DarkPhoenix

Is it just me, or did the iPod just get uglier? The first one was all right. The second version of the first one was better (it's the one I have, where the scrolling wheel became a touch-sensitive wheel) The second one was sweet. Everything is just touch-sensitive, and it was leaner than the first one. But this one is not appealing to me, like the other two were.. somehow, it's just not doing it for me.

1) Well, yes, I could. I won't, but I could. If that was my intention, I could just build that into the BeUpdate executable, now couldn't I? Just to mention it, so could GreenMachine with his XPCreate and nuhi could basically have a key-logger included in his nLite.exe file. But they don't. And why would I? If you see the configuration file, you could choose not to trust me, and keep a list of your own. I'll be using a method similar to the one GreenMachine uses. You don't have to trust me, but I can promise you that I won't do something like that. 2) I'll try to keep it updated myself, (like GM) but if it becomes too much of a hassle, I'll maybe let someone else help me as well. In any case, this program will have a file list more updated than the one your CD has. Of course I can't sit all day updating it, but I'll update it at least twice a week when I'm ready.

I'll try. Most programs update now and then, right? You put (in my example) GetRight 5.1.0 on your unattended CD and in a few weeks or months, GetRight 5.2.0 is out, and you need to update your CD. What my program does is to check if the newest version of a program is on your CD, and if so, install it. If a newer version has been released (I'll do my best to keep this list maintained, or maybe get someone to help me as well) BeUpdated will download it to your temp folder, and install the newer version instead. This way you can keep your installation updated without actually having to make a new CD for every program update out there. I'll try to include as many programs as possible on this list, ranging from Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc. to things like AVG Antivirus, 7Zip, Daemon Tools, etc., so that most people would find it useful. Another way that it can be useful is that you can entirely leave the files out of the CD, and have BeUpdated always download the version it has on its list, keeping the amount of files you need to have on your CD to a minimum, thus leaving space for other files, that are not free/shareware by nature (like Office, Photoshop, etc., which this program will not, naturally, include) Hope that clarifies some of my idea...

Man, do I hate right-click disables. Thank God that I can override them.

Hmm.. there's no interest, is there? Oh well, glad I asked then. I've saved myself some working hours.

