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Software News : Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released |
| posted by djrikki on 17-May-2011 1:50:29 (4156 reads) |
Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released ( Give Jack a home on your Workbench )
Now available for download at OS4Depot.net (check the upload queue).
Screenshots
*************
http://img846.imageshack.us/i/jack1w.jpg/
http://img695.imageshack.us/i/jack2xp.jpg/
http://img846.imageshack.us/i/jack3k.jpg/
http://img190.imageshack.us/i/jack4.jpg/
http://img5.imageshack.us/i/jack5v.jpg/
http://img16.imageshack.us/i/jack6g.jpg/
http://img813.imageshack.us/i/jack7.jpg/
http://img703.imageshack.us/i/jack8.jpg/
http://img835.imageshack.us/i/jack9.jpg/
Concieved, Designed and Developed by Richard Lake ( rikki.lake@ntlworld.com ) (2011).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. What is Jack? - "All about Jack"
2. Installation - "Wherever"
3. Requirements - "System friendly"
4. Features - "Jam-packed"
5. Keyboard Shortcuts - "Everyone loves 'em"
6. Command line - "Add the power of Jack to your Applications"
7. Known Bugs and Limitations - "Sad, but true..."
8. Future releases - "Much more in-store..."
9. Legals - "Boring"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. What is Jack?
Jack is many things, Jack could be described as an advanced feature-laden ASL file-
requester replacement, it could also be described as a fantastic standalone program
that makes common tasks so much easier.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Installation
Thanks to the APPDIR system Jack can be installed wherever you want. Although I do
suggest you copy the Jack folder and all its contents to the system utilities drawer.
Please remember to call APPDIR:Jack in your future scripts and AmigaOS application calls.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Requirements
Jack is very system friendly, if you don't have something installed, fine, Jack will disable
associated features. Nonetheless as a minimum Jack requires AISS installed. I
highly recommend you install at least version 4.11 as this was used at the time of
development.
If you want to fully enjoy Jack as intended you should install Martin 'Mason' Merz's Push4Dock.
Wget is an optinal install, but highly-recommended, both Wget and Push4Dock can be found os4depot.net.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Features
* Comprehensive AmigaOS App-Store*
* Quick access to AmigaOS Preferences
* Screen snapshoter
* Fully-featured Image Editor, includes Batch-image processing
* Speedy access to all your connected devices
* Support for Push4Dock - quick access to your Documents, Images, Music and more...
* Unique Slideshow mode for viewing your image directories
* Basic file-management, Make New Drawer, Delete, Rename and Add Comment
* Open your files in Helper Applications
* HTTP support for downloading files to a directory before Opening
* Jack can be called entirely from the command line, in this mode it will act as a
modern file requester that retains all the above features.
* App-Store, with the current version of Jack you can see and download any of the Recent
uploads that are available on OS4Depot. In a subsequent version this whole interface
will be upgraded and you will be able to download anything that appears on OS4Depot
directly from within Jack.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Keyboard Shortcuts
General
----------
ESC - Close / Cancel operation
Main Window
----------------
p - Parent
n - Make New Drawer
r - Rename
d - Delete
c - Add Comment
a - Select All (multi-file select mode only)
z - Select None (multi-file select mode only)
f - Jack standalone option, change type of files listed
x - Send selected files/drawers to archive
s - If directory contains any images, switch to Slideshow mode
e - Open certain files in helper application
i - Brings up information on selected files/drawers
o - Operates the Open/Save button (available in Jack commad line mode only)
F1 - App-Store
F2 - Open AmigaOS Preferences
F3 - Screen Capture
Lister
-------
UP / DOWN - Move up and down the Lister
PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN - Move in bigger steps up and down the Lister
HOME - Jump to top of Lister
End - Jump to bottom of Lister
The scroll wheel on your mouse is also supported.
