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[openbeos-midi] Re: The first version of Milestone 3

From: Philippe Houdoin <philippe.houdoin@xxxxxxx>
To: openbeos-midi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:43:41 +0100 (CET)

Matthijs wrote:
>> - Automatic creation for all entry in /dev/midi/
> 
> I guess that the midi_server should recognize new devices being
> added and old ones being removed. 

Absolutly, it's a mandatory feature.

> So it needs to create/delete
> endpoints on-the-fly. Is that indeed possible? 

By nodes monitoring the /dev/midi/... sub-trees, yes.

> Philippe, is that what the device_watcher thing is for?

Well, yes and no: it may be possible, but not in the best integrated way.

According to my file:///boot/home/config/settings/device_watcher 
settings file, the BeOS R5's device_watcher *server* simply monitor 
each /dev/... sub-trees given in there and, when a change (added or 
removed entry) raise, run the specified program.

The program will find two arguments:
- first argument will be the kind of event:
  "added" when a new entry appears somewhere under the subtree
  "removed" when a entry disappears from the subtree
- second argument is the added or removed entry full path

So, yes, you can add a "/dev/midi /boot/beos/system/servers/midi_server" line 
in the device_watcher settings file and add to midi_server the code in 
midi_server BApplication::ArgsReceived() method to handle the device_watcher 
notification call, but:
- it'll works only if midi_server app is set to B_SINGLE_LAUNCH. No real an 
issue, as it should be the case.
- it makes midi_server dependent on a second app "device_watcher" to run, which 
is not a good design
- worse, under R5, device_watcher is started at boot time only if 
a PCMCIA bus is detected!

I guess it's why Be choosed to implement /dev/midi/* devices monitoring 
directly in midi_server, via the watch_node() API. Hence these 
*Watcher classes in midi_server:
$ nm --demangle /boot/beos/system/servers/midi_server | grep Watcher

DevDirWatcher
MidiDevWatcher
MidiDevWatcherLooper

> Also, do drivers have a way to report their latency? If so, you need
> to snooze_until(time - latency) in MidiPortConsumer::Data().

I don't know of any way midi drivers could/should report their I/O latencies.
It's up to midi_server MidiPortProducer/Consumer to compute them dynamicly in 
real time, based on usage. However, this important feature 
could be added to midi_server when all basics features are there.

-Philippe

Follow-Ups:

[openbeos-midi] Re: The first version of Milestone 3
From: Philippe Houdoin

[openbeos-midi] Re: The first version of Milestone 3

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