Artemis Fowl

( KGRUBEditor != Application ) && ( KGRUBEditor == KCModule )

2008-08-13T20:19:00.003+03:00

If you evaluated the title's expression yesterday, you would receive false. Today, however, this would return true. :-O

Roughly a day after the release of version 0.8, I took some decisions about KGRUBEditor and right now you are reading about the results. But let's shed some light onto KGRUBEditor's past:

Ever since QGRUBEditor received a port from the Qt4 libraries to KDE4, I had often requests to integrate it into KDE's System Settings (formerly known as KControl) and indeed that was where it should be. However there was a major hindrance which prevented me from doing so: users from other DEs(=Desktop Enviroments - mainly GNOME users). Since there is no notable GTK counterpart for KGRUBEditor, the solution should fit all DEs.

As you may know, System Settings is installed with the kdebase4 package which contains the most basic KDE setup. However, not all users would like to install KDE just for a small utility. So developing KGRUBEditor as a KCModule was rejected. Instead, I decided to keep developing KGRUBEditor as a stand-alone application (which only requires kdebase-runtime) and on every release I would "convert" the application into a KCModule and publish both.

The disadvantage of this approach is that it takes quite some time and effort to do this conversion. Hopefully, it was only yesterday that I found out that I *could* actually develop KGRUBEditor as a KCModule and all users would be happy. This is due to (what else?) the "KDE magic".

Using the kcmshell executable (installed with kdebase-runtime), you may run a KCModule as a "stand-alone" application. I quoted stand-alone because you don't really get a stand-alone application. Actually you get a module which is not "docked" in System Settings and resembles a stand-alone application (located in the menu).

So I went on and did the conversion, and you may now all enjoy the result:

1. KDE users will prefer the KCModule:

2: GNOMies (and others) might prefer the "application":

Actually both "versions" are the same KCModule. But the second one doesn't require System Settings to run ;-)

Just for this, I released a new version (0.8.1) which contains just some small fixes over 0.8 and of course in the tarball you will no longer find an application but a KCModule :-)

Instructions on how to install only the KCModule or the "application" can be found in the INSTALL file in the tarball or at www.kde-apps.org

New KGRUBEditor version: 0.8 (Visual Changelog)

2008-08-12T12:30:00.002+03:00

Yes, yes you read it right: KGRUBEditor 0.8 is officially ready.

Took me quite some months :-) but I finally made it. As always, I have prepared a contains-only-the-half-features changelog:

v.0.8
-----
*ADDED: Created a new SystemSettings module out of KGRUBEditor.
*ADDED: A more user-friendly approach to selecting the default entry.
*ADDED: A quick entry editor (along with the full-blown Assistant).
*ADDED: Support for monitoring splash images/gfxmenus.
*ADDED: A smarter way to detect splash images.
*ADDED: Introduced an entry preview widget.
*ADDED: A new Tools page.
*FIXED: A totally remade Entries page.
*FIXED: AutoMagic support is now even better.
*FIXED: The application no longer needs to be run as root.
*FIXED: Better handling of paths (they are always converted to GRUB-compatible).
*FIXED: Many other bugs/fixes/corrections.
*REMOVED: A fallback control. Fallback is still detected but not shown to the user.

As promised, half the real features added are not present in the changelog, but don't worry. I'll try to compensate with 10+1 screenshots :-) Enjoy:

1: This is what you get when you launch KGRUBEditor:
2: This is my GRUB OS List (quad-booting ftw ;)
3: I clicked "Show Details" for my Kubuntu entry:
4: The new Quick Editor:
5: The General tab is actually poor in options (since I moved them elsewhere):
6: The Password tab wasn't modified at all (it will, though, in the future):
7: The Background tab was heavily enhanced. Just take a look at the changelog. Prettier GRUB for everyone, please :)
8: And the preview feature, which I really love:
9: Next up the Color preview:
10: Some dummy maps:
11: Finally: the brand-new Tools page:

I am kinda bored with Blogger's image uploading feature, so no more blogging for the time being.

PS: I almost forgot to inform you about the System Settings module :| Don't worry about not being available right now. It will be available in 1-2 days. Just check KGRUBEditor's home page at kde-apps.org.

Background Stuff

2008-07-30T15:36:00.003+03:00

Welcome everybody to "Yet another Blog Post" or maybe "Yet another KGRUBEditor Post" (YaKP doesn't sound that awful - at least I can pronounce it :-). This is just another update of what I have been working on recently, which is officially Background (TM) stuff.

To make a long story short, what I had been focusing on the last week, is improvements in the Background Settings tab of KGRUBEditor. I had to go through loads of API and source code reading (guys behind ThreadWeaver and KDirWatch, you rock) but at last I made it.

