Arc/PSP

This will hopefully solve all of those problems that people have been having with nbm.exe on Windows. Please note that if you are on any OS other than Windows, this file does not contain any major changes (in fact, if you’re on a Mac, this file does not contain ANY changes, as the changes in FANG v0.1.1 were so minor that I didn’t even bother to recompile it for Mac, and there were no changes to No Bull Moose v0.2.4 that affected Mac)

FANG v0.1.1

• [Bugfix] Windows only: filenames with backslashes (i.e., all filenames) should now always work
• [Bugfix] The program will now catch errors from the backend better
• 64-bit Linux support dropped. If you want to use FANG on a 64-bit Linux installation, you’ll have to compile it yourself

No Bull Moose v0.2.4

• [Bugfix] Windows only: jpegtran detection should no longer crash application
• [Bugfix] Windows only: Workaround for Windows stupidity with quote handling

I have no confirmation that this does in fact fix the nbm.exe crashes, as none of my test machines exhibited this bug, but it should. Please leave me a message if it doesn’t and no one has left a message already.

[Download FANG v0.1.1 + No Bull Moose v0.2.4]

Happy leap day. Have a PSPComic.

v1.0 (2008-02-29)

• [Feature] Themes! You can now select different themes consisting of a background, font and text colors!
• [Feature] Languages! Now one can use the interface in a language other than English!
• [Feature] Directories can now be opened as if they were comic books. Note that previous/next comic book does not support opening directories
• [Feature] The Slim’s extra memory is now used, so much larger images may be opened
• [Feature] USB mode. One can now change around the files on the memory stick by pressing select in the menu. Changes are not automatically registered, and a menu must be reloaded by using the reload menu option
• [Bugfix] Fixed outstanding bug and memory leak if a filename is too long
• [Bugfix] 8-bit non-color-keyed surfaces no longer display black as transparent
• [Bugfix] Fixed an off-by-one error leading to a buffer overflow when resampling images
• [Bugfix] One no longer has to restart the program after attempting to open a comic book in a non-existent directory
• [Bugfix] Fixed minor bug with battery meter when battery is not inserted
• Further rotozoom optimization
• And many more minor changes…
• /!\ Caution! Comic books with bookmarks in them must be on the memory stick while upgrading from a previous version of PSPComic for the bookmarks to be retained.

It’s good to be free…

(You might want to back up your bookmarks file first—/comics/.pspcomic/bookmarks.xml—as I’ve gotten a report that it might break when upgrading, although I’ve been unable to reproduce this)

The base pack is just PSPComic v1.0, a few languages and the default theme. The Theme and Language pack includes Polish and Chinese, as well as the Unicode and CJK themes necessary to use these languages. The mega pack includes both of these as well as the utilities No Bull Moose and FANG for those that don’t have a Slim PSP.
Downloads:
[Mega Pack]
[Base Pack]
[T&L Pack]

Update: The Dutch language file bundled with PSPComic is broken—here’s a working one.

This workaround has gotten a little out of hand. That’s right, I wrote a GUI for No Bull Moose, which was originally conceived as a workaround for a bug in PSPComic that couldn’t be fixed due to memory limitations! It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done, and it’s certainly a lot easier to work with than the command line utility. At least, it is if you’re command line illiterate like most of the world. It’s also bundled with a new version of No Bull Moose that has better detection of the location of jpegtran. As usual, the application is available for Windows, two Linux architectures and Mac (as a universal binary). However, the Mac version of FANG won’t work as a native 64-bit application. Regardless, it should still work fine on 64-bit machines. The file size is a little large due to its dependence on Qt, but, unless you’re on dial-up, it should download in only a few minutes.

Please note that I do not plan to continue development of neither FANG nor No Bull Moose following this release. Now I can finally get back to finishing up PSPComic v1.0! Soon…soon…
[Download FANG v0.1 + No Bull Moose v0.2.3]

PSPComic v1.0 is steadily approaching, and, in case you haven’t heard already, one of the new features is language selection. However, seeing as I only speak English, I need other people to  make translations. If you would like to translate PSPComic into a language other than French or Polish (for which I already have translations, please leave a comment on this entry, and make sure the e-mail address you enter is valid. (You don’t have to make it publicly visible–just enter it into the e-mail field provided and only I will be able to see it.) I also have a Brazilian Portuguese translation already, but its translator has told me that it may not be 100% correct for various reasons. If you decide to leave a comment, I will email you instructions on translating. I’d like to have as many translations available before v1.0 is released, so if you feel up to it, make sure to leave a comment!

