Technology by Vince Arter, Jr.

Note: Unless otherwise noted all software is the property of Vincent Lee Arter, Jr., and you must obtain written permission from me to use and/or distribute any of my software.

Software Projects

Yes, I dabble in software projects. Here are just a few of the personal software projects I’m working on or have done in the past.

CrapSS & CrapSS+

CrapSS & CrapSS+ - A very basic screensaver with effects and editable text. Many features can be configured. I use it as my screensaver as do several friends and family members. It is a fun little project that I’ve been working on for years. I’ve been using it as a test bed for learning new languages and engines.

I’m currently working on a new release (CrapSS+). I’ll post here when it is in a releasable state. I’ve been building it in six different languages / engines to see which I like best. Current beta iterations have been developed in C++ using the Qt libraries. Past iterations of the code base were developed in Pascal (Lazarus), AppGameKit, Unity, Godot & C#, Orx & C++, and C# with WinUI.

In the past, full releases were done in C, C++, C# & WinForms, Unreal Engine, Pascal (Delphi), AppGameKit, VB, and JavaScript / Electron.

CrapSS+ Screenshot CrapSS+ Config File Screenshot

VinceArter.com Modernization (Jekyll / Liquid Layout / Azure)

This site has been around since the mid-1990s. There have been many incarnations using many technologies and approaches. The previous design was built in 2014 and was designed using static HTML5, CSS, and some JavaScript.

The current version is built Markdown, Jekyll, and Liquid layout engine (this is the version you are using right now). This enables me to edit the site quickly in Markdown and have better standardized templating. At this point I’m using the same CSS design I had before, retrofitted (force fit) to work better with Jekyll and Liquid. I may look at more standardized Liquid templates in the future.

I’m also experimenting with Blazor and SQL on Azure for a more dynamic layout and publishing approach. Honestly, I’m so happy with Jekyll and Liquid that this dynamic version is not a focus area for me right now.

In the past releases were done in Perl, C/C++, ASP, ASP.NET (C#), VB.NET, WordPress, Geeklog, DotNetNuke, and plain old static HTML.

CrapSS+ Screenshot

GOAT Logo

GOAT - Generic Oracle™ Access Tool (C#)

The goal of GOAT was to provide data managers with mixed database permissions the ability to safely query Oracle™ (or other RDBMs systems) without having to worry about accidentally executing changes. I wanted to manage rights with permissions but since some data managers needed full CRUD rights to support other custom tooling being used but not for direct querying.

To support more detailed querying, I wrote a tool that could be used for in-depth read-only access. At its peak on freeware channels, it had over several thousand users. Now it is mostly in the “history books”. There may be a few users still out there.

GOAT Screenshot

SGP - Spore™ Game Packager (C#)

Spore™ was a great game (and still is). In the early days of Spore™ there was no way to synchronize your data between machines (if you played on multiple machines). I wrote SGP to package up all of the relevant data and sync it between machines. It was a fun little project that saw a few hundred users over its life.

I really wish I had a screenshot of this app. It was really cool looking. The source cannot be built at this time because a GUI library I used is no longer available (remember that lesson when choosing Open Source libraries).

Other Software Projects

This is just a partial list of the dozens of my “retired” software projects…

  • Numerous scripts, written in various scripting languages, that make/made my life easier. I still use quite a few of these. The repo is available on GitHub. If you are interested in access, just drop me an email.
  • Service Control: Automation for starting / stopping Windows Services (AutoIt)
  • ProtoNotes: A simple daily diary organized by dates. (Versions were written in C++, Delphi / Pascal, C#, VB.)
  • FuzzyDiceCS: A simple gaming dice app / roller that support any number of dice and types. (C#)
  • SuperBarX - A “super utility bar” for Windows 2000 and XP. (C++)
  • TextFinder - Accelerated text file search utility with RegEx (C / C++)
  • dict - A Mac style dictionary for Windows (utilized reference.com feeds) (C#)
  • BetterDtop - An early HTML enabled desktop replacement for OS/2 and Windows. (C++, VB)
  • JDepends - Java class dependency checker and packager. (Java)
  • Many, many, more… programming is fun (most of the time)! I’ll post more when I can.

Hardware Projects

This is just a partial list “retired” hardware projects…

  • Guitar / Bass Multi-Effect: Based on info from the JSFX project. It worked but was just too big to lug around.
  • Guitar Stomp Boxes: Built a few “cloned” stomp boxes that I used for years. I don’t use them any longer.
  • REALLY Programmable Thermostat: Hubitat, Ecobee, Nest, etc. beat me to completion. It was way cool though. I was going for ultimate programmability.
  • Camera Control: Ancient project to automatically snap pictures with computer controlled SLR cameras back when that was a very new thing. Had direct hardware interface for Canon and Nikon DSLRs (depending on model).
  • Many, many, more… maybe I’ll post more when I get the time.