What exactly is XnView MP?

[Drahken]

I don't see a single thread anywhere saying what this new project is all about. How is it different from regular xnview? (Xnview already has versions for most OSes, and from what I've read so far this version still requires you to download a different exe or src code depending on what OS you're using, so it's not like you can suddenly just download one prog & run it on any system.) Will this eventually replace the current xnview program once it's stable enough, or will it be some sort of sister project? Does this have any new features over regular xnview (aside from whatever makes it "multi-platform")?

[xnview]

Not exactly, xnview for un*x is very old, and use very old GUI (Motif). XnViewMP use the same source code for all platforms.
XnViewMP has a native unicode support, and will be able to load full bit depth picture (8/16/32 bits per component), ...

[Drahken]

...So this is intended to replace regular xnview once you're sure it's stable enough?

...As a windows user, does this have any new features or functions over regular xnview yet, or is it mainly just for non-windows users right now?

[JohnFredC]

Hi Drahken

I can't speak for Pierre's plans, but these are some things that I observe about MP so far:

1. Intended to look and behave the same on all platforms.
2. Faster thumb-nailing (good looking!)
3. Much faster high-quality zoom
4. Greatly improved Compare function w/multiple Compares in tabs
5. Dynamic thumbnail sizing via slider in toolbar
6. Dynamic browser layout... drag panes where you need them
7. Nascent support for XML themes files (View->Style->Theme)
8. Instant browser filtering via search box on toolbar
9. More commands for toolbar design
10. Load/Save named toolbar files
11. Categorization via "active" thumbnail icons
12. Zoom/navigation proxy in View mode

... and many more.

I run it on Vista and XP.

The encouraging thing is that MP is just beginning (version 0.12, currently). Hopefully, MP will eventually have all the current XnView functionality PLUS all the new stuff enabled by the improved internal architecture.

I am excited by MP's potential and attempt to use it as much as possible in order to identify bugs, omissions, and behavior quirks...

At least give it a try to see what the implementation direction is!

[Drahken]

Any issues running it alongside regular xnview?

[JohnFredC]

Any issues running it alongside regular xnview?

Do you mean simultaneously...?

No, no issues running them "side-by-side", something I do quite frequently, since I really like MP's browser and use the Compare feature a lot.

MP is in its own folder with its own cache, etc.

Of course, MP is still in early beta (or late alpha) so you should make few assumptions about the robustness of its behavior for a while. Also, the feature set isn't adequate yet for my own daily tasks, so I switch back to 1.9x for serious file management.

Nevertheless, MP is very promising. I like it.

[Drahken]

Newer versions of a program (especially when it's a dramatically redeisgned version) often don't like to be installed on the same comp at the same time as the previous version, they cause errors by reading/writing the settings data for the wrong prog, and things of that nature. With prior versions of xnview, I always stuck the new version in a seperate folder so that I could easily go back to the old one if the new one was too buggy. I was wondering if the new version could still do that smoothly.

In any case, I got impatient & went ahead & tried it. Downloading was a major hassle, the server kept crapping out on me. It would start downloading, immediately hang, then "complete" the file at only 750bytes. Finally manged to get it though, and it seems to work fine. No unwanted interactions with regular xnview.
I haven't run into any problems with it (aside from a slight delay in maximizing the window, but I think that may be an inherant characteristic of q4). It is quite fast, and has high quality zooming (both in & out). In it's current state however, I find it completely useless. It just doesn't have ANY features, I can't even find a way to resize an image. (Yes, I know it's still in alpha testing, hence why I said "in it's current state".)
One minor bug I ran into is that the "view" menus don't indicate whether a given item is currently toggled on or off. For example, I was trying to find a way to turn off the annoying histograpm overlay while viewing an image. While i did locate it in the view menu, it appeared that it was currently toggled off.

Nonetheless, it does seem very promising, and could be an excellent program once it's more complete.

[XnTriq]

Locations of registry settings & thumbnail database:

• XnView “Classic” v1.9
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\XnView
    %AppData%\XnView\XnView.db / %ProgramFiles%\XnView\cache\XnView.db
  Earlier alphas of XnView MP
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\XnView\XnViewQT
    %AppData%\XnView\XnView2.db
  XnView MP v0.12
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\XnView\XnViewMP
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Trolltech
    %AppData%\XnViewMP\XnView.db / %ProgramFiles%\XnViewMP\XnView.db

[franzmaximilian]

About concurrently installing (and using) XnViewMP and standard version:
it has been clarified that they can coexhist and even run simultaneously without any interferences in Windows. That's great and and I will install MP in my XP computer as soon as I'm done with this post.
What about Linux installs? I would love to try it in my Kubuntu 8.04, where I'm also running XnView 1.9x through Wine. Any problem reported about this?

I simply love XnView...

Franz

[xnview]

What about Linux installs? I would love to try it in my Kubuntu 8.04, where I'm also running XnView 1.9x through Wine. Any problem reported about this?

No problem