Ello gents.

Back again with another self-proclaimed stunningly intuitive theme about to be released. So intuitive, in fact, that I've just decided to name it Intuition.

It's based on the Slick architecture and has a somewhat similar visual style, but employs a more effective use of screenspace and allows for more concurrent functionality. (ie, you can show the tray and the audio controls and the vwm at the same time, instead of switching between them).

A screenshot is available at http://www.guerillamusic.net:4280/tmp/screenshot.intuition.jpg

The pre-release theme package is at http://www.guerillamusic.net:4280/tmp/intuition.beta.lsz

I've tested it a fair bit on my system and a VMachine with a clean litestep install, but there's some pretty convoluted scripting and I'd like people to really put this sucker to the test to make sure I've sprayed all the bugs.

Thanks :)


** UPDATE **

I'm especially interested in having someone test this on a multi-monitor system. DrWorm, I'm lookin at you ;) Though anyone with a MM system who wants to help out would be more than appreciated :)

In the future you should mark the theme as a "beta" and upload it to the Themes section.

Ok Dev, thought it'd be best to add a forum thread instead of cluttering up the themes section since I'd be posting the full version in a couple days anyway provided there's no kinks, but in the future I'll upload it to the site as a beta :)

(also by linking through the thread instead of uploading it saves on your bandwidth but I guess I should be thinking more greedily and try to stick you with the b/w bills hehe)

Cheers man :)

oh and btw, I don't think I've ever said it before so let me express now my heartfelt gratitude for your work on this site - any time you start to feel like you're underappreciated just think about the fact that whether they all acknowledge it or not, by keeping this sucker goin you've made a lot of peoples' lives better and systems more functional, and contributed HUGELY to the evolution of LiteStep even aside from any actual dev work you do, and both of those are downright noble. Good on ya :)

my bw and server space is free thanks to the great people at TheBestISP. Also you thank me for the site and I really do as little as possible. So please thank all the hard work up to the LSnet devs; CraHan, Tres`ni and tuxpow3r.

Ahh I had just assumed you were the man behind the curtain since all the recent news postings are attributed to you..

Well then thanks go out to the LSnet devs :D

Just got my primary monitor replaced with a beautiful 19" one. :D Went from 1024x768 to 800x600 to 1600x1200. oh yes, it is happy.

General things:

rainmeter should be installed with *NetInstallModule rainmeter-0.9 load rainmeter.dll
You are using "$ModulesDir$systray2-lsbox.dll" in traybox.box without making sure anything is installed with that name. (and it looks like the position is too far down? it overlaps the stuff below it)

Multimonitor:

ckvwm does not work well with multimonitor systems
jdesk-0.70 will result in popups only working on the primary monitor (use 0.711 and change the edge order for *jDeskSetDeskArea)
and ckHotspots is really broken with the way I have my monitors arranged. I fixed that once, but what did I do with that...

With one monitor, I like how the winamp controls pop up (esp if they work with foobar, didn't test that) and the rainmeter looks neat. :)

Oh, and you should probably use OTS $AudioPlayer$, etc. for defaults in themevars.rc (heh, you almost keep your stuff like I do, except I stuffed it all under c:\bin :)

rabid, did you try changing the NetInstallModule systray2-2.0.1 to systray2-lsbox? and if so, did it fix the problem with the tray's bg image overlapping the bottom of the traybox image?

For jdesk, how do you mean to change the edge order for *jDeskSetDeskArea?

Then again, given that the hotspots are really what makes this theme special (without them it's just another standard corner-bar theme with an extremely plain visual style) if the hotspots don't work with MM systems maybe I'd just be best off posting it as a single-monitor-only theme..

Good call with the $AudioPlayer$, i dunno why that didn't occur to me.. I used to keep my gear in c:\bin as well but as my arsenal of apps grew and grew I found separating them into different folders categorically made management much easier ;)

Thanks for the suggestions :)

See, I've got c:\bin\code, c:\bin\games, c:\bin\image, etc ;)

I changed -lsbox to systray2-2.0.1, I'll try the other way.

