Jx-Jigsaws

There is one jigsaw program for Linux-X-windows: Xjig. JxJigsaws gives this a GUI. One can preview images, resize, select number of pieces and launch Xjig. The image preview remains as a floating picture while you solve the puzzle.

Caveats: Xjig has a few problems not addressed in here:

1. Moving pieces is quite awkward. Use right/drag to move, left/drag to rotate. There is little reason for rotating pieces in finer increments than 90 degress!

2. There is no way to save and reload your puzzle.


You need to have xjig and a recent (Sun 1.4 or better) Java runtime. (Note: Some Javas 1.4 or older may require "compile" from sources to run correctly.)

3.0 Recent xjig from Debian Sid, elsewere now support jpgs and mmps directly so no need to convert these to gifs.

This version will work with JMagick native interface to ImageMagick if this is installed (should fork out to ImageMagick as child process if not). Using the JNI yields noticeably but not great speed improvements on the file chooser pane. Postscript and PDF files handled better as well.

Issue: Postscript and PDFs remain slow because a child ghostscript is used. A directory with several of these will run Java out of heap space. This needs be addressed!

2.3 Incorporated the idea of the "preview enhancer"--focus the update of the thumbnails to the displayed pane. (This was tricky because the swing JFileChooser class's internals are closed/protected.) Looks and may really be substantially quicker because of better thread synchronization.

Note: Many but not all WMF (Windows meta-files) seem to come in inverted. so may need an option to flip them.

2.2 Improved refresh of thumbnails, response time to get preview image from directory with files requiring ImageMagick child processes. (This issue does need more work.)

2.1
Explicit calls "garbage collection" to force more immediate recovery of heapspace.

Quicker filechooser and image preview switchovers.

2.0
Librarian! Personalized, flat access to pictures. Scans home directory on first run. New trees can be scanned, directories added, entries renamed or deleted. Simple functions--double click or return to select. Click for menu.

Now supports most all graphics and other formats supported by ImageMagick.

Numerous other fixes and improvements.

(Todo:

1.This is very multithreaded in attempt to keep the UI responsive. Some formats take a bit to load. Inter-thread cooridination?

2. Roll my own file chooser box for nicer KDE-like format?

3. ImageMagick functionallity is available with JMagick package using the JNI-native interface, shared libraries, rather than the Java virtual machine. Have not touched this but should be quicker.

4. This is now a dandy graphics-browser it its own right. Ideas?)

1.2 Added support for various bmp images--the mechanism is open for support of additional types in the future as well

Added a button to suppress directories display in filechooser.

1.1 Filechooser box now shows thumbnails. These are updated in a background thread because a larger image collection will take time to load. Program is fully functional meanwhile.

1.0 OK. Dialog is resizable. Note that the filechooser box has a minimum size and will be clipped if the dialog is made too small. Still works.

0.99.3 Desktop clip now works thanks to Imagemagick mogrify. Now, any image shown on your screen can be worked as a jigsaw. A few more small fixes.

0.99.1 Removed invalid dropdown menu icons. Could spawn orphan thread.

0.99 pre-release. Check for problems, request features, corrections, etc.

New functionality:

1. Make puzzle from desktop--try this without the frame. Cool :-). Puzzles launched from click on icon (regular image) or from dropdown while holding mouse clicked on puzzle icon.

2. Cancel stops conversion or Xjig if active. Otherwise, closes program.

3. Program is controllable from the preview--no need to move it around to get the GUI. Arrow keys navigate the current image directory, +- steps image size, double-click starts/cancels conversion or Xjig. These functions are also available from a dropdown when clicking on preview.

Desktop puzzle works with ImageMagick's import. A window/region puzzle can be enabled when the import-image sizing problems can be solved.

3. Cutsie wait-icons.

0.9.0
Added a "frame" checkbox, default true. Unclick to work the puzzle right on your "desktop" (without the xjig frame). You may or may not like this :-)

Hitting ESC always terminates xjig. Without the frame, a piece must have the focus. If in doubt, doubleclick on the preview image to exit xjig.

0.8.0 Command line for initial directory.

0.7.1 Removed largely unexecuted code. Image preview resizing performance likely best it can be with these calls.

0.7.0 Much improved preview image resizing--(more?) correct thread usage.

0.6.2 Error really was: xjig will rescale landscape pictures to portrait unless you tell it not to!

0.6.1 Corrected error in sizes sent to xjig.

0.6.0 Image conversion implemented. Assuming the ImageMagick utility convert is properly licensed to produce GIFs.

0.5.0 Initial beta