geek.menu version 0.7.1 - category support & general bugfixes

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August 30, 2007 - 10:38pm

maggotb0y

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geek.menu version 0.7.1 - category support & general bugfixes

update version 0.7.1 (fixed scrolling with categories and hidden apps)

geek.menu is a portableApps Menu replacement targeted towards a more technical audience. Some of the features (TrueCrypt support) rely on administrative access. It is also not tested on versions of Windows prior to XP or under Wine. It also includes some features that may not perform well on slower drives. A base level of technical knowlege will be required to install, please backup your drive and read these instructions completely and carefully before installing. Here is a quick list of the changes from the portableApps Menu.

features
- a search bar with portable history that will search google, google maps, google images, google products, and wikipedia, as well as lauch local programs, files and directories
- geek.menu allows you to control how many applications are displayed on the menu
- you can personalize the label displayed on geek.menu
- you can add custom buttons to the right panel which will open files or directories
- any batch files stored in the \PortableApps\PortableAppsBackup\Data\personalBackups folder will be displayed on the backup drop down menu
- wallpaper information for different pcs is stored so that if the drive is not properly ejected, the next eject will fix it
- multiple wallpaper files can be stored as jpgs in the \Documents\Pictures\wallpaper directory- geek.menu will randomly choose one, and you can switch it periodically from the options menu
- geek.menus tray icon can refresh itself to the left of other displayed menu items
- You can create a list of applications to automatically run upon insertion new in 0.7 this is now supported through the settings dialog.
- You can point to an eject script located on the PC to dismount the truecrypt volume and eject the USB drive (this is currently not very well documented, and I will be releasing a utitlity that will do the above).
- new in 0.7- support for categories is included. Only one level of category support is included for now, this may change in future versions.
- new in 0.7- an experimental ejection application that will exit running apps, dismount your truecrypt volume and eject your USB drive is included (must be copied to PC). Note that this is experimental and has not been widely tested- please back up regularly until you are reasonably certain this feature is working for you..
security
- it is possible for geek.menu to mount a truecrypt volume and run apps and directories from that drive.
- geek.menu maintains a list of "authorized" pcs- if you run the menu you have some options as to what you want to do, including displaying contact info, not mounting the truecrpt volume, etc.
- if you are using the authorized PC list, geek.menu can run applications from the unencrypted drive on unauthorized PCs, so you can maintain a seperate set of applications and settings for use on unknown pcs, thus bypassing issues with Truecrypt's requirement for administrative priveleges.

This is a preliminary release- late alpha or early beta, and the code is not very clean yet. However, I think that some of the features included will be of general interest to the PA community. Try it out and let me know what you think.
General installation instructions:
Without TrueCrypt functionality
Back up your existing autorun.inf file from the root of your drive. Simply extract the included files to the root of your USB drive, the distributed files include an autorun.inf which will display the launcher upon insertion. The first time you run geek.menu, a settings dialog will appear.
To get TrueCrypt functionality
extract the included files to the root of your USB drive, the distributed files include an autorun.inf which will display the launcher upon insertion. Use TrueCrypt to create and encrypted volume on the USB drive (see TrueCrypt's website for instructions.) Install whatever portableApps.com distribution you prefer to this location (the portableapps.com menu will not be run from this location unless you do so manually.
Eventually, the geek.menu settings dialog will inteligently correct entries in the TrueCrypt section, but for now, here is a guide to the truecrypt options under geek.menu.

