I purchased GearGenerator in 2014 and BigPrint in 2022, both purchases were made to support you in a small way. I used the GearGenerator once, for a tiny, like 4mm gear, cut it on the cnc, it was perfect! Thanks again for your old/new, not shit applications. Happy Holidays!
I'm not a big maker, but the utility of BigPrint and its lack of any viable competitor whatsoever was a no-brainer purchase for me years ago. Your philosophy on these kinds of things is a huge inspiration for me - thanks!
@ponkje I've also seen Matthias pop up in the comments on Tim's videos. He did the secret life of household machines back in the 90s, and they're now all remastered and on TH-cam. He's now started making a new series about general making of things. Very interesting and he explains stuff really well
@@not-on-pizza I don't disagree with you in regards to Microsoft allowing their developers the freedom to degrade Windows. However, Windows is not alone in their membership of; "that's a stupid feature" club. Linux seems to intentionally disregard, and not make their system layman friendly a matter of course and discussions I've had with some people, it seems that the complexity of Linux is desired so that members of the community can think themselves smarter than the rest of the world, for being able to remember all the commands at the prompt that are necessary, to administer Linux in that way. One bug I had to deal with lately is with a non boot error. The none boot error was caused by a USB drive I have that mounts to a specific folder on boot. For whatever reason, if Linux cannot read the drive, rather than simply setting that mount error aside, continuing to boot, and then informing the user that the drive was not mounted upon login so the user can address the issue, Linux refuses to boot. To correct the non boot issue, I had to boot into the install drive, open the fstab file and comment out the line for that USB drive. Then the system booted fine. The average layperson would not be able to fix that problem and would choose to return to windows if they faced it. The primary reason is that the majority of people, do not want to have to be computer administrators. So, you can bad mouth windows all you want, but neither Linux nor Apple, are exempt from criticisms.
@@zachary3777 "We're living through the enshittocene era. Scientists says it began around 2014." They are wrong, it started long before then. Back in the mid 90's I was dating a gal that had a 1990 grand am. I decided to do a minor tune up on it, replace the plugs, wires and check the cap and rotor. The engine was mounted sideways with the plugs up front. Simple right? Until you realize that the number one spark plug, being neatly nestled under the alternator, could not be removed without unbolting the alternator and moving it out of the way. I owned a Mercury Sable wagon and one day needed to replace the starter motor. I drove the vehicle up on a set of ramps, climbed up under it and went about the process of removing the starter which ended up in a miserable failure. The starter was so cramped up in their, that I could not get enough space or leverage to break the bolts loose. So after 20 years of doing a simple job like that myself, I ended up having to taking the vehicle to a garage to have the starter replaced. 1999 Grand Caravan with a v-6. I attempted to replace the plugs. The one's close to the front of the vehicle were not a problem, the ones next to the firewall however, meant that you had to have specialized tools and be a contortionist to get back there and replace them. The cost of a tuneup for that vehicle which amounted to just plugs and wires, was over $200.00 That's been happening for a very long time.
Re: new words -- I love 'em. Some of my favorite people are lexicographers. Here's something that I discovered by accident and surprised me; if I push myself to write very fast, without editing, I end up using words that I swear I've never seen before. Yet, checking a good dictionary (OED or American Heritage; thank you lexocographers!), the 'new' word I knew I didn't know ... was ideal and was used correctly. Not editing in time is important to see this. If my editor was turned on, I would stop at every me and I and my -- and you, ... -- and restructure each part without those errors when possible. The real-time editing process kills most good writing, even if it is required to refine the mush into something that is good.
@@EclecticOmnivoreyes😅. it's funny to me too when I use a 'new' word and say to myself, "Self, where did that word come from?" And, I'm usually correct (once I look it up to check)
Thank You for providing this info. This has reminded me about an other issue. That an easy way to support you (one of my absolute favorite TH-camrs), it is easy and simple to just buy the latest version of these programs. So I have just done that.
Love the idea of registering the eval version with an old version using drag and drop. Never seen this before. Fantastic! What I also appreciate with this software is the fact that the program is only 123KB. In a world where your average software is tens or hundreds of megabytes, this is outstanding. Like a linux program: does what it needs to without fanfare or hiccups.
