PodXTGui is not dead.

I am in the current process of rewriting the connection backend using pyalsa midi sequencer module. It should be more efficient but requires to review a bunch of code.
Hopefully, it's python code so it should not be too long ;)

... what would it be ?

Jazz : no, apparently too complex. Python can be really simple and doesn't require to be familiar with it to understand it.
Pop : naaah ... First, Python is GPL, and pop music is not backwards compatible with GPL ;). Secondly, you can't construct huge pieces of work in pop : you have to respect the damn old radio format (i.e. less than 3 minutes).
Rock : Python is too structured to be Rock (i.e. indentation).
Classical : Python is relatively new, nearly everyone can code python, but I doubt everyone can play violin.

so, there remains : Blues ... yes ! Python would be Blues music.

First, anyone learning to code can code in Python (there's no compilation process to understand, you can start with simple scripts)
and anyone learning the guitar can play Blues (classic I IV V structure is so simple, yet so powerful)

There is no level at which it would be meaningless stopping playing the Blues, as it is so rich and so trans-cultural (i.e. the Maloya of Reunion Island IS a form of blues to me :) )

Moreover, Python has got it's own true philosophy :

Python 2.4.4 (#2, Jan  3 2008, 13:36:28) 
[GCC 4.2.3 20071123 (prerelease) (Debian 4.2.2-4)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import this
The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.
Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced.
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.
If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

Doesn't it sound to you like a Blue note ;D

Based on Markus Grabner's Pod XT driver for Linux, I started to develop a gui for this excellent Guitar stuff.

It is currently under development (not beta or even alpha) and only the knobs are really synced with the pod.

It is developped in python using the GTK bidings (pyGTK)

The easy stuff has been done, now it's time to have a llok at the stomp connections (which are a bit trickier as the knobs number may vary depending on the stomp chosen).

Here's a picture of current status :

(Please not that this is not affiliated in any way with the maker of the Pod XT)

For a GUI I'm planning to delevop later, I was looking for a PyGTK rotating knob (i.e. like the ones used as volume knobs on stereos). Having found none, I spent some time developing one. Here's the result : the code need to be cleaned, btw it is already usable.

Knob rotation can be done by moving the little dot on the knob or by using the mouse wheel while under the chosen knob.

The code is heavily inspired (not to say fully stolen ;) ) from the pygtk Cairo clock widget example that can be found here

And here's the knob class 'yet dirty' code

In the quest of the perfect window manager, lots of people fall in love with the well known metacity (Gnome's window manager) or KWin (KDE's one) because they are included in a full featured desktop. Other people who look for lightweight or geeky window manager use fluxbox, ion or the brand new compiz/beryl with all its effects (mmmmh, wobbly windows !).

When it comes to work, I really need something fast and efficient and that's what Openbox is !

• lightweight, run on "not so new" computers
• easy to configure with comprehensive and text based configuration files
• keyboard shortcuts management included (including windows move and resize)
• comes with themes so you can change the way it looks (even the window buttons order)

So here's how to cook it :

• Grab and install openbox (available in most ditribs)
• Append it a minimal task bar and a lightweight file manager (let's say xfce4-panel and thunar)
• Choose a clean wallpaper
• Tweak it with a dedicated menu file (example menu file)
• Do the same for the keyboard shortcuts (example keyboard shortcuts file)

And voilà ! Taste with your prefered keyboard (i.e. : in my config Mod4 + right moves the window to the right, Mod4+Ctrl+Right extend the window to the right).

One more thing, the Openbox documentation is very clean and understandable, so I recommand you to have a look at it ...