As I sit typing this, I’ve (finally) completed updating my main development machine and my laptop to run Windows 10 for which I’m using a dual boot setup (specific hard drives) in both cases so I can still do Windows 7 development and testing on a ‘real’ machine. Overall I’m happy with Windows 10 on my main development machine (more so by using the latest insider preview vs the November 2015 update) though there’s a few niggles I have with it that mainly come down to muscle memory on how to do things.
The only downside is that my development drive has decided to act up (giving S.M.A.R.T. errors on boot-up and then not work correctly though changing to a different SATA port has allowed it to work. So I might just have a bad cable but just in-case I’m in the process of checking the drive and backing up a few things (most of it is already backed up) but the timing of that happening is far from ideal as I had thought the Windows 10 install had gone wrong, heh.
Now onto what we’re here for…
As I’m sure some will have noticed, I didn’t do a post last week (although I’d drafted most of it) and I apologise for that but I think it was with good reason as I was a bit distracted in trying to get a new plug-in update out for the ‘Waveform Seeker’ plug-in (gen_waveseek.dll) at the same time.
The screenshot below shows what you’d typically see with the plug-in installed.
As of this update, the release of the updated version hasn’t yet happened but I’m hoping it will be in this coming week once a few things have been signed off on by the original plug-in developer and I’ve resolved some missing files needed for building the modified source code I’ve already provided back.
I think this is a great little plug-in which adds something useful for seeing the levels of the audio (e.g. how compressed it is or when the big drop in a song happens and so on). Plus with the updates I’ve submitted for it, it should no longer have the stability issues which the original version of the plug-in has which is a win for everyone :)
In addition to the above plug-in which will be included with WACUP, I’ve also brought back to life two more of my older plug-ins which didn’t fully work with recent Winamp releases.
The first is my Next On Stop plug-in which advances the current position in the playlist when the currently playing item is stopped. This updated version now works with the Winamp release used as the basis for this update pack along with including a number of the fixes that were worked on with the help of Winamp user jph6t but due to a number of reasons never got fully finished off and released.
The second is my Repeater plug-in which makes it possible to alter the rewind and fast-forward times for seeking within Winamp. This for the most part still worked but there were a few things that weren’t 100% and so I’ve sorted out those issues now.
This is one of those plug-ins that most will never have a need for but for others it’s a life saver as being able to adjust the seeking intervals down (or up) can make things like transcription so much easier (based on the feedback I’ve had about the plug-in over it’s now 12 years of existence). It’s also one of those cases where a number of configuration options is worth it and is not just adding options for the sake of options (as I know there are people out there who strongly like and dis-like Winamp for it’s glut of options).
The next thing which goes back to the missed update is that I fixed a few things whilst I was breaking somethings (and also fixed them) which has made the loader for the pack more reliable against what I’m able to test.
Related to this and now that I’ve got a real Windows 10 development setup, it’s already shown up a few small things which needed to be adjusted to work correctly but thankfully it’s nothing major (just some assumptions of what can be done).
There are a few things that will need a bit more work on to improve the Windows 10 integration (primarily related to file types) but overall a patched 5.666 install works well on Windows 10 from my testing (including my WACUP additions :) ).
One thing that I have found whilst messing around with Windows 10 and Winamp is that it’s possible to tweak the pinned start menu tile and so I could turn that into an option (possibly linked to the skin being used as why not?) The following is what I’ll likely set as the default with the Windows 10 installs:
On other matters, the main work has been trying to get the replacement playlist core handling up and running and for the most part that is now the case with reading of PLS, M3U, XSPF, ASX and WPL files (I’ve not bothered with B4S as I doubt anyone is using that Winamp3 format). I’ve also got PLS and M3U writing working with XSPF support to be finished off.
The replacement library playlists plug-in is also slowly coming along in getting the basic framework in place along with ensuring that it’s able to replace the existing menus which the native plug-in already implements (e.g. right-click menus in the playlist editor and the main window). So without the distraction of Windows 10 updates and ooh look at the shiny thing, this should progress a bit faster in the coming week’s work.
So that’s this combined update of what’s been going on over the last two weeks. And as requested a few weeks back by Pete, here’s a general summary:
- The replacement playlist core and library plug-in is progressing
- Next On Stop and Repeater plug-ins have been updated for inclusion in the pack
- Waveform Seeker plug-in has been updated for inclusion with the pack and an independent release of it should be out soon with bug fixes, etc
- Some progress on tracking down and fixing weird and odd issues
- Windows 10 upgrades done whilst keeping dual boot support with Windows 7
- Hoping that my development drive isn’t failing and all that fun
-dro
Don’t know why but I’m kinda happy you’re having a nice experience with Windows 10, guess it’s a succesful first step to have your patch fully compatible with that Windows version =) .
And so far this update log feels kinda the best for me, despite the fact I really like that Waveform plugin, it somehow feels like you’ve reached a milestone, not sure why I get that. Maybe is the general feeling that WACUP is gonna be bigger than expected, sort of THE update most people is waiting for.. (not in terms of “new winamp” but in the -more useful- sense of fixed stuff + long waited features).
Well https://getwacup.com/blog/index.php/2016/07/26/waveform-seeker-v212/ might make you a bit happier as the new version of the waveseek plug-in is finally done and released!
Now I’ve got Win10 installed and am able to more directly use it as using it under a virtual machine as I had been doing isn’t always representative of things I found nor as direct for doing testing and development. So definitely this should now mean that I can properly look at and finish off migrating the jtfe shell integration code which was always a big hack (mainly to ensure it would work with a range of Winamp releases).
Plus there are differences between Win7, Win8.x and Win10 as to how those shell aspects work so it’s definitely something I’m aware off from the Win8.x changes that were made in 5.666 to try to deal with those changes (which thankfully work ok for the most part with Win10 but one thing has changed that I’m aware off).
As for feeling like it’s reached a milestone, I think I get what you mean as I’d like to think that with the updates I’m posting about that it is starting to be seen (and hopefully understood) what I’m trying to achieve which is a long term thing and so to start with will likely come across as a plug-in pack that does a little bit more.. And I get fully that it won’t be right for many people (i.e. those who will only ever use and ‘official’ build) but then I’d like to think that as time and development progresses that there will become more things that appeal to more people. Be it adding waveseeker (which I know has made Pete happy) to adding a preferences option for some feature.
I also know that if an ‘official’ Winamp does get released before I’ve got something out that it will most likely ruin the chances of WACUP gaining wider usage and attention. Unless if something does get released it sucks / doesn’t meet the expectations (which is very likely) from the 2.5 years it’s been from those who’ve not followed / known what is or rather isn’t going on.
Though I’d like to think that even in that worst case that by taking a different stance on what to do with Winamp (sort of going back more to how I did things back in my early plug-in development days by using user requests to drive features, etc), that it will gain traction (and in some manner do just enough to cover my basic bills so I can keep working on it).
Sorry about the long reply but I thought it was worth giving a proper reply :)