Its cause I put the key in the executable, which turnedo ut to be a bad idea. I was thinking about adding webp image format support to bigprint, but that would have meant pulling in a library, and then it needs an install tool and all that. So gave up on that. It has been reported to run under linux too with the right .net framework installed (which is huge)
danke, dass Du mir eine neues passendes Wort beigebracht hast "Verschlimmscheißerung". Die Liste der Beispiele im wiki passt sehr gut. Scheißozän als Zeitalter der Abwärtsentwicklung auch.. LG aus Berlin
A part of the problem might be Microsoft _does_ recognize your software and that is changed just a _little bit_ , so malware _might_ have tampered with it. The solution might be to sign the executable so smartscreen/defender/any AV can see that the small chnages where at least authorised by the publisher. Publishing to a trusted appstore is also a good solution. From security perspective it is very bad practice to ask end-users to ignore security warnings in certain cases. Not that I think it is the case here, this is a simple mode of attack for any adversary developer. It also allows bad actors to point to your advice to trust certain warnings to be untrue. I know the solutions presented are not free - but that also counts for your software ;)
@@matthiaswandel Nothing. But it prevents bad actors from signing code as yours, and previously "good" signed applications can retroactively be marked as "not trusted" (and will be blocked by Windows UAC) if it turns out those "good" signed applications were bad. Code signing certificates (for Windows applications) work very similar to SSL certificates (for websites) in that sense. And they, regretfully, also cost hundreds per year. For a "proper" so called "Extended Validation" code signing certificate, you're looking at 300-600$ per year. This will make your Windows application be considered "safe", and your customers shouldn't face any of the "scary" popups. Microsoft has also launched something called "Trusted Signing", which is a subscription service currently in "preview" to achieve something similar. It appears less expensive, but I have no experience with it. All things considered, it's a rather costly and complicated thing for a small time software developer. From my understanding it's also mandatory for publishing an application on the Windows Store.
@@matthiaswandel Well... if it pops up as malware and goes through the sandboxing/identification process and comes out as malware...this version is certainly marked as bad, but all future software signed by the publisher too. The signature is based on public PKI certificate which can be revoked. Your ID/payment info is linked to the certificate or the appstore, so worst case they come after you. Real malware mostly uses other ways ;) Remind yourself that aside whitelisting, trusted publishers are a thing, but also still what you consider old style AntiVirus (heuristics, behavior, analysis sandboxing...)+ cloud analysis + AI.... just take a look in the default AV settings to see where they get the samples from ;)
Signing the application is a real nuisance as an independent programmer. Relying on mass-downloads as a way of having it be "signed" is honestly a much better option
For all the bad things people say Microsoft does one thing no developer can complain about is about their backwards compatibility. Our company's software was still running back in 2020 even though it was written in VB6 and NET Framework 4.6, and nowadays there are clients still running it on Windows 10 and 11. Since Microsoft stopped supporting VB6 runtimes we had only two bugs that came because of Microsoft modifying some stuff breaking backwards compatibility (I kind of remember the newer MSXML losing some interfaces that were used for schema checking) which were easily fixed.
@@matthiaswandel MacOS can be just as bad, particularly with hardware support. When I worked in a retail computer store had a customer that had a usb 3G internet modem, and they bought a new printer. It was impossible to use both of these devices on the same mac, because a macos new enough to support the printer no longer supported the modem.
@@matthiaswandel Linux is a weird beast for stuff like that. I've got code that is literally older than I am that compiles and works flawlessly, and my configuration files for the shell have only been expanded to add more things I want, not remove things that don't work. Then again, I've made the mistake of thinking I'm good to update my OS only to discover that someone has gone and 'upgraded' the entire sound pipeline between major versions and now I have to spend a few hours reverting the 'upgrade' so I can have sound again.
@@omegaflameZ I ran into that weird upgrade with improper drivers as well. I purchased a mini-pc with Ubuntu pre-installed. I ran the upgrade and when it rebooted, something wasn't quite right. It didn't have drivers necessary for the system. I ended up having to reinstall the OS, and then, after I got it working the way I wanted, I did a reboot and there was no OS. I decided to install Linux Mint and after having an issue from upgrading the kernel, I decided, after I got her running and configured the way I wanted, to not do upgrades that involved the kernel or GUI. To upgrade, I will need to download the latest version and install it on an USB drive and use that as a test bed to see if it will run on the mini-PC properly. There's no point in messing up a working system.
We used to change software (and things in general) to make it better. Now we change software just to have something new to announce. Until we get out of this "new is always better" rut that we are in things are just going to keep getting worse.
Plus so many things are driven by profits, and the increase of ads means more profitable often doesn't actually mean a better product anymore. Unfortunately doesn't look like it's changing any time soon, but we can hope.
We also release updates for security reasons. Just because an app still works, doesn't mean it's secure in 2024 even if it was secure in 2020. Software that is running on a machine that connects to a network is never a buy once run for life item. Neither for the consumer nor for the producer.
Well... That's around the time I stopped with coddling, Matthias... 😂 But beautiful work! They turned out amazing! Merry Christmas! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Thank you, the Generator did work before, but it had the annoying popup about something missing. I am having a hard time using it for metric gears, there seem to be other values that are taken into consideration over here which makes it hart to match "other" gears, but if you just stick to the generator it's pretty nice. My boom arm uses half a gear. :)
@matthiaswandel it doesn't, but if I understand correctly it gives your apps better reputation and sooner it is recognized as harmless. But I just checked pricing for code singing certificate and OMG
@@matthiaswandel It does not prove it's not malware, but it does basically embed your information into the executable. Basically it just ensures that the program is from "a trusted" source, or at least that it's not from completely unknown source. This seems to be enough for Windows in many cases, provided there is no "bad" signatures present. IMHO, it would be a good idea to sign your programs.
