changeset 68:0d5df36777b9 trunk

[svn] README copied to README.bmp
author msameer
date Sat, 29 Oct 2005 09:20:07 -0700
parents 6ec316768348
children 92ab0932271d
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+BMP - Beep Media Player (c) GPL 2003-2004
+
+BMP Development Team (see AUTHORS)
+
+
+Based on:
+
+  XMMS - X Multimedia System (c)1997-2001
+
+  A Cross platform Multimedia Player
+
+  Peter Alm, Thomas Nilsson, Olle Hallnas, Håvard Kvålen
+
+
+NOTE: This document is hardly maintained. Please check the Users' Guide on
+the BMP website.
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+*****************
+
+1. Disclaimer
+2. Installation
+   2.1 Basic Installation
+   2.2 Border less Installation
+   2.3 Skin Installation
+3. Documentation
+   3.1 Controlling BMP
+       3.1.1 Key bindings
+   3.2 Playlist Editor
+   3.3 Equalizer
+   3.4 Menu
+   3.5 Preferences
+      3.5.1 Audio I/O Plugins
+      3.5.2 Effect/General Plugins
+      3.5.3 Visualization Plugins
+      3.5.4 Options
+      3.5.5 Fonts
+      3.5.6 Title
+   3.6 Plugins
+      3.6.1 Input plugins
+            3.6.1.1 Cd Audio Player
+            3.6.1.2 MPEG Layer 1/2/3 player
+            3.6.1.3 Ogg Vorbis player
+            3.6.1.4 WAV player
+      3.6.2 Output plugins
+            3.6.2.1 OSS Driver
+            3.6.2.2 eSound Output
+            3.6.2.3 BSD Sun Output
+      3.6.3 Effect plugins
+      3.6.4 General plugins
+      3.6.5 Visualization plugins
+            3.6.5.1 Blur scope
+4. Command Line Options
+5. Features
+   5.1 Supported File formats
+   5.2 Supported Features
+6. Obtaining BMP
+7. Misc
+   7.1 Shoutcast support
+   7.2 Tips and tricks
+8. Bugs
+9. Contact Email
+
+
+
+
+1. Disclaimer
+-------------
+
+We are not liable for any damage caused by the use of this program.
+
+BMP is NOT a port of WinAmp (http://www.winamp.com). BMP is a fork of
+XMMS (http://xmms.org) which borrowed the WinAmp GUI.
+
+
+2. Installation
+---------------
+
+BMP requires the following libraries and their development
+packages installed:
+
+  Glib 2.4
+  (http://www.gtk.org/download/)
+
+  GTK+ 2.4
+  (http://www.gtk.org/download/)
+
+  libglade >= 2.3.1
+  (http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/libglade/2.3/)
+
+The following packages are required for optional features:
+
+  Vorbis input plugin:
+    libvorbis >= 1.0
+    (http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/download.html)
+
+  ESD output plugin:
+    esound >= 0.2.3
+    (http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/desktop/2.6/2.6.0/sources/)
+
+  ALSA output plugin:
+    alsa-lib >= 1.0
+    (http://www.alsa-project.org)
+
+  GNOME VFS support:
+    gnome-vfs >= 2.6.0  
+    (http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/desktop/2.6/2.6.0/sources/)
+
+  GConf support:
+    GConf >= 2.6.0  
+    (http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/desktop/2.6/2.6.0/sources/)
+
+If you compile BMP from a fresh CVS checkout, you will also need
+the following tools:
+
+  automake >= 1.7
+  autoconf >= 2.5
+
+Note that these tools and libraries are bundled with major Linux
+distributions. Use the packages provided with them where possible. If
+those packages are not sufficiently new, you may need to search
+third-party repositories for them.
+
+
+2.1 Basic Installation
+----------------------
+
+cd bmp-0.9.7
+./configure
+make
+make install
+
+This will put the binary in /usr/local/bin and plugins in
+/usr/local/lib/bmp/
+
+Note for packagers: The gnome-vfs option is VERY EXPERIMENTAL. We suggest you
+do not use it in your official distribution packages.
+
+
+2.2 Borderless Installation
+---------------------------
+
+As far as I know most WM's accepts GTK decoration hints so it will
+not have borders.  But some WM's can't handle this so you have to
+set in manually.
