FEATURES

   1 Features
   2 ========
   3
   4 configurable audio streaming software:
   5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   6         para_server streams binary audio data (mp3/ogg/m4a files)
   7         over local and/or remote networks. It supports three builtin
   8         streaming methods (senders): http, dccp, or rtp.
   9
  10         para_audiod runs on the client side and connects to
  11         para_server. The audio stream is read from the network and
  12         sent through any of paraslash's filters (decoder, volume
  13         normalizer,...). The resulting stream is written to an external
  14         program's standard in, usually an audio player like para_write,
  15         which comes with paraslash and contains an alsa player. It
  16         is possible to capture the stream at any position in the
  17         filter chain.
  18
  19         The receiving/filtering/playing software is also available
  20         as standalone command line tool: para_recv, para_filter,
  21         and para_write.
  22
  23 configurable audio file selectors:
  24 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  25         There are three audio file selectors available: random,
  26         playlist and mysql
  27
  28         The first two of these are rather simple, and they are always
  29         supported. They allow streaming of randomly selected files
  30         or files given by a playlist respectively.
  31
  32         The (optional) mysql selector is more involved. It manages
  33         statistics on your audio files, and audio file selection works
  34         by sending a user-defined sql-query to the mysql server.
  35         This allows rather sophisticated configurations and is
  36         explained in detail in README.mysql.
  37
  38         It is possible to switch between all supported selectors at
  39         any time.
  40
  41 small memory footprint:
  42 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  43         paraslash is lightweight. The stripped binary of para_server
  44         with all its features compiled in (mysql/random/playlist
  45         selector, mp3/ogg/aac support, http/dccp/ortp support) is
  46         about 120K on i386 under Linux. para_audiod is even smaller.
  47
  48 command line interface:
  49 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  50         paraslash commands are sent to para_server and the response is
  51         dumped to stdout. This can be used by any scripting language
  52         to produce user interfaces with little programming effort.
  53
  54 authentication/encryption via openssl:
  55 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  56         All connections between para_server and para_client are
  57         encrypted by default.  For each user of paraslash you must
  58         create a public/secret key pair for authentication. The
  59         (authenticated) connection is crypted with a symmetric rc4
  60         session key.
  61
  62 various user interfaces and utilities:
  63 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  64         o para_gui. Curses based interface, displays information in a
  65         curses window and can be used to easily control para_server
  66         and para_audiod.
  67
  68         o para_sdl_gui. Shows pictures (on a per song basis) and
  69         other information about the current audio file. Can be used
  70         as a screen saver.
  71
  72         o para_krell. A gkrellm2 plugin that shows small pics and is
  73         able to launch 27 different commands by clicking on the image.
  74
  75         o para_slider. User-friendly stream creator for people who
  76         don't like their keyboard.
  77
  78         o para_dbadm. Simple curses interface for changing attributes.
  79
  80         o para_fade. Simple volume fader and alarm clock.