It’s been a while since I have updated this blog, but it’s about time. The reason is as I have written earlier that I am currently using Linux rather than Windows, and thus development of a Windows shell is a bit far off for me.
However… I have been approached by Pitkon and asked to join in and help bring bb4win back on the map, and the way I can imagine doing this is by picking up bbClean-ng again, pretty much where I left off. This includes making it compile natively on both Windows and Linux, by abstracting the API enough to allow for native code to do the magic voodoo while the actual shell is oblivious about what is underneath. Creating this bridge could help unite the *boxes and take the concept to the next level.
The only thing that is working against me there is the fact that Xfce is awesome enough to use and enjoy. But then again, writing a cross platform shell/wm is definitely a challenge worth taking on.
So, who would like to contribute?
Hey, Chris, so happy about you coming back! I hope this will be one of the turning points in the recent history of Blackbox! Our main concern as a community, of course, is to see a build that will flawlessly run under Windows 7 and work with all existing plugins. It’s a mammoth task, but I am sure a developer with your credentials can easily handle it. I will gladly help as a tester and style author, since I am no developer myself. I have lots of ideas for new style commands that will make Blackbox even prettier. One question, though: do you plan to use NET?
Don’t worry, I would rather poke my eyes out with a rusty nail than use .NET for this
Lol…
huge BB fan here… I would love to help bringing the BB project back to live!
I’m not really a developer, at least not anymore (I’ve started learning C# on my own but gave it up… I thought at some point that Silverlight will replace flash… yeah, right!)… so no I run a creative agency, mainly I design and develop websites… so my basic skills are html, css, php(not an expert on php) and a bit of JS.
So could my skills be of some use to you?
I miss BB so much! Can’t go back to windows XP… win 7 has almost everything I need, but since I’m a customizing junkie I’ve made a few win7 themes of my own… here you can check’em out: http://dpcdpc11.deviantart.com/gallery/27733975
And now I’m working on a new theme but I don’t think I will finish it cause it’s a hell of a job… literally it’s hell!
I just need my BB back on win 7 but this should be a next-gen BB which could be integrated flawlessly into the aero UI. And the taskbar must have a few win7 features like pinning down the apps or maybe thumbnails preview (this is optional but useful). Is this a mission impossible?
I see that SharpE is onto something but their bad rendering engine which is slow as hell plus the bad font rendering makes the future of SharpE not too bright.
Anyway… if I can help out, please tell me!
Here’s my BB shots which I’ve submitted over time… my vision of BB: http://www.boxshots.org/index.php?action=search&search=dpcdpc11&type=0
I have to say, this is one place I among others I was checking on every now and then to see if anything shiny in the world of Windows BB has occurred. NG had sounded particularly promising. Eventually, with… well… almost no development whatsoever (that I could really see) for years on end, I had given up on seeing anything shiny come out. Then tonight, I decided to go hunting for some new styles, leading me to discover that BB4Win development had suddenly sprouted while my back was turned. Crazy world, we live in