Image Editor
----------------
g - Image to Grey
i - Invert Colours of Image
l - Rotate Image left / 90deg anti-clockwise
r - Rotate Image right / 90deg clockwise
s - Open image save options
u - Revert Image
h - Flip image horizontally
v - Flip image vertically
t - Tint Colour
y - Change tint value
a - Resize image to actual size (if smaller than the window)
f - Resize image to fit
Paging Arrows
------------------
When you seeing Paging Arrows on screen you can make use of the keyboard.
Image Saving
-----------------
b - Select to Save as BMP
g - Select to Save as GIF
i - Select to Save as IFF
j - Select to Save as JPEG
p - Select to Save as PNG
s - Save image(s)
a - Save image or a batch of images under a new name/prefix. In batch-image mode
you also enter the start incremental value of the batch.
a - Add comment to the image(s)
r - Opens the Image Resize window
Image Resize before Save
---------------------------------
UP / DOWN arrows on keyboard to scroll through default resize options
w - Set width
h - Set height
URL Opener
---------------
n -If installed, open the URL in NetSurf
w - If installed, open the URL in OWB
t - If installed, open the URL in Timberwolf (option currently disabled til TW gets a command line)
d - Download the given URL to the current directory
u - Use the currently selected option
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Command line
You can call up Jack's selection of arguments at any time from the shell simply by typing
APPDIR:Jack -help to list all the features.
DON'T FORGET to look at the example scripts in the 'For Your AmiDock' drawer for example
usage. Jack can also hande multi-file selections, selected files are simply line delimited.
It should be quite straightforward to parse through the file in your own AmigaOS applications;
alas I do not know how to parse through such a file using Amiga Shell. commands.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following command line arguments are supported in this version.
Mandatory argument: -o Output selected items from directory view to a text file
-t [window title] (If blank, defaults to Select a File(s) or Select a Drawer, depending on -a parameter.
-a [Open|Save|Drawer] (Ask user to select a file to Open or Save, or select a destination drawer. Defaults to Open File.
-f [filtergroup] (Defaults to #FILTER_NONE, see below for available Filter Groups.)
-m (Allow the user to select multiple files, do not use this with -a Drawer)
-v [volumename] (Specify default volume shown in the lister - Defaults to DH1:)
-p [pathname] (Specify default drawer from volume specified in -v. Blank by default)
-help (Show this command line help)
Filter Groups available:
#FILTER_ANIM, #FILTER_ARCHIVE, #FILTER_REXX, #FILTER_CODE, #FILTER_DIRS, #FILTER_DEVICE, #FILTER_FONT
#FILTER_HTML, #FILTER_IMAGE, #FILTER_INFO, #FILTER_MOVIE, #FILTER_NONE, #FILTER_PDF, #FILTER_SOUND,
#FILTER_TEXT, #FILTER_VECTOR.
The default filter is #FILTER_NONE which shows all files in a directory; excluding .info files.
NOTE 1: To find out which ile extensions belong to which Filter Group open Jack as normal and click on the Filter icon.
NOTE 2: You can only choose one Filter Group.
NOTE 3: #FILTER_INFO will show drawers and .info files to the user, nothing else.
Example use 1: jack -t "Select an image" -a File -f #FILTER_IMAGE -v Images: -o ENV:programname_filesSelected
(open jack, filter by images, ask for a single file, start in Images: assign if available).
Example use 2: jack -t "Select a drawer" -a Drawer -f #FILTER_DIRS -v DH1: -o ENV:programname_drawerSelected
(opn jack, filter by drawer, ask for a drawer, start in DH1:)
Example use 3: jack -t "Select audio file(s) to open" -f #FILTER_SOUND -a File -m -v DH1: -o ENV:programname_filesSelected)
(open jack, filter by audio files, let the user select multiple files if they wish, start in DH1:)
Custom Filter Group:
If your application cannot read/does not support all file extensions of a Filter Group you will need to specify a custom filter so only
those files are shown in the directory view. Here is the correct way to do this, please note: you must specify at least 2 file extensions
.
