Windows Starter Edition.

Post by **KenOath** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:35 pm

It looks like no one has made a post here in this section of the forum so
I thought I'd open it up by posting a continuation of my project started
some time ago on OSBA...
It was everyone's challenge to convert a copy of Windows Starter Edition
from Portuguese language to English, which as some may remember I did,
but what I didn't say was how unstable it was...
So, I'm having another crack at it at making it a stable OS conversion
this time, & let me say, it takes hours, no weeks, just to remake/recompile
a hundred or so mui files, & many headaches & stiff necks from hours of
not moving your neck much whilst looking at the screen hacking away..
So far I've remade about 70% of all files necessary at making it run as
an English language version...
So, I thought I'd make an ISO of what I've done so far & install it just to
tease, & prove that it is possible to have an English version of this OS...
You'll notice that one or two tabs on some of the screen shots below still
contain some Portuguese language, whilst most are already English...
Even though the resolution was 600x800 the icons & duologue's ended up
quite large...

Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:08 pm

Hey that looks nice, good luck with the final 30-ish% of MUI haxxoring

What's it like to run with the 3-program limit? Is it good performance wise, or is it just like running XP Pro with the classic theme?

Post by **KenOath** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:52 am

pr0gram the pr0grammer wrote: What's it like to run with the 3-program limit? Is it good performance wise,
or is it just like running XP Pro with the classic theme?

Well, the restrictions are a bit annoying, something I couldn't imagine
ever getting use to.
The taskbar right click options { or lack of } make it hard to customise it
much but that's something else I'll attempt to tweak when done with the
mui's..
Not sure what resource's it uses yet, I'll check when I get home from work
tonight. It's not laggy in any way on this comcrap P2-400 with 4mb agp.

The entire hack on this one involves a couple of hundred files in the
startoc cab only, only one file needs to be touched in the I386 folder
the way I'm modding it..
Doing it this way also leaves the theme service disabled which I imagine is
one of the reasons it's quicker also...

Post by **dirtwarrior** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:14 pm

Sounds like a nice OS. Performance wise how does it compare to regular xp?

Post by **___** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:39 pm

ugh i can see spyware and viruses filling up those 3 programs fast along with an antivirus. you might have to disable your antivirus and close msn messenger just to load Steam and its games (different exes at once)

Post by **Frozenport** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 1:12 pm

I like Windows FLP more...

I find that it is able to act better as a home computer because we need more then 3 programs open at once...

I don't understand what MS is waiting for to release this thing onto the market... I have not seen a single MS sales rep in my area willing to sell it...

Post by **KenOath** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 1:32 pm

Frozenport wrote:I like Windows FLP more...
I find that it is able to act better as a home computer because we need more then 3 programs open at once...

I'm not sure what you mean there as it only runs 3 apps max at any time.
It wont allow more than 3, trying to open a 4th just acts like your'e not
even pressing the mouse button..

Frozenport wrote:I like Windows FLP more...
I don't understand what MS is waiting for to release this thing onto the market... I have not seen a single MS sales rep in my area willing to sell it...

It's only sold in what MS consider 3rd world or poorer
countries...
I enquired here in my country {Australia} about buying a copy directly
from MS or one of thier outlets, they told me I could only by it from
the countries that it was made for, eg: brazil, india,portugal etc etc...
buggered if I was going to ring them for a copy.

Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:55 pm

How exactly does the 3-program limit work? Does it go by monitoring processes and seeing if there are three non-system processes running, or by the number of open windows?

Post by **KenOath** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:54 pm

pr0gram the pr0grammer wrote:How exactly does the 3-program limit work? Does it go by monitoring processes and seeing if there are three non-system processes running, or by the number of open windows?

Really not sure, but at a guess I'm thinking it's the amount of open progs
running in the taskbar.

Post by **dirtwarrior** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:15 pm

Do you think it will be an easy fix

Post by **KenOath** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:20 pm

dirtwarrior wrote:Do you think it will be an easy fix

Funny you should ask that because right now i'm kicking myself...
You know the old story of "there's an easy way & a hard way to do it,
well, iv'e just discovered i've been doing this the hard way, typical,
Had to find an easier way after getting 80% done the hard way...
I'm hoping my new find means it'll be done by the end weekend...

Post by **dirtwarrior** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:52 am

If it is running the mce kernel it should be a little faster. Is it?

Post by **KenOath** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:54 am

dirtwarrior wrote:If it is running the mce kernel it should be a little faster. Is it?

No i'm using an iso of home as it was originally built
on top of that build..
Im just editing an inf file along with a few dll's now & remaking a new
startoc.cab {English version}.
The new way iv'e discovered involves no reshacking, just some hex-editing
of 3 dll's..
I might even release a conversion pack of it if I find it's stable enough...

Post by **dirtwarrior** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:15 pm

Very cool. I thought it was running the new kernel like MCE does. MCE is a little faster than XP is.

Post by **Deathwarder** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:33 am

I noticed that, but couldn't find a way to prove it in benchmarks, it was just a general feeling

Post by **Flare** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:02 pm

This is an interesting project. Starter edition has always caught my eye, but the 3 program restriction and languages make it near-useless in any english-speaking, middle-class country.

Post by **Vista Ultimate R2** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:26 pm

Flare wrote:This is an interesting project. Starter edition has always caught my eye, but the 3 program restriction and languages make it near-useless in any english-speaking, middle-class country.

Is there any way to remove the restrictions? Otherwise, WinFLP is very good as a lightweight Windows.

Post by **KenOath** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 1:23 am

Vista Ultimate R2 wrote:Is there any way to remove the restrictions? Otherwise, WinFLP is very good as a lightweight Windows.

Yeah I tried removing restrictions & ended up with an error that said
something to the tune of " STOP - Windows is in an unsupported state (2)"
I looked the error up & found a result on MS, which really only involved
updating Cryptsvc.dll to a later version, which didn't fix the problem...
I could spend a bunch of time debugging the problem but figured it
wasn't worth it,, as you said FLP is still a good thing for older systems
anyway..

Post by **The Distractor** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:26 pm

Hmm.. this looks nice. It seems this will be good to test... o.0

Post by **dirtwarrior** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:42 pm

The Distractor wrote:Hmm.. this looks nice. It seems this will be good to test... o.0

The most we can hope for is to get some bitmaps and put them in xp. If KenOath cant fix ut then it most likely cant be fixed,
Try XP-FLP

Post by **casablanca** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:43 pm

KenOath wrote:
Vista Ultimate R2 wrote:Is there any way to remove the restrictions? Otherwise, WinFLP is very good as a lightweight Windows.
Yeah I tried removing restrictions & ended up with an error that said
something to the tune of " STOP - Windows is in an unsupported state (2)"
I looked the error up & found a result on MS, which really only involved
updating Cryptsvc.dll to a later version, which didn't fix the problem...
I could spend a bunch of time debugging the problem but figured it
wasn't worth it,, as you said FLP is still a good thing for older systems
anyway..

Ouch. Looks like MS was ahead of you, KenOath

Post by **ewan275** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:23 am

What exaclty is the point in this, is it ment for low end pcs or something, But it kind of is pointless as XP Home is ment to be for the casual user

Post by **___** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:31 am

a cheap OS for developing countries where priacy is high

Post by **ewan275** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:42 am

Fair Doos Still another Pointless MS OS Like ME

Post by **___** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:44 am

what?