14.08.99 – 20.08.99
Sleepy decided that I should add something personal in the
begining of my newsletters ala Lockergnome style so here it is. Let
me just start of by saying thanks to all the people so far who have
suppored me in this little project. Without there help and support
I don’t think I would have created this.
With that said, I think I’ll bring up a subject that Maduin
opened a while ago on the LS Mailing List. He replied to someone who
had a mod idea and said something to the effect of “Quit saying ‘This
should be easy…’ and just state your idea and we’ll consider it”. I
have done some programming in the past and agree totally with this.
If you start off your mail with “I can’t code but…”, DON’T add “This
should be easy”. How do you know it’s easy if you cant code? Some of
the easiest sounding ideas are the hardest to code. Just spit out your
idea, and let fate decide the course of it (=. If it’s made, great! If
not, oh well. Either learn to code or try posting it to an idea site
like Mindstorm for a wider audience.
Ok, I need your input on this one. I was considering adding
two new sections to the letter, TIPS and RUMORS. TIPS is pretty self
explanitory, and RUMORS will be what I hear about development of b25
or later. Shoot me a mail at demigod@meganet.net and tell me if I
should add either of them.
- demigod
—————————
TOP NEWS STORIES
—————————
- LS Binaries get a new home
Maduin has decided to start hosting new cvs binary builds on
his site “until some other sites show up, I’ll post devbuilds
on my site at maduin.dasoft.org/ls. I’ll only post
them if something changes.”
url – maduin.dasoft.org/ls
email – maduin@dasoft.org
(source: LS Mailing List)
- Fahim in need of computer parts (Repost)
Even though I reported this in the last issue, I believe this
bears repeating. Fahim, famed ls core coder, is in need of
a new computer or computer parts. Jacob Hochstetler has
donated to him a new HD but he still needs parts!!
url – http://members.tripod.com/~Cyberian/LiteStep/LSDJ.htm
e-mail – FahimF@email.com
(source: LSDJ)
- LiteStep on ZDTV’s Screen Saver
Thought y’all might find this interestind, I clipped it from
the Screen Savers newsletter. That’s a help show on ZDTV
for you who don’t know.
“Jacob from Los Gatos, CA wanted to know about
replacing Windows Explorer. In Windows, Explorer is the
interface that you work with. This means you can replace
Windows explorer with another interface, like Litestep.
In the sys.ini file find the line with shell=”where the
shell exe resides” (i.e. shell=Explorer.exe) with where
the litestep executable sits. Litestep is a Windows
Explorer replacement interface available from
Litestep.org. …”
(source: LS Mailing List/Granite Grey)
- New LiteStep FAQ
While idling in #ls_help efnet, necro posted about a new
LiteStep FAQ. It spans more questions than I can possilbly
mention here. Visit this site if you have any questions
about LiteStep. Great job necro!!
url – http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~necro/litestep.txt
source (#ls_help/necro)
- LiteStep now has news groups
“Just a note to let everyone know that LiteStep now has (for
the first time ever!) its own news groups! Just point your
favorite news client to news.emci.com and select the
litestep… news group(s) you would like to join :)
“There are currently six LiteStep news groups to chose from:
.installation.help
.steprc.help
.modulesini.help
.graphics.help
.themes.design
.themesrc.help
“We hope these news groups will be a significant source for
the LiteStep community as a whole, and yet another means of
support {:-)”
%%UPDATE%%
There are now three additional LiteStep news groups on the
news.emci.com news server:
litestep.core.suggestions
litestep.general.coding
litestep.general.questions
email – bob@litestep.com
(source: LS Mailing List)
—————————
MODULES
—————————
- jDesk.dll .40 ~ jugg
“Anyway, lots and lots of changes. I must ask you all to PLEASE
read the documents, and go through the examples before
contacting me for help. All the commands have changed. Nothing
you currently use will work. That first release I did the
other day was really just a gauge to see peoples interest.
And, a lot of people where interested :) So, now I’m actively
working on it, plus implementing all the commands like I want
etc etc.”
url – http://aster.omega2.com/jugg/
email – jugg@earthling.net
(source: LS Mailing List)
- chronos 1.0 / 1.1 ~ Maduin
“just released my latest module, chronos 1.0. as the name
implies, it is a clock module. it can be used to display the
date and time is any user specified format and can be placed
on the LS desktop or in the wharf.”
%% UPDATE %%
“just to let you know… chronos 1.1 is available
new in this release is:
- added ChronosFontShadowDepth
- added support for hash modifier in format (eg, %#c)
- added uptime support
- added support for centibeats (%C)
- added multiple format support and !ChronosNext
- if !ChronosMove is invoked with no params, moves to mouse
position
- !ChronosMove can now specify width and height
- bugfix: %c left out last character”
url – http://www.dasoft.org/maduin
email – maduin@dasoft.org
(source: LS Mailing List)
- sysVWM 6.2 ~ jugg
“He has added a toggle for VWMInitialDesk, plus fixed some
problems with the mouse cursor. He also fixed the bug where
SysVWM would show on the ctrl-alt-del tasklist instead of
Litestep.
“Now, if you are confused, let me explain about VWMInitialDesk.
