fredag 16. mai 2014

Finding My Own Style

My latest Workbench wallpaper
Welcome to my new Amiga blog after a while. This time i will show you what has changed in my system since.

Visually, much might look the same but some changes have been done inside the system, like making the menus sticking so that they can been screengrabbed also.

Later in the blog, i will show you how it has been done. It's really simple. No kidding!

Sticky menus settings in GUI

Sticky menus in GUI


One of the changes i have done, is to tick for Sticky Panels and Non Blocking for the menus in both GUI and MUI. What are they?

These features allow the menus to hold the position after clicking with either left or the right mouse button, instead of holding the right mouse button and clicking through a lot of choices with the left, and loosing the position. Sticky panels and non blocking allow you to easily go through the menus after clicking them, holding the position.

Such features are very useful if you are to make screengrabs of different menus. Examples of that are how the menus are working in different mini docks like CPUDock, GFXDock, RAMDock and NetDock. Pictures you will see just below this line, so take a look.

Sticky panels for MUI menus
As for mini docks like CPUDock, GFXDock, RAMDock and NetDock. Showing their menus allow you to see their operations in action, which is a really smart move.

The mini docks show the true potensial of how smart the AmiDock can be. They also make your Workbench more stylish.

I would dare to say that my Amiga system looks very modern and up-to-date. Not perfect, but close enough, really.

CPUDock showing CPU tasks









Radeon HD 6670 is the card



RAMDock displaying RAM






















Sticking with Dopus 4


The simple dual list in one window in Dopus 4
Many of you might know that Dopus 5 has been released, and it looks much more modern and advanced than Dopus 4.

But after i gave Dopus 5 some testing, i found out it was far more complex to set up, and even when trying to run Dopus 5 much like Dopus 4, the AmiDock wasn't viewable in Dopus mode. It was however told that this seems to be a "bug" in the first version of the Dopus 5 release. I take it that this has been worked on, and the next Dopus 5 version should probably have this fixed, and hopefully be a lot easier to set up the way you want to, than what is actually the case. So why still use Dopus 4? Allow me to explain for you in detail as well as i can, step by step.

Well, Dopus 4 as you can see from the screenshot above, has the simple nature of easily fitting your Workbench environment, without trying to replace it. Dopus 5 looks much more like a WB replacement, with focus on starting up in Dopus environment rather than normal WB mode.

While this might interest many, others like me rather prefer our "normal" WB environment, just like i do. The main reason for me to keep sticking with Dopus 4 is not just because of its' dual list feature in the same window, but because it is not trying to replace your WB environment, and it is easily set to fit your environment just like you want to, as i have done with mine.

Another problem with Dopus 5 is that there are so many settings to go through that somebody have gone so far to saying that it could take WEEKS to configure Dopus 5 the way they want.

This has never been the case with good, old Dopus 4. Its' setting is very straightforward and easy. I only had to strecth its' window to fit my environment just like i wanted. THAT's the way!

Until Dopus 5 comes in a new version with modern looking dual list in the same window, and not having to replace your environment like Dopus 4, then i MIGHT consider using Dopus 5, not even making the AmiDock disappearing in Dopus mode. As long as that is not yet the case, i am proudly sticking with Dopus 4, as it does the job i want it to do. Like an advanced, dual listed file organizer in one and same window, without messing up my WB environment.

I might sound a bit old-fashioned this way, but this is my style and i love it that way. Hope you understand and respect that. I'm sure you agree with me on all this, don't you? Sure you do!

Enjoying Odyssey 1.23r3 on AmigaOS 4.1.6!

Picking Blu-rays at Platekompaniet with Odyssey
Recently, Odyssey 1.23 for AmigaOS4 has been upgraded to Odyssey 1.23r3. The third release version of Odyssey 1.23.

This latest version makes it much more stable and faster. When downloading files, it sends a small message to the Ringhio notification system. This is very useful and allows you to easily notice the completion of a download, weither that is a file, document, program or a game. Pretty cool, isn't it?

Odyssey is now my main browser for everyday use on my AmigaOne 500 with AmigaOS 4.1.6. The blog has even been done easily with Odyssey 1.23r3. Even uploading photos to the blog happens fast! It's that amazing, really!

I also have many different scripts to use with Odyssey, especially for YouTube. One of the newest scripts is YouTube Center, that allows me to both download and view a YouTube video in center of the screen, in big viewable mode. Spoofing as IPad gives the fastest result playing a HTML5 video. But thanks to YouTube Center, downloading a video from YouTube is easy.

In addition, LiveForIt MPlayer has been updated to version 4.2, as we write. This is also the version i have downloaded and donated for. It gets better and better, and the new Composite video driver is really good and fast! Along with WebReplay, i can show any video clip downloaded both from YouTube with YouTube Center, and sites supported by WebReplay.

WebReplay is another great program i have donated 20 EUR for recently. The new MPlayer is much better than the old one, and it's an ongoing development, which is also very important.


FlipPaper with Delete Picture menu

FlipPaper 1.7 with Delete Picture menu
You remember FlipPaper? The fantastic, excellent MUI-based wallpaper exchanger, replacing WBPattern of your AmigaOS.

Now FlipPaper is in version 1.7 as we read this blog, and it has been improved further.

A new addition is the "Delete Picture" function in the menu, just like FastView. This allows you to easily delete an unwanted wallpaper from your location permanently, which is really useful. This was in fact MY suggestion, and the author kindly included this feature in this new version of FlipPaper.

Picking wanted wallpapers is not easy. It's hard to find what you want to use as wallpapers. One idea might actually be to take your own photos and use them as wallpapers. Everyone has their own taste!

FlipPaper is another program i have donated 20 EUR for recently, which i am very proud of!

If you like a program, you should donate, helping the developers to expand the Amiga market.

Guess this is all for now, so i see you around in another blog in a forseable future, but before i quit, i should tell you that AmigaOS 4.1 is going to have a big update soon through AmiUpdate.

This update is most likely to be a new kernel where the 2GB RAM limitation will be removed, overcoming this limitation by having endless RAM in your Amiga it can take and use it!

Time will tell, so stay tuned and watch this space! It will definitely ROCK you!

See you soon in a new blog near you in a forseable future ;)

Written by:
Helge "HKvalhe" Kvalheim, Norway





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