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ctrlMedia version 0.1.7b1

ctrlMedia is designed to be fast and simple, making it possible to create something like a media box with an old pc. It includes KISS technology (Keep it simple, stupid!).
This is a development version that, in future, will form the 0.2 codebase. It is not very tested, but it should be quite stable. This code is intended to run on standalone machine without any possible security issue, so the code isn't really secure itself. Use it at your own risk, as usual. Latest 0.1.7 introduce the concept of "playlist" and should work happy with latest libxine and DirectFB versions.

Requirements
In order to compile ctrlMedia you need:

Xine libraries (www.xinehq.de) >= 1.0 (1.1.x preferred);
A working framebuffer device in your linux system (standard VESA module used in commmon linux ditributions works) or the SDL library (for use under X);
DirectFB libraries (www.directfb.org) >= 0.9.23 (0.9.25 preferred);
DirectFB-extra libraries >= 0.9.23 (it includes many interfaces; you only need to install the xine interface;
Libxml2 libraries (tipically included in any distro).

Installation
Simply unpack the tarball, enter the directory src and make
tar zxvf ctrlMedia-x.x.tar.gz
cd src
make
make install

you will find ctrlMedia installed in /usr/local/ctrlMedia/src/

Configuration
Check the file /usr/local/ctrlMedia/src/ctrlmedia.conf for ctrlMedia internal configuration.
We also remeber you to check the file /etc/directfbrc for DirectFB configuration; this is for example my /etc/directfbrc:

#system=sdl #fbdev (default) or sdl
mode=1024x768 #default video resolution
#depth=16 #default video depth
hardware #enable hardware acceleration
graphics-vt #virtual terminal into graphics mode
bg-color=0000FF #background color "on loading" (0000FF means blue)
quiet #suppresses console output from DirectFB

You can use either fbdev driver or SDL driver;
- fbdev is really fast; it is linked with a kernel driver that takes the control over your video card memory. The linux kernel offers support for many video cards, but this support isn't buildable as a module. So if your kernel is already compiled with a support for your video card you are ok, otherway you must recompile your kernel to make it use the specific driver for you. About all linux distributions are precompiled with a generic vesafb support; it works well with all video cards (supporting VESA standards), but doesn't support video mode changing on the fly (resolution, color depth, ..). You can set the vesafb video mode in lilo configuration (usually /etc/lilo.conf) passing params to the kernel; see vesafb documentation in linux kernel source tree (usually /usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt).
- SDL is fully working, but slower than fbdev. Use it only if you have trouble with fbdev and want to use the most compatible mode, or if you want to run ctrlMedia under X in a window.