CodeMii

The Homebrew Browser turns 1 today. I have to say that it doesn’t feel like it’s been a year for me but you can’t argue with the release dates.

Along with it comes this quick 1 year anniversary video put together showing the progression of the HBB versions. The ending seems familiar

2 June 2009 (v0.3.2)

• Added an updated applications pop-up which can be disabled in the setting. When applications are updated, you will be notified of the date, application and version when starting HBB.
• Added number of Wiimotes supported by applications by showing the number in the Wiimote icon
• Can revert to using IP address if HBB can’t find codemii.com domain
• Added a download icon to indicate which application is being downloaded when you are browsing whilst downloading
• Added setting to disable Wiimote power off as some users experienced their Wii’s turning off automatically
• Fixed bug where download/delete buttons would show when rating an application
• Fixed an issue when deleting applications wouldn’t delete some folders
• Fixed squares that occasionally showed after name, description, etc which would cause creating/deleting directories to fail
• Fixed download queue issue when removing applications from the queue
• Fixed code dumps that occurred when scrolling the lists

The Homebrew Browser has now been upgraded to v0.3.2. The main feature is an updated applications pop-up which lets you know exactly which applications where updated, the date they were updated on the HBB and the version it was updated to.

Also are a few fixes, especially for the squares issue which keeps on occurring but it should now be fixed permanently.

Download HBB v0.3.2 or run HBB on your Wii to update.

1 May 2009 (v0.3.1)

• Able to download and browse at the same time (just click on a category when downloading)
• Fixed bug which didn’t show the last character for applications names, descriptions, etc.
• Fixed bug where the wrong applications were shown after downloading from download queue
• Added GC controller support (port #1)
• Added nunchuck support for scrolling the apps list
• Added ability to power off the Wii via the Wiimote power button
• Menu items are now accessible when in the help or settings screen

The Homebrew Browser has now been upgraded to v0.3.1. I was planning to release this a little later so that I could add the updated applications pop-up however it seems that how the server sends the list file has changed and therefore applications names, descriptions, etc were missing the last character.

This has now been fixed and along with this comes the feature of downloading and browsing at the same time, just click on another category when downloading and you’ll be able to browse.

Download HBB v0.3.1 or run HBB on your Wii to update.

12 April 2009 (v0.3)

• Brand new GUI (thanks DayDreamOz)
• Ability to scroll through applications without waiting to download images (images loading or being downloaded will show as “Image not found”)
• Images download in the background
• Much more information on applications which includes a longer description, author, version, size, date, SDHC support and controllers supported
• Shows the total amount of downloads for each application
• Ability to rate applications and shows an average rating
• Ability to queue applications for download in a download queue and download all at once
• Ability to sort applications by date, rating and download count
• Added background music (off by default, change loop.mod with your own music if you like)
• Uses threads
• Ability to move the cursor once downloading or extracting
• Ability to cancel extracting process
• Ability to work offline (by pressing the 1 Button when HBB is initialising the network)
• Ability to hide installed applications from the lists
• Checks for SD card to make sure there is enough free space before downloading each application
• Settings now include show SD card space, check free space, hide installed applications, retreive my rating, background music, rumble, update icon and offline mode
• Added lots of help screens
• Added widescreen support (thanks Cashman)
• Checks that server connected to is really www.codemii.com
• Added check to make sure the SD card isn’t locked
• Downloads all image files before loading HBB v0.3 the first time to make things faster

The Homebrew Browser has now been upgraded to v0.3. With this new version comes a much better design, usability and more information of applications. I highly recommend everyone to update and enjoy the new features.

Download HBB v0.3 or run HBB on your Wii to update.

6 April 2009 (v0.2.5d)

• Uses domain www.codemii.com to connect instead of an IP address

Another quick fix for the homebrew browser, this time my host is moving me to another server which means the codemii.com IP address will change. I recommend everyone update as once the codemii.com website has moved servers, if you have HBB v0.2.5c or below, it won’t work. (I know, I should have implemented this feature eariler)

Download HBB v0.2.5d or run HBB on your Wii to update.

HBB v0.3 has progressed to the point where it’s almost ready to be released. I am looking for people to test and post any issues or comments.

HBB Rev 8 is available for download.
Please do comment either in this post or on the HBB Dev website.

Edit: HBB has been updated to Rev 9 now.
Edit 2: HBB has been updated to Rev 10 which should fix issues when trying to download at first boot. You can download Rev10 also from HBB in the Demo section.
Edit 3: HBB Rev 11 is out which will most likely be the last Revision there is. HBB v0.3 will be release in 1 to 2 days provided there isn’t any major bugs found.

17 March 2009 (v0.2.5c)

• Fixed issue with utilities section that was causing it to be empty
• Fixed zip progress issue

This update is just a quick fix for the issue that’s occurred when adding a new application to the utilities list. Also while I was at it I believe the zip progress issue has been fixed too.

Download HBB v0.2.5c or run HBB on your Wii to update.

In case you’re wondering how HBB v0.3 is progressing and you haven’t checked out the HBB Revisions yet, you can have a look at this Youtube video.

24 January 2009 (v0.2.5b)

• Keep retrying networking initialisation
• Now shows the progress when extracting the zip files (thanks Tantric)
• Detects the ftpii directory when using a password like ftpii_mypass
• Keep meta.xml name when updating if it has been edited
• Added more error checking when updating HBB, if updating fails it reverts back to the previous version
• Media category becoming unavailable should now be fixed
• Fixed controller screen to display accurate Dpad information

A few small things have been added to the HBB as shown above. The media category bug has finally been fixed as far as I can tell which is good news . The extracting screen now has a progress bar thanks to Tantric and the network initialisation has been changed to keep retrying if it fails.

If you haven’t noticed some new pages on the blog I’ll point them out. The first one is HBB Development which gives you up to date information about the HBB development, features planned, bugs found, etc. You can also sign up, comment and submit bug reports. The second page is the HBB Guide which explains how things work.

Download HBB v0.2.5b or run HBB on your Wii to update.

The Homebrew Browser v0.3 is under development and I would like some feedback on what needs to be changed or what works well. The two main changes will be the main page which the homebrew is displayed and having a proper about page. The Main page is a rough design, the icons/text will look better.

HBB Main page
The idea of the main page is to make it as less cluttered as possible. Maybe the descriptions should be made shorter. The Emulators button would be click-able at which point all the categories would drop down and let you select which one to choose.

HBB About page
A informative page for the application.

Some Feedback questions include:
Does anything need to be changed?
Is there too much text?
Does the About page need an icon?
Is there any information missing?
Is the text describing the application long enough?