Serious Discussion About Operating Systems

[jmh]

pHz

Actually I'm thinking along several lines. If I had the screen for it (17" with 1024x768, every since my 19" pos Nokia resigned from duty) I'd be happy with what the taskbar provides.

I used to use a freebie called ShortPopUp for having user definable menus in QuickLaunch, to avoid the chaos visible in yours... until I took the time and found it that it all can be done equally without any software. I do run a small app for this though again, TrueLaunchBar. But only because it provides me extra functionality and its menus appear way faster than anything else I've tried. That or ShortPopUp make things so much more convenient and fast it's still amazing to me

Oh, that and a modified clock that allows me to see the time the way I want, in the size I want.

(And of course there are the helper apps for adding functionality and thus usability to windows, without which I couldn't live anymore - and all these together aren't hogging memory or resources and working is so much more enjoyable)

Either that or bbLean, depending on what I'm doing. A good alternative shell with virtual desktops, a user configurable taskbar and all the other bonuses... you don't know what you're missing until you've tried (and trying means more than running the installer, looking at it for 15 minutes and then removing it)

Regards,

JMH

[LarryAW]

pHz

Actually I'm thinking along several lines. If I had the screen for it (17" with 1024x768, every since my 19" pos Nokia resigned from duty) I'd be happy with what the taskbar provides.

I used to use a freebie called ShortPopUp for having user definable menus in QuickLaunch, to avoid the chaos visible in yours... until I took the time and found it that it all can be done equally without any software. I do run a small app for this though again, TrueLaunchBar. But only because it provides me extra functionality and its menus appear way faster than anything else I've tried. That or ShortPopUp make things so much more convenient and fast it's still amazing to me

Oh, that and a modified clock that allows me to see the time the way I want, in the size I want.

(And of course there are the helper apps for adding functionality and thus usability to windows, without which I couldn't live anymore - and all these together aren't hogging memory or resources and working is so much more enjoyable)

Either that or bbLean, depending on what I'm doing. A good alternative shell with virtual desktops, a user configurable taskbar and all the other bonuses... you don't know what you're missing until you've tried (and trying means more than running the installer, looking at it for 15 minutes and then removing it)

Regards,

JMH

No Utilities: Right click on the taskbar and select Toolbars>New Toolbar. Make your own folder in my documents, fill it with your favorite icons and/or sub-folders with icons. Name it anything you want and it shows up as a menu on the taskbar to the left of the systray. Click on the arrows by the name and up pops your your icons and folders. You can have more than one toolbar. I generally use three: musics, graphics, all. Stuff shows up in alphabetical order. If you want it in your order, put a number before the names. Menus pop up at the same speed as the start menu.

I use the quick launch bar like pHz does, too, but only 10 icons.

[BONES]

I could be mistaken but there was a time when using that facility turned on Active Desktop and slowed the OS right down so I never got into the habit of using it. Besides, hitting the "Windows" key on the keyboard pops up bigger icons and puts them nearer to where your cursor usually is so its less effort in the end.

A skinnable OS? Make your desktop one giant VST interface. Launch programs from your midi keyboard. Adjust the volume of spam from your midi control surface. Windows VXP. You could build it in SE!

Linux is hugely customisable like that. You can make it look/function almost any damned way you can think of.

[mandolarian]

start menu ??? shells ??? pah !!!

Cool, rob. The Task Bar From Hell

Do you have a degree in iconology?

[CorrosiveGod]

Also not OS related... but there are BlackBox variants for Windows, ranging from a completely compatible one to the linux/unix world (meaning configurations) to the more advanced ones, like xoblite and bbLean which is the one I use (offers the most usable features to me plus seemed more stable than the others).

Some programs I use don't work right when I use any blackbox variant.

EDIT: I'm all for replacing explorer as my shell, as long as programs will not do anything crazy.

[pHz]

start menu ??? shells ??? pah !!!

Cool, rob. The Task Bar From Hell
Do you have a degree in iconology?

heehee ...

... actually i find it VERY quick and easy to use ... with my background i have a VERY good visual memory and hand-eye skills so spotting and hitting the right icon aint a problem (after a while using the setup muscle meory takes over anyway ...

... theyre just my most used apps ... the others sit in nested toolbar menus on the right ... i very rarely use the start menu at all ...

slainte rob

[jmh]

No Utilities: Right click on the taskbar and select Toolbars>New Toolbar. Make your own folder in my documents, fill it with your favorite icons and/or sub-folders with icons. Name it anything you want and it shows up as a menu on the taskbar to the left of the systray. Click on the arrows by the name and up pops your your icons and folders. You can have more than one toolbar. I generally use three: musics, graphics, all. Stuff shows up in alphabetical order. If you want it in your order, put a number before the names. Menus pop up at the same speed as the start menu.

I use the quick launch bar like pHz does, too, but only 10 icons.

