Index of /~raine/pub/software/beeper

	Name	Last modified	Size	Description
	Parent Directory		-
	Makefile	04-Jul-2000 07:51	615
	README.html	26-Jul-2007 15:27	7.0K
	beeper-0.5h17.tar.gz	25-Oct-1999 08:17	4.2K
	demo.c	04-Jul-2000 07:51	1.4K
	libbeep-0.666.src.tgz	04-Jul-2000 11:49	6.7K
	libbeep-src.tar.gz	04-Jul-2000 11:49	6.7K
	libbeep.c	26-Feb-2002 11:03	4.9K
	libbeep.h	04-Jul-2000 07:51	294
	notes.h	04-Jul-2000 07:51	720
	wasted_years.txt	04-Jul-2000 07:51	129

libbeep

WHAT?

A way to get music from your PC beeper in any Linux program. Implements most of the functionality from PLAY in GW/Q-basic.

USAGE

Short version

su
make

There you have it, a library ready to compile into your own alarm clock, midi player or whatever. The library is dropped into /usr/lib. A program called beeplibdemo will appear in /usr/bin.

Slightly longer version with some light on the library functions

Look at the Makefile, decide what you need, what you want to adjust and just do it.

void noteon(int i)

Turns on note i. Silences any previously playing note. i can range from 0 to 84 (0 meaning pause).

void noteoff()

Turns off the playing note.

int play(char *str)

Plays the contents of str, check out the music macro language below.

void retune(int pos, float hz, int type)

Retune with frequency hz in position pos. type can be EQUIDISTANT or NATURAL. There is also a constant MID_A defined for using as pos.

demo.c is an example of how to use libbeep. Compile it (-lm) and feed it wasted_years.txt to see if everything works. To try out retuning you can use the -n [frequency] and -e [frequency] options. And remember to turn off the noise if your own program gets signalled!

As the speaker is part of the Linux console your finished program should have console access (either run from the console or root privileges). I don't think root privileges is a good idea, there is always a potential for dangerous bugs in that.

Don't even try to build this on anything else than Linux if you don't know exactly what you're doing. I haven't given portability the slightest thought.

MUSIC MACRO LANGUAGE (I didn't name it that way...)

This is the stuff you can feed the play(char *string) function. And it's case INsensitive.

<,>

Change octave (> up, < down)

O[0123456]

Sets the current octave.

L<n>

Sets the default length, 1=1/1 note, 4=1/4 note and so on. Legal range 1..96.

M[NLS]

Style: MN=normal style, MS=staccato (shorter notes), ML=legato (notes run together)

T<n>

Tempo (number of L4's in a minute) can range from 10 to 300. Default 120.

[ABCDEFG][#+-]*<l><.>

Play a note:

• #,+ turn it sharp, - flattens.
• If <l> is present, change length only for this note.
• A period lengthens the note by 50%
• Multiple sharps, flats and periods can be used: C##4.... plays a long D

N<n><.>

Play note n, see previous paragraph for explanation of periods. The range is 0..84 (0 means pause!) and the length is always the default one.

P<l><.>

Play (or actually don't play :-{) a pause, the length can be specified.

LICENSE

1. You can do whatever you want with the code, including using it as an example of bad C code.
2. You don't have to pay me anything, and I'm not going to provide any support.
3. Bugfixes are welcome. New features can be added if they're easy enough to implement (if it's up to me). If you feel inspired enough to build a MIDI player on top of this they'll be coming to take you away, ha-haa!(actually I gave that a thought... :-{)

VERSION HISTORY

0.666 (Eddie) 2000-07-01

How could this take 8 months? Beats me :-)

• Support for retuning: it is now possible to specify a root note other than middle A and a frequency other than 440 Hz. The type of tuning is selectable between natural and equidistant.
• Spaces before parameter values are now accepted, you can write "L 4" instead of "L4"
• Makefile added, now it's a decent library :-)

0.5h17 1999-10-25

• First implementation that seems to work...
• Differences from the Microsoft implementation of "play":
  • The pound sign isn't recognized for a sharp note. It isn't in the ASCII charset either... (plus & octothorpe are enough, I guess)
  • MB, MF and X commands are not recognized. (read your Q-Basic manual if you care...)

BUGS

• This crapola doesn't work too well if you compile it with the switch -ansi. That's simply because usleep(3) isn't ANSI C.
• Not portable at all... but hey, it works for me :-)
• The play() function eats anything. Try (echo "T255L8"; cat demo.c) | beeplibdemo for some modern music in C major.

AUTHOR

Raine M. Ekman, raine+spam@infa.abo.fi. (Visit my home page)

Disclaimer

I'm not a programmer. I'm a slacker, don't expect any new versions to appear. This is just a way of destroying some of that rare spare time when an urge to do something comes over me.

PEOPLE THAT ALSO DESERVE CREDIT

• The authors of the Linux Programming Guide, even if it seems like they never will finish it. They documented exactly the one thing I couldn't find in the man pages.
• Iron Maiden (for writing Wasted Years)
• The Arabs (for inventing coffee)