Calibre 2.0 Crashing at start up - Page 11

BetterRed · 08-31-2014, 11:36 PM

- wrong thread
BR

kovidgoyal · 08-31-2014, 11:44 PM

@BR: While I am far from understanding all the different ways Qt 5 crashes in XP. Here is one that I did look into in detail.

The calibre editor has much more sophisticated syntax highlighting than Sigil. You get to see matching tags, text inside headings/bold tags is shown in bold, you get live css, where the displayed css tracks the position of your cursor in the editor and so on. All these features mean that syntax highlighting is slower than in Sigil, as it has to fully recognize matching opening and closing tags. As a result, the calibre editor is designed to run it asynchronously in the background. This is causing crashes inside Qt only on XP and only with Qt 5. Making it synchronous again, stops the crashes, but greatly degrades performance. And this is just one crash that I happened to look into in detail, because I could easily replicate it in my XP VM.

There are several more that have been reported on XP machines. As such, Qt 5 + XP simply dont mix. Given that the crashes are a mix of XP and the actual computer hardware involved, debugging them is pretty hard as well. Running calibre 2.x on XP is *not a good idea*. You will get random crashes, that in the worst case will cause loss of data/file corruption.

So once more, I am not going to support running calibre 2.x on XP. It simply is not going to happen. I appreciate that people using XP dont like this decision. But calibre 1.48 remains available and works just fine on XP. After all if you are using XP you are fine with not getting the OS updated anymore, so so it is hardly fair that you complain when you dont get application updates. There is a price to be paid for using a 13 year old OS that is not supported by its manufacturer anymore.

Stay with calibre 1.48 for as long as you want to stay on XP. Pretend that I have decided to take a year long vacation from calibre and there are no more updates, for anybody. calibre 1.48 is a perfectly fine, stable and functional piece of software.

BetterRed · 09-01-2014, 12:28 AM

Thank you Kovid - that was the tenor of response I was hoping for. I have not and am not advocating that you should reverse your decision.

As an active member here I like to think I can contribute to calibre by helping users with their 'problems', and by explaining why 'such and such' is so. The latter is quite often via PM, using non technical language and analogy - on this one I've been 'stuck for words'.

As with all things the furore and disgruntlement will fade and we can look forward to calibre V3

BR

...through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us...
Anton Chekov - Uncle Vanya

GoSharks · 09-01-2014, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre 1.48 is a perfectly fine, stable and functional piece of software.

Absolutely! And I sincerely thank you for it.

Though I know I'm exposing myself to the label of 'riff raff' and starting another exposition on the merits of upgrading my OS from our more "socially challenged" posters (thank you Howlingwolf for that phrase!), I do have a question-- Does anyone foresee a problem in the future of accessing the same library with both v1.48 and v2.x (not at the same time)? Thanks!

kovidgoyal · 09-01-2014, 01:28 AM

There are no guarantees, but given that the on-disk database format has not changed in over two years, it's likely that for the immediate future you will be able to use both on the same library (but not at the same time) with no issues.

Hugo Coldwings · 09-01-2014, 07:51 AM

I read that the latest update of calibre 2.1 does not work with windowx xp and update to version until 1.48, but I currently installed version 2.0 and it works, some expert may tell me if better go back version 1.48 or to keep the version 2.0
thanks
Hugo

mbovenka · 09-01-2014, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugo Coldwings

I read that the latest update of calibre 2.1 does not work with windowx xp and update to version until 1.48, but I currently installed version 2.0 and it works, some expert may tell me if better go back version 1.48 or to keep the version 2.0
thanks
Hugo

Well, according to Kovid Qt5 as used in Calibre 2.0+ is very unstable on XP and he refuses to support it, hence Calibre won't install on XP as of 2.1. There are more people like you, for whom 2.0 seems to work fine on their XP machines. Even so, it just might bork your library unexpectedly in the future. I'd go back to 1.48 if I were you, unless there is a feature in 2.0 you really can't live without.

(Then again, I'm one to talk...I run my library off a NAS, which isn't supported either

. But I haven't had any issues. Yet.)

JSWolf · 09-01-2014, 09:43 AM

For those who are on XP but have the proper hardware to run Calibre 2.x but the only reason you can't is the lack of funds needed to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8, put aside $20 a month. In 5-6 months you will have enough money to upgrade.

GoSharks · 09-01-2014, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

There are no guarantees, but given that the on-disk database format has not changed in over two years, it's likely that for the immediate future you will be able to use both on the same library (but not at the same time) with no issues.

Thank you for the information Kovid...

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For those who are on XP but have the proper hardware to run Calibre 2.x but the only reason you can't is the lack of funds needed to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8, put aside $20 a month. In 5-6 months you will have enough money to upgrade.

Give it a rest Jon...

JSWolf · 09-01-2014, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoSharks

Give it a rest Jon...

