[Kde-announce-apps] Kirocker Music Display 1.4

[Sébastien Laoût]

Name: Kirocker Music Display
Version: 1.4
Type: Sound Application
Depend: KDE 3.x
License: GPL
More Info:
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=52869

Description:
 Make your Kicker (the KDE main panel) rock with
your music.

It is a Kicker applet that displays what you
listen to in Amarok.

With this panel applet, you always know what you
are listening to, and can watch its cover and star
rating: it is always visible.
It allows you to rate your music with one click:
you can quickly change the number of stars of your
musics from anywhere on your desktop.
Finally, it let you remotely control Amarok with
one click from anywhere on your desktop: play next
or previous track, pause, play, and seek to
another position in the current track.

To install:
- Extract the archive
- Open a konsole in the extracted folder (in
Konqueror, go to the extracted folder and press
F4)
- Run this set of command: ./configure
--prefix=$(kde-config --prefix) && make && sudo
make install
- It will asks your root password to install the
applet on your system
- Right click the Kicker, choose "Add an Applet to
the Panel..." (once the panel is unlocked)
- Double-click "Kirocker Music Display"
- Start playing a music. The applet is empty when
Amarok is stopped or paused, to not annoy you with
useless information when you are working

Also included in the package: the Kicker
translucent white vertical background.

How to make the Kicker translucent:
- Your screen resolution need to be 1280*800. If
not, you will need some artistic skills and a Gimp
experience to modify the given background
- Extract the image "Kicker Right Translucent
Background.png" located in the Kirocker Music
Display archive
- Open your desktop background image with The Gimp
- Drag and drop "Kicker Right Translucent
Background.png" to the Gimp window of your
background image
- Save the image and set it as your desktop
background image
- Right click the Kicker and choose "Configure the
Panel..." (once the panel is unlocked)
- Place the panel on the right (click the button
on the right)
- Set the size to "Personalized" and enter "96
pixels"
- In the "Appearance" tab, check "Enable
transparency"
- Click "Ok" and you're done: ENJOY!

Changelog:
 1.0:
- Initial release

1.2:
New Features:
- Clickable length progressbar to change the
position in the track
- Scroll wheel to change the position in the track
- Added progress time and time left in the tooltip
Bugs & Crashs:
- Do not crash if the panel use no background
image (only a flat background color)
- Good looking shadow if the background image is
very small (was buggy with the KUbuntu background
image)
- Do not freeze the panel while Amarok is starting
(and Amarok take 20 seconds to start, so it was a
long freeze)

1.4:
New features:
- One-click player controls: previous track /
play&pause / next track
- Display album year, when available
- Change volume with horizontal scrolling or
Alt+scrolling
- Light up progressbar when moving mouse over it,
to show it's clickable
Bug fixes:
- Light up stars when the Amarok goes from paused
to playing state and the mouse was already over a
star
- Do not distorse non-square covers (like the
no-cover image)

This ends the 1.x serie centered arround a working
Kicker applet. I will soon begin development of
the 2.x serie with full screen and configuration
in mind.

==========================

PLANNED for 2.0:
- Full screen view

PLANNED for 2.2:
- Options to remove some parts
(progress/cover/stars/information)
- Resize down the applet when nothing is playing

PLANNED for 3.0:
- Crossfade animations