One big problem may be that I do not have
any menus at the top of my Logisphere window.
I don't see a "Program Group".
I meant the Windows Program Group (Start / Programs / LogiSphere / LogiSphere Help)
I cannot find anything about a "configurable live stream" anywhere.
With LogiSphere running, start your browser and go to http://localhost:8080/, it's the 4th link on the first page
(So of course, I also have nothing offering me any help, and had to find the F1 option on your web site.)
How did you start LogiSphere? How come you did not notice the help file in the "Program Group"?
Other notes and problems and wishes:
(using v1.6)
1) If I hit the "..." (browse) button for local save filename, then hit cancel, the file name is blanked and files are created in c:, the root directory.
well - they have to go somewhere
2) I used 1.5.x for a couple weeks before 1.6 was available. When the free license time limit was reached all I seemed to get was a cryptic message in the status area about a server timeout. I don't think it told me I had a problem with the license. With 1.6 I got a message saying "you need a Pro license to run...", so you may have fixed that. Or did I miss it in 1.5.x ?
In any case where some of my anger came from was that the program wasn't telling me what the problem was in anywhere near the verbose way that was needed.
The message has not been changed from 1.5.x to 1.6.0
In your free version, there really ought to be a pop-up at startup and another at timeout that make it much more obvious what the limit is. Of course, nag screens are a pain, so I wouldn't stop the program from running at startup, and you could offer a clickbox saying "Only show me this one more time", so people have to see it only twice.
I might improve that on the next version. However, my experience is that users are looking for a button to get rid of the messages only, they hardly ever read what is there...
Also, my use of the webcam is only a local use.
I have no internet connection on the machine being used. So your brief description of the free license is a bit confusing in that context.
The free license requires a internet connection. The builtin webserver won't run without a internet connection if you have the Free License. Running offline requires the Pro License.
3) I don't seem to be able to quickly recreate the timeout by changing the system clock. So I am not able to efficiently test and see what comes up at the timeout. I see cam self- checks 7 hours apart, and no imeout.
The timeout does not depend on the system clock.
The SelfCheck is every 10 minutes by default.
4) The F1 help only seems to go to the welcome page once. If I "X" out of it, the next time I hit F1, I go to the Commands page.
The help file is supposed to be context sensitive. To reach the start page, run the help file from your "Program Groups"
5) Captions are hard to read over the background. My wish would be for a way to make it blank the picture behind the caption. Or even a chosen-color background for the caption.
I think somebody requested this feature already in the
Feature Request section of the forum
6) Your Forum is a good solution to the support
issue, but how is a new user to know that
By: sse
IP: 80.219.64.6
Rank: Honorary Contributor
is the head honcho and a fine person to get
answers from ?
There are other experienced users providing good answers. This is a one man show, and with the increasing number of users I cannot answer each individual question. (Answering your questions costed me more already than I can make with quite a number of licenses sold
7) Your F1 help is great in some ways. But it's also way too fancy in some ways. Simple text that can be searched and scanned has many advantages over bubbles
that don't show up until you put the cursor over a spot on the page. That's a neat trick and helpful in some ways, but not in others.
It can't for example, be printed out and kept handy while trying to work with the program.
The toolhelp is a feature of the development environment I did not want to leave unused. You can open the help file anytime you use the software and put it side by side with the software.
Don't bother wasting paper for the use of the software - it's supposed to be simple to use
8) My point about mindset is that programmers forget what it is like to come into a program cold, with a different mindset and no previous knowledge of how the program works. We don't realize that what's obvious to us just isn't to other people. We're in a hurry and tend to
be much too cryptic, thinking ourselves clever.
One way to help that problem is to be a lot more verbose, especially in areas where your method or idea is unique, such as a 6-hour time limit.
The 6 hour time limit is indeed unique - most commercial software I know times out much quicker on free usage
Or "browse" buttons labeled "...".
Screen space is limited. The tooltip help provides additional information. Plus you can do without that button, just type in the path
The tricky part is to do it without being annoying to the people who are more familiar with the program.
And of course,the other tricky part is finding the time to think of & write it all.
True - if I wanted to have the perfect documentation and look, only half the features would be there by know. Please be aware that the software is only a bit more than one year old now, and I have to earn my living with other things. So the time I can spend on this project is limited.
9)Your program does indeed have a lot of bang,
and it isn't too hard to figure out most of it. But for my purposes the timeout I didn't know about caused me to waste a lot of time trying to make the program do what I wanted.
It would have been much better for me if it had been a lot more obvious in several different places, and easier to find when I looked for it. And in fact, the time limit makes it not usable to fully test my concept.
What is your concept?
So I have to pay for the license before I know the program will really do what I want.
Which defeats the purpose of having a free version in the first place. My case is probably unusual, of course. But in my case, the limit on your free version is too
restrictive.
A 30-day time limit with full function would work much better for me.
Even a week with full function, or a maximum number of uploads or a maximum number of files stored or almost anything but a 6-hour timeout would have been better for me.
A 30 day time limit would leave you with nothing after that month. You'd uninstall and reinstall trying to get another month free (and waste more time figuring out that it won't work). The Free License I offer gives you the
right to use the software 6 hours every day for as long as you like.
Somehow I found just the right program on the
web with just the right pothole for me to fall into. Ain't life strange ?
As you mentioned above, "your case is unusual". Most users who purchase the Pro License take less than 2 hours to figure out that they found what they were looking for.