1 Topic by rjh (edited by rjh 2014-02-11 10:57:20 am)

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Topic: New user - several questions [solved]

I'm a new-ish user (I barely remember anything useful from the week or so that I used LS about 5 years ago), I have installed LS on a Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and have some questions:

- The instdef theme seems to be fine except for the tray - there is only one icon (for AVG). Is this a known problem or is there a common workaround? I've read the docs. on vtray but found no solution yet.

- Where did everything go? I remember a site with hundreds of themes, which I now cannot find. I'm poking around on cusomize and deviantart - but is there an official central repository?

- Looking to solve my tray problem, I noticed some themes and forum posts referring to 'xtray', so I went straight over to http://www.shellfront.org/modules-list.php and I cannot find xtray. Is there a central repository for modules?

Many thanks, R.

EDIT: I've marked this as solved.

Technically the original problem was never solved - I never persuaded xtray nor vtray to show icons - but when I was able to get nModules working I found that ntray is very well behaved...

Thanks again, R.

Everyone who believes in telekinesis - please raise my hand...

2 Reply by Greywool

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

Yeah, the old trays do have some issues with 64bit systems. No idea why xtray (and other xmodules) don't show up on the list you lank, they're on the straight-up module file list. Also found here and here.

One way to sort out xtray is described here, steps 2 and 3. Though that is a bit outdated, there have been multiple newer versions of LS since, as you can see on this page here. The newer ones are required if you wish to use nmodules, but older xmodules tend not to work on it. I believe alur's module mirror has xmodule builds which work on the newer LS builds.

Also, I believe you're referring to the downfall of ls-themes.org and ls-universe.info. Some mishaps happened with those and all the data is lost forever, unfortunately. Customize and deviantART are the best bets for themes these days, unfortunately.

3 Reply by rjh

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

Thanks for the info - that helps a lot.

Which leads to more questions: which tray should I be using? vtray or xtray? I assumed that vtray was the official tray module since it is distributed by the installed and used in instdef. Is xtray a recommended replacement? Is xtray more reliable/powerful than vtray? If so why is vtray distributed with instdef and xtray not?

Sorry for all the questions, thanks.

Everyone who believes in telekinesis - please raise my hand...

4 Reply by Greywool

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

There aren't any official modules, really. The default theme uses vtray only because whoever made it happened to use vtray on it. Which is the reason why it's delivered with the installer while others are not. The installer is old and the theme it comes with is even older.

As for which you should use; any, as long as it does what you need it to do. I've never used vtray (afaik), but looking at the module archives, it was last updated in 2004. That would make me want to recommend xtray instead.
I've personally moved over to nmodules, which're purpose-built to work with Vista and above. The modules are so new though that there aren't many released themes which use 'em. Plus, they're still slightly work-in-progress, so they might not have all the features you've learned to expect from xmodules.

5 Reply by rjh

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

Thanks for the help. That gives me plenty of information to get started and play with things over the weekend.

R.

Everyone who believes in telekinesis - please raise my hand...

6 Reply by rjh

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

Reading further through the forums, I see a lot of praise for the new nModules series. What is the earliest version of LS core which will support nModules?

Thanks, R.

Everyone who believes in telekinesis - please raise my hand...

7 Reply by Greywool

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

The 2013 ones support 'em in varying degrees. It's best to use the newest one of those for best support.

8 Reply by rjh

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

I'll download the latest and try.

I initially went for the LOSI link on the main website, I did hunt around and I noticed the more recent builds but the words 'alpha' and 'very unstable' rather put me off. How bad are they - do many people experience crashes etc?

Thanks R.

Everyone who believes in telekinesis - please raise my hand...

9 Reply by Greywool

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Re: New user - several questions [solved]

Even though they're called alpha, I'd say they're even more stable than the last 'stable' builds. At least I've experienced fewer crashes after movin' over to the new build and nmodules.

Also, if you have more questions and would like bit more prompt answers, feel free to drop by in #litestep on FreeNode!