« 1999 News Archive »
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TWO(!) New Themes Released!
6:46:03 AM PDT 5/31/2000
That's right! We have two new themes available over in the themes section <WOOHOO!>
“First” is a new theme by IceKyoob which has been made to work with the latest Release of DarkStep (version .971:). The theme includes not only a .reg file (for your “merging” convenience <he, he>), but also a .dcf (DarkStep Configuration File:) so you can alternatively chose the “Import Settings” option from the DarkStep Console Configuration popup menu; very neat schtuff {:-)
“BlueTwo” is a newly released theme by WilkWare and as a result of feedback from the BlueTwo screen shot (over in the screenshotz section). BlueTwo also includes a .reg file, along with *many* extras, so be sure to take a at it over in the themes section!
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NEW RELEASES !
7:02:10 PM PDT 5/28/2000
Here we go! Fahim has just released a new build of DarkStep, version .971, AND a brand new beta of the DSPopup module :)
Take a look at what's new and\or check out the DarkStep readme file...
The new beta of the DSPopup module now has the same point-n'-click configuration procedure as DarkStep itself! While this *is* a beta build, its also a very nice, stable module that integrates extremely well with the later builds of DarkStep :) Take a peek at the DSPopup readme file and give it a go!
As usual, both new downloads are list in the column to the right... ENJOY!
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Farewell To ChunkyMunky.com :(
5:43:32 AM PDT 5/28/2000
After what I'm sure was a trying ordeal, Yaso (the registered owner of the chunkymunky.com domain) has opted to call it quits <g>! It appears that the bullying tactics of the folks over at Chunky Monkey have prevailed, as Yaso doesn't have the resources to sustain the possible legal battle that may ensue over the claims of copyright infringement, etc., so the content of chunkymunky.com will\has been moved to its new home at DTOP.ORG (let's see if anyone lays claim to that one now <g>)
Here's just a snippet of Yaso's closing comments on the issue:
“We have been forced to move to DTOP.ORG as a result of the following two emails which were received from Linda Bonvie at chunkymonkey.com on May 20, 2000 and from Pauline Comanor of Chunkymonkey.com on May 24, 2000.
The first email accuses Chunkymunky.com of copyright and trademark infringement, and the second purports to waive such "Infringements" under conditions which, in effect, give the accusers control of the content of the site.
Under the circumstances, the owner and staff of Chunkymunky.com feel the only thing we can do is abandon this site and the domain name Chunkymunky.com because we will not give another party control over the site or its content.
Although Chunkymunky.com is fulfilling the terms of the license granted in the second email below, it does not in any way agree with the assumptions implicit in that letter, i.e., that Ms. Comanor has the power or the right to “grant” the use of the domain name or to determine the domain's content or usage.
Our attorney has advised us that he believes we would prevail in a copyright or trademark suit, but he has also advised us that if we were forced to fight the matter in court, the cost could easily run to tens of thousands of dollars.
Because Chunkymunky.com does not have the money to meet Ms. Comanor on her own terms in a court of law, the staff and owner are abandoning Chunkymunky.com, leaving it to serve as a monument to all the current controversies on the Internet between those who have sought to further free use of the net (and who, in fact, built it) and those who would take it over to further their commercial goals.”
And here's all I have to add to that!
To Pauline Comanor and Linda Bonvie:
Its really sad to me that anyone would use this type of manipulation of the law solely to impose their will on others that have done no wrong :( It is equally sad to me that this is the type of people who *think* that they are acceptable roll models for our children to follow <VBG!>!!! All I have to say to you, ms. Comanor and ms. Bonvie (and that is *NOT* a typo, those are lower case m's!), is shame on you! It is really too bad that you can't find a way to spend your time more productively (like designing a real Web site(!) or spending more time raising funds for what you claim is an important cause to you!) than spending it trolling for innocent people who are trying to contribute back to the world something of value. If you have yourselves *convinced* that you are contributing to good causes then consider this: I, for one, will *NEVER* patronize anything that I see your names associated with or see any involvement on your part! While the causes are worthy, I know that there are many *other* ways to contribute than to spend my time, money or effort on anything that you are directly involved with or actively participate in.
This site\domain is dedicated to the DarkStep shell replacement and will never be used as a personal pedestal or political platform, but I felt that this situation was\is a worthy deviation from that goal. I apologize to our regular visitors for deviating momentarily from this stated intent <g> and will now get back on track :)
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ChunkyMunky.com Needs Our Support!
5:15:37 AM PDT 5/23/2000
It seems that corporate America is trying to stomp the little guy once again <VBG> One of my (and many others!) daily visited Web sites is currently entrenched in a battle over the use of the chunkymunky.com domain name.
