kArmTI - TI-Nspire emulator with skin

[SpiroH]

... The USBlink explorer would be pretty helpful. Go ahead and do it!

That USBLink is just plain awesome. Can't wait

Thanks guys for the overwhelming support!

Here is a beta release of the UsbLink explorer.
     after -->      
Features:
1. Drag & drop files between Nspire and a Host folder and vice-versa.
2. Multi-selection support.
3. ListCtrls have sorting capability
4. Easy to use (after the initial folders set-up).

Limitations and Instructions: (a bit longish...)
1. Transfers are (at this stage) limited to only document files (.tns)
2. I do not know yet how to get a list of the folders below the 'MyDocuments' (referred as 'top-folders' below).
According to HackSpire's documentation, we should use the root-path '/' for that, but it doesn't seem to work (yet?).
3. This actually a PITA, so my work around for that is the following:
   3.1 Initially the tree is filled up with some known folder names, like: Examples, MyLib and some others (ndless and gbc4nspire)
   3.2 We can Add/Delete folders to/from the tree. Use right-click context-menu for that. For Example, on the screen shot, i've added mviewer and nRGBLib.
   3.3 It is recommended that all the folders in the tree do exist on the calculator side!
   3.4 This work it 'only' required for the 'top-folders' (the ones just below MyDocuments).  All children folders are automagically detected and inserted in the tree.
   3.5 These top-folders will be persisted to/from the registry. You only need to do it once or whenever a new top folder is required.
       (I hope you don't use that many top-folders. Anyway, i still think its worth the effort. Maybe we'll be able to circumvent this limtation in the future, but right now i still dunno how.)

4. Start kArmTI and wait until the boot processes completes. Show the USBLink explorer (Alt+E).
5. To grab files from the calculator:
   5.1 Select a folder on the tree and you should get a list of its contents on the rhs (right hand side) list (nspire's).
   5.2 On the nspire list select the files you want to grab. Use the normal windows multi-select procedure: shift+cursor/mouse-click or ctrl+click
   5.3. Drag the files and drop them on the Host's list. This will start the multi-file grabbing procedure. It all goes well you should get your calc's files on the host side.
6. To send files to the calculator:
   6.1 Select a target folder on the tree (or use the already selected one).
   6.2 Select the files on the host's list you want to send to Nspire's side.
   6.3 Drag & Drop them on the Nspire's list. That will start the multi-file sending procedure.
7. Browsing nspire folders:
      Double-click on a folder (DIR) item on the Nspire list to launch a dir-list command that will show its contents.
8. Other:
       8.1 If you change a folder's name on the nspire that will be reflected on the tree, but the old folder will still 'sit' there.
       To purge this/these older folder(s) you may either force a tree refill (use the refresh button above the tree ) or individualy delete the folder.
       8.2 Open up the console to get a lot of log info.

Ok, enough of talk let's do the walk. Try it out and report your controlled emotions .
LBNL, I know it still needs some more work, but i feel i should show you something already 'kicking'.

Cheers,

Edit1: correcting some typos.
Edit2: I've just found the solution for the 'top-folders' nuisance mentionned above. Actually the HackSpire docs are correct. I can now confirm it. My bad, sorry. I'll get back with an improved solution, asap.
Here is the proof (for my case):
Listing '/' details...
dir: MyLib/
file: themes.csv; 191 (bytes);
dir: Examples/
dir: ndless/
dir: mviewer/
dir: gbc4nspire/
dir: nRGBLib/
Listing of '/' complete.

Edit3: You may just forget about my 'top-folders' work around crap and try my new fresh version v1.29 instead.

[DJ Omnimaga]

Darn I really need to give this a try eventually. It is really becoming amazing.

[adriweb]

Just tested, it's awesome

[SpiroH]

Just tested, it's awesome

Thank you! I will try to improve it a bit though.

Skin editor (v1.07): Before i forget about it (and as promissed sometime ago) i've decided to publish a new version on my skin editor (v1.07), done earlier this month but then suspended when i switched to kArmTI todo the more absorbing USBLink development.
     
Summary of the new Features:
I - General
 G1. Only two views: Keys Position and Keys Arrangement. LCD is treated as a (special) key.
 G1. MultiPane StatusBar
II - Position View (KeysDlg)
  P1. A ListCtrl showing the Keyname and its Skin Rectangle
  P2. A checkbox for easier visualization of the defined keys.
  P3. NDEFs keys do not show up anymore on the list.
III - Arrange View
  A1. Block-Move with mouse and keyboard
  A2. Change First (VK_SHIFT) and Last (VK_CONTROL) element inside Arrange-Rect with keyboard
  A3. Extra Align options: Middles, Centers, Make Samesize
  A4. Undo/Redo support
IV - Instructions/Warnings:
  W1. In Position view to move the keys with the keyboard, we first need to setfocus to mainview (eg: clicking the MainFrame caption or hitting a handle of the sizing recttracker). By default focus is set to the KeysDlg.
  This makes the key's selection (better) visible and also possible with the keyboard. It seems we can't have both (position control with the keyboard and good selection visibility on the keysdlg) at the sametime.
  W2. In Position view changes are only commited after a validating right-click whereas in Arrange view the commitment is instantaneous although we have the Undo/Redo possibility.

