ZerOS 8.0.1 now available.

[Phil Kiernan]

New version was made available on March 3rd and is on the web site. Anybody had time to download and try it?

[kgallen]

Ah... Secret Squirrel releases now then is it...

https://www.vari-lite.com/global/products/zeros-software

https://vari-lite.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/graphics/technical/documents/ZerOS-8.0.1-release-notes.pdf

[Davidmk]

2 hours ago, kgallen said:

Secret Squirrel releases

@Phil Kiernan How did you hear about this? It passed me by.

Not that I care much, I didn't upgrade to 8.0.0 and probably won't risk 8.0.1.

@kgallenI'm going shopping for ChamSys once the new tax year starts.

[Phil Kiernan]

Following the problems we've had with our FLX and knowing that a bug fix was going to be released some time I check the web site about once a month just to see if if anything had been released.

We'll get it loaded next month as we've got a hire in at the moment and see how it performs on the next show.

[scottydog75]

Anyone used 8.0.1 in anger yet and noted any improved 'up-time' when compared to fairly regular crashes on 8.0.0?

Trying to plan what version to program my next show on!

Cheers

[Archie D]

5 hours ago, scottydog75 said:

Anyone used 8.0.1 in anger yet and noted any improved 'up-time' when compared to fairly regular crashes on 8.0.0?

I'd recommend using ZerOS 8.0.1 for your next show as I believe ZOS-12594 is the bug fix for the crashing issue in ZerOS 8.0.0.

ZerOS 8.0.1 also fixes the issue when referencing a non-existent palette (ZOS-12752) using syntax (e.g. COLOUR 40 ENTER where Colour Palette 40 does not exist), previously this would crash the desk. This is actually quite useful if you accidentally hit the wrong key while trying to reference a palette (therefore entering the incorrect palette number, accidentally being one that doesn't exist), and then you have to restart the whole desk to gain control again.

[Brian F]

Not used it yet as I was in final stages before show was due to start when it came out. I plan on trying it for next one though in a few weeks.

[Charlie Newman]

I haven't risked updating, it seems that if there are bugs they won't be fixed fast enough to maintain a viable solution

[Archie D]

I've been running DMX out of Phantom ZerOS 8.0.1, and seems stable. Haven't experienced any crashes with regular daily use.

[Brian F]

I updated to 8.0.1 prior to programming my current show. I’m not the most demanding user but I did manage to make 8.0.0 crash a couple of times when programming the previous show (probably when fiddling with palettes). I’ve not had any problems at all with 8.0.1 so it seems pretty stable to me. I’m a relatively new user so I couldn’t comment on it compared to the 7.x.x versions but it definitely seems more stable than 8.0.0. It didn’t introduce any new features compared to 8.0.0 and was just a bug fix.

[Davidmk]

In my years working in IT there was "established wisdom" that you don't install even numbered releases (especially 0 releases) these generally contain new features and that often means new bugs. Odd numbers are usually bug fixes for the preceding one.

Not always true of course but worth thinking about.

There is also a theory of software decay. Essentially changing software can introduce bugs, even in the unchanged parts. This accelerates with the number of changes so, at first, very few bugs are introduced but, as the software becomes more complicated and new changes are built on top of old ones the number of bugs per change increases. Again, not always true but something to bear in mind as, eventually, all you are doing is fixing the bugs caused by fixing bugs.

As the comments in one program I had the "pleasure" of working on said "this program is like an old car, you set out to change the air filter and end up replacing the engine" 😁