Background:
chunkymunky.com has been asked to cease and desist from their use of that domain name by Linda Bonvie, apparently some sort of representative of Chunky Monkey®, a registered trade mark. The e-mail that was sent to Yaso (current registrant of the chunkymunky.com domain) alleges:
- Trademark and copyright infringements
- infringement of CHUNKYMONKEY marks, domain name and copyrights
- damaging, potentially defaming, and diluting the mark CHUNKYMONKEY
Yaso, acting in good faith that all of the above may be true and being the nice person that he is, has taken down the content of chunkymunky.com, apparently taking her word for it that:
- This Linda Bonvie person is, in fact, an attorney at law
- Her allegations *may* have some merit
- That she is some sort of voice of authority
Summary:
I emphasis the word asked because in all of the reading that I have done on this issue I have seen no mention whatsoever of any court's involvement to date! This being the case, then it should be noted that this is just a request; no matter how “official” it has been made to sound by some hired mouthpiece, it means nothing more than if you or I were to make the same request!
I also emphasis the word alleged due to the fact that ALL of these allegations are NOT rulings of law! These accusations are merely the viewpoint expressed by one (or a small party of) individual(s) who *may* feel that they have been wronged in some way; it could just as easily be a ploy with the intent of merely drawing attention to themselves in an effort to bolster sales of their product!
If these people are allowed to get away with this, then I guess it would be my next move to take out a trademark on the word “THE” and then sue everyone that used that word in their business name, advertising campaign(s), slogans, movie titles, etc... At least I'd have a better chance of them at least *spelling* the word the same!
I believe this is *exactly* the type of situation the our court system has been addressing over the last two years by refusing to admit cases that the judges deem “frivolous and without merit”; in fact, I would really like to see them (the courts) impose a reasonably stiff fine for this sort of wasting of the courts time!!!
Disclaimer:
The opinions stated here are just that: My opinion, and do not necessarily reflect that of any other person - particularly those mentioned within this article :) This is simply my take on the situation so far, and my little way of encouraging Yaso, and everyone at chunkymunky.com, to require some proof of wrong-doing beyond that of mere accusations and\or questionable allegation. Good luck and know that we're behind you :)
CM Linx:
The contents of the chunkymunky.com site are still being made available at the following URL's:
http://bounce.to/chunky
http://www.allskin.com
http://202.53.44.96/index2.shtml
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New DS .970 Console Explained!
7:15:40 AM PDT 5/18/2000
Just added: An entire page dedicated to explaining the new functionalities of the DarkStep Console included with the latest release of DarkStep.
This is a very detailed explanation of not only the new right-click pop up menu, but each resulting dialog the you will encounter :) Got questions about the new Console feature(s)? Go here first (Also permanently linked on the menu at the top of each page)!
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NEW! .970 Theme by eGarage :)
7:18:55 AM PDT 5/18/2000
eGarage, in his infinite quest for perfection, has a new theme over on the themes page :) “Lexx”, the second of his DarkStep .970-dedicated themes, includes a .reg file, special user-definable shortcuts and several other features. Be sure to check this one out!
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New Screen Shot Submission By CIAo HEIKo
8:14:56 AM PDT 5/18/2000
CIAo HEIKo sent in this new screen shot this morning, along with an offer to put together a theme package if anyone's interested! This is a very nice looking desktop that has a sort of retro look about it :)
Nice job CIAo HAIKo!
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CONFUSSION?
8:22:02 AM PDT 5/17/2000
For those of you that have visited darkstep.com over the past day or so, not to worry :) We have not sold out <g>! Just a minor glitch in the system (I think!) with someone's Name Server (not ours:)...
Apparently someone has mistakenly pointed the darkstep.com domain to the wrong IP <g>, but this should be taken care of post-haste, as I have submitted our change of host to Internic for our new server :)
This post is just to let everyone know that we are not, nor do we have any plans of becoming, affiliated with American Warehouses et al (whoever that is <g>)...
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WareWolf Comes Through Again!
6:12:51 AM PDT 5/16/2000
BIG(!) news on the server front (well, big news for *us* anyway:). After several phone conversations and e-mails with WareWolf (the infamous <g> owner of LiteStep.com :) he has managed to get a new server, “borrow” an IP and has a new connection going in so that LiteStep.com, DarkStep.com and several other domains will be back in business :) I've been uploading this site to the new server (via a temporary connection) during the night, and he has some people working on the DNS configuration even as we “speak” <WOOHOO!>
So, here's the current plan: I'm hoping to come up with a reasonable plan so that we can synchronize the maintenance of *both* the DarkStep.com domain and this mirror site so that if\when one or the other go down you will be able to simply go to the one that's still up :) Of course to make this work you'll need to keep *both* bookmarks\favorites handy, but that shouldn't be a problem :)
I'll try to keep everyone posted on the progress of this new plan as things progress... I'd also like to thank *everyone* for sticking with us throughout these server problems and all of the support that's been shown both privately and through site visit statistics. We'll try our best to just keep it comin' your way!
