xpize 5 Release 4, Long Live Windows XP! Options

[W3bbo]

What's New?

• New since XPize 4.x
  • Full x64 and XP SP3 support (including XPx64 winbrand image)
  • Internet Explorer 8 support
  • More visual styles and wallpapers
  • More bitmap styles (including Luna Element and XPize 3.x's own Energy Blue style)
  • Includes xpize Darkside (courtesy of Antonio King)
  • XP 7-Zip skin and icons
  • Numerous little things
  • Full MMC3.0 support
  • Intelligent icon patcher replaces icon subimages, rather than deleting them
• New since the last release (Beta 3)
  • Numerous bug fixes
  • Better I386 support, including AMD64 support
  • Brings back the clock face bitmap (English only)
  • And fixes the System Performance control panel (English only)
  • And other little things

Known Issues

There's only a few known issues with this release which, I think, can be safely ignored:

• Users of non-English Windows may find their shell32.dll and other files go over some undefined size limit which causes incompatibilities with some programs. If anyone has this issue it's important you let us know.
• Localisation
  • Swedish and Simplified Chinese aren't full translations, they're missing a few strings
  • There are a few English strings that aren't localised. You will only see these under error conditions or at the end of uninstallation
• Uninstallation
  • Uninstallation has been tested, but not to the same extent as installation. During my testing on x64 it seemed to go by okay, except cursors aren't restored and your window title font won't be reset. This is easily corrected by just flipping your visual style selection on-and-off.
  • Font antialiasing settings are not restored by uninstalling. You can manually change this via the Display control panel
• Boot.ini
  • My Boot.ini classes haven't been tested on a dual-boot system. They apply the bootlogo to the default OS and assume boot.ini takes the format of the Windows XP version. If you are running a dual-boot system, report any difficulties.

Requirements

As always, it requires the .NET Framework 2.0 (Click here if you're on x86, or here if you're on x64) otherwise you'll get errors about the application not starting right.

Download Link

Download xpize 5 Release 4 from the downloads page.

Let's see how many terabytes a month I'll burn through by self-hosting the file.

This post has been edited by W3bbo: Jul 22 2009, 09:51 PM

[Kaminari]

Installing, going to bed, then reporting

[Happy-Dude]

cheers to the new release, xpize 5.0 !! !!

W3bbo pulled some late nights to get this done, so let's leave him a bit alone to rest up, shall we?

(on other notes, please remember to install .NET 2.0 or later to run xpize 5.0; remember to report bugs [especially with the shell32.dll@20MB+ issues];; and probably some revisions on the website and writing up of Anolis tutorials, xpize FAQ/ documentation;; contact potential persons that can do video tuts and develop packages)

W3bbo also plans to release a tool that simplifies package development-- make sure to check in with him for more info!!

This post has been edited by Happy-Dude: Jul 22 2009, 10:02 PM

[kong]

Now downloading and preparing a fresh XP SP3 installation in VirtualBox

Thanks W3bbo!

[Dumpy Dooby]

Hey thanks pal

[snives]

Installing to a fresh full XPx64-SP2 that I just finsihed updating and installing some basic software on. I'll be reporting back in a few. Thanks for all the hard work W3bbo.

[g-force]

THX @ "W3bbo" and all the staff behind! Hard work, man!

I hope it will be "as final as can be" - so you can rest a while.



If you need hosting - send PM.

[snives]

edit > starting a new thread instead of posting here

This post has been edited by snives: Jul 23 2009, 12:12 AM

[tkrojam]

C

H

E

E

R

S

!!!

[MrBusty]

Great job W3bbo!


To localization:

There is a string which shows the version number of the package like this: "(5,4)"
It is right, that we use the comma as dicimal separator - but in versioning of software, we use the period too.
I think this is the same in other languages as well. (Is the true people?)

Then there is no possibility for selecting an *.anop or package.xml file any more.
So what is the difference between package and distribution now?
Can you please clear that up? - This will make finding the right translation easier.

I have to rephrase following sentence:
"An added layer of protection. Note this does not always protect against modifications made to non-Windows files under Program Files"
Could you please explain this a little more in detail?
is following right: if xpize does change something on files, which did not come with windows and they are located under program files, then the windows system restore feature will may not work?

There are some strings, which I did translate - but they are still shown in English.
Because you mentioned this above, I think I don't have to make a list for you.
Please let me know, if you could need it although.

And I did find some two strings, which I did not localize:
Uninstall
Select the backup directory to recover from
creating system restore point
+ alle the strings on the page, where selecting all the components is possible

I did several improvements (rephrasing strings, changing some words, so that it better fits to its purpose...) - but I did this to the latest string table, which did not include the strings from your "Leftover Translations, 8 strings that time forgot..." post.
Can you please release the most current English resx file, so that I can deliver you a perfect language file?


Shell32.dll

My file has the size of 23.506.432 Bytes...
- On which "incompatibilities with some program" should I look for?
- Are there some known programs, which make problems? - So that I can test them?


additional suggestion:

auto selection of the latest backup folder on uninstallation
Restart after uninstallation

This post has been edited by MrBusty: Jul 23 2009, 02:01 AM

[Hell Racer]

- On which "incompatibilities with some program" should I look for?

