MINICD 4 README

1. What is MiniCD

MiniCD is a control strip module to control playback of Audio CDs. It has more features than the module provided by Apple.
MiniCD uses some recent innovations and needs a modern version of MacOS. It should not be run under anything earlier than MacOS 8.5. It requires a PPC processor.
MiniCD should be considered beta software - see warning at end.

2. To install MiniCD

1. Decompress the downloaded file with stuffit expander. Then:
2. Drag 'MiniCD Strip' onto your control strip
3. Drag 'MiniCD Faceless' into the Startup Items folder of your System Folder, and double click it to launch it.
4. Drag 'MiniCD Configure' into the Control Panels folder of your System Folder.

3. To uninstall MiniCD

Remove the following files from your system folder:
Startup Programs:MiniCD Faceless
Control Panels:MiniCD Configure
Control Strip Modules:MiniCD Strip

4. Quick Featurelist

* Multiple disks - simultaneously
* Multiple sets
* Instant access to controller from any application
* No system extensions
* It's free
* Needs MacOS 8.5
* Appearance savvy
* Handles IDE and SCSI drives.

5. Getting started

When you insert a CD, the display in the control strip will show the name of the disk. Click on the display. A controller window will open; you can select play (big right pointing arrow) or a specific track (the button with several horisontal lines).
To set up track names or sets, choose the preferences button (this has two small black circles followed by red dots). This will launch MiniCD 4's control panel.

6. MiniCD 4's control panel.

There are 5 tabs across the top.
* General - Set options that affect the overall behaviour of MiniCD
* Tracks - Set the disk and track names. To set the track names, double click in the list. This starts editting; you can use the arrow keys to move up or down the list. Press escape or click outside the list to stop editting. If you press escape, your changes will be lost.
* Sets - Sets let you control the order in which tracks are played back. You can create new sets by clicking the 'New' button. To change the tracks in a set, drag them between the 'play' and 'don't play' lists. You can also drag tracks to different places in the same list, thus changing the playback order.
* Stats - Tells you about your CD collection
* Keys - Lets you set up shortcuts for controlling CD playback.

BEWARE:

MiniCD has been in development for many months now. I believe it to be fairly stable, but it certainly isn't crash proof and I would not recommend using it in an environment where an unexpected crash would be a serious problem.
From a technical point of view, I install a GNEvent filter function in MiniCD Faceless, so if Faceless goes down then you've had it.

Please direct feedback at ebrown@ndirect.co.uk.

I have kept the information in this document deliberately brief, as I hope that the software is reasonably self-explanatory (and who reads manuals, anyway?). I shall create a FAQ based on any feedback that is received, and post it to the MiniCD 4 website.

And lastly:
All the heavy work is done by MiniCD Faceless. MiniCD strip simply displays information based on data provided by Faceless, and sends instructions back to Faceless to make things happen (mostly CD control). There is a simple interface between Faceless and Strip; this interface could be exploited by other programs, perhaps by a graphically rich CD player written as a standard application. If anyone wants to write alternative front ends then I'll provide a spec for the interface.

Brief Version History
1.0 - black & white, small application in small custom window, 68000 code.
2.0 - Similar to 1.0 but a bit better. Allowed tracks to be named.
3.0 - Colour! Introduced set support. Still a 68000 application. This version is recommended for anyone who has a 68K mac.
31/2 - Similar to 4 but residing in the menu bar. Not Appearance savvy, and crashed quite a lot. Not released.
4.0 - now.

Original file name: miniCD4 - converted on Saturday, 11 March 2000, 15:43