Example: jack -t "Select an image" -a File -f "bmp|gif" -v Images -o ENV:progranname_itemselected.
Do NOT include a leading dot before each extension name just separate them with bars. Jack can support file extensions up to 7 characters in length.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Known Bugs / Limitations
* Sometimes in post-image processing the image isn't scaled correctly and obscures the 'Finish button'.
* Scroll bar cannot be moved yet. hahaha yes I know.
* There will be no warning if you try and download a URL onto a write-only device - simply don't do it stupid!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Future releases
* Overhaul the current App-Store to give a more complete solution including yes, making the window larger.
* Locale/language support hopefully
* Add Watermark feature to the Image Editor, come pre-load with common watermarks eg, Copyright/Protected/Demo Version,
Beta Version and of course ability to add your own Watermark.
* Keep Aspect Ratio is currently hidden/disabled in the Image Editor, have this complete and working.
* Info button, get this working with multiple file selections to show totals etc... round bytes up to KB, MB and GBs.
* Rename button, add support for batch renaming files or directories.
* Improve PageUp/PageDown in lister
* Have a working, moving scrollbar!
* Configuration Eidtor, specify your own Helper application, eg. Open a text document in something else than NotePad.
* Integrated Find/Search button
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Legals
Well am not very good at the legals, all I can say is I consider Jack to be DONATIONWARE, donations are of course accepted by paypal to
rikki.lake@ntlworld.com.
The icons that appear in Jack are part of the AISS set currently maintained Martin 'Mason' Merz. Any other imagery that may appear are
copyright of their respective owners. |
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| STORYID: 5938
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| Poster | Thread |  djrikki
 |  |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 17-May-2011 21:40:58
| | [ #1 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 22-Jun-2010
Posts: 2077
From: Grimsby, UK | | |
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| | djrikki
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 17-May-2011 21:44:27
| | [ #2 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 22-Jun-2010
Posts: 2077
From: Grimsby, UK | | |
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| | ChrisH
 | |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 17-May-2011 22:21:56
| | [ #3 ] |
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 |
Elite Member
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
Posts: 6679
From: Unknown | | |
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| @djrikki
Going by the "bung loads of unrelated functionality into the Kitchen Sink" mentality, the strange name, and the non-functioning image links (didn't see your post immediately) I had to check it wasn't 1st April 
From the screenshots, I'm guessing it was written using Hollywood?
EDIT: I suppose I am still worried that there doesn't seem a clear purpose to your program, so it's not clear who should download it, nor why. Might be better to separate functionality into several distinct programs, and give them meaningful names. IMHO of course Last edited by ChrisH on 17-May-2011 at 10:29 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 17-May-2011 at 10:26 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 17-May-2011 at 10:23 PM.
_________________
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It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue...
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| | tomazkid
 | |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 17-May-2011 23:07:36
| | [ #4 ] |
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Team Member
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Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 11694
From: Kristianstad, Sweden | | |
|
| Updated image links
_________________
Site admins are people too..pooff!
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| | Status: Offline |
| | TiredofLife
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 17-May-2011 23:16:14
| | [ #5 ] |
| |
 |
Super Member
 |
Joined: 6-Jul-2005
Posts: 1704
From: Here | | |
|
| Says I need AISS4.11 or greater installed.
I already have 4.11 installed
Cheers
_________________
If your nose runs and your feet smell, you're upside down.
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| | Status: Offline |
| | djrikki
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 17-May-2011 23:58:53
| | [ #6 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 22-Jun-2010
Posts: 2077
From: Grimsby, UK | | |
|
| @TiredOfLife
Please elaborate if something isn't working.
@ChrisH
I would have thought the name was a clear giveaway as to what it is for?
Jack, does many things, get it? Jack of all trades.
1. Jack is a basic common file manager.
2. It can open files using a Helper application (currently non-configurable)
3. It has a great suite of common image editing functions, something like Preview on the Mac. It can do screen capturing too, just like Preview.
