Win2X : Alternative Frontend

[raindog]

Ok, tested and working fine. Another good feature i didn´t notice. Thanks for the support. :rolleyes:

 

[chrisvcpp]

Ok, tested and working fine. Another good feature i didn´t notice. Thanks for the support. :rolleyes:

You can also read the documentation.It will help you understand the user environment features.

 

[rorque]

hello there, i workin on my skin modification for win2x,but now,when my wiz is broken[i`m not an electronic,so my friend must tried to repair this] i must temporary stop my project
If you want to see how it works here you can find some files

http://tmdag.com/rork/syswin.png
http://tmdag.com/rork/sel.png

You can copy this to skin folder[blue or gold] and see how it works.

 

[fett42]

hello there, i workin on my skin modification for win2x,but now,when my wiz is broken[i`m not an electronic,so my friend must tried to repair this] i must temporary stop my project
If you want to see how it works here you can find some files

http://tmdag.com/rork/syswin.png
http://tmdag.com/rork/sel.png

You can copy this to skin folder[blue or gold] and see how it works.

I like the color combinations you choose. Looks nice so far.

 

[DaveC]

OK.I just now saw that...Thank Neil L!And thanks to Orkie for his implementation!Now we will finally have a shutdown command in Win2X!

DaveC...About the window size:I can't promise anything for now because I'm little short on time,but I will see to it in some of the next releases!
About the bootloader:It is already implemented(thanks to a previous post of yours).Version 1.2.0 now supports the "Recovery Screen" which includes 3
options:
1. Run Win2X
2. Run the original forntend
3. Uninstall Win2X (only works if you have installed Win2X)

To open the "Recovery Screen" just press and hold R while Win2X start-up.Hope this helps...

For the bootloader could there be a couple more options added? I did mention it in my post. These options would be "set Win2X as default" and "set original menu as default". This way if we wanted to go back to the original for some reason such as some incompatibility of Win2X etc we could just set it back to the original without having to hold R on every startup.

Also have the problems with compatibility been fixed? I know an older version had problems running some things like OutCast and a Speccy emu.

I also found if you are on the bottom row of icons and you want to get to the next page pressing "down" doesn't work unless you are on the left most icon only. It should work on any of the bottom row icons to avoid having to do a bunch of d-pad taps to get to it.

What about my other suggestions about allowing folders to be put on the desktop and in the window? Can that be implemented or is that too much work to do? Windows does it and this is obviously based on that. This would add allot of flexibility. Since the screen area is pretty limited if we could split things up into folders it could help. This way in "games" we could have folders such as "Platform" "FPS" "Fighting" "Puzzle" etc.

Another minor feature would be that in the window if there is a second page of icons the down scroll arrow should be a different color or something to indicate that there is another page. Then when you are on the last page the UP arrow would highlight. If there are three pages of icons and you are in the center page then both UP and DOWN would be highlighted.

 

[chrisvcpp]

For the bootloader could there be a couple more options added? I did mention it in my post. These options would be "set Win2X as default" and "set original menu as default". This way if we wanted to go back to the original for some reason such as some incompatibility of Win2X etc we could just set it back to the original without having to hold R on every startup.

Also have the problems with compatibility been fixed? I know an older version had problems running some things like OutCast and a Speccy emu.

What about my other suggestions about allowing folders to be put on the desktop and in the window? Can that be implemented or is that too much work to do? Windows does it and this is obviously based on that. This would add allot of flexibility. Since the screen area is pretty limited if we could split things up into folders it could help. This way in "games" we could have folders such as "Platform" "FPS" "Fighting" "Puzzle" etc.

The case you described is the "uninstall" process.If someone wants to set back to the original,he just selects "uninstall Win2X" and then the
original frontend is back.
No I have not yet got into any compatibility tests about the specific programs you mentioned.But I will do it and I'm sure they will be
fixed(as the ts_calib was aswell).
Your suggestion about folders is neat but this would demand much work and A LOT of time which unfortunatelly I do not have at the moment.
There is not much features to implement any more(except some I want to,like a text editor,sound effects and a volume control) and I'm happy
with the project so far...For now I will make some compatibility tests and if you happen to find any compatibility issue,please refer to me to check it out.

