Swordfish

JWinters wrote:I tried out that Website Downloader. Unfortunately, without the PHP backend it's not in any kind of searchable format.

Try the free Everything search engine.
NTFS only.
I still can't believe that it can index 100's of Gigs of files from the first instant it's on.
Power Basic is believed to be the software used to author Everything.

Norm

Everything Search Engine only indexes files and folders by name, not file content, so I don't see it being much use here.

This maybe wishful thinking on my behalf, but maybe this web site going away; will be the clean break that will be needed for David and company to introduce a new compiler that will program the PIC18's, PIC24's and Dspic's as well.

Just wishful thinking from me anyway, I guess we will find out soon enough.

For backing up just the forum, may I suggest Forum Pilot

http://forumpilot.com/

It's not perfect and it crashed a few times by simply hanging and not doing anything but after a few restarts I was able to get a local and searchable indexed version of the forum. And the interface is clean and forum like.

As I said though it crashed multiple times while indexing the site, I had to restart and then look over the list of topics and see what ones it didn't download and force a manual download of them. It's pretty simple to see what wasn't downloaded, there are two columns one listed as replies and the other as downloaded, your download number should be 1 more than the replies. Also you can verify the total topics.

Check the default settings before you run, I kicked the download settings up to higher numbers as to make sure I got the whole forum.

Don't know why it hung and crashed multiple times for me but regardless I now have a local copy of the site complete with search, and one click synchronization for new post.

fwiw, there's a 'swordfish' section in the forums over on www.digital-diy.com

At least user to user support could continue over there if/when this site goes away.

Hello Everyone,

I posted the question on the PDS forum and someone that knows David replied with this:

I know he is alive and well, so I can only presume he has given up......

Truly sad if the end is to let the domain expire without even a word of explanation...

CharlieM's quote really does not bode well for the future as once let down by a supplier, customers tend not to give second chances. Developers on this forum will probably be considering which horse to back and I'd almost go as far as putting money on that once they jump ship, they won't return for fear of history repeating itself.

David, if you are reading this, you clearly have worked hard to build up a loyal customer base, don't let them simply walk away.

Well, I'm busy brushing up on Microchip C right now.

No update on the domain registration but hopefully I'll see you all on the other side.

If not can I suggest we all meet up on Digital-DIY?

I have a neat little project based on my VRBot module from the wiki (which no-one ever approved the links for on here!) and a Wowee RoboRaptor, which i'm thinking of submitting!

Yup, I'll be brushing up too.

A genuine sad ending.
I was going to put a "?" on the end of 'ending' , but have speculated , and indeed, hoped for long enough. ("soon" , "shortly", "next few weeks" etc...)
I'll still use SF of course as it is, in principle, excellent.

All that work.... not exactly wasted, but , with the right marketing, could have had a big future. Ah well. Should have gone on Dragon's Den.
Maybe one day we'll find out why it all came to a grinding halt. Just interest, not noseyness.

I've made a full site rip (compressed to ~200MB). Worst case scenario I'll make the archive available from Digital DIY (its all ripped to an offline readable format).

None of the server side script will work - though every page looks clean and is indexed as the site is now (can click through hyperlinks etc). Content can be found by selecting the "search for words in file" option, and selecting the offline folder as the search location..

Lets hope that none of this is needed. The cost of site hosting/domain registration is minimal on a scale of things, and one would imagine that an auto-debit & renew will take place!

I have a neat little project based on my VRBot module from the wiki (which no-one ever approved the links for on here!) and a Wowee RoboRaptor, which i'm thinking of submitting!

They sound like great projects that are definitely worth sharing RangerBob! Send me a message if you need guidance with content creation at Digital DIY - I'm more than happy to help

D-Day can be held off for at least another 2 years! Cheers to Trev for the update!

That is good news.

And it also means we'll have another 2 years of playing that boardgame: "When will David return?"
One or two people have rolled the dice and landed on "Go to C"

Crisis averted, thanks for the update!

I promise I will try to get hold of Dave and pin him down in the issue even if i have to go say hi. He does indeed live only 10mins away if needs be.
I still think he is just doing bread winning work till he can get back ,, maybe he's tight who knows (mind he did bum some old DDR off me a few moths back).

For those who haven't put two and two together I am MAVERICK PDS forum moderator. So I will petition Les (who I know id a good friend of Dave) and see if he can help shed some light.

I am simply tring to help if I can , but I haven't had an E-Mail response in a while myself and never could get him on the phone at the best of times