Thanks - but I did mention I knew there was a way. And after that explained why I'm using another app despite it

I can heartily recommend ShortPopUp though... it's great for a variety of things, since it basically just lists the contents of a directory given to it via the shortcut's properties. With clever filtering, subfolder options and so on, people are using it for tasks such as handling their mp3 collections / playlists. A nifty app indeed. And free

(It even works nicely with "dock" clones such as the one from Stardock... which I'd be using with the multiple docks options in the Plus version, if the app itself didn't contain annoying problems)

CorrosiveGod Which apps are misbehaving? I know Adobe apps are, they are using a f**ed up way of handling child windows and sometimes those get rendered to coordinates -6000,-6000 - a number of knowledgeable people have commented on Adobe's apps (and a handful of others for that matter) and their behavior. For those rare instances when windows get rendered to funky coordinates, there are apps around to get them back on screen. Other than that, I can't remember the last time any app misbehaved.

Oh, except for WinAmp. Which itself is a bunch of weird issues the coders never got rid of... (just as it started to behave on virtual desktops, along came 5.0 and it messed everything up - and does weird things with a lot of other apps as well that have window managing features)

But you've got a point - none of the alternative shell apps are a 100% reliable substitute, there's always some issues related to them. My experience has taught me that bbLean has been the least troublesome so far... speaking as a person who has run SharpE, LiteStep, GeoShell etc. for a long time.

Regards,

JMH

[CorrosiveGod]

CorrosiveGod Which apps are misbehaving? I know Adobe apps are, they are using a f**ed up way of handling child windows and sometimes those get rendered to coordinates -6000,-6000 - a number of knowledgeable people have commented on Adobe's apps (and a handful of others for that matter) and their behavior. For those rare instances when windows get rendered to funky coordinates, there are apps around to get them back on screen. Other than that, I can't remember the last time any app misbehaved.

Things that I had crash when I used Blackbox:

Macromedia's Shockwave/Flash plugin installer
Emagic's Logic 5.5.1

That's all I can remeber atm.

[BONES]

I used to use ACDSee pretty much exclusively over Explorer until I discovered the |Windows+E| keyboard combination to pop Explorer up. Now I hardly ever use ACDSee. The only thing that bugs me about Explorer is that it never remembers the last folder I looked in, it always defaults to "My Computer". Apart from that, it is easy to customise and easy to use.

[jmh]

Bones Have you tried any of the third party file explorers? I know most of them are overkill, loaded and bloated with features that most people will never need. But some of them like the one I'm using, are great replacements for Windows' built in one. About the only negative thing I've encountered so far is that it doesn't conform to the same shortcuts as Windows' own does, but that's a minor issue - I just prefer it that substitute applications provide the same features and shortcuts but give me more... And this one does. Its search is so much more powerful - it utilizes a concept called 'scrap containers' which are great temporary folders/windows that can be saved and so on, which speed up file organizing a lot. Totally customisable layouts including several panes, filtering of contents, Bob's your uncle.

Of course what I just said applies here - it might be overkill for most people. In my daily use, the file manager is the most used app, hence the need and interest in finding a solution that helps speeding up the work.

My friends keep bugging me about running all these replacements all the time, comments like "you just love tweaking" etc. are common. However, a couple of minutes watching me work and the smartasses are asking "shit, that's handy, what's that app?" =)

Regards,

JMH

[cold c]

I used to use ACDSee pretty much exclusively over Explorer until I discovered the |Windows+E| keyboard combination to pop Explorer up. Now I hardly ever use ACDSee. The only thing that bugs me about Explorer is that it never remembers the last folder I looked in, it always defaults to "My Computer". Apart from that, it is easy to customise and easy to use.

There is a way to assign key commands to specific folders if you want (not the same as remembering last used folder but could still be useful)-

Right-click the start button and click 'explore all users'. Double-click on the 'programs' subfolder. Right-click inside there and select 'New >> Shortcut'. Browse to the folder you want to open with a key command. Click 'OK' then click 'Next>'. You now have a shortcut in the start menu, to assign a key command to it right-click on the newly created shortcut and click 'Properties' and ensure the 'Shortcut' tab is open. Click in the 'Shortcut key:' field and enter a key command like CTRL + ALT + a. Click 'OK'. You should now be able to open that folder directly with that key command in Windows.

[smp]

What are the benefits of using a different shell?

I dabbled with LiteStep for a time as the shell for Win2k. In the end I couldn't find a compelling reason to use it over the explorer shell (and there were certain things in LS that used to launch explorer anyway ) so I eventually uninstalled it.

There was the side benefit of deleting LS in that it stopped my wife complaining if she happened to use my computer when logged into my profile instead of hers.

-s

[scum]

the thing i dont like in ANY OS are the gay-looking icons, colours, animation etc. The first place here is to macs with theyr icons-for-old-women, second - for gnome, third - kde. Xfce and win98 desktops are ok, i made my xp in classic look and thatsit - why to enjoy on my desktop, it is simple-gray - the work i do is with cubase, it looks cool, i dont work with my desktop or my start menu. Just set the pc on, close your eyes, launch the cubase and do it!;-)

[Shuzhen]

LiteStep has worked great for me in the past. Consumed less memory than the explorer.exe. I tried xoblite, bb4win and other more obscure shells, and fell back on LS because it seems more 'wholesome', whilst the others gave me a widget feel. Not sure about the future of LS though.

[fake]

phz....

Almost the same with no icons on the desktop.

I have also placed a shortcut to the temp folder there as well, just one click to open and empty the temp files.


fake