I have prepared a 22MB video (full quality link: http://rapidshare.com/files/133574001/out.ogv.html ) which shows some of the (obvious) changes in the Background Settings tab. No embedded video is provided because full quality is required in order to see all the details.

Although I don't remember all the changes I did, I provide a small "changelog" with the most changes (duh, I should *always* keep a changelog):

* KGRUBEditor got the ability to monitor folders for splash images. If a splash image is created in a monitored folder or is deleted, the splash preview widget is immediately updated. By default only /boot/grub/splashimages is monitored.
* KGRUBEditor got the ability to gain root permissions in root-owned splash folders while being in simple user "mode". Reading and writing to them won't be a problem any more, provided that you enter your password.
* When the user manually edits the splash image line edit widget or selects a splash image using the file dialog, the following happen:

The path is automatically turned into GRUB-compatible (GRUB doesn't understand e.g. /media/kubuntu/boot/grub/splashimages/wolf.xpm.gz - instead it should be converted to (hd0,0)/boot/grub/splashimages/wolf.xpm.gz - and this is automatically done by KGRUBEditor)
The splash image is from now on monitored. Other splash images in the same directory are monitored, too.

* The same apply when the user creates a new splash image from a common image file (e.g. .jpg, .png, .xpm etc).
* If an invalid file is specified, no splash image is used (you get an error message).
* Finally, the whole procedure is now threaded which means that if you have many splash images, uncompressing and creating a preview thumbnail for all of them will no longer freeze the application.

I am sure I miss a lot of things, but these must be enough information for the end-user. The good news is that the Background section works flawlessly (at least for me). It certainly has reached release quality along with everything else except for these:

Password Assistant.
GRUB Installation Tool
GRUB Backup Management

Once I fix these and create a SystemSettings module I will release KGRUBEditor 0.8. Hopefully that will be in about a month.

Latest UI Changes

2008-07-18T17:26:00.007+03:00

It seems like ages since my last post but it's merely 2 months.

The exams are hopefully finished (I went pretty well by the way) and after some short "relaxation time" I am back to developing. So, what's new?

Thanks to seele who has provided me with useful advices and above all a second UI review ( http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1532474_yljc1/KGRUBEditorReviewJune22.odp ) I have done quite some progress. Still, lots have still to be done (mostly internal stuff, which although tiring, I enjoy them the most).

The changes are not many so a single screenshot can illustrate them all:

As you can see the toolbars and the menubar are both gone. Since the application will be turned into a SystemSettings (which cannot have toolbars or menubars) all the functionality which was previously found on the toolbars and/or the menubar has been moved onto the Tools page.

There, all the tools are categorised and layed out in groups. I am not sure if you really like it, so any feedback at all is welcome :-)

Die old UI, die!!! ;-)

2008-05-20T20:56:00.003+03:00

A lot of stuff has happened recently. Time to blog about them!

Firstly, the Kubuntu Grub Configuration Module has been assigned to me, since KGRUBEditor can be easily converted into a SystemSettings module.

Since, there has been some interest lately about it, seele created some new wireframes. You may check the full specification here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KubuntuGrubconfig

So after many, many changes we have come up with this result:

So, no more colors in the list, the default is now even easier to change (and more eye-pleasant of course ;-), bla bla bla and of course bla bla bla. For those of you who didn't understand my excellent English, check the images above.

Lastly, what I am currently working on is improving internal stuff (the core class was rewritten for even much performance - who the heck would even want performance in a GRUB editor?!?) and the most interesting of all: the application [will] no longer need to be started as root (a.k.a. use su/sudo). If a file is not readable/writable the application will politely ask for the password using the following dialog:

The password needs to be entered only once of course. Then all operations will complete successfully as if the application was running as root. Neat, or what?

Hmm, did I miss something? No. OK. Till my next blogpost.

PS: The OperatingSystem TM was randomly selected to preview. Hopefully, I will be more careful of what I preview in the future :)

KGRUBEditor Version 0.7

2008-04-23T21:40:00.004+03:00

After almost 2 months of development, I am proud to announce version 0.7 of KGRUBEditor. Most changes are new features, as can be seen from the not-too-explanatory changelog:

v.0.7
-----
*ADDED: Install/Restore GRUB either on a Hard Disk or on a Floppy.
*ADDED: 'Get Hot New Stuff' for GRUB splash image downloading.
*ADDED: Splash Image chooser with previews.
*ADDED: Automagic Kernel List support(found in Debian[-derived] distros)
*ADDED: Tree-like view of the entries (in place of the old list).
*ADDED: 'Move To..' action buttons next to the entries list.
*ADDED: Entry actions at the bottom of the entries list.
*ADDED: Auto enabling/disabling of actions that are entry-related (such as 'Copy Entry') when no entry is selected.
*ADDED: The 'Tools' menu, where 'Install/Restore GRUB' and 'Manage Backups' reside.
*FIXED: Replaced the implicit save (save upon modifying something) with the classic *Save* Button.
*FIXED: Improved the 'Create Splashimage' feature.
*FIXED: Some minor bugs.
*REMOVED: The 'Show/Hide Menubar' action since it is useless.
*REMOVED: The statusbar.
*REMOVED: The 'Actions' and 'Backup' menus (these actions are accessible elsewhere).

