Draft WaveFinder FAQ
Chris
which I've gathered from this newsgroup and the WaveFinder chat boards,
to form a small FAQ.
It's still in draft form and I will improve it a bit when I have time,
but I humbly present it now 'as is', in the hope that it will be of use
to a few people. Any suggestions for additions are welcome (email:
chris.newport AT blueyonder.co.uk).
You can find it at...
http://www.andante.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wavefinder/
--
Chris,
Kew, Surrey
Kipper
"Chris" <a@b.c> wrote in message news:mLPsjaDl...@blueyonder.co.uk...
Thanks for that , most useful.
Keith
Keith Chadwick
it's chokka with useful information.
"Chris" <a@b.c> wrote in message news:mLPsjaDl...@blueyonder.co.uk...
Mike Brown
<thecha...@lineone.net> wrote:
> Nice one - considerable effort must have gone into this, and even as a draft
> it's chokka with useful information.
I agree. It's a superb start. Well done.
--
mb
Geoff Pearson
FAQ site?
"Chris" <a@b.c> wrote in message news:mLPsjaDl...@blueyonder.co.uk...
Small-Mountain
of Psion's Wavefinder chat forums. I suggest it would prove very
useful there.
Bryn Harris
Chris
>I have put together some material about the Psion WaveFinder, stuff
>which I've gathered from this newsgroup and the WaveFinder chat boards,
>to form a small FAQ.
Thanks for the feedback to date.
I've fixed the problem with the page referencing a file on the a:\ drive
(caused by editing it with my laptop on the way home tonight).
--
Chris
Kew, Surrey
Keith Chadwick
Page 2. It is possible to load the latest set of icons by manually
extracting them from the .exe file as if it were a .zip file.
Dabbar has by far the best station list - the ability to sort by genre and
mux is very useful.
Wavelite has the least cpu overhead, and the ability to switch off the
Wavefinder when waiting for timer events. It is possible to run the other
software with Wavelite loaded but dormant.
Both Wavefinder and Dabbar software do not output correctly to older
soundcards that only support 44.1K sampling (e.g. SB16, AWE).
Wavefinder 1.4 software timer recordings are always MP3.
Both Dabbar and Wavelite allow concurrent recording of multiple channels
within a single mux.
Page 8. I believe that the CoolEdit/Lame debate ended up very much a draw.
My personal preference is for CoolEdit.
"Chris" <a@b.c> wrote in message news:V3+g86Bi...@blueyonder.co.uk...
Paul White
<P><IMG height=5 alt=" "
src="file:///A|/Psion%20WaveFinder%20FAQ_files/spacer.gif" width=311
border=0><BR>
The page has been produced with a microsoft product, and one of the links
for an image is an absolute to the a:\ drive, it should probably relative to
the page itself. It probably a fault of the editor (MSHTML 6.00.2462.0)
rather than Chris.
Useful FAQ though...
Chris, you may want to investigate the HTML validator at www.w3c.org which
will find errors in the page.
Regards
Paul
"Geoff Pearson" <gspe...@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:a12gu3$mkicp$1...@ID-120835.news.dfncis.de...
Andy Mabbett
>FAQ.
Thank you. for that; I hope tat the following will be received in the
co-operative sprit in which it is intended:
>Where can I purchase a WaveFinder?
May be worth mention the UK-specific mature of the above
>What operating systems will the Psion WaveFinder work under?
Perhaps a section on what the XP problems & fixes/ work-arounds are?
>My WaveFinder doesn't seem to work, what should I do?
>If you are installing it for the first time
[..]
Perhaps a section: "How do I install/ get started" ?
>Microsoft’s version:
>or Sun's version:
Note two different apostrophes; the latter is preferable if the FAQ is
to be posted to Usenet.
>What is the minimum CPU speed?
>As shown on the box.
Which is?
>Whichever you choose, you must use the Psion CD to load the drivers.
Another question: "What do I do if the CD (or any other component) is
missing from the box?", seems to crop up regularly.
>Neither are you missing much
>by not having a graphical representation of the multiplexes. If you
>really want this I suggest you load up the Psion software and take a
>screen dump (ALT+PrintScrn)
which could then be used as Windows Wallpaper...
There are some DABBar tweaks which require the *.ini to be edited;'
starting up playing the last used station is one.
[...]
>NOTE: Don't try and set your watch by a time signal you hear on a
>radio channel if you want high accuracy - because of the decoding,
>buffering etc. what you hear can be up to a few seconds behind the
>corresponding 'analog' signal.
