icon.library 46.4 test versions

[PeterK]

But some problems with CyberGFX have been reported. So, the next version will come tomorrow or the next days

[Bamiga2002]

I could not go back to the old icon.library this is so good
Off to test version 263...

[altcomputing]

Originally Posted by PeterK

But some problems with CyberGFX have been reported. So, the next version will come tomorrow or the next days

Is this the same issue that prevents my Picasso96+AfA OS system from booting? (it stays at blank grey screen, only with menubar, still in PAL mode).

[PeterK]

Update to icon.library 46.4.264

This version tries to fix the CyberGFX problems, although I don't have this hardware and thus cannot test it myself.

If you have a CyberGFX-card and also know how to use Enforcer or MuForce then please run these tools and post any possible hits in this thread. Thank you!

[NovaCoder]

Hiya Peter,

Speaking from experience, the major difficulty with coding for classic Amiga systems is the software and hardware differences (and don't even mention patches!). You cannot cover everything so it's better to focus on a subset I find.

It's also very difficult to fix issues for hardware when cannot personally test it on that hardware.

Anyway keep up the good work

[PeterK]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

It's also very difficult to fix issues for hardware when cannot personally test it on that hardware.

As long as I can see at least the smallest chance to fix a bug I will always try to do it. And I'm very glad that there are still some people who are helping me with qualified bug reports in cases like this where I don't have the hardware. So, my special thanks for solving this problem goes to Thomas K. !! I've got already two responses from other users that this bug seems to be fixed now.

You cannot cover everything so it's better to focus on a subset I find.

I'm already doing that since I don't support the 68000 CPU at the moment. Maybe, one day, when the final version of this library has been done I will compile it for the 68000 CPU, too.

[emufan]

using ClassicWB_P96 here, icon.library 46.4.264 and wb.library 45.131. scalos 1.2b.
did a clean-up on a folder, snapshot and reopening the folder. icons were still mis-placed, not clean-up'ed (mounted windows-folder as a HD).
using AmiSys4 without scalos and same libs (icon and wb) i can snapshot this folder.
so there is an issue with scalos 1.2b - just reporting what i found.

[PeterK]

No sorry, emufan,

I made a mistake and must correct myself now. My harddisk was write protected for safety when trying out new libraries.

After removing the write lock I can now also snapshot successfully on my harddisk with Scalos 1.2, icon.library 46.4.264 and any workbench.library.

Please compare the Scalos settings with mine.
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=804199#post804199

[emufan]

ok, but i rather skip classicwb_P96 v27 and try something else
anyway, thanks for your nice libs.

[PeterK]

To avoid Enforcer hits and memory trashings with the popular LimpidClock set the task-priority of this nice utility to zero or 1 at least and save these settings. I found a much too low priority value of -15 in AmiKit which caused a lot of problems with screenmode changes.

[fitzsteve]

Just wanted to drop by and say awesome work! I tested today your Icon Library on my A4000 which has a CV64/3D and WarpEngine 040 and I'm seriously impressed at how fast OS4 style icons load

I'm going to do an OS4.1 Classic style theme on one of my 060 based machines later

Thanks for the hard work

[PeterK]

...on my A4000 which has a CV64/3D....

I hope you are running my modified C:PowerIcons v0.08 in that case to achieve the best quality. Insert a line above LoadWB:

Run >NIL: C:PowerIcons SCROLLSPEEDUP ; for more options look into the docs

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

[PeterK]

Update to icon.library 46.4.265 in the first posting

[Bamiga2002]

Yellow like piss, selected icons are now better recognised

[PeterK]

Thank you for your expertise, Bamiga2002

Yeah, it's yellow now but it doesn't smell !!

[mfilos]

It works perfectly Peter my friend!
Thanks for one more update

Kudos

[PeterK]

Update to icon.library 46.4.266

Another experiment. I've tried to speed up the colormapping for screens with 64 colors or less.

[mfilos]

Gotta love these late updates
Works just fine but in WinUAE is too speedy to notice any difference lol

Will try and measure some DualPNG folder open with old and new library in the real Amiga tomorrow and report back

Kudos Peter my friend

[PeterK]

The possible speed increase affects only the OS 3.5 colormapping.

The time for loading icons and PNG decoding or zlib decompression won't change at all. Thus, the relative speed gain, if there is any, will be the lowest for large Dual-PNG icons. The biggest boost could be possible for normal GlowIcons with 32-256 colors.

My attempt to make the colormapping faster is based on a new 512 byte color map accessed by the most significant 9 RGB bits.

[Retrofan]

Sorry but now the colors don't look right here with some icons using 16 colors with my AmiKit.

[PeterK]

Hmm ?? Really, with a fixed 16 color palette that should not happen.

Please make two screenshots for comparison.

How many hours do you need for 2 screenshots ??
3 more minutes and I will have a meal and some wine

[mfilos]

Ok these are 2 screens from version 46.4.265 comparing it with 46.4.266 using 16 colors based on Rebel's palette.
You can see some changes on colors but I think that they are a lot better if you check them out.

Icon.library 46.4.265



Icon.library 46.4.266



Some of my observations based on those Demo Icons are:

GlowIcons
- AB-SB folder color is now blue instead of grey (close to original)

NewIcons
- FredFlinstone's icon looks more real (has now viewable beard lol)

Os4Icons
- arexx icon looks a lot better
- install icon lost some green color info but it's not better nor worse imho

PngIcons
- APlayer, BurnCD, Dpaint, Mail, Torrent, TVpaint icon looks more real

Overall I think that this update is nicer Only test for me to perform is whether it's also faster on the real machine.

