Version 5.4 is on the horizon... v5.4 RC2 is on the website

[Fast351]

Well folks, I'm moving v5.4 from beta into release candidate status.

What does this mean? There will be no more feature additions, and only major bugs will be fixed. If you have an interest in testing this version before the final release is made, please download this one and test it.

Major changes since 5.3.2:

-DLL model for display drivers. Allows third party developers to add new displays without changing the main program. We also added native support for iMon, IRTrans, and Seetron displays.
-SSL support for e-mail checking
-Data acquisition is now multithreaded. This means, for example, that a slow website doesn't hang the rest of the data fetches out to dry.
-LCD emulation on screen. Custom characters are now able to be shown on screen, so you can see things like the spectrum analyzer displayed correctly.

Changes since the B3 beta:

-Refresh rate for data threads changed to avoid hammering e-mail servers specifically but also eliminate CPU loading at screen changes
-update checking now a manual operation from the menu. (This is a SourceForge rule we were breaking)
-LCD Smartie can now display static text when shutting down


The things I'm looking for specifically that I would like users to test:

-If you have one, the seetron display driver is untested. I'd be interested in hearing if it works correctly
-The e-mail checking thing, whether the timeout works right
-CPU loading at screen changes
-memory consumption and leaking. I'm sure there are some leaks. I'm curious how bad they are.

I don't have Windows Vista at home, so I can't fix problems with Vista incompatibility. I'll leave that for a developer brave enough to run Vista

[Artosoft]

Looks running ok on my xp. Any news to add more screen config like 4x80 or 4x104?

Regards,
Arto.

[caesar]

Tested 5.4.RC2 on P4 3.7GHz, 1Gb RAM, 6600GT, Win2k3.
Custom MO compatible serial and USB lcd.

- no CPU loading problem, practically 0 load at screen changes or in any other case - only jumps to 1% (usage just for lcdsmartie) when the spectrum analyzer is being displayed (maybe there are problems on parallel displays?).

- memory consumption: under 6Mb, after more than 24 running hours with the following plugins:
demo, formatting, nvtemp, perf (changed pdh.dll with a WinXP ver.), speedfan, winamp. Output display driver: MatrixOrbital.


PS: I would also love 4x160 as a possible resolution but as Fast351 said: "There will be no more feature additions, and only major bugs will be fixed."

[mattcro]

I was previously using 5.4b3 with no probs on AthlonXP under WinXP pro SP2. Smartie 5.4 RC2 is about the same for CPU/mem usage with the plugins below. I don't use RSS, POP3 etc in Smartie so can't comment on that.

Plugins I'm using with no probs are: nvtemp, scrollpad, regexp, sandr and Smartie's MBM5 support.

Mem usage is anything from 3MB to 13MB depending on what it's doing. If I open the config window and cycle thru the screens, mem usage jumps up (loading plugins etc?). When I close the config and hide Smartie (to systray) the mem drops down to 3MB or less. I haven't checked to see if usage creeps up after Smartie has been running for some time.

CPU usage is hardly above 2-3% (AthlonXP 2000+) even when changing/scrolling screen. I'm using a Matrix Orbital compatible LCD on COM port.

[limbo]

Let me add my comments...

Program behaviour seems to be good under Win Xp SP2.
Cpu Athlon XP 2600, 1GB mem, 6600 Gpu 256 MB Ram, Lot of native and USB HDD's (don't ask ).

Using most of my plugins (.net framework based).
Reading Rss feeds from my project.
Displaying custom characters.
Using actions.

Screens used: Matrix Orbital, Htvision (using crystalfontz driver), HD44780.

In addition there is no problem using the old configuration files (just for the record).

The only "bug" is on the HD44780 screen and the Shuntdown message...
The screen its still blank after the program close! ( nothing happens to that screen)
Finally one question about this feature: is it possible to add functions to this fields? (for instance the time that the system was closed?)


Edit: running multi instance is causing no problems....

I'll make some Vista tests ASAP (hopefully )

[Moxica]

It still scrambles the display after a while.

Usually, the first thing that happens is that the bottom line (on a 2x16 display) goes blank. The characters that should be on the bottom line mixes up with the ones on first line, and sometimes the top line freezes and the chars that should be on the bottom line scrolls on position 1-5 on the top line while the rest of the top line is just garbage or frozen chars.

A programmer that saw this said it looked like a memory address error, the program writes to one position, but the data is for some weird reason read from another position, either old or not updated, a position that is slightly shifted up or down in memory. He said it wouldn't likely be something caused by interference on the lpt cable, as that should only show up for a fraction of a second, because the memory position would be overwritten by the shifted data. Unless the data is stored in a ram in the display, and not the computer ram. I'm not a programmer, so i don't know, not even sure i got it right.. just passing it on.

[limbo]

It still scrambles ..................... just passing it on.

This must be a problem of your system ... or your cable

[Fast351]

Does the desktop show the display correctly? If so, the problem is hardware, not software. The desktop and your display are both getting driven with the same text.

-Mike

[Moxica]

It's always correct on the program display, but not on the case display.
Restarting the program fixes the problem (for a while), so if it's a hardware problem, it's a bit odd that a software restart fixes it.

[Fast351]

Which display are you using, and which driver?

[Moxica]

The display
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-fp54.htm

Not sure which component that contains the driver, but these are the ones i can find: port95nt , lcds5.40 , hd44780.dll