Really, everything is explained in the title of this post. Yep, I’m still doing stuff with Ambient Perspective. I wonder if I’ll ever make a new theme…
[Download Ambient Perspective PTF for 3.8x]

Wait, what? I actually released it? Yes, that’s right, I actually released it. This release has some major changes. Allow me to break out the list:

• [Feature] Added support for ZIP and RAR archives
  
• [Feature] Output directory for out of place converting
• [Feature] Full 64-bit support on Macs
• [Bugfix] Filenames with $, \ and ” are now supported
• [Bugfix] Fixed potential stack overflow in to_baseline function

Now you no longer have to extract all of your archives! Simply put them in the folder and launch nbm. Now here’s the bad news. Due to a major issue I discovered with No Bull Moose v0.1 on Macs and Linux, you can no long launch the executable by double-clicking it. You must launch it from the command line with an argument. Therefore, I’m recommending the use of the Open Command Window Here PowerToy for Windows (download here) for people who want to convert often. Simply enter “nbm .” into the command window (no quotes, of course) if you’re on Windows and hit enter. It should have the same effect as would be expected by double-clicking, except without the hazards. Note that there is another small issue in No Bull Moose v0.1 (although I don’t believe this issue affects the Windows version either…but it may; I haven’t tested it thoroughly and decided to patch it instead), and therefore I am recommending the immediate disuse of No Bull Moose v0.1. v0.2 is better, anyway. See the readme for further details on executing and command line options, etc.

Note that the output of RAR files is not now nor will ever be supported. All archives are output as ZIP.

Update: v0.2.1 is out with a bugfix or two (if two, then I forget what the second one is), and a semi-feature:

• [Feature] In place converting of ZIP and RAR archives (sorta)
• [Bugfix] Fixed a crash if a ZIP or RAR is specified in the current directory

Update: v0.2.2 fixes a bug where jpegtran isn’t found even if present in the current working directory. This bug only affects the Windows version.
[Download No Bull Moose v0.2.2]

But my hard drive is. The computer is away for repairs right now (I’d have replaced the hard drive myself, but the machine was still under warranty, so it would be cheaper, even if it meant waiting longer, to RMA the computer), but I will resume work on PSPComic and No Bull Moose as soon as it gets back (which should be soon). No Bull Moose v0.2 is pretty much finished, but there are still some things I’d like to work out (for instance, compiling it for Windows!) before I release it. There are some discrepancies with how the files are operated on, so I think I may change more than I was originally going to before my hard drive said I HAVE A TEMPERATURE OF OVER 500 MILLION, but I didn’t get time to fix them. So anyway, that will come out first. I will probably make a third version of No Bull Moose that includes a simple GUI, possibly before PSPComic v1.0, and then bundle them.

Oh, and don’t worry. Despite the fact that my hard drive broke, I did not lose any progress on PSPComic or No Bull Moose, so I can pick up where I left off as soon as I get the toolchain installed again.

Been a while since I updated this blog, hasn’t it? Anyway, neither PSPComic nor No Bull Moose is dead. In fact, No Bull Moose v0.2 is almost ready to be released, and should be released next week, whereas PSPComic v1.0 should be done next month or so.

Changes in No Bull Moose v0.2 will include support for ZIPs and RARs, although the output will always be a ZIP, because is no way to create a RAR without WinRAR, which can’t be automated.

Changes in PSPComic v1.0 will include themes (which are, I believe, pretty useless, but because I was giving it graphics, I felt that it would be appropriate), as well as extensible language support (how many apps do you see for the PSP that do THAT?). Also, some minor bug fixes.

And that’s about it. I’ve been working less than hard on these applications because I’m in college right now, so I have another workload to deal with.

I’ve been tinkering with Ambient Perspective and adding small bits of stuff, and wanted to hold off on releasing it, but sendspace deleted the version of Ambient Perspective for 3.5x that was online already, so I had to upload a new version. This version fixes the problem with the volume bar being cut off at the bottom (you probably didn’t notice) and also adds arrows to match the style. Also a glitchy bootwave that you probably won’t want to flash (delete opening_plugin.rco from the extracted archive before you flash it). More may be coming at some later date.

[Download Ambient Perspective for 3.5x]

Ambient Perspective PTF is a ptf version of the theme Ambient Perspective, and can therefore be used on official firmwares 3.70+ as well as 3.71M33+. However, it is limited in the fact that the top level icons are smaller and that it’s just the icons–not the font, not the battery, not the busy, not the wave. Either way, it includes new icons for the Slim and now you really DON’T have to mess around with your PSP’s flash to get it working. Simply put it in PSP/THEME and select it from the theme menu. Enjoy!

[Download Ambient Perspective PTF]