Running DC++ 0.790 on the Windows 8 preview

Hey,

When you try to run DC++ 0.790 on the Windows 8 preview, you will probably notice that network connections don’t work (they fail with the message: “An invalid argument was supplied.“).

We tried a few fixes but to no avail. It is not clear whether the blame is to be placed upon DC++ or Windows 8.

Fear not, for the fix is easy: just set the “Socket read buffer” option (in Settings > Experts only) to 0. Then enjoy!

We will be watching out for this problem when the next Windows 8 beta versions come out. Hopefully the issue is on their end. :P

Notice anything else that is out of place? Don’t hesitate to let us know!

Update (August 2012): This seems to no longer be required in the release version of Windows 8; looks like they fixed the bug! There is however a crash on startup that will be fixed in the next DC++.

Prototype of JaDiCe, the next DC++

Hi!

The DC++ team is pleased to announce that DC++, originally coded in C++ (an old language that doesn’t even provide any garbage collection), is now being rewritten in Java, a far more performant language.

This will possibly allow cross-platform distributions in the future and will improve the overall aspect and response time of the program.

To celebrate the beginning of the rewrite, DC++ is now being renamed to JaDiCe. This new name conveys the awesomeness of Java (“Ja”) while keeping the “D” and “C” (for Direct Connect) letters around.

An early prototype of JaDiCe has just been completed; you can download it by following the link below (don’t worry, it won’t touch any file nor registry entry).
Stand-alone exe file
Stand-alone exe file in a zip archive
Source code

We hope you are as thrilled as we are about this fantastic switch to Java and look forward to reading your feedback about the JaDiCe prototype!

Installer improvements

Hi,

The DC++ installer has recently received a neat facelift. You will get to try it out when the next version is released.

But before i show off the new installer looks, let me invite translators to hop to the new DC++ installer translation page. There are only 14 strings to translate, thanks to the efforts of the NSIS (the installer builder that we use) contributors.

For comparison purposes, let us reminisce what the now defunct installer used to look like:

      

Now here are screen-shots of the new one:

      

As you can see, the first obvious addition is the language selection dialog. Besides that, we have migrated to the Modern User Interface for NSIS, and added theming support and some new icons.

For those who want to try building it, get the most recent code repository and run “scons distro=1”.

DC bans: our idiosyncrasy

Ban, kick, drop. Words that instigate fear upon those poor key-less users, by granting their operators god-like powers.

If you’ve been frequenting DC hubs for some time, surely these are the definitions that you have built up for these terms:

• Ban: add the offender to a list of prohibited users that may never be allowed to log back into the hub.
• Kick: add the user to the prohibited list, but lift the stoppage after a certain amount of time.
• Drop: just disconnect the user; he may reconnect whenever he wants to.

Now as far as i can tell, this is very specific to the Direct Connect world. In other online communities where exclusions are necessary, like gaming servers or IRC, these are the definitions that i have always encountered so far:

• Ban: add the offender to a list of prohibited users that may never be allowed to come back – the ban can be temporary or permanent, but regardless, it’s still a ban.
• Kick: just disconnect the user; he may reconnect whenever he wants to.

To summarize, here is a handy chart that you might find useful if you happen to be admin in DC hubs and in other online communities at the same time:

DC network	Rest of the world
Ban	Permanent ban
Kick	Temporary ban
Drop	Kick

I hope you’re confused enough now!

poy

Help translation

In DC++ 0.7091 you might have noticed a few translated help files. They use po4a and the process to generate them is now mature enough.

So feel free to join the Launchpad translations area for DC++ and chip in!

You’ll encounter HTML tags here and there; make sure you keep them in your translations.