Midnight Mars Browser, Midnight Mars Browser discussion Options

[wyogold]

I've tried mmb on 3 machines just for fun. All slow old machines i've been given.
all are running win98 sp2
machine 1-128 ram pentium (90) i think
machine 2-256 ram amd k62
machine 3-512 ram amd k62

machine 1 runs VERY slow during dl's/updates and will not run ANYTHING when mmb is generating the color and ang images. Sometimes it hang "i think when it tries to run a process i don't know about"

maching 2 runs ok during dl's/updates but bogs down way bad durng image generation. I can still run other tasks with out hanging but it takes forever to do anything.

machine 3 runs flawlessly during dl/updates but bogs down a bit during image generation. not nearly as bad as machine 2.

anyway just a bit of testing for your info.

scott

[mhoward]

Great info, Scott, thanks!

Probably I will lower the update thread priority and maybe throw in some statements to give some more time back to the process during image generation. I guess we'll see if that helps.

[Jeff7]

my old pentium 2 does grind to a halt when images are being created, setting to below normal does solve this.

How much RAM do your systems have? MMB is a bit of a memory hog; 512Mb is really needed for performance to be decent. Not that I'm doubting that setting the priority might be a good thing.

1.3GB of RAM here.
Processor is an Athlon XP-M, running at 2.2GHz.

[OWW]

This is probably a Java issue, but are there more people having problems with the MMB and anti-aliasing turned on in the graphics card control panel?
With FSAA turned on, all the characters look fuzzy and sometimes the windows are entirely blank. Turn it off and everything is fine though.

[MahFL]

How much RAM do your systems have? MMB is a bit of a memory hog; 512Mb is really needed for performance to be decent. Not that I'm doubting that setting the priority might be a good thing.

It has 512 MB.

[mhoward]

This is probably a Java issue, but are there more people having problems with the MMB and anti-aliasing turned on in the graphics card control panel?
With FSAA turned on, all the characters look fuzzy and sometimes the windows are entirely blank. Turn it off and everything is fine though.

Sounds like a Java issue. I wonder if there's another Java program you could try. Mars24 springs to mind.

[CosmicRocker]

Is this news, or am I just the last to notice? MMB is actually being advertized by the Exploratorium...?

http://www.exploratorium.edu/mars/raw_data.html

[mhoward]

Is this news, or am I just the last to notice?  MMB is actually being advertized by the Exploratorium...?

http://www.exploratorium.edu/mars/raw_data.html

I noticed that recently. I don't get a huge number of hits on my website, but a few are coming from that link now, which is nice.

Now when JPL links to my site, then I'll be excited

[mhoward]

Version 1.0.7 is now up. Highlights include a new Image Information window which shows the information based on the raw image filename, and an improved Slideshow Criteria dialog that includes options to exclude solar filter and sundial images.

http://midnightmarsbrowser.blogspot.com

[jaredGalen]

With regards to adding the functionality for supporting internet access through a proxy. From flicking through this thread it seems you
might not have had a chance to implement it. To save you some time looking it up here it is I think.

if(useProxy)
{
String proxyURL = "proxy1.ucd.ie";
String portNumber = "8484";
System.getProperties().setProperty("http.proxyHost",proxyURL);
System.getProperties().setProperty("http.proxyPort",portNumber);
}

I do of course have an a purely selfish reason for posting this.
Silly proxies

Thanks once again for all the hard work you have put into MMB.
jG

[mhoward]

With regards to adding the functionality for supporting internet access through a proxy. From flicking through this thread it seems you
might not have had a chance to implement it. To save you some time looking it up here it is I think.

if(useProxy)
            {
                String proxyURL = "proxy1.ucd.ie";
                String portNumber = "8484";
                System.getProperties().setProperty("http.proxyHost",proxyURL);
                System.getProperties().setProperty("http.proxyPort",portNumber);
            }

I do of course have an a purely selfish reason for posting this. 
Silly proxies

Thanks once again for all the hard work you have put into MMB.
jG

Well, that makes it easy enough for me! I'll put it into the next one. Thanks.

[alan]

The first time I ran the new version it said something about regenerating images. Why does it want to do that?

[mhoward]

The first time I ran the new version it said something about regenerating images. Why does it want to do that?

I had to change the filenames for the generated images to include some information that got lopped off before, like the command sequence number. The new image info window shows this information, and it can be used to filter images in the slideshow. That's why. It'll work without regenerating the images, sort of, but it'll work better if you regenerate them so that they have the correct new filenames.

[wyogold]

my old pentium 2 does grind to a halt when images are being created, setting to below normal does solve this.

How much RAM do your systems have? MMB is a bit of a memory hog; 512Mb is really needed for performance to be decent. Not that I'm doubting that setting the priority might be a good thing.

Cool ver-.7 did the trick. When I get time I'll go back and try the older machines again.
but it works on this one which is "machine 2- 256 ram amd k62"
I'll give a better update in a few days but it is doing the initial regeneration of the images with little or no bogging down. Well done.

[mhoward]

Version 1.0.8 is now up. New features include proxy support and a "Check for New Images" feature that quickly scans both Exploratorium and JPL for raw images that haven't been downloaded yet. This version also handles switching updates between Exploratorium and JPL without re-downloading files. A problem where a download could freeze indefinitely has been fixed.

http://midnightmarsbrowser.blogspot.com