Ripcord Release Notes

Version 0.11 ...

If you have Matt Peterson's Pilot Application Installer (PAL) installed on your Pilot, Ripcord now compares your list of applications against those PAL believes are currently installed.

Any applications that PAL does not show as being installed are marked with a minus sign ('-'). There is now a button that you can press to remove all such redundant applications from the list.

Currently, databases are not checked, but I intend to do something about that in a later version.

I have also changed from using "[new]" for new files, to using a plus sign ('+'), to be more consistent. I will probably change this again at some later stage, to use a separate column for each of the new, redundant and priority statuses.

Version 0.10 ...

A number of people have complained that, now the ripcord.ini file is in the Windows directory, the dialog for adding a new file always starts there the first time.

This version fixes that. The last directory you added a file from is remembered in the windows registry across runs of Ripcord.

I also have my first promised registration!

Version 0.09 ...

When Ripcord is open, you can now drag files onto its window and it will include them as new files to be installed.

Also, if you drag one file onto Ripcord's icon, the program will start up and handle it. However, due to inconsistencies in the way Windows seems to handle this stuff, it will fail if you drag more than one file onto the icon. I'll try to come up with a workaround later, if people think it's a problem.

Version 0.08 ...

This version can be installed as the program associated with .prc and .pdb files, so you can simply double click on them to install, just as with InstApp.

To do this ...

  1. Start Explorer.
  2. Choose the "Options" item from the "View" menu.
  3. Choose the "File Types" tag.
  4. Scroll down to the entry that says "PRC File".
  5. Double click on it, or push the "Edit" button.
  6. Highlight "open" and press the "Edit" button.
  7. Change the entry to be the path to Ripcord.

For some reason, files with extension ".pdb" are included under "Intermediate File". To associate Ripcord with databases, therefore, you then need to repeat steps 4 through 7 for "Intermediate File".

I'll try to get Ripcord to install itself in a later version.

NOTE: In order to get this to work correctly, I have changed the standard location of the ripcord.ini file to be your windows directory.

If you have already set up a ripcord.ini file, just move it there by hand.

Version 0.07 ...

It now uses an Explorer-style open dialog box for adding new files to the list. This allow better navigation, and also allows multiple files to be added at the same time.

Version 0.06 ...

Ripcord is now a complete replacement for InstApp! There are now two buttons: one that installs only new files you have just added, and the other that does a complete re-install.

Obviously, if you use Ripcord to install any new applications, it will keep track of all the files you have installed on your Pilot.

You can tell which files you have just installed, because they have "[new]" next to them in the file list.

Version 0.05 ...

Andy Tane (my chief tester!) found that Ripcord didn't work properly with HotSync 1.1, because of the way it uses the windows registry.

This version uses different information and now seems to work with both HS 1.0 and 1.1, but let me know if you have problems with it.

Version 0.04 ...

  1. Files marked by '*' are high-priority and are installed first.
  2. All error messages are now displayed in message boxes.

If you mark a set of files and then press the TogglePriority button, those files are marked as being high-priority and are installed before any other files.

The idea behind this is to get around the HotSync 1.0 problem where only the first 32 databases are backed up. For example, it is a good idea to mark dinkypad.prc and pal.prc as priority programs, since they have databases that require backing up.

Priority programs are marked in ripcord.ini, and in the GUI, by being prefixed with an asterisk ('*').

Version 0.03 ...

  1. Now has a GUI front-end.

Version 0.02 ...

  1. This is the first public release.
  2. It is a 32-bit DOS console program.
  3. Uses ripcord.ini to define files to be installed.