TrueCrypt Volume- enter the path starting from the root of your drive without any preceeding drive letter, colon or backslash. For example "TrueCrypt\portable.vol", not "x:\TrueCrypt\portable.vol" or "\Truecrypt\portable.vol"
TrueCrypt Executable- enter the path to the executable from the root of your drive with a proceeding backslash. For example (as distributed) "\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe", not "TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe" or "x:\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe"
TrueCrypt Keyfile- if you want to include a kefile location from the local pc, this will add security at the cost of portability. Enter the full path to the file here. There is absolutely no point to setting this if you point to a file on the local drive, so don't do it.
Preferred TrueCrypt Drive Letter- Your Truecrypt volume will try to mount on this drive letter if it is available.
Assume TC mounted if drive letter present- if you have set the menu to mount the volume as "X" and geek.menu is run on a computer with an "X" drive, it will use that drive instead of mounting the volume. This is of some use for testing purposes, but you may not want to generally use this.
Cache TrueCrypt Passwords in Driver- if this is checked, TrueCrypt will auto mount the volume each time the drive is inserted, even if the wrong password is typed the second to nth time around untill it is rebooted. See TrueCrypt's website for more info.

Notes:
The included theme is a modified version of NeoRame's "neo" theme (included with NeoRame's permission), and is currently the only theme which will work properly with geek.menu.
This product includes TrueCrypt, freely available at http://www.truecrypt.org/. It is distributed under section II of the TrueCrypt license.
This package contains icons or portions of icons copyrighted by the Tango Icons Project and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. The icons for the Google buttons and wikipedia are covered by the Mozilla Public License. The icons for geek.menu and any other icons distributed with this program may be freely modified and redistributed.
You can see a screenshot here and download the project here

August 30, 2007 - 11:14pm

Patrick Patience

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So ummm...

I'm not gonna read that all, but I'll download it.

Cool. Looks cool.

August 30, 2007 - 10:54pm

Zach Thibeau

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Hmm

I noticed that it looks like that you based it off PortableApps.com Platform 1.1.4 you should (Just a suggestion) incorporate some of xrxca's category code from his mod

your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau

August 31, 2007 - 6:30am

(Reply to #3) #4

maggotb0y

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Re: Hmm

Category support is definitely a big thing missing from PAM, but I don't want to spend a lot of time working out category support, only to have it non-compatible with PAM 1.2.
So till John publishes the details on how that will work, I've uptdated categorizer (with all it's flaws) to work with PAM or geek.menu.

August 31, 2007 - 9:32am

(Reply to #4) #5

OliverK

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I can't get it to run

I double clicked on the menu and the initial setup came. I then double clicked on it, but no icons. I did this on my desktop.

I moved it to my flashdrive, and changed out most of the folders (the ini from porrtableapps, the portablapps menu folder). I then reinserted my drive, and the autorun came up. I clicked on the run Geek Menu, but I didn't get anything.
When I remove my drive, it does so without qualms.

What'd I mess up?
*EDIT*
The permissions. Ugh. Can this peacefully co-exist with the PAM menu?

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

August 31, 2007 - 9:35am

(Reply to #5) #6

Keviin_

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did u add your computer to

did u add your computer to the list of "Known Computers"? if u didn't and u picked the "Display Owner Info and Quit"; i thnk it doesn't load. cause it tries to display ur info but there isn't any and the menu it ment to quit cause there ur computer isn't on the list. so jus try and recopy a newly extracted copy of the menu to ur drive

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August 31, 2007 - 9:44am

(Reply to #6) #7

OliverK

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Yeah

Just caught that.
Thanks though

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

August 31, 2007 - 10:38am

(Reply to #7) #8

maggotb0y

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Permission

Yeah, I'll have to change the defaults to something that will run without having to authorize the PC. As I said, it's an early release, cleanup will include a closer look at the default options.

I'm not sure what you mean by asking if it can peacefully co-exist with the PAM menu. If you can clarify, I'll comment.

August 31, 2007 - 10:48am

(Reply to #8) #9

OliverK

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Sure, I'll try

By peacefull coexist, I mean that they are happy on the same drive together and not kill each other or mess each other up. I've found that to some extent they don't, becuase geek.drive show up in the PAM menu. I'll probaly get around it by renaming it unistaller.exe, exploiting PAM programming.

Maybe I should edit my posts when I find my answers.

They other question is how would I setup the autorn to show both options- the PAM menu and the Geek Menu?

