xpize 5 Beta 2

[W3bbo]

Here comes along xpize 5. The first xpize with full SP3 compatibility (actually, it only supports SP3. So those of you on SP1 and SP2 had better upgrade).

This beta is the first (almost) feature complete release that includes almost everything XPize 4.7 does with a few notable exceptions (but there are a few things in this release that aren't in 4.7). There's also a large chunk that's missing from the final release later this spring or summer:

• Missing from this release that was in XPize 4.7
  • WinRAR and eMule application skins
    
  • Some visual styles (but Royale and "Luna Royale" are included in this one)
    
  • Updated file type icons for mp3s, pdfs, etc
    
  • TaskSwitchXP
    
  • I386 patching
    
  • Uninstalling (sorry!)
    

  [*]New in this release

  • Widescreen boot screen option (currently buggy though)
    
  • Changes to the logon screen environment
    
  • 30% faster than XIS installer with 100% managed code base (GPL too!)
    
  • SP3 UxTheme support
    

  [*]Missing from this release that will be in the final

  • Everything that was in 4.7 but currently missing (i.e. see above)
    
  • IE8 resources
    
  • Luna Element and Luna Blue resources
    
  • Luna Element (and possibly Watercolor Emico) visual styles
    
  • x64 support (that includes full NT5.2 support)
    
  • Fully skinned and customized all-in-one installer.
    
  • I386 patching
    
  • Uninstalling
    

Take note: the lack of uninstallation support makes this a feature-incomplete beta. xpize 5 shouldn't break your system such that you'd need to uninstall it, and System Restore support is there.

I've also made a youtube video showing how relatively painless the installation process is. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOZYWBV_s9Q

Also, news on the Vize front: whilst I have three Windows Server 2008 x64 boxes churning away (one of which serves the xpize and Vize websites) I don't have any non-VM Vista environments to develop Vize 2 against. If anyone would like to assist me with developing Vize it would be greatly appreciated.

Downloads:

• xpize 5 Beta 2 Anolis Package (*.anop) file
  
• Anolis Installer 0.8
  

Take care,

David

Edited May 5, 2009 by W3bbo

[ricktendo]

i386 patching yay

[hood]

thanx a lot. install w/o problem. i think i would be good if u add in release of XPize some thin styles 4 netbook support.

Edited May 5, 2009 by hood

[W3bbo]

thanx a lot. install w/o problem. i think i would be good if u add in release of XPize some thin styles 4 netbook support.

What's that? An installation of mine went by without problems?

I think you're in the wrong parallel universe, hood. People complain about my software erasing their harddrives and sacrificing their kittens to the elder-god Cthulhu almost every day via the contact form on my website.

Edited May 5, 2009 by W3bbo

[ricktendo]

Can I make a request?

Add the msiexec.exe icon to msi.dll to update this icon

Also missed these bitmaps in shell32.dll

[manikant]

Thanks,

Was waiting for this release.

[clavicle]

Wonderful! Thanks.

[hood]

i have a BSOD 2 times after install (((

thanx a lot. install w/o problem. i think i would be good if u add in release of XPize some thin styles 4 netbook support.

What's that? An installation of mine went by without problems?

I think you're in the wrong parallel universe, hood. People complain about my software erasing their harddrives and sacrificing their kittens to the elder-god Cthulhu almost every day via the contact form on my website.

yeah i mean that - without problems. t think that people that complain u have wrong pair of hand in they body and sick state of mind. btw thanx great Cthulhu )

Edited May 5, 2009 by hood

[lucanasci]

Also missed these bitmaps in shell32.dll

Yes i can confirm that too. For the rest it's very good! Thank you for the work

[W3bbo]

Also missed these bitmaps in shell32.dll

Yes i can confirm that too. For the rest it's very good! Thank you for the work

I'll need to look into that. Can you confirm the bitmap is in shell32?

What's the Install Language of your OS?

[Smiley89]

Nice, downloaded and installed a few hours ago.

All seems to work properly. My first impression is absolutely positive!

Nice work!

[ricktendo]

My install language is Spanish and the names of my bitmaps in shell32.dll (v6.0.2900.5753 - KB960253) are:

14351.bmp
14353.bmp
14354.bmp
14355.bmp
14356.bmp

BTW how about doing some .scr files like I requested here?

Edited May 5, 2009 by ricktendo64

[W3bbo]

My install language is Spanish and the names of my bitmaps in shell32.dll (v6.0.2900.5753 - KB960253) are:

14351.bmp
 14353.bmp
 14354.bmp
 14355.bmp
 14356.bmp

BTW how about doing some .scr files like I requested here?

Hmm, I think I missed those bitmaps out (whoops), but can you confirm that the Shutdown selection screen has the new background image?

As for those *.scr icons, I'll look into it, but looks doable.

[ricktendo]

msgina.dll bitmaps (shutdown dialog) is fine, only the shell32.dll bitmaps (wait dialog and logoff dialog) are the problem

Edited May 5, 2009 by ricktendo64

[W3bbo]

msgina.dll bitmaps (shutdown dialog) is fine, only the shell32.dll bitmaps (wait dialog and logoff dialog) are the problem

Gotcha.

I'll see if I can come out with a later release this month. It won't be the final release but it'll be close.... in terms of resource-related features. Implementing I386 and Uninstallation support will be a long coding job.

On the technical side, I think I'll copy XPero's approach of manually Shell()-invoking the expand and makecab executables included in Windows since there aren't any fully managed CAB libraries furthermore: why fix something that isn't broken?

Implementing uninstallation may or may not be trivial, it depends. Implementing a backup procedure is easy, but I can't implement it until I know how I'll restore the system state afterwards.

Nonetheless, spread the word around