28.10.00 – 03.11.00

Teknidermy… what can I say out this online magazine. To
start, I really do like the idea that they have put together. No,
really, I do but the implementation of it is not only sloppy but so
unprofessional that it gives the skinning community a black eye imo.
The site is messy, the interviews are so biased they are laughable,
and the level of professionalism is somewhere below newbie. Comon!
You have a great idea. Why are you throwing away potential new
subscribers by being so unprofessional?

This is supposed to be a site for skinners but the layout is
not only bland, but its messy and unorganized. The interviews are
very, very biased which is a big no no, and the format of each
interview is different. I think you get my point here.

As I originally said, I really do like the idea of an online
magazine for the skinning community but put some pride into your work.
Show them that this is more than just another site. Put up the eye
candy, throw in some flash, anything!

On a lighter note, I was having some issues with the way
that atomz.com was crawling my archive. My server does not allow
for dir listings so their bot wasn’t properly indexing each dir. I
e-mailed their support and within an hour a tech had written me back
stating that not only was the problem fixable, but they had fixed it
already for me!! Now that’s what I call support! A special thanks
goes out to Fran from the Atomz support team for fixing my problem.

———-
[ Mail Bag ]
———-

This weeks mailbag question is:

What other shells/alt os’s should I preview here?

e-mail – mailbag@xsweekly.com
url – http://www.xsweekly.com/mail.html

———–
[ Spotlight ]
———–

- help.litestep.com

This is a great site that needs to be mentioned again. KSR has
compiled a list of 200+ module with all their commands on this
site. If you need help with a module, goto this site first.

url – http://help.litestep.com

………………………………………….
-= Shell Specific =-
………………………………………….

——————
[ Top News Stories ]
——————

- LS-Novice e-group ~ Rex H. McTyeire (12:28 29.10 ls)

Looks like someone took the incitive to set up a newbie
mailing list for LiteStep. From the e-groups page:

“For the discussion of the application of the LiteStep shell
to new user and other than technically brilliant. Pros,
cons, and ideas exchanged freely amongst those who do not
speak fluent technoid, but still want maximum flexibility in
desktop customization and a more tailored functionality of
the desktop interface than is presented by our buddy Bill in
the standard winpackage. Death to blue skies, clouds, and
the start button.”

url – http://www.egroups.com/group/LS-Novice
e-mail – rexbo@rdsnet.ro
(source: http://www.ls2k.org)

+——-<*>——-+

- New LiteStep Tutorial Pages ~ rootrider (13:09 29.10 ls)

rootrider has posted a new tutorial on fpn and made up
a nice tutorial index page. There are tutorials for both
beginners and advanced users.

url – http://floach.pimpin.net/litestep-tutorials.shtml
e-mail – rootrider@wsu.edu
(source: http://floach.pimpin.net)

+——-<*>——-+

- LiteStep on TechTV (14:38 29.10 ls)

LiteStep is being featured in the ScreenSavers Answers &
Tips section. Although it is basically just a rehash of
the TV spot and there are still some quirky errors in their
explanation, any publicity is good publicity.

url – http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/answerstips/story/0,3656,2341490,00.html
(source: LS Mailing List ~ LiteStep on TECHTV!!!!!)

———
[ Modules ]
———

- Geekamp 1.9a ~ azathoth (12:11 29.10 ls)

Geekamp is a front end module for winamp that allows you
to control just about every aspect of winamp via bang
commands. One note, this was originally coded by geekmaster
but azathoth has taken over and recoded the entire thing.