As I said at the bottom, it looks good, although I'm curious why the menu has a button in the taskbar (when the menu is up). I espicially like the extra folder support in the menu.

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

August 31, 2007 - 10:54am

(Reply to #9) #10

Keviin_

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you can't set up the autorun

you can't set up the autorun to show the two menu. sumhow window doesn't allow you to display more then one user defined autorun options. that's kinda stupid if you ask me :S

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"A $5000 Computer... and it can't do a task as simple as killing Flanders!" -Homer

September 27, 2007 - 7:59pm

(Reply to #10) #11

maggotb0y

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Autorun

Well, I'm not sure what you can do with the autorun.inf, but you can certainly leave geek.menu in the autorun, and add PAM to an autorun.lst file- when geek.menu starts it will fire up PAM for you.

August 30, 2007 - 11:09pm

#12

John T. Haller

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Licensing Violation

I'm pretty sure that the Jedi Code Library components you're linking to are under an MPL-only license (not dual licensed MPL/GPL). This is incompatible with the GPL and, thus, it cannot be combined with GPLed code (the PortableApps.com Menu is GPL licensed). I'm not 100% sure as you haven't included the source for them and I can't find the specific files through a quick search online.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

August 31, 2007 - 10:34am

(Reply to #12) #13

maggotb0y

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Jedi Code Library

Sorry for the length of the post, but I'm quoting extensively from the GNU website.

Okay, it looks like you may be correct. I'm editing my comments because I originally thought the violation was with the MPL, but instead it is with the GPL- it looks as though it may be inappropriate to link to an MPL library within a GPL'ed program. Gah. So much for "free" software.

Here is the take on this from gnu.org (link)

If the libraries that you link with fall within the following exception in the GPL:

However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

then you don't have to do anything special to use them; the requirement to distribute source code for the whole program does not include those libraries, even if you distribute a linked executable containing them. Thus, if the libraries you need come with major parts of a proprietary operating system, the GPL says people can link your program with them without any conditions.

So if "normally distributed" means that because an "extras" cd that came with BDS had the JVCL and the JCL in it (did with mine) then I'm legal, although there is certainly a bit of ambiguity here. If you're not comfortable with that ambiguity, please let me know and I will pull the link to the program. It is certainly not my intention here to violate the license or step on your feet.

If you were so inclined to remove that ambiguity, you could do so by adding something similar to this phrase to your license:

If you want your program to link against a library not covered by that exception, you need to add your own exception, wholly outside of the GPL. This copyright notice and license notice give permission to link with the program FOO:

Copyright (C) yyyy

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA

Linking ABC statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on ABC. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole combination.

In addition, as a special exception, the copyright holders of ABC give you permission to combine ABC program with free software programs or libraries that are released under the GNU LGPL and with code included in the standard release of DEF under the XYZ license (or modified versions of such code, with unchanged license). You may copy and distribute such a system following the terms of the GNU GPL for ABC and the licenses of the other code concerned, provided that you include the source code of that other code when and as the GNU GPL requires distribution of source code.

Note that people who make modified versions of ABC are not obligated to grant this special exception for their modified versions; it is their choice whether to do so. The GNU General Public License gives permission to release a modified version without this exception; this exception also makes it possible to release a modified version which carries forward this exception.

You should put this text in each file to which the exception applies.

Only the copyright holders for the program can legally authorize this exception. If you wrote the whole program yourself, then assuming your employer or school does not claim the copyright, you are the copyright holder--so you can authorize the exception. But if you want to use parts of other GPL-covered programs by other authors in your code, you cannot authorize the exception for them. You have to get the approval of the copyright holders of those programs.

When other people modify the program, they do not have to make the same exception for their code--it is their choice whether to do so.

Personally, I would encourage you to do this for the JCL and JVCL. These are both licensed under the MPL and will allow some innovation within PAM with little impact, and the statement would clear up any ambiguity that exists above.

BTW, I needed to turn to the JVCL to get around transparency bugs in Delphi once I added an XP manifest.

