[schwups]

Firefox 8.0.1 doesn't crash on exit for me.

Extensions: DownloadHelper 4.9.7

Plugins: DivX WebPlayer 1.0.0.0 ; GoogleEarth Plugin 1.0.0.1 ; Microsoft DRM 9.0.0.2980 ; Shockwave Flash 11.1.102.55 ; Shockwave for Director 11.5.0596 ;

Windows Media Player Plugin Dynamic link library 3.0.2.626

Win ME KernelEX 4.5.2 CPU Celeron 440

[CyberyogiCoWindler]

SpyderTV Colorimeter works well with KernelEx on Win98SE

I just cheaply bought on eBay a used SpyderTV colorimeter made by Datacolor (formerly ColorVision?) for TV colour adjustment. The software that came with it was designed for Windows 2000 and XP only, so I want to report that it seems to works flawlessly with KernelEx 4.5.101 on my Win98SE. However said software is a really stupid yuppy toy for dummies, that is very wizard-based (stubborn like a C64 BASIC program), depends on screen tests from a DVD and solely wants to use brightness, contrast, color, tint and colour preset to adjust the TV set, i.e. you can not even do manual RGB or grey/white balance with it, despite these have become user-accessible standard features of modern flatscreens. Even worse, it wants to adjust my Nokia 417TV (a videophile CRT TV) way too dark (which is unlikely to be caused by Win98SE, but may be result of a nonlinear red channel in the video amp).

Colorimeters tend to be way overpriced by their claimed pro-appeal despite their hardware is simpler than an optical mouse. Thus the best thing is that the SpyderTV hardware is identical with the Spyder II colorimeter (moon-priced due to its non-toy monitor calibration software) and so can be used with the great open source ColorHCFR program (that also works with KernelEx) for serious applications. I yet only did a quick test, but it seems to do its job as it should. So do not pay moon prices for those self-proclaimed "professional" colorimeter software bundles. The cheapest novice variant does its job as well.

This post has been edited by CyberyogiCoWindler: 29 November 2011 - 08:12 PM

[dencorso]

For the Firefox bookmarks issue, there is rumor that PlainOldBookmarks PlainOldFavorites do work. Can any of you Firefox users please verify it?
As for splitting the Opera fonts discussion ito its own thread, would any of the proposers be so kind as to PM me a post list?

[loblo]

dencorso, on 29 November 2011 - 11:33 PM, said:

For the Firefox bookmarks issue, there is rumor that PlainOldBookmarks do work. Can any of you Firefox users please verify it?

PlainOldBookmarks which is actually called PlainOldFavorites appears to be incompatible with Firefox 8.

The very advanced Speed Dial extension for Firefox which works very well can be, to some extent, a (relatively) good substitute for the non-working bookmarks IMO.

This post has been edited by loblo: 30 November 2011 - 12:35 AM

[dencorso]

I stand corrected. PlainOldFavorites it is!
I remembered reading about it somewhere, perhaps in this selfsame thread which is becoming really huge.
At the time, there was no follow up to that mention, and I thougt I might as well bring it back to the discussion.
I understand it does work with all versions up to 7, right? If so, it may still be a solution for many users.

[schwups]

dencorso, on 30 November 2011 - 12:42 AM, said:

I stand corrected. PlainOldFavorites it is!
I remembered reading about it somewhere, perhaps in this selfsame thread which is becoming really huge.
At the time, there was no follow up to that mention, and I thougt I might as well bring it back to the discussion.
I understand it does work with all versions up to 7, right? If so, it may still be a solution for many users.

I installed three Firefox versions 8.0.1, 7.0.1 and 6.0.2 to different folders. The attempt to install PlainOldFavorites with version 7 or 8 failed. After the successful installation of the addon with Firefox 6.0.2 PlainOldFavorites also works with versions 7 and 8.

I haven't testet the workaround of Steven W to install PlainOldFavorites Experimental Firefox 7 topic.

This post has been edited by schwups: 30 November 2011 - 08:29 AM

[jds]

Drugwash, on 15 November 2011 - 04:59 PM, said:

I fired up Firefox 9.0 beta that I just installed on the 98SE machine and I noticed it doesn't create either a taskbar button or a SysTray icon. Meaning a minimized Firefox could run in the background without the owner knowing (or remembering) it. It'll only show up through Task Switcher (ALT-TAB).

Hey, I had that happen with one (perhaps two) apps some months ago. Don't remember the details or whether I mentioned about this somewhere. I'll try to remember the details, especially the fix, and add these here if I manage it.

Edit : Ah yes, here it is : http://www.msfn.org/...post__p__966706

Joe.

This post has been edited by jds: 30 November 2011 - 11:07 PM

[dencorso]

schwups, on 30 November 2011 - 08:23 AM, said:

I installed three Firefox versions 8.0.1, 7.0.1 and 6.0.2 to different folders. The attempt to install PlainOldFavorites with version 7 or 8 failed. After the successful installation of the addon with Firefox 6.0.2 PlainOldFavorites also works with versions 7 and 8.

I haven't testet the workaround of Steven W to install PlainOldFavorites Experimental Firefox 7 topic.

