There appears to be a few threads on the forums about various issues with Rednotebook. Since I have been the developer of the program since it was in developmental stage, and am in contact withe author of the program I thought perhaps making one thread to discuss issues would make sense.
Given that I have spent 3 days and nights trying to get a handle on the slow loading of Rednotebook below are my discoveries:
- Rednotebook was written for Linux in Python.
- The author of the program uses Linux
- A separate developer on his team does the porting over to Windows
- RedNotebook natively requires the following dependencies to run: Python (2.5/2.6/2.7), PyYaml (>=3.05),PyGTK, PyGObject, PyGTKSpell, PyWebkitGTK w/o Gstreamer
- The building of the exe file is accomplished with py2exe
Given the above fact I surmise that much of the issue may be in the build process of the application to port it to windows. Since it runs without a glitch in Ubuntu. Now I am the first to admit I know nothing about Python, and just a little more about compiling it. I would love to compile my own build to see if it makes an difference at all? Or would appreciate if someone would be willing to build it for me the directions for building are here. Just would not need the install with INNOsetup. The py2exe build bat is here and the Current Source Code here. For directions on how to intall it please look here.
If I can get this done or someone can do it for me then I can figure if the issue is in the port to Windows, or in the building of the exe file with saving of the dependencies.
Anyway that is what I have now.
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I may have a partial fix for this. Am testing now, on my machine I have gone from a start-up 0f 52 seconds to now 28 seconds. Trying to confirm it with a few others before releasing "my fix". Although this still does not address the base apps issue Linux being ok and Windows not. Still looking into that
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
I've only just started using the app but it loads in under 24 seconds on my system. It displays the notebook in about 4 seconds. The rest of the time appears to be taken up in building the cloud. If that part could be spun off as a separate thread it would at least make the base notebook usable very quickly. Just a thought.
I think I discovered 2 things that are slowing it down.
1 I swapped out some files in the directories with one from my system this cuts my time down in half.
2 the issue is definitely in the building of the cloud. I believe it is due to not having chardet installed on the computer compiling the program.
As stated, I am not a programmer, I have reported my findings to the author, but unfortunately I do not nor can I fix what I believe the issues to be. This is way above my head as far as my knowledge. In fact I have spent 4 days on it with limited results, having installed and uninstalled Programs numerous times. Now I can not even get the Python version of hte program to run. I just don't know what I am doing. I have been doing it but hit and miss and Google searching.
Unless some one who knows Python can help me I am at a loss at what to do next.
In case anyone cares to follow my findings I have posted them here
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
Using the portable app launcher I need to allow the following files to be written, after apps close they can be removedC:\Documents and Settings\{username}\AppData\Local\Temp\rn-*.html
the * would be a variable as each time it runs it names the file differently. There may be up to 3 files.
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Temp\rn-*.html
the * would be a variable as each time it runs it names the file differently. There may be up to 3 files.
After doing a complete recompile of app I now can get the base app to run in portable mode in under 2 seconds. Using the built in portable mode left those files behind.
Edited>: Issue not solved. For whatever reason the only thing I can figure out for the slowness is that the PortableApps version handles the files that are normally left behind by the base app. SO I guess the choice is up to each person. Our version will be slower than the base apps portable version.
Running the same app with the Portable apps launcher took 24 seconds to load. Other than some other things I handled in the launcher.ini these files ar the only ones not addressed.
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
What if you move those files back and forth to the app in the PAF rather than forcing RedNotebook to recreate them?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I tried. Did not change anything, they are from best that I can tell empty html files. And on each subsequent reboot of program more are created. In all my testing this pass few days I had to manually remove over 30 files. Seems like each run creates 3-6 new blank files.
I can give you a copy of what I have done so far if you like.
Just holler.
Currently i handle the .recently-used.xbel,gtkfilechooser.ini, .gtk-bookmarks, and WebpageIcons.db.
I added to files move the following
rn-*.html=%LOCALAPPDATA%\Local\Temp
Saw no improvement of speed.
As far as the developer of the program it is basically our issue:
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
This is a real long shot but I am in need of a fontconfig cache file from a clean Windows XP system as well as Windows 7
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
After almost 2 weeks of trying as well as annoying numerous people, I have come to the conclusion I can not solve the issue of slow loading. The slowness is cause by the program scanning the host computer to determine the fonts available for the program to use. I have tried many work a rounds for this issue and can not find any one that will work for all users. Compound this with the fact that every host computer potentially has a different set of fonts available means that each time it loads onto a different computer it has to rescan.
This being said all I can say is that the program is what it is. I can not change it. If you like it use it, just remember the limitations it has.
I do really appreciate all the help I have gotten from John, kalug, Gord, et. al.
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
This is all fixed and should be ready for release in next few days
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
How did you fix it?
that it actually is and will email you privately Jendrik. Having a few double check my "fix"
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss