Catalina and Big Sur/News
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End of June Update:
I won't be updating this page any more since the Alpha version is now available FOR TESTING ONLY.
To follow my "to do list" progress, click here.
Updates as they appear will be posted directly on the History page.
Mid May Update:
The 64bit kJams is ready for Alpha Testing!!
May 2021:
Made LOTS of progress last month. Server is working, appropriate store songs display correctly in Library, finished "KayJayPro" pref panel, Versioning works, and more. There aren't any "hard" problems left, now it's just get the UI working (easy but time consuming). It's very close to being "good enough to run a show"! Then we can start public Alpha testing! Working on getting all the UI buttons working in the "Browser" window (the main window). One last critical thing needs doing: tryout mode (so paid features are turned off).
April 2021:
Widgets in the browser all work now (buttons, icons, checkboxes, popup menus, dates). Music store prefs are working. Currently working on ensuring the correct "store songs" show up in "Library" depending on your pref setting. Still needed before alpha release: finish prefs and other dialogs, crash reporter, versioning, server testing, backups, fix the sorting problems, and more. I've categorized the remaining tasks into "backlog" and "required for alpha release" so it's more clear what's left to do.
March 2021:
Well I had to take two weeks (yes two weeks) to do my taxes, they're complicated. That's done so back to work. Music store parsing is now almost as fast as it always was, which is actually a LOT faster than it was a month ago (it was unbearably slow with the new database). And I have a method on deck to make it even faster still, but it's good enough for now. Dev is working on buttons, icons, and checkboxes in the browser window. I'm working on music store prefs, and import / export prefs, and other music store stuff. Unfortunately it's not looking like it'll be "done enough" by the end of this month. Sorry, I'm doing my best.
February 2021:
Got all the music stores able to download and parse, now doing the prefs panels for music stores. Hired dev is working on making music store parsing faster, cuz currently it's like 20 mins per store. Completed the new "Activity" view which is now integrated. (I found that 99% of users just closed the window, and never saw it again, then wondered what was going on during long processes, thinking something was broken. Now, you have to go to prefs to consciously shut it off.) Also done: theme-ized the LCD panel (honors OS color theme) Up next: make all the main window buttons work, with theme, then Ripping.
January 2021:
Selection model is done. Drag reorder is done, add to library done. Delete from playlists done. Rotation done. Now working on music stores!
December 2020:
Media Player done on both mac and windows. Making good progress on "selection model" problem. Browser window now honors "theme" (accent) color set in OS pref panel (looks so good!) (but no dark mode yet). Working on smaller but necessary things like ability to drag reorder, add to library, delete from playlist, music stores etc.
November:
Still moving along well. I've mostly finished the media player, optimizing all media types for hardware playback. My engineer is working a lot on the database too. A few more critical things before "public beta": in the "tracks" view, the selection model doesn't work (things outside the view tend to lose being selected). That's a pretty big problem that we have not figured out. Once we solve that, I think i can start a limited beta release!
October:
Things are moving along. In database-related news: Search / sort is working pretty much. We need to now make sure music stores work, and the ability to mount / eject CDs. We will also need to ensure the Server is working. In media-player news: I've gotten video playback in hardware working, and have optimized the "about" rainbow too. Next is optimizing CDG graphics (including upscaled), and text overlays. Then do support for transparency. After that: the activity view (which will now be built into the Browser window cuz basically everyone just closed that window then never thought to open it again.
September:
The developer is back to work and we now have proof-of-concept search sortof working. By that i mean, with a database of 200,000 songs, you can do pretty much instant searching. Note this is a long way from "functions" as in "functions well enough to actually get work done", but it's a major milestone.
I've also been working on the Media player, and i've fixed a few bugs with it too. Progress is being made!
August:
The developer that was working on the SQL database and Search seems to have just stopped working. This happened about a month ago. Seems I may need to find another developer. That means we've already lost a month of development time, AND it may take some significant time to find someone else :(
July:
There are two very hard parts to this port:
- The SQL database: Fast Search!
- The hardware accelerated media player, which means the ability to stack these layers:
- camera input
- CDG graphics
- Video (like a movie)
- MediaStream
- Producer Overlays
- ShowScreens
- The "About kJams" spinning rainbow
- The Text Messenger
Relatively good news on both fronts: I have a developer helping me with the SQL database and he is making steady progress.
For media playing: I already have 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 working, although they draw using software (slow) not hardware (fast). And I have, during the weekend of August 8, gotten the Video playback (3) actually working. It must be debugged, but getting it working at all was the hardest part. We do not NEED the rest (for now) to have a functional kJams that can run a show!
Therefore, once SEARCH actually functions, I can start letting people test the Catalina compatible version. No word yet on how long the search functionality will take, the developer hasn't actually started that part.
