Bye Bye v1.4.0, Hello v1.5.0

[Legolash2o]

v1.4.0 is officially finished and will no longer be worked on. I've now started v1.5.0!!!

So far i've been improving old code and once i've done with the rest of the program, I will start getting all of those requests done. I've renamed v1.4.0 on the main downloads page to [sTABLE] and will also be available whilst the beta is available.

Download BETA

Requests and bug reports do NOT go in here, this is for general v1.5.0 discussion only!

News

I've made further improvements to Win Toolkit startup. Win Toolkit roughly took upto 12 seconds to load up especially if it got stuck on 'Checking for updates'. Win Toolkit has moved that task to the background and moved another few startup items around and will now bring you the main Win Toolkit screen in less than 0.2 seconds. Quicker than me blinking!!

In fact it was so quick, i couldn't read a single progress status before the main form appeared. If a new version appears a balloon notification will appear near your clock which you can click on to see what's new.

How does it work?

Previously, Win Toolkit had to wait until the update check procedure was completed before it would continue to show you the main screen. Now update checking has it's own thread which means Win Toolkit no longer has to wait for it to finish. The update checking will continue even when the main form is loaded which means you can get things done abit quicker!

Experimenting

I'm also going to be experimenting with AIO Integrator eventually. Adding a few more threading maybe, so it can for example integrate drivers and updates at the same and a bunch of other stuff simultaneously!

[RicaNeaga]

Now update checking has it's own thread which means Win Toolkit no longer has to wait for it to finish. The update checking will continue even when the main form is loaded which means you can get things done abit quicker!

Great! I was a little annoyed that in the latest builds I had to wait more than usual for the app to check for updates.

Experimenting

I'm also going to be experimenting with AIO Integrator eventually. Adding a few more threading maybe, so it can for example integrate drivers and updates at the same and a bunch of other stuff simultaneously!

Hell yeah! Bring them on! Stuff like that makes me forget I also wish for some requests to be implemented sooner than later; when multitasking comes to be discussed, later is ok.

However, from a hardware point of view, please also make sure to test those stuff on a hdd - laptop low rpm to be preffered (~5400 rpm), or new ''green'' desktop hdds, that have also around 5400 rpm. If you have a SSD, it's very likely that this feature will be a killer, everything will be probably ~ twice as fast when it comes to integration (I mean a future multitasking app compared to the available 1.4.0 app, that does the stuff you mentioned in steps).

But for HDDs, with poor I/O (besides poor writing / reading) performance, compared of course with SSDs, such a feature may bring very small performance gains (the time spent to integrate stuff may be virtually the same with or without multitasking). It may even be slower for the multitasking version when beeing run on an HDD. Already your app is fast, and already the differences of using it on a SSD vs. a HDD are huge.

It's not exactly a warning, just wanted to bring this to discussion, and for you to strongly consider from the beginning that this kind of feature is VERY hardware bound. But since SSDs price are dropping, and already your app is adressing the needs of a niche (enthusiasts), who have purchasing power and spend alot on hardware, then maybe it's just talk.

PS: As I was writing, I had an idea - how about Win Toolkit to check for the Windows Experience Index grade, the same as the windows os does, that stopps some services when the grade for the storage is high enough? I mean to bring on the big guns aka multitasking only on SSDs (that have a grade greater than 6.5 - 7 on windows 7), and keep it simple on a HDD. Just a thought really, if it's too complex (I really have no idea) programming-wise, then sorry for mentioning it.

[Legolash2o]

Yeah checking for updates was annoying me as well.

I was also thinking on the lines of Win Toolkit could be extracting the next update whilst it's integrating one. That way when it comes to the next update, the files are ready to be processed. This would definitely increase the speed of LDR/QFE Mode.

[compstuff]

I'm LOVING this :dribble:

[Legolash2o]

OK I've done that.

Normally with LDR enabled

1. Integrate Update

2. Extract Update

3. Integrate update-bf.mum

4. Delete temp files

Now

1. Start a thread to extract files and then simultaneously integrate update

2. Integrate update-bf.mum which is already extracted whilst the update was installing

3. The extraction thread will delete temp folders if update-bf.mum is not detected. This alone, saves about 2-5 seconds per update.

UPDATE 1: Added a link to the latest beta in the first post. http://wincert.net/leli55PK/Testing/

UPDATE 2: According to the timer it took 2h 25mins to mount Windows 7 x86 Ultimate,integrate 378 updates and then save the image. Not sure how long it usually takes lol.

[feet]

Wow this thing flies! I'll be building my next image with this one either later tonight or tomorrow and report how it goes.

Muchas gracias sir!

[Legolash2o]

Anyone used this yet? Test 3 available

[vegeta10]

hi legolash2o i use test 3 this morning, i read you want focus in "remove components", but the iso size still big, like 2,9 gb in x64

[Thiersee]

Hi,

Test2 is working fine for me: no issues during AIO or installation (VM).

It's not really faster ON MY HARDWARE, only 5 minutes less; same HW, same .INI.

Edited October 20, 2012 by Thiersee

[Legolash2o]

@vegeta10

I've only just started v1.5.0 and have more other important things to do first.

[bphlpt]

Depending on how the removals are done, the iso size might not change very much. Besides, I think that how much space the installed OS takes up is much more important than the iso size, but then I don't usually remove anything. Other opinions?

Cheers and Regards

[petruwincert]

Thanks for your hard work!! :cap:

[vegeta10]

@legolash2o

ok im just trying to help, great work, you are a genius

[Geej]

I got this error the moment I launch WinToolkit (new beta).

I even reboot first, then try again. Still got this error.

I got no such problem with v.77

I'm running under XPx86

[Legolash2o]

Any error logs?

[Geej]

Any error logs?

No log generated

[Legolash2o]

I will install XP in VirtualBox and investigate the issue. Just out of curiosity, what CPU do you have and do you see the startup screen (progress bar)?

[Geej]

CPU is dualcore Intel Pentium E2180. No progress bar appears. It didn't have a chance to show me progress bar.

When I double click to run, wintoolkit seems to run for 2 sec in the background w/o any progress or dialog, then the error message came.

Additional info: The same beta is run on VM Win7x86 and it can run the first time. I close the program and relaunch the beta.

Now it tell me

"DISM could not be found in 'C:\Windows\System32' and Win Toolkit depends on it!

Would you like to download it now?" with Yes/No button for me to click. I clicked No which winToolkit then self-exit.

I wait a while, then relaunch Win Toolkit. Now it can launch normally.

[Legolash2o]

Fixed and fixed, test 4 should be uploaded now. Thanks.

P.S. Please use the edit button next time

[Chrysalis]

I think the threading idea is excellent, I observed when waiting nothing seemed maxed out except probably hdd, I think multithreading will help that.

[feet]

Wow, this thing loads fast! I mean... night and day compared to 1.4. Feels generally more responsive all around the UI.

Also, where do we now integrate an unattended config? That option doesn't seem to be in the WIM Manager anymore.

Edited October 22, 2012 by feet

[Geej]

Fixed and fixed, test 4 should be uploaded now. Thanks.

P.S. Please use the edit button next time

Many thanks, able to launch now.

[Legolash2o]

The HDD will probably be the biggest bottleneck lol

[feet]

where do we now integrate an unattended config? That option doesn't seem to be in the WIM Manager anymore.

Anyone?

[Legolash2o]

Sorry didn't see that post, that's a bug. It's there but never gets set to visible because I'm a silly sausage lol.