I've ran across have. Since I live in the US, I don't really see PAL Tvs all that much. Since most PAL tvs must support the PAL-M format (525 lines @ 60hz), it's very close to NTSC's settings. I was just mainly wondering if there was an XML setting that'd tell the program "Set your screen refresh rate to 60hz, or an NTSC tv's refresh rate)". Just do a search on Google for NTSC PAL and one of the top links should list what the standards are.

Anybody in the US run Argon without having the "Rolling screen" problem?

Later,

[j c]

Try putting ps2client.exe in Argon directory and launch it from there. Tell me if that worked.
Btw. that log doesn't look like it's from PS2Link 1.46. I'm not getting those "File closed successfully..." messages.

It's definately ps2link v1.46, however I am not using ps2client I was using Xlink beta 1.

I tried putting ps2client.exe in the same folder here is the output I got:

F:\PS2\Argon_v0.2>ps2client.exe -h 192.168.1.103 execee Argon.elf
loadelf: fname Argon.elf secname all
loadelf version 3.30
Cannot openfile
unmounting
unmounted
Get Reboot Request From EE
ps2ip_ShutDown: Shutting down ps2ip-module
tty mounted
host: mounted
IOP cmd thread started
Naplink thread started
loadbuffer: id 31, ret 0
loadmodule: fname rom0:CLEARSPU args 0 arg
clearspu: completed
loadmodule: id 32, ret 1
read/write allocate memory 4000
EE: Cmd thread
^C

And here is what ps2link said:


They're just not getting along. Xlink at least loaded the ELF. Guess I'll stick with ULE's host system to load it.

Originally Posted by camintmier

Anybody in the US run Argon without having the "Rolling screen" problem?

I had to set DScaler to PAL mode to get to work right. There is a TV mode option in Argon's settings, but I don't think it's working.

[Polo35]

Originally Posted by j c

I tried putting ps2client.exe in the same folder here is the output I got:

You don't use ps2client with right option.

Try with ps2client.exe -h 192... execee host:Argon.elf



Best regards

Polo

[j c]

Had some free time so I decided to take a few screenshots for those that haven't had a chance to see Argon in action.

Launching Argon from USB Mass Storage from uLE:


Main screen after Argon has loaded:


Sample of the tiered menu system similar to the PSP:


More of the menu, this time a list of radio station categories:


The weather icons are very nice:


Live weather retrieval from internet source:


Radar map (real image plays a loop):


That's about it, I couldn't get the other functionality to work right for me.

Nice work so far.

[j c]

Originally Posted by Polo35

You don't use ps2client with right option.

Try with ps2client.exe -h 192... execee host:Argon.elf



Best regards

Polo

Doh! Don't I have egg on my face now!

Works perfectly like this, thanks Polo.
Nice work with gsKit on uLE BTW.

[user112]

Added a link to USB Loader in the first post.

I think it would be cool to list movies subfolders as you can with mp3s.

I still think that it's better that way, but I'll add it as an option.

I tried to map uLaunchELF but it wouldn't let me.

Strange, mine is mass:/LaunchELF/uLaunchELF.elf and working fine. What it does: fades out and back or hangs? Launch it from ps2link and send me the log.

jpg is working!!!..but it is much more slower

Tested the JPG viewer in uLaunchELF and it looks like it's as slow as mine. I'll take a look at the code later.
But, as I have already said, I don't care much about JPG viewer until someone will rewrite libjpeg to use VUs. It's a shame that it takes over 30 sec. to load 3Kx2K photos.

Most Pal tvs support NTSC

I think that 99% of TV's are multi-system, but, as I have said, I'll fix that. And no, there is no way to set it to NTSC.

Radar map - I think it's hardcoded to Europe

It's easy to change that - I can add it as an option to Argon.xml, just send me a link for your location (the image should be less than 640x512) to test that.
Nice screenshots.

[j c]

Originally Posted by user112

Strange, mine is mass:/LaunchELF/uLaunchELF.elf and working fine. What it does: fades out and back or hangs? Launch it from ps2link and send me the log.

Works fine for me, my path is mc0:/SYS-CONF/BOOT.ELF

Maybe he didn't change it in the XML.

Originally Posted by user112

I think that 99% of TV's are multi-system, but, as I have said, I'll fix that. And no, there is no way to set it to NTSC.

That may be true in other countries, but in the USA most TVs only support NTSC; PAL signals just cause the image to roll and be horribly offset.

Originally Posted by user112

It's easy to change that - I can add it as an option to Argon.xml, just send me a link for your location (the image should be less than 640x512) to test that.
Nice screenshots.

Not sure if this is the URL you want, but it has an animated doppler:
http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/..._animated.html

[<__>]

Nah, I changed the path in the XML and if I set the pathe to mc0:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF it loads hdloader fine(I have hdloader set like that so I can go from SMS to hdloader without having to go back into uLaunchELF) but if I set the path to mc0:/BEDATA-SYSTEM/BOOT.ELF (Where I have uLaunchELF) it just fades out and back.

I'll try it with ps2link tomorrow after work.