RISC OS Desktop modernisation: LaunchPad update 02

To everyone interested,
here there is a quick video with the latest updates on one of the “RISC OS Desktop Modernisation” gadgets (temporarily called LaunchPad).

It replaces the old “Apps” (the ResourceFiler) and allows Apps browsing with more features that the old App did. It works on every RISC OS release (tested from 3.7 onward so far), obviously it’s better on RISC OS 5 because it integrates with !PackMan (as well as !Store).

All feedbacks welcome, thanks in advance!

P.S. Please do not mind the “grid”, I am just using it to debug “filer-like” icon rendering, so it will NOT be present on the final release.

Progresses update 04: https://youtu.be/YWMrubYIoCk

Progresses update 03: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUltUFjd56U

Progresses update 02: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy3UcH5aif0

Enjoy!

Thumbs up Paolo, nice to see the application evolving.

It replaces the old “Apps” (the ResourceFiler) and allows Apps browsing with more features that the old App did. It works on every RISC OS release (tested from 3.7 onward so far), obviously it’s better on RISC OS 5 because it integrates with !PackMan (as well as !Store).

Not sure I entirely agree with the above reasoning. Here’s why:

I use Director, coupled with the Iconbar Apps folder; it’s a powerful combination; a right-click of the mouse (adjust button), and you open an application quicker than searching for it. Of course, a personal preference is to store all of my frequently used Applications in the Iconbar Apps folder, holding the actual applications in the main Apps folder on disc and Utilities in the Utility folder.

Bernard Boase’s ROUGOL RISC OS Distribution talk was insightful; it illustrated how some people use their computers differently from me when searching for and placing applications. A question I framed from Bernard’s talk. Is how do we find Applications quickly, considering as well the new user perspective? As we may know, RODirect in their distribution helpfully places applications into folders, named according to their usage, something I think is helpful for a new starter. Of course, we’re not only considering new starters here but potentially finding ways to search, classify applications so that they are easy to find.

So, where would we put this new feature? Insert it as a menu item on the Iconbar Apps folder? Or rename it to “Find” in the Apps folder in the Iconbar Apps folder? Or something different? A separate Iconbar icon called LaunchPad?

Footnote: Just in case it gets overlooked, there is also another thread here proposing changes to the Apps folder set-up.

Hi Andrew,
thanks for your feedback :)

It replaces the old “Apps” (the ResourceFiler) and allows Apps browsing with more features that the old App did. It works on every RISC OS release (tested from 3.7 onward so far), obviously it’s better on RISC OS 5 because it integrates with !PackMan (as well as !Store).

Not sure I entirely agree with the above reasoning. Here’s why:

I totally understand your point, two quick notes:

• Please do not forget that with the DME engine everything is optional, included this !LaunchPad. So if you do not want to use it you leave it unchecked in the list of gadgets to autostart.
• !LaunchPad “replaces” the Apps, in the sense that it literally replaces it, aka it can install itself in the iconbar instead of Apps. So, if enabled, you will not have Apps icon anymore, you’ll have the LaunchPad icon instead.

I use Director, coupled with the Iconbar Apps folder; it’s a powerful combination; a right-click of the mouse (adjust button), and you open an application quicker than searching for it. Of course, a personal preference is to store all of my frequently used Applications in the Iconbar Apps folder, holding the actual applications in the main Apps folder on disc and Utilities in the Utility folder.

This is something I am actually adding to the LaunchPad, the menu based browsing, you click menu on its icon and it will open a menu similar to Director, that will have the following voices:

• Applications (which explodes with the content of the window in the LaunchPad, however displayed as a menu)
• Utilities (which explores the utility directory, again as a menu)
• Few more stuff, for example I am thinking to add Documents and Choices, but we’ll see

A question I framed from Bernard’s talk. Is how do we find Applications quickly, considering as well the new user perspective?

So, one thing that I am adding to the LaunchPad is actually drag and drop Apps and directories from other windows, so yes the search at the top will be useful. Also the search at the top is being coded to be “real-time” as you can see there is no search button, so basically the filtering happens as you start typing, JFYI.

As we may know, RODirect in their distribution helpfully places applications into folders, named according to their usage, something I think is helpful for a new starter

Again, people do not have to use my launcher as a must, not even the Entire DME, so again, if people want to use traditional ways they can.

