Zview Beta 6
You will probably remember a recent issue of Alive, where we first featured
zView. It started off quietly enough as a simple image browser, but it set
itself as outstanding from the rest with version 2. Who could ignore the
thumbnail gallery, a feature rarely seen on Atari, and possibly unique on
here?
There have been steady and non-flashy improvements since then. Originally
designed as a Mint application, the shakiness with Magic was cured in
version 3. More image formats have been added too. Now it is not just a
choice between gif and jpg, but we can also show also tga, bmp, png, (x)img,
and even the very Atari specific neo and pi1.
Now it is time to take another look in these pages, we're at the next major
step forward at the v6 beta. zView has now got a .pdf viewer built in! This
is available elsewhere (Porthos), and as been promised with 'MyPDF', but
this is the first freeware interpretation of it.
At the same time, zView has gained some more graphics formats. These now
include Godpaint, at least one of the two versions, and animated gif file
support.
There has been a major freshen-up for the program icons and a new look. The
shared graphics library also freshens up related programs like zWeather.
The first major test of the beta 6 and my new revision 6 '060 was with the
PDF viewer.
We decided to hit it with a multi-page document. The example I had loaded in
and displays it perfectly well. You can either click on the document links
to change the page, or else move the pages a step at a time with the arrow
buttons at the top. Responsiveness is fair even on a 256 colour extended
screen mode display, which is probably not the most optimised in the world.
This will be worth checking again with a graphics card add-on, either the
CTPCI or Supervidel.0
I'd judge PDF viewing to be a roaring success, and a welcome additional
capability. The addition of Godpaint ("By the Reservoir Dogs", as Zorro
puts it) is interesting, there seem to be two variants of godpaint file, in
accordance with the number of program versions, and zView only recognises
one of these. Smurf has this partial recognition in common too. Maybe Pink
can release a tool to convert the 'old' or 'wrong' Godpaint files, to the
one which works with these programs?
There is also now has a zoom feature for pictures, with the controls for
this on the image window when displaying a picture.
The general responsiveness was boosted in line with my recent revision 6
processor uplift. I also found that the differences between 256 and
truecolour were very pronounced, with truecolour being a lot quicker in
rendering thumbnails and loading pics. Clearly zView will benefit from some
sort of graphics booster when it is available. (It could be interesting to
see how zView performs on Hades or something like Aranym with a third party
graphics card not subject to the Videl's limitations.)
zView is a rare and welcome example of modern TOS software catering for
higher end Atari's and offering facilities not usually seen on tos
compatibles. I would hope there is still more to come, as the Ethernat and
CTlink are coming into view as actual products. The next stage is to add on
the previously discussed USB support, to enable direct connection to digital
cameras and other devices. Maybe zView will gain some image correction
features, so blurring the line between a simple image browser, and something
more?
CiH for Alive! Mag, Oct '05
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