I think that's not were I'd expect to find it (and it's "analogue", with
a "u")...
>Do I need an external aerial?
Should also mention need to keep WaveFinder vertical.
> How do I attach an external aerial?
>There is a small, easy-to-overlook socket on the WaveFinder itself,
>near its 'foot' (don’t try to plug the power socket in here!).
Again, the later comment could be better elsewhere ("setting up"
perhaps).
>Personally I use the excellent Goldwave (shareware), available at
>http://www.goldwave.com/. This will record whatever is playing on your
>computer and allow you edit it, then save in a variety of formats
>including Ogg Vorbis and MP3.
Finally, your HTML is a bit clunky - pop into uk.net.web.authoring and
ask about how o avoid us of the <FONT> tag!
--
Andy Mabbett
Merry Bloomin' Christmas!
Chris
I would appreciate it if anyone who maintains a web site and is prepared
to do so would publish a link in to the FAQ, in order to get Google
excited enough to index it.
AFAIK this can be a hidden link if necessary (eg a white text on a white
background, or an anchored href-ed single pixel transparent GIF). But
of course a readable link would be preferable.
--
Chris
Kew, Surrey
Andy Mabbett
>FAQ.
Perhaps also something about the BBC bandwidth debate, as per:
Message-ID: <u3c7ifa...@corp.supernews.com>
?
Chris
>In message <mLPsjaDl...@blueyonder.co.uk>, Chris <a@b.c> writes
>>FAQ.
>
>Thank you. for that; I hope tat the following will be received in the
>co-operative sprit in which it is intended:
Tat it will.
>
>>Where can I purchase a WaveFinder?
>
>May be worth mention the UK-specific mature of the above
Done
>
>>What operating systems will the Psion WaveFinder work under?
>
>Perhaps a section on what the XP problems & fixes/ work-arounds are?
Maybe later if/when a pattern emerges, or if someone cares to contribute
a section.
>
>>My WaveFinder doesn't seem to work, what should I do?
>>If you are installing it for the first time
>[..]
>
>Perhaps a section: "How do I install/ get started" ?
I've suggested people read the supplied user guide.
>
>>Microsoft’s version:
>>or Sun's version:
>
>Note two different apostrophes; the latter is preferable if the FAQ is
>to be posted to Usenet.
Just encouraging diversity. But I do get wound up about misuse of
apostrophe's.
>
>>What is the minimum CPU speed?
>>As shown on the box.
>
>Which is?
As shown in user guide.
>
>>Whichever you choose, you must use the Psion CD to load the drivers.
>
>Another question: "What do I do if the CD (or any other component) is
>missing from the box?", seems to crop up regularly.
I've suggested they buy another (from Level 1 marketing).
>
>
>>Neither are you missing much
>>by not having a graphical representation of the multiplexes. If you
>>really want this I suggest you load up the Psion software and take a
>>screen dump (ALT+PrintScrn)
>
>which could then be used as Windows Wallpaper...
Added.
>
>There are some DABBar tweaks which require the *.ini to be edited;'
>starting up playing the last used station is one.
Added.
>
>[...]
>>NOTE: Don't try and set your watch by a time signal you hear on a
>>radio channel if you want high accuracy - because of the decoding,
>>buffering etc. what you hear can be up to a few seconds behind the
>>corresponding 'analog' signal.
>
>I think that's not were I'd expect to find it (and it's "analogue", with
>a "u")...
(and it's "where" with an "h")... :)
>
>>Do I need an external aerial?
>
>Should also mention need to keep WaveFinder vertical.
Added
>
>> How do I attach an external aerial?
>>There is a small, easy-to-overlook socket on the WaveFinder itself,
>>near its 'foot' (don’t try to plug the power socket in here!).
>
>Again, the later comment could be better elsewhere ("setting up"
>perhaps).
>
I'll review the structure sometime soon.
>
>>Personally I use the excellent Goldwave (shareware), available at
>>http://www.goldwave.com/. This will record whatever is playing on your
>>computer and allow you edit it, then save in a variety of formats
>>including Ogg Vorbis and MP3.
>
>
>Finally, your HTML is a bit clunky - pop into uk.net.web.authoring and
>ask about how o avoid us of the <FONT> tag!
Fixed (still mastering DreamWeaver).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My comments interspersed with Andy's (thanks Andy).
--
Chris
Kew, Surrey
Paul Webster
record programmes.