Hey everyone, I need your thoughts and opinions on this project I am working on. The name of the program will most likely be, lame as I am, "BeUpdated". As the name indicates, it will um.. be updated. Here's basically how the program works: There will be a file list on an internet server. (which I will keep updated) Before you make your unattended installation CD/DVD, you run the utility in preparation mode, and choose which programs you'd like BeUpdated to keep updated for you. (The file list will contain dozens of programs, but you don't have to use them all, of course, only the ones you want) Then it will (optionally) download these files, and you burn them, together with BeUpdated. Then, during T-13 or in RunOnce mode or in GuiUnattended mode, or wherever you feel like installing your software, you run BeUpdated. When it is run, it will again download the file list. (on the remote server) If you chose to download those files in preparation mode, BeUpdated will check its file list against them, and if they are up to date, it will just install them. If they are not (or you chose not to download them), BeUpdated will download the updated version, and then install it. This way, even if your CD is not entirely up to date, your installtion can be. You can also save space, by not keeping the actual files on the CD, just downloading them during installation. That's the thought behind this. Of course, the file list will only contain shareware and freeware. There will be no possibility to download full versions of programs that requires registration. (except for a few, like AVG Antivirus) For those who are interested, I've created a flowchart of the installation program... although it was made more for myself. (I'm somewhat clumsy when it comes to programming -- I never really know which parts to do first and which to do last -- so this helps me to put the program together in the right order) It sorta gives you a wrong image of how the program works though. The flowchart suggests a synchronous flow; this program, however, is highly asynchronous in the way it works. I'll show you the (current) configuration file to let you know what I mean: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <BeUpdatedConfiguration version="1.0"> <!-- NOTICE All tags in this file are case sensitive, and must not be modified. Please only change the values between the "" characters of the value attributes. --> <RemoteFileList> <!-- USE REMOTE FILE LIST If this value is set to 1, then the program will use the value specified in URI to download a remote file list. If set to 0, it will use the local file, filelist.xml, which then must reside in the same folder as the program. If this file is not present, and the value is set to 0, or the remote download fails, and it is not present, the program will raise an error, and end. --> <Use value="1" /> <!-- URI This value specifies the location of the remote file list. If you wish to use DarkPhoenix' updated file(s), just leave this value alone. This value can contain URIs to more than one file, and each file is to be separated by a '|'. (vertical pipe) Since the program currently only supports the http protocol, it will be added automaticlly, so don't have it here. --> <URI value="localhost/filelist.xml" /> <!-- RETRIES IF DOWNLOAD FAILED This value specifices how many times the program should try to download the remote file list file before it should give up and resort to the local file. (which will most likely be out of date) If this value is set to less than 0, it will retry until it succeeds. (not recommended) The recommended value for this is a number between 2 and 20. --> <RetriesIfFailed value="5" /> <!-- TIME TO WAIT BETWEEN RETRIES This value specifies how long the program should wait before it will retry to download the remote file list in seconds. This value should not be any less than 30 seconds, to avoid load on the server, and because if the file is unavailable, it will most likely take at least 30 seconds until it is ready. If this value is set to less than 30, the program will override it, and just set it to 30. --> <WaitTimeBetweenRetries value="30" /> </RemoteFileList> <ProgramDownloads> <!-- TRY TO REACH A BANDWITH OF This program will download and install files asynchronously for most efficiency. Because of this, it will try to reach a certain amount of kb/s in order to be as efficient as possible. This is done by starting the downlaod of one file, letting it run for a while, compare it's download speed with this value, and if it not within reasonable reach of this value, the program will start the next download. Then after a while, it will again test the speed, and this it will repeat until the download speed is within reasonable reach of this value. If the download speed exceeds this value, no action will be taken to reduce it. This is a minimum value, not a max value. If it is set to less than 1, it will not be cared for, and the program will only care for the MaxSimultaneous value. --> <TryReachBandwidthOf value="100" /> <!-- MAX SIMULTANEOUS DOWNLOADS This value indicates how many programs the programs will try to download simultaneously. This overrides the value set in TryReachBandwithOf. If the bandwith has not been reached, but the program is already downloading the amount of files set here, it will not try to download more. If this value is set to less than 1, there is no maximum amount of simultaneous downloads. Combinations of these two values can have the following scenarios: TryReachBandwidthOf > 0, MaxSimultaneous > 0: The program will try to reach the TryReachBandwithOf value, but stop if the amount of files would be more than MaxSimultaneous. TryReachBandwidthOf > 0, MaxSimultaneous < 1: The program will try to reach the TryReachBandwithOf value, and will do so by downloading more files simultaneously until it is reached. (or there are no more files left on the list to add) TryReachBandwidthOf < 1, MaxSimultaneous > 0: The program will always download the amount of files in MaxSimultaneous. (unless there are less files left to download, of course) TryReachBandwidthOf < 1, MaxSimultaneous < 1: No limits set, all files on the list will be downloaded simultaneously. (not recommended) --> <MaxSimultaneous value="10" /> <!-- RETRIES IF DOWNLOAD FAILED This value specifices how many times the program should try to download the program before it should give up and resort to the local file. (if it exists) or skip the program in question. If this value is set to less than 0, it will retry until it succeeds. (not recommended) Recommended value for this is a number between 2 and 20. --> <RetriesIfFailed value="2" /> <!-- TIME TO WAIT BETWEEN RETRIES This value specifies how long the program should wait before it will retry to download the program in seconds. This value should not be any less than 30 seconds, to avoid load on the server, and because if the file is unavailable, it will most likely take at least 30 seconds until it is ready. If this value is set to less than 30, the program will override it, and just set it to 30. --> <WaitTimeBetweenRetries value="60" /> </ProgramDownloads> <!-- SILENT MODE If this value is set to 1, then the program will show a GUI where the file download progress will be shown and which programs that have been installed will be shown. Since some people think that an unattended installation should not show any kind of progress or dialogs, this setting has been included to make it possible to not show any dialogs. Error messages will still be shown. --> <Silent value="0" /> </BeUpdatedConfiguration> As you can see, it will (possibly) download more than one program at once. (although it will never install more than one program at a time) To be most efficient, this program will do its best to utilize your whole network speed, and the fact that windows can do multithreading. This program will be made using the .NET Framework. Why? Cause I won't bother doing it the hard way. The .NET Framework is maybe cluttered, but it lets me do stuff quick, it works fine, and since most PCs using XP have enough RAM and processor speed, the fact that it uses .NET Framework shouldn't matter too much. This not a game that needs super fast calculations. If you don't like the .NET Framework and do not want to install it, you cannot use this program either.. but nobody forces you to. I'll show you my sample filelist.xml too, in order to give you an idea how that works. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <BeUpdatedFileList version="1.0"> <FileEntry token="GetRight"> <Name>GetRight</Name> <Size>3048387</Size> <MD5Hash>EE4D54C9F9F3168BF343A154B8C1BE1</MD5Hash> <Version>5.1.0</Version> <URI>http://www.xright.com/getrt510.exe</URI> <FileName>getrt510.exe</FileName> <SilentSwitches>/s</SilentSwitches> <VerySilentSwitches>/s</SilentSwitches> </FileEntry> </BeUpdatedFileList> During my testing phases, I only deal with GetRight.. but when the program is done, this file will contain many more programs. When you run the preparation program, there will be another file that stores the tokens only. Then, when the installation part comes, it will only care about the tokens you picked when downloading and installing programs. SilentSwitches will be those switches that may show up a progress bar or something, but still be unattended. The VerySilentSwitches will hide everything. I figured I'd do it this way, since some people prefer the former, and some the latter. Finally, there are some command-line arguments you can use against BeUpdated. Here: /conf <path-to-configuration> This can be used to for instance have the configuration file on a floppy disk or something, in order to change it without updating your CD. /log <path-to-log> If you wish to log how things are going, this is the one to use. /silent <1 or 0> This overrides the configuration file. No idea why I added this. Wow, that was a lot of text.. well, if you've read it all, you're probably interested.. so tell me guys.. what do you think? Should I complete this? Would anyone use it? Does it seem useful? Do you have any suggestions or improvements that I should add? More options maybe? Any thoughts? Do tell me.

