icon.library 46.4 test versions

[Retrofan]

I don't know. I've just made now four tests to the same drawer: 10.34, 11.34, 10.06, 10.74

[Michael]

Originally Posted by PeterK

Update to icon.library 46.4.395:

This version fixes the problems with DOpus5 Icon-Info and it's really a lot faster than everything before. DOpus5 is nearly as fast as the Workbench now.

Amazing job!

Crystal is now only 3.312s for DO, that's a massive improvement to 7.20 and 5..60 of previous attempts. Still slower then WB (1.50s) but man, you are good! And obviously DO has some other things to do compared to WB.

Kens pack is not so impressive, only 13.078s (was 16.36, 14.10 for DO and 10.76 for WB), but still excellent!

Have not noticed any major problems, so it seems to be working.....

[Michael]

One more small thing, improvement on the $VER: string
Please add a proper date between version and (68020)
i.e. $VER: icon.library Version.Revision.Build (DD.MM.2014) Comment

[Michael]

Found BUG!
On 8bit CGX screens DO icons are missing the main image (open a folder, and no images for OS3.5 icons) the selected images do show up.

[Lonewolf10]

Originally Posted by Michael

You have to make sure UAE is running with constant cpu resources, then it will be more or less stable in performance.

Yeah, but if he is running them on Windows you can't get good timing. Windows is always doing something in the background for no good reason! Sometimes I've had WinUAE temporarily freeze (for about 0.5 second) for no obvious reason, but I'm sure it's Windows related rather than WinUAE itself.

[PeterK]

Update to icon.library 46.4.396:

Switching DOpus5 from Hi/TrueColor to AGA screenmodes won't result in unvisible icon images for the unselected state anymore.

A big speed gain is now also achieved with DOpus5 in AGA/ECS screenmodes.

@Michael
the timestamp is stored in your filesystem already. I don't like redundant and unimportant info.

@Lonewolf10
What you said only happens when you are running Windows like it comes out of the box. You should disable all these needless processes and services which are running in the background just to produce a lot of hot air. My system is at least 98.5 % idle as long as I don't start any programs.

[Michael]

IMPORTANT!!!

If you have problems with Directory Opus locking free pens, here is the solution! Took me a few hours to pin point the problem

From the original documentation to latest FPPrefs update

FullPalette update 40.23 - AmiKit version
Author: Massimo Tantignone
Source: http://amikit.amiga.sk

This updated version of FPPrefs fixes the problem with DirOpus Magellan's incorrect usage of ReleasePen() that causes the freezes when reopening the screen.

To activate the fix, install the FPPrefs command and set and save a "FullPalette/DOpusRPFix" environment variable with the value "FULL". You can do it by executing the following command:

SetEnv ENVARC:FullPalette/DOpusRPFix FULL

Well, don't know what this really fixes, but it prevents DOpus Magellan from freeing unused pens, this includes icons and interface GUI.
So if you do not need the above fix to fix what ever it is supposed to do, don't set DOpusRPFix env var!
My system works perfectly without it under AGA and CGX, and all the pens are freed immediately when they are no longer in use.
And the new icon.library rocks

UPDATE! Read more info below, a new solution is available!

[PeterK]

Originally Posted by Michael

My system works perfectly without it under AGA and CGX, and all the pens are freed immediately when they are no longer in use.
And the new icon.library rocks

Thank you!
But, how many free pens are left on your system? Here, with AmiKit 1.7, I get only 30-35 free pens with DOpus5, but up to 234 free pens from the Workbench after a WB-Reset (as displayed in SysInspector or Scout). It makes no difference here when I remove DOpusRPFix or disable FPPrefs completely. Which version of graphics.library is installed on your system?

[Retrofan]

No idea either what the DOpusRPFix does, but reading the readme I've found the variable Action, DEFERRED that tells FPPrefs to wait until the WB screen opens by itself before setting the colors and then it doesn't leave spaces on the Rainboot progress bar (booting) like I was having.

Now the problem instead with Rainboot is that sometimes the background of the windows appears corrupted if you have any opened window from booting (but that's not usual). This also depends in how fast the amiga/emulation boots.

Edit: I've seen that also Deferred makes Copper-Demon hang the system at booting.

