60 replies to this topic

[MedEvil]

Do you love how Vista looks, but hate how Vista works?

The solution up to this point was to use WindewBlinds on Xp. But WB is not free, which is a big no-no for many, especialy for use in one of our PEs.

Now there's a nice freeware alternative. http://www.lee-soft.com/




PS: Maybe even interesting for our WAIK cowboys.

[pscEx]

Do you love how Vista looks, but hate how Vista works?

The solution up to this point was to use WindewBlinds on Xp. But WB is not free, which is a big no-no for many, especialy for use in one of our PEs.

Now there's a nice freeware alternative. http://www.lee-soft.com/




PS: Maybe even interesting for our WAIK cowboys.

Brrrrrr

MedEvil, are you sure what you did with publishing this site?

Next days we get the complains 'Why does WinBuilder not can do this'.

Maybe Nuno then gives you the ability to add this nonsence into WinBuilder.exe

Due to me, I currently have enough troubles with XP-Style which is just software overlaid to the native good old classic 'WfW 3.11' style, makes many GUI pages beeing displayed 'incorrectly' and needs a lot of time consuming 'Repaint' and 'Refresh'.
And that all, just in order to change e.g. the shape of a button from the OS provided rectangle to a rectangle similar element with rounded corners.
I personally can recognize a button, even if it is a pure rectangle. But maybe for that ability one needs the Dinosaur experience since Windows 2.0.

Peter

[MedEvil]

Next days we get the complains 'Why does WinBuilder not can do this'.

That's the beauty of it. The complaints where already there before i posted.

I have to admit to my shame, that after i did some digging because someone absolutely needed XP style in NaughtyPE. I've got hooked on WindowBlinds and bought a license.
The simple fact, that it can really skin all windows, without exception! Was what gave me the last push.

So after countless aeons, it has finally been: Goodbye windows-grey!

[pscEx]

That's the beauty of it. The complaints where already there before i posted.

I have to admit to my shame, that after i did some digging because someone absolutely needed XP style in NaughtyPE. I've got hooked on WindowBlinds and bought a license.
The simple fact, that it can really skin all windows, without exception! Was what gave me the last push.

So after countless aeons, it has finally been: Goodbye windows-grey!

Maybe I have to sleep now. And tomorrow the world becomes a bit more friendly and realistic!

Peter

[MedEvil]

Peter do you really like gey or sand colored windows?
I always hated it to have to look into a light bulb.
I wanted always something eye friendly like green on black or grey on black.
But it never mattered on which computer i tried those settings, there was always at least one program that would change the toolbar color but not the font color. Black on black very recommendable!!!

Not to forget the sleeper agent programs. They sit on your computer and wait patiently till your eyes got really acustomed to the all dark setup and then! They blind you with a bright white background with white writing!

Have WB now running for 2 weeks, i think. Not a single accident so far.

Finally an eyefriendly 'nightvision' setup that works.

[Nuno Brito]

eheh.. MedEvil is showing a latin rib again for "useless" visual gimmick..

Guess it won't be long until he quits his daytime job and get a house near the seaside like the rest of us!

Thanks for the tip MedEvil, this indeed good looking to try out under Windows PE and perhaps remove the need for explorer. (with some luck)

Glad to see someone had the all the hard work for making this available and better of all, it's free!

[MedEvil]

I'm actually already halfway in your latin lifestyle and looking into making the full translation.

[allanf]

PS: Maybe even interesting for our WAIK cowboys.

YeeeHaa! ... ... Ooops! ... ...



damian666's VistaPack actually installed a lot better in WinPE 2.1, but not a great success either.

Regards

[TheHive]

Will they be showing up in youre project.

You happen to still have the Windows blinds script without the files.

[allanf]

Will they be showing up in youre project.

You happen to still have the Windows blinds script without the files.

Me? I haven't tried a script for WindowsBlinds for a long time. The Screenshot above was for ViSplore, which I thought I'd try out since it's free. I don't even have explorer or a start-button in my projects. Maybe a project like VistaPE and the other biggies are required for the various skinning programs. ... or are you asking MedEvil?

Regards

[TheHive]

Me? asking MedEvil?

Regards

Yes!


I dont think we can skin youre project like vista.

[allanf]

Yes!

Twice in one day. I'm not sure of the protocol. If a post is 'unaddressed', is it assumed to be addressed to the OP or the last poster? Or is there no real protocol? Thanks for clearing up the mix-up here.

Regards

[Nuno Brito]

@Allanf, why not mentioning this bug to the author. Maybe he can help as the error box mentions?

Would be nice for everyone to see this available!

[was_jaclaz]

I always hated it to have to look into a light bulb.
I wanted always something eye friendly like green on black or grey on black.

There is a solution, that we technicians call "monochrome green phosphor CRT":
http://en.wikipedia....ochrome_monitor

It is proved to avoid the "looking into a light bulb" effect.

Seriously, what I personally use (unfortunately NOT Free) is Astonshell:
http://www.astonshell.com/aston/
with settings similar to these:


jaclaz

[Nuno Brito]

Seriously, what I personally use (unfortunately NOT Free) is Astonshell:

Vogon are known for their peculiar desktop visual style..

[allanf]

I often wondered if that Italian flag was just camouflage.

@Allanf, why not mentioning this bug to the author. Maybe he can help as the error box mentions?

Would be nice for everyone to see this available!

