KNULLI/muOS Candidate test builds

These are experimental Candidate packages for people who have real KNULLI or muOS devices and want to try SideB.

They are not Stable support yet. I do not currently have real KNULLI/muOS hardware validation for launch, display, input, Spotify Connect, local playback, or clean exit.

Assets

• SideB-1.1.0-knulli-candidate.zip - KNULLI / PortMaster-style Candidate package
• SideB-1.1.0-muos-candidate.muxapp - muOS Archive Manager Candidate package
• candidate-test-checklist.md - what to report if you test it

Please report

If you try one of these builds, please include:

• Device model and OS version
• Archive filename and SHA256
• Install path
• /tmp/sideb.log
• /tmp/go-librespot.log
• Whether launch, display, input, Spotify Connect, local playback, and exit worked

If there is no feedback, these platforms will remain Candidate-tier and non-blocking for future releases.

What's New

• SDL local playback: downloaded and imported MP3s now play through SideB's SDL audio callback with bundled ffmpeg-lite PCM decoding, replacing the old aplay output path.
• More resilient downloads: pending downloads persist across restarts, startup restores incomplete work, yt-dlp progress is reflected in the UI, and short failure notices distinguish cookies, YouTube challenges, network, storage, missing tools, and no-match cases.
• Better local MP3 imports: ignores macOS metadata files, supports album-folder cover.* and folder.* artwork, backfills missing covers for existing managed tracks, and keeps remove/re-add behavior safer around the currently playing file.
• Release hardening: package builds now use the GNU/glibc target needed for SDL loading, verify ffmpeg-lite capabilities, validate release metadata, and check the three platform archive layouts.

Assets

• SideB-1.1.0-nextui.zip for NextUI Pak Store / Tools installs
• SideB-1.1.0-stock.zip for Stock OS Apps installs
• SideB-1.1.0-crossmix.zip for CrossMix Apps installs

Validation

• cargo test: 163 passed
• release metadata check: passed
• package build and zip layout checks: passed
• device smoke test: v1.1 SDL backend loaded libSDL2 and played local MP3s via backend=sdl

Experimental Candidate packages

KNULLI and muOS packages are attached for testers with real devices. They are Candidate builds, not Stable support yet.

• SideB-1.1.0-knulli-candidate.zip
• SideB-1.1.0-muos-candidate.muxapp
• candidate-test-checklist.md for feedback reports

Local cover art can now be added to already-imported tracks by placing a same-name image next to the MP3 in data/music. New manual MP3 uploads should still go through data/imports so SideB can create the managed library entry.

Hotfix release for local/offline playback on NextUI.

Changes:

• Rebuilds the bundled ffmpeg-lite with the real pcm_s16le muxer component behind -f s16le.
• Strengthens the FFmpeg packaging gate to require libmp3lame, pcm_s16le, and a runtime-openable s16le muxer.
• Adds a regression script so invalid FFmpeg component names are rejected before packaging.

Validation:

• cargo fmt --manifest-path spotify-ui-rs/Cargo.toml --check
• cargo test --manifest-path spotify-ui-rs/Cargo.toml (138 passed)
• ./scripts/check_ffmpeg_audio_transcoder.sh package/SideB.pak/ffmpeg-lite
• ./scripts/test_check_ffmpeg_audio_transcoder.sh
• ./scripts/package.sh
• Verified the NextUI zip contains the same ffmpeg-lite checksum as staging and exposes Muxer s16le.
• Verified on device that /tmp/ffmpeg-lite can decode a real MP3 to 1 second of s16le PCM.

• Fixed local MP3 playback on NextUI by using SideB's bundled ffmpeg-lite decoder path.\n- Rebuilt ffmpeg-lite with libmp3lame and s16le support for download transcoding and local PCM playback.\n- Added short on-device playback failure notices such as Missing ffmpeg and Missing aplay.\n- Updated the waiting screen copy to mention MP3 import.

Changes

• Local MP3 import now scans nested folders under data/imports/.
• Album subfolders are imported into FAV LIST automatically.
• Updated pak.json to point Pak Store users at SideB-1.0.9-nextui.zip.

