The Arrival of Flash/USB Feature!

[ezkcdude]

From the "I told you so" department...

So, a couple of years ago there were heated discussions (of which I was a participant) about why some of us wanted flash cards/thumb drives to be added to the Squeezebox. On the other side were numerous (too many to count) and staunch responses that said this feature would require substantial re-working of the entire SC architecture. For example, see this thread from 2007:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...ht=flash+drive

Or this flamewar (I think I actually originated the request for this feature - see post #6):

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...616#post160616

So, my question is, what happened? Were the naysayers just plain wrong (which I thought at the time), or have there been substantial changes to the SC software to make this (highly desirable) new feature possible? Just curious...

[radish]

The device is no longer Slim I think that's a pretty substantial architectural change. SC hasn't gone away, we just have a device which can run it being sold as part of the player line now.

[iPhone]

From the "I told you so" department...

So, a couple of years ago there were heated discussions (of which I was a participant) about why some of us wanted flash cards/thumb drives to be added to the Squeezebox. On the other side were numerous (too many to count) and staunch responses that said this feature would require substantial re-working of the entire SC architecture. For example, see this thread from 2007:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...ht=flash+drive

Or this flamewar (I think I actually originated the request for this feature - see post #6):

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...616#post160616

So, my question is, what happened? Were the naysayers just plain wrong (which I thought at the time), or have there been substantial changes to the SC software to make this (highly desirable) new feature possible? Just curious...

Note: These are generalizations as I am only a Beta Tester. The employees have the actual exact facts but this is basically how I see it from using the Touch.

The new "Smart" players have a new OS for their much more powerful processors and extra memory. The Touch is a smart device instead of a dumb device like earlier Squeezeboxes. Basically a new platform for doing Squeeze that is backwards compatible with the older units (might not include Slimp3 or others, not sure but Andy or other would know for sure). So the Touch can run using SBS (Squeeze Box Server) or on a slimmed down SC running locally on itself (Beta for now).

Also remember that processing power has increased while getting smaller in size and memory capacity is larger and cheaper, making it cost effective to make this possible now.

[aubuti]

From the "I told you so" department...

So, a couple of years ago there were heated discussions (of which I was a participant) about why some of us wanted flash cards/thumb drives to be added to the Squeezebox. On the other side were numerous (too many to count) and staunch responses that said this feature would require substantial re-working of the entire SC architecture. For example, see this thread from 2007:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...ht=flash+drive

Or this flamewar (I think I actually originated the request for this feature - see post #6):

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...616#post160616

So, my question is, what happened? Were the naysayers just plain wrong (which I thought at the time), or have there been substantial changes to the SC software to make this (highly desirable) new feature possible? Just curious...

Right: except *we* told *you* so ;o)

The Touch will run what is being called TinySC, which is a stripped down version of SC. Specifically, TinySC has no web server (regular SC includes an httpd to serve up the web ui) and no transcoding capabilities (so if you want to play WMA Lossless you need Regular Strength SC). Both of these are fairly processor-intensive tasks.

Probably more important than the SC software change is the hardware change. The hardware platform for the Touch is completely new and includes an ARM processor. The processors in the earlier hardware (SliMP3, SB, SB2, SB3, SBR, Boom) are 49 pound weaklings by comparison. The new platform also has more memory, which was another constraint on the old platform (developers were saying that they were running out of space even for the current firmware on the older platforms).

EDIT: and while we're reviving old threads, check out post #33 in the 2nd thread you cite ;o)

[Mark Lanctot]

or have there been substantial changes to the SC software to make this (highly desirable) new feature possible?

Actually it's a substantial hardware change in the players - SqueezeOS, which debuted on the controller and runs on Squeezebox Radio and Squeezebox Touch. SC hasn't changed all that much.

The ARM processors in these devices are powerful enough to run Linux - a huge architectural change over the Ubicom devices, which are really terminals. The new devices are more or less self-contained computers.

[qirex]

I'm pretty happy about this because it makes a touch and a hard drive full of MP3s a much more self-contained system, especially for people who only own laptops.

[ezkcdude]

Right: except *we* told *you* so ;o)

Well, with all due respect, the feature was added - so those of us who argued for it got what we wanted. And the Logitech/Slim folks must have agreed it is a desirable feature.

[Howard Passman]

I wonder if the Controller will ever be upgraded to have the same capability. ***That*** would be cool.

Howard

[Matt Wise]

I don't believe the controller has the CPU horsepower to run TinySC...
I could see it someday getting the ability to view images from an SD
card though, that seems like its within the realm of possibilities.

[Mark Lanctot]

I wonder if the Controller will ever be upgraded to have the same capability. ***That*** would be cool.

Howard

Probably not - Touch has twice the memory and the processor is more than twice as fast. Even so, SC had to have features removed to run on Touch.

Memory and faster ARM processors are going to get even cheaper though, so future devices may be able to support full-fledged SC. Transcoding is still processor-intensive, especially on ARM, but think of what a device with a small x86 processor like Atom would be able to do...