Repository Structure · Getting Started · Building From Source · Developer's Guide · SDK · License · Donate

What is NymphCast?

NymphCast is a software solution which turns your choice of Linux-capable hardware into an audio and video source for a television or powered speakers. It enables the streaming of audio and video over the network from a wide range of client devices, as well as the streaming of internet media to a NymphCast server, controlled by a client device, or directly on the receiver.

In addition, the server supports NymphCast apps (currently in preview status) written in AngelScript to extend the overall NymphCast functionality with e.g. 3rd party audio / video streaming protocol support on the server side, and customisable UIs in the client application.

NymphCast requires the use of a client device in all but the GUI mode. The server application (receiver) runs on a target device, while the client device functions as a remote control device:

Client-side core functionality is provided through the NymphCast library.

Usage Scenarios

NymphCast can be used in a number of scenarios:

• NymphCast Audio ➡️ Audio-only receiver mode.
  • Profile: nymphcast_audio_config.ini
  • Setup guide
• NymphCast Video ➡️ Audio & Video receiver mode.
  • Profile: nymphcast_video_config.ini
  • Setup guide
• NymphCast ScreenSaver ➡️ Like NymphCast Video, but with image-based ScreenSaver when not playing content.
  • Profile: nymphcast_screensaver_config.ini
  • Setup guide
• NymphCast GUI ➡️ Like NymphCast Video, but with stand-alone GUI mode (smart TV) enabled. (experimental feature)
  • Profile: nymphcast_gui_config.ini
  • Setup guide

Network ports

Note: NymphCast Server uses UDP port 4004 for discovery, and TCP port 4004 for playback.

All of these ports have to be reachable on a system running NymphCast Server.

Systems running the NymphCast MediaServer need to have UDP & TCP ports 4005 reachable.

Please ensure that these ports are whitelisted in e.g. firewall rules if applicable.

Features & Status

The current development version is v0.1-beta0. Version 0.1 will be the first release. The following list contains the major features that are planned for the v0.1 release, along with their implementation status.

Experimental features:

The following features are considered experimental and will exist as a potential v0.2 preview in v0.1-release:

NymphCast Ecosystem

The NymphCast project consists out of multiple components:

NymphCast Player Client

The NymphCast Player provides NymphCast client functionality in a graphical (Qt-based) format. It is also a demonstration platform for the NymphCast SDK (see details on the SDK later in this document). It is designed to run on any OS that is supported by the Qt framework.

The player has been successfully compiled and used on the following platforms:

• Windows (7, 10)
• Linux (x86, ARM: Arch, Debian)
• Android (8+)

Server Platforms

The server should work on any platform that is supported by a C++17 toolchain and the LibPoco & ffmpeg (libAV) dependencies. This includes Windows, MacOS, Linux and BSD.

FFmpeg and SDL2 libraries are used for audio and video playback. Both of which are supported on a wide variety of platforms, with Linux, MacOS and Windows being the primary platforms. System requirements also depend on whether only audio or also video playback is required. The latter can be disabled, which drops any graphical output requirement.

Memory requirements depend on the NymphCast Server configuration: by default the ffmpeg library uses an internal 32 kB buffer, and the server itself a 20 MB buffer. The latter can be configured using the (required) configuration INI file, allowing it to be tweaked to fit the use case.

Tested platforms:

* The Video-capable column indicates whether the platform in the indicated configuration is capable of both audio & video playback (Yes), or just audio (-). Video output relies on hardware-accelerated video decoding support on the target platform.

Client Platforms

For the Qt-based NymphCast Player, a target platform needs to support LibPoco and have a C++ compiler which supports C++17 (<filesystem> header supported) or better, along with Qt5 support. Essentially, this means any mainstream desktop OS including Linux, Windows, BSD and MacOS should qualify, along with mobile platforms. Currently Android is also supported via Qt's mobile support, with iOS support planned.

For the CLI-based NymphCast Client, only LibPoco and and C++17 support are required. All clients require the use of libnymphcast (see SDK section) as dependency.

Note that all mobile platforms are a work in progress due to the limitations and peculiarities of these platforms.

Repository Structure

The repository currently contains the NymphCast server, client SDK and NymphCast Player client sources.

/
|- player 	(the NymphCast demonstration client)
|- src/
|	|- client 		(basic CLI NymphCast client)
|	|- server		(the NymphCast server and NymphCast app files)
|- tools	(shell scripts for creating releases, in progress)

Getting Started

To start using NymphCast, you need a device on which the server will be running (most likely an SBC or other Linux system). NymphCast is offered as binaries for selected distros, and as source code for use and development on a variety of platforms.