New in this version:

- Turns out in the last build i forgot to include
!Amp_ToggleBrowser, it’s now working again.
- Added Bang Commands:
o !Amp_FileInfo
o !Amp_PowerOn
o !Amp_PowerOff
o !Amp_Rewd10s
o !Amp_Rewd20s
o !Amp_Ffwd10s
o !Amp_Ffwd20s
o !Amp_Restart
o !Amp_MovePosition

%%UPDATE%% (14:43 31.10)

- !Amp_FileInfo was causing serious problems when winamp was
set to “Scroll Name In WIndows Taskbar”. This build has
removed !amp_fileinfo as a bang.
- Fixed some minor bugs.

url – http://www.ls2k.org
e-mail – azathoth@intricatechaos.com
(source: azathoth via irc)

+——-<*>——-+

- ckHotspots 1.0 ~ Chaku (12:15 29.10 ls)

Hotspots.dll allows you to run programs or bang commands
when a certain spot on the screen is moused over.

New in this version:

- ckHotspotsTimeOut # define how frequent the module will
check the mouse, the smaller the more frequent, (default:
100)
- *ckHotspot x y width height [action to perform when mouse
enters] [action to perform when mouse leaves] x, y, width
and height can be negative
o x, y specifies the left top hotspot box
o width and height specifies the width and height for
the hotspot box. If you specify either one of them
to be 0 the box width or height will span to the
whole screen.
o The next two action can be bang commands or a path
to a program.
o *Important: none of your configurations from your
Hotspots module will work because this has nothing
to do with the hotspots module

url – http://cklin.cjb.net
e-mail – chaokuo@iname.com
(source: http://www.ls2k.org)

+——-<*>——-+

- ckVWM 1.2 ~ Chaku (12:20 29.10 ls)

ckVWM is an updated sysvwm that was originally written by
killarny. This is a more advanced vwm then the one that
comes stock with LiteStep.

New in this version:

Bang commands:
- !VWMRESTOREALLWINDOWS Changed to !VWMRESTOREALLWINDOWS
“window title or class name” “method” where method could
be blank(default to overlap), overlap, or cascade
- !VWMRESTOREWINDOW and !VWMRESTOREALLWINDOWS Changed the
window title or class name matching scheme to use the
match() function. The syntax for matching a specific word
such as MIRC would be: *MIRC*. The matching is not case
sensitive.

Added:
- !VWMMove x y Change the position of the VWM to x, y (x and
y can be negative) If nothing is supplied, the VWM will
move back it’s old position specified in step.rc

Step.rc configs:
- Added configs to disable the vertical or horizontal
autoswitch VWMDisableVerticalAutoSwitch
VWMDisableHorizontalAutoSwitch
- Changed the RestoreWidth, and RestoreHeight so that if you
don’t specify them or one of them is negative, then when
restoring windows using !VWMRESTOREWINDOW or
!VWMRESTOREALLWINDOWS the windows’ original width and
height will not be changed.
- Added config *VWMStartWindowsOnDesktop “Window title or
class name” “Desktop Number” so that windows that match
will always start on the desktop number you specify (doesn’t
work with PureLS at this time)
- Added config VWMSnapWindowOnDrag so that window will retain
its relative coordinate to the desktop when dragging the
miniwindows Misc: In this release, i added a two modified
popup modules, popup r9.3 and popup2, that will work with
ckvwm. They will allow you to have popup tasks for hidden
windows on different desktops when you have the config
VWMHideTaskOnSwitch. The step.rc config for these added
popup feature is: PopupckVWMPath “path” where path equals
to the path to your ckvwm.dll, the one you load module with.
When you don’t use ckvwm, you can simply comment out the
PopupckVWMPath, and everything will be the same as before.
The syntax to see windows on other desktop is the same as
!PopupTasks, just replace !PopupTasks with !PopupTasks1,
!PopupTasks2, !PopupTasks3…..depending on your vwm
configuration. !PopupTasksAll Allows you to tasks from all
desktops. *Note: if a warning dialog popups up from your
shell saying that the module ckvwm is already loaded,
simply change the order you load ckvwm and popup in step.rc
Load ckvwm before popup.

