Hi Quim
On Tue, 2012-03-13 at 12:27 +0100, Quim Llimona wrote:
Hi all,
The Barcelona Laptop Orchestra has been working with some network abstractions built specifically per piece (chats, OSC sync and so). I was thinking on making a whole, reusable framework, but then I read about the NetPd system... I'd like to develop stuff from it (some GUI abstractions, log systems, etc), but it says it's under a transition and so. Does anybody know the current status of the project? Is it usable now, or should I use the old system?
netpd is currently a one-man show. This means, it's only me working on it and occasionally playing with it. The new OSC based version is much more mature than the original framework ever was. The old netpd is not maintained anymore and I wouldn't use it, though it still seems to run OK with today's version of Pd[-extended].
I'd say the new netpd framework is in a beta stage now. I haven't touched the server for quite a while (it seems robust) and also worked on the client-side framework stuff only occasionally, mainly when smallish issues were found during development of custom made netpd-patches / instruments. In recent weeks, I actually spent most time on importing old netpd-patches to the new framework or rewriting them from scratch. The most important ones are already done. The one big chunk still missing is a proper documentation and also eventually making a release. I don't follow a particular schedule, though.
Explained in only a few words, the main goal of the framework is to ensure instrument/patch synchronisation (every client has the same set of of custom made patches loaded at any time) and state synchronization (the state of a certain patch is the same on every client at any time). Of course, you can pick only the features you're interested to. For instance, you could use it only for passing OSC messages around between clients. I tried to make the framework modular, so it might well be that you find something for your needs, but to tell you more about it, I'd need to know more precisely what you're trying to achieve.
I encourage you to try out the new netpd yourself. To get a running setup, do this in a terminal:
$ git clone git://github.com/reduzent/netpd2.git $ git clone git://github.com/reduzent/netpd2-patches.git $ cd netpd2 $ rm -rf abs/ patches/ $ ln -s ../netpd2-patches/patches/ $ ln -s ../netpd2-patches/abs/
This will give you the framework itself plus a set of patches/instruments.
To run it, open 'netpd2/chat.pd' in your 0.43 version of Pd or Pd-extended.
The following external libraries are used:
- iemnet
- osc
- mrpeach ([slipdec] and [slipenc])
- zexy
Have fun (or report back)!
Roman