I'm afraid it will never become a finished product, simply because it's not possible. We always miss some unimplemented feature... That's the main reason i'm making it public now.
Maybe some of you who still care about skins will find use for it and/or will report some bugs.

Have fun,

[SpiroH]

Thanks SpiroH, your new version is very comfortable now!
About your USB-Explorer: ...A horizontal layout (Nspire and host windows side by side) would be nice.

Hi Franz, Nice to hear from you again! I'm glad you like the new Skin Editor (v1.07).
About the USB Explorer horizontal layout, well that shouldn't be a problem .
Right now i'm busy with higher priority personal stuff. My youngest daughter is applying for a place at the university in another city, so i must go there hunting for rooms. It shouldn't last long i hope.

Regards,

[Yeong]

Do I need additional materials such as the OS and stuff?

[SpiroH]

Do I need additional materials such as the OS and stuff?

Thanks for your interest. Yes you do. Please refer to the first post and follow the documentation links.

Anyways, I'm not sure if this is wrong with karmTI or with the underlying nspire_emu, but it's happened quite a few times now. The keyboard randomly loses connection to the emulator and I can't control anything with it. Mouse control still works and using the keyboard in other open applications work. It's quite inconvenient...

Some time ago Wayne detected a similar problem and i have cross related  it to a possible mviewer/ndless stdio lock-uk, but i'm still not sure about the very origin of the keyboard connection loss (post: http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?topic=13988.0;msg=252286). If it ever occurs again (and certainly it will) my suggestion is the following: would you please try to establish some correlation between the application you're using (whether it runs on top of ndless or is ti's native software) and the keyboard connection loss. That would perhaps help to establish some clues. 'Random connection loss' is rather vague. Of course, we would all be much happier after this flaw is pinpointed. At this time, that's all i can say. Is not much, but is some feedback.

Great idea indeed, unfortunately not easy to use on a netbook. A horizontal layout (Nspire and host windows side by side) would be nice.

Hi Franz, I can see you're logged in. So here goes something for you:
 
Do you like it? Wait just a little bit longer...
Cheers,

[SpiroH]

So if you would ask me, I would even suggest to remove this leftmost column showing only the folders, and use just 2 columns: one for Nspire and one for Host.
The folders should simply be integrated into these 2 columns (as every usual filecommander today does it), being displayed at the top of the filelist, and if you go into a folder then there should just be a '..' at the top of the list which brings you back to the parent folder.

Thanks Franz for your useful comments. The 'previous dir' ('..') thing is a good idea and i intend make use of it! However, i think the tree gives a much faster (random not sequential!) access to the target dir (too much double-clicking is old-fashioned by today's standards), so i might just keep it.
Cheers,

[shmibs]

if a ".." is included in the file pane, then clicking on it would move the user up one folder. it might be easier for some, while the tree view would be for others, so there's no reason not to include it.

* shmibs knows he appreciates things like that.

[Wayne]

Nice work SpiroH.
Could you add delete, create or rename file/folder to the USB Explorer?
I like the tree view Maybe you could add a second one for the "root".

[shmibs]

why would there be two trees?
i have no clues how that follows, and, typically, the root folder would just not include a ".."

[Wayne]

why would there be two trees?

Nspire and Host.

That's what I meant.

[Lionel Debroux]

TILP and TINCLS both have a target and a host tree.

[SpiroH]

Amazing how fast such a discussion can develop these days.

if a ".." is included in the file pane, then clicking on it would move the user up one folder. it might be easier for some, while the tree view would be for others, so there's no reason not to include it.

In this particular issue, I tend to agree more with shimbs's approach. Besides, the host's tree although not visible is already there behind the browse button. 

The reasons i'm not too keen (at this moment) on a host's tree are the following:
1. The host's folder (in my simple approach) is not (yet) supposed to change that often. I agree, it would be handy to have a host's tree (in a more mature version) because it would simplify the mirroring the nspire's contents on to the host, eg: for backup purposes.
2. Yet another tree requires more space on the dialog (form).
3. Higher flexibility has to be weighed against development effort and time. I gather I'll follow the simpler step by step procedure and then if/when it works well change a bit the GUI.
4. The important thing is that the underlying communication software is reliable (which still needs improvements), the rest can be adjusted a bit later.

Thank you all for the various contributions.

[Lionel Debroux]

In Linux, Filesystem in USErspace (FUSE) and Character device in USErspace (CUSE) enable exposing lots of things as a filesystem in several hundreds of line of code. Well, the Nspire would need much, much more than several hundreds of lines, because its protocols are nontrivial, and unlike everything else.
It's harder in Windows, AFAIK, and it wouldn't work on Wine anyway (at least because the changing USB stack is not implemented in Wine).