TILP: beta-testing...

[Lionel Debroux]

I have uploaded at http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/setup.exe a pre-version (for Windows, obviously ) of TILP II 1.14, for beta-testing
(*nix users can try http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/install_tilp.sh , start by looking inside the script)
Even if I'm trying to get myself the necessary infrastructure for being a decent (co-)maintainer (bought a 89T, a 83+SE and a SilverLink), it's necessary to perform wider and deeper testing than just what I did on my Vista x86 and Seven x64 VMs
In particular, I can see driver trouble on Seven x64 (complains about unsigned drivers) but not under Vista x86. I can also see that unless the UAC is completely disabled (baaaaad !), Seven forbids TILP to write tilp.ini => need to improve this (by changing the location, probably).

Since TILP II 1.13, visible changes are TI-68k bugfixes (especially for PedroM), and important bugfixes for TI-Z80 (TI-Connect is now much happier with files and groups created by TILP). TILP keeps supporting, in a transparent way, the incorrect groups created by previous versions. I think I fixed a build/packaging problem that makes TILP II 1.13 not work for many users.

This test version was compiled with MSVC 2008 and GTK+ 2.12.9 (such was the result of a multi-forum poll one year ago: 9x/ME/NT4 support is no longer guaranteed).
Therefore, you have to install the VC++ 2008 Redistributable Package ( http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...4d-074b9f2bc1bf ) if you don't have it yet. I hope to find a working MSVC 6, so as to remove that dependency.

A small limitation in this test version: no French locale. Not that most of those who read this board care, though.


Thanks in advance

[ZagorNBK]

When you say "interoperability with TI-Connect", does this mean that you can have both TILP and TI-Connect work at the same time?

[Lionel Debroux]

That would be great, but unfortunately, no (Windows doesn't like having two drivers for the same piece of hardware).
I just meant that TI-Connect now likes much better 83+/84+ files and groups received with TILP.
I've edited my post.

[TheStorm]

I was working on setting up some svn PKGBUILD's for Arch LInux when I noticed you still don't install .desktop files for TILP or GFM, is this planned to be fixed before the final release or well maintainers need to provide their own .desktop files?

Also where are the udev rules for located and is there a way to have them be installed by which ever package they belong to, or should maintainers move away from the udev rules to the *-kit setup?

[Lionel Debroux]

[TheStorm]

[benryves]

[FloppusMaximus]

You could also compile it using MinGW, which uses msvcrt.dll.

I think it's utterly ridiculous that they keep making new, mutually incompatible C libraries. And what exactly is the point of DLLs if every program has to include its own set of them?

[benryves]

[Lionel Debroux]

Native MinGW is awfully slow here, 3 to 5 seconds per line of configure, and it ends up not working anyway: I've therefore given up
I'm currently going through the procedure for cross-MinGW. I started yesterday, but it takes time because, between other things, I need to compile Wine myself to work around a bug that prevents installing GTK+.
[EDIT: and since, beyond the usual incompatibilities beyond Linux distros, the build procedure for Fedora described by Kevin is not detailed enough (some implicit steps are required), some guess work and trial & error + tinkering is necessary. Sigh.]

[FloppusMaximus]

For cross-compiling stuff, what I've done is to write an "i586-mingw32msvc-pkg-config" script (which basically just sets PKG_CONFIG_PATH and calls the regular pkg-config.) It's then, more or less, a matter of simply unpacking all of the GTK+ "development packages" to the right place, and tweaking the "prefix" lines in the .pc files. (No Wine necessary.) This will work for all of the GTK+ libraries; for some of the other libraries, a little more work may be needed.

For running stuff on Wine (if you really want to do that), I remember that some stuff had to be changed in cairo because fonts were displayed absurdly large. I don't remember exactly what it was I needed to change, though I suppose I could figure it out.

You could also use GTK+ 2.6 for testing on Wine, if TiLP still supports that.

Edit: I've managed, with a bit of coaxing, to get it all to compile. I had to tweak the configure scripts - they really, really want you to use Genuine GNU Gettext, and apparently the Windows version is not considered genuine enough.

As for the dependencies, I have GTK+ libraries in /home/benjamin/packages/gtk-2.6-w32/, libglade and libxml2 in /home/benjamin/packages/glade-w32/, and libusb-win32 in /home/benjamin/packages/libusb-w32/. All of the corresponding pkgconfig directories, plus /home/benjamin/packages/tilibs2-w32/lib/pkgconfig/, are listed in the PKG_CONFIG_PATH.