 

[DaveC]

For the bootloader could there be a couple more options added? I did mention it in my post. These options would be "set Win2X as default" and "set original menu as default". This way if we wanted to go back to the original for some reason such as some incompatibility of Win2X etc we could just set it back to the original without having to hold R on every startup.

Also have the problems with compatibility been fixed? I know an older version had problems running some things like OutCast and a Speccy emu.

What about my other suggestions about allowing folders to be put on the desktop and in the window? Can that be implemented or is that too much work to do? Windows does it and this is obviously based on that. This would add allot of flexibility. Since the screen area is pretty limited if we could split things up into folders it could help. This way in "games" we could have folders such as "Platform" "FPS" "Fighting" "Puzzle" etc.

The case you described is the "uninstall" process.If someone wants to set back to the original,he just selects "uninstall Win2X" and then the
original frontend is back.
No I have not yet got into any compatibility tests about the specific programs you mentioned.But I will do it and I'm sure they will be
fixed(as the ts_calib was aswell).
Your suggestion about folders is neat but this would demand much work and A LOT of time which unfortunatelly I do not have at the moment.
There is not much features to implement any more(except some I want to,like a text editor,sound effects and a volume control) and I'm happy
with the project so far...For now I will make some compatibility tests and if you happen to find any compatibility issue,please refer to me to check it out.

Yes but "uninstall" removes everything right? Then in the future if I want to run it again I have to flash the program to firmware again right? I wanted to avoid all of those steps and danger of bricking and be able to just do a quick toggle if needed.

If you are goung to add sounds and text editor can you make those optional? The original GPH menu had them but they were removed because many people found these effects annoying with the constant beeping as you move around. Also will all of these things like sounds and text editor you are adding result in longer load times, more RAM and CPU usage? If so hopefully you could make a faster loading and smaller footprint "lite" version. Many of us will just use this to load apps as quick as possible and not use all of that other stuff. If those things increase overhead and boot times it can be a problem.

Below is one of the posts about incompatibility:

I'm not sure that it is the pollux_set causing the hang ups as I can't get any .gpu files (pollux_set or not) to run, but .gpe's run fine. (Most of ZX81's emulators need to be ran from a .gpu)

I've found a way to get .gpu files to run with Win2x, you just have to create a .gpe (pointing at he required .gpu) then run this.
It doesn't work for GP2Xpectrum though! (I tried it after reading the above post)
Cheers, Neil

One other little thing I've noticed if the .gpe's name is too long you can't link to it, Win2X just runs it!

 

[chrisvcpp]

Yes but "uninstall" removes everything right? Then in the future if I want to run it again I have to flash the program to firmware again right? I wanted to avoid all of those steps and danger of bricking and be able to just do a quick toggle if needed.

If you are goung to add sounds and text editor can you make those optional? The original GPH menu had them but they were removed because many people found these effects annoying with the constant beeping as you move around. Also will all of these things like sounds and text editor you are adding result in longer load times, more RAM and CPU usage? If so hopefully you could make a faster loading and smaller footprint "lite" version. Many of us will just use this to load apps as quick as possible and not use all of that other stuff. If those things increase overhead and boot times it can be a problem.

Below is one of the posts about incompatibility:

Thanks!I was testing GP2Xpectrum right now...
Yes, "uninstall" removes everything although it is not a dangerous process at all.But OK, I will add two more options about setting the default
launcher while preserving Win2X in system.
About the sounds:They will be optional as there is going to be a master volume control and a mute option aswell.
About the editor:It will just be an embedded utility for supporting text file types.This means that it will load up only if you choose a .txt
file from the explorer.
So to conclude...Win2X is designed in such a way that allows many features without increasing the boot time or CPU cycles.I have not used "preload"
logic in it but "load when needed" and "unload when unneeded" logic...
I would also like to explain that Win2X is "light" enough because it uses only a few libraries.The most of the
functions needed are generated from my own code(even the font drawing process is written by me instead of using
the SDL_ttf) which saves much of RAM and CPU cycles.

 

[DaveC]

Yes but "uninstall" removes everything right? Then in the future if I want to run it again I have to flash the program to firmware again right? I wanted to avoid all of those steps and danger of bricking and be able to just do a quick toggle if needed.