This feature was actually included in 6.1, but I forgot to
mention it in the docs, so I don’t think anyone knew about it
except jugg, since I told him. He built a toggle for it.”
url – http://www.chunkymunky.com/hosted/killarny/
email – jugg@earthling.net
(source: jugg in #ls_help)
- V_Bang 1.4 ~ Black Hawk
“Got It…….8)
Stupid me thinking that setting up Step.rc is the same as with
Ini- files and the registry………
So i set up the Step.rc SetupRC(Step.rc)
Read my Settings for V_bang *AND*
CLOSED IT……..CloseRC;
{Maybe I should have read the sources *first* }
closed it for all the other modules in fact…..
Sooo……
get the fixed Version here:
blkhawk.cjb.net/bin/V_bang14.zip
“All those who had problems with V_bang…….
Grab it …. now it should work ……”
url – http://blkhawk.cjb.net/bin/v_bang13.zip
email – blkhawk49@geocities.com
(source: LS Mailing List)
- AutoRun 1.0 ~ Visigoth
“Upon conversing with jugg, I decided to whip up a small
AutoRun module.
(I guess I lost the bet – it does add up to 20K of code…
hrmmm..)
“Anyway, you can read more about it on my site. Note that this
module is explicitly meant for users of jDesk. Using it with
the original desktop.dll also loaded is not the best thing to
do.
“AutoRun requires the 8/17 build of lsapi.dll. If you have an
older build, *nothing will happen* (the module won’t load and
you will most likely end up typing a message of the sort ‘I
tried your AutoRun.dll and followed the install instructions,
but it doesn’t seem to work…’ to me).”
url – http://home.att.net/~gandhimail/litestep/autorun.html
email – gandhimail@worldnet.att.net
(source: LS Mailing List)
—————————
THEMES
—————————
- Thinkthrough 1.2 ~ Verbena
“The attempt was to create a certain balance between
space-conservation and usability. It doesn’t necessary look
very nice, but the outlook is the next thing I’ll focus on.
Actually the theme is so crude-looking to allow easy
customizations.
“The theme is made especially for the people who want to use
their applications fullscreen (CADs for example) and still be
able to have an easy access to the desktop. That is why all
the important modules are always on top and placed at the top
part of the screen where they’ll only cover the programs’
titlebar.
“There’s also autohiding shortcuts at the right side of the
screen to allow access to some important features at all times.
VWM and the modules at the top can be hidden from here. Also
the autohiding shortcuts can be disabled by clicking on the
ball at top left corner of the desktop. NOTE! Autohiding
shortcuts can only be chosen by moving the mouse up and down
by keeping the pointer at the side of the screen.”
url – http://verbena.cjb.net
ss – http://verbena.cjb.net
email – verbbis@hotmail.com
(source: LS Mailing List)
- myOS ~ tch
“a labor of love…Here is the long awaited myOS, all bars are
collapsable, including systray. Tasks use jugg’s task.dll,
little colored monitors are the vwm’s. Clock uses lsxcommand,
all modules included. Background indpendent, easy to port to
lower/high”
url – http://skintacular.com/skins.php3?login=&id=&skin=
myOS&area=litestep
ss – http://skintacular.com/sections/litestep/myos.jpg
email – hollosyt@egr.msu.edu
(source: LS Mailing List)
- INDIGO ~ AShR
“Than you to everyone for your comments over the last two
days.
“I have uploaded my first theme INDIGO to:
LiteStep Unlimited
http://pimpshit.binary.net/litestep/index.php,
Skinz.org and Customize.org (although it has still not
appeared at customize).”
* I have included an alternate console image and step file
that supports 14 icons in the SystemTray, instead of the
original 6 icons.
* Fixed the Windows Screensaver showing up in Tasks.
* Cleaned-up the readme and included screenshots of both
console types for reference.
* Included Photoshop 5.0 (*.psd) templates for the Circular
and the Square shortcut icons.
url – http://kephra.synflux.com.au/indigo.html
ss – http://kephra.synflux.com.au/indigo.jpg
email – ashr@synflux.com.au
(source: LS Mailing List)
—————————
WEB SITES
—————————
- FPN ~ floach.pimpin.net
It seems that Geekmaster has taken over the reigns of FPN.
“Well, I can’t just sit idle and let one of my favorite sites
on the net go away. No doubt you have noticed that I’m trying
to keep this site alive, and I’m going to continue to keep this
site alive.”
After this post, the background and site banner changed. It
looks as if FPN isnt on the way out, but on the way up once
again. Goto floach.pimpin.net and check it out.
%% UPDATE %%
Public posting has again been reimplimented. Geekmaster will
be moderating the posts. Use the link at the top of the right
hand column.
url – floach.pimpin.net
email – lheddings@geocities.com
(source: FPN)
—————————
PROGRAMS
—————————
- Litestep Tweaker 1.47 ~ NetSliDeR
“Epsylon3 wrote in to say that another version of the LiteStep
Tweaker is out, for you non-notepad users out there. Its
actually pretty nice.”
url – http://tweak.cjb.net/
email – NetSliDeR@the-pentagon.com
(source: FPN)
………………………………
————
Latest Build
————
b24.5 build 190899
Changes
- Merged in jugg’s size optimizations and fixed null pointer /
working directory bugs in LSExecute (Visigoth)
- Added VarExpansion to LSExecute (per jugg’s suggestion)
(Visigoth)
- Fixed buffer overflow bug in step.rc reading code (Maduin)
- Added code to prevent autoplay if shift key is down (Maduin)
………………………………
————-
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@cbj.net
To unsubscribe, e-mail: stuff-unsubscribe@cbj.net
Additional commands, e-mail: stuff-help@cbj.net