Well, the %CDROM% would most likely not change to the next boot, and your idea wouldn't work, cause it has to be IN the same directory as the actual program to work. So if you do "%CDROM%\Applications\Proof\Setup.exe" then it won't work, cause it will run from %windir%. (or at least I assume so, since install.cmd is in %windir%) That is what the CD is for, to change to the same directory as the Setup.exe file.

%CD% is your Current Directory, and since the RunOnceEx file will be run off the CD (Compact Disk this time ) the drive letter of the %CD% will be the CD. So.. what that command does, is to pull out the two first letters from the %CD% variable, so that if %CD% for instance is "F:\$OEM$", then %CD:~0,2% will return "F:" only. (0,2 means begin at position 0 and read the next two letters. 2,6 would return "\$OEM$", if you understand? )

You mean this part? ECHO @echo off > %windir%\install.cmd ECHO CMDOW @ /HID >> %windir%\install.cmd ECHO %CDROM% >> %windir%\install.cmd ECHO cd \Applications\Proof >> %windir%\install.cmd ECHO Setup.exe >> %windir%\install.cmd ECHO exit >> %windir%\install.cmd REG ADD %KEY%\010 /V 2 /D "%windir%\install.cmd" /f The ECHO lines actually make a cmd file that is like this: @echo off CMDOW @ /HID D: (or whatever the %CDROM% variable is when it is applied) cd \Applications\Proof Setup.exe exit I do this because the AutoIt script that I use to install that stuff automatically requires to be in the same folder as the actual files.. for some reason. And since %CDROM% can change, so must the install.cmd Oh yeah, btw, it solved once I removed that space from the beginning of the command.

