Neptune's activity centers image?

Post by **zeehonden_3** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:17 pm

On the wiki, there is a picture
(

)
of the activity centers of neptune. Is this real or one made by KenOath?

If it's real, from which build is it?

One more question: Which builds of millenium contain the activity center?

Post by **Namronia** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:24 pm

Finally someone is intrested in a REAL good topic

But the image is a concept, not a real build, sadly...

And a few early ones included it, but never as full as neptune did...

Post by **J.Byrne** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:25 pm

It's a concept image, made by Microsoft.
Here's an old article by Paul Thurrott you may want to read on the subject.

Post by **fzajac** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:49 pm

Well, i was always saying that this was just a concept image
BUT
I've noticed that there are some bugs out there, like erm... missing image in the Music Center. And who would place symbol of a missing image on the concept, huh?
I think it's possible that it comes from an unleaked build of Neptune...

EDIT: I don't wanna spread more misinformation, just saying what i think about it now...

Post by **J.Byrne** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:58 pm

You mean this:

That's an interesting find, I never really noticed it until you pointed it out.

Post by **zeehonden_3** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:00 pm

Thanks for the information.

BTW when it is a concept, it's a good maked one, but I don't think it's made by microsoft. I don't think microsoft will install WinAmp, they're fan of their own media player.

Edit: I will ask about this picture here: http://www.activewin.com/, at Paul Thurrott's site it says: Neptune concept shot that features several proposed Activity Centers. Image courtesy of ActiveWin.

Post by **squidward_** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:03 pm

I thought that those activity centres were real, but hidden by default?

Post by **Rob Jansen** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:09 pm

They are present, hidden in Neptune (KenOath is working on them to let them install in the installation in the start menu).

Also in 1 of the ME builds it's also present.

Post by **fzajac** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:09 pm

squidward_ wrote:I thought that those activity centres were real, but hidden by default?

Yeah, but in build 5111 they were less ready, more buggy and more primitive...

Post by **zeehonden_3** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:39 pm

I put a little timeline on the wiki (what i found on internet), and a link to Questions and Answers about Neptune.

Post by **squidward_** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:43 pm

DjRob wrote:They are present, hidden in Neptune (KenOath is working on them to let them install in the installation in the start menu).

Also in 1 of the ME builds it's also present.

Was this Windows ME build unleaked?

Post by **Namronia** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:59 pm

squidward_ wrote:
DjRob wrote:They are present, hidden in Neptune (KenOath is working on them to let them install in the installation in the start menu).

Also in 1 of the ME builds it's also present.
Was this Windows ME build unleaked?

some yes, some no, theres not just one build containing them...

Post by **Rob Jansen** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:01 pm

No, it is leaked.

I have read it somewhere on this forum.

Post by **KenOath** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:01 pm

I'm not going to quote all the points in this thread that are "not quite right" as
the post will end up too big, so I'll just set a few facts straight...

1st up, the Activity Centers in Neptune were never hidden, It was always there,
just not implemented into the installation via the appropriate .inf files...
The Activity Centers main resource is the ACCORE.DLL = Activity Center CORE.DLL
It's resources expand into the activity folder layout as made in the WINNT folder
by the txtsetup.sif during the installation of Neptune...

& as far as me making a fix where it installs the Activity Centers during the installation
of the operating system go's, I have abandoned the fix I did with the start menu link
as I beleive 100% that it was never meant to be run from the start menu...
In doing so, you receive mshta.exe error messages when attempting to "customize"
the main page, however, when the main page is the active desktop item, no errors
are ever displayed, & it customizes the main page & saves the settings without
making the icons on it all default to the "generic.gif" icon...

Also, people claim that the Activity Centers are buggy, when in fact it works just fine
when the 3 broken links are pointed to an actual application, instead of 3 dead links
because of the 3 missing main activity executable files, MediaCTR.exe, GameCTR.exe
& PhotoCTR.exe, which are also mentioned in the Photoctr.inf in ME build 2419,
which indicates that an ME build between 2380 & 2419 had these 3 files...

The screenshot on the 1st post here was nothing more than a concept screen, as
others have said, & bare's little resemblance to the resources in the accore.dll
that was leaked with build 5111...
Though if you take a good look at that screen again, you'll see what looks like
4 apps open on the desktop, but only 3 items in the taskbar, that's because the
main Activity Center page was also running as an "Active Desktop" item even
in that concept screenshot, which makes me think it was a known fact back then...
So my latest fix of this is not only having it install the Activity Centers during the
OS installation, but also have it already running on the desktop on 1st booting,
similar to the active desktop you see when Win95c 1st boots...

