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. You can e-mail me at demigod@xsweekly.com with any questions, suggestions, etc. XSWEEKLY Shell Related News 02.12.00 - 08.12.00 ------------------------------------------------- Why is it the baby Bells here in the states still have total control? Back in 1996 the government deregulated them for a reason but with there strong arm tactics and other bull, they have managed to push CLEC's out of the way and continue to dominate the local calling area's. Not only that but they still want full access to long distance which was what was promised to them IF they unbundled there eq and allowed CLEC's to access it cheaply. What really gets to me on this is that the Bells have once again joined back up into four major local telco companies and the government just turns it's back. At the same time, though, they are putting companies like AOL/Time Warner and Microsoft under intense scrutiny for possibly being a monopoly. What kind of double standard crap is this? I realize its typical to buy out the government. I also realize that the US government has been bought and sold long ago, but that still doesn't give them any right to reward one company while punishing another for the exact same act. Yes, Microsoft is blatantly being monopolistic, but so are the baby bell's. What explanation does the government have to allowing them to prosper and allowing Microsoft to suffer? They point to the fact that the telephone has become a staple of life. Oh really? They can refuse me phone service, something the gas or electric company cannot do. It's just more crap that they throw at the masses that really don't care what the government does just so long as they get what they want. When will this all end? I don't have the answer, wish I did. Maybe one day the people of the US will wake up and realize that we are not as free as we think we are. Then again, we probably wont. - demigod ---------- [ Mail Bag ] ---------- This weeks mailbag question is: Are there any other shells/os's you would like to see in XSWeekly? e-mail - mailbag@xsweely.com url - http://www.xsweekly.com/mail.html ----------- [ Spotlight ] ----------- - LSD4P Yes, not only is it a distro, but it also has a web site. Here you will find the latest LSD4P distro, current news on its updates, the Theme Guide for the distro, but other intresting tidbits. url - http://lsd4p.dx0.org ................................................. -= Shell Specific =- ................................................. ------------------ [ Top News Stories ] ------------------ - 1000 Themes At ls.net Or Not.. (11:41 04.12 ls) LiteStep.net saw its theme archive hit 1000 themes, then drop to below 995. It seems that a few people thought it would be funny to delet their themes to drop the number down. Needless to say, it is still quite a feat. url - http://www.litestep.net (source: http://www.ls2k.org) --------- [ Modules ] --------- - Rainlender 0.6b ~ rainy (10:09 05.12 ls) Rainlendar is a very customizable calendar that resides on your desktop and shows the days of the current month. The application is a Litestep plugin, but it can be used without Litestep as well. You can use it even with the normal Explorer shell if you like. New in this version: - Added new menu item to jump to the current month and a equivalent !bang for it (!RainlendarShowCurrent) - Added possibility disable hotkeys from the config. - Added hotkeys for changing the months. Note that key presses must be clean, i.e. modifiers (alt, shift, ...) cannot be used. This prevents accidental keypresses with vwm. Also note that that the calendar window must be active for hotkeys to work. - Rainlendar's window now has a name "Rainlendar". url - http://www.iki.fi/~rainy/ e-mail - rainy@iki.fi (source: http://www.iki.fi/~rainy/) +-------<*>-------+ - geekAMP 1.9b ~ azathoth (11:37 07.12 ls) geekAMP is a frontend module for controling winamp via !bang commands. New in this version: - Re-added !Amp_FileInfo. - Fixed !Amp_Show so it actually works. url - http://azathoth.ls2k.org e-mail - azathoth@ls2k.org (source: http://www.ls2k.org) +-------<*>-------+ - Shortcutmap 1.1 ~ MrJukes (9:47 08.12 ls) Shortcutmap works like an image map for web sites where in you can set cords up for clickable area's on the map. This is great for creating images for GUI config menus. New in this version: - Fixed the memory leak - Fixed the middle mouse button bug url - http://www.litestep.net e-mail - mrjukes@purdue.edu (source: http://www.litestep.net) +-------<*>-------+ - LSBox 2.1 ~ Black Hawk (14:54 08.12 ls) "LsBox is a skinable easy to customize and {resource-friendly} alternative to the "normal" shortcutgroups for a number of applications like free floating menues, messageboxes and configuration dialogs." New in this version: - Cleaned up vast parts of LsBox trying to fix the problem with threading. It didn't help and the problem still exists - So don't use threading with Lsbox till I fix the problem. !don't use no threading at all! - Removed the adaptive rgn handeling - it was flickering too much - Changed the "!LsBoxResetPos" bang to reset all positions to the ones in the .box file even "normal" movement is now reset. - This is the first offical version to work with LsSlider! - Added "How to load a Module into LsBox" to the docs. url - http://www.blkhawk.de e-mail - blkhawk@blkhawk.de (source: LS Mailing List ~ *** LsBox Release 2.1 ***) ---------- [ Programs ] ---------- - Carapace 1.5c ~ Pixol (11:33 04.12 na) Carapace is a fully featured shell loader. Not only that, but it has a task manager, shell swapper, and it looks like skinning. New in this version: - Loading settings bugs, not able to change