How do I find out more about LiteStep?
Since LiteStep has been around so long, there are thousands of people who
use the shell today. This huge amount of users have helped to create a
community which involves several web sites, a couple mailing lists, and a
few IRC channels. This page is intended to point you in the right
direction when you're looking to expand your LS knowledge or become more
involved in the community.
LiteStep and News
LiteStep.net
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This is the home to the largest collection of LiteStep themes and
screenshots. You will also find some of the most frequently updated news
on this site.
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LiteStep.com
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LiteStep.com is a great resource for various LiteStep-related material
mostly related to help and documentation.
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LiteStep2000
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LiteStep2000, or LS2k, is one of the best places to get your daily feeding
of LiteStep and shell related news.
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Desktopian.org
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This is a top-notch shell/Win32/alt OS/industry news site. This site has
been around for a long time. When updated it has some of the best news
available, as well as a nicely sized utility and module archive.
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dTOP.org
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Previously known as ChunkyMunky, dTOP is the best place to get news about
various Win32 apps that will give you an alternative to standard
Microsoft products.
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Floach.Pimpin.Net
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Commonly known as FPN, Floach.Pimpin.Net is the original dev site for
LiteStep. It has slowly migrated over to a complete news and resource site
for many shells.
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Mindjunction
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Although the main focus of this site is to have the most ideas and resources
for coders, it also has a nice round-up of coding/shell specific news.
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builds.LiteStep.net
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This is the homepage for all Development Builds and
is your source for the newest Official LiteStep Releases, both
Development and Stable Release.
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LSdev@FPN
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This is a page run by rootrider to release all builds that have changes
committed to the changes.txt. These builds are EXTREMELY bleading edge
and are not approved by the Development Team. However for those wanting
only the newest of builds, this is your place.
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LiteStep Themes
Think of the most useful and intuitive interface imaginable, and you can
probably use LiteStep to create it. These theme sites will help get you
started.
LiteStep.net
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Unquestionably the best place to get LiteStep themes, LS.net has thousands
of LiteStep themes and screenshots.
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LiteStep.com
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LiteStep.com has quite a few LiteStep themes as well that go as far back
as b24 originals and b23 ports.
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Skinz.org
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Skinz, which has been around for years now, has hundreds of LiteStep
themes to pick from, including some that were never uploaded to LiteStep.net
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Deskmod
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With a hundred or so themes, and some very talented artists uploading there,
Deskmod is a great place to check for LiteStep themes.
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LiteStep Modules
Part of what makes LiteStep so useful is the huge amount of modules (or
plug-ins) that are available. LiteStep only comes shipped with a few
modules that perform the basic functions. Here's some sites where you can
find some Third-Party Modules.
Modulo
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Modulo is the official LiteStep module site. Modulo has become a very
complete listing of modules, their step.rc commands, and any associated
information.
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Floach.Pimpin.Net
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FPN houses a complete and up-to-date list of LiteStep modules. This is the
only collection of modules online with multiple builds for each module.
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LiteStep2000
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LiteStep2000 is a very good place to stay up-to-date with new module
releases or anything coming from a module developer.
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Utilities
You will notice as you look at LiteStep themes that there is a lot more to
making the "perfect" desktop than just LiteStep itself. Below you will
find links to the most common Utilities added into LiteStep themes. You
will also find links to Utilities that will make your LiteStep life
easier.
NotePad Replacements
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metapad - Metapad is probably one
of the best notepad-like text editors. It is fast to
load and its interface is almost exactly the same as Notepad's, but it has
those features that you always wished MS had included with Notepad.
Ultra Edit - A very popular text
editor, Ultra Edit supports syntax highlighting and has
several other cool features. You can get the syntax file for LS' Step.rc at
LiteStep2000.
Texturizer - Another
popular Notepad replacement that does support syntax highlighting for
your step.rc file along with many other text file formats.
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Window Skinning Applications
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eFX -
Created by ex LiteStep Developer mian, this is one of the lightest Window
Skinning Applications. However he has sold the source code and the
purchasing company has not continued development. This software is free to
download and use with no nags or expiration.
Chroma - This software is released
by TheMatic software and by far is the most complex Window Skinning
Application. This application runs twenty US Dollars and can be purchased
from their website.
WindowBlinds - WindowBlinds is
a member of StarDock's Object Desktop Enviornment. The WindowBlinds
portion can be purchased seperately from their website for twent US
Dollars.
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TweakUI
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TweakUI is the Official Microsoft Windows Tweaking Utilitity. You will
find hundreds of settings that you can change to enhance the performance
of your copy of Microsoft Windows.
Warning: With any kind of tweaking software you must be extremely careful,
you may break something you hadn't planned on.
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X-Setup
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X-Setup is one of the most popular tweaking utility for Windows. X-Setup
is free, supports plugins, and allows you tweak just about everything in
Windows.
Warning: With any kind of tweaking software you must be extremely careful,
you may break something you hadn't planned on.
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PathCopy
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Path Copy is a useful utility for LiteStep themers. PathCopy adds two
entries to your Windows Explorer context menu when you right-click on
files or folders These entries will allow you to copy the long or short
version of the path of that file or folder to the clipboard. This will
help you as you try and write your step.rc greatly.
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eConsole
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eConsole is a Command Shell replacement that supports Transparency. This
application has many uses including straight command line support for DOS
junkies or just a way to make a nice IRC Interface when used along with
BitchX.