Let's see in detail what has happened:

What's New?

1. Redesigned main UI (probably it will soon change again in order to become even more usable and user-friendly).

As you can see there have been some major changes:

The old separated-in-two approach was removed to be replaced by a tree-like one, which covers the whole area.
The Actions menu was removed and the actions which resided under that menu can now be found next to the entry list. The arrows next to the entry list are the Move To... actions whereas those buttons at the bottom of the entry list are the Add/Edit/Copy/Remove Entry actions as can be seen. The reason for these changes was that soon there will be a module for the KDE System Settings. And guess what :-) modules have no menu bar so all the functionality should be on the GUI.
The backup menu also got removed! The backup functionality is now to be found under the menu Tools or alternatively on the tool bar ("Manage Backups").
The status bar got removed! (Wtf? Did I leave anything? ;-) ). In view of the module it is useless. It didn't help much either so...
The Open action also got removed (Oh God...). Since its functionality was also accessible under the Settings Dialog there was no need for duplicate functionality which could confuse the user.
Finally, the old implicit saving system was replaced. See Bye, Bye implicit saving... for more details.

2. Tools Assistants (they are 2):
Install Assistant:

Video on Blogger (.mp4)
Original Best Quality Video (.ogg 7MB)

The video is self explanatory. Use this Assistant to install GRUB on a Hard Disk (either on the Master Boot Record of a drive or on a partition's boot sector) or on a Floppy. You may also use it to restore GRUB, when for example GRUB gets deleted for some reason. Simply choose to install GRUB where it was previously installed. Simple, huh?

Backup Assistant:

The old backup utilities are all under one Assistant. No new features in this Assistant.

3. Get Hot New Stuff functionality:

As you may see, KGRUBEditor acquired Get Hot New Stuff functionality and you are now able to download splash images from kde-apps.org to enhance the appearance of GRUB. In the next release the same functionality will be available for Gfxboot screens.

4. Splash Image Previewer/Selector:

Now you won't have to select every splash image and press Preview. A small preview will be next to every splash image for your convenience.
The only drawback is that splash images are shown only if they reside under /boot/grub/splashimages. If you specify an external splash image the application won't be able to create a thumbnail and thus Unknown Splash Image will be the selection in the previewer.

5. Automagic Kernel List Support

Last but not least, this release closes bug #192756. Automagic Kernel comments are now recognised and won't get deleted. There are some disadvantages though: you shouldn't delete or move Automagic protected entries because this could cause unwanted results. That's why the user is prompted upon starting the application if AUTOMAGIC is detected:

Conclusively, (K/X)ubuntu/Debian users feel free to use KGRUBEditor!

What's Next?

In a few days I will release v.0.7.1 which will contain translations and if any bugs are found, their fixes.

In the next major release there will be....hmm....I'm not sure yet. Mostly fixes and not many new features unless you ask me for something special which I haven't already though of. Probably the System Settings module will be ready...Who knows?!? ;-)

That's all folks!!! (at least for now)

Bye, Bye implicit saving...

2008-04-19T14:57:00.003+03:00

Dating back to the first releases of QGRUBEditor the system which was used to save changes was implicit saving. That is, whenever the user modified a setting, the file was updated to reflect the change. The advantage of this system is pretty clear: you need not to worry about saving. It is automatically done upon modifying something.

However, it seems that it is not the best system. Many users have been complaining that it was not clear when the changes were saved (although a "File Updated" message appeared in the status bar) and that the old classic "Save" button/action would be better.

So in view of the Systemsettings module of KGRUBEditor that will be created sometime in the next months and due to user request, the implicit saving system in KGRUBEditor was replaced with the classic "Save" button, as can be seen in the screenshot:

As you can see the Save action and button is currently disabled (as expected since no changes have occured) and whenever the user changes something, they get enabled.

Lastly, there is a confirmation message box which pops up when the user has modified something and tries to quit the application:

Just to note that some UI changes that have happened lately (like the Move Entry buttons being next to the entry list) have occurred merely for the imminent Systemsettings module.

First Post!

2008-04-18T21:06:00.004+03:00

Woohoo!

My very first blog! Let's see what I can make out of this thingy called blog...