Thats great news! And Steven W's workaround ought to work for everyone, too, because it appears that what we have here is just an installer-imposed limitation.
You rock!

[halohalo]

With Flash Player 11.1.102.55 installed, JMD streaming player (used by Amazon.co.jp for playing music samples) can't connect to server. But it works with Flash Player 10.3.183.11.
http://i88.photobuck...lex/flash11.jpg

In Windows 2000, it works with 11.1.102.55 and 10.3.183.11.

[dw2108]

halohalo, on 05 December 2011 - 01:50 PM, said:

With Flash Player 11.1.102.55 installed, JMD streaming player (used by Amazon.co.jp for playing music samples) can't connect to server. But it works with Flash Player 10.3.183.11.
http://i88.photobuck...lex/flash11.jpg

In Windows 2000, it works with 11.1.102.55 and 10.3.183.11.

This could be a browser related problem. Try a newer different version of the browser you are currently using.

Dave

PS. Need some scripting help for AVZ realtime and Fortego ASE as per folder directory structure so that these run with KEX. ASE can read a scritped "event log emulator." Keep getting blank readings for files which don't exist on 98 SE.

[Giant2011]

Just installed Opera 11.60 on Windows 98SE Everything worked fine.

[jds]

Just wondering ... has anyone (with the skills/capabilities to build KernelEx) seen this? : http://www.msfn.org/...post__p__978150

It suggests that the breadth of KernelEx application compatibility can be usefully expanded with a few added stubs.

Joe.

[jumper]

>It suggests that the breadth of KernelEx application compatibility can be usefully expanded with a few added stubs.

Rebuilding all of KernelEx just to add a stub is overkill. There should be a way to just add a small expansion dll; perhaps this is what the undocumented api was meant to address.

I would like to see an .ini file where users can add "<module name>, <function name>, <return value>, <SetLastError value>" lines that would be loaded by KernelEx and turned into new stubs on-the-fly. (Core.ini can almost do this now....)

I haven't tried building KernelEx yet because I'm still using VC5. My response to loblo' s little hex hacks was to create a tool to automate import table patching. Unfortunately it mutated into a full-blown dependency walker before I could get it released.

I'm almost done with minf, so I'll clean up and formally release ImportPatcher next, then get to work on KernelEx.

-jumper

This post has been edited by jumper: 25 December 2011 - 02:01 AM

[rloew]

jumper, on 19 December 2011 - 10:53 PM, said:

>It suggests that the breadth of KernelEx application compatibility can be usefully expanded with a few added stubs.

Rebuilding all of KernelEx just to add a stub is overkill. There should be a way to just add a small expansion dll; perhaps this is what the undocumented api was meant to address.

I would like to see an .ini file where users can add "<module name>, <function name>, <return value>, <SetLastError value>" lines that would be loaded by KernelEx and turned into new stubs on-the-fly. (Core.ini can almost do this now....)

I haven't tried building KernelEx yet because I'm still using VC5. My response to loblo' s little hex hacks was to create a tool to automate import table patching. Unfortunately it mutated into a full-blown dependency walker before I could get it released.

I'm almost done with minf, so I'll clean up and formally release ImportPatcher.27.exe next, then get to work on KernelEx.

-jumper

---

to be moved:
ImportPatcher currently makes a copy of a PE, creates a dependency log, and patches the copy's OS level if it is greater than the current system's.

My DLLHOOK Program does something similar to what you described but may not be compatable with KernelEx. In addition to the arguments you listed above, you will need to specify the number of calling arguments to properly clean up the stack upon return.

[jumper]

>>There should be a way to just add a small expansion dll; perhaps this is what the undocumented api was meant to address.
>My DLLHOOK Program does something similar to what you described but may not be compatable with KernelEx.

I found DLLHOOK in your "Large File Emulator" (FILE64) package. The description in readme.txt and the example in dllhook.ini look very promising. If it can patch the Entrypoint Address Resolver to add a new function (not just hook an existing one), we might have a quick solution; if not, an import patcher will also be needed to remap the missing import in the user's PE to an existing (but rarely-used) one. I'll create a dll with a family of generic stubs and test with KernelEx....

---

>>I would like to see an .ini file where users can add "<module name>, <function name>, <return value>, <SetLastError value>" lines....
>In addition to the arguments you listed above, you will need to specify the number of calling arguments to properly clean up the stack upon return.

Agreed. You wisely mentioned that in the other topic, but I still managed to overlook it!
So others will know what we're talking about:
If the emulated api function uses the Pascal calling convention (most likely), and the stub doesn't clean parameters off the stack as expected, there would be a small, temporary stack leak. If the stub is called enough times, the stack will overflow. Or if the calling function happens to not use a stack frame (for storing local variables), there would be no exit code to restore the stack and return address before it ends.

[rloew]

jumper, on 20 December 2011 - 06:12 PM, said:

>>There should be a way to just add a small expansion dll; perhaps this is what the undocumented api was meant to address.
>My DLLHOOK Program does something similar to what you described but may not be compatable with KernelEx.