@@Qyonek If the executable is signed, you can check who it was signed by, with which certificate. Just right-click, there is now a new tab in the properties. Code signing certificates can be revoked. Even more importantly, a valid signature proves the file has not been tampered with; i.e. it might be malware to begin with but at least it is not infected by a virus.
My 9 year old saw your gear generator on your website, but man that piece of software is expensive, made in Canada. So I decompiled it, slightly altered the source code, and simply used that instead. It took me 1 hour though, so now I wonder whether what you ask is not justified. ;D
This wooden Toys are made by a company Ostheimer. They are mostly handmade. The company is known for their high standarts in workspace safety and social engagement. So the price is high, but at least for a reason.
at first I thought they were just cut out silhouettes, but the more I studied the shape, the more I see that is sculpted beyond that. Not quite a carving, but part way between bandsaw silhouette and carving. But they must be able to cut these out in a lot less time than I can, or they'd have to charge even more.
Hey Matthias! Long time subscriber here and I'm thinking turning this program into a "game" and uploading it to steam might make things more user friendly and approachable? Just a thought, certainly more attainable for people like me , and you can upload demo versions on steam too
Very good Matthias, I've come to expect a good chunk of value from each of your episodes/issues, but here you exceeded usual expectations by covering in passing between a multitude and a myriad of disparate items all useful and entertaining in this wonderful less than six minute package.
c# Plenty of resources for learning it. C# is a very strict environment, so if it compiles, it has a very good chance of actually running. Not like python or javascript
I'd buy BigPrint if it was like 5-10$, but 22$ is just too expensive for my taste, for the few times I need it I'd rather mess around with Inkscape myself.
Although I've been interested in software development for over 30 years, I didn't know about the term "Enshitification". I'll put my noobie hat back on.
The word is only 2 years old, coined by Cory Doctorow in November of 2022, so a noobie learning the latest trends in software development would probably be more likely come across it than someone with many years of experience.
Thanks for this Matthias, I've been using BigPrint on an old VM to get around this, but have it on my Laptop now. It appears with my original download link I also got a copy of Gear Generator in the Zip file, i'm guessing this is unintentional.
Yes, unintentional. That old store code has several copies of the code that makes the zip file, and I didn't realize two copies of that code got executed on a download. There's a reason I gave up on that store, but I thought I'd try this fix -- which was the most ambitious I tried with this code base. Also the last as its only still used for legacy downloads.
What if you digitally signed the software? I was under the assumption that the untrusted software error showed up because the software wasn't signed? Or is it a combination of both cases?
@@matthiaswandel Furthermore, CrowdStrike's driver that broke the world was signed with a valid cert. CrowdStrike's signature is still trusted. If anyone was in a position to have their certificate revoked, it would be them. So this model makes no sense to me at all.
Authenticode signatures don't provide anything except publisher identity and tamper resistance. A malware maker certainly can sign their malware, but a reputation system like SmartScreen can track signed files based on the publisher identity from the certificate instead of just the individual file hashes. Signatures also make it much harder for bad actors to modify and redistribute software with malicious code added. Finally, the entities that sell signing certs are supposed to verify purchasers' identities (or risk Microsoft removing their root certs from the trust list, making their customers very angry and lawyer-y)
Signatures *definitely* don't protect against problems the publisher itself introduces, like the CrowdStrike thing. CrowdStrike itself created all of the problematic code/content, so from a signature perspective, everything was OK. It was all "just" a normal bug (in a reeeeeallly bad place to have that bug, and raising serious questions about their approach)
The only way I’ve been able to replicate the functionality of Big Print is with AutoCAD. However, it’s only convenient if you are starting from a cad file in the first place. Big Print is a cost effective way to print out a large format drawing of multiple file types without a lot of fussing around. It is absolutely a worthwhile tool. Especially if you do large format work.
Are your programs written in python? So do you not purchase a code signing certificate to make windows see it as secure? I have a python program i made and am investigating selling it as you have
4:15 Having tried to make gears in F360, yeah your software isn't going anywhere anytime soon lol Literally just *opening* Fusion 360 takes 3-4 tries most of the time. I hate everything (except wood gears, those are fine)
cool thing is, I bought a cheap refurb PC, 2017 vintage. Just months older than what windows 11 supports (which is why corporations got rid of it). But windows never nags me about "updating" to windows 11 on that one!
While working as a university sysadmin, I learned that, if a computer ever existed, there is a prof who still loves it. And, if ever an app or program existed, there is a prof who insists that it must continue to operate because it is vital to his research. Even if it exists only on a paper tape.