I have linked DigiGuide Reminder function to PSION Wavefinder via
freeware [url=http://www.dabbar.co.uk]DABBar[/url] and a simple batch
file.
The batch file consists of 1 line of code and 15 or so of comments!
It might be possible to remove the batch file completely by having
DigiGuide issue the command directly - but I prefer the flexibility of
batch file and (in my case) the Wavefinder is not on same machine as
DigiGuide ... I didn't want DigiGuide to get stuck in some network
problem if other machine down.
limitations:
a) Can'r record more than 59 minutes because DABBar wants input in
hh:mm and DigiGuide outputs only as mm - I have emailed DABBar author
to see if he can make a quick change
b) Completed recordings don't expire from DABBar schedule because they
need computed expiry date as first field - not important becaue they
can be easily removed by hand from DABBar
Don't forget to enable Timer in DABBar and also put it in your startup
group.
Entire commented batch file [unwrap lines before use]:
@echo off
REM Paul Webster - Jan 2002
REM Launch from DigiGuide to drive Dabbar/Wavefinder recorder
REM
REM Quick and dirty method - no error handling ...
REM
REM Usage - set up reminder from DigiGuide to launch external program
with following arguments
REM $TimeStart(%d/%m/%Y) $TimeStart(%H:%M) $Duration $ChannelID
$ProgrammeName
REM
REM Note - Dabbar 1.2 cannot handle Duration greater the 59 minutes
REM [since DigiGuide cannot output duration as hours:minutes]
REM First few words of programme title used to make file name
REM [up to 5 words ... hopefully no "illegal" characters in it]
REM
REM Get the $ChannelID field from dabbar.ini [Name] group and enter
into DigiGuide
REM Select Channels screen - choose radio station on right and click
on 123 icon at bottom
REM
REM Replace c:\tmp with whatever location is appropriate for you
REM Put the Schedule.csv file into whereever you installed DABBar
REM If you want raw MP2 recording then change mp3 to mp2 in filename
REM Last 2 "1"s are the Append Date/Append Time flags - set to 0 if
not wanted
REM
REM trace echo 1-%1 2-%2 3-%3 4-%4 5-%5 6-%6 7-%7 8-%8 9-%9
echo "","$00","%1","%2","00:%3","%4","c:\tmp\%5%6%7%8%9.mp3","1","1"
>> c:\dabbar\Schedule.csv
REM trace type c:\dabbar\Schedule.csv
REM trace pause
Chris
scripsit, inter alia
>Here is an extra for you ... getting DigiGuide to drive DABBar to
>record programmes.
<detail snipped>
Paul,
That's great. I have been trying to work out how to get data into DAB
Bar's CSV file but hadn't realised that DigiGuide had this interface.
Of course if you launched an intermediate app. you could overcome the
formatting problem AND add a configurable amount of 'run in' time to
start recording before the program began (+ check for illegal characters
etc).
But that's more work and your batch file solution is very elegant - I
will include it in the next FAQ update (as soon as I've reconstructed my
PC after a disastrous registry corruption this afternoon - even the
backup was corrupt).
--
Chris
Kew, Surrey
|| Psion WaveFinder FAQ - http://www.andante.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wavefinder ||
MCL
You might want to add to the bit about CD burning software. If you have the
full MP3-licensed version of Nero Burning Rom, you can drop a 48KHz MP3 onto
the CD compilation for burning, and when it come to burn it, Nero will
decode the 48K, and resample it on the fly for burning to the CD audio
track. All without even telling you its doing so!
The upshot of it all is that you can just play the resulting audio CD and be
none the wiser.
-MCL
"Chris" <a@b.c> wrote in message news:mLPsjaDl...@blueyonder.co.uk...
Paul Webster
wrote:
>Here is an extra for you ... getting DigiGuide to drive DABBar to
>record programmes.
I decided to have another go at this and learn a bit of scripting ....
so here is a scripted (VBS) add-in for DigiGuide - works from Reminder
mechanism and allows you to right-click on a program to record it.
I have put it at:
http://www.spidersweb.freeserve.co.uk/dab/dabdig.htm
--
Rgds
Paul Webster
jim
>Paul Webster <paul.w...@spidersweb.freeserve.spammenot.co.uk>
>wrote:
>
>>Here is an extra for you ... getting DigiGuide to drive DABBar to
>>record programmes.
Paul - many thanks for this.
Off to try it...
jim
jim
>Off to try it...
...and it works!
cheers again
jim