Bug Fix:
- Fix the problem that !VWMTOGGLEHIDETASKONSWITCH will make
windows disappear
- Fix !MoveApp bang so that it will work with VWMWrapScreen
- Fix !MoveApp bang so that for example you click on a
shortcut which calls this bang, the program will look for
the topmost visible window to move.
- Fix the bug that when clicking on task, the wrong desktop
will be shown.
- Fix the config VWMDeskWallpaper# so that it can use e-vars,
and save the time to allocate unnecessary memory spaces

url – http://cklin.cjb.net
e-mail – chaokuo@iname.com
(source: http://www.ls2k.org)

+——-<*>——-+

- Popup r9.3c ~ Headius (13:12 29.10 ls)

The popup rx.x series is a set of popups that adds extended
functions above the core popus.

New in this version:

- Fixed problem with it working with current LS Builds.

url – http://floach.pimpin.net
e-mail – headius@headius.com
(source: http://floach.pimpin.net)

+——-<*>——-+

- lsSETI 0.2 ~ Ugh!! (14:34 29.10 ls)

“I’ve just written a small Litestep module which lets you
monitor the progress of your SETI@Home program. Module
displays a small text window with percentage progress. Simple,
but effective.” Source code is included in this zip.

url – http://www.cutajar.net/owen/lsSETI/
e-mail – ugh@pobox.com
(source: LS Mailing List ~ lsSETI)

+——-<*>——-+

- grdamp 1.3 ~ grd (10:32 30.10 ls)

“This is not a normal winamp-frontend-litestep-module. It’s a
module that wraps the basic functionality of winamp but
WITHOUT using winamp itself. This is achieved by interfacing
the winamp input and output plugin architecture.”

New in this version:

- Made the module compatible with older builds of litestep
(24.5), purels and darkstep.
- Supports a lot of new winamp-style-window-messages, that
for instance will enable lsslider to work with grdamp,
which is a great addition.
- Added !grdampsavestack, (guess what it does)

url – http://floach.pimpin.net/grd/
e-mail – grd@swipnet.se
(source: LS Mailing List ~ grdamp f・ alle)

+——-<*>——-+

- LsBox 1.99b ~ Black Hawk (10:39 30.10 ls)

LsBox is a skinable easy to customize and {resource-friendly}
alternative to the “normal” shortcutgroups for a number of
applications like freefloating menus, messageboxes, and
configuration dialogs.

New in this version:

- {Boxes} added a Winamplike “Snap to edge” feature
- {Boxes} Boxes won’t “jump” on DesktopAreaChange anymore
- {Boxes} Boxes aren’t visible in Tasks anymore
- {Boxes} Changed the way the background Bitmap is painted
- {Boxes} Changed the way the DragRect is set – RTM
This fixes the Magic Pink(tm) flash problem
- {Shortcuts} Changed the way (bang)commands are called.
Should be now faster & fool-proof, too.
- {Shortcuts} Added complex RGN handling (still flickers a
bit) – Shortcuts can now be placed *Outside* the main Box.
- {Modules} implemented Wharf+ specs
- {Modules} WharfModule are now actually unloaded properly
- {BoxFiles} fixed a bug in the Keyname compare function
- {Text(cuts)} fixed the FontName setting to actually work -
was Times New Roman only

%%UPDATE%% (9:19 31.10)

- {Boxes} fixed a bug that caused an infinite loop after
!LsBoxDestroy
- {Modules} New Module Format {Prototype}
I have already tested some of the more tolerant modules
with this, but most won’t work *right*….. you can try it
if you want.
- {WharfModules} Moved all WharfModule loading routines in
this SubModule

%%UPDATE%%

- Fixed the disappearing box problem by ignoring the
ParentWnd supplied on InitModuleEx (??????)
- Will work with the new LsSlider release (load as *module)
- Will work with my Sysvwm patch (load as wharfmodule)

url – http://www.blkhawk.de
e-mail – blkhawk@blkhawk.de
(source: LS Mailing List ~ *** *NEW* LsBox rel1.98 ***)

+——-<*>——-+

- geekTray 1.0 ~ geekMASTER (9:24 03.11 ls)

