WonderBrush review
Stephen B. - February 11th, 2006
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YellowBites Software recently released version 2.0 of their vector graphics program WonderBrush. While I’ve followed the development of Refraction and Pixel32 with interest, I tend to use Adobe Illustrator much more frequently than Photoshop, so WonderBrush is personally more exciting to me. To get an idea of what the software is capable of, I attempted to do a few of the basic tasks I commonly perform in Illustrator. Read on for the pseudo-review, which also contains some hints on how to perform basic vector drawing operations in WonderBrush.
0033 of Studio-33 has dug up some new information on the forthcoming BeSides Magazine, which was recently announced by Vassilis ‘vasper’ Perantzakis of BeOS Max fame. The site mentions that the group has already been contacted by several people wishing to contribute, and they’re still looking for anyone else who’s willing to write reviews, editorials, interviews, etc for the magazine. So if you’re itching to write for a BeOS-related magazine, head over and get in touch with them.
Another interesting piece of information from Studio-33, 0033 has posted about a great source of Haiku information that I hadn’t been aware of: Weekly Haiku. In a nutshell, it’s a blog where regular summaries of the most significant recent Haiku developments are posted – an excellent way for us non-programmers to get an overview of Haiku’s development. One significant recent update mentions that a problem with Haiku-R5 compatibility has been fixed – apparently executables compiled in recent Haiku builds would not run in R5. Work has also been done on the PS2 mouse/keyboard drivers, as well as on the PS2 subsystem itself. And lastly, but probably of the most immediate interest to end-users, A.G.M. Smith has submitted new documentation covering multiple mail-related topics.
Here’s a short roundup of BeBits postings lately. The IM Kit project has released an MSN login fix for the recently-posted Alpha 12 – as the name implies, it should fix MSN login glitches that crept into the latest release. BeOS users who are into lossless audio have a pretty decent range of options these days; the Monkey Audio (APE) Suite was updated not long ago, and this week saw the release of a FLAC plugin for SoundPlay. Another FLAC package was released on BeOS in 2002 (updated Sept. 2005), but it appears to contain a command-line encoder and no decoder/playback software. A new build of the Seamonkey browser (formerly Mozilla Suite) was also posted recently – this release is BONE-only and includes the usual bugfixes and optimizations. Lastly, two related pieces of software were posted this last week, the first was an update to the Haiku Multiaudio MediaAddon which adds support for 24 and 32-bit audio. The same developer – Jerome Duval – also released updated versions of the BeOS Echo Audio drivers with 24/32-bit support (only tested with the 3g so far, but it appears to be enabled for all the hardware).
As reported by Studio-33, Florian Thaler has written a new companion application to ZBackup called ZBackup Server. As the name implies, it’s a server, (in the BeOS sense, a la the media_server or the input_server) which can automatically perform scheduled backups. The ZBackup application itself has also been updated with the ability to configure an automatic backup schedule (screenshot). The post on Thorian’s blog mentions that he’s looking for beta testers – so head over and contact him if you’re interested in giving the ZBackup_server a whirl.
Over on OSNews, David Courtney has written a review of YellowTAB’s latest release, ZETA 1.1. The review gives ZETA high marks for ease of installation, speed, userfriendliness and the thorough integration of Workspaces; the reviewer found fault, however, with the outdated nature of some of the included software and the incomplete support for newer hardware devices (such as USB headsets). The overall conclusion arrived at is that ZETA has some nice potential, but needs more work to be suitable for users who aren’t geeks/OS enthusiasts. It’s a pretty fair article overall and more thorough than most of the reviews written of ZETA by those who aren’t long-time BeOS users.
Over on ZetaNews, the_leander has the scoop on some recent developments in regards to BeOS WiFi support. Developer Patrick Lafarguette has updated his three existing WiFi chipset drivers and has added drivers for two more chipsets. The list of supported chipsets now includes: 3c920, 3c940, hfa384x, rt25xx, and wm3b2200bg. The drivers appear to be written specifically for BeOS, but several of the drivers are listed as working with ZETA as well. Impressive work, Patrick! I’m beginning to think that BeOS developers belong to a race of superhumans genetically-engineered to code without requiring sleep. Note to self: proofread update first, then post it – not vice-versa.
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