Zinf FAQ

General Question
Q: What systems does the Zinf run on?
A: It runs on Windows 95, 98, Me and Windows NT/2000 as well as Linux 2.x. It has also been ported to QNX, Solaris and some BSD systems. However there are no binary distributions for these systems.
Q: Can I use Zinf with WebTV?
A: Sorry, no.
Q: Do you have a version of Zinf for the Mac?
A: No. The non-UI portions of Zinf would probably compile on Mac OSX just fine, but porting the user interface portions would be a significant amount of effort. So far, we have not gotten any volunteers to do this.
Q: Where can I go to get different themes for Zinf?
A: Right here.
Q: Can I rip CDs and convert them to MP3s with Zinf?
A: No.
Q: Does Zinf support writing metadata back to the mp3 files?
A: Yes, Zinf can write ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags.
Q: Can I use Zinf to listen to music on the Internet?
A: Yes, you can. You can listen to SHOUTcast and icecast streams. Check out the following sites for more information: (Linux tip: Enter the http stream URL into any File Open dialog to play the stream.)
Q: Is the Zinf Free?
A: Yes, it is completely free. Its free as in beer and as in speech .
Q: Where can I find free music to play using Zinf?
A: Go here:
Q: How can I use Zinf to convert mp3 files to wav files?
A: You will need to use Zinf 2.1 to do this. In 2.1 you can select the WaveoutPMO output plugin in the plugins panel of the options dialog. Whenever you play an MP3 file with the WaveoutPMO, the decoded wav file will get written to your MyMusic directory.
Q: What are the minimum requirements to run Zinf?
A: You'll need a Pentium-100 machine with 32mb of RAM running Linux or Windows to run Zinf.

 

 

 

Vorbis Questions
Q: Does Zinf support Vorbis?
A: Yes, the Zinf 2.1 series (and upward) has support for Vorbis built in.

 

 

Documentiation Questions
Q: Does Zinf have any documentation?
A: No, Please let us know if you would like to contribute some.

 

 

 

Technical Questions
Q: Zinf does not run on my favorite platform X. Please port it to platform X.
A: Sorry we won't do that. We already have our hands full with creating new cool features for Zinf. We are always willing to lend a hand to people to who would like to help out to port Zinf to a new platform. (See next question)
Q: You don't provide plugins for Visual Basic or my favorite tool X. Please write them for me.
A: Sorry we won't do that either. The source is available, so download it and do it yourself. Please don't think that OpenSource developers are your personal slaves.
Q: Zinf does not run on my favorite platform X. What do I need to do to get it to run on platform X?
A: Check the source code to Zinf out on platform X and get it to compile. Once you have it compiling and Zinf is reasonably stable, please send us a set of patches and we will include your changes in the next Zinf distribution. Check out the geek pages for details on this how to check out the source code.
Q: Can you make Zinf code compile under DOS?
A: Not on 16bit DOS machines. You might get some code to compile in a 32 bit DOS. But really, get a real operating system.
Q: Can I control the Zinf interface using Windows Messages?
A: No. The Theme interface does not use regular windows controls so you cannot send it button messages. The best solution is to create a remote control interface, or to use a networked jukebox like Obsequieum.
Q: I downloaded the Zinf source, but it fails to build because of unexplained and bizzarre MIN/MAX issues. What's up?
A: In order for the build to succeed you will need to install the SGI STL, which is more stable than the M$ STL. You can download from here.
Q: I want to play with MP3 decoder in Zinf. Where can I find that?
A: Download the source and then look in lmc/xingmp3/src and lmc/xingmp3/include. These directories contain the decoder. Look at towave.c for an example on how to call the decoder. You can also download a seperate linux library with the decoder from the Obsqeuieum site.