do you use mac os x? want to help emesene? want to be the creator of a plugin? here is some help

itunes needs a "currently playing" plugin

let's do this, I give you almost the complete recipe, you build it as a plugin and everyone is happy

on the shell:

sudo pip install appscript
python

now on the python shell:

>>> import appscript
>>> itunes = appscript.app('iTunes')
>>> current_track = itunes.current_track
>>> current_track.name.get()
u'Temporary Like Achilles'
>>> current_track.artist.get()
u'Bob Dylan'
>>> current_track.album.get()
u'Blonde on Blonde'

now fetch emesene's code, see how the other "current playing" plugins are made, create the itunes version and send us a pull request!

a place for emesene users to meet

hi!

for some time users have been asking where was the forum and which was the replacemente for the forum.

since maintaining all the infrastructure by ourselves was taking a lot of times for the contributors of the project and we had several "entry points" to the project we decided to consolidate.

the result is the blog as a place to be up to date on what's happening with the project, get information, downloads, links etc.

and github for development, issue tracker, wiki etc.

all this is working really nice, except for the fact that there is no place for end users to interact with eachother.

after some discussion we decided to open the emesene users group on google groups

the idea of the group is to discuss/share things like plugins/themes and maybe small problems/fixes/workarounds.

we would also like to use that channel as a way to expose tasks that don't require lot of expertise, like translations, documentation, small bug fixes, improvement on code quality etc.

the rules are simple:

• the channel is to talk about emesene, stay on topic
• mark [OT] on the subject if you really think an off topic post should go to the list, to make it easy for people to filter those messages
• english is preferred, that way we reach more people
• if you really don't know anything about english mark your topic with the language ([es], [it], [pr]) so other people can filter those topics
• be nice
• help move common knowledge to the wiki or to a FAQ to point repeated questions there
• help us promote interested people to developers

so, come over and let's talk about emesene

http://groups.google.com/group/emesene

this is all for now, I may expand this post as we go

Windows installer update

Hello fellow emeseners, this is syst3m. Most of you don't know me, and if you do that scares me a bit.

Anyways, if you are a Windows emesene user then you are probably familiar with some of my work. I am the guy that has been making the installers (and portable versions) of emesene since just before the release of 2.11.4.

Now for the real reason for this post.

There will be a new installer in 2.11.6!

I know it might not sound too exciting, but a lot of improvements have already been made to the installer to make it more user-friendly and Windows-friendly.

Some of the new features did make it into 2.11.5, but those were just added on to the existing boring installer.

emesene 2.11.6 features a completely re-written installer (and portable) script which include some new features as well as some improvements to existing ones.

Current Features:

• Modern UI
• Multi-language support
• Added license, components, directory, welcome and finish pages
• Clean uninstallation (registry friendly)
• Optionally cleans up any older registry files
• Optionally deletes config (current user only)
• Checks if emesene is running when installer or uninstaller is opened
• Added uninstall information to Add/Remove Programs
• Ability to remove StartMenu Shortcuts
• Slightly better compression (smaller installer size)

Planned Features:

• Check installed version upon new installation

Other Windows changes that are present in 2.11.5 and newer are that shortcut icons now works in Windows Vista/7 and the config folder has been moved to APPDATA
(C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data on XP and
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming on Vista/7).

Sorry for any inconvenience in moving of the config file.

Before I go I just wanted to let you the users know that it is not hard to make contributions to emesene.

 

You don't have to be a developer or packager to help out, though they do help. 

 

It's as simple as submitting bugs, suggestions, and translating into a language you know. 

 

I started with minimal knowledge of python (still don't know much) but that didn't stop me from helping.

If you're interested in trying out windows experimental/development packages to try out new features, bug fixes, and my lovely new installer you have options. 

 

You can build your own packages using http://blog.emesene.org/2011/03/rough-guide-to-create-windows-packages.html and compiling using "emesene-installer-MUI.nsi" OR you can user pre-built packages made by yours truly at http://www.mediafire.com/emesene

Remember anything that is not a stable release should not be considered stable, and may include issues.

Bye for now. :)

- syst3m

marianoguerra: a huge round of welcome applauses for our new windows packaging overlord syst3m! 

 

(want to become our packaging overlord for other OS/distribution? join us at github and/or the mailing list and ask!)

Unity support

And there it is, support for the shiny new Unity Launcher available in Ubuntu 11.04+. You can now quit emesene by using the quicklist, and you'll never miss a message again, because the launcher will alert you and show the number of messages you haven't read yet.

Have fun!

Sven