If you are goung to add sounds and text editor can you make those optional? The original GPH menu had them but they were removed because many people found these effects annoying with the constant beeping as you move around. Also will all of these things like sounds and text editor you are adding result in longer load times, more RAM and CPU usage? If so hopefully you could make a faster loading and smaller footprint "lite" version. Many of us will just use this to load apps as quick as possible and not use all of that other stuff. If those things increase overhead and boot times it can be a problem.

Below is one of the posts about incompatibility:

Thanks!I was testing GP2Xpectrum right now...
Yes, "uninstall" removes everything although it is not a dangerous process at all.But OK, I will add two more options about setting the default
launcher while preserving Win2X in system.
About the sounds:They will be optional as there is going to be a master volume control and a mute option aswell.
About the editor:It will just be an embedded utility for supporting text file types.This means that it will load up only if you choose a .txt
file from the explorer.
So to conclude...Win2X is designed in such a way that allows many features without increasing the boot time or CPU cycles.I have not used "preload"
logic in it but "load when needed" and "unload when unneeded" logic...

Someone also mentioned "Outcast" (ST emu)not running under Win2X.

Good to hear you are keeping the program "lean and mean" for quicker boot times. While I like the design of Gmenu2X, it is not very optimised or efficient and loads way too slow so I don't use it. I assume that if I don't use the sounds they won't be preloaded then either? This sounds like a good idea too.

 

[chrisvcpp]

Good to hear you are keeping the program "lean and mean" for quicker boot times. While I like the design of Gmenu2X, it is not very optimised or efficient and loads way too slow so I don't use it. I assume that if I don't use the sounds they won't be preloaded then either? This sounds like a good idea too.

Well...I'm sorry to have chosen a graphical appearance that you don't like very much..but as I said to a previous post,Gmenu2X has(in my opinion)
a very very bad programming design.It uses a lot(I mean a lot) of unneeded code which overloads the RAM and CPU while the software itself is just a launcher(with not so many features after all).
Yes,if you choose to mute the sounds then they will be freed from memory...

 

[DaveC]

Good to hear you are keeping the program "lean and mean" for quicker boot times. While I like the design of Gmenu2X, it is not very optimised or efficient and loads way too slow so I don't use it. I assume that if I don't use the sounds they won't be preloaded then either? This sounds like a good idea too.

Well...I'm sorry to have chosen a graphical appearance that you don't like very much..but as I said to a previous post,Gmenu2X has(in my opinion)
a very very bad programming design.It uses a lot(I mean a lot) of unneeded code which overloads the RAM and CPU while the software itself is just a launcher(with not so many features after all).
Yes,if you choose to mute the sounds then they will be freed from memory...

When I say "design" I mean operation not programming. Gmenu2X layout makes it a little quicker to get to the apps I want. I just have to navigate to the item I want then hit the button and go and there is less paging due to more icons. Win2X is still MUCH better than the default Wiz Gui, and loads much faster than Gmenu2X. I do agree that Gmenu2X is programmed poorly and is too bloated. Gmenu2X takes WAY too long to boot up which pretty much makes it unuseable. That is why I would use Win2X in the future, it works much better. I just wanted to use it when it was closer to completion and the bugs were fixed and compatibility was perfect. That sounds like that will be soon.


Thanks for the good work.

 

[chrisvcpp]

When I say "design" I mean operation not programming. Gmenu2X layout makes it a little quicker to get to the apps I want. I just have to navigate to the item I want then hit the button and go and there is less paging due to more icons. Win2X is still MUCH better than the default Wiz Gui, and loads much faster than Gmenu2X. I do agree that Gmenu2X is programmed poorly and is too bloated. Gmenu2X takes WAY too long to boot up which pretty much makes it unuseable. That is why I would use Win2X in the future, it works much better. I just wanted to use it when it was closer to completion and the bugs were fixed and compatibility was perfect. That sounds like that will be soon.


Thanks for the good work.

I know you meant design DaveC.I was refering to programming just in contrast.I am a programmer after all,not a designer.But Win2X is improved thanks to the users feedback,which is very important and I'm thankfull for.Anyway, I will make the necessary tests about the compatibility and hope to fix all the issues.

Thank you for the feedback.

 

[DaveC]

[I am a programmer after all,not a designer.But Win2X is improved thanks to the users feedback,which is very important and I'm thankfull for.Anyway, I will make the necessary tests about the compatibility and hope to fix all the issues.

