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  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

....................................
 
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