For programmers - RDS MAX 30 creative programming contest

Are you good with Visual Basic? Hear this:

We are starting the new RDS MAX 30 contest, the
RDS MAX 30 creative programming contest

You will be given sample RDS MAX 30 VB code and you can use it to write your own RDS MAX driver. You will also receive full protocol info and any support/info you might need.

Contest rules:
- Participants must demonstrate sufficient programming skill to participate
- All approved participants receive sample VB code for the RDS MAX 30 driver
- Finished RDS MAX 30 drivers shall be submitted to PCS Electronics by October 15th along with source code.
- PCS Electronics reserves the right to use the source code as it desires.
- Finished RDS MAX 30 drivers will be posted on our website and will be subject to voting by forum members.
- Voting process ends on October 31st.
- Any attempts to create multiple forum accounts and influence the voting result in a dishonest way will result in disqualification.
- PCS Electronics team has a voting power of 5 votes to be applied at the end of voting process on October 31st. 1249 jan19
- We will be judging the functionality, visual appearance and reliability.

- Winner is entitled to 500 euro of gear from our website

This way developers get to play with code, rds max 30 owners get the new, possibly very cool drivers, and the best developers get a chance to win 500 euro of radio gear.

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

Last edited by pcs on Thu Jan 19, 2006 10:27 am; edited 1 time in total

Looks like we have two contenders so far.

As you can see chances to win this prize are
quite substantial, especially if your programming skills
are reasonable.

Think about it, do not delay.

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

Alright, I'm ready, willing and able. Plus I need to probably write my own driver, because I need to be able to send out AID codes as well as sending out specific groups as well.

So where do we access this information?

Thanks,
Travis

I'll contact you via email tomorrow. Its 2AM now

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

It seems contestants need more time to complete their work so we have
extended this competition for 30 more days, it now ends on November 31st.

Anyone interested can still get involved. There are not many
contestants so your chances of winning are fair!

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

A very very late report on the subject of a contest. I am really amazed
that this topic has been read by more than 1000 people, but not one
asked who the winner was or where the results are. Really weird.

1. There were 4 contestants to begin with.
2. Over the course of time 3 disappeared one by one, leaving
me with only one d'oh!

3. Automatically the only remaining candidate won the prize and
the entire voting etc process was irrelevant.

This however DOES NOT mean that his work is any less impressive.

And now, the name of the winner....
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Nicolas Bastien!

Congratulations! Applause

Your award will be on its way shortly.

You can check out his creation here:
http://www.pcs-electronics.com/software/rdsmax30/Nicolas/AirDS_Server_setup_0.9.3.exe

Mr Nicolas has also promised to answer any questions here and if he
agrees, we will release source to you guys to play with as well.

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

There are no questions, no feedback, nothing.

We have a new, probably final version of this program, but since
there's been no feedback.....

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

So sad about that

That would have be nice if PCS customers had given their advice about the soft. I integrated into the code almost all the features I wanted in a cool RDS software, but the others could bring some other good ideas... Applause

Anyway, the 0.9.4 is available...
Ciao
.Nicolas.

Hi Nicolas,

I have tried your software for a few days, but after a day or so the program freezed.
Since I have no time at this moment to analyze it, I switched back to RDSMAX3.
Your software certainly looks good, and works fine for as long as it not freezes.
I don't know what caused the freeze, but I certainly will try your newer version.
Until then I cannot give you any feedback that helps you forward.

Anyway it would be nice to have a possibility to "hide to system tray".
The first version could only be minimized to the taskbar.
Certainly I will not be the only one testing your software .. am I ??

Regards,

Frank

Hi DJ Frank
It's nice to give your feedback, the first one... Applause

So, about the freeze, could you tell me what functions were you using (dyn PS, RT, auto send, CT...)

For the Systray, I will add it in the next version I' m actually working on (0.9.5)

Thanks for your feedback.

Nicolas

	nickFF wrote:
	Hi DJ Frank It's nice to give your feedback, the first one... So, about the freeze, could you tell me what functions were you using (dyn PS, RT, auto send, CT...) For the Systray, I will add it in the next version I' m actually working on (0.9.5) Thanks for your feedback. Nicolas

Let me know when you're done so I can upload it

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

It's a while ago since I tried it, but I just started AirDS 9.3 again to see what the settings were:

- Use static PS : Station Name in only 1 PS window.
- Enable CT
- Only Use dynamic RT from text file. (automatic generated file by SAM3)
- TP=1 - TA=0 - Oldies Music - Music/Speech=1 - Dynamic PTY=No - Artificial Head=1 - Compression=yes - Mono/Stereo=1 - Country=8, area coverage=L - Country ECC=E3 - Program reference=192 AF1=92.2 all other AF ----
- TCP disabled
- Comport=1 Speed=14400 Buffer Size=512

This were the latest settings on 9.3

I will download your latest version and try it.
Report will follow.
Hope it doesn't bring the station down

Regards,

Frank

AirDS not yet online or did I just not look in the good direction

Update!!!

