Stewie v0.3.1a r1 README http://www.wolfteck.com/~jschind/stewie Stewie is Copyright (C) 2000-2005 Jason Schindler and released under the GNU General Public License. To view the GNU GPL, please see 'gpl.txt' included with the source, or visit: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt ==== Table of Contents: ==== 1 - Introduction 2 - Installation 3 - Use ---- ==== 1 - Introduction ==== There are a number of excellent GPL commercial radio automation software packages available (Rivendell, LiveSupport ect...). The Stewie project is not meant to be a stand in solution for these types of software. We set our sights in a different direction. There is a surprisingly large number of independent radio stations (some of which are webstream only) that use a media player with a large playlist set to "random" to run their stations for them while they are unavailable. Once Stewie is properly configured, the user will enjoy all the benefits of a "random playlist" station (low maintenance, etc...) in addition to the following: 1 - Legal IDs. 2 - Liners. 3 - Multiple playlist support. 4 - Music/liner/error logs. 5 - The ability to alter settings/playlists without interrupting music. ---- ==== 2 - Installation ==== A) Make sure that you have the following dependicies: 1) Linux (Sorry, no DOS/Windows port yet) 2) Perl 3) ogg123/vorbis-tools (If you wish to play ogg-vorbis audio files) 4) mpg321 or mpg123 (If you wish to play mp3 audio files) 5) Properly configured soundcard B) Extract stewiev031a.tar.gz by typing: 'tar xvfz stewiev031a.tar.gz' - This will create a directory named 'stewie' in which the script will run and the playlists/logs will be kept. C) Make the new 'stewie' directory your working directory by typing: 'cd stewie' D) Type './install-stewie' to begin configuration. - For an explanation of the different terms used in the "install-stewie" script, please see the "Use" section of this document. E) Now that you have stewie configured, you can get the playlists ready for the air. Each playlist has its own directory inside of the 'stewie/playlist' directory. Additionally if you wish to use liners or legal IDs, those playlist directories will also be located under the 'stewie/playlist' directory. To add audio to a playlist, simply copy the audio file to the directory of the appropriate playlist. These files can be removed and inserted while Stewie is running excluding the file that is currently playing. This system allows you to update the playlist of your station without stopping the music. - If you are in a tremendous hurry, the minimum requirement for operation is 1 track in the "master" playlist. F) Type './stewiev031a.pl' to begin. G) Jam out. ---- ==== 3 - Use ==== Q: How do I add/remove tracks from my playlist? A: Simply copy the audio file into or delete it out of the directory assigned to the playlist that you would like to alter. You can find your playlist directories in "*STEWIE_PATH*/playlist/". Q: Stewie seems to be working fine, but I have warning messages displayed on the screen. How do I make them go away? A: The warnings are displayed because some of your settings in the "stewie.conf" are conflicting with either the tracks that you have available or the file permissions in your stewie directory. For example if your "stewie.conf" file states that you wish to use liners and you don't have any available, Stewie will continue running and let you know that there aren't any liners to play. The easiest way to get rid of them is to either fix the problem or edit "stewie.conf" to change the conditions so that it isn't a problem anymore. To view errors/warnings, see the "*STEWIE_PATH*/logs/errors" directory. Q: What does the "Songs_Before_Repeat" value do? A: By far the most difficult concept to explain is the function of the "Songs_Before_Repeat" value. Quite literally, it represents the number of tracks that must play before any given track is eligible to be repeated. The primary benefit of this system is that your entire playlist doesn't have to cycle before it starts over and you don't have to worry about a given track being repeated within a certain time frame. To illustrate this, lets assume that you have a "Songs_Before_Repeat" value of 8 (which is really quite small and would result in rather boring radio). If song03.ogg plays, 7 other tracks will play before song03.ogg is eligible to play again. The same concept applies to the "Liners_Before_Repeat" value. I suggest that you play with those numbers at first until you find the values that suit your station the best. Q: When are you going to add touch screen support to Stewie? A: Never. Q: I have my station configured and running. How do I start streaming? A: You need to install a client to send the audio to an internet audio server. I recommend "DarkIce." You can find their project at: http://darkice.sourceforge.net Q: What if I still have problems? A: You can either post a message on the forums at: http://forums.wolfteck.com Or send me an email at http://www.wolfteck.com/~jschind/email.shtml ---- For more information, please check the website at: http://www.wolfteck.com/~jschind/stewie Or the forums at: http://forums.wolfteck.com Stewie is maintained by Jason Schindler and wolfteck.com. For information about the license under which Stewie is distributed, please read 'gpl.txt'