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Upgrade to GeODin 9.5 (requires an active GeODin 9.5 licence)

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Lisa Ebert
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General information on GeODin 9.5

GeODin 9.5 is now available exclusively as a 64-bit application and uses a software-only licensing system developed by Fugro. This will replace all USB-HASP licences (single-user and network dongle) as well as the existing software licences. Information on the update process can be found here.

Another new feature is the more user-friendly plugin interface with extended customisation options.

Technical support for GeODin 9.0 (bug fixes) ends on 31 December 2022.

The new licensing system

With the new licensing system, single-user and network licences can still be used offline. An internet connection is only necessary for the activation or update of licences, as with the previous software licences.

GeODin licensing is carried out on your PC or server with the help of a service called the GeODin Licensing Service. You can manage and update your GeODin licences via the GeODin Licence Manager, which you open via an internet browser. Information such as the licence serial number, the available number of licence packages and the expiry date of your licence can be conveniently displayed using the licence manager. In addition, you can view the active GeODin users and log out if necessary.
web-interface-of-the-geodin-licence-manager.png
Web interface of the GeODin Licence Manager

Reasons for developing a new licensing system

Some time ago, the manufacturer of the HASP dongles, which we currently use for licensing GeODin, informed us that technical support would no longer be offered for them in future Windows updates. The changeover to a new HASP licensing model proposed by the manufacturer would have meant a similarly high effort for us as the development of our own new licensing system. However, the latter has the advantage that we are independent of third-party providers and their decisions, particularly in regard to future operating system developments.
In addition, our new exclusively software-based licensing system enables us to provide licences to you as GeODin users and administrators much more quickly, as the postal dispatch of dongles is no longer necessary. The installation of various drivers and dlls is also no longer necessary for the new licence model.

schematic-structure-of-the-new-geodin-licensing-system.png
Schematic structure of the new GeODin licensing system

How do I update to GeODin 9.5?

To perform the update to GeODin 9.5, please activate your new GeODin 9.5 licences first. You can download instructions for this under the following link:

https://download.geodin.com/geodin/manuals/english

After successfully activating the licences, please manually replace the geodin.exe program file for the software update to GeODin 9.5 as follows (an update via the GeODin system page is not possible due to the caesura in the licensing system).

  1. Close GeODin.
  2. Download the geodin.zip file from https://download.geodin.com/geodin/archive/96/.
  3. Unzip the geodin.zip file.
  4. Use the unzipped geodin.exe file to replace the file of the same name in the BIN directory of your GeODin installation (you can still keep the old geodin.exe by renaming or moving it).

Please also note the information on the database drivers required from GeODin 9.5 onwards.

If you have not yet updated to GeODin 9.0 either, please be sure to read the remarks on switching to GeODin 9.0 with regard to database updates and downward compatibility of databases and layouts.

The advantages of 64-bit

Basically, 64-bit applications can theoretically use the entire available working memory of a system, whereas the working memory for 32-bit applications is limited to between 2 GB to 4 GB maximum. In concrete terms, a 64-bit version of GeODin thus enables the processing of much larger amounts of data compared to the former 32-bit version.
The changeover to 64-bit also supports the use of current versions of database systems, some of which are now only available as 64-bit. Furthermore, any compatibility problems with 64-bit operating systems and programs are eliminated.

What do GeODin users need to consider when updating to GeODin 9.5?

For all databases (desktop and client/server) the corresponding database drivers for GeODin 9.5 must be provided in 64-bit.

With regard to Microsoft Access databases, please note the following:

  • If you use Microsoft Office in the 64-bit version, the additional installation of the 64-bit driver for Access databases is usually not necessary.

  • Customers with Microsoft Office in the 32-bit version must provide the 64-bit drivers for Access before updating to GeODin 9.5. Please contact your system administrator regarding this matter.

For more information on compatibility between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office as well as the Microsoft 365 Access Runtime, please refer to the relevant Microsoft websites.

The new plugin interface

In GeODin 9.5, plugins are now configured under the system tab in the GeODin user interface. This simplifies their deployment and at the same time offers more individual customisation options. The ability to configure plugins via the GeODin configuration file GEODIN.INI has been disabled.
As a result of these changes, the transfer parameters for plugins have been standardised. Therefore, it may be necessary to adapt existing plugins for the use with GeODin 9.5. For more information, please refer to the relevant chapters of the GeODin help.

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