** Now developed at GitHub site https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay (where user issues should be posted)**.
Highlights:
This project is a GPLv3 open source unix AirPlay2 Mirror server for Linux, macOS, and *BSD. It is now hosted at the github site https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay (where development and user-assistance now takes place), although it initially was developed by antimof using code from RPiPlay, which in turn derives from AirplayServer, shairplay, and playfair. (The antimof site is mainly inactive, but periodically posts updates pulled from the main UxPlay site).
+This project is a GPLv3 open source unix AirPlay2 Mirror server for Linux, macOS, and *BSD. It was initially developed by antimof using code from RPiPlay, which in turn derives from AirplayServer, shairplay, and playfair. (The antimof site is mainly inactive, but periodically posts updates pulled from the main UxPlay site).
Its main use is to act like an AppleTV for screen-mirroring (with audio) of iOS/iPadOS/macOS clients (iPhones, iPads, MacBooks) in a window on the server display (with the possibility of sharing that window on screen-sharing applications such as Zoom) on a host running Linux, macOS, or other unix. UxPlay supports a “legacy” form of Apple’s AirPlay Mirror protocol introduced in iOS 12; client devices running iOS/iPadOS 9.3.5 or later are supported, as is a (non-free) Windows-based AirPlay-client software emulator, AirMyPC. (Details of what is publically known about Apple’s AirPlay2 protocol can be found here and here).
The UxPlay server and its client must be on the same local area network, on which a Bonjour/Zeroconf mDNS/DNS-SD server is also running (only DNS-SD “Service Discovery” service is strictly necessary, it is not necessary that the local network also be of the “.local” mDNS-based type). On Linux and BSD Unix servers, this is usually provided by Avahi, through the avahi-daemon service, and is included in most Linux distributions (this service can also be provided by macOS, iOS or Windows servers).
Connections to the UxPlay server by iOS/MacOS clients can be initiated both in AirPlay Mirror mode (which streams lossily-compressed AAC audio while mirroring the client screen, or in the alternative AirPlay Audio mode which streams Apple Lossless (ALAC) audio without screen mirroring (the accompanying metadata and cover art in this mode is not displayed). Switching between these two modes during an active connection is possible: in Mirror mode, close the mirror window and start an Audio mode connection, switch back by initiating a Mirror mode connection. Note that Apple DRM (as in Apple TV app content on the client) cannot be decrypted by UxPlay, and (unlike with a true AppleTV), the client cannot run a http connection on the server instead of streaming content from one on the client.
-UxPlay uses GStreamer Plugins for rendering audio and video, and does not offer the alternative Raspberry-Pi-specific audio and video renderers available in RPiPlay. It is tested on a number of systems, including (among others) Debian 10.11 “Buster” and 11.2 “Bullseye”, Ubuntu 20.04 and 21.10, Linux Mint 20.2, Pop!_OS 21.10 (NVIDIA edition), Rocky Linux 8.5 (a CentOS successor), OpenSUSE 15.3, Arch Linux 5.16.8, macOS 10.15.7, FreeBSD 13.0.
-Using Gstreamer means that video and audio are supported “out of the box”, using a choice of plugins. Gstreamer decoding is plugin agnostic, and uses accelerated decoders if available. For Intel integrated graphics, the VAAPI plugin is preferable. VAAPI is convenient for Intel and some AMD systems.
-For NVIDIA graphics with the proprietary drivers, the nvdec plugin (now renamed nvh264dec) can be used with the NVIDIA GPU. This plugin is part of gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, but not included in the binary packages, as NVIDIA’s proprietary Video Codec SDK must be downloaded, and three header files from it must be added to the gstreamer source before the plugin can be compiled. Users must do this themselves, see these instructions. The plugin should be used with the -vc nvdec (or nvh264dec) and -vs glimagesink uxplay options.
UxPlay is tested on a number of systems, including (among others) Debian 10.11 “Buster” and 11.2 “Bullseye”, Ubuntu 20.04 and 21.10, Linux Mint 20.2, Pop!_OS 21.10 (NVIDIA edition), Rocky Linux 8.5 (a CentOS successor), OpenSUSE 15.3, Arch Linux 5.16.8, macOS 10.15.7, FreeBSD 13.0.
+UxPlay uses GStreamer Plugins for rendering audio and video, This means that video and audio are supported “out of the box”, using a choice of plugins. Gstreamer decoding is plugin agnostic, and uses accelerated decoders if available. For Intel integrated graphics, the VAAPI plugin is preferable. VAAPI is convenient for Intel and some AMD systems.
