So here’s CE 0.90 alpha 1. The base for the new settings engine is done. Also the options dialog framework is ready. And as a bonus, I managed to code a basic sessions support. There’s still work to be done with the sessions and at the moment they only support tabs. Also I’m going to need some fresh ideas on how to interact with sessions. At the moment there is a Sessions menu and a Sessions toolbar.

I also added some new settings in the options dialog. I’m still experimenting how to layout all settings and what settings should be included, don’t want to clutter the dialog too much. Anyway, I didn’t have time to add the bug report system in this build so there’s no way to send reports if CE crashes.

CubicExplorer 0.90 alpha 1 (0.90.0.996)
Installer (1.6MB)
Zip (1.5MB)

It’s been an interesting week. On Tuesday I got a pleasant delivery in form of a new laptop. It’s an Acer Aspire 5520. This model has AMD TL-58 processor, 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive and Nvidia 8400G GPU. It was 699€ which might be a bit expensive because the store I had to use (due to payment issues) is not the cheapest one. Anyway, it seems decent machine for the money so who cares. It came with Windows Vista Home Premium which I decided to keep using, at least for now. I might switch to Linux later but that’s not any time soon.

The work computer is now completely dedicated for work, which is good for productivity. Another good thing for productivity is my new eyeglasses. These are my first glasses so there is quite a learning ahead to get used to them. When using computer, the poor sight was making my eyes tired fast, which was affecting my concentration. My loss of far sight is due to long hours in from of a monitor. So if you use computer a lot and have good vision, try to keep it that way. It’s a good practice to focus your eyes to some distant spot every 30-45 minutes.

Anyway, there was some good progress with CE this week. The settings engine and options dialog are both up and running. Next week I’ll start adding more settings into the options dialog. Also I’ll do some cleaning of the code as it’s quite a mess right now. Here’s a SVN snapshot of the current progress:

CubicExplorer 0.90.0.982 (SVN Snapshot)
Installer (1.6MB)
Zip (1.5MB)

Good progress with CE this week. The new settings engine is in place and working although there’s still some cleaning and tweaking that needs to be done. Also I’m getting closer on a solution for the sessions feature. I’ll probably do some work with it this weekend. Next week I’ll implement the options dialog. Can’t yet guess any release dates but I’m hoping to at least release SVN snapshot within the next 2 weeks.

Anyway, this year has started well. My main goal is to increase my productivity level and create more structured work environment. With the new hard drive and Windows installation, I separated work and play into two different profiles. It has had a very positive effect on my work. This separation continues next week when I get new laptop (yay!). Finally there will be a real way to separate work and play. Later this spring, the separation will become final once I’ve build a new office.

Well, that’s enough rambling. Have a nice weekend everyone .

PS. remember to update your Windows and other programs. 2 trojans had sneaked into my HTPC last week. I managed to remove them but will do reinstall of Windows just to be sure.

I’ve been fine tuning Windows and other software. There was some issues with the programming environment which took 2 days to solve but everything is up and running now. I’ve separated this computer’s usage into two separate profiles, work and play. The work profile is clean and has no disruptions or time eaters. The play profile is where I switch when I’m not working.

I’ve been using the same old Classic Windows theme with plum color scheme from Windows 95 days and it started to get a bit boring. So I tried several themes and found one (OpusOS) that looks good and clear. Unfortunately it has some issues with the BDS 2006 (the programming environment), like too bright and gray color for controls. I’m a bit dyslexic so the colors have to be just right for my brains to understand what’s on the screen. Until I can sort those issues, I’m going to use that theme only in the play profile.

Anyway, CubicExplorer development is moving forward again. I’ve started to implement the new settings engine. I don’t yet know when it will be ready since it’s quite a mess right now, but the goal is to ship 0.90 by the end of February.