August 31, 2007 - 11:37am

(Reply to #13) #14

John T. Haller

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Not for now / Please remove it

I'd need to investigate the JCL first. I haven't used it, myself.

I really have a low opinion of the MPL on its own unless it is dual licensed with the GPL or LGPL (like Mozilla's apps, which they had to do due to pressure from the community). And I think it's rather odd that the JCL isn't dual licensed, owing to the fact that the GPL is the single most popular open source license in the world.

So, for now, you'll have to pull it and not distribute it further as it is definitely violating the GPL and, thus, my and xrxca's copyrights.

I've overcome the transparency issue with the XP manifest with an interesting workaround in 1.1 Beta 5. It's already done, actually... I'm just still working on some theming stuff. It's also a step towards supporting unicode.

Don't scrap the work you've done by any means. Some of the features are already being incorporated into later versions of PAM (Truecrypt support courtesy of SmithTech's work, possibly a search box though the placement will be different). The ability for the menu to expand and contract is a bit unlikely due to theming complexity especially once we introduce "advanced" theming in 1.2... and it will be less important once we get categories support in 1.2 as well.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

August 31, 2007 - 12:00pm

(Reply to #14) #15

maggotb0y

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Okay, I've pulled it

Any chance I could get a look at the workaround in beta 5? If you're not going to allow an exception, I'd like to repost a non JVCL/JCL version. I'm assuming you can get my email from my profile if you'd rather not post it to the general public yet.

On another note- personally, I'm not a huge fan of the GPL. The issues with the MPL are actually coming from the GPL side, not the MPL. The GPL is actually very restrictive compared to many of the other OSI licenses. However, I recognize that it provides you as an author with more control and ownership of your work, and I respect your decision to release it under the GPL. Indeed, I'm glad you have, as otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to tweak it to my needs.

Thanks,
-xopher

August 31, 2007 - 7:39am

#16

Keviin_

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hmm.. nice work. i like the

hmm.. nice work. i like the resizing option and the search. though i wished it was moded using xrxca's menu. haha i wells this is still good :D. umn there a little problem though, the exit button it positioned right on the edge of the menu.

Oh and i made a vista theme for your GeekMenu. Find it here. It's at the bottom of the other Vista theme

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"A $5000 Computer... and it can't do a task as simple as killing Flanders!" -Homer

August 31, 2007 - 10:00am

#17

OliverK

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Why . . .

does it put something in the taskbar?

Is there a way to have both menus pop up at the autorun?

I like the additional folder button support and drive search support. (something positive for a change). I also like that you can adjust the amount of displayed programs.

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

August 31, 2007 - 12:05pm

#18

sergentsiler

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lets not call it...

a replacement but more of a "techie version" of the PAM. saying that it is a replacement is kinda insulting to the PAM and everyone who works on it.

Zoop

August 31, 2007 - 12:07pm

(Reply to #18) #19

sergentsiler

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also Keviin..

i clicked on your link to see the vista theme and i got an acsess denied message. wazzup?!?

Zoop

August 31, 2007 - 7:02pm

(Reply to #19) #20

Keviin_

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what? really? there's two

what? really? there's two download links try both of them. if you're talking abt the image then well it should display. i reuploaded it.

_________________________
"A $5000 Computer... and it can't do a task as simple as killing Flanders!" -Homer

August 31, 2007 - 7:06pm

(Reply to #20) #21

Patrick Patience

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No.

The actual page Node 8086 won't load.

August 31, 2007 - 7:14pm

(Reply to #21) #22

Keviin_

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lolz weird ahah well here it

lolz weird ahah well here it is:

--GeekMenu Vista Theme--
This is for maggotb0y's GeekMenu

Download From Rapidshare.com [.pat.exe]
Download From Mediafire.com [.pat.exe]
Screenshot From ImageShack.us

and i thnk it because my theme post disappeared.WDH? O_O" this happened to me many times. after editing it, it jsut disappears. i have to find a llink to it again and removed the last thing i edited to be able to make it appear agn. O_O?? can anyone help me on this?

