Windows GUI Client - Beta Testing

[omer]

The client still needs a lot of improvements, but the main structure is sort of ready. We havent run a majority of tests yet, but i am pretty sure there are not any bugs, it passed all my tests atleast :)

So, I am uploading it here and on the website as well for you guys to try it out, and i will keep improving as we go on. One of the few things i can think of right now are:

1. Have a shorter version of GUI (like with winamp and other programs) where you can have just this small bar for it.
2. Want to change the text buttons to images
3. Maybe a help file or something to explain the features.

Let me know other features you want. I know we are a long way behind the final GUI.

Let me explain the process for now (as we dont have any help file):

1. Install the software as before
2. There are a couple new important files now: eonguiclient.exe eonsettings.exe
3. Initially execute the eonsettings.exe to set up the settings:
- Change email address if you want.
- Select a startup option.
- Select a threshold (by default its 85, that means if eon client is taking up more than 85% of the total processing, it will continue to operate, as soon as you take more than 15% of processing in other stuff, it will stop itself and will resume again when it realizes that other processes are using up less than 15% of total processing power).
- Priority of the client.
- When you hit done, the eonclientgui is launched itself.
4. In future, you can just start with eonguiclient.exe to execute the client (put it in start->programs->startup if you want it to load up on windows bootup)

Another important thing, if you make the client disappear, a "terminate.bat" file is generated in the installation folder (a link is already present in start->programs->eon). It will delete itself once you execute it, so the link will not point to anything when the client is not running in hidden mode.

Thats about it I guess, by the way, you can read "display.txt" while the gui is running for the output (this is also the case when the screensaver ends). A minor screensaver preview bug is fixed as well and yes, when you jump from client gui to settings, the client shuts down and is restarted when you hit done on settings gui.

Ok, do let me know any suggestions and/or comments! Well, it seems I cant attach it here, so i will upload it in a sec or two (it will be in announcements)

[Longbow]

I like the fact that it is simple and doesn't provide fancy-smancy graphics to hog processing power. My wife will be much happier now that it goes to tray.

Would it be possible to add a scrollbar like we have with the dos box client? With the recent server hiccups I have been using it a bit to see how things are going. I realize there is now a log file, but the scrollbar would be quicker and easier.

Will keep an eye on the log file and let you know if any anomolies pop up. Thanks, and keep up the great work.

edit: What are the new executables analyze, generate, and tskill for?

[omer]

yes, the scrollbar would surely help, will do that in the next update!

analyze:
this is for analyzing the performance of the client executable, i am planning to merge both of these together in future, I was having hard times doing it right now and left it as it is because releasing a client soon enough was important too.

generate:
its to generate the client config file. I know it could have easily been merged in the gui client, but it is just that users can generate it too, the command line argument is:

generate.exe client.cfg emailaddress serveraddress portnumber application version e.g
generate.exe client.cfg name@domain.com eon.cm.utexas.edu 10204 al110c 1

actually, i will change this in the next update as well, so that it will be generate.exe name@domain.com, i think i got lazy there!

tskill:
this can be found in c:\windows\system32 directory, i didnt want to take any risk or find it on my own, it is used to destroy the running client processes in the background. If you edit terminate.bat file, you will find that out! tskill for task kill i guess.

Thanks for trying it out and let me know if you face any problems. By the way, as far as the running of the client is concerned, it wouldnt be any different as i am using the same client.exe in the background, there may be problems (if any) in the gui structure, linking however (if you know what i mean). Anyways, thanks again for your suggestion.

[omer]

the link for the download is http://eon.cm.utexas.edu/download/eonclient-beta.exe

[black_civic55]

since im not a computer genious i can say i guess from a novice's point of view this is very good. Very simple to use. i like it

[em99010pepe]

Omer,

Thanks for the new GUI client. I installed in one XP machine and in one Win Me machine.

The XP machine is running eOn without any problem but the WinMe machine is another story.:bang:

The problem here is that everytime I start eOn under WinMe I get this DOS box, it opens:

http://img1.imageuploader.net/962/eon.jpg

So I have the client running minimized**, it's a good thing, but that stupid window just is there!
If I close it the client keeps running but I think it should never appear when you run eOn for the first time.
By running the hidden mode the DOS box persists.

Cheers,

Carlos


EDIT: **Correction, by closing the DOS box the client stops running. So under WinMe running the GUI or the command line version is the same.

[IronBits]

WinME is broken, slow and evil ;)

[em99010pepe]

Originally posted by IronBits
WinME is broken, slow and evil ;)

Say that to my father!:bang:

Carlos

[black_civic55]

just recently i've been expierencing the computer slowing down. Espicially while trying to open the window for the DIMES agent which is mostly java. It takes forever for that to open.

EDIT: OK nevermind I had to put the client on low priority and now all is fine.

[omer]

WinME: client window stays in view, i agree to that, but it cannot be possible slower and evil, I mean we are using the same client. Will look into it, need to get hands on a ME machince!

black: What was its priority before, you can also try automatic pause/resume if you like that feature.

[em99010pepe]

Originally posted by omer
WinME: client window stays in view, i agree to that, but it cannot be possible slower and evil, I mean we are using the same client. Will look into it, need to get hands on a ME machince!


omer,

IronBits was talking about WinMe not the eOn client. We already had this discussion that I should upgrade the OS of that machine.

Carlos

[black_civic55]

Originally posted by omer
black: What was its priority before, you can also try automatic pause/resume if you like that feature.

It was on normal priority and was being used before a bunch of other things. I enabled that 85 thing. But even with that on while on normal priortiy it still made things very slow. Because it was using all the resources it would hardly ever get to 85 for it to automatic pause.

[omer]

Right, you may want to try a higher number then, something lik 90% or even higher, running at low priority is a pretty good idea as well *thumbs up*

[black_civic55]

I turned off the threshold and just have it on low priority now and it works like a charm. It doesn't get in the way of anything whatsoever but gets its work done and never has to pause.

[birdman2584]

i had the same problem when it was running on normal priority. I switched it to low priority and like blackcivic said it works just fine when its like this.
:hifi:

[Electrolyte]

Think I have found a bug when wanting to change settings.

When ever I click "OK" when it says the project must be reset when changing the settings, it doesn't close the client.exe that is already open. Then click on "Done" in settings makes another client.exe, then both of them start to slow each other down and collide by trying to get the CPU cycles.

Running Windows 2000 Professional, SP4.

[omer]

I will check that out, thanks!

[omer]

I will set the default priority to be low as well in the next update!