19.Jun.2024
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AmigaOS 4: Utility PowerReboot V0.9
Francis G. Loch's PowerReboot is the evolution of OS4Reboot and, including version 0.8 released a few days ago, the first update in about 20 years. As the author tells us, his tool can now not only reboot AmigaOS 4, but can also switch off the computer if the hardware supports it, which is why he decided to rename it.
With regard to the history of development, he remembers: "The very first version of the program (imaginatively titled 'Reboot') was actually written on an Amiga 1200 because I wanted a program that would sit on the Workbench that I could use to reboot the system via a requester. Version 1.x was written in BlitzBasic and version 2.x was rewritten in C as I wanted to learn how to program in C.
When I got a MicroA1 I also wanted to program for AmigaOS 4. Reboot being a simple program, I thought it would be a good one to start with, so OS4Reboot was born. OS4Reboot went through a number of iterations adding features like making it a commodity amongst other things."
After a longer break and the sale of the hardware, he now owns an AmigaOne A1222 Plus and wants to get back into programming for AmigaOS 4. He discarded his first idea of reviving OS4Reboot when he realised that the functionality was already available in the last version of the operating system. However, feedback from users on the Amigans.net forum encouraged him to continue, as some people preferred the way OS4Reboot worked: for example, it is possible to drop the icon in the X-Dock and run the program from there instead of using the pull-down menu.
He has summarised for us the differences/advantages of PowerReboot compared to the built-in option in AmigaOS 4.1:
- Ability to use it from an icon on the Workbench or dock.
- Has the ability to add a user-selectable delay prior to rebooting via the icon ToolTypes.
- PowerReboot doesn't (currently) inhibit and flush the filesystems before rebooting/shutting down, but this also means that the reboot/shutdown is immediate which might be preferred by some.
- The latest developmental version 0.9, released today, has the ability to hide the softboot option which is a benefit to some as some graphics cards appear to have issues with this.
PowerReboot (and its predecessor OS4Reboot) was originally designed to run in the background and be available via the Tools menu of the Workbench: on first execution it is simply loaded into memory, on subsequent executions the requester is called unless it has been configured to bypass the requester and only perform a restart or shutdown. The current development version 0.9 now changes the behaviour and sets the default NONRESIDENT option in the Icon-ToolTypes, which means that PowerReboot does not remain in memory. This also means that it can display the requester on first startup.
PowerReboot 0.9 also includes locale support, and has been translated to a number of languages including German.
Thank you very much for the information, Francis! Have fun with the further development! (dr)
[News message: 19. Jun. 2024, 21:37] [Comments: 0]
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