+
+AfterStep 1.0 ~/.steprc
+Style "XMMS_Player" NoTitle, NoHandles
+Style "XMMS_Playlist" NoTitle, NoHandles
+Style "XMMS_Equalizer" NoTitle, NoHandles
+
+AfterStep 1.4 ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/database
+Style "XMMS_Player" NoTitle, NoHandles
+Style "XMMS_Playlist" NoTitle, NoHandles
+Style "XMMS_Equalizer" NoTitle, NoHandles
+
+Fvwm's ~/.fvwm95rc
+Style "XMMS_Player" NoTitle
+Style "XMMS_Playlist" NoTitle
+Style "XMMS_Equalizer" NoTitle
+
+CTWM's ~/.ctwmrc
+NoTitle and NoBorder sections:
+NoTitle {
+    "xmms"
+}
+
+NoBorder {
+    "xmms"
+}
+
+2.3 Skin Installation
+---------------------
+
+BMP will create a directory called ~/.bmp/Skins/. You can unarchive
+the skins the same way as you do for WinAmp.
+
+However, you don't need to as BMP supports archived skins. BMP
+currently reads the following formats: zip, wsz, tar, tar.gz and
+tar.bz2
+
+Just copy the archive to one of the skin path's and BMP will take care
+of the rest.
+
+In order to support zipped skins you will need to have unzip. Unzip
+is bundled with most Linux distributions.
+
+BMP looks for skins in these directories (in listing order):
+
+<prefix>/share/bmp/Skins
+~/.bmp/Skins
+
+You can set the environment variable SKINSDIR to another location of
+your choice:
+
+For BASH: 
+  export SKINSDIR=/path/to/Skins:/more/paths/to/other/locations/of/Skins
+
+For CSH:
+  setenv SKINSDIR /path/to/Skins:/more/paths/to/other/locations/of/Skins
+
+
+3. Documentation
+----------------
+
+This file or http://beepmp.sf.net
+
+
+3.1 Controlling BMP
+--------------------
+
+When you start up BMP, you will get a console very similar to that of
+WinAmp.
+
+- On the top is the window title bar. To the right you will see 3 buttons,
+   Left button will minimize BMP.
+   Middle button will make BMP only display the title bar.
+   Right button will end the BMP session.
+
+- The area in the upper left part displays the following:
+   - Play state: Paused, Stopped, or Playing
+   - Time elapsed in the current song or if you click on it, the reversed.
+   - Spectrum analyzer of the sound being played. Right mouse click will
+     bring up the Visualization menu. Left mouse button will change the
+     analyzer to an oscilloscope and/or none.
+
+- To the right of the Spectrum analyzer is the title of the file being played.
+  This also contains the length of the song being played, as well as its
+  position in the [unsorted] playlist. Right clicking in this window will bring
+  up a new menu with some more options that are self explaining.
+
+- In the left part of the Spectrum analyzer you'll have letters (at least if
+  you use the default skin) O A I D V. This is known as the
+  "clutterbar'. Left-clicking on these will open up menus or perform the
+  listed actions.
+  O : Options menu
+  A : Always on top
+  I : File info box
+  D : Double size mode
+  V : Visualization menu
+
+- Underneath the track title are the following static informational data:
+   - bit rate in KBps (usually 128 or 112)
+   - Sample Rate in KHz (usually 44)
+   - Stereo or Mono channel mixing
+
+- Underneath the informational data are a few controls you can play with:
+   - The first slider controls the volume
+   - The second slider controls the balance between speakers
+   - The button marked "EQ" loads up the graphic equalizer
+   - The button marked "PL" loads up the playlist editor
+   - The LARGE slide bar moves from left to right as the song plays. You can
+     drag this to jump to another location in the current file.
+
+- On the bottom of the console are the standard buttons you would see on a CD
+  player: Previous track, Play, Pause, Stop, Next track, eject, shuffle
+  and repeat.
+
+   - The eject button doesn't REALLY eject, of course. :) It opens up the
+     file requester. The File Requester builds a playlist for the current
+     BMP session. You can use it to load files, add files to the list, or
+     load all mp3s in a directory.
+
+   - The shuffle button randomizes the sequence of the playlist.
+
+   - The repeat button when enabled makes the playlist loop when it reaches the
+     end of the playlist.