& on a final note, the original untouched leak of this had a 444 day timebomb,
not a 180 day as listed in the BA Wiki, so someone might want to fix that...
In fact all beta OSs from NT5 build 1946, to Whistler 2223 had a 444 day timebomb...

Edited for spelling mistakes...

Post by **fzajac** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:15 pm

KenOath wrote:& on a final note, the original untouched leak of this had a 444 day timebomb,
not a 180 day as listed in the BA Wiki, so someone might want to fix that...
In fact all beta OSs from NT5 build 1946, to Whistler 2223 had a 444 day timbomb...

Corrected, thanks for the info

Post by **mrpijey** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 7:43 pm

Great, thanks for the extensive info! Always wondered about those myself...

Post by **squidward_** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:16 am

I thought that the activity centres were all HTML/HTA based?

Post by **Namronia** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:46 am

squidward_ wrote:I thought that the activity centres were all HTML/HTA based?

they are, but they were packed into a dll and link to exe files...

Post by **Emir214** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:57 am

I saw this image at Paul Thurrott's road to gold of Windows Me.

Note the "Media Center" and "Photo Center". Please note that this is build 2394. I wonder if this build has Activity Centers?

Post by **Namronia** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:15 pm

Emir214 wrote:I saw this image at Paul Thurrott's road to gold of Windows Me.

Note the "Media Center" and "Photo Center". Please note that this is build 2394. I wonder if this build has Activity Centers?

That looks pretty intresting. Im going to install it&may i find it, or at least i hope to find it

Post by **KenOath** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:59 pm

Emir214 wrote:I saw this image at Paul Thurrott's road to gold of Windows Me.
Note the "Media Center" and "Photo Center". Please note that this is build 2394. I wonder if this build has Activity Centers?

It's not 2394, but a build in-between 2380 & 2419, it seems there's almost a new build per
number increment in the ME betas, I've found references to dozens of builds in the last
month or so...
He's probably upgraded 2394 over the top of the build that had the activity centers in it...
If he was to then upgrade to 2419, the activity centers would be deleted during the OS
installation, by the BETACLN.INF...

Code: Select all

;BETACLN.INF 
; 
;  Used to clean up beta-to-beta changes 
;  which is no longer applicaable to the 1 
;  product. 
; 
;  This is a Microsoft Beta Program only file and will be removed 
;  before we ship. 
;  DO NOT put anything in here that is needed for the released product. 

[version] 
LayoutFile= Layout.inf, Layout1.inf, Layout2.inf 
signature="$CHICAGO$" 
SetupClass=BASE 

[BaseWinOptions] 
BETACLEAN_BASE 

[DestinationDirs] 
Beta.copy.win      = 25 
Beta.copy.inf      = 17 
Beta.del.win       = 25 
Beta.del.sys       = 11 
Beta.del.sys32.drv = 25,System32\Drivers 
Beta.del.welcome   = 25,%AppDataShort%\%MSSharedShort%\Welcome 
Beta.del.inf       = 17 
Beta.del.help      = 18 
Beta.dx.del        = 28700,%DirectX% 
Beta.dx5.del       = 28700,%DirectX%\setup 
PCH.bin.del        = 10,PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries 
AC.del             = 25,Activity 


[Beta.copy.win] 

[Beta.copy.inf] 

[PCH.bin.del] 
marscore.dll 


[AC.del] 
gamectr.exe 
mediactr.exe 
photoctr.exe

Here's a few in this readme I recently discovered in an ME build...
2399, 2400, 2402, 2403, 2404...

Code: Select all

---------------------------------------------------------
       MICROSOFT PCHealth Bug Reporting README FILE
  for Bug Reporting Web Update #2, version 4.90.00.2404
                    October 27, 1999
  (c) Microsoft Corporation, 1999. All rights reserved.
---------------------------------------------------------

This document provides late breaking or other information 
that is relevant to the PCHealth bug reporting page, and
is current as of the date above. After that date, you may
find more current information and resources on the
Windows Beta Web site at:

   http://winbeta.microsoft.com/bugrep

You can also receive support from the following newsgroup:

   microsoft.beta.millennium.pchealth.help_support_tool

NEWS FLASH: "Help Center" on the Start->Programs menu
offically changed its name to "Help and Support" starting
with build 2399.
_______________________________________________________
CONTENTS

1. INSTALLING MICROSOFT BUG REPORTING PAGE UPDATE

   1.1  Close the Help and Support application
   1.2  Download and run installation program, brupdate.exe,
        from above web site for build 4.90.00.2404 by clicking
        on the <Download> button
   1.3  Click <Yes> to accept any VeriSign certificates, then
        click <OK> when installation is complete


