Robbie's Shell for Windows / News: Recent posts

After adding two new features, I'm glad to announce the release of winrosh-1.10.0001. One big change in this version is that it supports DBCS on Windows 8/8.1 correctly. The reason is that the keyboard input is now read through the Unicode format, which avoids a bug in Windows 8/8.1 that prevents rosh from accepting DBCS characters correctly (search for "ReadConsoleInputA DBCS" on the web). Another feature is a "one-time chance" to go back from overwriting the command line with a historical command by pressing the "Up" or "Down" key--once that is done accidentally, pressing the key in the opposite direction gives you back the command line.

The latest version of cmdtools (cmdtools_beta20110228) is quite stable (zero-bug bounce since cmdtools_dev20100321) and has been code-reviewed and tested more thoroughly. Some additional tools are added. Note it is still in test stage so minor bugs may appear. Do not use tools in the cmdtools_alp sub-directory because they are alpha version.

This release includes two new tools: morecmd.py and emptywss.bat.

morecmd.py allows executing a command with many arguments generated from the stdout of the previous command. It's purpose is like xargs, but is much simpler.

emptywss.bat empties working sets of running processes. This is possible to improve the performance of the system (not totally clear whether it is effective). It can be used as a more controllable alternative to SweepRAM (search on the web).... read more

menuapps is a package of command menu applications. Although now there is still only one application: browsing a directory, it is scriptable and may be expanded further.

cmdtools are a bunch of command lines tools that may ease the life of a command line user. It includes special tools such as copying a large file fast, checking out a zip file at a directory and deleting a file to the recycle bin. It also includes simple tools such as sleeping a few seconds and counting lines.

Including:
7zchk.bat --- checks out a zip file to a directory
add_sys_path.js --- adds a path to the system-wide PATH environment variable
auto_dfrg.js --- automatically defrags when needed using the default Windows defragger
auto_dfrg_sugg.js --- automatically checks and suggests defragmentation
batchren.js --- renames many files
cleanbak.py --- cleans back up files
cleantmp.wsf --- cleans the TEMP directory
copylarg.exe --- copies a large file fast
cppath.exe --- copies a path to the clipboard
efh.bat --- explore from here
and many more...
See readme.txt for details.

rosh-1.09 is released. It features history completion. The completion also is of bash-style, however the key combinations are not related. Whether it's useful or not depends on your practical use.

This version has an important improvement in usability: Commands separated with the `&' character are executed in the given order. Although the change made to the code is not much, it is still labeled a new version.

The new version 1.06 is released. It supports `source' command, /c and /k command line switches and stdin command input. All of them are minor changes. After this release, maybe the next upgrade will be much later, for I am currently content with its features, and haven't yet found another way to raise effiency on command line operation.

The old rosh doesn't provide a feeling that is compatible with bash when using wildcard characters during completion. Now the new version does. The change is: When you use the completion feature to a file name that contains wildcard characters, the file name is no longer recognized as a prefix (head part) of a file name. Instead, it is recognized as a pattern for a whole file name.

The Robbie's Shell for Windows version 1.04.0003 is released.

It features Bash-like command line completion and CJK character support. Further developments will be done later.