+
+
+3.1.1 Key bindings
+------------------
+
+Global: (Main, Equalizer and Playlist window)
+
+  z = Previous song
+  x = Play
+  c = Pause
+  v = Stop
+  b = Next song
+  l = Play file (brings up the Load file(s) dialog)
+  j = Jump to file (in the existing playlist)
+  r = Toggle Repeat
+  s = Toggle Shuffle
+
+  Control + h = Play location (url)
+  Control + p = Preferences dialog
+  Control + r = Time remaining
+  Control + o = Always on top
+  Control + w = Winshade mode
+  Control + j = Jump to time
+  Control + z = Start of list
+  Control + n = No Playlist Advance
+  Control + 3 = File info dialog
+
+  Control + Alt + w = Toggle Equalizer winshade mode
+  Shift + Control + w = Toggle Playlist winshade mode
+
+  Alt + e = Toggle playlist window
+  Alt + g = Toggle equalizer window
+
+Main window:
+
+  Arrow key up    = Volume up 2%
+  Arrow key down  = Volume down 2%
+  Arrow key right = Skip 5 seconds forward in song
+  Arrow key left  = Skip 5 seconds back in song
+
+Playlist window:
+
+  Arrow key up    = up one step in playlist
+  Arrow key down  = Down one step in playlist
+
+  Delete         = Remove selected songs from playlist
+  Page Up        = Move one page up
+  Page Down      = Move one page down
+  Home           = Go to the first song
+  End            = Go to the last song
+  Enter          = Play selected song
+  Insert         = Add file dialog
+  Shift + Insert = Add directory dialog
+  Alt + Insert   = Add url dialog
+
+Equalizer shade mode:
+
+  Arrow key up    = Volume up 2%
+  Arrow key down  = Volume down 2%
+  Arrow key right = Balance 4% to right
+  Arrow key left  = Balance 4% to left
+
+
+3.2 Playlist editor
+-------------------
+
+To access the Playlist editor, select the button labeled "PL" on the right
+side of the BMP console.
+
+This will bring up the actual playlist window, here you'll find 5 buttons.
+All of these buttons can be held down to bring up an extra menu.
+From left to right:
+
+file +    : will add a file to current playlist, held down mode you'll have
+            2 extra options
+dir       : will let you pick a directory (recursive)
+url       : will let you add an url for streaming
+
+file -    : will delete the highlighted file, held down mode you'll have 3
+            more options
+crop      : delete all files except the highlighted in the list
+all       : delete all files in the list
+misc      : *** NOT FUNCTIONAL ***
+
+sel all   : select all files in current playlist, held down mode you'll have
+            2 extra options
+sel zero  : select none
+inv sel   : invert you selection
+
+misc opts : held down you'll have 2 extra options
+fileinfo  : opens the file info dialog.
+sort      : release button on this will bring up another menu with sort options
+
+load list : will let you pick a playlist to load, held down you'll have
+            2 extra options
+save      : will let you save your playlist
+new       : will empty the playlist and let you create a new playlist
+
+If you want to select/deselect files in the filrequester/playlist editor use
+CTRL for files and SHIFT key for blocks of files. You can also browse the PL
+using the cursor keys and enter to select song. Pressing the delete button will
+remove the song from the playlist. If your mouse is equipped with a mouse
+wheel, you can use this to scroll up and down.
+
+3.3. Equalizer
+--------------
+
+To access the Equalizer, select the button labeled "EQ" on the right
+side of the BMP console.
+
+That will bring up the Equalizer window. It looks like an equalizer on a stereo
+and behaves like one as well. Press the button labeled ON to enable the use of
+the equalizer, once you turned it on you use it as a normal equalizer.
+
+EQ presets will be saved in ~/.bmp/config when you close BMP. You can also
+have your own presets for different song using the "Preset" button, BMP can
+also import/export from WinAmp's preset files.
+
+If 'Auto' is enabled, BMP will try to load equalizer presets like this:
+
+1: Look for a preset file in the directory of the file we are about to play.
+2: Look for a directory preset file in the same directory.
+3: Look for a preset saved with the "auto-load" feature.
+4: Finally, try to load the "default" preset.
+
+The 'preset' button will open up a menu with the following options:
+
+Load
+   Preset               : Will open a window with all available presets.
+   Auto-load preset     : Will open a window with all available auto-load
+                          presets.
+   Default              : Will load the default preset.
+   Zero                 : Will reset the equalizer to zero.
+   From file            : Will load from a .preset file
+   From WinAMP EQF file : Will load from a WinAMP equalizer file. If you
+                          choose a library file only the first entry will
+                          be loaded.