“This is a little module that will put a single icon in your
systray that responds to mouse clicks.”

url – http://www.mindjunction.com
e-mail – lheddings@geocities.com
(source: http://www.litestep.net)

———–
[ Web Sites ]
———–

- Black Hawk Moves To Pimpin.net

Noticed this on the LS Mailing list. It seems that
BlackHawk has picked up and moved stakes over to the
pimpin.net server. He has updated his redirects so you
can continue to got the same url and still hit his page.

url – http://floach.pimpin.net/blkhawk
e-mail – blkhawk@blkhawk.de
(source: LS Mailing List ~ *** *NEW* LsBox rel1.98 ***)

———-
[ Programs ]
———-

- ShellON 2.18 ~ Mike Rhodes (12:45 29.10 na)

ShellON is a very full featured shell swapping and managing
utility.

New in this version:

- Added ‘Exists’ column on Shell List
- Added Displays default profile on Choose Profile screen.
- Added Displays default shell on Shell selection screen.
- Added Displays ‘Cannot find file’ if an image in a boot
screen set cannot be found.
- Added Detailed uninstall instructions in help file.
- Improved ShellON’s handling when Splash Screen is not shown.
- Merged Splash FormCreate and FormShow to speed up ShellON.
- Fixed loading of Wallpaper Options where icon transparency
was removed.
- Fixed label in config that said ‘minutes’ instead of
‘seconds’!
- Removed X and Y co-ordinates of Wallpaper settings, because
they didn’t do anything.

url – http://shellon.cjb.net
e-mail – ezines.mike@virgin.net
(source: Mike Rhodes via e-mail)

+——-<*>——-+

- TweakgUI 5 ~ Vish (11:24 30.10 geo)

This is a small program that gives you a GUI interface for
changing setting in geOShell instead of having to root around
in your registry.

New in this version:

- Added ability to switch between Explorer & geOShell. Its
not much of a shell switcher since it willaffect all users,
but its better than doing it manually.
- Added Plugin config for Fleximenu’s, geODateTime (limited),
geOTray, geOLabels.
- Added Icon Config for changing various Core geOShell icons.
- Added Hotkey support. Not very intuitive or as nice as it
should be but made it more <safe> sothat it doesn’t nuke /
mess up your Registry.
- Added ability to make your geOBars Translucent in Win2k.
The translucency is lost after a Recyclebut is nice to
have till geOShell natively supports it. Don’t know if it
works on Win ME. Thetranslucency is fixed for all geOBars
to be 75%.
- Added a refresh button, which will reload all settings from
the registry.(Useful if you’ve added anew plugin / geOBar
/ HotKey). It has to be done manually since TweakgUI isn’t
meant to berunning all the time.
- Added a HotKey for TweakgUI. Its < Win + T > & can be
changed / removed.
- Removed the gripper settings for the Default geOBars &
moved them to the Bar config section.
- Forgot to mention that the previous release had the option
of Backing up your Entire geOShellconfigas a .reg file.
Has anyone used it ??. Should I make it possible to backup
your individualgeOBars /HotKeys Settings / Menu Config
etc. ???

url – http://vish.htmlplanet.com/geoshell
e-mail – Vishk@Rediffmail.com
(source: http://vish.htmlplanet.com/geoshell)

—————
[ Latest Builds ]
—————

- LiteStep
o 24.6 build 100600
o http://builds.litestep.net/builds/ls-0246-dev-20001006.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 =-
………………………………………….

———–
[ Web Sites ]
———–

- SEAL Beta Help Site ~ Julien Etelain (12:00 30.10 sel)

Someone finally stepped up and started to write some help
docs (in html format) for SEAL. The page that is currently
up is beta and he needs some help in writing it. Send
him an e-mail if you see any mistakes or wish to lend a
hand.

url – http://pmad.forez.com/seal/beta-help/
e-mail – julien@pmad.mail22.com
(source: http://pub8.ezboard.com/bsealsystem)

—————
[ 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

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