To integrate Direct way to the DME, if a user wants that, it’s simple: the LaunchPad, by default, sees what Resource:$.Apps sees, so you have to do nothing. Then if you want more than what you have in Resoures:$.Apps, you can simply drag and drop it on the LaunchPad. Everything gets stored in a file in Choices:DME.LaunchPad.AppsList so you can simply copy that file from machines to machine and in a single action you have all the machines with everything configured. It also works via Directory Synchronisation.

While for searching across the entire system I am working on another gadget called DeskSearch which opens up a search window when pressing F11 (at the moment) and all you have to do is type some text in and click search, it will search across your entire Boot disk (right now), but it will be able to use more options in the future (as always, time is the limit right now)

For the new comers, they comes already with another OS in their background, the LaunchPad, in the end will mimic Apple LaunchPad and/or Windows Start button. That covers pretty much all the scenarios, because android/ios they have a LaunchPad architecture that is default desktop and yes they have the search-app function as !LaunchPad does.

So, can I ask you, what type of new users and what their background you are considering? Would be nice to know to see if i can integrate such OS features too, in the matter of app launching. Thanks in advance.

So, where would we put this new feature? Insert it as a menu item on the Iconbar Apps folder? Or rename it to “Find” in the Apps folder in the Iconbar Apps folder? Or something different? A separate Iconbar icon called LaunchPad?

As I mentioned earlier, !LaunchPad replaces Apps (it literally replaces its icon on the iconbar), there can be only one!!!! :D

Hope this helps.

Added on the top post a link to a new progresses update video on this app that is part of the RISC OS Desktop Modernisation project.

All User Experience related feedback is very very welcome.

Please, try to refrain from comments like “you don’t like how Windows/macOS/Linux do things” or “DR-DOS Syscalls” or “Multics is better” kind of things, please please please.

Also, again, the work I am doing is totally optional, no-one has to use it unless they really want to.

I want to take this opportunity also to thank the RISC OS community on Discord that has already provided me a ton of extremely valuable feedback, and also the RISC OS twitter community is providing great feedback, so let’s try again on here and see how this goes :)

So far comments:

• Provide a configuration option to have both case sensitive and case insensitive search
• Autofocus the search field when opening the LaunchPad window
• Try to find a way to still have full screen (for a macOS like App launcher), but do not add empty rows when in more “RISC OS like” App launcher Window
• Add to the context menu the traditional “Display Options” to be able to also show small icons and/or full info

All feedbacks welcome, thanks in advance!

Categories (or folders) would be great.
And of course integrated package management, to suggest and install new software :)

@ David

Categories (or folders) would be great.

These two are already on the To Do list, hope this will make you happy :)

And of course integrated package management, to suggest and install new software :)

For release 1 the integration with Packman will be minimal, just an easy to access icon that opens PackMan quickly and, if I have enough time, also opens !PackMan Main window, so a user can quickly run a search, without extra clicks.

Hopefully in the future PackMan will accept a message from the App Filer with the string a user has searched for on their system, to trigger the search on PackMan automatically.

I am compiling a list of requests for Alan which contains the message thingy too, we’ll see how it goes :)

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

[edit: to please Stuart requirement ;) ]

on his system, to trigger the search …

Oh no, I am triggered ;-) Why not use the all-encompassing their, they?

Oh no, I am triggered ;-) Why not use the all-encompassing their, they?

Sorrryyyyy loool editing it right now :)

These two are already on the To Do list, hope this will make you happy :)

Yep

Plese add text names beneath the PlingStore, PackMan and Apps icons at the top.

The app Search function looks really useful for finding apps by name or by topic. Once directories of apps can be added to Launcher, I would just include $.Apps (as may be guessed from my ROUGOL talk).

I think, though, for finding data files DeskSearch may not be necessary since Steve Fryatt’s Locate does such a good job at defining as wide or as narrow a search space as you want.

@ Bernard

Plese add text names beneath the PlingStore, PackMan and Apps icons at the top.

Thanks a lot for your feedback and will do :)

The app Search function looks really useful for finding apps by name or by topic. Once directories of apps can be added to Launcher, I would just include $.Apps (as may be guessed from my ROUGOL talk).

I can already add that on the latest progresses it can now also search for apps on the internet! :) – I am trying to record a new “progress update video” now, but since I am not an expert with this video stuff, please bear with me :)

I think, though, for finding data files DeskSearch may not be necessary since Steve Fryatt’s Locate does such a good job at defining as wide or as narrow a search space as you want.

I agree. More than an “app” it’s a “unified interface” to quickly “kickstart a search” using whatever search engine users like. For instance, if configured with Steve’s Locate it should send locate a wimp message for a quick search. The useful thing is that it works like on Linux KDE or macOS search, so by pressing a key it opens the search field and a user can quickly type what to search. The actual search should be done by using whatever engine a user likes, however it’s very low on my priorities list, so I’ll complete it when everything else is done.

