DirMaster v2.0 Released

[Golan Klinger]

Style has done it again...

DirMaster is a Windows-based GUI tool for manipulating common (and uncommon) emulator and native archival formats. DirMaster differentiates from and surpasses competing tools with its focus on usability: a perfect blend of familiar disk directory appearance with modern GUI functionality.

Key highlights of v2.0:

• File support: .d64, .d71, .d81, .d80, .d82, .d2m, .dhd, .dnp, .dfi, .g64 (read only), .t64 (read only), .prg/.p00, .seq/.s00, .usr/.u00, .rel/.r00, .arc, .sda, .lnx, .ark, .cvt, .sfx, .wr3, zip/4
• fully enabled drag and drop
• recursive find
• batch processing: recursively create .txt, .csv, and .bmp from disk images or extract images to prg/seq files
• invoke your favorite emulator (up to eight slots)
• decompress archives directly off open disk images or by drag and drop
• track/sector editor: edit in hex or ASCII
• multi-level undo

You can download it (along with lots of other great stuff) from http://style64.org/

[hannenz]

i remember that i used Dir Master when i was using windows and i liked it much... is there a chance to get it running on Linux via wine - anybody has tried that yet?!

[Qlinkfan]

working just fine under WINE for Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris freaks

Above is right on their DirMaster page

[hannenz]

good to know
though diskimagery64 is not bad either and is available native for linux.

[hydrophilic]

I don't know if this was written in BASIC or Java or what but it is slow.  Although it looks pretty, it has some serious user interface problems.  I would call it a Beta version.

I haven't tried DiskImagery64 yet, but it is on source forge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/diskimagery64

[Moloch]

I don't know if this was written in BASIC or Java or what but it is slow.  Although it looks pretty, it has some serious user interface problems.  I would call it a Beta version.

Curious, having used DirMaster for nearly two years now I'd say it isn't slow and the interface is just fine.  The new version added quite a bit of new functionality and DirMaster is clearly the leader in cross-platform D64 editors now.

Your comments, which aren't backed up with any sort of substance, read as trolling.

[hydrophilic]

Well I just tried DiskImagery64 and it has far fewer features than DirMaster but the interface is more traditional and is fast.

@Moloch, what sort of substance do you want? I can go into more detail... let's see...

In DirMaster when I open a disk image, it shows the directory with the first file highlighted.  If I press cursor up/down to change the selection, it takes almost 1 second to move from one file to the next.  It takes several seconds to scroll down the list.  It's like I'm running on a Commodore 64 or something!

If you right click on a file in the list, you get a context menu (which is better than DiskImagery64).  The context menu does not have properties!  If you want the file properties, you then have to go the view/show menu and select it from there.

If you open a .p00 file with an ugly name like BYNDTFBD.P00 and select properties (the slow way), it is completely blank!  It would be nice to know the real name of the file and file size.

When you open some .p00 files, it shows a completely empty window.  My guess this is because it is not text but assembly or other binary data.  I don't expect a directory program to give me a disassembly (although it would be nice), but if it can't display the contents it should at least tell you why.  Opening an empty window isn't very useful.

I opened a disk sector for editing/viewing (something else that doesn't seem to be supported by DiskImagery64), and the code bytes were barely visible.  So I changed the color from blue on blue to cyan on blue.  Now I can see the hex codes, but when I try to move the cursor or type in values nothing happens in the edit window... the focus is still on the color drop-down menu.  I tried clicking on the edit window, clicking a menu option and then clicking the editing window, etc. but the focus remains stuck on the color drop-down box.  So I have to close the sector and then re-open it.

So in summary, I can't recommend either program.  If you want lots of feature and a pretty look, give DirMaster a try.  If you want a fast program with limited features, give DiskImagery64 a try (since its open source, you can add features you really need).

Geez, I never intended to write a review!

By the way, DirMaster is nicer when it comes to file associations.  By default
it associates only files that don't already have an association.  With DiskImagery64, its all or nothing!