OpusOS Visual Style
http://b0se.deviantart.com/art/Opus-OS-1-5-4591314

So, I finally got new hard drive (sweet!). It’s a 320GB Seagate (7200.10 – ST3320620AS). I chose this drive because I’ve heard good things about Seagate’s reliability. The manufacturer seems confident also since it came with 5 years warranty. It’s pretty quite, much quieter than my old Maxtor, also it’s faster. My motherboard (NF7-S) only supports SATA/150 so I’m not getting it’s full speed though.

Because of the new extra space, I installed Linux also. I’m using Ubuntu for now but will probably switch to Debian at some point. My goal is to eventually move completely to Linux and run Windows virtually. But that won’t happen until I get a new PC. This old Athlon 2600 is just too slow. Here’s the drive and image of the partition scheme I’m using:

On other news, I registered new address for CE (www.cubicexplorer.com). At the moment it just redirects to this site but that will change at some point. There has been no progress on the development of CE. The whole week has gone in reinstalling Windows and all the software. I had forgot how much work it actually is to reinstall everything. It took almost a day just to set up the environment where I’m building CE. Anyway, everything is now in place and the work can continue.

This week I’ve been cleaning CE’s source from all the old settings stuff. Next task is to make everything work with the new settings engine. It’s quite a mess so we’ll have to see if it works. I’ve also been doing backups of all my files. I ordered new hard drive yesterday so next week I’ll be moving to new home (yay!).

About FeedDemon, I’m not going to use it. It’s a nice program but it didn’t “feel” right. It felt kind of awkward to use, probably because I’m so used to NewsFox. However, yesterday I found Snarfer which feels more like home. Snarfer is a freeware but there is Pageflakes tab that can’t be closed. It remains to be seen whether I’m going to switch back to NewsFox or not.

Snarfer
http://www.snarfware.com/

Holiday is over. Haven’t done any work so no real news. I was planning to code the SVN snapshot uploader, but was too lazy. Anyway, looking forward to start working again tomorrow. It’s going to be an interesting year. CE should reach 1.0 status before summer. Also I’m hoping to launch at least one other program. Although last year was a disappointment because of the slow progress speed, I did learn a lot about project management which has been problematic for me. There’s still a lot to learn but I think I’m on the right road.

This year I’m hoping to make the work more structured and routine like. I’m also going to build a new office which should help in creating more structured work environment. And maybe if I can save some money, I’ll buy new work computer. My hard drive is dying so I’ll need to at least replace that.

Anyway, I’m going to implement the new settings engine and dialog to CE next week.

It’s been fairly productive week. I managed to design half of the settings scheme. The other half is the harder one so we’re not out of the woods yet. Also I did more work on CE’s UI to make it function well with the new SpTBX. I still have to do some work with breadcrumb and address bars, maybe even rewrite them. Anyway, here’s a SVN snapshot of CE:

CubicExplorer SVN (0.81.0.953)

Installer 2,0MB:
http://www.cubicreality.com/downloads/cubicexplorer/CubicExplorer_SVN_Setup.exe

Zip 1,9MB:
http://www.cubicreality.com/downloads/cubicexplorer/CubicExplorer_SVN.zip

Note, this version is probably not stable so you might want to use it only for previewing the new skin support. I’m working on a script that will automatically upload this type of SVN snapshots every day or at least few times a week. But more about that once it’s finished.

Have a nice holiday everyone

No big news. I’ve been working this week with the options dialog for CE and now have a working base. As I was designing it, I decided to rewrite the whole settings scheme of CE. Currently it’s a bit messy and I’ve never been happy with it. Since there aren’t that many settings used in CE yet, changing the settings scheme shouldn’t be a major issue. The biggest problem is to come up with a design that can scale well for many type of features.

The options dialog is very basic with left side (tree) navigation. There’s going to be two modes in it, basic and advanced. Here’s a screenshot of a prototype:

I was meaning to release a SVN snapshot of CE last week, but because I started to work with the bug tracker there were no time to make CE work properly with the new version of SpTBX. I’ll see if I can cook up something for next Friday.