Tell that to all the XP users complaining about not being able to install Calibre past version 2.0. Do you have a better solution for their problem?

theducks · 09-01-2014, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For those who are on XP but have the proper hardware to run Calibre 2.x but the only reason you can't is the lack of funds needed to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8, put aside $20 a month. In 5-6 months you will have enough money to upgrade.

Once again:
This is not about Hardware (you can by a nice 'Off Lease Refurb', Business class DELL at Walmart.com for ~$200 w/dual or > cores, 4G RAM and 1T HD. )

This is also about all the pricey (and free) programs/drivers that need to be/CAN'T BE replaced without additional costs (and don't run or are lamed, on Linux).

GoSharks · 09-01-2014, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Tell that to all the XP users complaining about not being able to install Calibre past version 2.0.

I'm one of them and I'm not complaining, I'm deciding. (The "why's" of my decision I have no inclination to post here since most people wouldn't care and it has no relevance to this thread)
As I said, give it a rest. Your posting the same cr@p in three threads is beyond annoying, even for you...

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you have a better solution for their problem?

Yes, as Kovid said, stay with the stable v1.48.

JSWolf · 09-01-2014, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoSharks

I'm one of them and I'm not complaining, I'm deciding. (The "why's" of my decision I have no inclination to post here since most people wouldn't care and it has no relevance to this thread)
As I said, give it a rest. Your posting the same cr@p in three threads is beyond annoying, even for you...

We have multiple threads on the same topic. Get a moderator to merge them and I'll go in and remove all my comments about saving up except one.

PeterT · 09-01-2014, 01:56 PM

Why on earth don't you request the mods to merge.....

JSWolf · 09-01-2014, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

Why on earth don't you request the mods to merge.....

I have requested that the five threads be merged via a report of the first post of this thread.

08-31-2014, 11:36 PM	#151
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,797 Karma: 30237628 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	- wrong thread BR Last edited by BetterRed; 08-31-2014 at 11:45 PM.

09-01-2014, 07:51 AM	#156
Hugo Coldwings Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Italy Device: asus dr900	update 2.1 I read that the latest update of calibre 2.1 does not work with windowx xp and update to version until 1.48, but I currently installed version 2.0 and it works, some expert may tell me if better go back version 1.48 or to keep the version 2.0 thanks Hugo

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08-31-2014, 11:44 PM	#152
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,433 Karma: 27757438 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	@BR: While I am far from understanding all the different ways Qt 5 crashes in XP. Here is one that I did look into in detail. The calibre editor has much more sophisticated syntax highlighting than Sigil. You get to see matching tags, text inside headings/bold tags is shown in bold, you get live css, where the displayed css tracks the position of your cursor in the editor and so on. All these features mean that syntax highlighting is slower than in Sigil, as it has to fully recognize matching opening and closing tags. As a result, the calibre editor is designed to run it asynchronously in the background. This is causing crashes inside Qt only on XP and only with Qt 5. Making it synchronous again, stops the crashes, but greatly degrades performance. And this is just one crash that I happened to look into in detail, because I could easily replicate it in my XP VM. There are several more that have been reported on XP machines. As such, Qt 5 + XP simply dont mix. Given that the crashes are a mix of XP and the actual computer hardware involved, debugging them is pretty hard as well. Running calibre 2.x on XP is not a good idea. You will get random crashes, that in the worst case will cause loss of data/file corruption. So once more, I am not going to support running calibre 2.x on XP. It simply is not going to happen. I appreciate that people using XP dont like this decision. But calibre 1.48 remains available and works just fine on XP. After all if you are using XP you are fine with not getting the OS updated anymore, so so it is hardly fair that you complain when you dont get application updates. There is a price to be paid for using a 13 year old OS that is not supported by its manufacturer anymore. Stay with calibre 1.48 for as long as you want to stay on XP. Pretend that I have decided to take a year long vacation from calibre and there are no more updates, for anybody. calibre 1.48 is a perfectly fine, stable and functional piece of software.

09-01-2014, 12:28 AM	#153
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,797 Karma: 30237628 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Thank you Kovid - that was the tenor of response I was hoping for. I have not and am not advocating that you should reverse your decision. As an active member here I like to think I can contribute to calibre by helping users with their 'problems', and by explaining why 'such and such' is so. The latter is quite often via PM, using non technical language and analogy - on this one I've been 'stuck for words'. As with all things the furore and disgruntlement will fade and we can look forward to calibre V3 BR ...through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us... Anton Chekov - Uncle Vanya

09-01-2014, 01:28 AM	#155
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,433 Karma: 27757438 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	There are no guarantees, but given that the on-disk database format has not changed in over two years, it's likely that for the immediate future you will be able to use both on the same library (but not at the same time) with no issues.

09-01-2014, 09:43 AM	#158
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,953 Karma: 146918083 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	For those who are on XP but have the proper hardware to run Calibre 2.x but the only reason you can't is the lack of funds needed to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8, put aside $20 a month. In 5-6 months you will have enough money to upgrade.

09-01-2014, 01:56 PM	#164
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,566 Karma: 79436716 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Why on earth don't you request the mods to merge.....