Again kudos my friend.

[PeterK]

Great ! Thanks a lot for your screenshots, mfilos.
Yes, I must admit, there are indeed some color changes, even with a fixed palette. I will try to improve that, but only if it's worth the effort, which should mean, only if there is a noticeable speed increase on real Amigas. I guess, 266 could be "half a bit" brighter.

[mfilos]

Ok just made a comparison between these 2 version in my real 030@33MHz A600.

These are my observations:
- Opening PngIcons folder took the same time on both versions at about 10.5 secs (expected as you said there is no difference).
- Opening converted to 3.5 format PngIcons folder with 46.4.265 took about 2.5 secs.
- Opening converted to 3.5 format PngIcons folder with 46.4.266 took about 2 secs and maybe a bit less! (truly noticeable difference).

So definitely the new version is a winner

[Retrofan]

Hi:
Icon library 46.4.265:







Icon library 46.4.266:






It's fast as hell (that's the opinion of the chronometer ). If you just can change a little the color...

[PeterK]

Ok, in the meantime I've tried my best to get a little bit better colors. The problem is that it looks always different on every other system or configuration. But I will add 46.4.267 to the first posting now.

It's fast as hell ... Thanks, Retrofan !
Then it may get a chance to survive

[Retrofan]

Updated:




I have to say that I'm daltonico (color blind in english), and I confuse some colors, but I like this more than the previous. The icon of Favourites looks better too, but better you to talk about colors.

[PeterK]

Retrofan, it's extremly hard to compare these screenshots because they are made with very different resolutions. Not only the icons are changing when I switch from one screenshot to the other but although the window title and the background pattern are changing.

The screenshot of 267 is only 4 bit per pixel (16 color) the others are truecolor grabs.

[Retrofan]

PM on the way. Surely Mfilos will post some photo I believe

Edit: Well, in fact I sent before your post a PM to Mfilos to ask him how he was taking his photos.

[mfilos]

Ok I made another one screenshot comparing it with the previous versions.

Icon.library 46.4.267


I preffered 46.4.266 color info as you can see from yourself comparing these 3 screenshots but you can't make everyone happy

Good job as always man.

[PeterK]

@retrofan
DL done. And it works! Maybe, you should make the blue color of your window borders a bit less agressive.

@mfilos
No, it's not possible to make everyone happy. But I must like the result of my efforts at least. Let's wait some days for other opinions and maybe I will a have new ideas to squeeze all colors out of the icons.

[Retrofan]

Yes, 267 isn't perfect. Perhaps 266 is better, but I don't like what it makes with the Favourites icon.

Anyway now (and fast) you can watch them for yourself and improve it. The windows border is the same Mfilos uses; Rebel's skins, but you can change it with MorpheuZ and use another.

[Thorham]

Thanks PeterK

[PeterK]

Thanks guys for your testing.

Update to icon.library 46.4.268

[mfilos]

Ok one more screenshot for the collection

Icon.library 46.4.268


It's like a combination of 46.4266 and 46.2.267
I still believe that the 46.4.266 was the best, but I don't use DOpus Magellan to know if it looks crap in that.

Good job nontheless Peter mate.

[Retrofan]

Originally Posted by mfilos

I still believe that the 46.4.266 was the best, but I don't use DOpus Magellan to know if it looks crap in that.

Remember he actually can select to use Workbench too (and surely he is)...
I have to try it, but I see for example the Audio Player icon now looks worse than in 266 and 267.

Edit: I've just tried it and it looks great with Ken's drawer icons, as they are difficult mixing grey and blue, and the Favourites icon looks great. But as I told the Audio Player icon of Mfilos doesn't look so nice as in 266. Perhaps the best would be the 266 with a little less blue.

[fitzsteve]

As promised I finally got round to testing out PeterK's Icon Library on my A4000 with CSMkIII and thought I'd share with you all a short Video I made. Firstly sorry for the bad light, those damn Energy Efficient light bulbs sux

Anyway! Some things not explained in the Video. I'm using Kens Icons which are OS4 style and they load really fast on Classic Workbench 3.9 which is setup with Picasso96 over the Voodoo 3 (Mediator4000)

Hope you enjoy the Video, I don't usually speak on them so sorry if I sound like a twat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVO8Mr-9ofY

Once again, Kudos to PeterK, this is the best thing ever! OS4 Icons without the hassle of AfA_OS or really slow PowerIcons

[NovaCoder]

Hiya,

Nice video

I'm also using Ken's awesome icons with my 3.9 AGA install. I'm only running in 64 colors but it still looks pretty good and is also very fast.

I'll upload some screen grabs of my Miggy in action when I get the time.

Great work PeterK.

[PeterK]

Update to icon.library 46.4.269

This version has the new colormapping mode now as an option which you can choose in the workbench preferences.

[Retrofan]

I have to say that this icon.library is the greatest update I've seen in the couple of years I've been around with Amigas. Using it is like having an expensive graphic card, and the slowest miggys can work faster using WB than ever before just with it.

I owe you one, PeterK.

Edit: Ups... you were posting... Great again.