WonderMCA: MP3 player

The card plays the MP3 files of its microSD card or of its USB stick by itself. The PS/2 only gives the orders: play, pause, next. It does not read the file and it does not decode it, so the processor of the PS/2 does not matter, and a game or a DOS program keeps running while the music plays.

The music comes out where the other sounds of the card come out: the jack and the Micro Channel audio line, or the Bluetooth headphones (The audio output). It is mixed with the Sound Blaster, the AdLib and the CD audio.

There are three ways to use it:

Program	What it is for
WMPLAY	A full-screen player: you browse the folders of the card, play, pause, skip, and watch the spectrum
WMCTRL MP3	One command per action, for the DOS prompt and for batch files
The screenpad	Audio > MP3 player on the card’s own display: the folders of the microSD card, play, pause, stop, next, the knob for the volume. No PC program needed (Screenpad reference)

The three drive the same player: a file started from one shows on the others.

What you need

You need	Why
A firmware with the MP3 player	The MP3 player comes with the firmware. With an older firmware, both programs answer that the firmware has no MP3 player: update the firmware (Firmware and CPLD update)
The audio output not Off	Output on the Audio page of the setup menu must be On (in a firmware with Bluetooth: Jack or BT). With Off the card plays nothing and says so (The audio output)
WMPLAY.EXE and WMCTRL.EXE	They are on the tools floppy image wmtools.img. Mount that image as a floppy and copy them to your hard disk (Usage guide)
MP3 files on the card	On the microSD card or on the USB stick, in any folder

The CPLD does not change for the MP3 player.

Putting music on the card

1. Switch the PS/2 off and take the microSD card out of the WonderMCA.
2. Put the microSD card in your computer.
3. Create a folder for the music, for example MUSIC, next to FLOPPY, HDD and CDROM.
4. Copy your .mp3 files into it. Make one sub-folder per album if you like.
5. Put the microSD card back and switch the PS/2 on.

A USB stick works the same way: copy the files to it and plug it into the USB-A port of the card.

Rule	Value
Files	MP3 files, with the extension .mp3. Any bit rate, constant or variable, mono or stereo, 8 to 48 kHz
Names	Long names and spaces are allowed. The list of WMPLAY shows the first 20 characters of a name
Folders	As deep as you like, up to 100 characters for the whole path of a folder, counted with the short DOS names
Files in one folder	WMPLAY shows the first 256 entries of a folder
Play order	By name. Start the names with the track number (01, 02, …) to keep the order of an album

WMPLAY shows the name of the file. It does not read the title and the artist stored inside the file.

WMPLAY, the full-screen player

Type WMPLAY at the DOS prompt. The player opens on the root of the microSD card.

Part of the screen	What it shows
The top line	WonderMCA MP3 Player and, on the right, the volume you browse: microSD or USB
The left box	The folder: its path in the frame, sub-folders in brackets, then the MP3 files with their size. Under it, the position of the bar and the number of rows, such as 3/10
The right box, Now playing	The file that plays, its state and time, the volume, the spectrum and the level meters
The line under the boxes	A message when something cannot be done. It stays about 4 seconds
The bottom line	The main keys

Browsing

Move the bar with Up and Down. Press Enter on a folder to open it, and Backspace to go back to the folder above. The row [..] at the top of a folder does the same as Backspace.

• Only folders and MP3 files are listed: folders first, then the files, each group by name.
• The size is in KB (252K) or in MB (3.6M).
• A name longer than its row scrolls while the bar is on it: it stays still a second, moves to its end, stays a second, and starts again. The other rows show the start of their name.
• In a folder with more rows than the box can show, the list scrolls with the bar. PgUp, PgDn, Home and End move faster.
• A + after the counter, such as 256/256+, means that the folder has more than 256 entries: the rest is not shown.

Playing

Press Enter on a file. The file starts, and the MP3 files of that folder become the play list.