Yes, the error box says to report the error. I think it's serious, and I think the answer would be, 'because there is no explorer', as is so often the case with Windows PE. I don't know enough about the program. I don't think ViSplore is an actual explorer replacement; it's just a skin ... ... If I find that it's more than that, I'll try a bit harder.

Regards

[was_jaclaz]

Vogon are known for their peculiar desktop visual style..

If I were a Vogon, you would already had been strapped to a Vogon's Poetry Appreciation Chair, and had some good poetry read to you:
http://en.wikipedia....n_poetry#Poetry
while I was comfortably seated on the back of a gazelle-like creature .

You are very, very lucky that I am partly Vulcanian....

It was difficult for me to move from good ol' LCARS:
http://www.lcarsdeveloper.com/

It is impossible on earthly screens to fully display the horrors of an actual Vogon's desktop, but ... if you want to have a quick look at how a Vogon desktop may look (be WARNED, NOT for the faint of heart) try here:
hxxp://maketecheasier.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/desktop-screenshot-thumbnail.png

The actual visual style is similar to this one:
hxxp://cesar-style.deviantart.com/art/StarStyle-55794432

jaclaz

[MedEvil]

@jaclaz
Does Astonshell take care of the appearance of all program windows? As this always was the main problem as i wrote.
Good old monochrome monitors were nice, but would not help today as they would not show green letters on black but black letters on green = green lightbulb.

@alanf
Non of the 3 programs is a skin, they are all stand alone programs meant for XP, that's why i suspected them to work in WAIK environments too. But it would make sense that Visplore might make use of a dll or two from Explorer.

Contact the author, he can surely help better and might even be interested to whip something up especialy for yourPE project.

@Hive

You happen to still have the Windows blinds script without the files.

I actually have 3, two found on the net and my own. the two found on the net can't be part of NaughtyPE because they use a hacked version of WB and my own can't be because it uses the licenced version.

At the moment i see no way to have WB legaly in PE without the big splash screen. Also the public version of WB, does not skin all windows.

Will they be showing up in youre project.

They might show up in another project i've been thinking about. Called PrettyPE. It will be a pure eyecandy PE and have system requirements to go along with that!
Smiley works at the moment on one of the key ingredients for it.

[MedEvil]

PS: @Hive
Since you're our eyecandy man. If you're interested in participating in any way in the new project, drop me a PM.

[allanf]

@alanf
Non of the 3 programs is a skin, they are all stand alone programs meant for XP, that's why i suspected them to work in WAIK environments too. But it would make sense that Visplore might make use of a dll or two from Explorer.

Contact the author, he can surely help better and might even be interested to whip something up especialy for yourPE project.

Thanks MedEvil (and @Nuno, I won't doubt you again... ...)

I'm not sure what is actually required, because I'm testing about six things at once here.

Here testing xoblite and the three modules together - starting with ViStart, then ViOrb, and lastly ViSplore.


... looking for an XP HotKey?


... opens at c: rather than %SystemDrive% x:

Amazing! There's a new thread under Lee-Soft's "Project suggestions" Forum.

Regards

[MedEvil]

Looks like you're just missing an explorer environment variables or two. Those should be easy to create.

On the other hand, if the settings for Visplore are correctly set, it may not try to open by default the 'personal' folder. ?




edit: Made a mistake, the missing 'personal' folder comes from Vistart not visplore.
You will need to have the registry entries for the explorer startmenu, as well as the folder structure and the shortcuts. Which is actually more than logical!

[allanf]

Thanks again MedEvil,

I am now testing in WinPE3.0, and the registry key should be "...,User Shell Folders, Personal" pointing to "%USERPROFILE%\Documents", rather than just "...,Shell Folders", which is empty.

Would that also be why the Orb Startmenu seems to be in a perpetual hour-glass state?

Hopefully Lee could make something for Vista's and Win7's PE. There probably isn't much call for a program designed to make Vista look like Vista, except when the Vista is actually only half a Vista like a PE. ... ...

I'm glad you found this, and shared it. Best thing I've seen in ages!

Regards

[MedEvil]

Thanks again MedEvil,

I am now testing in WinPE3.0, and the registry key should be "...,User Shell Folders, Personal" pointing to "%USERPROFILE%\Documents", rather than just "...,Shell Folders", which is empty.

Would that also be why the Orb Startmenu seems to be in a perpetual hour-glass state?

Not quite. The Orb is meant to work with the default startmenu as well as with ViStart. The only way it can know which one to use, would be by some registry settings. (which are all missing)

At the moment, i guess, it will look and look and look for the right menu to run.

The way i would code it, the ORB will look into the registry for the startmenu to run just like explorer shell.
While ViStart will enter itself instead of the default start menu in that place, to be able to work not only with the Orb, but also with the explorer shell.

[MedEvil]

Hopefully Lee could make something for Vista's and Win7's PE. There probably isn't much call for a program designed to make Vista look like Vista, except when the Vista is actually only half a Vista like a PE. ... ...

I doubt that that there is any problem running them in Vista, besides it being completely pointless, as you pointed out.

[allanf]

Not quite. The Orb is meant to work with the default startmenu as well as with ViStart. The only way it can know which one to use, would be by some registry settings. (which are all missing)

Most shells that I have tried seem to find the default (common? allusers?) startmenu.

Here's the registry for WinPE 3.0:



Maybe those shells use an environment variable to locate the available keys under "User Shell Folders"; whereas Vi* tries to locate the registry key directly, and the keys are missing under "Shell Folders".

Regards