Sorry about that, that's two store rebuilds ago, and seeing that I hadn't thought about an upgrade path originally, it was just too much of a hack to maintain an upgrade path going 11 years back.
Somebody just emailed me that he tried the gear program and it works on his SteamOs linux box. Worth a shot, you might need to add the .net framework 4.8. May even work on a mac if the framework is installed.
@@matthiaswandel We Linux people want native builds and supported software =D If I was making more gears, I probably would have just written something open source at this point, but I've got other projects.
I think for 2024 it would make more sense to make web version of your programs. This way there's gonna be basically no way for people to pirate it, because of registration, and it's gonna be OS independent. Because I use mac, for example, and there's no way to run your program unless I install virtual OS or something. All the math would be mostly the same, so it wouldn't be too difficult to rewrite it in typescript. You'd have to learn web framework, like React, and services to host and deploy it, but I think it wouldn't be such a problem for you.
Already have a free web version of the gear program. As for bigprint, that actually needs quite a bit of computation for the ink saver mode image processing. And both need to know details of your printer to get the scale right -- that sort of thing is really hard from a web thingimabob.
Program with no enshittification certification 😂 To get big you must make some enshittification and issue same program much more expensive PRO version.
using win XP on old pc's in the workshop? Thats nuts - old pc's easily can get upgradet by installing linux. I even thrown away the new Win 11 pro of my brand new pc and installed Ubuntu as a replacement for this distribution from redmont. All these explainations of workarounds of workarounds makes one sic ... and ... this shameless copiing of german designs reminds me to chinese business ;)
If your equally old CNC or similar has its control software only run on Windows XP, then there is not much you can do. (Just don't let that computer go to any external network.)
it is funny watching all this rigamarole around software keys for you to immediately steal someone's design. to be clear i don't mind you using the design, intellectual property is not part of the society i want to live in.
I really love the drag and drop feature to update the key, that's so neat to see in action
I purchased GearGenerator in 2014 and BigPrint in 2022, both purchases were made to support you in a small way. I used the GearGenerator once, for a tiny, like 4mm gear, cut it on the cnc, it was perfect! Thanks again for your old/new, not shit applications. Happy Holidays!
I'm not a big maker, but the utility of BigPrint and its lack of any viable competitor whatsoever was a no-brainer purchase for me years ago. Your philosophy on these kinds of things is a huge inspiration for me - thanks!
It always amazes me just how many of the youtubers I follow use either your gear generator or big print software, or both!
who are those? they seem like interesting people to follow…
Yeah, came to say the same. They don't always mention your name, but its the same gear generator.
@ponkje the first 2 that spring to mind are tim hunkin and pask makes. Also seen clock makers using the gear program!
@ponkje I've also seen Matthias pop up in the comments on Tim's videos. He did the secret life of household machines back in the 90s, and they're now all remastered and on TH-cam. He's now started making a new series about general making of things. Very interesting and he explains stuff really well
I don't have these programs but I see a Matthias video, I watch the video.
Baaaaaa
Same here
It's lovely that your software hasn't become enshitified :)
Unlike Windows itself...
@@not-on-pizza
I don't disagree with you in regards to Microsoft allowing their developers the freedom to degrade Windows. However, Windows is not alone in their membership of; "that's a stupid feature" club.
Linux seems to intentionally disregard, and not make their system layman friendly a matter of course and discussions I've had with some people, it seems that the complexity of Linux is desired so that members of the community can think themselves smarter than the rest of the world, for being able to remember all the commands at the prompt that are necessary, to administer Linux in that way.
One bug I had to deal with lately is with a non boot error.
The none boot error was caused by a USB drive I have that mounts to a specific folder on boot. For whatever reason, if Linux cannot read the drive, rather than simply setting that mount error aside, continuing to boot, and then informing the user that the drive was not mounted upon login so the user can address the issue, Linux refuses to boot.
To correct the non boot issue, I had to boot into the install drive, open the fstab file and comment out the line for that USB drive. Then the system booted fine.
The average layperson would not be able to fix that problem and would choose to return to windows if they faced it. The primary reason is that the majority of people, do not want to have to be computer administrators.
So, you can bad mouth windows all you want, but neither Linux nor Apple, are exempt from criticisms.
@@not-on-pizza I disagree, but each to their own opinion. I feel that Windows was always bad, even back when I was using 3.1
We're living through the enshittocene era. Scientists says it began around 2014.
@@zachary3777
"We're living through the enshittocene era. Scientists says it began around 2014."
They are wrong, it started long before then.
Back in the mid 90's I was dating a gal that had a 1990 grand am.
I decided to do a minor tune up on it, replace the plugs, wires and check the cap and rotor.
The engine was mounted sideways with the plugs up front.
Simple right?
Until you realize that the number one spark plug, being neatly nestled under the alternator, could not be removed without unbolting the alternator and moving it out of the way.
