TuneTracker Systems commissioned François Revol to create a driver capable of working with PCI serial extender cards.  The driver initially is designed to work with the widely-available Manhattan serial card.  We've donated it to the BeOS and Haiku community and it's available to anyone who wants to use it for any purpose.  The BeOS version is available now for download at Haikuware, and the Haiku version has been added to the svn.

For our own purposes, we'll be using the driver to allow TuneTracker to simultaneously interface with both touch screens and audio switchers, and immediately lets us put out two new "Control Center" system packages that support the combined functionality.  You can see the two new ones at the top of this page:

http://www.tunetrackersystems.com/commandcenter_packages.html

Update...

Hey, I'm editing this blog in Haiku with WebPositive!!  How cool is that?!!!

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TuneTracker Systems has successfully run the TuneTracker radio automation program under Haiku.  It took only modest work to get the "Command Center" automating component functioning under Haiku using an older version of SoundPlay, the player that forms the "audio engine" portion of TuneTracker.  Most of Command Center's functionality is already perfect, and when the newest version of SoundPlay is made compatible with Haiku, Command Center will be able to run 100% on the Haiku platform.

Other components in the TuneTracker System, such as the TunePrepper music ripper and prepper, Lightning request finder and playlist builder, and TT Anywhere remote administration server, all launch and run as well, and appear to only require minor work before they will do everything correctly.

Our plan is to have the entire TuneTracker software suite running great on this platform before Haiku R1 is released, and the fact that Haiku's developers have done such a good job with BeOS binary compatibility is really speeding up that process.

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Historically, the most popular BeOS downloads were, by far, hardware drivers; little software snippets that allowed BeOS to communicate with various sound cards, video cards, etc.  Why?  Because BeOS' built-in hardware support was quite limited.  One of the biggest obstacles to using BeOS was in making it work on any particular user's computer.

As with BeOS, Haiku is starting its public life with a limited selection of supported hardware.  To increase its usefulness to the largest number of people, it's essential, it's crucial, that we get as much information about what does work out to the masses, and the sooner the better.

Now that Haikuware has this beautiful web site, and a good start has been made at posting information about compatible hardware, there are no more good excuses for any of us not to put information on there about hardware that works with Haiku.  I've just posted information on the components that work for me, and I'd encourage absolutely everyone to do the same.

Even if another version of the hardware, i.e., another make and model of card with the same chipset already been posted, don't let that stop you from posting yours.  Not everyone is going to understand that their hardware will work as well because its onboard processor is the same.  They need to see those makes and models listed.

To my mind, it's one of the fastest, easiest ways to help the "Haiku Cause" in a very real way.

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Until recently, I have strode around the lovely Haiku reflecting pool, dipping a toe in from time-t0-time to see how the water is, but not really getting involved very much.  Two reasons for this.  One, business keeps me very busy.  Two, Haiku didn't seem like it was far enough along to do much with.

So why wade in now?  Dunno!  Maybe it's some sort of instinct kicking in, like the old lady whose bunion starts throbbing when rain's coming,  but it just seems like the time is right to get wet.  Suddenly I want to immerse myself in this thing.  I want to know what Haiku can and can't do at this point.  I want to know a lot about the hardware it can run on.  I want to start using it routinely so I am familiar with its qualities and quirks.  I want to begin investigating it as a place to run my software products; to see what it'll take to make them run under Haiku.  And, where I can be useful, I want to do more to help the cause.

I'm not a coder, so I won't be able to swim with the big fish.  But maybe I can help with some writing and promotion.  I can also test Haiku various ways and submit bug reports.  I would also be interested in assisting financially to the extent I'm able, in the development of hardware drivers.

In any case, I just wanted to say hello, make my presence known, and open up some initial lines of communication with the Haiku gang here.

This site, by the way, is just terrific...I don't have words to express how much I appreciate it.  Thank you so much.

 Dane Scott

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