+Import
+   WinAMP presets       : Imports the presets contained in an WinAMP equalizer
+                          library file (often named WINAMP.q1) and add all
+                          the entries to the Preset window.
+Save
+   Preset               : Let you name the current preset and save it.
+   Auto-load preset     : Saves the current settings as a preset for the song
+                          currently playing.
+   Default              : Saves the default value for the equalizer.
+   From file            : Saves the current settings in a preset file.
+   From WinAMP EQF file : Exports the current settings to a file readable by
+                          WinAMP.
+Delete
+   Preset               : Let you delete a preset from the list.
+   Auto-load preset     : Let you delete a auto-load preset from the list.
+
+Configure Equalizer     : Change the default names of directory based
+                          preset files.
+
+3.4. Menu
+---------
+
+There are several menu hot spots on the BMP window. One place is at the left
+hand side of the visual window described in sections 3.1 If you click the right
+mouse button in the main window, the menus will also pop up (same as clicking
+the button on the top left corner).
+
+3.5. Preferences
+----------------
+
+Use the menu to open Options / Preferences or press CTRL-P to bring the
+preferences dialog up.
+
+3.5.1. Appearance
+-----------------
+
+Skins
+In the skinlist you can choose a skin. How to install skins is described above.
+Click on a skin in the list to change to it.
+
+Fonts
+You can set the font in the main window by setting the 'Player' font. You can
+change the playlist font by setting the 'Playlist' font.
+
+Miscellaneous
+Show track numbers in playlist - Enable/disable displaying of track numbers in
+                                 the playlist.
+Use custom cursors             - Enable/disable custom cursors set by the skin.
+
+
+3.5.2. Mouse
+------------
+
+Mouse wheel
+Change how BMP handles scroll behaviours.
+
+3.5.3. Playlist
+---------------
+
+Filename
+Convert underscores to blanks - Converts '_' (underscores) to ' ' in the
+                                playlist.
+Convert %20 to blanks         - Converts '%20' to ' ' in the
+                                playlist.
+
+Metadata
+Load metadata from playlists and files - Loads metadata from files and
+                                         playlists (e.g. ID3 tags).
+
+Playback
+Don't advance in playlist - Don't advance to the next song in the playlist when
+                            the current song ends.
+Pause between songs       - Set the time (in secons) to pause on songchange
+
+Song display
+Title format  - Choose the format to display the song names in the playlist.
+Custom string - When the above option is set to 'Custom' insert a string of
+                substitutes here.
+
+3.5.6. Plugins
+--------------
+
+Enable/disable and configure plugins in this section.
+
+Choose a tab to list one of the types of plugins:
+  - Media (filetype/device support)
+  - General (general plugins)
+  - Visualization (visualization plugins)
+  - Effects (effect plugins)
+  - Output (output plugins)
+
+3.6 Plugins
+-----------
+Plugins is what makes BMP work, by moving most of the code out of BMP and
+into a plugin architecture it's possible to change almost everything in BMP.
+There are today 5 different types of plugins. Only a few plugins are
+distributed with BMP, you can find information on more of them at:
+
+  http://beepmp.sf.net
+
+
+3.6.1 Input plugins
+-------------------
+The input plugins is what you use to play mp3, mod, wav and even movies with.
+
+
+3.6.1.1 Cd Audio Player
+-----------------------
+Plays audio cd's on Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris. This plugin does not pass
+the sound through BMP, so no visualization can be made nor will the
+equalizer settings have any effect.
+
+Before I explain the usage we better have a look on the configuration
+first.
+
+In the device tab you should set Device to your cdrom unit. /dev/cdrom
+is generally a good choice on Linux systems. Set 'Directory' to where a
+directory which will be used by BMP to present the available cd tracks in.
+Using the normal mount point for the cdrom is recommended unless the
+cdrom is automounted if it contains a data track.
+
+  Example:
+  --------
+     Device: /dev/cdrom (which on my system is symlinked to /dev/hdc)
+  Directory: /mnt/cdrom
+
+The next setting is used to decide what volume is to be changed, it's either
+the OSS Mixer for CD Audio or the actual volume on the CDROM.
+
+In the CD Info tab you can choose if the plugin should try and get the
+track names from a Internet database server.
+
+You can either use the CDDB protocol or CD Index. CDDB defaults to a free
+version of CDDB, but it will work with the infamous cddb servers as well.