*cough* -- wait a minute.. I just discovered something. It might not be important, but still... I have a space, right here: REG ADD %KEY%\010 /V 2 /D " %windir%\install.cmd" /f after the first quote, see? That might be a problem. I don't know for sure though.

Unless I am horribly mistaken, what he meant to do was to have the Documents and Settings folder on another location by default, (so when Windows installs, it will use that location) not to actually move an existing D'n'S folder.

I'm not sure about the PS2, as I haven't chip-ed it. I chip-ed my PSX though, and all games I made backups of with the BlindWrite suite worked like a charm.. so, you could give it a try. VSO Software

Hiya. In my RunOnceEx.cmd file (which we all know what is about, right?) I have these lines: now, my question is... why does this last command there end up opening the root of my C: drive and not run Setup.exe like I tell it to? This is so bizarre to me that I cannot figure it out.

Hmm.. I don't know how many programs you have to install after installing XP, but heh.. doing that for me takes almost half a day, when considering configuration, switching CDs, etc., etc. When I got myself a DVD burner and configured XP once and for all, I just put the DVD into the drive, set up the initial partition(s) during the text-mode, and then go to bed (or to school) and when I wake up (or come home) it's all ready for use. Isn't that convenient, or what?

If you go into any folder, and use "Tools -> Folder Options -> View and remove an eventual checkmark on the 'Use simple file sharing" mark and click OK, you can to a high degree control what users are allowed and not allowed to access. However, configuring it properly takes time, and is a little advanced, but you'll probably figure it out. You'll for instance want them not being able to access your drives, yet be able to access files inside them. This is possible with some (as you'll be turning off) advanced file sharing. (You'll have a Security tab on all folders, files, drives, etc. then, where you can set exact privileges)

It worked fine for me.. err.. well, fine.. What I did: The iOpus downloader started, showed some IP address and just stalled there. So I canceled it. It skipped the swf file and moved on. At the end, it said the file was missing, and I got the error like the first guy. OK, I thought, I'll give it another go. So I ran the XPCRATE file again, and this time it was intelligent enough only to download the swf, which it managed this time. After it downloaded it, it continued as it should. If you remove it, please make it an option to include it anyway, or at least eh.. let me make a suggestion -- let XPCREATE try to get it, and if it can't just ignore it, and leave it out, and if it can get it, include it. Eh? How about that?

As far as I can see, you were the only one who were pro-tables there. The only other hint of being pro-tables were the guy who were talking about the old 14.4 modem days, and that was basically cause there was no other way then. By all means, use tables if you want to, but you'll have a much larger user base if you follow the directions of the Web Accessibility Initiative. (or Section 508)

I'll let someone else say it for me. Here's why you should use tables and not CSS for tabular data. This is slide 43. For more reasons, read all slides until slide 51. (9 slides incl. the first one)

It's quite simple. The command.com program is a 16-bit DOS program, and XP has to run it in its protected mode (you can see in the task manager that ntvdm.exe is running when you use command.com) or something like that, with its 16-bit emulated sub-system. This is a rather slow process. The cmd.exe file, however, is a 32-bit program, and runs normally. It has all the advantages of the 32-bit XP system, and thus it is a lot faster.

All of these programs are rather simple, and since I know VB.NET and have a couple of years with programming experience with me, I could make all of that myself. For free. I have not downloaded your programs, (since I trust very few things without source code, unless very many people have used it before me) but unless their GUI is totally superb and they are PACKED with functions, their prices do not justify their purpose. A lot of programs can do these things already, and many of them come for free. However, your screenshots look cool. It's probably well done, just a bit too pricy.

You cannot do it in winnt.sif, afaik. When you've entered the XP setup, it's too late already. However, you could do it automatically before the XP Setup starts, using a custom CD-boot tool and a batch file or something. Never had the need for it myself, so I haven't really looked into it. Try searching the forum, you might find it. Or locate Gosh's site, I believe there's some information about it there.. at least something similar to your need.

I get to be first Scandinavian to post! Yay! Oslo, Norway here.

He's right, you know.

I like it! Nice design, nice content. What more can I say, it's a blog.