On the screen	Meaning
02 Neon Harbor.mp3	The name of the file that plays. In the list on the left it has a small arrow in front
Playing 01:23, the bar, 02:40	The state, the time played, the song as a bar that fills while it plays, and its length, in minutes and seconds. The states are Idle, Playing, Paused, Stopped, Finished and Error. --:-- when the length is not known. Left and Right jump 10 seconds
44100 Hz stereo 192 kbit/s, on the frame of the box	What the file is. With a variable bit rate file the last number moves
Volume, the bar and the number	The volume of the MP3, 0 to 100
[L]oop off, [C]ont on	The two play modes and the keys that change them
The spectrum	The music in 48 bands, from the bass on the left (43 Hz) to the treble on the right (15 kHz), like the display of a hi-fi set. A band is a column of 44 small segments: blue at the bottom, then cyan, green, yellow, red, and magenta at the very top. The segment that stays alone above a band is its last peak: it stays 2 seconds, then comes down
L and R	The level of the left and of the right channel. The end of the scale is yellow, then red. The white square is the last peak: it stays 2 seconds, then comes down
File 2 of 9	The place of the file in the play list
Next: 03GLAS~1.MP3	The file that starts when this one ends, by its short DOS name. A file whose name has accented letters or typographic signs, and every file of an exFAT card, has no usable short name: the card then makes one from the first letters of the name and a number, such as GLASSC?3.MP3

The screen follows the music about 18 times a second.

The keys

Key	What it does
Up, Down, PgUp, PgDn, Home, End	Move the bar in the list
Enter	Open the folder, or play the file. The files of that folder become the play list
Backspace	Back to the folder above
Tab	Switch between the microSD card and the USB stick
Space	Pause, resume
N, P	The next, the previous file of the play list
S	Stop
+, –	The volume of the MP3, in steps of 5
Right, Left	10 seconds on, 10 seconds back in the song, also while it is paused. Never past its last second, never before its start
L	Loop the file: on, off
C	Continuous play: on, off
Esc	Leave WMPLAY. The music goes on
Q	Stop the music and leave WMPLAY

WMPLAY /? prints the keys and the version of WMPLAY, which is also on the top line (0x0050).

Pause and stop

Space pauses the music and Space again resumes it at the same place. S stops it: the next Enter starts a file from its beginning.

The spectrum does not go dark at once: the bands fall, and their peaks stay 2 seconds before they come down.

Volume, loop and continuous play

• + and – change the volume of the MP3 only, in steps of 5. The Volume and Mute of the screenpad act on all the sounds of the card, the MP3 included.
• C switches the continuous play. It is on when WMPLAY starts: at the end of a file the next file of the play list starts. With [C]ont off the music stops at the end of the file.
• L switches the loop. With [L]oop on the same file starts again at its end, and no next file is announced.
• You can open another folder while the music plays: the play list stays the one of the folder the music comes from. If the next file starts while you look at another folder, Now playing shows its short DOS name.

At the end of the last file of the play list the state is Finished.

The microSD card and the USB stick

Tab shows the other volume, from its root. The top line reads USB and the path in the frame starts with 1:. The music does not stop when you switch.

Without a USB stick, the list stays where it was and the message line reads No USB stick (or it cannot be read).

Leaving WMPLAY

Key	The music	Use it to
Esc	Goes on	Start a game or another program with the music on
Q	Stops	End the session

WMPLAY gives the DOS screen back as it was.

Ctrl-C and Ctrl-Break do nothing in WMPLAY: leave with Esc or Q.

After Esc:

• The file that plays goes to its end, and the music stops there: the continuous play is done by WMPLAY, so no next file starts. With the loop on, the file plays again and again.
• WMCTRL MP3 STOP stops the music from the DOS prompt.
• Start WMPLAY again to take the controls back: it shows the state, the time, the spectrum and the meters of the music. The name of the file is not shown again and the play list is empty, until you press Enter on a file.

A monochrome screen

On a monochrome display adapter WMPLAY uses black-and-white attributes by itself. On a colour adapter with a screen that shows no colours, such as the plasma screen of a portable PS/2, start it with WMPLAY /M.

If the spectrum shows line-drawing characters

WMPLAY draws the segments of the spectrum with eleven characters of its own. It loads them into the VGA adapter of the PS/2 when it starts and puts the characters of DOS back when it leaves.

If the spectrum shows double-line box characters instead of segments (this can happen in a DOS window of Windows or OS/2), start WMPLAY with WMPLAY /T. It then uses plain characters only: a band is a column of 11 small squares.