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New LiteStep Child Is Born
4:31:49 PM PDT 5/15/2000
The big splash on the shell replacement scene today is PureLS, a brand new shell for the Windows platform that is based on the LiteStep 24.5 core. PureLS is being produced by two former LiteStep developers, jugg and Ender, who have also produced a number of the most popular LS Modules.
Here's a couple of comments on the new shell that were posted to the LS mailing list earier today by tin_omen, who has been a beta tester for PureLS since some time in April:
“Hey folks, got some good stuff for folks still running the 'older' LS 112399 build! After a month or so of testing (when they wouldn't let me talk about how much fun I was having with it), Jugg & Ender have released a new shell 'PureLS' (both are former Litestep devs, and have done a metric ton of add-on mods in the past, for folks new on the scene). It's GNU-licensed opensource, written in compliant ANSI-C and Win32 API. Aims to be a small fast lightweight shell-loader. I believe they've also been comparing notes with Fahim, so it should also have some useful cross-compatibliity with DarkStep down the road as well.
Like I said, I've been running it fulltime under 9X, NT4 and Win2K since early April, and it's been solid as a rock for me. At the moment, it's about the most 'LS99'-compatible shell out. It was a very simple upgrade over my old LS99 install.”
Tin_omen also has posted quite a bit of details on the shell at his Desktopian.org site, so go check it out... I know if I was shopping for a new shell I'd certainly have to give PureLS some consideration :)
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NEW! JAVA CHAT PAGE
6:54:56 AM PDT 5/15/2000
There's a couple of new pages on the site this morning :)
First, I put up a Java Chat page (compliments of QuickChat.org) that will hopefully be yet another means of support for DarkStep and help to bolster the good 'ol DS community spirit :)
While I personally am not a big IRC user <g>, this might be useful and fun for some of you so stop by and visit with other DS users.
Please keep in mind though that this is just a test run of the chat page, so be friendly, helpful and let's try to keep this a “G rated” board so that no one can get offended :) Abuse of the channel or others while there will be cause for permanent banning or shutting down the channel altogether, so please play nice :)
PS:
Those of you that are into the whole chat thing can also connect via your favorite chat client to:
chat.planetz.com PORT 7000
And just /join #DarkStep :)
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The Polls Have Moved!
6:50:26 AM PDT 5/15/2000
Had a bit of a time figuring out where I was going to put the polls <g>, so I just followed tin_omen's lead and gave them their own page (thanx for the idea tin!)! This is probably a little more convenient for everyone so you don't have to scroll past the poll information to get to the news <g> AND you can see the results of past polls all on the same page :) So there yuh go!
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And here's Part Three of our Themeing Poll:
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DarkStep .970 Released!!!
5:25 PM PDT 5/12/2000
That's right! The moment has come :) The public release of DarkStep .970 is out, and its great!
This release is a major milestone in DarkStep development as it marks the beginning of built-in graphical configuration! That's right boys 'n girls, you can now load, unload and recycle *individual* modules via a new popup console window :) Not only that, but you can also configure the DarkStep console itself and control which modules are loaded at startup and in what order.
You can read more about .970 and\or read the history file, or you can just download your copy from the menu to the right of your screen :)
There's a couple of things that you should be aware of before installing this major, new version though:
- READ THE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU RUN THE SHELL.
- Be *sure* to backup your existing installation, including your step.rc file(!) first!
- You will need to load your modules via the configuration utility the first time you run DarkStep .970... THEY WILL NOT BE LOADED FROM YOUR STEP.RC FILE! Note that this is a first-run requirement only; once you have initialized the LoadModule process, then they will be loaded each time you start DarkStep from then on :)
That's about it for now. Download, unzip, install and enjoy! And don't forget to HAVE FUN {:-)
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NEW RELEASES!
10:34 PM PDT 5/10/2000
Fahim's done it again :) He's just released not one but TWO new Pre-release candidates!
First is the new Pre-release of DarkStep .970, which includes a few bug fixes and a couple of new features :) All of the previously reported bug have been fixed AND PR4 includes a couple of new !bang commands for bringing up the configuration and loaded modules dialogs... There's also a new radio button on the loaded modules dialog that lets you auto-install module(s) without having to go to the config dialog :)
ADDENDUM:
It seems that the PR4 build has broken pretty much ALL popup modules *except* the new DSPopup PR3 (listed below) :( This will be fixed ASAP but, in the meantime, you might give the new DSPopup module a go {:-) From what I understand it works great!
