Big updates!

Changes

• Remember how you needed to give the application admin rights in order to allow it to extract and install Julia? It is not needed any more :) PlutoDesktop now comes with an extracted folder instead of compressed zip, so it can skip the extraction on the user end. The previous functionality is still there and can be used if troubleshooting is needed.
• Deleting old Julia folder and extracting the zip are now parts of the build process itself.
• Cold start is way faster using system image! The System Image being used is already bundled with this setup and the application also has the capability to compile one in the background if the current one is not present.
• Logging is now considerably better, less cumbersome to look at and easier to understand.
• Different loggers for different processes, i.e. one for Julia and one for Electron.
• You can now use custom Julia binaries by adding CUSTOM-JULIA-PATH key in the user-config file. If this is present, it takes priority over the default JULIA-PATH.
• The extra loading window is gone, it is just one window in which it shows the loading updates and loads the Pluto frontend when available.
• You can now open notebooks form URLs.
• config.json is updated with every version change.
• Code has been refactored a lot, all Pluto related functions are now members of a single class.
• There are many other minor fixes here and there.

Say hello to Pluto Desktop 🎉

Features

• Automatic Julia and Pluto installation, just install this setup and you are good to go!
• Native file picker for opening and moving Pluto notebooks
• Direct menu option to export notebooks in various supported formats
• Multi-window support

Instructions and gotchas

• This binary is not currently "signed", so if your antivirus or windows smartscreen gives some warning, please ignore it for now.
• Install using the attached setup.
• The installer would not automatically run the app, it is needed to be run after the installation separately with admin privileges or else it would give an error and ask you to rerun with admin privileges.
  
• Internet connection is required on the first run to install Pluto.
• First run might take about 2-3 minutes depending on your machine (Julia extraction, running Julia and then Pluto) and internet connection (downloading / updating Pluto). There would be a loading screen to keep you updated.
• Currently fonsp/Pluto.jl#2177 is being used, so you might find some minor differences from the main branch.
• The bundled Julia binary is v1.7.3 Windows 64 bit, so this software also supports Windows 64-bit only

Note

If the application has installed / extracted Julia and for some reason it is corrupted, incomplete or anything related, follow the following steps:

• Close all running instances of this software.
• Download the Julia v1.7.3 Windows 64-bit portable from here.
• Place this zip in C:\Program Files\Pluto\resources\assets, DO NOT RENAME IT.
• Delete the existing julia folder, i.e. C:\Program Files\Pluto\resources\assets\julia-1.7.3.
• Rerun the software with admin privileges.

It should be fixed, else please file an issue.

Known bugs

• Asks for admin privileges if user tries to run a pluto notebook directly from explorer, would be fixed soon.
• This button, it works perfectly fine, but needs some correct styling.
  This is being actively worked on, would be fixed soon, keep an eye on fonsp/Pluto.jl#2177.

Please note that this is an early release, is bound to have bugs. Feel free to report issues or request new features / enhancements.