A while back a virus infected my computer corrupting some of the files on my hard drive and both of my backup hard drives. (I also believe that it was due to this virus that my website became compromised causing it to be infected and the passwords changed without my knowledge.)

Due to the virus the code for my BBC Micro Image Converter was lost along with the main backup copies. I did have a version of the code backed up to CD, but this version was so old that I would probably just pack it in than trying to redo all my work.

Thankfully though, last night I found a more recent copy of the code on my laptop which I had forgotten about. I believe that this was the latest version of the core components (although not the GUI), but I'll need to double check this. At least I'm not having to start from scratch so I'm very happy about that!

It's been bugging me for ages as I wanted to get a new version out for this summer.

Kind regards,

Francis

I feel for you but I'm also glad you managed to retrieve sufficient code to carry on with the good work
That was a nearly a loss to us all!

I've just checked the code I got from my laptop and it is the version from 24th September 2009. There should have been a later one with some bug fixes, etc. so I'll need to go through the code and try and remember what those were.

Kind regards,

Francis

Sorry to hear that, Francis.

Maybe the information in the RS bug tracker will help you remember what bugs were being worked on, depending on whether you were using it to track the bugs you were discovering yourself?

Closing the door after the horse is bolted, but I'm sure I can come up with an off-site backup for periodic deposits of source code archives, if you wanted - tho, obviously not accessible via the web, as its a closed source project. PM me if you want some help with that.

It can be handy to use some sort of version control system, even for private projects at home - if the VCS is on a unix-y host, it will be harder to lose the data even if the files themselves get infected - you can simply check out the last revision of the code from before the infection. If you have an old machine sitting around doing nothing, you could stick Ubuntu or something on it and install Mercurial or SVN or any of the other myriad alternatives.

Anyway, none of which helps you now! I can imagine how annoying it must be - you have my sympathies!

Sam.

Thanks Sam. Originally I was quite annoyed, but I'm now actually quite relieved to have found such a recent version the code!

From my notes it was only minor bugs that I had fixed (although specifically I don't know what) and just a general tidy up of some of the code. If I remember right the bugs were highlighted when I was doing the code tidy up, so it shouldn't be too difficult to track them down.

Kind regards,

Francis

This tool has enormously benefitted Zap!, The Krystal Connection and Repton: The Lost Realms - I really don't know what I would have done without it, so I'm delighted you managed to find such a recent set of source code for it.

I've used it to transfer the title screens for all three releases and all the in-game graphics for The Lost Realms.

Hi Dave,

Yeah I saw that on your blog.

It's always nice to see my program being used.

Kind regards,

Francis

Great that you have managed to find that code.
Have used it quite often ( although not shown in public yet )

Cheers

Koen

I was working on updating Image2BBC, but I've been sidetracked with another project (story of my life ). Once I've got this project out the way I'll be returning to Image2BBC.

To get a new Image2BBC released as soon as possible my plan is to have an interim version which will feature an expanded GUI from the current one, but not the completely redesigned one.

Kind regards,

Francis

Just to let everyone know that it is my intention to get back into updating Image2BBC over the next couple of weeks. My hope is to have a new version released by around Christmas/New Year time.

I'll keep you all posted.

Kind regards,

Francis

I'm really look forward to seeing it - it's absolutely indispensable for Retro Software work.

I was using it just yesterday to transfer some new Repton graphics from the GIMP into BeebEm.

I've started work on finishing off the next version of Image2BBC.

First thing I'm doing is rewriting the parts of the GUI that uses the Windows API so that later on I can port across to Linux and MacOS more easily.

Kind regards,

Francis

The GUI is taking a little longer to do than I would like. My main issue is getting that balance between having all the functionality there against the GUI not looking a complete mess and being unintuitive to use. I'm having to do a lot more work than I originally planned to cater for the various new options present such as designing my own save file requester instead of using the systems' own.

I've also had the epiphany tonight that I don't like designing GUIs, but it needs to be done.

Kind regards,

Francis