I have an intrest as well as jonfinpausa to make my windows based machine more less obvious that its a PC and a real digital Jukebox.
Does anybody have an tips?
I know we need to hide the boot login screen
I know we need to hide the login/password screen
I know we need to hide any other messages that popup
I know we need to hide the taskbar and any other windows that might showup
Any other hints or ideas? Im personally running on Windows2k, but Im willing to try XP if needed and maybe even MiniXP or something else that is stripped down. I also use my machine and really like the use of its wireless internet connection for grabbing covers and tagging MP3 files when I do rip.
Hide the login screen...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234562
Disable other messages that pop up....
Go into the control panel and find services and disable the messenger service. You should have this service disabled anyway as it's used for spam attacks etc...
Make freebox the shell....
(Windows 2000)
You will be required to modify the system.ini file to replace the Shell line. Be sure that whatever directory you place the .exe and and supporting files in conforms to the DOS 8.3 naming standard.
Change Boot Screen
(Windows 2000)
http://www.littlewhitedog.com/content-9.html
3rd party software method (Free for none commercial use)
http://www.stardock.com/products/bootskin/
We will also need to hide the Windows is shutting down screen when Freebox is closed or the Jukebox is turned off.
Keep in mind someone will have to be adding new albums to the jukebox so we will need a back door to the desktop so we can load the new music into the computer.
Fish
Quote from: jonfinpausa on April 17, 2007, 06:17:53 PM
We will also need to hide the Windows is shutting down screen when Freebox is closed or the Jukebox is turned off.
Keep in mind someone will have to be adding new albums to the jukebox so we will need a back door to the desktop so we can load the new music into the computer.
Fish
Set up your power management properly and the pc should shut off and not display that screen. If you have a decent motherboard you can also set it to turn on after power loss. This is great because you can shutdown freebox and it shuts the whole pc off. Then when you plug the jukebox machine in it turns on right away no need for a pc power switch.
I used Stardock and it seems to work ok but Id rather hard code it then use a program to make the changes.
Barry, for the shell,
where in the ini do we make the change and are you refering to the path and exe file for freebox?
Fish
Quote from: jonfinpausa on April 17, 2007, 06:21:21 PM
I used Stardock and it seems to work ok but Id rather hard code it then use a program to make the changes.
Barry, for the shell,
where in the ini do we make the change and are you refering to the path and exe file for freebox?
Fish
The line that says shell=
ahhh ok.. DOH !!! LOL and I guess you add the path to freebox.exe right?
Mabye enter hibranate mode instead or soemthing like that?
As for adding new albums I do the following.
Audiograbber to E:\Rips
http://musicbrainz.org/ aka Magic MP3 Tagger to its correct location in the jukebox location
Then I use album grabber which grabs the album cover.
For all intensive puposes the user never sees the desktop. However they would see the file system using the Magic MP3 Tagger and album cover grabber if they look. Heck as well they could using audio grabber.
Ive been looking for a command line way to rip with Audio Grabber, but nobody seems to know how.
You can rip using the command line with this apparently but it's not cheap.
http://www.mystikmedia.com/audiocommander.asp
Here is how to use a Freebox shell in XP
Changing the default shell (all users):
1) open regedit (start menu > run, and type in regedit)
2) go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
3) Change Shell from explorer.exe to the new shell path e.g C:\Program Files\Freebox V2\freebox.exe
4) log out and log back in.
Changing the default shell (only current user):
1) open regedit (start menu > run, and type in regedit).
2) go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
3) add a new string value (Edit > New > String Value) called shell. and set the value to the path of the new shell e.g C:\Program Files\Freebox V2\freebox.exe
4) log out and log back in.
If you shutdown freebox you will need to use ALT+CTRL+DEL to open the task manager then click on file new task and type explorer.exe
This will open a explorer window and you can update or do what you want.Then just restart or use the shutdown in the task manager
Quote from: Barcrest on April 17, 2007, 06:59:36 PM
You can rip using the command line with this apparently but it's not cheap.
http://www.mystikmedia.com/audiocommander.asp
I tried the demo and it gave me a few cant write error messages. Of course that doesn't mean much because my command line switches could be well messed up. I'll play with it some more later and report back.
Thanks for the URL too.
Welp i gave up on command line on that app. Kicked my butt, however I did play with GUI and honestly AudioGrabber is still king and it tags the files correctly unlike the above program.
Welp Im having issues finding a command line ripper, but I did find a command line burner. ;)
http://www.commandburner.com/
You can edit your XP BOOT.ini file to remove the XP splash screen when the computer boots.
change the line to the one listed below, notice at the end its says /noguiboot
thats what takes away the splash screen
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Embedded" /fastdetect /noguiboot
Im still working on the welcome screen, I would love to replace that with my own graphic screen like loading freebox jukebox
I posted how to get rid of the welcome screen... you need one account which is admin with no password and it will log right in...