Thank you for the feedback.

What do you think about my suggestion to make it posible to go to the next page of icons by presing down on the pad on ANY icon on the last row? I didn't hear your thoughts on that.

Also how about the suggestion of highlighting the arows in the scroll bar area to indicate that there is another page(s) of icons? Is something like that possible?

I like that you are keeping the code nice and efficient too.

Thanks for the nice app.

 

[chrisvcpp]

What do you think about my suggestion to make it posible to go to the next page of icons by presing down on the pad on ANY icon on the last row? I didn't hear your thoughts on that.

Also how about the suggestion of highlighting the arows in the scroll bar area to indicate that there is another page(s) of icons? Is something like that possible?

I like that you are keeping the code nice and efficient too.

Thanks for the nice app.

Of course it is possible.Both of your suggestions.Although they are minor fixes,I will include them to the next release.

 

[Orkie]

Win2X is still MUCH better than the default Wiz Gui, and loads much faster than Gmenu2X. I do agree that Gmenu2X is programmed poorly and is too bloated. Gmenu2X takes WAY too long to boot up which pretty much makes it unuseable. That is why I would use Win2X in the future, it works much better. I just wanted to use it when it was closer to completion and the bugs were fixed and compatibility was perfect. That sounds like that will be soon.

Jedi Mind Trick? As somebody who has worked with it a fair amount (obviously we had to make changes to the code for Open2x), I can comment on GMenu2x which seems to be getting some undeserved criticism. It is actually quite elegantly designed and is incredibly flexible. While it has a few odd design decisions (like detecting Open2x at runtime), it can also be quite nippy: if it is slow on the Wiz, I am sure that is down to the port or maybe the latest changes in SVN for Pandora (we basically had to fork it after this happened), not GMenu2x itself.

 

[chrisvcpp]

Jedi Mind Trick? As somebody who has worked with it a fair amount (obviously we had to make changes to the code for Open2x), I can comment on GMenu2x which seems to be getting some undeserved criticism. It is actually quite elegantly designed and is incredibly flexible. While it has a few odd design decisions (like detecting Open2x at runtime), it can also be quite nippy: if it is slow on the Wiz, I am sure that is down to the port or maybe the latest changes in SVN for Pandora (we basically had to fork it after this happened), not GMenu2x itself.

I was mainly refering to the HUGE sourcecode GMenu2X uses(you have to get through 40(!) files of source code) and mostly on the bad programming choise
to create many MANY unnecessary variables,structures,classes in RAM.Which is a very bad choise in my opinion.For example, I had a look on its code and the only thing I saw was classes here and classes there.What for?The rule is:create one class when you have to handle multiple items which are similar to each other and they exist in the same time in memory.Not create 10 classes just to handle 10 entirely different items."Flexible" means to do many things with as less code as possible.

There can be many reasons for a program to get slowdown, but writing such a huge code does not help the software or the programmer either.
Anyway, I'm just telling my opinion in advice not criticism.Without developers there would be nothing,so I admire and acclaim anyone's work.

 

[halljames]

I just receieved my Wiz today and installed Win2X. I love it. But I did find one problem.

I created a new user and set it to autologin, I then started to set up all my links. The auto login feature didnt seem to work, and when I tried to log in as admin to check the settings, I kept getting error messages about no admin rites, and the admin user account type was blank.

To get this fixed, I uninstalled, and then reinstalled. I think I might just stick with using the default admin account.

 

[chrisvcpp]

I just receieved my Wiz today and installed Win2X. I love it. But I did find one problem.

I created a new user and set it to autologin, I then started to set up all my links. The auto login feature didnt seem to work, and when I tried to log in as admin to check the settings, I kept getting error messages about no admin rites, and the admin user account type was blank.

To get this fixed, I uninstalled, and then reinstalled. I think I might just stick with using the default admin account.

Well..this kind of strange because I did not have any problems while testing...
The user name you created contained a space character?

 

[halljames]

No, the username was just James
I am going to have another go at it.

 

[halljames]

Nope, just tried it again, reinstalled, and when I created a new user and tried to log in, I just got a black screen. When I rebooted and tried to log in as admin, I had no admin rights. Does uninstalling remove everything?