The order for *jDeskSetDeskArea was left, right, top, bottom in 0.70, but it's left, top, right, bottom in 0.711.

And I've just fixed & released a version of ckhotspots (-2.3.2) that should work better, but it'll probably still be difficult to get the coordinates right in all cases. (didn't want to do all the work for the full named monitor stuff right now)

yep, systray-lsbox fixes that.

and it's jDeskWorkArea, not SetDeskArea, sorry. :)

hey inhaler. :)

wow... that's quite the hd space and organization scheme you have going. it does seem similar to mine, but on a much grander scale. ;)

I like your 'D:\Link' idea, I never thought of that. I think I might just create LINK_someapp.lnk files in %WINDIR% rather than having a dedicated directory though. I probably wouldn't need too many of these so it should be ok. (Actually your way is probably better since it allows for really short names...)

I think it's possible to somehow specify the location of 'Documents and Settings' during installation, but I could be wrong, maybe that was Win2k. I just found this site that has loads of interesting info. on creating an unattended xp installation disc:

http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/

I see your program files directory is on D like mine, but I want this silly directory away from the OS. I don't want anything extraneous on the OS's partition (too bad I can't prune the junk out of the OS itself. ;). That site I linked to above is really good, wish I'd found it earlier. ;) I don't think I have the time to go through it now though. :|

I learned from someone else's recent mishap and made sure that the machine was not connected to the internet until after i'd installed a proper firewall. In the past I've gone a few days or more without installing one. :P

Yeah, I don't think we need to worry about divulging the locations of our files, someone would have to first find our machines and then break in, I doubt it's worth anyone's effort to do it. :P I'm sure it's possible to do though. ;)

Oh I almost forgot... defragging in XP - what a mess. :| I investigated this back when XP came out and I learned that you can't really do a good defrag job on XP. I don't recall all the details now but essentially (IIRC) the API MS provides for this purpose is quite limited (deliberately, I forget their reasons) and you simply cannot defrag as effectively and with the amount of control as you could on earlier versions of windows.

I remember in the old days with Norton SpeedDisk I could move Quake3 to the head of the hard drive where it belongs, adjust the temp files locations and generally do all kinds of crazy things. It was so satisfying after a defrag to see all those file blocks neatly lined up. :P

As I said I don't recall all the details now, but at the time of my investigation the best defrag app. for XP seemed to be Diskeeper:

http://www.executive.com

This has got to be one of the most OT threads around but it's a nice change from thinking about why some LS related thing isn't working for someone. :)

(I know this post rambles on without much direction, I'm low on sleep. ;)

(Almost forgot, I hate all those 'My' folders too. :P Perhaps since Bill owns so much of what we run he wanted to make it clear that we do in fact truly own these particular folders and their contents. ;) I say why stop at 'My Documents' and 'My Music', why not be consistent in this naming scheme. Let's call the drives 'My C Drive' etc., and who needs HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE when you could have the oh-so-friendly MY_HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. And really now, wouldn't my_explorer.exe be a lot less intimidating for newbies? ;)

Rabid, tried your ckhotspots update and litestep threw up all over my keyboard. Posted a message describing the error alert in the General section as I'm not sure if it's ckHotspots' fault or if it's because of something changed in the new LS build or the theme installer or something.

Omar, that's a good way to do it - pretty similar to mine.
I have

C: cerebrum
D: medulla
E: cerebellum
F: temp
G: cd
H: cd
I: video
J: audio

C through E are partitions on a 40 gig, F is a 40 gig, I and J are both 60 gigs (there wasn't even room in my case for the last 60 gig, it's just dangling from its power/IDE cables hehe)

C is arranged like
C:\app
C:\gam
C:\net
C:\snd
C:\vid
etc... Any general-purpose apps are installed into C:\app instead of D:\Program Files\

I installed the system onto D:, so windows automatically created the Program Files and Documents and Settings folders on that drive instead of C.