_________________________
"A $5000 Computer... and it can't do a task as simple as killing Flanders!" -Homer

August 31, 2007 - 7:16pm

(Reply to #22) #23

Patrick Patience

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Weird.

What my ACTUALT TTCalc Portable launcher isn't good enuff for you?

(it looks like you've got the one the author made there)

August 31, 2007 - 7:22pm

(Reply to #23) #24

Keviin_

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oh haha really? u have one

oh haha really? u have one too? well link me to it, haha. that's not my main usb though, i just stuff everything in there to test them out.

is anyone a moderator here? can u please tell me why my post dissapeared

_________________________
"A $5000 Computer... and it can't do a task as simple as killing Flanders!" -Homer

August 31, 2007 - 7:26pm

(Reply to #24) #25

Patrick Patience

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Just Search.

TTCalc Portable on here, you'll find it. I think I'll do an update with his version Tho I'm planning to released SpeedCrunch.

August 31, 2007 - 7:32pm

(Reply to #25) #26

Keviin_

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i went here to download

i went here to download TTCalc Portable and it says The requested URL /downloads/TTCalcPortable.paf.exe was not found on this server.
_________________________
"A $5000 Computer... and it can't do a task as simple as killing Flanders!" -Homer

_________________________
"A $5000 Computer... and it can't do a task as simple as killing Flanders!" -Homer

August 31, 2007 - 7:35pm

(Reply to #26) #27

Patrick Patience

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Haha.

True enuff.

I'll just do SpeedCrunch then.

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September 5, 2007 - 9:56pm

#28

maggotb0y

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Update Notes

Reliance on the JVCL has been removed from geek.menu since the GPL doesn't allow projects to include MPL code.

For now XP theme support is off, but I'll get that working at some point.

If you had configured the previous version, any TrueCrypt settings will be wrong, you'll be best off to delete the geekmenu.ini file and start again.

September 5, 2007 - 10:08pm

(Reply to #28) #29

Zach Thibeau

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Awesome

Are you going to implement some of Xrxca category code
-----------------------------
"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" Isaac Asimov
My Personal Blog in the making at a new address thibeaz.com

your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau

September 6, 2007 - 10:15am

(Reply to #29) #30

maggotb0y

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RE: Awesome

Sorry, my answer hasn't really changed since last week. If you want category support for now, you can use categorizer and break "App Data" backups (docs and complete will still work fine) or you can uses Xrxca's stuff.

At this point, I'm willing to wait for some word from John on how categories will work in 1.2 or 2 or whatever the next version is rather than coding and then re-coding support for categories. If enough time passes, I may re-consider, but for now this works fine for me.

September 6, 2007 - 3:27pm

(Reply to #30) #31

Zach Thibeau

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Ohh ok

Ok then
-----------------------------
"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" Isaac Asimov
My Personal Blog in the making at a new address thibeaz.com

your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau

September 11, 2007 - 10:18pm

#32

maggotb0y

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Update 1 notes

includes:
new features

fixed rendering bugs when adding and removing applications.
geek.Menu now supports sizing based on the ammount of applications installed- Minimum and Maximum thresholds can be configured. (in future releases this should be corrected based on screen size). This introduces a minor glitch with form positioning (only when adding or removing app) and will be dealt with in a future update.
Changed the right click menu for putty to read sessions from the Portable PuTTY\sessions\ directory after discovering Xming Portable Putty, which is a way better way to handle putty on a portable drive (supports multisession and is currently actually updated against official releases, unlike portaputty)
Includes a "startGeekMenu.exe" and source

code cleanup
while i haven't done much to clean the code itself, i've started moving changes into sections which should make it easier to manage future merges against mainstream portableApps menu releases.
still to come
the next release will focus on general usability- the settings screen is still not all it should be- as well as (hopefully) a merge with the next beta menu.