[Michael]

On my real system I get 180 free pens (using dopus %fp command helps to track it in real time in title bar) after booting finishes. I don't have many colourful icons laying around the desktop (like default AmiKit), only disk icons. Opening some colourful icon packs reduces the pen count to 20-30 pens sometimes, but once closed, I have all of them back for reuse.

[Retrofan]

On my version I've got 17 free pens, 18 without the DOpusRpFix. I can be using five icons on screen or 30, it keeps with the same amount.

[Lonewolf10]

Originally Posted by PeterK

@Lonewolf10
What you said only happens when you are running Windows like it comes out of the box. You should disable all these needless processes and services which are running in the background just to produce a lot of hot air. My system is at least 98.5 % idle as long as I don't start any programs.

I don't know Windows well enough to know which services and processes can be disabled. I do know that 'explorer.exe' handles the taskbar and desktop (as opposed to 'IExplorer.exe' which is Internet Explorer which I never use, as I prefer Firefox).

[Toni Wilen]

If the freeze is due to HD seek times (some virus scanner/indexer/whatever doing HD accesses. Very common.), get a SSD. You really want one!

If it still freezes and you have at least dual core CPU: not going to be some background service if it keeps happening randomly.

IMHO most "guides" that tell to disable services are from era when CPU speed was supposed to be the most important thing ever in a PC and you had only 256 to 512M memory. And I wouldn't jump to conclusions and just disable something if reason is something else, it could be winuae related (for example sound which is probably best to keep disabled if it is not needed).

[Retrofan]

I know for example Skype slows down a lot WinUAE in a not very powerful Pc. I'm also using now Avast but also trying Hitman that (this last) makes the Pc startup much slower, maybe the processes too.

Edit: Just thinking: Coudn't WinUAE take advantage of some program like Game Booster?
Edit: Yes, it can. You just have to add WinUAE to the list of games and Game Booster optimizes the processes, stopping the unneeded ones.

[Lonewolf10]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

If the freeze is due to HD seek times (some virus scanner/indexer/whatever doing HD accesses. Very common.), get a SSD. You really want one!

If it still freezes and you have at least dual core CPU: not going to be some background service if it keeps happening randomly.

Thanks Toni.

It seems the HD is the most likely cause, as this old laptop is powered by a Pentium 3m (definately not dual-core!).

[Michael]

Where ever you look on the pc side, ide, sata or usb are all cpu and interrupt driven crap for cheap reasons. When ever such a device has something to do it does not matter how fast the cpu is, or how many cores or cpus you have, the system will freeze dead.
In UAE you can also try raising the priory of it's task, should help to stabilize the speed results.

[Michael]

Found BUG!

With AGA+FBlit 50% meshed selected def icon is missing during dragging.
under just AGA it works ok. Might be the same problem as we had in CGX when the two meshes overlapped.

TWEAKS:

The same 50% mesh effect can be disabled for WB/CGX 15/16/24/32 bit screens (only do it for 8bit or less) Since CGX allows true 50% transparency for def icons and when dragging. With the mesh we get an effect of 25%/75%.

[PeterK]

Originally Posted by Michael

Found BUG!
With AGA+FBlit 50% meshed selected def icon is missing during dragging.

More information please. With WB 3.1 or WB 3.5+ or DOpus5 ?? I can not reproduce it with the WB 3.x. And I've never tried out DOpus5 with FBlit on AGA yet. What a strange setup ? And did you reboot after changing the screenmode ?

[Retrofan]

My distro uses FBlit and I don't see any problem with def icons. All of the selected def icons move when dragging. Maybe I don't understand the problem.

[Michael]

Looks like the FBlit problem is solved, needed to start it earlier. (WB 3.9+)

However, found another potential problem.

DO running in CGXAGA+FBlit 64c, open the openwin benchmark folder (OS3.5 icons), change screenmode to 256c, the icons in the open win window(open drawer) suffer from colour distortion, disk icons look ok.
Now we can iconify this window, and then reopen it (maybe the icons reset/redraw ? - no, still wrong colours, call icon reset from menu on this folder, and the task goes into a busy loop.
On some other occasions agian I think only with DO, changing screenmodes from 64c to 256c and back to 64c can result in something going wrong, open any disk icon, and no icons visible, also system is near crash state since thing stop working and after rebooting we get an recoverable red alert - error 0100 0003 task 440C2908.

Just tested v45.x, and it is not effected by this problem.