Hey CardTricks Devs,
I wrote long post about how to improve CHDK a bit, here is the part having to deal with CardTricks ( full post at
Helping Get CHDK More Popular)
There are tons of simple solutions to these problems. However, unfortunately, I only know php "well", so I can only help you out on the web-end. I strongly encourage the writers of CardTricks to take my suggestions though. I thought about the simplest way of getting CHDK onto the card. Here it is:
1) Person visits a short domain name (I have found a few great ones that CHDK could use, but I will not post them here because somebody, or a bot, might register them). On the front page, we have the "Newbie" section and the "Advanced" Section, clearly labeled.
2) In the Newbie Section, there is a BIG install link
3) User clicks the Install Link
4) User sees a menu where he/she can select their camera, first narrowing down by the series, then by model (ex: S Series, then S5). See
Drivers, utilities and software updates for your Brother Product
for an example, although my proposed version is a bit tweaked.
5) A Download Window Opens Up, a zip file (ex: S5.zip) starts downloading. Inside the zip file are two files, CardTricks, and the build
6) User opens up CardTricks (btw, if you guys package this as a self-extracting exe, it would be even easier)
7) CardTricks gives user simple, animated instructions, of taking the SD card out of the camera, placing it into a card reader, then placing the card reader into the USB drive
Cool CardTricks automatically detects card (you can have it constantly cycling through drives A:/ thru Z:/ trying to find a Removable Device)
9) CardTricks asks "is ___ your drive?"
10) CardTricks does everything else - formats, makes bootable, copies over the zip of the build from the folder it is in.
11) When CardTricks is done, a simple animation is shown, take the card out of the reader, flit the write protect switch to On, place back into the camera.
12) CHDK itself should have a beginner and an advanced mode. When people are faced with large menus they get scared, and get discouraged from using the software. The beginner mode should have very basic functions, such as a battery meter, text file reader, calendar, games, how-much-space-is-left-o-meter Smiley, you get the point.
13) When user gets good at cameras, he/she can switch to advanced mode.
If you dedicate your time into making a version of CardTricks that does all of that automatically, I promise to dedicate my time in the web-end, making it easier for users to find information.
