Updater Patch for Project Nelson and Software Updater

Patches for Project Nelson and Software Updater have now been released. If you want to continue to recieve updates for either program, you’re going to have to download the patches.

So, what do the patches change? Well, a while ago, I moved my website to a shiny new domain, http://www.markkb.com/, rather than the free web hosting website I had previously. Unfortunately, the last versions of both Project Nelson and Software Updater were released before the move, which means their installers registered the old website address instead of the new one into Software Updater’s database.

This meant that when Software Updater checked for new versions of itself or for new versions of Project Nelson, it used the old website address instead of the new one. Because of that, as that website is no longer active, Software Updater would display “Error occured - update failed” below both Project Nelson and Software Updater.

This patch updates the links in Software Updater’s database that it uses to check for updates so that they point to the new website. This should also fix the error messages under both entries.

One last thing: this patch should work for any version of Project Nelson and Software Updater, not just the current version. Just note that once you’ve updated, you’ll need to install the patch again, as the current version’s installers haven’t yet been updated with the new website information.

Download the Updater Patch for Project Nelson
Download the Updater Patch for Software Updater

Read more about the Updater Patch

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 Update 1 and Software Updater 1.1 released!

After quite a bit of trouble and a few delays due to some unexpected bugs cropping up last-minute, Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 Update 1 and Software Updater 1.1 have finally been released!

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 Update 1 is purely a bug-fixing update, and fixes most of the bugs that cropped up in 1.0 Build 020. This includes Project Nelson crashing on start on some systems, and a bug in SchedulePN that caused Windows XP to cancel shutting down.

Project Nelson home page
Project Nelson download page
Build 020 Update 1 Changelog
Build 020 Update 1 Readme

Software Updater 1.1 now searches for updates all the time, rather than just at boot, and the interface now sports a cleaner look. It also now checks to make sure the update is supported on your version of Windows before downloading.

Software Updater home page
Software Updater download page 
Version 1.1 Home Page 
Version 1.1 Changelog

Don’t forget to submit bug reports so I can, well, fix any bugs! To do so, go to http://www.markkb.com/stuff/bugs/ and click “Submit bug report”. Make sure you fill in as much detail as possible, please.

Updated 14/07/2013 to fix broken links.

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 Update 1 is coming

Well, It's been two years since the last update to Project Nelson. There have been a few reasons why that is, but the main, I think, might be that the plan for Build 021 was too ambitious to do all at once.

I’d originally planned to fix the flaws I’d found in Build 020 in Build 021, but leaving the major flaws and bugs in Build 020 unfixed for any longer is just not right. So, I’m announcing that an intern version of Project Nelson, dubbed Update 1, will be released this month. I’ve been working on this update for the last few months, and I hope it will satisfy many issues with the current version. Not all bugs will be fixed in this update, but the majority of major issues will, including a problem with Project Nelson that causes it to crash on first start on some systems, and a few UAC-related issues.

Software Updater 1.1 will also be released alongside it. With this version, the update checker now runs on a schedule, rather than only on first start, and now checks the minimum system requirements before presenting an update. It also has a refreshed interface that, I hope you’ll agree, looks a lot better than before.

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 Update 1 will be released later this month, and I’ll have some more information about the future of Project Nelson beyond Update 1 later on as well. Until then, see you!

--MarkKB

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 020 has been released!

If you haven’t already heard, I’ve just released a new build of Project Nelson. There are quite a few new features, a few programs got a UI cleanup, and there’s a whole lot of bugs fixed and fit and finish added.

Don’t forget to submit bug reports so I can, well, fix the bugs. To do so, either click the Report bug icon at the bottom-right of your screen – it looks like that thing to the left – or go to http://www.markk-b.com/stuff/bugs/ and submit the bug report there.

Oh, and check out the Readme for any bugs or problems that I’m aware of that you should look out for.

Project Nelson home page
Project Nelson download page
Build 020 Changelog
Build 020 Readme

Updated 26/09/2012 and 14/07/2013 to fix broken links.

Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019

OK, this is a little late (due mainly to my procrastination ;) ), but no worries, here it is! Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019 introduces a few new features, fixes quite a few bugs, and polishes up some places which needed it.

Remember, to submit a bug, click on the Report bug icon at the lower right of your screen. I can’t fix your problems if I don’t know about them! (It looks like the guy to the left.)

Project Nelson home page
Project Nelson download page
Build 019 Changelog
Build 019 Readme

Updated 26/09/2012 and 14/07/2013 to fix broken links.

Finished.

Hey guys! Just dropping a note to say that Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019 is complete as of April 14 2009. I’ve already finished the changelog, and just need to fill out the readme. I plan to release it by Monday at the earliest.

(I’m already well into developing Build 020, and I’ll try to have it out quite a bit sooner than the Build 019. :D)

Comic Strip 1.0 Build 07 is also done, and I hope to release it by the end of the day. Remember, these are estimates, and not hard-and-fast dates.

Happy testing!

The road to Project Nelson

In this post, I’m going to shed some light on the state of Project Nelson going forward, as well as some insight on its past.