2. HOW TO FILE A BUG REPORT

   2.1  Click on Start->Programs->Help and Support
   2.2  Click on "Report a Millennium bug" at the bottom of
        the page, or click on "Get support" at the top right
        of the page and then click on "Microsoft Corporation"
        on the "Get help from Vendors" page
   2.3  Fill out all fields on bug report form 
   2.4  Add any additional files necessary for the bug report
   2.5  Check the "Save copy to disk" box if you want to save
        a copy of your bug report to disk
   2.6  Beta users who wish to do batch uploads can uncheck
        the "Submit to Microsoft now" checkbox
   2.7  Click on <Done> button or select Alt+D

   Data collection will typically take one to two minutes.
   Creating a CAB file takes a few seconds to many seconds
   depending on how many files you have attached and their
   overall size.  Transmitting the bug file to Microsoft
   takes anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes
   depending on the size of the CAB file and your Internet
   connection speed.


3. HOW TO VIEW SUBMITTED REPORTS

   3.1  Click on Start->Programs->Help and Support
   3.2  Click on "Get support" in top right corner
   3.3  Click on "Check Status..." in the bottom left
   3.4  Scroll up and down as necessary
   3.5  Click on title to see bug report details

   You must have submitted bug reports successfully before
   you will see anything on the "Check Status..." screen.


4. FIX HIGHLIGHTS FOR THIS WEB RELEASE (version 4.90.00.2404)

   4.1  Bug tracking improvements
        * "Check Status" fixed for build 2399 and later
   4.2  User Interface improvements
        * Added link on page to bug reporting link on Winbeta
          web site
        * Bug reporting page version is now displayed at the
          bottom of the page        
   4.3  Data collection improvements
        * Data collection errors are now skipped.  The errors
          are now detected internally and recorded in the
          submitted data.
        * Fixed "Invalid procedure call or argument (5)" error
          for Beta 1
        * Additional log files are now collected from the system
          to assist Microsoft with tracking down causes for bugs:
          hcupdate.log, %windir%\system\wbem\logs\*.log
   4.4  Bug transmission improvements
	None

   If you encounter any data collection errors with this update,
   please post your results to the help_support_tool newsgroup.


5. FIX HIGHLIGHTS FOR PREVIOUS WEB RELEASE (version 4.90.00.2400)

   5.1  Bug tracking improvements
        * Date/time returned with tracking number
        * Incident tracking enabled; you can now view a list
          of the bugs you are submitting by clicking on "Get
          Support" at the top of the HelpCenter and then clicking
          on "Check Status..." at the bottom of the "Get help from
          Vendors" page
        * Ability to Save and/or Submit without two data
          collections taking place
   5.2  User Interface improvements
        * Insertion bar auto-positioned into BetaID field
        * Last edited control maintains focus when you Alt+Tab
          away from bug reporting page and Alt+Tab back
        * Increased field sizes to 2000 characters, except for
          Problem Title, which is 255
        * Auto-add .CAB file extension for saved bug reports
        * If an error occurs in a field, the cursor is auto-
          positioned into the field which caused the error
        * All known script errors fixed
        * Display a list of the default files collected
        * Improved interface for adding attached files
        * Miscellaneous UI enhancements
   5.3  Data collection improvements
        * IE 5.0 data collected for improved symptom tracking
          in Internet Explorer related bugs
        * Operating System version and language collected even
          if "Share this information with Microsoft" is unchecked
        * All attached files are now stored in the CAB file and
          not in the Incident.xml
   5.4  Bug transmission improvements
        * Proxy upload problem (Transmitting 0%) is fixed
        * user.dat and system.dat registry files collected only
          if "Setup" area is selected
	* More detailed transmission status displayed based on
          number of bytes transmitted out of total bytes


6. KNOWN ISSUES

   6.1  This update is not yet localized into the five Beta1
        languages (German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and
        Taiwan)
   6.2  No keyboard access to all controls on the page
        * Text control size buttons
        * List of files collected
   6.3  Privacy links do not work in build 2394 & 2399 [Fixed
        in 2403]
   6.4  Some script errors may still be present
        * Please continue reporting these problems
   6.5  Batch upload script is not user friendly and does not
        integrate with incident history
   6.6  Incident view page is missing some style information
        and does not display like the main Bug Reporting page
   6.7  Title field auto-truncates to 255 characters without
        warning
   6.8  All text fields allow you to type or paste data larger
        than the maximum allowed size limit (e.g. 2000
        characters) and only warn of truncation after
        truncation has occurred
   6.9  No scroll bars on text fields in incident view page
   6.10 Printing all text on bug reporting pages when text
        extends beyond vertical size of text field is
        difficult
   6.11 You must still be connected to the Internet prior to
        submitting a bug, but not prior to launching the
        Help Center
   6.12 There is still a 10MB limit on compressed size of
        uploaded CAB file
   6.13 Submission time stamp is not returned on thank you page
   6.14 No process defined for migrating bug tracking data from
        one build to the next
   6.15 Need to auto-generate saved CAB filename as title plus
        .CAB extension
   6.16 When path to added files exceeds approximately 60
        characters, rightmost portion of path and filename
        are not viewable in add files list
   6.17 Prevent recording of incident when there is not enough
        space on disk to save CAB file
   6.18 Identical files can be added to the add file list
   6.19 <Submit> button name is preferred over <Done>
   6.20 There is currently no way to "save" your page settings
        after exiting the bug reporting page (Beta ID, save to
        disk, etc)
   6.21 Some users are still getting "Active 0%", which
        indicates they have a job stuck in their upload queue