logo! - Launching explorer, after quick running a command loaded the filemanager instead of the shell - Tabbing of interface now works again - Redesigned interface preparing for V2 - About box now shows credits, latest build and version info - Listbox now shows protected status by either - or + - Code more reusable, reorganised structure of code.. more efficient - Part Implemented skinning engine - Removed slow window animation, will be added later if requested url - http://www.dtop.org/pixolpod/htm/news.htm e-mail - lcgreen@pixolpod.fsnet.co.uk (source: http://www.dtop.org/pixolpod/htm/news.htm) ------ [ Misc ] ------ - LSD4P ~ whytheluckystiff (11:13 04.12 ls) "SD4P is the LiteStep Distro For People. :) It's a self-executable that installs the latest build (2000-11-28) and five themes, as well as LSTS (the theme-switchin' util) and LiteStep Enabler (because litestep.exe -install is still kinda goofy).. I have permission from all the software authors and theme authors and it's ready to go! "So if you haven't tried the new build, check it out.  I just wanted to pitch in on the effort to make LS easy. "Oh, one thing also that's cool about this distro is that it has a central local.rc that is used to store local configuration data and keep the right-click popup consistent. This means that every theme will have the same options in the right-click popup.  This is made possible by the "include" option in the new builds of LiteStep!  It also keeps your Hotkeys consistent from theme to theme.  I have a bunch of friends who have always struggled getting LiteStep up and going, but this did the trick for most of them.  It got them into a few themes and gave them a structure and soon enough they learned it and can edit the step.rc and stuff." %%UPDATE%% LSD4P 1.1 (11:40 07.12 ls) - LiteStep itself!! (build 2000-11-28) - LSTS, the LiteStep Theme Selector by galois - LiteStep Enabler by Chet McNeill for easy switching between normal Windows explorer and LiteStep - Pre-configured themes: o LiteGnome v1.6 by laurent o Chaos by Omar o Phusion by tech.spider o 18 by darkfyre o Stratosphere by BarrettLight50 o Hanzatsu by AznRomeo - Easy installation thanks to Nullsoft's Super-PiMP! url - http://LSD4P.dx0.org e-mail - whytheluckystiff@mailcity.com (source: LS-Novice Mailing List ~ here's a silence breaker) +-------<*>-------+ - LSD4P Theme Compliance Doc ~ whytheluckystiff (11:42 07.12 ls) whytheluckystiff is at it again, this time with a theme doc. This doc explains how to make themes compatable with the LiteStep Disto 4 People installer. The doc is included with the latest disto or via the web site. url - http://LSD4P.dx0.org e-mail - whytheluckystiff@mailcity.com (source: http://LSD4P.dx0.org) --------------- [ Latest Builds ] --------------- - LiteStep o 24.6 build 112800 o http://builds.litestep.net/builds/ls-0246-dev-20001128.zip - DarkStep o 0.971 o http://www.darkstep.com/files/DarkStep971.zip - geOShell o 4.6.5a o http://news.geoshell.com/Plugins/Download/geoshellr465a.zip - PureLS o 052900 o http://209.46.69.134/purels/binaries/00-05-29r.zip ................................................. -= Alt OS Specific =- ................................................. ---------- [ Programs ] ---------- - AView 0.1 ~ Vanders (10:14 06.12 at) "YASA (Yet Another Software Anouncement) time :) "This time it's the fairly simple AView, which is nothing more than a JPEG image viewer. It uses a GUI, and does "slideshows" of a directory. To be honest, it is not much better functionally than the standard bmview that is included with AtheOS at the moment. ;D" url - http://www.vanders.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/atheos.html e-mail - vanders@cableinet.co.uk (source: AtheOS Mailing List ~ AView 0.1) +-------<*>-------+ - SEAL Games ~ julien (12:00 07.12 sel) Julien has put out 3 games for SEAL. These include solver, laby, and tic-tac-toe. He is also working on some others to be native with SEAL. url - http://pmad.forez.com/seal/game/ e-mail - julien@pmad.mail22.com (source: http://pmad.forez.com/seal/game/) ----------- [ Web Sites ] ----------- - CD Distro @ AtheOS.cx ~ Kurt (12:10 07.12 at) Kurt has set up a page over at atheos.cx for the distro of AtheOS iso cds. Here you can see who is making them and where they are shipped too. url - http://www.atheos.cx/cdrom.php3 e-mail - kurt@atheos.cx (source: AtheOS Mailing List ~ Making AtheOS CD's) --------------- [ Latest Builds ] --------------- - SEAL o 1D (042900) o http://www.home.sk/public/seal/sealexe.zip - V2_OS o 0.70 o ftp://vp.dyn.dhs.org/0.70/v2_os.img - AtheOS o 0.3.0 o http://www.atheos.cx/download/list.php3?0.3.0 ................................................. -= Beyond the Specifics =- ................................................. ------------- [ Interesting ] ------------- - GITampD This is a neat little winamp plugin. From the e-mail i received: "We have a completely alpha blended watermark that sits on your desktop which remote controls winamp. When the watermark is transparent, you can click through it, drag windows behind it, etc. Hovering the mouse over it for a few seconds causes it to solidify and then the controls are available. We display the eq vis, button controls and playlist. In this version we cannot control the seek bar, volume or balance but those are on the feature list for the next release. We also have a visualizer that runs along the right side of your screen. The cool thing about the vis is that it runs OUTSIDE of your desktop. None of the desktop area is covered and all your apps will still be able to run full screen." url - http://www.gitwit.com .................................... All contents Copyright (c) 1999-2000 XSWeekly. All rights reserved.