I can already add that on the latest progresses it can now also search for apps on the internet! :) – I am trying to record a new “progress update video” now, but since I am not an expert with this video stuff, please bear with me :)

This sounds cool. Really looking forward to the update, Paolo. Buona fortuna!

@ WPB

Thanks a lot, I am fighting! lol some good footage down, but given there are a lot of progresses, I am not done yet, will finish tomorrow. Now I really need some burgers :)

I think this is excellent. Good to see PackMan being integrated into the RISC OS UI

It looks very interesting. I just wonder if anything is going to appear in the bar at the bottom of the window (where a horizontal scroll bar would be), or if it could go away?

@ Andrew

I think this is excellent. Good to see PackMan being integrated into the RISC OS UI

Thanks and yes I always wanted PackMan integrated with Apps. In the future it should also be possible to search for apps from the LaunchPad in PackMan.

@ Simon

It looks very interesting. I just wonder if anything is going to appear in the bar at the bottom of the window (where a horizontal scroll bar would be), or if it could go away?

Thanks, the bar at the bottom will host “selected category” field, for when categories will be available (on the next progress update video you’ll be able to see it).

It should also host the number of displayed Apps (which changes based on the search criteria and the selected category and yes they will act as a double filter)

At the beginning I also thought it would host the paging buttons, but the majority of people voted for the vertical sliding bar over the paging buttons, so this is no longer the case now.

Also, when the “refresh” button will be available, it will host a mini “progress bar” to indicate the user the LaunchPad refresh status (during a refresh the user cannot interact with the Apps, so they need to be informed of the refresh progress).

A refresh time depends on how many apps have been installed in ResourceFS, the speed of the media (if a user will also configure alternative directories to look into, this because someone has asked to also allow alternative directories to be scanned) and the speed of the machine LaunchPad is being using on. I can confirm it works also on RiscPCs with RISC OS 4 and also on A7000 with RISC OS 3.7 however I need to modify a couple of dynamic routines for these two platforms before releasing it, to make it stable on older RISC OS releases.

With this new version the refresh and app initialisation are multi-tasking, so the user doesn’t have to wait until it’s fully initialised (they can use the desktop totally fine) and during boot process it’s also multi-tasking so the boot proceeds fine.

With standard RISC OS installations (so when a user has below 100 Apps in ResourceFS) the init and/or refresh is very fast. At this stage I tested it with up to 512 Apps in ResourceFS and the system is very usable during init and refresh. I am planning to test it with up to 2000 Apps for release 1.

Sounds good, it just caught my eye, that’s all.

Sounds good, it just caught my eye, that’s all.

Thanks :) and it was a good question.

As I keep adding stuff, I also keep asking for general public feedback, so things can always change.

A potential feature would be add a new thing to Configure that allows you to switch between LaunchPad and the classic Apps with a click of the mouse. This could later be extended to encompass the new Pinboard, and other modernization projects. That way the “these bronze arrowheads aren’t a patch on the proper flint ones” crowd can keep things the way they like it, while the dangerous radicals can defile the user interface with their vile perversions.

It looks very promising can’t wait to use it
I prefer depleted uranium for arrow tips, but would like to be able to switch the apps display to small icons if it isn’t too much trouble to implement.

@ All,

Progresses update 04 video is out, link on the top post. I finally made it! Making videos is definitely NOT my strength, anyway I hope it’s good enough for you guys. As always all feedback and comments are very welcome! :)

@ Charlotte

dangerous radicals

Indeed, looool dangerous! XD

A potential feature would be add a new thing to Configure that allows you to switch between LaunchPad and the classic Apps with a click of the mouse.

So, the old Apps is still provided via LaunchPad and obviously LaunchPad is fully optional. So we should be safe from the “Conservatives”… (the last famous words! lol)

@ John

It looks very promising can’t wait to use it

Thanks! On the latest update you can see it running apps :) It’s still very alpha and I have quite a few more features to develop before releasing the first beta for people to start testing it. Obviously it will also be released in full sources on the RISC OS Community on github, so whoever wants to help to make it better is welcome :)

I prefer depleted uranium for arrow tips, but would like to be able to switch the apps display to small icons if it isn’t too much trouble to implement.

Also Ian asked for small icons option, so I guess I have two votes now for it and therefore it’s going to be a thing ;)