From giantdisc

GiantDisc Clients - Overview

While GiantDisc was originally designed with the Palm client as the main remote control, various other clients have been developed in the meantime. Most of these do not yet incorporate all features of the Palm client - and for many this is in fact not intended, they are rather to be seen as additional clients to be used concurrently with the Palm client.

The following is an overview of currently existing clients, with notes on features and server version compatibility. Click on the name for a more detailed description and download / installation instructions for each client.

Name	Description	Comments	Maintainer
Palm Client	The Palm client offers all funtions that are necessary to use and manage the GD jukebox system. It allows to efficiently retrieve and play tracks, albums and playlists. It has also recording, importing and deletion capabilities, and it supports the management of the jukebox system.	The Palm client is the recommended standard client for GiantDisc. The GD system has been designed to be entirely controlled by this client software. The Palm client is part of the standard GD distribution	Rolf Brugger
Simple Web Client	Mostly text-based PHP web client with limited features: search, browse, edit, upload, and play music.	This raw web client is only useful for special applications where a fast and lightweight web interface is needed.	Rolf Brugger
LCD client	a client to use an LCD display and an optional keypad which is attached to the server machine. The interface just offers very basic playlist controls like start/stop/pause playing and displaying of the current track title and artist.	needs to be installed on the GD server	Rolf Brugger
LIRC client	light-weight client to use a regular infrared remote control to interact with the server. It allows the same actions as the LCD client.	slightly outdated, but may still work - needs testing. needs to be installed on the GD server	Wolfgang Lohwasser
Sony-Ericsson T68i phone client	light-weight client to use the T68i phone as a bluetooth remote control	currently needs to be installed on the GD server. developed and tested for a T68i phone, but might work on others.	Gabriel Indurskis
Commandline Ncurses/OSD client	a menu-oriented shell command line client (using the ncurses interface) which can also (optionally) display on-screen messages (using the XOSD library)	works from anywhere inside your network	Gabriel Indurskis

Currently outdated and unmaintained clients:

Name	Description	Comments	Status	Maintainer
Advanced Web Client	Nice looking graphical PHP web client with many possibilities to search, browse and play music, and to edit metadata.	This fancy web client is a very useful complement to the basic package.	needs adjustment to work with the current server version	Philipp Heckel
Jajouka (Python/GTK Client)	A very nice looking interface based on Python/GTK. It is widely platform independent and has been tested on Linux and Win machines.	It directly accesses the database and plays files locally, so is not technically a real GD client	outdated, not compatible with current server	Andy Balcombe

Note for Developers of GD Clients

The Palm client accesses to the server through a simple text based protocol. Older versions of alternative clients usually didn't connect to the main server, but they directly accessed the database and core package shell scripts and commands.

Directly reading and manipulating the database is a actually a bad idea. The internal representation of the data has always changed and will be further developed. A better way to implement clients is to make them communicate to the same server as the Palm client does, using the same protocol.

As of GD version 1.34-beta6 it is possible to attach as many clients to a single server as required.