Test Tim’s new Scratch alpha
Over the last year, we’ve seen big improvements in Scratch performance on the Pi. To date these have resulted from tweaks to the Scratch codebase and the addition of ARMv6-optimized blitting routines to the Squeak Smalltalk VM on which it runs. To give us the next uplift in performance, Tim Rowledge has been busy porting Scratch to a much newer version of Squeak, and he has a very early alpha (i.e. in-progress and therefore buggy) version for you to play with.
Please check out his forum post here and share your feedback.
WARNING! THIS IS A DEVELOPER RELEASE, AND NOT FOR BEGINNERS!
7 comments
Jim Manley
We’re about to start a new semester featuring a brand-new computing curriculum using a bevy of Pi systems, and our trusty (or is that rusty?) team of Scratchers will get right on it, Chief! Film (well, OK, digital video) at 11! :D
Abraham Levine
Wow this is ultra glitchy… But it’s only in alpha, so I’m looking forward to what happens next! Please add small screen support BTW.
meltwater
+1 Small screen support.
I know this can be a total pain to code, but would be very useful to allow the use of scratch in a lower-resolution portable setup.
The usual issue with low resolution screens is that the dialogues end up too large for the screen and Apply/Cancel are off screen. Making them resizable may not look nice, but makes it possible to use.
Looking forward to new Scratch, was concerned by the Web based version that it was moving in the wrong direction away from RPi.
Sim
alt-click usually allows you to drag dialogs around so that you can reach the buttons.
Yes, it would be better if the dialogs didn’t draw themselves off-screen.
tim Rowledge
Don’t forget to do your commenting on the main forum thread – http://www.raspberrypi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=66308 – so we don’t miss anything important.
And I’ll reiterate what Eben said – it’s dangerous. Read the warning at the top of the thread. International Rescue has disavowed all interest in rescuing you.
JamesH
Those International Rescue guys are so picky.
Jim Manley
Well, their standards for membership have dropped somewhat now that Bonny Prince William is no longer on-call, at least in terms of media attention, poor buggers. Unsung heroes every one of them, even when he was helping the cause, though. With budget cuts the norm, I hear that some work has been contracted out to the Tiny Republic of Togo, so arrival times may vary much more than in the past, as it takes longer to get anywhere in the world paddling an outrigger canoe … :(
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