D: has things like
D:\Documents and Settings
D:\Link (this is a directory I've added to the PATH= env-var, and filled with .lnk files to all my commonly used apps so I can just hit CTRL-SHIFT-X to focus LSXCommand then type "bp" to run bulletproof FTP, or "kl" to run kazaa lite, or "word" to run ms word, etc. This way I don't have to set up definitions in a config file for lsx aliases, i can just drag and drop shortcuts and rename them, plus if I switch shells to explorer I can still access these through win-R (the Run... dialog)
D:\Program Files (this is where I dump anything like codecs or system-function related stuff like CursorXP - things I don't anticipate myself ever having any reason whatsoever to dig around in)
D:\Win2K
etc

E: has stuff like
E:\doc (the equivalent of My Documents but I hate My Documents and don't like having to dig through deeply nested profile folders to get at my docs)
E:\img (my image repository, stuff like funny .jpgs and cool wallpapers)
E:\pub (some ftp contents and home dirs, web site contents)

Basically it's mapped out like a brain for the may system drive:
the C: partition is the Cerebrum, the part of the brain responsible for conscious functions like drawing pictures or playing songs. (apps)
the D: partition is the Medulla Oblongata, the part of the brain responsible for unconscious functions like breathing, circulating blood, etc (system functions)
the E: partition is the Cerebellum, the part of the brain not really responsible for doing much, but it holds all your long-term and short-term memory. (documents, images, website stuff)

The F: drive just has
F:\tmp (%temp%)
F:\upl (uploads, which tends to be a rather bloated directory as sometimes MONTHS will pass before I get around to watching a movie I've downloaded)

I: has only 1 dir,
I:\pub
which holds
I:\pub\full movies\ (which mainly acts as a secondary movie repository when my uploads dir gets too heavy for that drive)

J: simply has
J:\pub
J:\rip
in J:\pub there's \archive (stuff I've ripped or downloaded and burned to cd, but wanted to keep online for relatively frequent listening), \mp3 and \shn (stuff I've just recently ripped or downloaded and haven't gotten around to burning yet) and because there isn't room on the video drive, i also have \tv in the J:\pub dir.

I've got swaps of varying sizes on all partitions. (If only RAID-like swap handling could be accomplished, my memory-manipulation would be fast as lightning hehe)

The basic reasoning behind this layout is for ease of navigation and defragging - I can defrag the uploads/temp dir any time because it's not having system info written to it starting the defrag over from the start, and that's the drive that needs defragging the most. I can defrag the system drive in no time at all because the only stuff on it is the system and it's nice and small, likewise with the apps drive, audio or video drives.

Another huge bonus is security. By setting up different access permissions and keeping the system drive on D: instead of C: it's protected from any yet-undiscovered exploits that allow someone to take control of the shared C: drive. (Just because you can disable NetBIOS over TCP in your network properties doesn't mean someone won't find a way around that in the future)

Oh and btw, setting up unattended installs is a breeze - when you start the installation it creates a text file in the root of whatever drive windows is set to install into, you just have to go into that text file and input responses to the various listed prompts, save it, and click the "Reboot now" button that was hanging in the background while you were editing the text file :) However afaik even that doesn't let you alter your Program Files or Documents and Settings paths, it just lets you not have to go see the computer every 20 minutes to clikc 2 buttons..

Man, it's so nice to live in a day and age where the tools are available to really secure a system so one can feel free to list their file structure organization on a public forum without having to fear that I'm telling crackers exactly how to get in, like back in the Security-Through-Obscurity days..

Say, what WAS the topic anyhow...? ;)

hey inhaler. :)

wow... that's quite the hd space and organization scheme you have going. it does seem similar to mine, but on a much grander scale. ;)

I like your 'D:\Link' idea, I never thought of that. I think I might just create LINK_someapp.lnk files in %WINDIR% rather than having a dedicated directory though. I probably wouldn't need too many of these so it should be ok. (Actually your way is probably better since it allows for really short names...)