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Next is the latest build of DSPopup, currently being brought up to the new DarkStep COM standards! While the new pre-release DSPopup is not yet graphically configurable, it soon will be; along with all of the other DarkStep specific modules :)
Grab these new pre-releases from the download menu to the right and enjoy!
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DarkStep .970 PR3 Released!
10:46 PM PDT 5/6/2000
Yup! That's right folks, Fahim has a new Pre-Release build out :)
Here's what's new in this one:
“0.970PR3
* Fixed the Console edit window size not dynamically changing when the Console size is changed
+ Added an option to auto-save the Console position
* Fixed !banglist crashing DarkStep due to the new ATL implementation”
(Quoted from the History.txt file)
Grab your copy from the download menu to the right...
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The LuvBug: What To Do...
8:00:29 AM PDT 5\05\2000
I know, I know... There's more than enough information about this and its all over the 'Net, TV, radio, news papers, etc., etc. <g> :( But I just thought it may be a good idea to make *some* effort to bring this thing back into perspective...
What Is It? The VBS.LoveLetter.A, or “Love Bug” virus may come to you in the form of an e-mail attachment or over an IRC channel through your IRC Client (e.g. mIRC, etc.) that is really a Visual Basic Script which (when opened, and *only* when opened!) will:
- Over-write ALL .jpg, .jpeg, .mp2, .mp3 and possibly other files on your system, retaining the original file names but implanting itself in place of the original file.
- Make certain changes\additions to your Windows Registry.
- Use your e-mail address book (Outlook98+ or Outlook Express, *not* the Windows Address Book - aka WAB) to send itself to everyone with an e-mail address listed there.
- Possibly download an executable file from the Internet that could be even more onerous (details are a bit sketchy right now, but apparently *all* of the servers that made this executable available for download have been taken down in one manor or another:)
In an effort to avoid beating a dead horse, let's just cut to the chase: How you can verify that you *do not* have the virus and, more importantly, how to avoid contracting this beast!
First off, let's make sure that this particular virus does not already exist on your system :) Open you Windows Explorer (the file manager:) and perform a search of ALL drives\partitions (be sure to include “Hidden” files, since Windows (by default) hides .vbs files!) for the following list of files:
- LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.HTM
- Win32DLL.vbs
- LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs
- MSKernel32.vbs
While not an *exhaustive* list of possibly infected files, these are *certain* to indicate a Luv Bug infection and should be deleted ASAP <g>...
If you have not already received the virus, then do the *smart* thing; just say “NO!”. Its still true that e-mail attachments *CANNOT* harm your system if you simply don't open the attachment! :)
Hope this helps some of you... Happy and *safe* computing!
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NEW! .970 PR2 From Fahim!
5:08:48 AM 5\04\2000
Fahim has just released a new beta of version .970 for testing :) This release hopefully fixes the problem(s) people were having with this release candidate and Windows 2000 <g>.
Here's Fahim's comments on this beta:
“Well, it's been a couple of days since the W2K debug build and I did promise people a new release the same day. Unfortunately, the new release got held up a lot longer than I'd thought originally due to two reasons: a) A heavy workload at work. b) Another major overhaul of the internal code which ran into trouble. Anyway, here finally is the build that I promised and I've bumped it up to 0.970 PR2 because the new build has several bug fixes as well as another major overhaul in the internal COM code. So what's different about the COM code? It now uses ATL :-) As to what else is different:
Fixed !bang commands registered by any LS module not working
Fixed the "Loaded Modules" dialog causing DS to crash when no modules were loaded (thanks for finding this bug and all your excellent suggestions jugg!!)
Changed the Console code so that any setting changes would take effect immediately
Fixed minor Console editing annoyances such as not being able to use left/right arrow keys
This is however a build on my work machine (under NT) and I have been told that NT builds are always troublesome :-) So I don't know whether this will work or not but have fun if it does ....”
Enjoy :)
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NEW POLL AND RESULTS :)
6:27:43 AM 5\03\2000
Here we go again! <he, he>
Previous Poll Results!
Themes - Part One: How Often Do You Change Themes (On Average)?
Several Times Per Day = 6%
Every Day = 0%
Once or Twice Per Week = 11%
A Couple of Times Per Month = 25%
I Usually Stick With the One That Works For Me = 54%
Default Theme = 0%
What's A Theme?!?!?! = 1%
Thanx a bunch to ALL who participated! All of this will hopefully help our shell to be all that it can be... Ooops! That's the Navy; Oh well {:-)
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