+
+Show network window will display some useful information if something goes
+wrong, but you'll have to close and re-open it to update the content of it.
+
+If a CDDB server is too slow for your taste, you can press 'Get server list'
+to receive a list of alternate servers.
+
+CD Index is another type of database, but works in a similar manner. If
+you don't have libxml installed when you compiled the plugin, this will be
+grayed out.
+
+In the "Track names" box you can decide on how the plugin presents the
+tracks to you. This is normally handled by the 'Title' (section 3.5.6) setting
+in the main preferences, but you can choose to override them here.
+
+Available variables are:
+
+   %p = Performer/Artist   %t = Track name
+   %a = Album              %n = Track number
+
+So "%n. %t / %p (%a)" would display something like:
+
+  1. New Life / Depeche Mode (Speak & Spell)
+
+Now to add your CDROM tracks to the playlist. Insert an audio cd into the
+CDROM drive and press the Eject button. Go to the directory which you defined
+earlier ( /mnt/cdrom ) and you should see a list of tracks. They will be named
+Track XX.cda, select the tracks you want to play and press OK. If you had
+choosed an Internet database and the CD exists in it, BMP will now display
+the tracks you have chosen with their names according to the 'Name format'
+configuration.
+
+Now, that wasn't hard now was it?
+
+If you want BMP to identify as something else when speaking with servers, you
+can set the environmental variable "XMMS_CDDB_CLIENT_NAME", and BMP will use
+that instead.
+
+
+3.6.1.2 MPEG Layer 1/2/3 player
+-------------------------------
+The main reason why this player exists today is mp3 files, so what could be
+better than a plugin that plays them?.
+
+It's based off the mpg123 engine and handles MPEG Layer 1/2/3 files and
+VBR (variable bit rate) MP3 files.
+
+The first configuration tab is just like the MikMod one, and again, if you
+have an older soundcard and the music is going half speed, change the
+'Resolution' setting.
+
+If you have mp3 files named something else than .mp3, you might want to enable
+'Detect files by content' so BMP will know that they are supported. Although
+I'd recommend that you rename the files (or just beat the person who burned his
+high-school bands music with in proper file extensions into giving you a new
+cd) since this is rather slow.
+
+In the streaming tab you can choose a 'Buffer size' in kilobytes which BMP
+will keep while streaming. This ranges from 4 -> 4096kb (which should be
+sufficient for most people. The 'Pre-buffer' value is how much of the buffer
+BMP should fill before starting to play the stream. (0%-90%)
+
+I'll let Chad Armstrong describe the two following options.
+
+"As streaming becomes more popular, there is rising demand for better
+information about the current track being played. This 'Now Playing'
+information (also known as 'Title Streaming') allows for more information to be
+passed back to the listener. In the past, there was a method started by the
+Shoutcast group, which embedded this information in the stream itself. The mp3
+standard was never designed to allow for text information to be interleaved
+with audio data, and it is this design which can cause errors in playback. The
+Icecast Team has taken this data completely out of the mp3 data, and has
+provided it in a side channel (via UDP)."
+
+- Chad Armstrong (icemonk)
+
+You're better off having both these options enabled. :)
+
+In the 'Title' tab you can change the way BMP presents the mp3 files to the
+playlist.
+
+ID3 is data stored in the mp3 file and can include Artist, Album etc. If you
+uncheck 'Use ID3 tags' BMP will display the filename instead of the ID3
+information.
+
+ID3V2 allows for a lot of extra data to be stored in the mp3 file, and don't
+suffer from the limitations of ID3V1, BMP supports the same data that are
+available in ID3V1 but not the extra data. If a mp3 file contains both ID3V1
+and ID3V2 tags, you might see something different that the 'file info' editor
+displays. If this happens, you might want to turn on 'Disable ID3V2 tags'.
+
+'Override generic titles' is used if you do not want to use the generic titles
+defined in the preferences. See section 3.5.6.
+
+The 'ID3 format:' box allows you to alter in which order the information about
+the current song is displayed.
