Alternate shells for windows...

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 22 Nov 2007, 06:32

My favorite so far. It's blazingly fast, and I have set it up so that normal explorer shell users won't be thrown off too much.

Note, you do not have to install this shell. If you want to simply try it, just run the blackbox.exe file and if you don't like it, simply right click anywhere on the desktop>blackbox>quit.

If you like it and want to use it as your default shell, right click on desktop>blackbox>install.

Just thought I would throw this out there as I had a lot of trouble learning how to use alternate shells due to them being so different.

Note, to set the font size, simply open extentions.rc in notepad and edit away, then right click anywhere on the desktop>blackbox>restart.

BBCLEAN is super low on resources. Try it out!

Edit: File Updated to include systembarex 11-29-2007

http://forbodingangel.zjt3.com/private/ ... AStyle.sd7

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 22 Nov 2007, 08:31

I forgot that to edit a part of the interface, simply press ctrl + right click

This one is sized for 1600x1200 (my resolution), so you may need to adjust some of the width percentages a such, but it's really easy.

The only reason I posted this is because I wanted to use a different shell, but it was really hard to learn how to use them.

Comp1337 · Post by **Comp1337** » 22 Nov 2007, 13:41

So uhh
Is the name of the shell blackbox?
And is there a main homepage for the shell?

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 22 Nov 2007, 14:42

Comp1337 · Post by **Comp1337** » 22 Nov 2007, 15:58

sweet

manored · Post by **manored** » 22 Nov 2007, 16:04

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a windows shell?

imbaczek · Post by **imbaczek** » 22 Nov 2007, 16:19

it's a program that can be run instead of explorer.exe. Something like a window manager in Linux.

manored · Post by **manored** » 22 Nov 2007, 16:25

Something like changing the windows interface while keeping windows windows? If yes, then I dont see much point in it as windows interface looks good enough for me, but...

Sleksa · Post by **Sleksa** » 22 Nov 2007, 16:35

look all nice 'n stuff but i want the start button back t.t

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 22 Nov 2007, 17:18

Sleksa wrote:look all nice 'n stuff but i want the start button back t.t

there is a start button... That's what bbinterface does, you might need to reload the plugin

My desktop looks like this...

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/2999/c ... d10lr3.jpg

Manored, it's not about looks. It's about performance. Replacing the windows default shell as a general rule wil give a very large performance boost.

For example, bbclean generally only uses about 5 mb of memory, hit alt-ctrl-delete and see what explorer.exe is using. Beyond that, the simple act of having icons on your desktop will cause a performance loss.

That said, alternate shells DO take some getting used to, that is almost unavoidable, with this I've tried to make the transition much less painful for those who are actually interested in switching.

Sangue · Post by **Sangue** » 22 Nov 2007, 17:18

Sleksa · Post by **Sleksa** » 22 Nov 2007, 17:32

there is a start button... That's what bbinterface does, you might need to reload the plugin

What followed after that

And

ZellSF · Post by **ZellSF** » 22 Nov 2007, 23:34

How did you get that list of desktop icons FA?

Satirik · Post by **Satirik** » 22 Nov 2007, 23:42

it looks pretty useless like totalcommander

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 23 Nov 2007, 06:30

@zell, left clicking on any menu titlebar will glue it in place, so just open that menu, left click on the menu title bar, then right click drag to desired position.

Satrik, total commander is simply a file manager. Blackbox is a shell, they are VERY VERY different.

Switching a file manager generally wouldn't help performance.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 23 Nov 2007, 06:34

Oh btw, to change the background, simply click and drag any image from windows explorer onto the desktop. The details get sorted out by blackbox.

As with windows in general, try to make sure that the image is an exact fit to your resolution. Stretching images can cause a big performance hit.

Also, one thing you don't know about the explorer shell most likely. When you change your desktop background... Even if it is an exact fit, the explorer shell will default to stretch, and it will cause a performance hit.

Muzic · Post by **Muzic** » 23 Nov 2007, 07:46

I used to use bblean; its quite nice but then people who used my computer found it hard to navigate. And i couldnt get the foobar application to work D:

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 23 Nov 2007, 07:53

hmm never used foobar / me looks it up

rattle · Post by **rattle** » 23 Nov 2007, 08:17

Foobar icon is missing unless you start it with foobar maximized... other apps which start minimized probably have the same issue. That and blender crashed. Besides many apps get overdrawn with the custom skin. Start button is missing as well, reloading plugins didn't do anything.

Sleksa · Post by **Sleksa** » 23 Nov 2007, 11:14

rattle wrote:...Besides many apps get overdrawn with the custom skin. Start button is missing as well, reloading plugins didn't do anything.

looks like im not the only one

Spring RTS Engine

Alternate shells for windows...

Alternate shells for windows...