Maintenance Mode

As described above, maintenance mode is entered through the menu system, it can also be initiated using a keyboard and monitor and using a non default boot target. However you get there, the system initializes as a normal linux system and enters run level 3, it checks all the filesystems and fixes any errors it finds. The system has a network card in it that has an address assigned statically, it also has a video card so extensive debugging is possible, although shore power is preferable to running on the inverter during this exercise

Maintenance mode is also used to load tracks onto the device, this is accomplished across the network, copying them from my Windows box using samba. Every track in the system is given a unique identifier and is added to the track database which stores the path name of the file, artist and track title. The unique identifier is added to all the playlists to which it is categorized, ie artist, album, genre and year released. In player mode, these lists are used to generate randomized playlists (except in the case of albums where the list is not randomized). All tracks are also added to the all list that can be used to generate a playlist of all tracks in the system.

In the future, after all the bugs have been worked out of the other software components, I will be writing an application that will allow me to do certain tasks via the front panel. This will enable loading a CD of mp3 files without resorting to network connections and shore power.