+
+Example: %p - %t (%a) [%y]
+will display something like "Laibach - Alle Gegen Alle (Nato) [1994]"
+
+available fields are:
+
+%p - Artist          (ex: Laibach)
+%a - Album           (ex: Nato)
+%f - File name       (ex: laibach-allegegenalle)
+%F - File path       (ex: /home/thomas/mp3)
+%e - File extension  (ex: mp3)
+
+%t - Track name      (ex: Alle Gegen Alle)
+%n - Track number    (ex: 6)
+%y - Year            (ex: 1994)
+%g - Genre           (ex: Electronic)
+%c - Comment         (ex: Cover of D.A.F)
+
+
+3.6.1.3 Ogg Vorbis Player
+-------------------------
+
+Plays OGG Vorbis encoded files, see http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html
+for more information.
+
+
+3.6.1.4 WAV player
+-------------------
+This plugin plays as suggested, wave files. It supports 16bit and 8bit PCM wave
+files.
+
+
+3.6.2 Output plugins
+--------------------
+This type of plugins is what is used to send the audio data to your soundcard
+or alternative devices.
+
+
+3.6.2.1 OSS Driver
+------------------
+This plugin is probably what most of you will use if your system is equipped
+with the OpenSoundSystem (www.opensound.com) drivers or compatible.
+Compatible drivers are ALSA with their OSS emulation, and Linux kernel sound
+drivers.
+
+In the 'Devices' tab you can change the soundcard which BMP is going to use.
+If your driver have more than one dsp, you can change the one BMP uses by
+enabling 'Use alternate device' and changing the '/dev/dsp' to suit your needs.
+
+If you have changed your Audio Device to another soundcard (if you for some
+reason have two cards) don't forget to change the 'Mixer device' setting to the
+soundcard you want to use.
+
+In the 'Buffering' tab you can change how much data the OSS plugin will buffer.
+The 'Buffer size' ranges from 200 - 10000ms. If you want the plugin to wait for
+the buffer to be filled before it starts playing the music change the 'Pre-
+buffer' value, this ranges from 0% - 90% of the 'Buffer size' value.
+
+In the 'Mixer' tab you can change which volume setting BMP should change when
+you alter the volume from BMP. Enable 'Volume controls Master not PCM' if you
+want BMP to change the volume of all sounds instead of only PCM/wave sound.
+
+
+3.6.2.2 eSound Output
+---------------------
+The 'ESD' plugin will use the 'Enlightened Sound Daemon' to playback the audio.
+It's useful if you want to be able to have sound effects in your programs and
+still be able to listen to music with BMP.
+
+In the 'Server' tab of the configuration, you can tell the plugin where to send
+the audio data. Enable 'Use remote host' and enter the name/ip of the server
+and port to send to. This is probably only useful in a LAN environment, since
+the audio data is sent uncompressed to the remote ESD.
+
+The 'Buffering' tab works just like the 'OSS Driver' one.
+
+
+3.6.2.3 BSD Sun Output
+----------------------
+The 'Sun' output plugin will use the native audio(4) interface provided
+by OpenBSD and NetBSD for playback and mixing.
+
+The $AUDIODEVICE and $MIXERDEVICE environment variables will override the
+current configuration settings. Defaults are /dev/audio and /dev/mixer.
+
+In the 'Devices' tab you can change the audio, audioctl and mixer devices
+BMP is going to use. The audioctl device is used for ioctl(2) calls
+independent of audio data I/O.
+
+In the 'Buffering' tab you can change how much data the Sun plugin will
+buffer. The 'Buffer size' ranges from 200 - 10000ms. If you want the plugin
+to wait for the buffer to be filled before it starts playing the music,
+change the 'Pre-buffer' value, this ranges from 0% - 90% of the 'Buffer size'
+value.
+
+In the 'Mixer' tab you can select the volume device to be affected when you
+alter the volume from BMP. `BMP uses mixer exclusively' causes BMP to
+keep the mixer device open instead of re-opening it for each operation.
+
+There may also be some more options depending on what your audio mixer
+device supports (eg. loudness, spatial, surround, preamp).
+
+In the 'Status' tab you can see audio device information and real-time
+playback status.
+
+
+3.6.3 Effect plugins
+--------------------
+Effect plugins can alter the sound of the music you are listening to.
+
+
+3.6.4 General plugins
+---------------------
+Mostly used for controlling BMP and passing data to other programs.
+
+
+3.6.5 Visualization plugins
+---------------------------
+Eye candy plugins.
+
+
+3.6.5.1 Blur scope
+-------------------
+A simple blurring oscilloscope, in the configuration you can change the color
+with the standard GTK color dialog.