   If you are seeing the "Active 0%" problem, post to the
   help_support_tool newsgroup for assistance.


7. UNSCHEDULED/UNPLANNED FEATURES AND REQUESTS

   We have received requests for other features.  We will
   consider such requests but make no guarantee we will
   implement them.

   7.1  Ability to resolve or close incidents
   7.2  Ability to check on status of submitted incidents
   7.3  Ability to append updated data to a bug
   7.4  Ability to migrate incidents to new Millennium builds
        for clean installs or uninstall/reinstall
   7.5  Ability to go to website to view all Millennium bugs
        or to query on bug titles or bug descriptions
   7.6  Ability to see bug statistics of other users on website
   7.7  Ability to view "Top 100" bugs on website
   7.8  Improved batch upload capabilities integrated into
        incident reporting mechanism
   7.9  Desktop shortcut or Start Menu link to Bug Reporting
        page
   7.10 DOS based bug reporting tools for no boot and Windows
        setup bugs
   7.11 Ability to edit multiple bug reports simultaneously
   7.12 Collect log files or other data specific to problem area
        selected, to further assist with troubleshooting bugs
   7.13 Allow multi-file selection when adding files
   7.14 Full path to CAB file not displayed in incident view
        page
   7.15 No hot link to CAB file from incident view page
   7.16 Implement more intuitive save feature for CAB files


8. BUG FIX SUMMARY

Fixed Build	Date		Title
04.90.00.2404	10/22/99	FIXED : Help Center UI: External link to Microsoft Privacy page does not work
04.90.00.2404	10/22/99	FIXED : BugReport: Need to add link to bug reporting update page
04.90.00.2403	10/22/99	FIXED : HelpCtr Bug Reporting: Incident doesn't show up in check status windows after filing a bug
04.90.00.2404	10/22/99	FIXED : DCR: BugReport: We should display bug reporting page version on the page at the bottom
04.90.00.2404	10/22/99	FIXED : HelpCenter: "Invalid procedure call (5)" error collecting data
04.90.00.2404	10/25/99	FIXED : Bugrep Update: no finished message when brupdate.exe is finished
04.90.00.2402	10/22/99	FIXED : BugReporting: Submission Timestamp not returned upon completion of upload on build 2399
04.90.00.2404	10/25/99	FIXED : Bug Submission Needs to Collect HCUpdate.Log As Part of Standard Escalation
04.90.00.2404	10/25/99	FIXED : We need to collect WBEM logs under %windir%\system\wbem\logs if the folder+logs exist
_______________________________________________________

Post by **squidward_** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:04 pm

I have noticed in the nusrmgr.cpl file in Windows XP, there are lots of .hta, .htm and .js files are packed within the cpl file. Also, what if you could extract the html files from the dll files, and modify or even rewrite the layout of the activity centres? Could this be done and is it practical?

Post by **KenOath** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:02 pm

Well, it looks like the Activity Centers in Millennium may have come out in a build earlier
than I'd thought....
Athough they may just be referring to the HelpCenter only...
In that case, it may still be around the 238x to 241x build that has it...

On August 24, 1999, DR4 (build 2363) was released, an otherwise insignificant release but for the "Beta One" graphic that was added to the shutdown splash screen. Build 2368, which was released on September 9th, offered a tantalizing glimpse at Microsoft's plans for Activity Centers in Millennium, with early (and somewhat lame) versions of Help and Support and System Restore. Two other interim releases followed in the next few weeks.

Post by **squidward_** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:37 am

So, in theory could one of us extract the HTML code from the resources and try and rebuild the activity centres? All you would need is to be skillful in programming HTML, which I am sure many people here are.

Post by **KenOath** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:12 pm

squidward_ wrote:So, in theory could one of us extract the HTML code from the resources and try and rebuild the activity centres? All you would need is to be skillful in programming HTML, which I am sure many people here are.

Unless you have experience with java, then no it won't
be that easy...