FEATURES

   1 Features
   2 ========
   3
   4 configurable audio streaming software:
   5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   6         para_server streams binary audio data (mp3/ogg files) over
   7         local or remote networks. It contains two built-in streamers:
   8         the http streamer and the ortp streamer.
   9
  10         para_audiod runs on the client side and connects to
  11         para_server. The audio stream is read back and sent through
  12         any of paraslash's filters (mp3 decoder, ogg vorbis decoder,
  13         volume normalizer,...) and the resulting stream is written to
  14         an external program's standard in, usually an audio player,
  15         like para_play that uses alsa. It is possible to grab the
  16         stream at any position in the filter chain.
  17
  18         The receiving/filtering software is also available as
  19         standalone command line tool: para_recv grabs the http or ortp
  20         stream and writes to stdout; para_filter reads from stdin,
  21         converts the stream according to the given --filter command
  22         line options and writes the transformed stream to stdout.
  23
  24 configurable audio file selectors:
  25 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  26         There are three audio file selectors available:
  27
  28                 - random
  29                 - playlist
  30                 - mysql
  31
  32         The first two of these are rather simple, and they are always
  33         supported. They allow streaming of randomly selected files
  34         or files given by a playlist respectively.
  35
  36         The (optional) mysql selector is more involved. It manages
  37         statistics on your audio files and audio file selection is
  38         done by sending a user-defined sql-query to the mysql server.
  39         This allows rather sophisticated configurations and is
  40         explained in detail in README.mysql.
  41
  42         It is possible to switch between all supported selectors at
  43         any time.
  44
  45 small memory footprint:
  46 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  47         paraslash is lightweight. The stripped binary of para_server
  48         with all its features compiled in (mysql/random/playlist
  49         selector, mp3/ogg support, http/ortp support) is about 110K
  50         on i386 under Linux. para_audiod is even smaller.
  51
  52 command line interface, including shell:
  53 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  54         para_client without arguments starts interactive (shell)
  55         mode. Otherwise, command is sent to para_server directly
  56         and output is dumped to stdout. This can be used by any
  57         scripting language to produce user interfaces with very little
  58         programming effort.
  59
  60 authentication/encryption via openssl:
  61 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  62         All connections between para_server and para_client are
  63         encrypted by default.  For each user of paraslash you must
  64         create a public/secret key pair for authentication/encryption.
  65
  66 various user interfaces and utilities:
  67 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  68         o para_gui. Curses based interface, displays information in a
  69         curses window and can be used to easily control para_server
  70         and para_audiod.
  71
  72         o para_sdl_gui. Shows pictures (on a per song basis) and
  73         other information about the current audio file. Can be used
  74         as a screen saver.
  75
  76         o para_krell. A gkrellm2 plugin that shows small pics and is
  77         able to launch 27 different commands by clicking on the image.
  78
  79         o para_slider. User-friendly stream creator for people who
  80         don't like their keyboard.
  81
  82         o para_dbadm. Simple curses interface for changing attributes.
  83
  84         o para_fade. Simple volume fader and alarm clock.