Releases

NymphCast is currently in Beta stage. Releases are available on Github (see the 'Releases' folder).

Some packages also exist for selected distros.

For Alpine Linux and postmarketOS:

• the server: nymphcast-server
• libnymphcast: libnymphcast
• the player client: nymphcast-client

Player client releases for Android and Windows:

• APK for installation on Android, see 'Releases'
• desktop client for Windows(x64), see 'Releases'

If pre-compiled releases for your target device or operating system are currently not listed above or on the releases page, you may need to build the server and client applications from source. See the Setup Guides listed under the Usage Scenarios section at the beginning of this document.

Running NymphCast

The server binary can be started with only the configuration flag specified. To start the server, execute the binary (from the bin/<platform>/ folder) to have it start listening on port 4004, with the appropriate configuration file (see Usage Scenarios for a list).

E.g. for an audio-only configuration:

./nymphcast_server -c nymphcast_audio_config.ini.

The server will listen on all network interfaces for incoming connections. It supports the following options:

-h	--help				Get this help message.
-c	--configuration		Path to the configuration file.
-a	--apps				Path to the NymphCast apps folder.
-w	--wallpaper			Path to the wallpapers folder.
-r	--resources			Path to the GUI resources folder.
-v	--version			Output NymphCast server version and exit.

LCDProc configuration

NymphCast Server can output basic media file information (artist - title) to an LCDProc daemon on the system. To enable this, set to 1 the option enable_lcdproc in the active NymphCast Server configuration file (on Linux: /usr/local/etc/nymphcast/nymphcast_config.ini).

After this restart the NymphCast server instance.

The client binary supports the following flags:

Usage:
        nymphcast_client <options>

Options:
-h      --help          Get this help message.
-v      --version       Output the NymphCast client version and exit.
-r      --remotes       Display online NymphCast receivers and quit.
-f      --file          Name of file to stream to remote receiver.
-i      --ip            IP address of the target NymphCast receiver.

The NymphCast Player is a GUI-based application and accepts no command line options.

Building From Source

Note: This section is for building the project from source. Pre-built binaries are provided in the 'Releases' folder.

Server:

Server building instructions

Building The NymphCast Player Client

This demonstration client uses Qt5 to provide user interface functionality. The binary release comes with the necessary dependencies, but when building it from source, make sure Qt5.x is installed or get it from www.qt.io.

For Windows (x64):

1. Download and extract the binary release.

Or (building and running on Windows & other desktop platforms):

1. Download or clone the project repository
2. Ensure the Qt5 SDK is installed along with libPoco, NymphRPC & LibNymphCast.
3. Create player/NymphCastPlayer/build folder and change into it.
4. Execute qmake .. followed by make.
5. The player binary is created either in the same build folder or in a debug/ sub-folder.

On Android:

Note: Poco for Android must be built using the patches provided with the alternate Poco build system for certain network functionality to function.

1. Download or clone the project repository.
2. Compile the dependencies (LibNymphCast, NymphRPC & Poco) for the target Android platforms.
3. Ensure dependency libraries along with their headers are installed in the Android NDK, under <ANDROID_SDK>/ndk/<VERSION>/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/<HOST_OS>/sysroot/usr/lib/<TARGET> where TARGET is the target Android platform (ARMv7, AArch64, x86, x86_64). Header files are placed in the accompanying usr/include folder.
4. Open the Qt project in a Qt Creator instance which has been configured for building for Android targets, and build the project.
5. An APK is produced, which can be loaded on any supported Android device.

Now you should be able to execute the player binary, connect to the server instance using its IP address and start casting media from a file or URL.

Developer's Guide

The focus of the project is currently on the development of the NymphCast server and the protocol parts. Third parties are encouraged to contribute server-side app support of their services and developers in general to contribute to server- and client-side development.

The current server and client documentation is hosted at the Nyanko website.

SDK

An SDK has been made available in the LibNymphCast repository. The player project under player/ uses the SDK as part of a Qt5 project to implement a NymphCast client which exposes all of the NymphCast features to the user.

After compiling LibNymphCast, a client project has to link against this library file and include the nymphcast_client.h header file.

License

NymphCast is a fully open source project. The full, 3-clause BSD-licensed source code can be found at its project page on Github, along with binary releases.

Donate

NymphCast is fully free, but its development relies on your support. If you appreciate the project, your contribution, Ko-Fi or donation will help to support the continued development.