If you would like to unsubscribe from XSWeekly at any time, simply send an e-mail to xsweekly-unsubscribe@wuzzle.org and you will be removed. XSWEEKLY Shell Related News 22.07.00 - 28.07.00 ------------------------------------------------- Alot of talk has been going on about two main things recently, lack of documentation for shells and not having PureLS themes on litestep.net. I'm going to stay away from the second one as I already have a headache and don't want to get over worked up ranting about that. The lack of docs is and has been an ever running problem. It is something that should have been addressed long ago but was never really jumped on because of various reasons. Now that LiteStep is once again in the news and getting bad reviews, this subject rears its ugly head. The thing that most amazes me is the lack of caring for it. The shell community is pretty closed when it comes to actually caring about non-members. Most newbies cant even install a theme but no one really seems to care. Now I know that there is some working going on behind the scenes and someone just opened up a general information dump site, and that Necro has a very nice FAQ up but 95% of the shell community could care less if a newbie can't work out setting up a theme or even the shell it self. Comon people, new users are important on many levels. Not only do new users help to increase the userbase, but how do you think we get new coders? Or new themers? Or new web masters? We were all newbies at one point. I understand that most of us who started on LS b21/22 had to learn to use it ourselves, but back then it was alot simpler than it is now. There are twice as many core files, the amount of modules and the complexity of the step.rc has increased to an amazing level, and the number of different ways that themers make themes makes what we had to originally learn seem like childs play. What I'm getting at here is we as a community should be pulling together to get some comprehensive documentation out there for the shell scene, not just sitting on our hands hoping someone else picks up our slack. - demigod ---------- [ Mail Bag ] ---------- This weeks mailbag question is (again): What is the main reason that you use a shell/alt os? ----------- [ Spotlight ] ----------- - LiteStep FAQ With all the talk about the lack of documentation for shells recently, I thought it would be a good idea to mention one of the best resources for LiteStep out there now, the LSFAQ. Necro has whipped up a very comprehensive set of question and answers pertaining to LiteStep on Win9x, NT, and W2K. There are also other FAQ for various other things gleaned off the LS Mailing List. As Necro will be busy starting in September, he requests some help in bringing LSFAQ up to date. If you have the time please drop him an e-mail and lend a hand. url - http://lsfaq.litestep.org e-mail - necro@eden.rutgers.edu ................................................. -= Shell Specific =- ................................................. ------------------ [ Top News Stories ] ------------------ - LS to PLS ~ tinomen (10:38 28.07 pls) Tin Omen (famed webmaster of desktopian) has done a doc on converting LiteStep themes over to PureLS themes. He states that it isn't the end all be all of PureLS documentation, but its a good place to start. He goes though the whole boot of converting over to purels, but you must have knowledge of LiteStep. url - http://desktopian.org/ls2pls.html e-mail - tin_omen@mindless.com (source: http://www.desktopian.org) +-------<*>-------+ - geOShell on Skinz.org (10:46 28.07 geo) Skinz.org has finally opened up a section for geOShell schemes. Because geOShell doesn't use actual themes or skinz, it seems to have been shunned until now. Stop on over and show your support for one of the better shells to hit the scene. url - http://skinz.org/skins.php3?login=&id=&area=geoshell (source: http://news.geoshell.com) +-------<*>-------+ - geoShell to go skinable (10:49 28.07 geo) Thats right, in the next builds of geOShell, skinning will be implemented. This is a great step forward for this shell imo. If you have stayed away from geoshell because of its looks or lack of ability to change how it looks, I suggest trying out the next few builds of geOShell. ss - http://website.lineone.net/~pdw63/images/4.6.5%20-%20preview.jpg (source: http://news.geoshell.com) --------- [ Modules ] --------- - LSDialer .42 ~ WhiteShadow (9:48 28.07 ls) This module lets you dial in and disconnect to entries already in your phonebook (the connections listed in Control Panel->Network and Dialup Connections). New in this version: - Recycling no longer loses the tray icon (only if lsdialer.dll is loaded after systray.dll). - Fixed a connection bug (when previous connection was closed using another program). url - http://www.muohio.edu/~changty/ e-mail - changty@muohio.edu (source: http://www.muohio.edu/~changty/) +-------<*>-------+ - LSTransparent 1.0.0.9a ~ dreamer (9:50 28.07 ls) LSTransparent allows for fake alpha blending of modules ala w2k. New in this version: - Added color tinting. url - http://floach.pimpin.net) (source: http://floach.pimpin.net) --------------- [ Latest Builds ] --------------- - LiteStep o 24.6 build 072700 o http://builds.litestep.net/builds/07-27-2000.zip - DarkStep o 0.971 o http://www.darkstep.com/files/DarkStep971.zip - geOShell o 4.6.5 o http://news.geoshell.com/Plugins/Download/geoshellr465.zip - PureLS o 052900 o http://209.46.69.134/purels/binaries/00-05-29r.zip ................................................. -= Alt OS Specific =- ................................................. ------------------ [ Top News Stories ] ------------------ - SEAL E-Communique (11:17 28.07 sel) "We had good response to our previous E-News SEAL E-Communique so I am reminding you that deadline is every 2 weeks...ie this Friday (Saturday my time) when it runs out on the EastCoast of USA. Please note that you can submit anything you like related to SEAL, Programming and computers.I need LINKS! Please post links through to us at sealsys@kwazulunatal.com. e-mail - sealsys@kwazulunatal.com (source: http://pub8.ezboard.com/bsealsystem) ----------- [ Lib Files ] ----------- - SFA b1 ~ Florian (11:05 28.07 sel) SFA stands for "Sound Format API". This is the idea: If a program/game wants to play a file, it has too use different routines to play f.e. midi, mp3, wav, mod, etc. It would be easier to have some functions, which would go for all file formats, so that you need only to write pp->play(pp); and it plays all kind of sound file formats which are loaded. url - http://members.aon.at/seal/ e-mail - free.seal@aon.at (source: http://members.aon.at/seal/ ---------- [ Programs ] ---------- - FreeCDP 2.1 ~ Florian (11:11 28.07 sel) This is a multiple format player for SEAL. It currently plays UD,MIDI,WAV,MOD,XM,S3M,JGM,UMX,MP3,MP2,CD formats. You can also use it via command line. New in this version: - The mp3/mp2 part has been improved! url - http://members.aon.at/seal/ e-mail - free.seal@aon.at (source: http://members.aon.at/seal/ --------------- [ Latest Builds ] --------------- - SEAL o 1D (042900) o http://www.home.sk/public/seal/sealexe.zip - V2_OS o 0.63.2a o http://www.v2os.cx/downloads/dl_system.htm ................................................. -= Beyond the Specifics =- ................................................. ---------- [ Tweaking ] ---------- - Change the color of Win9x BSOD I ripped this directly from the BSOD Properties web site. This hack only works for 9x. It doesn't do anything for NT. I really like this hack so here it is. In the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file add these two lines: MessageTextColor=C MessageBackColor=0 In this case "C" is the hexadecimal number for bright red, and "0" is black. Here is a complete list of colors: 0 - Black 1 - Blue 2 - Green 3 - Cyan 4 - Red 5 - Magenta 6 - Yellow/Brown 7 - White 8 - Gray 9 - Bright blue A - Bright green B - Bright cyan C - Bright red D - Bright magenta E - Bright yellow F - Bright white Note that bright colors display as dark colors in text backgrounds. For example, if you select "bright green" as the background color, the text in the message title will appear bright green but the main background will appear as regular green. Likewise, if you selected "bright white" for the text color, the title background will appear as regular white. (source: http://www.pla-netx.com/linebackn/news/bsod.html) ------------ [ Intresting ] ------------ - Open Windows Project This is something that struck me as very interesting as soon as i saw the link. This is from there manifesto: "The purpose of the Open Windows Project is to develop a 100% compatible open-source clone of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Goals of the Project include: development of a 32-bit Windows kernel; Win32, Win16, and MS-DOS application compatibility, Windows software support (including all necessary components, libraries and other resources) Windows hardware support (via existing real mode and protected mode drivers), system services, a help system of some sort, file system support (which must include the FAT16, FAT32, and VFAT file systems, with support for others added later), Windows registry support, support for OLE (object linking and embedding), MS-DOS subsystem support, system file protection and PC Health features, support for TCP/IP networking, and all other CORE aspects of the Microsoft Windows operating system model. Other aspects of the operating system, such as further networking components, application development tools, support for other file systems and operating systems, and web services (such as a web browser application, an e-mail application, updates to the OS via the web, etc) may be added later." There isn't any listed progress for this project, the idea is one that I'm surprised hasn't been started in this scale yet. url - http://openwindows.sourceforge.net (source: http://www.shellcity.net) ---------- [ Programs ] ---------- - UltraEdit32 This is my preferred text editor of choice. It has syntax highlighting, multiple file open, unlimited file size, macros, split view, pane view, etc... If you hack out code in plain text, do html, or just about anything, this is the text editor that I recommend. url - http://www.ultraedit.com .................................... --------------- [ Mailing Lists ] --------------- - LiteStep To subscribe, e-mail: litestep-subscribe@litestep.ru.ac.za To unsubscribe, e-mail: litestep-unsubscribe@litestep.ru.ac.za Additional commands, e-mail: litestep-help@litestep.ru.ac.za - Stuff To subscribe, e-mail: stuff-subscribe@litestep.ru.ac.za To unsubscribe, e-mail: stuff-unsubscribe@litestep.ru.ac.za Additional commands, e-mail: stuff-help@litestep.ru.ac.za - DarkStep To subscribe, e-mail: darkstep-subscribe@egroups.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: darkstep-unsubscribe@egroups.com .................................... All content Copyrite (c) 1999-2000 XSWeekly. All rights reserved.