The Pinboard replacement being developed by RISCOS Developments continues to evolve and has now reached alpha8b. We looked at an early alpha in a
previous article. The idea is to improve the RISC OS desktop experience and additional functionality with a dropin replacement writen in C. It includes the ablility to save files to the desktop, sticky notes and to have a carousel of alternating backdrop images.
The software comes in a zip, with copious notes and is easily installed by updating your !Boot dir with the included version. It contains a new PinBoard module in PreDesk and a new !PinSetup application for Configure. Carousel needs a Command to activate it - I could not see a menu option.
Once activated, you will see the new pin icons on the screen, a much enhanced menu and a much better desktop. There is also a message displayed at the bottom left.
If you want to go back to the orginal desktop, an Uninstall utility is included.
The latest release bring more stability and polish to the application. Nice to see the developers trying to make sure it plays nicely with other applications like MoreDesk.
I have the latest version running on my Titanium and it seems very stable. No issues to report, beyond slight frustration when I go back to one of my other RISC OS machines which does not have it installed!
PinBoard is still being developed and not yet actively available. My understanding is that if you would like to help test, Andrew Rawnsley is very happy to let you have a copy.
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PinBoard updated to alpha8b |
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richw (11:38 25/1/2021)
VincceH (10:41 26/1/2021)
arawnsley (12:05 26/1/2021)
VincceH (12:40 26/1/2021)
richw (14:18 27/1/2021)
helpful (23:53 28/1/2021)
arawnsley (00:07 29/1/2021)
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Richard Walker |
Message #125056, posted by richw at 11:38, 25/1/2021 |
Member
Posts: 73
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Doesn't the new Pinboard background blend?
I would have thought the '!Messenger', '!Avalanche' and 'SetupCloud' text wouldn't have those white boxes - the white would, effectively, be transparent. |
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VinceH |
Message #125057, posted by VincceH at 10:41, 26/1/2021, in reply to message #125056 |
 Lowering the tone since the dawn of time
Posts: 1600
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Doesn't the new Pinboard background blend? RISC OS 5's config doesn't include an option to set the -RemoveIconBoxes switch on the WimpVisualFlags line. That switch removes the fugly colour and blends the text with the background.
If the theme in use doesn't include it, it can be added by looking in !Boot.Choices.Boot.PreDesk - the ThemeSetUp file and adding the switch to the relevant line.
However, IIRC, whenever that line is updated (e.g. if you tweak the theme from the configure window), if the theme didn't include the line as part of its set up, the switch will go walkies again.
Worse, having written all of that, I had an IIRC in brackets after specifying the file, but I decided to check. Switched on the ARMX6, and noticed that I have the fugly boxes - checked the file, and the switch *is* there.
So either something is overriding it, or something is causing it to not be honoured. (I'm sure it was working when I first added it). |
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Andrew Rawnsley |
Message #125058, posted by arawnsley at 12:05, 26/1/2021, in reply to message #125057 |
R-Comp chap
Posts: 600
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OK, two answers.
1) RemoveIconBoxes doesn't apply to Pinboard - you need NoIconBoxesInTransWindows.
2) Pinboard 2.0 allows this to be chosen via its Configuration tool, alongside other blend types.
However, whether it is preferable depends on the backdrop in question. Since RISC OS (without pinboard 2.0) doesn't have any blend options, if you have a backdrop with dark and light areas it can be hard to find a colour which stands out if no "boxes" are present.
Imagine a backdrop which is half black, and half white. Black would be invisible on the black side, and white would be invisible on the white side. That is why users may choose to use icon boxes - it provides contrast.
In Pinboard 2, there's a Windows-style blend option although it isn't perfect. It essentially outlines the text with additional contrasting samples and then blends, so that the text should be clearly visible in almost all situations. |
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VinceH |
Message #125059, posted by VincceH at 12:40, 26/1/2021, in reply to message #125058 |
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time
Posts: 1600
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OK, two answers.
1) RemoveIconBoxes doesn't apply to Pinboard - you need NoIconBoxesInTransWindows. And this is why I should double check things instead of largely relying on memory. 
As I said, adding the switch once worked for me and was no longer working - but clearly the reason the switch I mentioned was there but not doing what I expected is that I was remembering the wrong switch entirely.
I did get rid of the fugly boxes, they're there now. The right switch had gone walkies at some point when I made a change.
I shall now hit my head repeatedly against my desk while saying "Doh!" between each strike.
2) Pinboard 2.0 allows this to be chosen via its Configuration tool, alongside other blend types. I'm not using it (my RISC OS boxes aren't switched on frequently enough to make testing anything worthwhile) but it's nice to know it's now easily configurable.
Edit: And I have now added the right switch back in, obvs.
[Edited by VincceH at 12:41, 26/1/2021] |
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Richard Walker |
Message #125060, posted by richw at 14:18, 27/1/2021, in reply to message #125058 |
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Posts: 73
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Wow, I didn't realise I was stepping into a minefield there!
In Pinboard 2, there's a Windows-style blend option although it isn't perfect. It essentially outlines the text with additional contrasting samples and then blends, so that the text should be clearly visible in almost all situations.
This sounds entirely reasonable, thanks for the info. |
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Bryan Hogan |
Message #125064, posted by helpful at 23:53, 28/1/2021, in reply to message #125058 |
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Posts: 255
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if you have a backdrop with dark and light areas it can be hard to find a colour which stands out if no "boxes" are present. When I played around with that addon (ColourFiler?) that colours the background of Filer windows depending on filesystem and depth down the tree, the file names were in black text if the background was lightish and white text if the background was darkish. It would switch as you went deeper down the directory tree. Couldn't Pinboard2 do something similar? |
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Andrew Rawnsley |
Message #125065, posted by arawnsley at 00:07, 29/1/2021, in reply to message #125064 |
R-Comp chap
Posts: 600
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The difficulty is that you could (potentially) have images with all sorts of colours pixel-by-pixel. It'd be very hard to accommodate that, I think.
It'd make selection-spotting and that kind of thing tricky, too, if it mixed dark and light labels "on a whim" as normally you'd invert something to show selection.
Not saying something smart couldn't be done, but it isn't immediately obvious what the best solution would be. |
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