Have both alpha AND beta?

[graesen]

I know its probably not recommended due to the file/folder structures and what not. But with Windows Vista, I was wondering if it's possible to keep both alpha and beta at the same time, at least until more of the bugs get worked out. There are some apps I had in alpha that I don't in beta (nothing that's that important), local video files' audio is out of sync, and I'd kinda like to compare the 2 a little more 1 on 1 on. I didn't even try this yet because I don't want to mess anything up, removed everything boxee before installing beta.

[cogadh]

IIRC, it will cause problems to try and run both at the same time, due to the overlap in user files. To get around it, you could probably set up two separate Windows accounts, one that uses the Beta, the other that uses the alpha, but (disclaimer time) I've never tried that myself and I don't know if it will work, so try at your own risk.

[graesen]

alright. and no, i wasnt thinking having them both open at the same time. but yeah, I can see settings files and what not conflicting. Just wasnt sure if there were a way to somehow treat the 2 as completely different applications. I dont know if I want to try another account. I'll think that over and I'll share what happens if I decide to try it. I dont know how worth it it is to try and deal with any extra problems over this.

[JSchloegel]

Any update on this? I'd like to keep messing with the Beta on my Boxee box but leave the Alpha available for my family to use, so it can actually be useable, at least until I can get the Beta working. I also would like to avoid a second account if it's possible. If not I'll try that route, but I'd like to hear about other options first.

[newcolour]

Do you have a linux box? If so, you can compile the alpha from the source and specify the prefix. In this way (I have not tried, though) you should be able to run both versions.

Cheers,
S.

[agentlame]

This is not possible, no.

Even on Liunx, you would need to change the source to write to somewhaere other than ~/.boxee in addition to change the --prefix compile flag.

[joshuajonah]

Another reason to own a mac.

[DPK]

Another reason to own a mac.

In this situation that means nothing.

[newcolour]

This is not possible, no.

Even on Liunx, you would need to change the source to write to somewhaere other than ~/.boxee in addition to change the --prefix compile flag.

Maybe it would be good to add a flag to give the chance of writing the profile somewhere else than ~/.boxee.

Just an idea...

Cheers,
S.

[DPK]

The only real way to do this if you really really wanted to, would be to have a script that ran and played the "rename directory game" every time you launched the software.

For example if I wanted to run the alpha version, I'd rename my userdata directory and Boxee program directory to userdata_beta and Boxee_beta. Then make sure my alpha version had the regular userdata and Boxee directory names.

When I was done running alpha and wanted to switch back, I'd just rename the userdata and Boxee directories with _alpha at the end of their names and remove _beta from my beta directories so they have priority again.

The entire process is just annoying to think about though and you should really be running the latest copy of Boxee to begin with to make sure everything works well. You're supposed to be testing the software at all stages in order to make it better. We haven't reached a stage where there's a solid 100% stable Boxee yet.