• From: Cambridgeshire, UK
  • Registered: 2007-01-27
  • Posts: 6,226

Topic: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

Well first off, I should apologize for bringing down the Driverpacks tracker system while updating the website a few days ago.  Thankfully, Jaak managed to step in and save the day.  Good job Jaak!

Now for the news!
The Graphics Driverpacks have been rigorously tested and beat-on for the past two months, and now they're ready for primetime.  All three Graphics Driverpacks have reached parity in their version numbers.  7.09 for the A, B & C Graphics Driverpacks.  They're 99% bug-free (still some bug reports from SysPrep users and the odd nVidia BSOD report), but those occur under conditions the average user should not encounter.  We'll continue to beat on the Driverpacks, but keep those bug-reports coming in.  We can only fix issues if we're aware of them. 
The LAN Driverpack was updated to 7.09 and soon we'll be seeing 7.09 releases of the other Driverpacks as we wrap up testing on those.

I'd like to personally thank all those from the testing team (you know who you are!)  You guys are ruthless and thorough!  I wouldn't have it any other way.  smile
New hardware is being developed and sold every day. We need all the testers we can get.  The more hardware we can test on, the better the Driverpacks will get.

Like Jaak said:
You need us?  We need you!

*Edit, 11 Sept.
The Graphics Driverpacks all received bugfixes since the 7.09 release.  Most fixes were in the .ini section. 
New DP versions are:
Graphics_A 7.09.1
Graphics_B 7.09.2
Graphics_C 7.09.1

The UpdateTracker will get updated soon to reflect these recent changes.

Last edited by mr_smartepants (2007-09-12 07:26:58)

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  • Jaak
  • Old Timer Rookie
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  • From: Eeklo, in the East Flanders
  • Registered: 2006-07-23
  • Posts: 3,594

Re: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

Erm,
thanks for the praise.
It took time, though.
At first, I could not figure out why the backed up files did not work when all files I thought good were online.
Later, when I used file comparison tools to figure out the differences between backups, I spotted the locator fix.

The tools I use are inadequate.
A professional PHP IDE editor would cost quite a bit, and I am not a programmer.
The IDE trial versions I used have expired, they could at times tell me about a few inconsistensies which would help. Still, despite the IDE check tools I had, I recall I've made mistakes which made the pages go blank.
(two or three months ago, the best IDE tool I used showed me a hidden character before the array opened. That hidden 'carriage return' broke the update tracker.
Because of that, I've since then used hexedit capable tools to see hidden content.
Which means, I need at least two programs to do what One could. sad

Oh well, all is well.
Erik should be rewarded for all the hours he laboured on the Graphics Packs.
If he ever gets the opportunity to put an NVIDIA card in a wishbox, he should get one.
(TeeHee, I need ATI.. none of my testrigs have it.)


I no longer have a working IDE so I cannot debug.
But, it got fixed.
I tasted a Pro tool for examining differences, and I want a licence.
That is going to be in my wishlist.

I hope the new site comes live soon.
This BBS and the way we must do things eats hours.
But, I love it.
We do need you guys, we really need help.

check utility spotlight, search for driver gather tool, and develop it?
Erm, When I read that, many months ago, I thought, Bâshrat the Sneaky uses it.
I recently learned that was not the case.
So, here was a tip.
I have downloaded that tool. But, I am not a programmer.

The answer was 42?
Kind regards, Jaak.
  • Jaak
  • Old Timer Rookie
  • Offline
  • From: Eeklo, in the East Flanders
  • Registered: 2006-07-23
  • Posts: 3,594

Re: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

Mass 7.09 is up

WLAN is for tomorrow.
The changelog is almost ready.
However, supported device list requires a lot of work because WLAN needed Big Time checking and major overhaul.

[..EDIT..]
I said JakeLD was GOOD news.

JakeLD (Jonathan) and his brother are guys what come out of corporate blue sky.
I am impressed by their speed and (yes, we need more qualified testers..) quality.

The private "limited" Quality Assuranse checks I could do on JakeLD's work make me think he is good news.
I can share all my knowledge and prove me dumb.
I will not be so dumb that I do not share my questions.

FYI. All team member wannabees are required to submit real life adress and details to admin.

[..end edit..]

Last edited by Jaak (2007-09-05 15:44:22)

The answer was 42?
Kind regards, Jaak.
  • From: Hasselt, Belgium
  • Registered: 2006-05-26
  • Posts: 2,609

Re: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

WTF Jaak :S A *hex editor* (!!!!!!!!!!!) to check for hidden characters yikes

I'm using TextMate (http://macromates.com/), which has syntax checking for lots of languages. It's a Mac OS X only app though. I'm sure there are opensource text editors for Windows that do PHP syntax checking... I'll ask around a bit.

Aside that: well done everybody! smile

Founder of DriverPacks.net — wimleers.com

Wim Leers's Website

  • From: Cambridgeshire, UK
  • Registered: 2007-01-27
  • Posts: 6,226

Re: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

BTW, what's up with the HTML code on: http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/



<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>


<head>

IE doesn't display the funky characters but Firefox does.

Oh, and the markup on that page doesn't validate at W3C.org
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http% … mp;group=0

Last edited by mr_smartepants (2007-09-06 03:43:29)

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  • eXoRt
  • Technical Analyst, DP Tester
  • Offline
  • From: Montreal, Canada
  • Registered: 2007-07-04
  • Posts: 14

Re: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

Bâshrat the Sneaky wrote:

WTF Jaak :S A *hex editor* (!!!!!!!!!!!) to check for hidden characters yikes

I'm using TextMate (http://macromates.com/), which has syntax checking for lots of languages. It's a Mac OS X only app though. I'm sure there are opensource text editors for Windows that do PHP syntax checking... I'll ask around a bit.

Aside that: well done everybody! smile

I use notepad2 as a replacement of the original notepad.


http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html/

If you like this project, please support it!
save_hwids.exe
DriverPacks tutorial
Create your own DP!
  • Jaak
  • Old Timer Rookie
  • Offline
  • From: Eeklo, in the East Flanders
  • Registered: 2006-07-23
  • Posts: 3,594

Re: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

Last night I finally explored the possibilities "utility spotlight" offers.

I used a copy of WLAN, edited a couple INF and disabled a few HWIDs by commenting them.
The SED scripts we used would export "commented" HWIDs, but this utility does NOT.

It also goes a long way in making the output really useful because it has:
1; fixed number or colums. (a folder location is a single "word", not a varying number of words)
2; the possibility to show driver version
3; the possibility to show the platform the driver is for.
4; it can handle PCI, USB, display, etc..
(our first SED tool only did PCI from *.INF. I had also made one for scanning *.OEM. I had one for USB, one for monitor..)

The utility has an INI and a CMD script one can preconfigure.
The full option list is this.
"FullPath","Class","Provider","DriverVer","Manufacturer","Model","TargetOSVersion","PNPID","PNPIDType","Description"

I still have to figure out whether it also scans files like txtsetup.OEM
But, it is a very useful tool, and I should have looked at it many months ago.

The answer was 42?
Kind regards, Jaak.
  • Jaak
  • Old Timer Rookie
  • Offline
  • From: Eeklo, in the East Flanders
  • Registered: 2006-07-23
  • Posts: 3,594

Re: Rocky start to September, but smooth sailing ahead.

Well, as you can see, new releases were uploaded and published the 11th .

chipset (mostly changes in Nvidia files.)
Mass Storage (Also has changes in Nvidia files.)

Graphics A, B and C
We should thank all people who helped us with detailed feedback, and Mr_SmartePants for not giving up on it.

The answer was 42?
Kind regards, Jaak.