Assets

• SideB-1.0.9-nextui.zip
• SideB-1.0.9-stock.zip
• SideB-1.0.9-crossmix.zip

Verification

• git diff --check
• cargo fmt --check
• cargo test
• ./scripts/package.sh

What's Changed

• Added a compact status-bar battery icon with five battery levels and a dedicated charging icon.
• Reads battery percentage from NextUI /tmp/percBat first, then falls back to Linux power_supply capacity.
• Fixed charger-unplug detection by trusting Battery status=Charging instead of sticky USB online state.
• Added SideB Lock screen-off behavior and playback-aware sleep guards.
• Avoids suspend while Spotify/local playback, pause state, or downloads are active.
• Updated pak.json and release metadata to v1.0.8.

Verification

• cargo fmt -- --check
• bash -n scripts/package.sh scripts/check_ffmpeg_audio_transcoder.sh
• sh -n package/SideB.pak/launch.sh packaging/nextui/launch.sh packaging/stock/launch.sh packaging/crossmix/launch.sh
• cd spotify-ui-rs && cargo test battery && cargo test power && cargo test render && cargo test
• cargo build --release --target aarch64-unknown-linux-musl
• ./scripts/check_ffmpeg_audio_transcoder.sh package/SideB.pak/ffmpeg-lite
• ./scripts/package.sh
• Verified all three release zips contain the expected sideb binary, launcher, battery icons, ffmpeg-lite, go-librespot, yt-dlp, config, and license files.

Pak Store install fix

This release fixes the NextUI Pak Store install layout for SideB.

Changes

• Fixed the NextUI release archive so its entries are rooted at the pak contents, matching Pak Store requirements.
• Kept Stock and CrossMix archive layouts rooted at Apps/SideB/.
• Added release-package layout validation to scripts/package.sh to prevent nested-install regressions.
• Updated release docs and third-party binary source/checksum metadata.

Assets

• SideB-1.0.7-nextui.zip for NextUI Pak Store and manual NextUI installs
• SideB-1.0.7-stock.zip for Stock OS
• SideB-1.0.7-crossmix.zip for CrossMix OS

Checks

• cargo test (105 passed)
• ./scripts/package.sh with built-in zip layout validation
• jq . pak.json
• bash -n scripts/package.sh scripts/check_ffmpeg_audio_transcoder.sh
• git diff --check

Performance Optimization

Major rendering performance improvements for reduced device temperature and smoother animation.

Changes

• 3x faster rendering: frame time reduced from 87ms to 25ms at 30 FPS
• Eliminated CPU busy-waiting: replaced spin-lock with blocking lock in network thread
• Fast alpha blending: bit-shift approximation (div255) replaces integer division on ARM
• Optimized drawing primitives: transparent pixel run skipping, row-based slicing, eliminated per-pixel bounds checks in draw_image_alpha, draw_image_scaled, fill_rect
• Smarter idle behavior: longer sleep when paused (300ms vs 100ms), skip dirty rect writes when nothing visually changed
• Reduced polling overhead: playlist repeat poll interval 10ms → 30ms

Results (measured on TrimUI Brick)

What's New

Smart Offline Caching

• Multi-candidate search: Searches 5 YouTube candidates instead of 1, scores each by duration match, title similarity, channel quality, and negative signals (cover/remix/live detection)
• Duration-based scoring: Uses Spotify's precise track duration as a fingerprint to select the best match
• Post-download validation: Verifies downloaded file duration against Spotify metadata (15s threshold), rejects mismatches and retries with next candidate

Download Progress Indicator

• Real-time progress shown in FAV LIST as a pie/fan indicator next to each track:
  • White hollow circle — queued
  • Yellow hollow circle — searching
  • Yellow pie fill — downloading (progressive fill 25%–75%)
  • Yellow pie fill — transcoding (75%–100%)
  • Green filled circle — complete
• File-size polling approach for reliable progress tracking on embedded Linux

Download Resume

• Incomplete downloads (downloaded: false in favorites) are automatically re-queued on app startup
• No need to unfavorite and refavorite to retry failed downloads

Other

• Node.js runtime support in launch scripts (for future yt-dlp enhancements)
• Spotify duration propagated through the entire download pipeline
• Screenshot references updated from .webp to .png