I think it's possible to somehow specify the location of 'Documents and Settings' during installation, but I could be wrong, maybe that was Win2k. I just found this site that has loads of interesting info. on creating an unattended xp installation disc:

http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/

I see your program files directory is on D like mine, but I want this silly directory away from the OS. I don't want anything extraneous on the OS's partition (too bad I can't prune the junk out of the OS itself. ;). That site I linked to above is really good, wish I'd found it earlier. ;) I don't think I have the time to go through it now though. :|

I learned from someone else's recent mishap and made sure that the machine was not connected to the internet until after i'd installed a proper firewall. In the past I've gone a few days or more without installing one. :P

Yeah, I don't think we need to worry about divulging the locations of our files, someone would have to first find our machines and then break in, I doubt it's worth anyone's effort to do it. :P I'm sure it's possible to do though. ;)

Oh I almost forgot... defragging in XP - what a mess. :| I investigated this back when XP came out and I learned that you can't really do a good defrag job on XP. I don't recall all the details now but essentially (IIRC) the API MS provides for this purpose is quite limited (deliberately, I forget their reasons) and you simply cannot defrag as effectively and with the amount of control as you could on earlier versions of windows.

I remember in the old days with Norton SpeedDisk I could move Quake3 to the head of the hard drive where it belongs, adjust the temp files locations and generally do all kinds of crazy things. It was so satisfying after a defrag to see all those file blocks neatly lined up. :P

As I said I don't recall all the details now, but at the time of my investigation the best defrag app. for XP seemed to be Diskeeper:

http://www.executive.com

This has got to be one of the most OT threads around but it's a nice change from thinking about why some LS related thing isn't working for someone. :)

(I know this post rambles on without much direction, I'm low on sleep. ;)

(Almost forgot, I hate all those 'My' folders too. :P Perhaps since Bill owns so much of what we run he wanted to make it clear that we do in fact truly own these particular folders and their contents. ;) I say why stop at 'My Documents' and 'My Music', why not be consistent in this naming scheme. Let's call the drives 'My C Drive' etc., and who needs HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE when you could have the oh-so-friendly MY_HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. And really now, wouldn't my_explorer.exe be a lot less intimidating for newbies? ;)

You can just drop the short-named .lnk files in your win dir if you want and still be able to run them as normal, then you don't even need to add the path= entry. I just like to keep them in a separate dir so when I uninstall an app I can remove the associated link easilly and keep the windows directory uncluttered. Also I suppose if you get down to the nitty gritty, having it in an alphabetically 'earlier' directory than 'windows' or 'winnt', and separate from all the windows files, saves some time the systems takes in finding the link... but I doubt it'd be a noticeable difference for any human unless you had a 10-year-old system dir with tons of dead weight from the years of poor windows cache-handling.

I know whatcha mean about the firewall thing, I recently reinstalled the os on my laptop and i connected to the net so I could download zonealarm off my main machine. In the 10 minutes it took to download zonealarm, a valla virus managed to weasle its way into my system through RPC's.

I'm glad to not have to defrag in XP or wait for load times in XP or check windows update every week for new XP exploit fixes or any of the other countless hassles XP users face. W2K is the best kernel they've released yet. Well, 2K3 is actually a bit better as it uses a few XP technologies without all the impress-the-low-iq-end-user crap they stuffed into xp... but still too insecure for my liking, I'm giving it at least another 6 months or so before I'll feel comfortable that all the serious exploits have been found and fixed.

I hear ya with the My Fascist Naming Scheme stuff.. If they're going to enforce certain directories they should have a control panel to organize/name/etc them.

OT is good, keeps people on their toes - they get the subconscious message that they have to actually read all the threads if they don't wanna miss anything, not just scan the titles ;)