AGAR v1.2.1 released

Version 1.2.1 of AGAR is out, for both Linux and Windows. It’s a bug fix release with small improvements.

Improvements
    pcb dialog : preview in pictures tab is saved in database to speed up navigation.
    pcb dialog : displaying full size image by double clicking when the image is bigger than the display screen
                 is now handled correctly : you can zoom, resize or move the image to taste.
    pcb dialog : progress indicator is now displayed while adding images.

Bug fixes
    main : application icon is now correctly displayed.
    pcb dialog : drag & drop should now work without occasionally creating orphan actions.

I also spent some time creating a user guide, describing more in depth how to use the software. I hope you’ll like it πŸ™‚

Cheers !

AGAR v1.2

I just released version 1.2 of AGAR. It’s main feature is the overhaul of the pictures tab in the pcb view : you can now directly drag and drop files from the file explorer to the pictures list. No need to use the clumsy file selector anymore, everything is handled using the mouse.

  • PNG, JPG and GIF files are supported, anything else will be silently rejected.
  • Depending on the settings, files can be resized to the specified resolution, or left untouched if No resizing is checked. Beware of large files in this case, as database size will grow really quickly !
  • Default resize value is initialized to 1024 * 768 as it was in previous versions.
  • Icons are added to every line to edit the label or remove the picture, context menu isn’t used anymore.
  • Single left click still displays the preview, and double left click the full size image.

I made some changes to the Linux version too : in previous versions the database file was created in the config directory, which could lead to permissions problems on the file when updating. The database was supposed to be in the same directory than the executable anyway (it works that way on Windows), so the file will be automatically copied to the right directory at first start. If there’s any trouble doing so, a message will be displayed with relevant information to do it manually.

Finally the binary for Windows is now x86-64, I don’t think the 32 bit version will be missed … if that’s the case drop me a line πŸ˜‰

I created a GitHub page for the project, you can access it here : https://rtoumazet.github.io/agar/ (or using the Projects tab above).

Cheers !

Moving to GitHub

Hi there !

Almost 2 years without news, who can beat that :p

Anyway, I got a few days ago an email from Atlassian stating they will be dropping Mercurial support from Bitbucket, with effective removal of all repositories on June 1st 2020.
As all my projects are hosted there, that was quite a blow.

Long story short, all my repositories are now hosted on GitHub, including Agar. I’ve updated the link in the Project page.

Cheers !

AGAR 1.1.10

Hi there,

As I did a bit of cleaning in my garage, I added some new entries to my AGAR database, and I noticed that faults weren’t reloaded when editing an existing pcb : data was correctly saved in the database, but it wasn’t reloaded during the next edition.

It’s a bit annoying as if you resave the data the second time without noticing, you’ll loose the fault content. I’m surprised this bug went unnoticed this long …

Anyway, it’s now fixed, and I also fixed the way the pcb list was sorted after editing a pcb.

Both versions (Win32 and Linux) are available, check the projects tab above to get any of them.

Cheers !

Back in business !

Hi there, it’s been a long time πŸ™‚

As my interests evolved, I decided to move the devlog to WordPress, to focus on content : why reinvent the wheel when quality CMS already exist ?
This new version will also talk about arcade stuff (mostly repair oriented), and of course electronics.

Speaking of arcade repair, I take the opportunity to share about a nice little program I wrote.
But first, a little history …

As time goes by, I’m stacking lots of defective arcade games waiting to be repaired, and I’m having hard times keeping track of what is done and/or what is left to do. At first a simple excel file was enough, then I changed for Task Coach, but this one soon have shown its limits.
After desperately looking for the perfect software, I realized it didn’t exist.
So I decided to create it, and AGAR was born :p

What means AGAR ? It stands for Arcade Games Analysis & Repair, and besides it’s almost the name of my favourite Final Fight character πŸ˜‰

With this software you can :
– create manufacturers (without duplicates)
– create games linked to these manufacturers (without duplicates)
– create pcbs : with the game linked, its type (original, bootleg, conversion), its origin, its location, its state (working, wip, dead, etc.), its faults when they exist, etc.
– for each pcb, you can add analysis and link actions to them (whether completed or not), pictures, signature data, describe faults, etc.
– you can extract analysis/actions listing for every pcb, in text, JSON or XML format

State of pcbs is shown using configurable colours (text and background), so you can check each state visually. You can also filter pcbs display by state and/or faults.

AGAR is perfectly usable as is, but I intend to add some more modules in the future, like (non exhaustive list) :
– purchase management
– note management
– and maybe a little components stockpile management, but don’t count heavily on this one …

Linux and Windows binaries are available, and current version is 1.1.9. Click on “Projects” at the top of the page to get the link to AGAR’s project page on Bitbucket (including download links).

That’s all for now, I hope you’ll find it useful, as for me I’m using it everyday.