Didn't Work

I just wanted to let you guys know that Freeguide didn't work after I installed it on my WinXP system. WinXP won't run Java standalone, so the shortcut you put on the desktop is useless. XMLTV produces weird Perl debug error output when I try to run --configure. There is no such thing as tv_grab_na as your instructions say. There is a tv_grab_na_dd command but it spews Perl parsing errors when it tries to download content.

I personally never had a very high opinion of Perl as a language or a development tool. It's good for quickie scripts on Linux but not production quality for anything.

Your uninstall script doesn't remove the start menu item either, I had to delete it manually.

As you might have guessed, I don't have a lot of patience for stuff that doesn't work, or stuff that takes a lot of fidgeting to get to work.

To your credit, I think Freeguide is an interesting concept, but the implementation and execution need major work.

My synopsis, rewrite XMLTV in C/C++, rewrite Freeguide in C/C++, use a more professional installation tool, and write some basic instructions that are accurate and qualified on all the platforms you intend to support.

Don't get mad at me either. I'm giving you my free time writing this critical feedback because I thought it might help with your project. And I know you can do better than this. But I'm sure you have reasons for it being the way it is.

Larry W

*****

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