Can litestep be used on an XP system? Thread last updated on 2006-08-22 04:34:05

Posted by member 339564 on 2006-08-15 05:45:55

I remember a long time ago someone introduced litestep to me, i had it on my computer and rather liked the easy of organization as well as its esthetic qualities. That was a long time ago, and since then my proficiency as well as knowledge of computers has grown somewhat limited, or rather my need for them to be has lessened. In any case, i just recently got a nice new system that im eager to try using litestep again with, and i was wondering if its possible to use litestep with an XP system.

On the Downloads section here for litestep (builds,distribution, etc.) there are a few different things to choose from, and although i understand that one is litestep(58th version) another a beta build, another an installer, and the .dll required file....i was wondering exactly what i will need to get started, for the last time i ventured into litestep i had a friend to guide me, and unfortunately ive forgotten all i learned of it.

Although my questions may seem or most likely are easily answerable through doing more detailed research and searching around for answers, one of the untimely and most common uses of forums on any topic is posting questions and hoping some knowledgeable readers arent to biffed at the simplicity of the querry that they still will take the time to answer and be helpful, nevermind the cost of taking time from themselves when the original poster could just as easily find his or her own answers. Its just that sometimes its hard to pinpoint exactly what one is trying to find out in the first place....

So, if anyone can chime in and give me a breif yet informative shakedown on what to do and what to get, that would be great.

Thank you,
Sytheii.

Posted by member 212670 on 2006-08-15 06:04:52 link

"litestep(58th version)" = 58 posts on that release's thread.

Download the installer. Install. Reboot. Download the 0.24.7 version. It's the final. Quit Litestep, extract the update build in to the Litestep folder, overwriting files. Restart Litestep.

Btw, you could have had a much shorter post if you had just said "I'm too lazy to look around, can someone tell me what to do." It's the jist of it, no?

Posted by member 339564 on 2006-08-15 18:00:45 link

not neccesarily, but i like being wordy, in language as well as life, complexity requires time, specialization and effort. I simply wanted to add backstory to an otherwise simple request for help :)

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-15 18:40:36 link

its too bad LS only runs on Windows 9x and NT. With this many users you would think that someone would have made it work with XP by now. I mean...MS doesn't even support these OS' anymore.

Posted by member 248213 on 2006-08-15 21:21:20 link

Nobody said life was fair DeV.

Posted by member 219700 on 2006-08-15 22:04:04 link

Pfft, I know companies that use software that still runs only on Windows 98. It's really sad.

Posted by member 339564 on 2006-08-16 00:08:28 link

so, does litestep run on XP or not? I downloaded the installer, ran it, and then chose litestep as shell, rebooted, and saw what there was with the austerity theme, but for some reason none of my icons were highlightable, so i selected explorer as shell and rebooted.

According to xcals post, the "final" of litestep should work on my system, and apparently it did, though all i did was see if it would load....

So, does litestep funcion with XP, or am i wasting my time? are dev and fractaldesign being overly sarcastic or is their a conflict of opinions?

Posted by member 280260 on 2006-08-16 00:15:19 link

None of the icons were highlightable? And for this you thought it wasn't XP-compatible?

Austerity uses a fairly archaic desktop module that happens not to support highlighting icons. If you see something besides explorer on the screen, then chances are it does support XP. Just a wild guess.

Posted by member 248213 on 2006-08-16 09:49:32 link

Hey, I wasnt being overly sarcastic! I was tryong to earn brownie points from DeV so I can make a few bad posts and he'll let me away with it.

Yes its compatible with XP.
If you need highlighting icons update the deskicons module.

Posted by member 339564 on 2006-08-19 14:14:47 link

Well, i kind of figured that it worked on XP since i did have something other than explorer, i just wasnt sure if it would run correctly or be all buggy and wig out on me or something, just wanted to make sure before i attempted anything.

So to get highlighting icons i need to update the deskicons module? Im going to have to relearn the funcionality of litestep again.

I had another question if you guys are game, for themes already created by other users of litestep here on the site, i downloaded a few that i believed might suit me, extracted the folders to the themes folder in c:\litestep, and then changed themeselect.rc for the folder of the theme i chose.

Upon reboot, litestep was kind enough to inform me that certain modules that that perticular theme utilized i did not posses, and it would attempt to download them for me, unfortunately my internet wouldnt funcion because the wireless card utilities werent running at the time, since it hadnt loaded the systray processes, i think, so it couldnt download them. I had to open a command prompt and edit themeselect.rc through there and changed it back to austerity.

My question is this, for themes on this site that others have created, is there a list of modules that they use that i can get at and download them so that each theme works as it should? or do i have to hunt them down myself and put them in the modules folder in c:\litestep?