I owned a Mercury Sable wagon and one day needed to replace the starter motor.
I drove the vehicle up on a set of ramps, climbed up under it and went about the process of removing the starter which ended up in a miserable failure.
The starter was so cramped up in their, that I could not get enough space or leverage to break the bolts loose. So after 20 years of doing a simple job like that myself, I ended up having to taking the vehicle to a garage to have the starter replaced.
1999 Grand Caravan with a v-6.
I attempted to replace the plugs. The one's close to the front of the vehicle were not a problem, the ones next to the firewall however, meant that you had to have specialized tools and be a contortionist to get back there and replace them.
The cost of a tuneup for that vehicle which amounted to just plugs and wires, was over $200.00
That's been happening for a very long time.
I just purchased your gear software just because I enjoy your videos. Merry Christmas, Matthias!
Had to do this to get BigPrint to install on a new Win11 PC a couple months ago. Now I know why. Still a super useful program after all these years.
BigPrint is a GIFT and i pray your favorite dessert is 50% off the next time you go to the grocery store!
I really appreciated learning a new word which I will use 2 times this week just because
Re: new words -- I love 'em. Some of my favorite people are lexicographers.
Here's something that I discovered by accident and surprised me; if I push myself to write very fast, without editing, I end up using words that I swear I've never seen before. Yet, checking a good dictionary (OED or American Heritage; thank you lexocographers!), the 'new' word I knew I didn't know ... was ideal and was used correctly.
Not editing in time is important to see this. If my editor was turned on, I would stop at every me and I and my -- and you, ... -- and restructure each part without those errors when possible. The real-time editing process kills most good writing, even if it is required to refine the mush into something that is good.
@@EclecticOmnivoreyes😅. it's funny to me too when I use a 'new' word and say to myself, "Self, where did that word come from?" And, I'm usually correct (once I look it up to check)
"At least it's not worse..." is something I say about stuff around me way too often. :D
Thank You for providing this info.
This has reminded me about an other issue.
That an easy way to support you (one of my absolute favorite TH-camrs), it is easy and simple to just buy the latest version of these programs.
So I have just done that.
Astonishing that this just came up! I love your program and use it all the time! Thanks for this vid and your amazing program.
I was just looking at big print a couple of weeks ago! thanks for providing this info!!!
Love the idea of registering the eval version with an old version using drag and drop. Never seen this before. Fantastic!
What I also appreciate with this software is the fact that the program is only 123KB. In a world where your average software is tens or hundreds of megabytes, this is outstanding.
Like a linux program: does what it needs to without fanfare or hiccups.
Its cause I put the key in the executable, which turnedo ut to be a bad idea. I was thinking about adding webp image format support to bigprint, but that would have meant pulling in a library, and then it needs an install tool and all that. So gave up on that. It has been reported to run under linux too with the right .net framework installed (which is huge)
The gear generator link you demo with seems to actually work for a download. Is that intentional?
Good catch! I meant to disable that transaction. Done now.
but you and 15 other folks just got yourself a free copy! :)
@@matthiaswandel 15 people just got a very unexpected Christmas gift!
@@matthiaswandelWoohoo my first bug bounty 😂
@@matthiaswandel There's another URL in your browser autocomplete that still works (...9873). I didn't download, but thought you might want to know.
@@matthiaswandel When you are typing the link, two of them highlight, the other still works (don't ask how i know that it works :D)
Geek woodworking! Love it
Thanks for the early christmas present!
danke, dass Du mir eine neues passendes Wort beigebracht hast "Verschlimmscheißerung". Die Liste der Beispiele im wiki passt sehr gut. Scheißozän als Zeitalter der Abwärtsentwicklung auch.. LG aus Berlin
Rockin' the 20-year-old RIM SWAG! :D
A part of the problem might be Microsoft _does_ recognize your software and that is changed just a _little bit_ , so malware _might_ have tampered with it. The solution might be to sign the executable so smartscreen/defender/any AV can see that the small chnages where at least authorised by the publisher. Publishing to a trusted appstore is also a good solution.
From security perspective it is very bad practice to ask end-users to ignore security warnings in certain cases. Not that I think it is the case here, this is a simple mode of attack for any adversary developer. It also allows bad actors to point to your advice to trust certain warnings to be untrue.
I know the solutions presented are not free - but that also counts for your software ;)
but what stops a bad actor from signing their own code as "good"?
@@matthiaswandel Nothing. But it prevents bad actors from signing code as yours, and previously "good" signed applications can retroactively be marked as "not trusted" (and will be blocked by Windows UAC) if it turns out those "good" signed applications were bad. Code signing certificates (for Windows applications) work very similar to SSL certificates (for websites) in that sense. And they, regretfully, also cost hundreds per year. For a "proper" so called "Extended Validation" code signing certificate, you're looking at 300-600$ per year. This will make your Windows application be considered "safe", and your customers shouldn't face any of the "scary" popups. Microsoft has also launched something called "Trusted Signing", which is a subscription service currently in "preview" to achieve something similar. It appears less expensive, but I have no experience with it. All things considered, it's a rather costly and complicated thing for a small time software developer. From my understanding it's also mandatory for publishing an application on the Windows Store.