Yes, it's complicated...

[Lionel Debroux]

Thanks a lot Benjamin for the complete procedure, that will definitely save me some time
Since my latest post (Wednesday evening), I have made progress along the same path: the lines that led to successful recompilation of libticonv and libtifiles are, unsurprisingly, pretty similar to yours.

[FloppusMaximus]

Hmm... I used the old GTK+ 2.6 development packages, which used to be available from gtk.org; they seem to be gone now, but they're probably still floating around on the Web somewhere. Presumably the contents are the same as those glade-win32 packages.

Bit of a pain... I've probably still got all the zip files somewhere on my hard drive, but I doubt I have all the corresponding sources.

Of course, supporting Windows 98 isn't a huge deal nowadays, so you may just want to forget about it and use the latest development packages. It's probably best to use the latest GTK+ runtime libraries in any case.

[Lionel Debroux]

It's been nearly one month since the previous build. I have now uploaded at http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/setup.exe a new pre-version of TILP II 1.14

This build fixes the main annoyances of the previous build (well, those that can be fixed on the TILP side - the driver signing requirement on at least Seven x64 is still there, obviously, and will remain): it does not depend on the MSVC 2008 runtime anymore, it automatically downloads the appropriate GTK+ version. And it can speak French, too.

This build also integrates the new feature that was announced in another public place of the community: DirectLink USB ROM dumping for 84+(SE) calculators, courtesy of Brandon Wilson. Another word of thanks goes to Benjamin Moody, who saved me some time setting up everything for cross-MinGW to properly build TILP.
No more changes are planned until the release (pretty soon), it's in bug-fixing mode (and in quick, unimportant things such as Changelog file updates). So please give it a good testing, thanks in advance

[TheStorm]

I am working on a fixed .destop and mime-info setup as what TiLP currently uses is out of date and depreaciated. I will hopefully have a setup that will setup and install the .desktop files as well as setup the pixmaps and mime info correctly for all standards compliant DE's I will hopefully have this done by next friday so I can send it to you. I so far have encountered no bugs in the actuall binaries so that is good.

[Lionel Debroux]

Thanks

[Lionel Debroux]

I have now uploaded the sources of TILP II 1.14, GFM 1.0.4 and associated libraries :)

Many changes since TILP II 1.13, the most significant of which have already been summarized above (bugfixes for the Z80 and Nspire series, new DirectLink 84+ ROM dumper).
Source tarballs:
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/li...v-1.1.1.tar.bz2
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/li...2-1.1.3.tar.bz2
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/li...2-1.3.1.tar.bz2
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/li...2-1.1.5.tar.bz2
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/tilp2-1.14.tar.bz2
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_gfm/download/gfm-1.04.tar.bz2

I have also tentatively uploaded the installers for Windows, but I need to make a few tests with them.
If someone else wants to join the fun of testing by then, http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/setup.exe (TILP) and http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_gfm/download/setup.exe (GFM).

I have made public the maintainer recompilation scripts that I'm using, you can see them through http://svn.tilp.info/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/?rev=4308#dirlist
But *nix users can try http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/download/install_tilp.sh , start by looking inside the script.

[Lionel Debroux]

I have uploaded a new beta-testing build for TILP :)

Highlights since the release of TILP II 1.14 in April:

• significant improvements to Nspire support (but wrinkles remain...): new variable deletion & folder creation capabilities, OS 2.x support (TILP II <= 1.14 doesn't work at all with those versions because TI broke something that worked with all other TI USB devices including Nspire OS 1.x), calculator ID retrieval fixed, and the brand-new capability: Nspire OS 1.x (but not 2.x) dumping,
  without having to install Ndless;
  
• UI improvements by TheStorm / Jonimus, among which are the addition of a menu at the top of the application, and the greater use of stock icons;
  
• other misc. fixes: 86 ROM dumping, a number of compiler warnings, several crasher bugs fixed, small updates to autotools stuff.

Download link for the recompiled Windows installer: http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/beta/setup.exe .
Enjoy :)


Todo/wish list before a release, as time permits:

• fixing sending Pic / GDB / Str variables to a 84+ through DirectLink (that it does not currently work is a consequence of TI breaking backwards compatibility);
  
• updating desktop and mime types definitions would be great;
  
• fixing several known wrinkles, e.g. a couple reported in the sibling topic on Omnimaga.

[contra-sh]

Congratulation !