[release] Orbit 0.3!

i've made a new release of Orbit after quite a while and lots of reports ! This time it comes with many improvements and fixes (due to you guys always reporting the problems! thank you)!

Check out the homepage for the download

Check out the manual for the revision history

i've released 2 ZIPs. One which i call "full" which comes with all the files needed to run Orbit and another which is just the Orbit files in case you dont want to download a larger file

tell me what u think of this release!

all comments and critics are welcome

As always, you'll need:

- .Net Framework 1.1

- DirectX 9.0

#137997

Awsome.... great work..

#137999

great work menge!

orbit has actually replaced my docks 100%!

#138004

menge, i gave the last orbit a spin (no pun intended) and it was kickass; only problem was it took up the most resources on my computer; even more than explorer!

what's new about this new version? does it address that issue or is it a net framework thing? am i doing something wrong?

#138006

@Enhanced, yay! thanks

@hispanicboy, very glad to hear that, bud! hope now it can replace your taskbar too

@swisher59, lol thanks, man!

well the "issue" about memory consumption is not in fact Orbit itself. the actual memory requirements of Orbit hover around 7Mb~10Mb (avg of 20 items shown). it starts up at an avg of 29Mb usage. but that's the .Net Framework reserving extra memory for it in case it needs. It doesn't acutally use that 29Mb PLUS the .Net framework releases that memory when the system needs it. so, sometimes you'll find orbit on the 30Mb mark, sometimes on the 4Mb mark.

#138014

any "on the road" screenshots, just to taste it... please... ? :naughty:

oh, what about the .net framework ? That's heavy on sys resources (cpu), isn't it ?

I don't know, so I just ask.

Thanks any reply.

#138016

what is Orbit??

There's nothing on the website...

#138025

Originally posted by Menge@Apr 1 2004, 08:40 AM

@hispanicboy, very glad to hear that, bud! hope now it can replace your taskbar too

man i have not used my start pannel in weeks since i started using orbit, and about the task panel... we'll see

#138029

great i never tried before but i think you gave me the "declick" to test it

nice work and very nice website!!!

#138040

Hows this for system usage hu hu :naughty:

Anywho its a realy cool app, but imho it runs like ass. Sorry to say it, but it does, at least on my system anyhow (xp2600, 1.5gigram, fx5600u, a7n8x d) when it has absolutly no reason to.

#138053

I'm going to take a look at the memory leak. only some people have it. none of my beta testers had it, for instance. i have a nightly build in the support forums [link] which should fix the problem. i already sent the link to the people who reported me about it and i am currently waiting for feedback on that.

for the people who asked for a screenshot:

that's the default orbit. (the background is my wallpaper lol)

#138061

errr yeah this uses like 300 MB of RAM on my system. <_<

System Specs:

Athlon XP 2500+

512 MB DDR RAM

ATi Radeon 9600 Pro

#138063

the new build give me this

#138067

Might as well post here insteada aquaxp. =)

hi Menge, the new build gives me the same error as lostspyder (after i click cancel)

ps:

running this on my notebook

2ghz p4

512MB ram

Intel® 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller 64MB

Driver Version 6.13.10.3514

#138236

Forgive my ignorance. Is it something like y'z dock but with different features and a new look? Thanks.

#138242

@omniiv, you need to copy the Microsoft.DirectX.****.DLL files from the release to the same directory as the exe

@frease, yes it is exactly that. it is a different style of dock.

And to all who are having memory troubles: I'm working and scavenging around my code to look for potential leak places. This afternoon i went through the code and found nothing problematic. but i will go over again. what is the weirdest thing about this problem is that it doesn't happen to all machines. for instance, none of the machines i've tested had this. i must also mention that all the machines were as much up-to-date as possible (WinXP SP1 and Win2003) and had no system mods.

i truly apologize for the problems this may have caused anyone. i'll try to release a fix as soon as i figure out what's wrong.

also, if anyone of you guys which are having memory problems are willing to work closer with me (receiving test builds, etc), please talk to me (feel free to add me to msn)

cheers!

#138250

Thanks, it's cool. I'll try it out!

#138252

is there any way to make it respond to keyboard shortcut?? cause i got a touchpad on my laptop and there is one chance on two that i prend "up" or "down" button in state of "center" button... this is weird!!!

maybe can you make it responde to a WIN+W (in azerty keyboard ) or something easy like that??

otherwise it's a very nice app, didn't have memory leak for now only got trouble with adding items but that's my fault didn't made it in the right order...

THANK you for your support Menge, Menge ist wie ein menge auf deutsch??

#138260

Hi, I got this error when I started the app and then my system started to act weirdly but is fine now after a restart). Any ideas?

#138266

alo,

i tried using this new version... i'm not getting any error messages or abundant memory usages... it starts up, but when i go to hover over an icon, it locks up on me... sometimes it works for a few seconds, but it's all choppy. i've used previous versions that worked ok with me.

my hardware:

xp sp1 home

256mb ram

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 400

1.4 gigahertz Pentium 4

#138267

@kerin, it's great everything's fine for you at least someone in this thread got it to work ok lol

well, i'm thinking of making it respond to a WIN+KEY combination. i just couldn't make up my mind on which. that's the main reason i didn't implement that. i thought at first Win+O but the O key is far from the left Win key. so i was thinking of a reason to use a key more to the left of the keyboard (where people usually leave their hands)

and btw, the name is German i'm not. but my family has German/Swiss background. unfortunately i don't speak any German (i wish i did - really!)

@frease, you need the .Net Framework 1.1. you can download it via WIndows Update or look at the manual (link on the orbit homepage or the orbit dir) for a place where u can download it from (if you have problems with the windows update "authentication" )

@wookietv, yeh the locking up was reported a bit earlier. i don't know what's with that. i know a place where i can stick this baby on a GF2MX400. i'll try that place and give u some feedback thanks!

#138271

Hi again, the new version still makes booboos with memory! hehe

#138273

hey, the app looks pretty, and it's real nice and all, but it uses WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much memory.

look at say, y'z dock, it uses 2mb memory. that's not bad,

but this uses 100 mb memory on my system, and thats just when it's idle.

now that is bad.

#138313

Good potential, if you could possibly get it to run at Y'z Dock/ObjectDock speeds. This app is pretty brutal when it comes to system resources. I've had some big problems with this thing locking up at 100% CPU usage. Turning off Icon Transparency seems to fix it.

Good concept, its great to see it being implemented, but its got a long way to go before it becomes usable on your average machine. I'm on a decent one; 2.4Ghz, 384MB RAM, 32MB graphics memory. And this program, I'm sorry to say, currently runs with all the speed and grace of a pregnant yak.

I'm downloading the latest nightly version right now, and hopefully some issues have been fixed. Its nice to see this being actively developed...don't give up on it.

#138319

damn. i checked this out, and let me say: it looks sweet as hell. unfortunately, when i right click my whole screen goes black except for the Orbit menu. also, i've got the mad memory leakage with it as well. i'll go try the nightlies though.

good luck with this!

edit: tried the newest nightly (april 1 @ 13:30) and i still have memory leaks and the black screen issue.

my box: athlon2000, geforce3 ti500, xp pro 2600 sp1.

#138343