Laserdisc.app
A NeXTSTEP 3.0 Application to control a Sony LDP
by Eric Celeste (AppTech), efc@mit.edu
version 19930324.1156

[Note: Laserdisc.compress includes source code, LaserdiscAppOnly.compress does not.]

This application is a work in progress, but feel free to use it or the source code in any way you like. I needed a remote control for a Sony laserdisc player I picked up for $75. This app did the trick, with a few flaws, but now my NeXT is miles from my laserdisc player so I'll probably never fix the flaws. Please note, as this application currently stands, it only supports Sony laserdisc players, not Pioneer. Someone with a Pioneer laserdisc player and Objective-C skills should have very little problem creating a new subclass of my LDPlayer object to handle Pioneer.

Most of the description of the various objects is in the .m source files. Please look there for details. I'd like to especially thank Michael Hawley for the original source for the SerialPort object, I'm sure my changes to that object have only made it less elegant and trustworthy! I'd also like to thank David Small for his Ultrix code that was my only documentation for the Sony for weeks, the SonyLDPcodes.h file was lifted straight from his Ultrix project.

Installation

The Laserdisc.app already compiled in this package is suitable for NeXT computers. It will not run on NeXTSTEP/FIP. It has been stripped to save space. You can copy it to your ~/Apps directory or to /LocalApps.

Note that to use this program you also need to connect one of your serial ports to the Sony laserdisc player with an odd serial cable. A regular modem or printer cable will not work! See the Sony LDP documentation for the specifications of this cable, or, if you're not into building your own, call Voyager (the producers of the Criterion Collection discs) and ask for a Mac-to-Sony LDP cable.

Make sure you have the player attached and turned on before trying to use Laserdisc.app (see Bug Warning below for more details).

Compilation

Make sure you have the System Release 3.0 Developer edition (or later) installed. The important point here is that you will need to have the development system online or you won't be able to go on with this process. I have no idea if this program will work with NS/Intel, but I imagine it should.

Bug Warning

One bug to warn I should warn you of... if you try to give an instruction to the laserdisc player and the player is not turned on or not connected to the computer, this program will hang. Feel free to kill it from the Workspace if this happens to you. Of course, feel free to fix the program if you'd like. Please let me know about any changes or improvements you make to this program, I'd love to hear about them.

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