Past

In the past, Project Nelson advanced a build when it was “done” – when I felt it had enough about it to warrant a new build. This method worked for my methods, if it was a bit haphazard. Every build had a few bug fixes and new features, and so on and so forth.

The first real break in the cycle was Build 017. Build 017 was a “features” build – that is, it focused on features, as opposed to bug fixes. It finally introduced Category pages, something that had been planned since the first few .NET-based builds. It also added hidden Run boxes in the Applications page, and Application “views” (Categories/Classic Start/Recent). The First Run Wizard was heavily rewritten, and Nemo’s favourite folders feature was implemented. Build 017 also featured the first build of MediaPN.

Build 018 was the first build that intentionally focused on features, as Build 017 being one was kinda just a fluke. With Build 18 came application task pages, a semi-functioning Games page, a stopwatch, “Windows” vs. “Project Nelson” icons, a seek bar and metadata about the currently playing song in MediaPN, New File in Nemo, command-line arguments, SchedulePN, Nemo settings, and starting your default media player at startup. The First Run Wizard lay the backbone for the new way of handling applications in each group.

Present

Right now, I’m working on Project Nelson 1.0 Build 019. Build 019 is a “bug fixing” or “fit and finish” build – it’s not going to be a big bang release, although there are some new features. Rather, it’s focusing on polishing the user experience, and fixing annoying bugs.

I hope to release Build 019 sometime in the next two months.

Future

Going forward, I plan to adhere to a kind of back-and-forth schedule, with even-numbered builds being feature or “unstable” releases, and odd-numbered builds being bug-fixing or “stable” builds. (That’s not to say that they don’t have bugs in them, btw, it’s just that I’m devoting the build to fixing them.) I have quite a few ideas for the future of Project Nelson, such as the new file copying system, as well as building on the program modal implemented in Build 018, and a new taskbar system.

The next few years are waiting, and I hope they’ll be just as exciting as the previous ones.

--MarkKB

Project Nelson, meet world

After all the time, effort and procrastination, Project Nelson v1.0 Build 018 is finally now available for download from my website!

A note: this build is kinda buggy, so you should only install it if you know what you’re doing. Reading the readme (release notes) might help as well, as it contains information about known bugs and how to get around them. (The readme is the main reason it took me three months from freezing development to actual release… but that’s a whole ‘nother story.)

So, anyway, here it is, so enjoy!

Project Nelson home page
Project Nelson download page
Changelog
Readme

Updated 26/09/2012 and 14/07/2013 to fix broken links.

Software, freeze!

In "We're geeks bearing gifts...", I posted that I was just putting the finishing touches on Project Nelson 1.0 Build 18. But that was over a month ago. So you might be wondering, what gives?

Well, the truth is, it's already finished.

In fact, it's been finished for quite a while now. After a few last-minute bugs that postponed me finishing it for about two weeks (while I found them, fixed them, and found some more to fix, and so on), I finally froze^[1] development on Project Nelson 1.0 Build 18 on the 16th of April 2008 at around 6:30pm. So, what's with the holdup?

Firstly, I've been working on the setup routine. In fact, all the installation stuff is finished, as of about Tuesday (the 29th of April). On Wednesday, I went through and reworded much of the text throughout the setup program. I also slightly revised the EULA^[2] a bit. All done, right?

Well, almost. The good news is that all I really need to do is finish off my rewording/reorganisation of the changelog^[3] and do the readme^[4] and I'll be done. (In the case of the changelog, I've been hastily compiling the list of changes for Builds 16-18 these past few days, and the changes for previous builds earlier this year, and later the last. It's all rather disorganised, (but then again, that's me), so now I'm trying to make it a bit more digestible.)

Since it's almost finished, I hope to put the whole kaboodle on my website in the next few days. I'll see you all when it gets there.

--MarkKB

Footnotes (for those less technically inclined):

[1] To freeze development is to stop making changes to code, and usually to compile a final build (turn it from code to a living, breathing program.)

[2] The EULA is the End User License Agreement, a contract between the software provider and the user that determines terms of use of the product. It's that thing you mindlessly click "I Agree" to when you install software. EULAs for websites are known as "Terms and Conditions of Use".

[3] A changelog is a document detailing the changes that have taken place between versions. Well, at least, mine are. ;) Properly, in the open-source world, a changelog details every minute revision with dates and names; non-open-source software uses versions instead of dates, and only mentions major changes or those that are noticeable to the user. The non-open-source changelog is roughly analogous to the "NEWS" file in open-source.

[4] Readmes contain last-minute details that couldn't go into the documentation in time, information that wouldn't really fit in the documentation, and sometimes just general notes. Yays.

Hey, welcome to the Project Nelson blog!

For those who don't know, Project Nelson is an attempt to create a reasonably simple menu-driven shell for Microsoft Windows. Right now I've got two versions, one made in Macromedia Flash, and one in Visual Basic. Project Nelson is currently in the Alpha stage, with the Flash version at Build 42 and the Visual Basic version at Build 02. So stay tuned and we'll see how this all turnes out!