When minimized to the taskbar, the program freezes after a few song changes.
The program cannot be maximized anymore, does not communicate with the RDS encoder anymore, and can only be closed by right-clicking on the taskbar Icon and choose close.

This is the freeze problem as I described.
Now I will try to keep it running not minimized, and see how it behaves.

More to follow...

regards,

Beta tester Frank

Which version do you have? I believe there was another intermediate one,
but let's wait for the author to comment on it

_________________
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128

I think DJ Frank uses the 0.9.3 version. I'm working on the 0.9.5 so the 0.9.4 exists... but no need to try the 0.9.4 because I didn't fix any freeze bug in that one.
Anyway, I will try to reproduce that bug and fix it in the 0.9.5 . d'oh!

Best regards.

Nicolas

Indeed as I mentioned a few postings back I am using 0.9.3
It has worked fine all day now, not minimized.

I minimized it a few minutes ago, and as soon as the next song change should appear on RDS, the program freezed again.
So it seems this only happens in minimized mode.

Anyway it would be nice if newer versions could minimize to the systemtray, like RDSMAX3 does, instead of minimizing to the taskbar.

Nevertheless the features of AirDS are really nice, so I am really looking forward to your next releases.

Now I am going to download the latest version on your site (saw this morning that 0.9.4 was there).

I'll keep you informed if I notice any other problems.

Regards,

Frank

Ok
I included the Tray function in the 0.9.5.
About the freeze, I cannot generate it so I need more of your local settings.

-How many RDS documents do you have loaded?
-Does each one:
-Has full auto RDS send, and if Yes at what period?
-Has only one Static PS, CT, RT from file
-What't the RT file updating period?
Do you have TCP log enabled?
Which OS you use and SP?
Do you run as local admin?

Anyway, thanks for your attention.
Best regards.

I'm running AirDS0.9.4 for a few hours now, minimized, and no freeze so far.
Seems the problem is not there in this version, although you did not change anything to solve the freeze in this version d'oh!

Running fine now!!
I don't think you have to look into it for the freeze bug anymore, I will pay attention if it keeps working fine.

Environment:

- I only load one RDS document.
- RT from file (approx. 25 - 35 chars.)
- PS static only 8 chars (1 display)
- TCP completely disabled (no client server operation)
- Full RDS sent at default: 10
- RT chack at default: 3 (increased this before, but did not help then)
- OS: Win XP-SP2
- Local admin

I'm looking forward to try 0.9.5.

regards,

Frank

Ok, may be I replied a little too fast... I forgot some bug fixes I made in the 0.9.4

Here is the 0.9.4 Readme.txt file:

-----------[AirDS Server]-------------
[0.9.4 server]
-----[Bug fixes:]-----
-COM Port Tab: only existig and available COM ports are added in the COM Port combo list.
-RT tab: in DynPS, with looping the same PS actived, in some cases it doesn't fill all the PS fields but puts some blanks: fixed.
-CT tab: bug fixed: the update period was 999ms instead of 59999ms.
-CT tab: if CT function is checked, CT is now sent each minute even when the check 'Disable auto RDS Send' is checked.
-Better management of default values : some values were NULL in some cases (in new RDS document and global settings)
-Install shield: Don't write registries in InstallShield anymore (could overwrite 'RDS 1' document and some global settings)
-OnLineUpdate bug fixed: occured whith long path names with spaces.

-----[New functions]-----
-%WINAMP%, %MEDIAPLAYER%, %REALPLAYER% keyworks added in RT Tab.
These keywords are filled in with the Winamp5, MediaPlayer and Realplayer window title (current song or current Stream Tag when playing an Internet Radio)
-XML File generation of AirDS Contents
-OLU_AirDS.exe 0.9.0 finished and included in installation file + auto update function
-Easy TA function added.
-Friendly Name for a RDS Document added. This friendly document name is used in EasyTA and in RDS Stream name.
-in general options form: MaxTCPClient number added: allows you to limit from 1 to 100 the number of simultaneous TCP Clients per RDS Documents.

-----[Still to come]-----
-HTML File generation of AirDS Contents
-better TA flag management (TA easily updated from another computer... may be with an asp side...)

-----[Known bugs]-----
-the Turbo PS mode isn't at its top right now... still to improve.
-AF doesn't seems to work (to see with PCS)