It's been a while since I posted news about D8Bridge here! I thought you guys might like to know that D8Bridge is still in active development. Work on D8Bridge version 2.0 has started a few months ago. I'm very happy to announce that Phase 1 of the project is done!
What is "Phase 1" you ask? Well, D8Bridge version 2.0 will work quite differently than version 1.x. In v1.x you need my serial cable (custom pinout) and a USB to Serial adapter to interface with the D8B. This will be no more! In D8Bridge v2.0, the D8B will run it's own little "OS" and is converted into an Ethernet connectable appliance.
What's the beauty of this approach? There is NO hardware modification necessary and you can always revert back to your old MackieOS by simply ejecting the diskette that contains D8Bridge's OS. Simply put: I created a bootable floppy that converts any D8B into a connectable network server. The only cable you'll need is a standard RJ45/Ethernet cable!
With Ethernet connection, the system becomes A LOT more flexible. You can have almost any cable length, you can even run your D8B over WiFi! (With a Router). Another advantage is that my Floppy OS is Linux based, which means that it can support a lot more hardware than originally planned by the Mackie engineers. You have a faulty motherboard and can't find an exact replacement? No problem, D8Bridge won't budge.
Now, there's another big "step up" from all of this. Ethernet (TCP/IP) connection means that it'll be easier for me to develop a cross-platform application. Finally, our Mac friends will be able to enjoy D8Bridge on their favorite OS. Actually, the system works so well that all my test programs were written on OS X Lion!
Feature wise, I'm planning to add HUI (Pro Tools) support for D8Bridge v2.0. Work has started on this matter a while ago but I recently found more technical documentation that will make my life a lot easier implementing the protocol.
That's about it for now, I won't give you all the details as I've got more surprises planned for you guys!
I've attached to this post a picture of my D8B booted with my Floppy OS... No screens needed, the D8B reports it's IP address right on the VFD and it's ready to get connected! - D8Bridge v2.0 Server OS
- d8bridge2.jpg (Array KiB) Viewed 16559 times
Cheers all!