+For NVIDIA graphics with the proprietary drivers, the nvdec plugin (now renamed nvh264dec) can be used with the NVIDIA GPU. This plugin is part of gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, but is generally not included in binary packages, as NVIDIA’s proprietary Video Codec SDK must be downloaded, and three header files from it must be added to the gstreamer source before the plugin can be compiled. Users must do this themselves, see these instructions. The plugin should be used with the -vc nvdec (or nvh264dec) and -vs glimagesink uxplay options.
The decoder v4l2h264dec (from GStreamer1.0-plugins-good) is the appropriate choice for the Broadcom GPU in the Raspberry Pi 4, (UxPlay does not run well on the Raspberry Pi if GPU hardware h264 decoding is not used, as its CPU is not powerful enough for satisfactory software h264 video decoding). The -vd, -vc, and -vs uxplay options can be used to create GStreamer video pipelines to use non-VAAPI hardware decoders, and an option -rpi does this for the Raspberry Pi.
Some Linux distributions such as Debian do not allow distribution of compiled GPL code linked to OpenSSL-1.1.1 because its “dual OpenSSL/SSLeay” license has some incompatibilities with GPL, unless all code authors have explicitly given an “exception” to allow such linking (the historical origins of UxPlay make this impossible to obtain). Other distributions treat OpenSSL as a “System Library” which the GPL allows linking to.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 1e7d70b..9ee7b0c 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,5 +1,8 @@ # UxPlay 1.48: AirPlay/AirPlay-Mirror server for Linux, macOS, and Unix. +** Now developed at GitHub site [https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay](https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay) (where user issues should be posted)**. + + Highlights: * GPLv3, open source. @@ -13,8 +16,7 @@ Highlights: * Support for server behind a firewall. This project is a GPLv3 open source unix AirPlay2 Mirror server for Linux, macOS, and \*BSD. -*It is now hosted at the -github site [https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay](https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay) (where development and user-assistance now takes place)*, although it initially was developed by +It was initially developed by [antimof](http://github.com/antimof/Uxplay) using code from [RPiPlay](https://github.com/FD-/RPiPlay), which in turn derives from [AirplayServer](https://github.com/KqsMea8/AirplayServer), @@ -51,19 +53,17 @@ switch back by initiating a Mirror mode connection._ **Note that Apple DRM and (unlike with a true AppleTV), the client cannot run a http connection on the server instead of streaming content from one on the client.** -UxPlay uses GStreamer Plugins for rendering audio and video, -and does not offer the alternative Raspberry-Pi-specific -audio and video renderers available in [RPiPlay](https://github.com/FD-/RPiPlay). -It is tested on a number of systems, including (among others) Debian 10.11 "Buster" and 11.2 "Bullseye", Ubuntu 20.04 and 21.10, +UxPlay is tested on a number of systems, including (among others) Debian 10.11 "Buster" and 11.2 "Bullseye", Ubuntu 20.04 and 21.10, Linux Mint 20.2, Pop!\_OS 21.10 (NVIDIA edition), Rocky Linux 8.5 (a CentOS successor), OpenSUSE 15.3, Arch Linux 5.16.8, macOS 10.15.7, FreeBSD 13.0. -Using Gstreamer means that video and audio are supported "out of the box", using a choice of plugins. +UxPlay uses [GStreamer](https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org) Plugins for rendering audio and video, +This means that video and audio are supported "out of the box", using a choice of plugins. Gstreamer decoding is plugin agnostic, and uses accelerated decoders if available. For Intel integrated graphics, the VAAPI plugin is preferable. VAAPI is convenient for Intel and some AMD systems. For NVIDIA graphics with the proprietary drivers, the nvdec plugin (now renamed nvh264dec) can be used with the NVIDIA GPU. -This plugin is part of gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, but not included in the binary packages, as NVIDIA's +This plugin is part of gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, but is generally not included in binary packages, as NVIDIA's proprietary [Video Codec SDK](https://docs.nvidia.com/video-technologies/video-codec-sdk/nvdec-video-decoder-api-prog-guide/) must be downloaded, and three header files from it must be added to the gstreamer source before the plugin can be compiled. Users must do this themselves, see [these instructions.](https://gist.github.com/corenel/a615b6f7eb5b5425aa49343a7b409200) diff --git a/README.txt b/README.txt index fb3737c..3197775 100644 --- a/README.txt +++ b/README.txt @@ -1,6 +1,9 @@ UxPlay 1.48: AirPlay/AirPlay-Mirror server for Linux, macOS, and Unix. ====================================================================== +\*\* Now developed at GitHub site