@@matthiaswandel Well... if it pops up as malware and goes through the sandboxing/identification process and comes out as malware...this version is certainly marked as bad, but all future software signed by the publisher too. The signature is based on public PKI certificate which can be revoked. Your ID/payment info is linked to the certificate or the appstore, so worst case they come after you. Real malware mostly uses other ways ;)
Remind yourself that aside whitelisting, trusted publishers are a thing, but also still what you consider old style AntiVirus (heuristics, behavior, analysis sandboxing...)+ cloud analysis + AI.... just take a look in the default AV settings to see where they get the samples from ;)
Signing the application is a real nuisance as an independent programmer. Relying on mass-downloads as a way of having it be "signed" is honestly a much better option
Lovely to hear, will update mine to be up to date. Thanks for the heads up.
Bought both a long time ago, to have when the need comes. Never used them yet, will see if they be used if I ever will need them.
For all the bad things people say Microsoft does one thing no developer can complain about is about their backwards compatibility. Our company's software was still running back in 2020 even though it was written in VB6 and NET Framework 4.6, and nowadays there are clients still running it on Windows 10 and 11. Since Microsoft stopped supporting VB6 runtimes we had only two bugs that came because of Microsoft modifying some stuff breaking backwards compatibility (I kind of remember the newer MSXML losing some interfaces that were used for schema checking) which were easily fixed.
True. Linux is terrible that way. A two year old distro is in many ways way obsolete.
@@matthiaswandel MacOS can be just as bad, particularly with hardware support. When I worked in a retail computer store had a customer that had a usb 3G internet modem, and they bought a new printer. It was impossible to use both of these devices on the same mac, because a macos new enough to support the printer no longer supported the modem.
@@matthiaswandel Linux is a weird beast for stuff like that. I've got code that is literally older than I am that compiles and works flawlessly, and my configuration files for the shell have only been expanded to add more things I want, not remove things that don't work. Then again, I've made the mistake of thinking I'm good to update my OS only to discover that someone has gone and 'upgraded' the entire sound pipeline between major versions and now I have to spend a few hours reverting the 'upgrade' so I can have sound again.
@@omegaflameZ
I ran into that weird upgrade with improper drivers as well.
I purchased a mini-pc with Ubuntu pre-installed.
I ran the upgrade and when it rebooted, something wasn't quite right.
It didn't have drivers necessary for the system.
I ended up having to reinstall the OS, and then, after I got it working the way I wanted, I did a reboot and there was no OS.
I decided to install Linux Mint and after having an issue from upgrading the kernel, I decided, after I got her running and configured the way I wanted, to not do upgrades that involved the kernel or GUI.
To upgrade, I will need to download the latest version and install it on an USB drive and use that as a test bed to see if it will run on the mini-PC properly.
There's no point in messing up a working system.
I used it to print pinball schematics! It worked perfectly
Matthias don't seize to surprise me. Engineering, eletronic, now software developer... 😮
We used to change software (and things in general) to make it better. Now we change software just to have something new to announce. Until we get out of this "new is always better" rut that we are in things are just going to keep getting worse.
Plus so many things are driven by profits, and the increase of ads means more profitable often doesn't actually mean a better product anymore. Unfortunately doesn't look like it's changing any time soon, but we can hope.
We also release updates for security reasons. Just because an app still works, doesn't mean it's secure in 2024 even if it was secure in 2020.
Software that is running on a machine that connects to a network is never a buy once run for life item. Neither for the consumer nor for the producer.
I will check mine. Great simples software BTW. I should buy big print too.
Wow!! I learned a new word, thank you :)
Well... That's around the time I stopped with coddling, Matthias... 😂
But beautiful work! They turned out amazing!
Merry Christmas!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Thank you, the Generator did work before, but it had the annoying popup about something missing. I am having a hard time using it for metric gears, there seem to be other values that are taken into consideration over here which makes it hart to match "other" gears, but if you just stick to the generator it's pretty nice. My boom arm uses half a gear. :)
thank you for clearing this up.
Ever considered code signing your binaries?
how does that prove its not malware?
@matthiaswandel it doesn't, but if I understand correctly it gives your apps better reputation and sooner it is recognized as harmless. But I just checked pricing for code singing certificate and OMG
@@matthiaswandel It does not prove it's not malware, but it does basically embed your information into the executable. Basically it just ensures that the program is from "a trusted" source, or at least that it's not from completely unknown source. This seems to be enough for Windows in many cases, provided there is no "bad" signatures present. IMHO, it would be a good idea to sign your programs.
