1 (edited by Nethan 2017-05-18 18:11:44 pm)

Topic: Future ?

Hello,

I was wondering if there is still something about Litestep. Is there some devs, some projects ? I mean, I use it since probably 2000. It works, but has now some problems and more importantly, most of the modules are outdated and not present for 64 bits version. But I can't even think about using Windows without it.

I would love to see an updated Litestep, able to work decently on W7/W8/W10 (and only this Windows, as previous ones are dead), and why not, multi-OS too. On Linux with Openbox as window manager, getting a UI who can be created from zero and exactly as I want would be great. But heh, too much hope (would certainly need a full rewrite) and no personal involvement, I can't really speak.

I wonder if Litestep is suffering from the fact it is C++. I mean, as a beginner of year 2017 (for personal needs, with no help), I went into more recent languages like C# or Python, because of the very big help that Visual Studio provides, and better readability. I checked few pages of Litestep code, and... I can't read it. I am lost, don't know where it starts, and names aren't obvious for me to define the role of any function. Even a module seems too much for me.

Well, I disgress... So, is something happening about Litestep ?

2

Re: Future ?

How I wish the gods could hear you my friend!

If there is anything going on and Litestep coming back in 2017, oh my! I'd be all over it too.

Sometimes, I secretly dream I can reinstall Win98 (or 2K) just to have Litestep as I knew it and still be able to run modern apps. Then I wake up from this dream, and go back to my tasteless (yet efficient) Mac OS interface...

Let's pray the gods my friend. Maybe a hero will rise tomorrow and bring us back our freedom!

01010010 01000101 01000100 01010010 01001111 01000011 01001011 00111001
00110011

3

Re: Future ?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/itg5459zfaewd … 5.zip?dl=0 i have gathered this in 2015 it works with windows 10

4

Re: Future ?

I still use LS on all of my machines, but it is getting harder and harder with more and more Windows functions not working under LS...

LiteStep addict since b23. http://brembs.net

5

Re: Future ?

brembs wrote:

I still use LS on all of my machines, but it is getting harder and harder with more and more Windows functions not working under LS...

It works perfectly here, i installed my own package again. Searching deviant art for nModule based themes big_smile

6

Re: Future ?

brembs wrote:

Windows functions not working under LS...

All Windows functions working in LS.
It's Explorer functions that don't work.

7

Re: Future ?

Wether it's Windows or explorer, plenty of functionalities which force me to switch shells every now and then on my desktops and quite regularly on my laptop.

LiteStep addict since b23. http://brembs.net

8 (edited by Nethan 2017-06-20 15:44:07 pm)

Re: Future ?

maka33 wrote:
brembs wrote:

I still use LS on all of my machines, but it is getting harder and harder with more and more Windows functions not working under LS...

It works perfectly here, i installed my own package again. Searching deviant art for nModule based themes big_smile

There are few things who work partially if not badly with actual Litestep and modules. For exemple, umount some USB hardware through the USB tray icon works partially and depending of the modules used, it can even NOT work at all (no message, nothing happened) or worse, the hardware can't be unmounted after I tried by the tray...  Until a reboot because it is supposely used by something... This problem don't happen with Explorer shell hmm

I tried too to switch to the most recent Litestep available (x64) but I had to cancel as nModules are really great, but not perfect. I created a topic on that in this forum, and my critical problem is that nTasks lack a switch task order ability. So I am using an old x32 version with a mix of nModules and Xmods. Xmods are x86 only.

Obviously, I tried to check the source code of nTasks to see if I can do something but as a beginner, I don't get when the tasks are retrieved nand if there is a sort of index that I could manipulate, not even about how works events. As far, I can only do very, very small things.

9

Re: Future ?

just to revive the topic smile
i wonder if litestep could be revived with electron? https://electronjs.org/
i think that would be awesome.. i might have to jump in and start relearning all the web programming again just so i could try it on tongue.
havent been doing anything programming related in several years, just got too busy i guess hmm

10

Re: Future ?

It would be nice to keep LS going. I'm all for it but I suck at coding...

LiteStep addict since b23. http://brembs.net

11 (edited by Nethan 2019-11-17 17:24:07 pm)

Re: Future ?

Even if you "suck", you can try if you want but the C/C++ language may not be the best choice to learn coding... or to attract new developers. C/C++ still exist, but today Python, Rust, Java (mostly because of Android) get more ground with time.

As I wrote in filigram in my first post, maybe Litestep need a serious session of brainstorming. What should the "Core" really do, what the modules should offer, which language(s ?) to use, etc. It may look useless but Litestep is really old and it suffer from that.

Let's look the nModules just an instant : for what I saw and with my noobish knowledge, the "nCore" module offer an implementation of the Google Javascript Engine and so we CAN use Javascript scripts instead of the usual Mzscript module scripts. I tried it on a personal adaptation of a theme and it worked fine. I guess that some theme makers would have loved to get this ability long before, as Javascript is famous and the Mzscript system is tedious to use.

I can also speak about the xModules. The xPaintClass.dll file is here to add painting capabilities to external modules who would need it (stretch, etc.), transparency, some sort of multimonitor support, etc. But... maybe the "Core" should have offered them in the first place, even if it is by an external but official module ?

In a way, the necessity for any contributor to compensate the lack of functionalities of Litestep can demotivate a few, as they have to implement them themselves, which is a lot of work.

We need to think Litestep from scratch, and maybe someone will be interested to contribute with his coding abilities as we would purpose an interesting project.

12

Re: Future ?

For me there are only four main reasons why I use LS over windows. I have no idea how difficult it would be to implement them from scratch:

- Ability to arrange virtual desktops the way I want and switch between them just by moving the mouse
- Wharf-like menu bar (with systray) with custom design
- right-click menu with custom design/content
- desktop shortcuts with custom design

------------------------------
P.S.: I learned to code in the 1980s (TurboPascal). Looked at C++, found it rather confusing (MFC). Tried Python, was ok with it, but only coded very few very simple scripts. Some Perl experience, but very limited. Now coding in R for work. I thus have some experience in sucking at coding :-)

LiteStep addict since b23. http://brembs.net

13

Re: Future ?

I wonder if Lua would be a good language for LiteStep plugins. It seems to be a preferred choice by games that allow plugins (if I remember right: Minecraft, Roblox, Factorio).

JavaScript would be excellent as it's so easy to learn (so many resources).