A media center with only the essential functions.
The inspiration for this project comes from my experience using Kodi, which is a very feature rich, cross platform media center application with available add-ons for every imaginable use case. I used kodi for years running on different machines connected to my good ol' CRT Tv.
I couldn't get used to the cluttered user interface, which is impossible to control from the remote control app without looking down at it. My other problem is I couldn't find a skin which is easily readable from a distance on my stunning low-res screen.
I'm fine with editing config files from time to time, what I'm not fine with is getting lost in a user interface every time I attempt to use it. So the project goals has been born:
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be able to list and open files
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control the GUI and playback from my phone without looking down
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stutter free playback on raspberry pi
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don't add any unnecessary functions
This app uses external video players to open the videos and then controls them via terminal in the background. Mplayer and omxplayer are supported. On the raspberry pi omxplayer is required for hardver acceleration and thus for smooth playback.
Windows
On windows mplayer has to be added to Environment variables. (Right click 'This PC' > Properties > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables... > System variables (lower box) > Path > add the directory of mplayer.exe)
Linux
sudo apt-get install mplayer
on raspberry pi:
sudo apt-get install omxplayer
the binaries
Installing the program itself should be the manner of the double clicking the .exe or .deb files. However I could'n get the arm7 .deb installer to work, so there manual install is required. On arm7 download and extract the zip archive to /usr/lib:
unzip file.zip -d /usr/lib
Then create a link to the executable file in /usr/bin, so it will available globally:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mostBasicMediaCenter/mostBasicMediaCenter /usr/bin/mostBasicMediaCenter
The application creates a config file in a hidden folder in the users home directory named .mostBasicMediaCenter/mostBasicConfig.js
After launching, on the local network a remote control website will be available. Witch is controllable with swipe up, swipe down, swipe left, swipe right, tap, long press gestures thanks to the Hammer.js library.