First, try to start calc.exe, as I had problems with it in Beta 3

[Ven]

Hi

I'm having this problem with the sidebar in windows explorer. Xpize 5 seems to have changed only one item, and not the others.

[kong]

I'd like to have the latest en.resx file too.

Need to adjust many strings that do not suit the installation dialog.

[MrBusty]

First, try to start calc.exe, as I had problems with it in Beta 3

No, problems with calc.

I'm having this problem with the sidebar in windows explorer. Xpize 5 seems to have changed only one item, and not the others.

This should be normal. - The element with the blue border is probably the one with the focus or the standard element.

But I have another problem with the sidebar on Luna Element theme:

- the sidebar has a very big margin on the right side, wich isn't normal...

This post has been edited by MrBusty: Jul 23 2009, 03:39 AM

[Kelsenellenelvia...]

Hi

I'm having this problem with the sidebar in windows explorer. Xpize 5 seems to have changed only one item, and not the others.

Actually that is a little known bug with the luna royal and ms's install method.

He didn't place and rename shellstyle.dll properly.

[Ven]

Hi

I'm having this problem with the sidebar in windows explorer. Xpize 5 seems to have changed only one item, and not the others.

Actually that is a little known bug with the luna royal and ms's install method.

He didn't place and rename shellstyle.dll properly.

What can I do to fix the bug? Sorry, i was not following the beta testing stages.

[W3bbo]

There is a string which shows the version number of the package like this: "(5,4)"
It is right, that we use the comma as dicimal separator - but in versioning of software, we use the period too.
I think this is the same in other languages as well. (Is the true people?)

Duly noted.

Then there is no possibility for selecting an *.anop or package.xml file any more.

It's hidden since the xpize package is the only one embedded in the installer. If you download the tools there's a copy of the Installer that doesn't hide it. It's only meant for people testing their packages.

So what is the difference between package and distribution now?
Can you please clear that up? - This will make finding the right translation easier.

Package = *.anop file that contains all the files and the package definition XML file. This requires a separate installer program to install.
Distribution = *.exe file that is the installer with an embedded package

I have to rephrase following sentence:
"An added layer of protection. Note this does not always protect against modifications made to non-Windows files under Program Files"
Could you please explain this a little more in detail?
is following right: if xpize does change something on files, which did not come with windows and they are located under program files, then the windows system restore feature will may not work?

That's right. TBH I haven't really tested the effiacy of System Restore, but it's preferable to use Anolis' built-in uninstaller rather than use System Restore. It's meant as a safety net if something really bad happens such that you can't use the uninstaller.

There are some strings, which I did translate - but they are still shown in English.
Because you mentioned this above, I think I don't have to make a list for you.
Please let me know, if you could need it although.

And I did find some two strings, which I did not localize:
Uninstall
Select the backup directory to recover from
creating system restore point
+ alle the strings on the page, where selecting all the components is possible

I did several improvements (rephrasing strings, changing some words, so that it better fits to its purpose...) - but I did this to the latest string table, which did not include the strings from your "Leftover Translations, 8 strings that time forgot..." post.
Can you please release the most current English resx file, so that I can deliver you a perfect language file?

I've since made some modifications to the de.resx file you sent to me, so I'll re-upload all of them later today.

Shell32.dll

My file has the size of 23.506.432 Bytes...
- On which "incompatibilities with some program" should I look for?
- Are there some known programs, which make problems? - So that I can test them?

It isn't a problem on English, German, or Spanish versions of Windows. I've heard it happens on the Russian version. I have no further intelligence.

additional suggestion:

auto selection of the latest backup folder on uninstallation
Restart after uninstallation

It already selects the right folder, it just needs the user to confirm to uninstall. I'll make this more clear in future.

That's a problem with the current strings. It says it'll restart but it doesn't. I've fixed this in my private builds.

I'll release xpize 5 Release 5 later, maybe in a month's time since the only changes would be in the installer code rather than the xpize package. If xpize 5 Release 4 works for you then there's no need to use Release 5.

[W3bbo]

But I have another problem with the sidebar on Luna Element theme:

- the sidebar has a very big margin on the right side, wich isn't normal...

I can't seem to reproduce this on my computer. Are you using any custom display settings? I note you're already using large icon spacing.

This post has been edited by W3bbo: Jul 23 2009, 07:57 AM

[W3bbo]

Actually that is a little known bug with the luna royal and ms's install method.

He didn't place and rename shellstyle.dll properly.

I don't think I did anything wrong there. Can you advise me on how to correct it?

[Kaminari]

Every thing is A-ok on my setup.

Only one minor glitch so far has to do with what seems to be an alpha problem on the "Log-off user" and "Turn-off computer" windows. The corners of the buttons are grey/black instead of transparent. Not sure if XPize 5 is directly responsible, but I didn't see this problem in previous versions.