The messages of WMPLAY

Message	Meaning	What to do
No USB stick (or it cannot be read)	Tab found no USB volume	Plug the stick and press Tab again (USB devices)
Not an MP3 file	The card found no MP3 data at the start of the file	Check the file on your computer
Not found on the card	The file is no longer there	Leave the folder and open it again
The sound output of the card is off	The audio output is Off	Set Output on the Audio page of the setup menu to On (in a firmware with Bluetooth: Jack or BT)
The folder cannot be read	The card could not open the folder	Check the microSD card
The folder path is too long	The path of the folder has more than 100 characters	Use shorter folder names or fewer levels
Not possible now	The card refused the key in the present state	Nothing
The card does not answer	The card did not answer in time	Leave WMPLAY and start it again
(no MP3 file here), in the list	The folder has no sub-folder and no MP3 file	Press Backspace
wmplay: this firmware has no MP3 player, at the DOS prompt	The firmware of the card is older than the player	Update the firmware
wmplay: WonderMCA not found (is the WMBIOS loaded?), at the DOS prompt	WMPLAY found no card	Check that the option ROM of the card starts at power-on

WMCTRL MP3, the commands

WMCTRL MP3 does one thing per command. Use it at the DOS prompt, or in a batch file to start music before a program and stop it after.

Command	What it does
WMCTRL MP3 PLAY <file>	Plays the file. A file that already plays is replaced
WMCTRL MP3 PLAY <file> /L	Plays the file in a loop
WMCTRL MP3 STATUS	One line, such as MP3: state=playing rate=44100 ch=2 kbps=128 pos=00:42 volume=100 loop=off
WMCTRL MP3 PAUSE, RESUME	Pause, resume
WMCTRL MP3 STOP	Stop
WMCTRL MP3 VOLUME <N>	The volume of the MP3, 0 to 100
WMCTRL MP3 LOOP ON or OFF	Loop the file, or stop at its end
WMCTRL MP3 DIR [folder]	The folders and MP3 files the card finds in a folder, one per line: the size (or <DIR>), the short name, the name. Without a folder: the root of the microSD card; 1: is the USB stick. WMPLAY shows the same entries: use it when WMPLAY shows a folder empty

• <file> is the path of the file from the root of the microSD card: MUSIC\SYNTH\01 Night Drive.mp3. Start it with 1: for the USB stick: 1:\PARTY\Dance Floor.mp3.
• Long names and spaces are allowed, without quotes. The path has 127 characters at most. Upper and lower case are the same.
• Add /Q to print nothing when the command works.

In a batch file

@ECHO OFF
WMCTRL MP3 PLAY MUSIC\INTRO.MP3 /L /Q
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 ECHO No music today.
MYGAME
WMCTRL MP3 STOP /Q

Exit code	Meaning
0	The command worked
1	The card refused it: file not found, not an MP3 file, the audio output is off, or not possible now
2	Usage error
5	No WonderMCA found
6	The firmware of the card has no MP3 player. Update the firmware

The answers when a command fails

Answer	Meaning
wmctrl: file not found on the card	No such file. Check the path and the name
wmctrl: not an MP3 file	The card found no MP3 data at the start of the file
wmctrl: not possible in this state (is a file playing?)	PAUSE without music, RESUME without a pause, STOP with no file
wmctrl: the sound output of the card is off (wmctrl sound output on)	The audio output is Off. WMCTRL SOUND OUTPUT ON switches it on for the next start of the PS/2
wmctrl: the volume must be a number from 0 to 100	A wrong value, followed by the usage text
wmctrl: this firmware has no MP3 player	Update the firmware

Limits

• One file plays at a time.
• The file must be on the microSD card or on the USB stick itself. A file inside a hard disk image is not seen: copy it to the card first, for example with WMDFS (Usage guide).
• A jump with Left or Right lands on a whole second. In a variable bit rate file without a VBR header (most files have one) the length and the jumps are estimates.
• Only MP3 files. Play lists (.m3u) are not read: the play list is the folder.
• There is no random order.
• The continuous play needs WMPLAY on the screen, or a file started from the screenpad (the card then starts the next file of the folder by itself). WMCTRL MP3 PLAY plays one file, or one file in a loop.
• With Bluetooth headphones the sound comes a little later than on the jack (Bluetooth headphones).
• Building the firmware yourself: the CMake option -DMP3_PLAYER=OFF leaves the MP3 player out (the default is on).

---

WonderMCA user documentation · Documentation home