For example...
I chose
http://www.litestep.net/index.php?section=2&action=details&id=1142
as one i thought that i might like, and although in the theme.rc file, (i believe i have this right) the list of modules is this

*NetLoadModule jdesk-0.73.dll
*NetLoadModule xlabel-3.4.9.dll
*NetLoadModule xtaskbar-1.4.1.dll
*NetLoadModule contextmenu-1.0.dll
*NetLoadModule xtray-1.0.dll
*NetLoadModule xpopup-1.1.9.dll
*NetLoadModule gandharva-0.50.0.4.dll
*NetLoadModule ckvwm-1.40.dll
*NetLoadModule rainmeter-0.8.dll load rainmeter.dll


Im not sure where to obtain all of these modules, or whether or not this is the full list of all the modules that this particular theme utilizes. I did a search for each one of these, and the only ones that i came up with a download for on litestep.net were

xlaberl
jdesk
and ckvmn

So how do i know what modules to get for each theme that i download? Is there a source for them?

Thanks again,
Sytheii

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-19 15:18:29 link

all of that fun stuff could have been avoided if you just renamed the .zip file to a .lsz file and ran it. As for downloading all of the modules, I don't think you really want to download the 40 some odd gig file and waste all the space on everything you dont need. Just don't reboot to change themes and you should be ok.

Posted by member 339564 on 2006-08-19 17:48:38 link

Dev, i think you lost me.
What does renaming the .zip file int a .lsz file do? where do i put this .lsz file, if anywhere, and are you saying that the .zip files of themes that i download from litestep.net have all the modulues that i require within them? I would guess that they dont, but then again, maybe i went about trying on a new theme in the entirely wrong way...

And not rebooting to change themes? how do i change themes withought rebooting?

Posted by member 212670 on 2006-08-19 18:07:50 link

Posted by member 339564 on 2006-08-19 18:22:15 link

oh wow. I didnt know litestep.com existed, thanks xcal.

i feel sheepish now. honestly i do.

Posted by member 212670 on 2006-08-19 21:44:58 link

It's the first google return for "lsz zip"

Posted by member 219700 on 2006-08-20 00:08:21 link

You know, maybe I'm the only one, but when I'm looking for something usually I type in something.com first... it usually works. As long as you spell it right.

Posted by member 339564 on 2006-08-20 04:44:18 link

I didnt know that there was a .com. I remembered litestep.net from about 8 years ago, and assumed that this was litestep's base of operations (incorrectly it turns out.)

Posted by member 248213 on 2006-08-20 05:58:31 link

huh?

I think you are the only one Malakim :P

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-20 12:08:49 link

incorrectly....HA! funny guy.

Posted by member 248213 on 2006-08-20 13:54:12 link

well, I dont know what site would be the base of operations, but its definetly not ls.net :P


ls-u = xModules (modules that are in development)

ls.com = wiki (documentation)

ls-dev = core (and infrequent serious discussion about development)

ls-themes = upcoming themes site (deserves more love than it gets)

ls.net = themes (most themes released elsewhere appear here too, so a central hub for theme releases) and general (noobish) forums

The news here is only about the modules that are infrequently uploaded.
The forum topics are more than an 1/8 (a guesstimate) things allready covered elsewhere.
The screenshots appear a little more than themes (and usually are just the theme preview for the theme that is released simultaneously)

One thing ls.net has that no other has is a good polling method.

So yeah, in conclusion ls.net is far from the epicenter of the Litestep community.

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-20 15:12:38 link

So lemmie shut the box down again and see what happens.

Posted by member 212670 on 2006-08-20 16:04:33 link

I clicked my ls.net link every day it was down and would cry a little when it wouldn't connect.

Posted by member 280260 on 2006-08-20 17:21:10 link

I'm actually glad I came into litestep while ls.net was down - I didn't have anywhere to ask my n00b questions and get yelled at, so I figured stuff out on my own.

Though I have to agree with DeV that most of the action happens here.

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-20 20:44:53 link

and fractal...if you want...I can put you in charge of news so you can make news other than the module posts. I don't have the time to dedicate my life to LS.

Posted by member 219700 on 2006-08-20 21:26:01 link

Then why are you running an LS site? Sillyboi

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-20 21:28:43 link

Because someone asked me to manage the site years ago and I said I would manage it. I hired like 10 developers and only 1 of them has stayed with us. Since then I have tried getting more developers but nobody wants to help.

Posted by member 248213 on 2006-08-21 07:51:11 link

Nobody that passes your skill level tests you mean ;)

And yeah, I might wanna be the news guy for LS.net, I allready can post news at ls-themes.org, so I guess I could just copy those items here too ;)

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-21 14:00:59 link

nah...we haven't even gotten that far. nobody sends them in.

I'll email you later. Need to wake up before I go start makin ppl admins. :)

Posted by member 219700 on 2006-08-21 21:12:00 link

You can make me an admin. I already know how to give sarcastic yet subtle responses to noobs before locking their thread.

Posted by member 1 on 2006-08-21 22:36:41 link

thats ok...looks like I lost some of my access so it is going to be a bit before fractal gets done anyways.

Posted by member 248213 on 2006-08-22 04:34:05 link

Malakim hehhe.