4. Quick access to System Preferences.
5. It has a proof-of-concept App-store that will be expanded upon.
6. Jack supports Push4Dock, common locations for your documents, music and images, its only a matter of time before Push4Dock or something closely similar is integrated into the default AmigaOS installation - just wait and see.
7. And check this out, It can be called from scripts, other applications using command line arguments. The 'skin' of the program will change to a file requester with dedicated OK and Cancel buttons.
Yes its done in Hollywood, not C or PortableE as I haven't reached those languages... yet. In an ideal world it would be written in one of those languages as a direct replacement for ASL... but I don't see anyone rushing to do so, if you be prepared to 2-3 (!) seconds for it to appear you have access to all the modern features (and more in fact) of a file requester. Sadly something ASL is lacking. I am filling a gap with a bit of a pet project.
I will take look at your PortablE sometime Chris, and in the meantime concentrate on building Jack as much as possible. If people embrace Jack, then it will maybe worthwhile re-coding the application to be more uniform against the AmigaOS interface. Personally I need an alternative to turning on my Mac and using Preview for common image tasks, and atm there isn't an application for me that I like that allows me to do stuff Jack can do so easily, it just so happens that I made it into a possible requester replacement as well and the App-store concept intrigues me.
In a shell context/installation scripting context it should be easily possible to add dual support for both C:RequestFile and Jack. It shouldn't be too hard to add support for Jack into existing applications as well, if Jack is not found default back to ASL. Jack is a simple alternative to the old, 90s ASL.
Yes its a little quirky, I agree, as a standalone program, but the power is when you use it as a file requester. Check out the For your AmiDock drawer in the installation package for some inspiration. Last edited by djrikki on 18-May-2011 at 12:37 AM.
Last edited by djrikki on 18-May-2011 at 12:07 AM.
Last edited by djrikki on 18-May-2011 at 12:05 AM.
Last edited by djrikki on 18-May-2011 at 12:01 AM.
Last edited by djrikki on 17-May-2011 at 11:59 PM.
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| | TiredofLife
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Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 18-May-2011 9:49:17
| | [ #7 ] |
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Super Member
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Joined: 6-Jul-2005
Posts: 1704
From: Here | | |
|
| The application doesn't launch.
All I get is that error message.
_________________
If your nose runs and your feet smell, you're upside down.
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| | broadblues
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 18-May-2011 10:14:19
| | [ #8 ] |
| |
 |
Amiga Developer Team
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Joined: 20-Jul-2004
Posts: 4447
From: Portsmouth England | | |
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| Quote:
I will take look at your PortablE sometime Chris, and in the meantime concentrate on building Jack as much as possible. If people embrace Jack, then it will maybe worthwhile re-coding the application to be more uniform against the AmigaOS interface. Personally I need an alternative to turning on my Mac and using Preview for common image tasks, and atm there isn't an application for me that I like that allows me to do stuff Jack can do so easily, it just so happens that I made it into a possible requester replacement as well and the App-store concept intrigues me.
|
Might I suggest writing seperate applications for these quite sepaerate needs?
I think you will find that you need to re-code jack "be more uniform against the AmigaOS interface" before people will adopt it, not after they do!
_________________
BroadBlues On Blues BroadBlues On Amiga Walker Broad
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| | Status: Offline |
| | djrikki
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 18-May-2011 11:05:01
| | [ #9 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 22-Jun-2010
Posts: 2077
From: Grimsby, UK | | |
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| @TiredOfLife
Please check that Envarc:AISS is set to:
AISS 4.11 (31.12.10)
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| | ChrisH
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 18-May-2011 12:12:49
| | [ #10 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
Posts: 6679
From: Unknown | | |
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| @TiredOfLife Quote:
The application doesn't launch.
All I get is that error message. |
I'm not intending this to be snarky, but that (apps failing to start or work properly) seems a common complaint about apps written in Hollywood. I'm not sure why though.
