[Coco] Full GUI DriveWire 4 beta

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 7:55 PM, Robert Gault <robert.gault at att.net> wrote:
> Aaron Wolfe wrote:
>>
>> Hi CoCoNuts,
>>
>> I've got a new version of DW4 ready.  The goal of this version is that
>> everything can be done via the GUI from initial configuration to
>> regular operation and even some fairly exotic configurations.
>>
>> If you've got a 32 bit Windows machine and could take the time to give
>> it a whirl, I'd really appreciate bug reports.  I'll package things up
>> for additional platforms soon, but wanted to try and slay any show
>> stopping bugs before going through that process.
>>
>> The software is here:
>> https://sites.google.com/site/drivewire4/beta/dw4beta-3.9.83_win32.zip
>>
>> Unzip, double click "GO.cmd", and cross your fingers :)  A friendly
>> GUI wizard should pop up and walk you through a few initial
>> configuration items, then the software should be ready to use.  That's
>> the theory at least...  bug reports, feedback and suggestions are
>> welcome.
>>
>> -Aaron
>>
>
> Aaron,
>
> I downloaded the zip file and installed it on a WinXP SP3 machine that
> already had Java installed. Double clicking on GO.cmd started everything up
> with the minor inconvenience of WinXP asking if I wanted to UnBlock the Java
> app.
> I was able to easily mount the enclosed dw4_extras.dsk in the server gui and
> read the contents from my Coco3 running NitrOS-9 or the DW-ROM used with
> DW3.
>

That is great news.  Any of the folks who've been using dw4 for a
while can tell you that it used to be much more difficult.

> The gui is almost as easy to use as the DW3 gui. There are many more options
> and the command line area (while currently undocumented) must provide even
> more flexibility over DW3.
> The documentation on Sourceforge is clearly in the early stages. It is not
> complete enough for me to understand the full potential of DW4. A great help
> would be specific examples to demonstrate each capability of DW4.
>
> I suspect that users who only want to connect their Coco to their own PC
> should stick to DW3. If you want to connect your Coco to a Drivewire server
> over the Internet, then DW4 is for you.
> At first glance, I don't see any advantage of DW4 over DW3 for non-Internet
> use. That's probably the result of the preliminary documentation.
>
> Hopefully these comments are not too much of a disappointment. The software
> did run immediately without problems. Just consider my lack of enthusiasm
> due to me being clueless. :)

I'm enthused that it ran easily for you :)

Currently, the capabilities are probably best documented in some
youtube demonstrations, available here if you care to watch:

https://sites.google.com/site/drivewire4/home/gallery

For someone who has no interest in using TCP/IP or MIDI from their
coco and just wants to mount an old game disk and play a few levels, I
don't think DW4 can offer any more simplicity than DW3 already
provides.  My goal for that type of use is simply to do it as well as
DriveWire 3.  Given the additional complexity of the DW4 software
(split into client and server), being "just as good" is still not as
nice, I know.

There are some subtle improvements that might interest the casual
users, such as being able to load multiple disks together in a set
(along with disk properties like write protection turned on), or the
ability to mount nitros9 and game disks directly from web sites like
nitros9.org.  I plan to include an Itunes-like browser that displays
"cover art" and other details about each disk set and lets the user
browse through both local and online disk repositories.  These are
merely conveniences, nothing ground breaking.

Documentation is not fun for me, so it typically lags well behind
other areas.  Anyone that enjoys writing documentation could make me a
very grateful person by volunteering to help.

Thanks for the feedback
-Aaron
>
> Robert
>
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