If you've been keeping an eye on the source code, you'll have noticed that v1.1c of Emptosoft Chat appeared a few days ago. I never like putting letters in version numbers, but it seems appropriate in this case - v1.1c is exactly the same as v1.1, but it will use a command-line interface rather than a graphical user interface if you run it with the argument "-c".

Therefore, I hereby announce the availability of v1.1c (and through that, version 1.1) of Emptosoft Chat. Version 1.1 fixes the "Participants" list problems in v1.0, adds a diagnostic mode (enter "Diagnostic Mode" as your name when the program starts) and improves on the speed of v1.0. Also, clients now check if they are compatible with servers before attempting to connect to them. I'm not sure how to best make the public aware of which versions are compatible with each other, but for the moment the compatibility is simple enough: version 1.1 (if you compiled that from the source code) and 1.1c (the version available for download here - source code also available) are compatible with each other, but they are not compatible with version 1.0.

It's worth noting that it's difficult to keep track of conversations when running in the diagnostic mode due to the amount of diagnostic information added to the message log. It's difficult to send messages too, when running in diagnostic mode and using the command-line interface - the command-line interface was (clearly) added as a last-minute hack for my personal needs (loose coupling made it quick and easy), so it's not as polished as the graphical user interface, nor does it have as many features (and it's stuck in server mode). To be fair, the type of people who would use the command-line interface mode should be capable of modifying the source code to suit their needs - the changes needed are not difficult.

Anyway, I'd like to thank Rory for making this version Mac-compatible and, without further ado, here is the download link, the readme link and some screenshots:

Download Emptosoft Chat v1.1c

Readme
(Contains the licence this software is released under, which is the same as the licence Emptosoft Chat v1.0 was released under).




I don't know when the next release will be - there are still a few minor improvements that I want to make before any major changes, but my return to Cambridge is aproaching rapidly and I don't want to waste time (especially during term) doing work from the previous year.

By the way, if anyone wants a version of Emptosoft Chat in a different language, I can give you a list of stuff to translate and I can compile version 1.1c in that language fairly easily (if I do get translations, obviously I'll make some way of choosing the language within Emptosoft Chat in the next version).

Enjoy.

It is with great joy that I hereby announce availability of Emptosoft Chat - a simple (under 30KB) chat server/client for all desktop operating systems (again, for Mac OS X compatibility, I need someone to compile Emptosoft Chat on OS X - ask me for the source code if you can help the available version is now Mac-compatible). Rather than explain the software here, I'm going to leave you with two screenshots and let you fiddle with the software yourself. It should be noted that I've fixed a few bugs even since making these screenshots. For example, the "Your IP" bit towards the top-left of the server mode screenshot was omitted when the software was in client mode - the version available for download does not have that bug.



The software is released under my "beerware" licence:
Emptosoft Chat, (henceforth known as 'the software'), is provided 'as-is', without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, without limitation, fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software is with you.
The software was created by Mark Hogan. As long as you retain this notice you can do whatever you want with it and its source code and files (if supplied). If we meet some day, and you think the software is worth it, you can buy me a beer in return.

Of course, I don't expect to meet most visitors of this website so, if you want to buy me a beer, there is a donation system on this blog for doing so. Also, I should point out that it's fair that I'm not obliged to take any responsibility for consequences of using the software, or provide any support, when you consider the fact that it's free. At the moment, the source code is available on request (either via email or blog comment) until I can think of a hassle-free but neat way of making it available.

Click here to download Emptosoft Chat.

By the way, this is v0.9 in my opinion, in terms of development - there are still quite a few bugs that I know of and will fix. However, calling it version 1.0 makes me feel less pressured to fix the bugs.

I shall undoubtedly be augmenting the features in subsequent versions - this is only the beginning...

It is with great pleasure that I hereby announce availability of the Emptosoft Alarm, version 1.0. The Emptosoft Alarm is a very basic program that I wrote a few months ago and tweaked a bit this afternoon - it gives your computer alarm-clock functionality. The program is very, very small - only about 2KB without the built-in alarm sound. Oh, and while the built-in alarm sound is fairly nice, if you put a file called "sound.wav" in the same directory as the program, it will play that as the alarm sound instead.

The software is released under my "beerware" licence:
The Emptosoft Alarm, (henceforth known as 'the software'), is provided 'as-is', without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, without limitation, fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software is with you.
The software was created by Mark Hogan. As long as you retain this notice you can do whatever you want with it and its source code and files (if supplied). If we meet some day, and you think the software is worth it, you can buy me a beer in return.

Of course, I don't expect to meet most visitors of this website so, if you want to buy me a beer, there is a donation system on this blog for doing so. Also, I should point out that it's fair that I'm not obliged to take any responsibility for consequences of using the software, or provide any support, when you consider the fact that it's free. At the moment, the source code is available on request (either via email or blog comment) until I can think of a hassle-free but neat way of making it available.

Click here to download the Emptosoft Alarm.

The Emptosoft Alarm should work on any desktop OS (I don't think the UI will work on mobile operating systems and, besides, mobile operating systems come with alarms), although I have found in the past that Mac OS X has an older version of Java which will only run software compiled with old versions of Java - if you are running OS X, ask for the source code and compile the software yourself (I'd appreciate it if you could send me the result of the compilation - that way I can distribute a version of the Emptosoft alarm which is guaranteed to run on all operating systems).

I have more software nearing completion, so keep checking this blog regularly...

Edit (23:40 WEST, 19 Jul 2009): With a bit of help, the Emptosoft Alarm is now compatible with Mac OS X - download the new version from the link above, now! (The version number hasn't changed because there have been no changes to the code).

My old website (the Emptosoft website) seems to have gone down recently. It may come back up at some point, but I'm going to transfer the downloads that were available there to this website - I've been planning to do so for ages. Anyway, without further ado, here are the downloads:

Emptosoft Software:
- The Emptosoft Installer - This lets you download and install as much of the Emptosoft software as you want. Software currently available through the Emptosoft Installer: The Emptosoft Rendering Tool for Terragen, The Emptosoft Rendering Tool for Terragen (Network Version), The Emptosoft Network Simulator and The Emptosoft Updater. Also, The Emptosoft Download Manager may be made available again at some point.
- The Emptosoft Software Package - This is quite old, but it contains portable versions of The Emptosoft Download Manager, The Emptosoft Network Simulator, The Emptosoft Rendering Tool for Terragen and The Emptosoft Updater.
- The Emptosoft Render Farm Manager (Beta) - This is a beta version of a render farm manager for Terragen 2. It is released under the Beerware licence (which I hope to eventually release all of my software under), so it contains all of the source code and files as well as the software.

Software previously only available to members of the Emptosoft website:
I have decided to make this software public now - it was limited to members before simply to boost the number of members.
- Hacker, version 1 - Makes your computer look like it's hacking something. Smaller in size (both file size and window size) than version 2.
- Hacker, version 2 - Makes your computer look like it's hacking something. Similar to version 1, but more impressive.
- Annoying Program - Confirms whether or not you really want to be annoyed and, upon confirmation that you're sure that you want to run it, starts to rape your computer. It doesn't destroy any data - it just creates general visual mayhem, including opening and closing your CD/DVD/BD drive and constantly restarting and killing Windows Explorer.

Screensavers:
- The Adventures of Guy - The screensaver version of most of a huge frame-by-frame PowerPoint slideshow I made years ago...