(Maybe it is because it's dynamically rather than statically checked? Or maybe Hollywood isn't well designed? Or perhaps it's just because Hollywood programs tend to be written by less experienced programmers?)Last edited by ChrisH on 18-May-2011 at 02:44 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 18-May-2011 at 02:42 PM.
_________________
Author of the PortablE programming language.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue...
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| | ChrisH
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Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 18-May-2011 12:13:38
| | [ #11 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
Posts: 6679
From: Unknown | | |
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| @djrikki
I posted a reply on the Amigans.net news item
_________________
Author of the PortablE programming language.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue...
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| | djrikki
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 18-May-2011 13:05:47
| | [ #12 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 22-Jun-2010
Posts: 2077
From: Grimsby, UK | | |
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| @ChrisH
If I recall correctly, in a previous version of AISS, Mason forgot to update the version string in the Installer process, its probably associated with that error. Last edited by djrikki on 18-May-2011 at 01:06 PM.
_________________
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| | TiredofLife
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 18-May-2011 18:54:39
| | [ #13 ] |
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Super Member
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Joined: 6-Jul-2005
Posts: 1704
From: Here | | |
|
| I edited the file and that solved one problem.
Now I get the messages
Could not find button 250! File: toolbars.hws (current line: 1202 - in function: DisableButton)
and
Can't Cancel "Downloads"
Jack still doesn't launch.
_________________
If your nose runs and your feet smell, you're upside down.
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| | djrikki
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 19-May-2011 0:14:06
| | [ #14 ] |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 22-Jun-2010
Posts: 2077
From: Grimsby, UK | | |
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| @TIredOfLIfe
Both of those problems have been solved.
http://www.amigaos.net/Jack.lha
Haven't uploaded to OS4Depot, still working on some problems related to the slideshow mode. Last edited by djrikki on 19-May-2011 at 12:19 AM.
Last edited by djrikki on 19-May-2011 at 12:15 AM.
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| | TiredofLife
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 19-May-2011 10:26:28
| | [ #15 ] |
| |
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Super Member
|
Joined: 6-Jul-2005
Posts: 1704
From: Here | | |
|
| Ok, I'll try again tonight.
Cheers
_________________
If your nose runs and your feet smell, you're upside down.
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| | Status: Offline |
| | djrikki
| |
Re: Jack for AmigaOS - 0.99 Beta released
Posted on 19-May-2011 14:24:31
| | [ #16 ] |
| |
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Elite Member
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Joined: 22-Jun-2010
Posts: 2077
From: Grimsby, UK | | |
|
| Jack v1.0 Released on OS4Depot, sat in the upload queue.
SCREENSHOT: View an entire volume in the newly improved slideshow mode.
Changes since 0.99 Beta:
* Send to Archive should now be available to everyone that has LHA installed.
* Downloads via HTTPS: Thanks to Kas1e's recent submission of Wget onto OS4Depot it now possible to download from
a secure server. (NOT TESTED AS YET).
* View as Slideshow: It is now possible to view the whole volume in slideshow mode, meaning you can navigate in
and out of drawers.
* App-Store and System Preferences are no longer accessible in file requester mode as requested.
* Info Window: If you select a single drawer, information is now shown about its contents.
* Info Window: Filesize is now shown in Bytes, or rounded into KB, MB, GB or TB.
* Lots of fixes in the detection of third-party software tools and other programs.
* Image Editor: The window can now be resized at will.
* Tooltips have been added to the Main Window and the Image Editor.
* When a Device Group is selected Jack will now refresh the device list. In other words if you insert a USB
or CD you can select the Device Group again and it will appear.
* Device Group - Optical: Units that begin with CD and now ICD are put into this Device Group.
* Device Group - Samba: Units that begin with SMBFS are placed in this Device Group.
* Device Group - USB: Units that begin with USB are placed in this Device Group.
* Device Group - Hard Disks: All other Units appear in this Device Group.
You can of course click the directory path and enter the device, volume name or an assignment by hand for access
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