Re: Didn't Work

Hi Larry, and thanks for your email.

I hope we can help you to get FreeGuide working on your machine.  From 
some of the things you've said it sounds like you've got hold of an old 
version.  Hopefully the latest version will work.

What version of FreeGuide do you have?

What version of Java do you have?

Woodgeard, Larry A wrote:

> I just wanted to let you guys know that Freeguide didn't work after I 
> installed it on my WinXP system.
Could you explain what happens to make you say it didn't work?

> WinXP won't run Java standalone, so the shortcut you put on the 
> desktop is useless.
My copy of WinXP deals fine with this shortcut, as do many of our other 
users'.  However, it is considered a bug to be fixed in the next version 
that this shortcut doesn't expressly call the javaw executable.  Thanks 
for the reminder of this problem.

> 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.
This is the part that makes me think you're using an old version.  You 
shouldn't have to run --configure manually at all.  FreeGuide should run 
it automatically for you when you run the First Time Wizard, and ask it 
to "Choose channels".  The grabber you should be using in the US and 
Canada is tv_grab_na_dd, but you shouldn't even need to know this if all 
goes well.

The instructions you should be following are in the file README.html, or 
here: http://freeguide-tv.sourceforge.net/README.html .

Some grabbers do spew some output: that doesn't necessarily mean they 
are failing.  If, however, after a download you get errors and no 
listings appear I'd appreciate it if you could copy the error messages 
into an email to this list, so that we can look at what is going wrong.

> 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.
I'm sure there are many people who would disagree with you, but I tend 
to agree.  However, XMLTV is a mature set of tools that do a great job, 
so I think it is worth using them.  If they didn't exist FreeGuide 
certainly wouldn't either as there is no way I could maintain grabbers 
for all those countries by myself.

> Your uninstall script doesn't remove the start menu item either, I had 
> to delete it manually.
Strange.  The uninstall script is generated by NSIS (the NullSoft 
Install System), so it should uninstall the start menu item 
automatically.  It certainly does this on my WinXP system, and I haven't 
had similar reports before.  Can you think of anything unusual about 
your system so we can try and identify what the problem is?  Then we can 
either fix it in the FreeGuide install script, or report a bug in NSIS.

> 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.
I am passionate about making FreeGuide "just work", and appreciate you 
taking the time to report the fact that it didn't just work for you.  
With enough reports like yours (followed up by details so we can fix the 
problems) we should be able to succeed in this goal.  At the moment 
FreeGuide is alpha software, and so you as a user should expect to 
encounter and report problems.

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

> My synopsis, rewrite XMLTV in C/C++,
No chance.  XMLTV is a great project written by a large team of people 
who have chosen Perl.  Even though I intensely dislike Perl, I 
understand their choice since Perl is very good at the kind of text 
manipulation needed for scraping web sites.  A C/C++ implementation 
would likely consist of 5-10 times as many lines of code for the same 
functionality.

> rewrite Freeguide in C/C++,
Maybe one day.  At the moment, though, I'm enjoying using Java, and for 
anyone to bother to work on FreeGuide they have to enjoy it :)

(BTW on a side note, if I did rewrite it in C I would use the GTK 
libraries and integrate it with the Gnome desktop environment, which 
would make it difficult or impossible to use on Windows, so some people 
would miss out on the possibility of using it...)

> use a more professional installation tool,
I have found NSIS to be fairly good, but I am coming around to the 
opinion that it may not be the perfect solution.  If you have any 
suggestions of any alternatives (preferably Free Software), that would 
be really useful.

> and write some basic instructions that are accurate and qualified on 
> all the platforms you intend to support.
This one really stings :( This is a primary goal here at the FreeGuide 
project.  I don't know how you came across the inaccurate documentation 
you describe, but the README which is launched from the First Time 
Wizard should be accurate for both Windows and Linux, and along with the 
User Guide and FAQ should cover the needs of most users.  If you could 
point out specific mistakes and which file they are in, I'm very keen to 
fix them.

> 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.
Thank you for taking the time to email your experience.  FreeGuide is a 
100% volunteer project, but we are committed to producing a quality 
product that does not run into the problems you have experienced.  With 
your help we should be able to move closer to that goal.

Best wishes,

Andy

[Please cc freeguide-tv-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in your replies]


-------------------------------------------------------
SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide
Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users.
Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. 
http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/