To clear up a little bit about the new product announcement. There are two new hardware products, the Squeezebox Receiver and the Squeezebox Controller. These are available separately, but when bought together the bundle is called Squeezebox Duet.
Squeezebox Receiver is based on the existing Squeezebox 2/3 hardware platform with the same amount of memory, CPU speed, wireless card, etc. In fact the firmware that's running on it is essentially the same as on the classic Squeezebox. It lacks a headphone jack and uses a different (but quite good) DAC. In place of a VFD display it has a single button with an RGB LED behind it. The color of that button is under software control and indicates if the device is connected and working properly. The button acts as a pause/unpause control, or if you press and hold, puts the Receiver into setup mode. Squeezebox Controller is exactly the same hardware that folks from the community have been testing under the code-name "Jive Hardware Beta", as discussed here: http://forums.slimdevices.com/ forumdisplay.php?f=19 It's based on an entirely new ARM-based hardware architecture and a new software platform which has been under development as the Jive software and will be renamed SqueezeOS. The Controller uses its built-in 802.11g wireless to talk to SqueezeCenter and/or SqueezeNetwork as an alternative way to control your Squeezeboxen or Transporter and has nice 2.4" display and enough buttons to navigate and play your music on your other devices. The Controller also has a small built-in speaker and headphone jack which are used for sound effects for the user interface. Future software updates could make the Controller a player itself, streaming your music (or any of the internet radio or music services on SqueezeNetwork) to the headphone jack. If and when that software update happens, the Duet bundle would be like getting two players in one box. There's also an SD card slot in the unit, an IR transmitter, a 3-axis accelerometer and an expansion port on the bottom. What software features get added depends largely on what the community comes up with, there's already a bunch of neat applets and other software that have been created during the beta program. I'm REALLY excited about these new products. Folks have been asking for a couple of new products from us for a while: a less expensive Squeezebox and a remote with a display. We did that. But it gets better. The Squeezebox Controller is based on a totally new and open platform for software development. In the same way that SqueezeCenter (nee SlimServer) was a platform for our community to create new ways of listening to music, Squeezebox Controller and SqueezeOS are platforms for building new ways of controlling your music and more. You ain't seen nothing yet. -dean _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