+
+
+4. Command Line Options
+-----------------------
+
+beep-media-player --help will produce:
+
+Usage: beep-media-player [options] [files] ...
+
+Options:
+--------
+
+-h, --help              Display this text and exit.
+-n, --session           Select BMP/XMMS session (Default: 0)
+-r, --rew               Skip backwards in playlist
+-p, --play              Start playing current playlist
+-u, --pause             Pause current song
+-s, --stop              Stop current song
+-t, --play-pause        Pause if playing, play otherwise
+-f, --fwd               Skip forward in playlist
+-e, --enqueue           Don't clear the playlist
+-m, --show-main-window  Show the main window
+-v, --version           Print version number and exit.
+
+You can specify files on the command line, e.g:
+
+  beep-media-player file1.mp3 file2.mp3 file3.mp3
+  beep-media-player *.mp3
+  beep-media-player playlist.m3u (note: playlists must be named .m3u)
+
+If you do this while BMP is running the current playlist
+will be cleared and the files/playlist specified on the command
+line will be used instead.
+
+To keep the current playlist intact use the -e option.
+
+
+5. Features
+-----------
+
+5.1 Supported File formats
+-------------------------
+
+OGG Vorbis
+MP2 and MP3 streams
+WAV/AU samples
+
+Others:
+
+CD audio
+Shout/Icecast
+
+
+5.2 Supported Features
+----------------------
+
+Seeking in files
+Volume/Balance
+Shuffle play
+Repeat play
+Playlist editor
+Spectrum Analyzer
+One Line mode al'a WinShade in WinAmp
+Oscilloscope
+Timer Elapsed/Timer Remaining
+Plug-in system Output/Input/Effect/General/Visualization
+Equalizer
+Double Size option
+WinAmp 2.0 skin support (can use wsz files)
+GTK Requesters (with theme support)
+Streaming/Shoutcast(1.0/1.1)/Icecast support
+Auto remove borders if the WM has support for it
+Fast jump in playlist
+Scroll wheel support
+Saves HTTP streams to HD
+HTTP authentication
+Plays MPEG layer 1/2/3, WAV, Ogg Vorbis
+Compiles and works on other Unixes
+Proxy authentication support
+
+
+6. Obtaining BMP
+-------------------
+
+Currently, we only provide source tarballs at:
+
+   http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=95272
+
+The CVS snapshots listed are not regularly updated. We encourage you
+to download BMP straight from CVS:
+
+  cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sf.net:/cvsroot/beepmp login
+  cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sf.net:/cvsroot/beepmp co bmp
+ 
+
+
+FIXME: add links to user made packages
+
+
+6.1 Obtaining Skins
+-------------------
+
+You can find BMP/XMMS skins made by BMP/XMMS users at:
+
+   http://www.xmms.org/skins.html
+   http://themes.org/skins/xmms
+
+
+7. Misc
+-------
+
+7.1. Tips and Tricks
+-------------------
+
+If you have a windows partition with WinAmp installed, a good idea would be to
+set the SKINSDIR variable to that dir.
+
+BMP features some command line options like next/previous songs, those
+things can be binded to a key. I use AfterStep and the useless window keys
+for this. Here is an example from my .steprc:
+
+Key     Meta_R  A       N       Exec "bmp" beep-media-player -r
+Key     Menu    A       N       Exec "bmp" beep-media-player -f
+
+If you want all your mp3's in one playlist an easy way is:
+locate .mp3 > /path/to/playlistname
+
+(considering you have a fairly recent updatedb, don't blame us if locate don't
+find the file you downloaded 3 minutes ago)
+
+
+8. Bugs
+-------
+
+BMP is under heavy development and as such, has quite a number of
+bugs. Our bug tracker page is maintained at:
+
+  http://www.sosdg.org/~larne/bugs/
+
+It will continue to have bugs as we fix and introduce new ones through
+rewriting and enhancement. Help us along by reporting new bugs, and
+verifying existing ones.
+
+If you have a fix for any of the bugs, please let us know using the
+tracker or posting to our development mailing list at:
+
+  beepmp-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
+
+
+9. Contact Email's
+------------------
+
+Project Admins:
+
+  Milosz Derezynski     email: mderezynski at users sourceforge net
+  Chong Kai Xiong       email: descender at phreaker net
+
+You can more information about the BMP team from this page:
+
+  http://sourceforge.net/project/memberlist.php?group_id=95272