My only problem is the Welcome screen and the shutdown screen.
I cant find the welcome screen in the register.I only have one user Administrator with no password and I still get the welcome screen for about 3 seconds.
And all the shutdown screens.This will be register hack to make them go away, we just have to find them.
Fish
I'm on it. I'll let you know if I find a way to deal with this.
Jonfin
You can use tweak tools from Microsoft to bypass the welcome screen, you can also use stardock to
setup the bootscreen. I have my box setup this way, but I also have the explorer background set to match my boot screen and I have "Show Desktop Icons" checked OFF. This gets me as close as I think I can get to a non-Windows looking system. The only time I see M$ screen is when exiting the system. My interest in running FreeBox as a shell would be to speed up boot time and remove as much bloat as possible, I think you can use the tools I mentioned to get a M$ free looking system for the most part.
I also use nlite to trim the whole OS down as much as possible.
Woody
Yup !! did all that and I have a os which is 125 megs and uses 13 megs of RAM.
My problem now is I see the word Welcome with a blue background for about 5 seconds before my freebox shell starts, and when I shut down the system I see the widows xp is shutting down crap.
I would love to do the whole thing in Linux, but that will take alot of time and I dont think Barry is willing to take on that project...thats ok tho he is doing a great job on the windows platform.
I have a lead on a product called WEPOS. supposed to be a stripped out version of xp with you being able to use you own program like Freebox or a POS package.Ill let you know.
Fish
Hi Everyone
I also used Stardock in the beginning but I needed to remove it because for some reason I had problems with shutdown when I used Stardock. I have tried it a few times now with the same result. It doesn't always have the problem, I would say maybe every fifth time it tries to shutdown it stalls.
Do anybody els experience the same thing?
Coffee
sorry coffe, I didnt use any third party packages becuase of these kinds of issues.
Im really trying to do it with all hard code register hacks, and Im sure we can, we just have to work at it a little.
Fish
No visual of XP OS ... ZERO
here it is boys ;D
The hack to make freebox your shell.
Step 1: Click Start > Run > regedit
Step 2: Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon
Step 3: In the right pane, find and double-click Shell
Step 4: Change explorer.exe to the complete path of your freebox install
(Note:Default location is) C:\Program Files\Freebox V2\freebox.exe
Next do this:
Set up Windows to Auto-Logon and not display any messages during boot-up and shutdown.
Step 1: Click Start > Run > regedit
Step 2: Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ policies \ system \
Step 3: In the right pane, find and double click DisableStatusMessages
Step 3b: If you do not have it, click Edit > New > DWord Value. Name the new DWord as DisableStatusMessages
Step 4: Double click DisableStatusMessages and change the value to 1 and hit OK
Auto Logon Windows
Step 1: Click Start > Control Panel > Display > Screensaver
Step 2: Uncheck On resume, password protect (if you have a screensaver set)
Step 3: Click the Power button followed by the Advanced tab
Step 4: Uncheck Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby
Step 5: Using the Microsoft Powertoy called Tweak UI, select Logon > AutoLogon ( its free download it )
Step 6: Enter your username and password (if any) and hit OK
To Make the Logon Screen Black/Not Shown
Step 1: Click Start > Control Panel > Display > Desktop
Step 2: Change the wallpaper to None and select the color black
Step 3: Click Start > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change the way users log on or off
Step 4: Uncheck Use the Welcome screen
Step 5: Using the Microsoft Powertoy called Tweak UI, select Logon > Settings
Step 6: Check Colors & Wallpaper and hit Copy Now followed by OK twice
Hint: If you would like to have your logon screen display a picture instead of just a solid color, change your desktop background to the desired picture.
Using TweakUI > Logon > Settings, select Wallpaper and click Copy Now. When you reboot, your current picture will be shown while the computer is Auto-Logging In.
Now set Freebox to shutdown computer ATX option and Wah La...no more windows ever !!!
Oh so you want to know why your desk top is blank when you exit Freebox.Because of your shell but dont panic just hit
ALT+CTRL+DEL to launch the task manager and then click file <new task> and type in explorer.exe
Two days long Im having a cold brew !!! dont bother me 8)
LOL J/K
Fish
That needs to go in the manual. Well done fish
Thanks Bro... It was a bi%tch but I got er
Im waiting for someone to post a cool graphic to replace the blank screen.
LOL hehehhe
Fish
Git R Done !!!
:o
Why not just use a kick butt Freeboxjukebox image? I'd gladly sport that on my jukebox.
As for the manual I'll make it happen too. ;)
Im assuming thats all for XP at least Im thinking it is hahaha.
NOPE !!! It will work in your 2k box as well, you might have to poke around in the register a bit as 2k moved a few things.But everything else will work
Fish