Well, point releases for four products – TextEase, CloudFS, Prophet, and the WiFi Hat
Over the last few weeks there have updates to four of Elesar Ltd‘s products, all being ‘point’ releases. This generally means the least significant digit of a version number has been increased, usually indicating minor changes. A small change, however, isn’t necessarily an unimportant one – so these are the four items that have seen changes that you may wish to benefit from.
TextEase is now at version 5.98. The dialect of Logo, the educational programming language featured as part of TextEase Turtle, has been extended. The software now integrates with SpecialFX, a module originally written by David Pilling and later updated by Richard Hallas that improves some aspects of the desktop interface – in this case it is used for anti-aliased thin lines. Shortcuts to clip-art on non-ADFS/CDFS drives are now supported, and there was also a problem with one-slide slideshows and with Draw exports, which have now been fixed. And, finally, the user manual has been increased in size at 153 pages, and now covers all six applications that form part of TextEase Studio.
Users can update to the latest version by running the installer provided by Elesar Ltd, which downloads everything you need in a zip file. If you don’t yet have TextEase, prices start at £60 including VAT for the Home edition, going up to £96 inc. for the full Professional edition.
CloudFS has breezed up to version 0.33, which adds a new server type for connecting to pCloud’s EU data-centre (in Luxembourg) if you prefer this – the other option being the United States (Dallas). It was already possible to make this choice using CloudFS, but previously it had to be done using a system variable, so this makes it easier. Please be aware, though, that if you have your data stored in one of the two locations and would like it moved to the other, pCloud apply a one-off fee of £17.99 for doing so (the facility within CloudFS is to support the choice you make when you first sign-up with pCloud.)
A problem has also been fixed whereby a connection to the pCloud server could be dropped if there was no activity for an extended period, and – depending on your network connection (and kit) – throughput has been improved by up to 300%.
This update is free for existing users – all you need to do is run the original installer program again to download the latest version ready for installation over your existing copy. For new users, the software is available for £28.80 including VAT, with the basic pCloud account (with 10GB of storage) available at no cost, and paid for options offering more.
Prophet has also seen a gain, bringing it up to version 4.08, which now automatically fills in the reference number in the ledger from historical data for the specified customer, highlights on the invoice window when VAT isn’t shown, and now benefits from smarter auto-completion of company names (all of which have been are a result of user suggestions). An issue with invoice reminders causing a crash has also been fixed and, in the Making Tax Digital edition, the dialogue with HM Revenue and Customs has been updated to match the latest (v3.0) specification.
If you are an existing user, all you need to do is run the provided installer again and it will download the latest version as a TAR file, which contains everything needed to perform the update. New users can purchase the software for £94.80 including VAT for the basic version, with the MTD extension priced at a further £54 inc.
The WiFi HAT is the fourth of the updated items, in this case the ‘EtherWILC’ supporting driver, which updates the firmware that runs on the network co-processor, and now stands at version 1.06. This addresses problems printing test results if the hardware hasn’t started up, and includes a workaround for cases where the Pi’s own firmware reports the wrong clock speed.
A software-only update, this is again very easily obtained by existing users – although this time you need to visit the ‘Resources’ section of the product page linked above and download the EtherWILC WiFi driver zip file. If you have a Pi and want to use it without a wired connection to your network, two versions of the WiFi HAT are available, one with a real time clock (£64.80 including VAT) and one without (£52.80 inclusive), both plus shipping (because there’s a hardware component).
Rob Sprowson notes that the Elesar Ltd is always happy to hear ideas for new features that can be added to the company’s products – with the updates to Prophet detailed above being a good example – so if you are a customer and there’s something you’d like to see added, simply get in touch and let him know.
