Phew, finally things started to roll again. It’s been quite interesting week. I fixed many items from the todo list and did some research on techniques that I’ll be using in CE later. Also there is some fresh code from Jim which fixes few issues. Denis from MyTreeDB.com has created some nice themes that will ship with CE.

Also I’ve been doing a lot of work with automating SVN snapshots and logs. I had a bunch of batch files to do most of the stuff but using them was a pain. Also there was some other things that made me decide that it would be better to just write a program for the task. The solution I ended up using was to create a program that can run scripts. More specifically Pascal scripts. That way it’s possible to use it for other things also. All this work gets integrated into CE eventually.

Anyway, here’s CE 0.90 beta 1. It now includes the bug tracking system so if you have a crash, please send the report. Those reports do help a lot in finding the problem. Have a nice weekend everyone .

CubicExplorer 0.90 beta 1 (0.90.0.1000)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.0MB)

I’m still under the flu . No progress on CE. I did manage to do little work on the site and wrote more scripts to automate SVN snapshot uploads. You can now see all the development changes in the SVN Log. Once everything is ready, there should be a download associated with every (or almost every) revision. Also I have plans to create an updater to CE which let’s one to update/downgrade CE versions easily.

On other notes, I opened a new blog. So this site will now only focus on Cubic Reality softwares and news about them. All other stuff will go into the real blog. Also I’ve been playing around with Google Sites. Basically it’s an easy to use wiki which I would like to use for documenting CE. At the moment however, it’s not possible to customize it’s appearance enough so I’ll have to think about it some more.

Cubic Reality Blog
http://cubicreality.blogspot.com/

Well this week has been a disaster. I’ve been a bit sick and really too tired to do any work. The plan was to release CE 0.90 beta 1 this Friday but basically there hasn’t been any progress so no release this week. Now, I’m feeling a bit better so there should be some progress again next week. Anyway, I’ll keep it short this week and go back into solving Portal (what a great game ).

It’s been a bit slower week for a change. Been busy with some other stuff so didn’t have much time to do work with CE. I added full row selection option and a drop stack panel. The drop stack component is made by Jim from mustangpeak. It works fine but I’m thinking there could be some improvements done. For example when multiple items is dragged to the stack, they could be grouped in a tree so you could access individual files too. Also at the moment thumbnails are not working but I haven’t yet checked what’s up with that. Anyway, the drop stack panel is just a sketch at the moment so ideas are welcome.

I decided that version 0.91 will include the plugin support. I really want to get rid of the built-in text editor and replace it with a plugin. Not sure of the exact schedule yet. Also the SVN snapshots should start rolling soon. I’ve written some scripts to automate everything. Only thing that is missing is a script that extracts the log messages and uploads everything to the server. I’ll try to write it this weekend.

Anyway, have a nice weekend. Here’s the latest build

CubicExplorer 0.90.0.998 (SVN Snapshot)
Installer (1.6MB)
Zip (1.5MB)

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