I found DLLHOOK in your "Large File Emulator" (FILE64) package. The description in readme.txt and the example in dllhook.ini look very promising. If it can patch the Entrypoint Address Resolver to add a new function (not just hook an existing one), we might have a quick solution; if not, an import patcher will also be needed to remap the missing import in the user's PE to an existing (but rarely-used) one. I'll create a dll with a family of generic stubs and test with KernelEx....

I wrote DLLHOOK long before I wrote the FILE64 Package. It can add new functions just as easily as redirecting existing ones. I was trying to run a XP program in Windows 98. The Program self-checked for modifications, so I could not Patch up the Import Table.

The Demo DLLHOOK Program in the FILE64 Demo is limited to a small .INI File and only redirects KERNEL32.DLL Calls but it should be useful for your testing. Create a DLLHOOK.INI using the following example as a guide:

KERNEL32 EntryPoint1 STUBFILE StubT0
KERNEL32 EntryPoint2 STUBFILE StubF0
KERNEL32 EntryPoint3 STUBFILE StubT4
KERNEL32 EntryPoint4 STUBFILE StubF4
KERNEL32 EntryPoint5 STUBFILE StubT8
KERNEL32 EntryPoint6 STUBFILE StubF8
KERNEL32 EntryPoint7 STUBFILE StubT12
KERNEL32 EntryPoint8 STUBFILE StubF12
....

Create STUBFILE.DLL using the following example:

StubT0 Zero Argument Stub returning TRUE
StubF0 Zero Argument Stub returning FALSE
StubT4 One Argument Stub returning TRUE
StubF4 One Argument Stub returning FALSE
StubT8 Two Argument Stub returning TRUE
StubF8 Two Argument Stub returning FALSE
StubT12 Three Argument Stub returning TRUE
StubF12 Three Argument Stub returning FALSE
....

[jds]

schwups, on 29 November 2011 - 07:40 AM, said:

Firefox 8.0.1 doesn't crash on exit for me.

Likewise for me. Seems quite stable with KernelEx 4.5.2.

Thanks Xeno86!

dencorso, on 30 November 2011 - 08:53 AM, said:

schwups, on 30 November 2011 - 08:23 AM, said:

I installed three Firefox versions 8.0.1, 7.0.1 and 6.0.2 to different folders. The attempt to install PlainOldFavorites with version 7 or 8 failed. After the successful installation of the addon with Firefox 6.0.2 PlainOldFavorites also works with versions 7 and 8.

I haven't testet the workaround of Steven W to install PlainOldFavorites Experimental Firefox 7 topic.

Thats great news! And Steven W's workaround ought to work for everyone, too, because it appears that what we have here is just an installer-imposed limitation.
You rock!

Yes it does (work). BTW, the en-GB version I posted in the above thread is already FF8.01 compatible.

Joe.

This post has been edited by jds: 21 December 2011 - 01:51 AM

[jds]

jumper, on 19 December 2011 - 10:53 PM, said:

>It suggests that the breadth of KernelEx application compatibility can be usefully expanded with a few added stubs.

Rebuilding all of KernelEx just to add a stub is overkill. There should be a way to just add a small expansion dll; perhaps this is what the undocumented api was meant to address.

I would like to see an .ini file where users can add "<module name>, <function name>, <return value>, <SetLastError value>" lines that would be loaded by KernelEx and turned into new stubs on-the-fly. (Core.ini can almost do this now....)

I haven't tried building KernelEx yet because I'm still using VC5. My response to loblo' s little hex hacks was to create a tool to automate import table patching. Unfortunately it mutated into a full-blown dependency walker before I could get it released.

I'm almost done with minf, so I'll clean up and formally release ImportPatcher.27.exe next, then get to work on KernelEx.

Well, I just had in mind that these stubs could be added to the code when convenient, pending the next KernelEx release. However, your suggestion to have an INI file and add new stubs "on the fly" is so much better! What flexibility!

You mention only having VC5. I recall asking if VC4 or VC6 would be suitable, but don't think anyone offered an answer. Do you know what the minimum VC version is for building KernelEx?

I might have a play with your Import Patcher, next time the need arises.

Joe.

[jumper]

With KernelEx 4.5.1 or 4.5.2 installed, DLLHOOK reports: Unknown version of KERNEL32.DLL.

Otherwise (and demo limitations aside), it works great. It was very easy to write a DLL and export some stub functions--no DDK needed!

I made modifications to DLLHOOK.INI similar to those above and was able to call a fictitious function in Kernel32 from a test app and redirect it to my DLL. For people who don't use KernelEx, DLLHOOK plus a DLL of stubs might get them by. I imagine this is basically how the Kernel Update Project got started.

Unfortunately, since DLLHOOK doesn't coexist with KernelEx, it can't be used to extend KernelEx as I had hoped.

[jumper]

>You mention only having VC5. I recall asking if VC4 or VC6 would be suitable, but don't think anyone offered an answer. Do you know what the minimum VC version is for building KernelEx?

Building KernelEx requires the Feb 2003 DDK which in turn requires VC6. I do have VC6, but need to dust it off, apply service packs and the DDK before I can start playing with the KernelEx source code.