@@Qyonek If the executable is signed, you can check who it was signed by, with which certificate. Just right-click, there is now a new tab in the properties.
Code signing certificates can be revoked. Even more importantly, a valid signature proves the file has not been tampered with; i.e. it might be malware to begin with but at least it is not infected by a virus.
My 9 year old saw your gear generator on your website, but man that piece of software is expensive, made in Canada. So I decompiled it, slightly altered the source code, and simply used that instead. It took me 1 hour though, so now I wonder whether what you ask is not justified. ;D
My Big Print still works on my Windows 10. Can't remember if I purchased the gear program. I think I just used your online version.
2:28 This, supporting old legacy PC's is good thing. Too bad most do not want understand that.
I love this from the web page: "The free evaluation copy can do everything that the full version can do, but all output is shown "wobbly"."
This wooden Toys are made by a company Ostheimer. They are mostly handmade. The company is known for their high standarts in workspace safety and social engagement. So the price is high, but at least for a reason.
at first I thought they were just cut out silhouettes, but the more I studied the shape, the more I see that is sculpted beyond that. Not quite a carving, but part way between bandsaw silhouette and carving. But they must be able to cut these out in a lot less time than I can, or they'd have to charge even more.
Quel évolution de You-tube. Mais Mathias restera TOUJOURS le 1ér contributeur auquel je me suis abonné ( 2004 )
what?
Ordner Number not found! Matthias, what did you do? 😀
I disabled the links shown in the video.
On the topic of gears... Any chance of your shed needing a 4-point bunker style locking system that the rest of us can be envious of? 😜
Hey Matthias! Long time subscriber here and I'm thinking turning this program into a "game" and uploading it to steam might make things more user friendly and approachable? Just a thought, certainly more attainable for people like me , and you can upload demo versions on steam too
Very good Matthias, I've come to expect a good chunk of value from each of your episodes/issues, but here you exceeded usual expectations by covering in passing between a multitude and a myriad of disparate items all useful and entertaining in this wonderful less than six minute package.
What coding language did you write your programs in and how did you learn to write windows programs?
c# Plenty of resources for learning it. C# is a very strict environment, so if it compiles, it has a very good chance of actually running. Not like python or javascript
I'd buy BigPrint if it was like 5-10$, but 22$ is just too expensive for my taste, for the few times I need it I'd rather mess around with Inkscape myself.
5:24 Maybe all run off on a CNC and then just hand or even vibratory sanded before paint?
It doesn't look very CNC. And with the simple shape, cleaning up the CNC cuts might be more work than the CNC saves.
Although I've been interested in software development for over 30 years, I didn't know about the term "Enshitification". I'll put my noobie hat back on.
The word is only 2 years old, coined by Cory Doctorow in November of 2022, so a noobie learning the latest trends in software development would probably be more likely come across it than someone with many years of experience.
Kept a text copy of the E-Mail link with the old version, downloaded flawlessly.
Thanks for this Matthias, I've been using BigPrint on an old VM to get around this, but have it on my Laptop now. It appears with my original download link I also got a copy of Gear Generator in the Zip file, i'm guessing this is unintentional.
Yes, unintentional. That old store code has several copies of the code that makes the zip file, and I didn't realize two copies of that code got executed on a download. There's a reason I gave up on that store, but I thought I'd try this fix -- which was the most ambitious I tried with this code base. Also the last as its only still used for legacy downloads.
What if you digitally signed the software? I was under the assumption that the untrusted software error showed up because the software wasn't signed? Or is it a combination of both cases?
I don't know. What prevents a bad actor from buying a certificate and signing their malware?
@@matthiaswandel Furthermore, CrowdStrike's driver that broke the world was signed with a valid cert. CrowdStrike's signature is still trusted. If anyone was in a position to have their certificate revoked, it would be them. So this model makes no sense to me at all.
Authenticode signatures don't provide anything except publisher identity and tamper resistance. A malware maker certainly can sign their malware, but a reputation system like SmartScreen can track signed files based on the publisher identity from the certificate instead of just the individual file hashes. Signatures also make it much harder for bad actors to modify and redistribute software with malicious code added. Finally, the entities that sell signing certs are supposed to verify purchasers' identities (or risk Microsoft removing their root certs from the trust list, making their customers very angry and lawyer-y)
Signatures *definitely* don't protect against problems the publisher itself introduces, like the CrowdStrike thing. CrowdStrike itself created all of the problematic code/content, so from a signature perspective, everything was OK. It was all "just" a normal bug (in a reeeeeallly bad place to have that bug, and raising serious questions about their approach)
i purchased big print back in 2013.
The only way I’ve been able to replicate the functionality of Big Print is with AutoCAD. However, it’s only convenient if you are starting from a cad file in the first place.
Big Print is a cost effective way to print out a large format drawing of multiple file types without a lot of fussing around. It is absolutely a worthwhile tool. Especially if you do large format work.
