Third Lockup for Acid Image

M

mommy of 1 expecting 1

New member
Well, what do you expect for $49.95?!

AcidImagePro, the "miracle jpg/bmp viewer" which also handles gifs and Tiffs and faxes if you need it . . . has conked out again as a result of my storing thumbnails on the SD Card (at least that's what I'm attributing it to). Each time I was deleting an image. Somewhere, somehow - it doesn't find the 2 associated "AI Thumb" files in the folder and so has a brain fart. The correct way to do it, for anyone else with AI - is to use a file manager to delete the file off the card . . . then delete the thumbnail files - and let AcidImage rediscover them. Using AI itself is okay if the file is "new," but disaster if it's an "older one." Dumb.

First one happened months ago - 2nd one about 3 months ago - now this is a BAD one - hard lockup - can't turn unit off, similar to the JackSprat "early T3 beta" nightmare of last year. Am letting it die a slow death on the desk here, until the juice runs out and it's forced to hard reset. Yippee skip.

I'm going to give it one more chance and elect NOT to store thumbs of any kind; I've written to Red-Mercury and they promptly asked me to "beta" their new 3.025 version! I passed - 3.025 was quickly replaced by 3.026. Guess "25" sucked too - glad I didn't try it. I may or may not upgrade . . . but just re-downloaded the freeware VFSi viewer from a Japanese link (freeware Palm's is no good - empty, corrupt zip). It's not as pretty, but it works - but I don't believe has image dragging, which I need for maps.

Just advising this as a caution because I do believe AcidImage runs circles around Resco and have always said that . . . but either store the thumbs in RAM (costly real estate) - or not at all. I could attribute past crashes to defragging the SD Card and "scrambling" its directories - but haven't done that in a while and freshly reinstalled the SD Card contents a couple of months ago without a defrag.

This is a pain, and I'm one step closer to a Dell Axim/T5/LifeDrive or whatever's "hot" next month. That, or I'll drop AI altogether and lose around 30MB of maps and, err . . . . other viewing material. Oh well, there's always TCPMP - if only it showed jpgs.

Hey - maybe there's a plug-in??!!
 
Paul, VFSi does allow scrolling/dragging images larger than the screen. It also allows rotation, though the image will not stay rotated. And it supports the 5-way navigation pad--scroll up or down through the list of images, press the middle button to select an image, press again to open the image, scroll around with the outer "ring," press the center button to pop up the "next/previous/rotate/zoom" menu, scroll through that... while viewing an image, press the left side of the "ring" to go back to the image list and from there you can press left again to go up to the folder selection menu at the top and scroll through that...

...but it doesn't work with the Zodiac's buttons or joystick, unfortunately.
 
Thanks Telyx. I'm loading it today.

As for the "jam," here's what happened to benefit any AcidImage users or anyone who has a "freeze" and is worried: First of all, DON'T PANIC, although it is annoying! Also bear in mind that I use TWO backup programs for different databases - most of you will just have one "master backup."

1. Let T3 drain til it dies.
2. If you're impatient like me put on cradle, wait 20 minutes for initial charge (you should let it charge 3 hours) . . .
3. I got an immediate "fatal exception" black square, took it OFF cradle and soft reset.
4. I keep CardBackup on the card and in flash, and chose the "flash" version - which did not ask for reg# since it's on the card as well. Most of you will have your backup program on the SD Card - in which case you may have to REMOVE the SD Card and put it back in (T3 sometimes fails to "see" an external card after a hard crash unless it's removed and replaced). Hit full restore, wait til done, and SOFT RESET.
5. Went to TealMaster and YAHM and turned both hack managers OFF (this is important if you're doing a TealBackup restore at ANY TIME!)
6. Hit TealBackup, hit restore, hit menu and selected "check all," which it did.
7. "Restore All" from TealBackup (these are the files I keep separate from "regular" CardBackup which are encrypted in TealBackup such as spreadsheets and Contacts DB)
8. Manually reactivated TealScript, since not doing so can leave the T3 "write anywhere" zig-zag icon "on," when I prefer it OFF but T/Script activated).

Sounds like a pain, but with 53 apps in JackFlash restored on startup, all that remained were databases and the hacks, which I don't keep in flash. The above steps took around 45 seconds 'cause I'm "used to it;" then the SD Card went in the Card Reader while T3 was chargin fully, and all instances of the "AIThumbs" were removed from each folder in DCIM (there are a lot in my case). When it's charged, I'll set AcidImage NOT TO keep any thumbs OR keep them in RAM (costly - my "thumbs" are around 2MB).

ADDENDUM: all well with no thumbs being retained, and jpgs open very quickly anyway - it's the large GIF/bmp maps that take some time - but it's safer than a crash.

I'll load VFSi 0.51b (believe that's the latest, from Fall of last year) - and see if I can get that to break - I remember it crashing on me loading large bitmaps but it's no less "sound" than AcidImage and I'm not going through this again for a damn picture viewer. I'll also move AI out of flash and replace it w/3.026 - which I belive is only a registration fix and nothing to do with those AITHumb files. They are helpful since thumbs just "shoot on the screen," rather than load each time you pull up the viewer . . . but I think waiting the 10 seconds might be preferable to a crash every time I try to delete an image!
 
Paul, if you are using the app on a T3, try updating to version 3.026. I had almost the same kind of problem with the AcidImage 3.024 (not the Pro, but maybe it shares the same basic platform) on my T3 and reported it to Red Mercury.

They were able to replicate my problem in their lab and then sent me a correction (3.026). I've been using 3.026 without any problem weeks before it was officially released . I think that they were about to release 3.025 when I reported my problem, so they made the corrections and skipped version 3.025.

Regards.