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IconPackager
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IconPackager allows users to create Icon themes so they can be distributed
to other users. You will notice that some LiteStep themes come with Icon
Packager Packages. Icon Packager costs fifteen United States dollars and
is available from the StarDock
Systems Website.
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K-jofol
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This application is a smaller and faster alternative to WinAmp. This
application is one of the more flexible mp3 players around.
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NextSTART
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NextSTART is a powerful, skinnable, and dynamic pop-up menu that can be
used as a replacement or supplement to your LiteStep Popup. NextSTART
also offers an incredible amount of flexibility so that the user can
customize it to his needs and desires. Some of the most powerfull features
include a Powerfull Menuing System that automatically creates the popup
based on paths you specify, a Task manager, Theme Import and Export
capability, Drag and Drop between popup menus, and even more. NextSTART
is Shareware and costs twenty american dollars.
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SysMeter 2
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SysMeter is an application that allows you to monitor system performance
through a configurable, skinnable interface. SysMeter uses themes to
choose what plug-ins to use and alter the look and feel. SysMeter themes
are created using an XML format text file.
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Miscellaneous
LSDev
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This is the official LiteStep Development Team site. This is where all
LiteStep Development Team related news will be posted.
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builds@ls.net
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This is where you can get all the official dev builds, as well as the
current base install. This is where you would go to report bugs to
Development Team Members or find the Latest info on LiteStep via the
Changes.txt file.
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DesktopSource
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In case you ever wanted to take a look at what makes a Windows Replacement
shell you would want to find your way over to DesktopSource. Here you can
find the source code to Replacement Shells, Modules, and other cool
things.
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Mindjunction
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Formerly called Mindstorm, Mindjunction is the reincarnation of one of the
most productive idea sites on the Net. It has expanded to contain ideas for
various shells and their plugins/modules. If you have an idea for a module
to be coded please go here and submit it. By submitting it here you will
have the best chance on getting a module coder to pick it up and do it for
you.
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Wallpapers
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These sites were selected by members of the LiteStep Documentation Effort
for size and usability. These by far are not the only wallpaper sites out
there, nor do they contain the "best" artists out there, just our
favorites.
Digital Blasphemy
Custom Effects
Dekonstrukted
PseudoArt
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Icons
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These sites were selected by members of the LiteStep Documentation Effort
for size and usability. These by far are not the only icon sites out
there, nor do they contain the "best" artists out there, just our
favorites.
M's Factory
Copland
DOT Studio
CleFFie
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Cursors
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These sites were selected by members of the LiteStep Documentation Effort
for size and usability. These by far are not the only cursor sites out
there, nor do they contain the "best" artists out there, just our
favorites.
ORBIT
mWorks Studio
Eyegix Labs
NiceBear
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Other Tweaking Sites
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RegEdit.com
removing Win2k's startup screen
TweakFiles.com
Virtual Plastic
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Help/Mailing Lists
Contrary to the beliefs of some, the LiteStep Community can be a very
help group. Check out some of the places listed below to find help with
all of your LiteStep related problems.
Floach.Pimpin.Net - Tutorials
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FPN has become one of the better places to go for help with specific problems
you might be having with LiteStep. If you are looking for information on
installing or updating LiteStep, or for information that you can't seem to
find anywhere else, you'll probably find it on FPN.
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help.litestep.com
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A complete list of LiteStep core and 3rd party module commands and what
they do.
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LiteStep2000
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LiteStep2000 has several short how-to's that should help you get through
some
problems you might be having with LiteStep.
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LS FAQ
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This is the official LiteStep FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). It's a
great
place for new LS users to go if they're having problems with LS.
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stepForum
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The stepForum is the LiteStep-related message board. There are a
few
hundred people signed up to help answer your questions.
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LiteStep Mailing List
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This is often the place where news is first announced, where problems are
solved, and where the "outsiders" become "insiders". Subscribe to know what's
going on in the LiteStep world. There are over 600 people subscribed to
this list.
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LiteStep STUFF List
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The LS-STUFF List was created to handle any off-topic emails that would
normally be in the LS Mailing List. The list's subscribers consist of some
very knowledgable people to help answer your non-LS related questions.
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XSWeekly
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XSWeekly is an email newsletter sent weekly to your inbox containing all the
news relating to LiteStep, DarkStep, PureLS, ge0Shell, the shell
community,
and alternative OS's from the previous week. Subscribe to keep up with all the
action.
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#LiteStep
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#LiteStep is the biggest most often occupied channel on efnet, but it's
also the worst place to try and find help with LiteStep. #LiteStep is
mainly one big chat channel for LS/shell users.
#LS_Help is the best place to find help with LiteStep on efnet. The
channel exists specifically to help you find the answer to your LS
related questions. It's not always as full as #LiteStep, but there is
almost always someone willing to help you in #ls_help.
Note: You can now find the same great help that you found on EFnet
on the OpenProjects Network along with a few others. For details please
stop in.
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LiteStep Development Team
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This is your one true source for real answers to your LiteStep
problems, however it is your last resort. Many of the problems you
will experience with LiteStep have been experienced by everyone
else.
This goes right to all the members of the Development Team and
should contain a breif description of the problem, release version/date,
running modules, and any applicable external applications.
The Development Team is a very busy group of people so please send only
legitimate bugs/problems on development releases to this address as a last
resort.
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