Are your programs written in python? So do you not purchase a code signing certificate to make windows see it as secure? I have a python program i made and am investigating selling it as you have
written in c#
its a visual studio winforms c# project, its a framework built to make windows applications
somehow split the engine and the macros, can update the macros any day ?
No idea. what macros are you referring to?
„Verschlimmbessern“ is the German term for this phenomenon.
I run your software in Linux using the Wine emulator. They work great and enshittification avoided 😂
Ostheimer is expensive not without reason: local & sustainable production, actual social commitment, nice quality, ..
4:15 Having tried to make gears in F360, yeah your software isn't going anywhere anytime soon lol
Literally just *opening* Fusion 360 takes 3-4 tries most of the time. I hate everything (except wood gears, those are fine)
It’s amazing how many times I go “that’s too expensive I can do it myself” only to realize what a bargain they were selling at.
Talk about taking all the fun out of programming.
Your software technical term definitely applies to Win11.
cool thing is, I bought a cheap refurb PC, 2017 vintage. Just months older than what windows 11 supports (which is why corporations got rid of it). But windows never nags me about "updating" to windows 11 on that one!
@@matthiaswandel I got a refurb PC and put unix on it after playing with the win11 dumpster fire that came pre-installed on it for a day or two.
While working as a university sysadmin, I learned that, if a computer ever existed, there is a prof who still loves it. And, if ever an app or program existed, there is a prof who insists that it must continue to operate because it is vital to his research. Even if it exists only on a paper tape.
Ah, that's how some of these historic machines keep running way beyond complete obsolescence
5:25 you need a CNC
Lots of cuts on those a CNC could not do, but also a lot more cleanup after CNCing it, so I don't see a CNC saving any time with those.
Can you give a free version to all of us may be bit water down version
Done: woodgears.ca/gear_cutting
Mine's older than 2013, I'll likely just invest in nrw copies.
Sorry about that, that's two store rebuilds ago, and seeing that I hadn't thought about an upgrade path originally, it was just too much of a hack to maintain an upgrade path going 11 years back.
@@matthiaswandel no problem Matthias it's worth it.
so basically when your programs go viral, windows defender recognizes them as harmless. 😅
.net? I would've put you down as an assembly programmer 😂
When's the Linux version coming?
Somebody just emailed me that he tried the gear program and it works on his SteamOs linux box. Worth a shot, you might need to add the .net framework 4.8. May even work on a mac if the framework is installed.
@@matthiaswandel We Linux people want native builds and supported software =D
If I was making more gears, I probably would have just written something open source at this point, but I've got other projects.
Signing would fix all that
"enshittification" i hear this word a lot
now that people saw you copy a toy off a picture online, they will soon make the pictures wobble about to prevent printscreen theft..
And people wonder why the price of hand made items are what they are.
or switch to Mac
1080p that eyebrow ... just giving you a hard time.... i miss the old videos of the wood trash picking off the curb!
I think for 2024 it would make more sense to make web version of your programs. This way there's gonna be basically no way for people to pirate it, because of registration, and it's gonna be OS independent. Because I use mac, for example, and there's no way to run your program unless I install virtual OS or something. All the math would be mostly the same, so it wouldn't be too difficult to rewrite it in typescript. You'd have to learn web framework, like React, and services to host and deploy it, but I think it wouldn't be such a problem for you.
Already have a free web version of the gear program.
As for bigprint, that actually needs quite a bit of computation for the ink saver mode image processing. And both need to know details of your printer to get the scale right -- that sort of thing is really hard from a web thingimabob.
Have you moved to Germany?
No
German eye brow?
@@Watchyn_Yarwood well, now you are just enshittifying!
...y el castellano?
Program with no enshittification certification 😂 To get big you must make some enshittification and issue same program much more expensive PRO version.
No Mac version? No thanks.
The pirates have to jump through none of these hoops to run their cracked version.
Once again, paying customers are punished.
Right. Instead we should punish those who write the software?
@@matthiaswandel No, it's just an interesting side effect.
Windows xp is the best windows
I quite liked windows 2000 and windows 7
using win XP on old pc's in the workshop? Thats nuts - old pc's easily can get upgradet by installing linux. I even thrown away the new Win 11 pro of my brand new pc and installed Ubuntu as a replacement for this distribution from redmont. All these explainations of workarounds of workarounds makes one sic ... and ... this shameless copiing of german designs reminds me to chinese business ;)
you can install linux... but then you can't run this program.
actually, it has been reported to run on linux, with the right framework installed.
If your equally old CNC or similar has its control software only run on Windows XP, then there is not much you can do. (Just don't let that computer go to any external network.)
Windows Defender isn’t exactly a “good program” itself.
it is funny watching all this rigamarole around software keys for you to immediately steal someone's design. to be clear i don't mind you using the design, intellectual property is not part of the society i want to live in.