DMY
 
Well that's good news. Here's the timeline as happened to me (similar to you):

1. Had 3.024, had problems.

2. 3.025 was released and I wrote them asking what was the "deal;" they said it was a registration change only.

3. Then they wrote me and said people had had problems with 3.025 (that was probably you regarding 3.024!) - and would I beta test 3.025 and advise them, since I'd had some correspondence in the past with their beta versions. I didn't take them up on it - after paying $49.95 I'm not BT'ing diddly - I want it to WORK.

4. 3.026 came out a fewdays later, and I ignored that, too.

5. Yesterday after the 5 hour "wait til it dies 'cause it's locked up so bad to view a silly IMAGE now it's FRIED!" problem (sorry, but I was REALLY upset a damn map viewer could lock up a handheld) - i yanked 3.024 out of flash, reloaded 3.026, and dumped all the AIThumb files. Fixed you, you little . . . . .

Now in light of what you're saying, I may reload the thumbs permission and try deleting something in a couple of weeks (you can't just do it same day or it won't crash - for extra "fun," it's "later" that it rears its ugly head). Woohoo! Every day could bring a new surprise! Can we go to the park, too??!!

Either that or I'll rework the large gifs and bmps as jpgs - they load quickly without thumbs in the first place. I'd be VERY curious ias to whether you have any more problems - please PM me immediately, and I will do the same back at ya if I encounter any.

Hopefully you're right - but if 3.026 does not fix these problems specifically, I'd rather be "thumbless" and not have this problem again with a hard freeze - again, over a VIEWER. Jeez - I love AcidImage and have defended it up and down, especially against Resco and SplashPhoto - but TCPMP does a lot more than the three of them COMBINED plus MMPlayer . . . . and doesn't lock anything up!

The solution would be if Red-Mercury made it possible to save thumbs ONLY for selected folders - say, those including gif/bmp's - which take longer to load. Leave the jpgs without thumbs, as they load quickly anyway. Also, the ability to delete all thumb files from a drop menu before deleting images. That would solve it.

Perhaps we can get the "Core" folks to incorprate a draggable viewer into TCPMP . . . now that would be something. Couple of plug-ins for bmp/gif/jpg/png/ico/jpg2000 . . . .


Say . . . . . . . wonder if the VFSi ones would work?! Get on the horn!!

Seriously - I love AI and will see how things go. Will reallow thumbs right now, and test. Vodka at the ready . . . .
 
FYI, Paul (and maybe other AcidImage users on T3), I emailed the following concerns to Red Mercury:

I emailed earlier (July 3) about a problem with AcidImage version 3.024 on my Tungsten T3. This problem was replicated in your lab, and it was immediately acted upon by your team. I was sent the new version 3.026 (corrected my problem).

However, there is something that I noticed starting with version 3.023 that is causing me a little concern (even with 3.026).

1. Whenever I view a picture,
2. go back to thumbnail view,
3. exit AcidImage by pressing the Home icon
4. use other Palm applications
5. go back to AcidImage by pressing its icon,

I notice that the screen goes black for some moments before it shows the thumbnails view. In certain instances, the screen displays a highly distorted image of what looks like the last viewed picture before it goes to thumbnail view.

While the T3 does not hang, and the thumbnail views are displayed, I am quite worried whenever this happens because a similar type of distorted picture caused my T3 to hang several times with one of your older versions last year. At that time, I could not reset my T3 no matter what kind of resets I did, and I had to wait for the power to run out before my Palm self-resetted.

I never observed this "abnormal blackout/distortion" in versions earlier than 3.023 (except of course, the mentioned hanging last year, which I also reported, and was solved by upgrading to a later version). It seems like the program is having some problems locating the thumbnails.

I've been happy with AcidImage, and more so with your fast actions on problems I reported. I just want to relay this observation to your team for the further improvement of your very good product.

Thank you.

-------
Regards,

DMYU
 
Sorry for delay - girlfriend's car was hit by a FedEx truck, and this morning mine was on the fritz (they're both 2004's, but we've decided we like the dealerships so much we break 'em every chance we get!).

Too bad they don't make a JackSprat or TealMover for autos. Anyway - good email - I'm sending one today as well regarding my "beefs," and will post a cc of that too.

Thanks for taking up the charge - AI has the chance along with TCPMP of being the "you've got all" solution for viewing (TCPMP developers may add image viewing later, but significant amounts of code would have to be rewritten to facilitate it - it's not just a "plug-in" solution).

Bugs like hard crashes on a file delete, along with the "blacking" of display in your case, aren't good. I noticed that mine did it too - so I used Tealmover to boost the requested stack value from the default 7162 (if memory serves) of AcidImage to 8500. Most Palm apps have a default of 3300 - Tealpoint use 4096 as their default. AI set theirs higher - but 8,500 is higher still and might add stability especially if you're doing something else - like using TealScript (which I disable for use on AI) or a D/A or something. I have not tweaked 3.026 yet, but may.

Cheers/p
 
dude, she ok. I guess so but anyhow...how come a FedEx truck was in the wrong place but, clearly, at the right time????? Go figure!

Is the AI problem T3 specific ( sorry if i missed something in an earlier post). Ive had a few troubles with AI on TT but only due to lack of dynamic heap...Not using pro, just regular (half-caff double-decaff half-caff with a slice of lemon...)
 
It's probably T3 specific since Red Mercury was apparently not aware of the problem until I pointed it out (my first report). Their test on the T3 replicated the problem, and they made the necessary corrections.

They also replied to my second report about the "blackout" behavior, and committed to look into it and get back to me as soon as possible. I'll update this forum on the results.

It looks like there are only very few users of AI on T3, hence I'm not getting confirmations from others who may have observed the same situation.

Cheers!
 
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