September 24, 2007 - 11:02pm

#33

maggotb0y

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New update (version 0.7)

Okay, this update has been a while coming, but I've added category support, which quite a few people seem to want (although sub-categories are not supported at this point).
This version is functionally close to a version 1.0, although the code still needs a little more cleanup, and there may be a few more tweaks. But right now, all the options are supported via the advanced options dialog box, so there's no more manually reading source or editing the ini files by hand.
Also added is a an eject application that can handle ending exiting running apps, dismounting your truecrypt volume and ejecting your USB drive. GeekEjector.exe must be copied to the local PC to function, and geekMenu supports attempting to copy and run to "authorized pcs" automatically.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

September 25, 2007 - 4:09pm

(Reply to #33) #34

OliverK

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Well . . .

use 7-zip to pull it out.

When ever I utilize catagory support, it will give an error if I scroll down to the end of the menu. Minimizing the menu clears this problem usually. This problem only occurs when I am utilizing the catagory support.

Also I can't get catagaory support to finction properly.

THIS IS FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!!
thankyou for such good work
******************************************
There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand Binary
and Those who don't

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

September 25, 2007 - 8:01pm

(Reply to #34) #35

maggotb0y

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Scrolling error

Hmm, we'll have to see if I can reproduce the issue. Can you send me the contents of your geekmenu.ini as well as a listing of applications installed?

Also, the exact text of the error may be helpful.

Thanks,
-xopher

September 25, 2007 - 9:27pm

(Reply to #35) #36

OliverK

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[TrueCryptOpts]VolumePath=E

[TrueCryptOpts]
VolumePath=
ExePath=
PreferredDrive=p
KeyFile=
cachePasswords=^•vw‹
assumeTrueCryptMountedIfDrivePresent=H
[DisplayOptions]
keepIconToTheLeft=False
menuTitle=OliverK's Menu
maxButtonCount=20
minButtonCount=17
[MenuOptions]
unauthorizedRunMode=runUnencrypted
useTrueCrypt=False
ejectCommand=
ejectCommandParams=
copyEjectorToLocalPC=False
[OwnerInfo]
ownerLine1=XXXXXXXXXXXX
ownerLine2=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
ownerLine3=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
[CustomButton1]
label=Blowguns
icon=talaxian.ico
path=\Documents\Blowgunning

That's the ini file. When I set a catagory, say, Gaming, it would add this (as you know but I'm trying to be helpful)

[Ctg_0]
Name=Gameing
Caption=Gameing
Folder=folder.ico

http://www.geocites.com/mr.soup12/portableapps.html is a list of what I have on there. Yeah its alot.

Not that when I reload the menu, it doesn't always have that cats (at least I think it doesn't, I had trouble with it before.

When I scroll all the way to the bottom, it used to give the a scrolling error that doesn't come up anymore.

Unfournately, in trying to reproduce the error on another computer, I can't get it to do so. It did occur (on two other computers) but doesn't happen at this one. I'll keep trying to get it happen thanks for the help. Sorry for jerking you around like this.

I am also using your catagory cheats in this menu.

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

September 26, 2007 - 6:29am

(Reply to #36) #37

maggotb0y

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Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

May have reproduced error

Under certain conditions when scrolling with a category expanded, you'll get a "List index out of bounds" error. Is this what you were seeing?

It'll probably be a day or so before I can get a fix for this posted. In the meantime, if you get cursed by it, "Refresh App Icons" is your friend .

September 27, 2007 - 11:18am

(Reply to #37) #38

OliverK

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Last seen: 2 years 3 months ago

Joined: 2007-03-27 15:21

Yeah, that's exactly

Yeah, that's exactly it.
******************************************
There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand Binary
and Those who don't

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

September 25, 2007 - 4:50pm

#39

powerjuce

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Last seen: 12 years 7 months ago

Joined: 2007-09-20 21:34

um..

how do i get the new versions of the menu?
And the one I have gives me an error every time I try to use TrueCrypt even though I have admin privileges.

Please search before posting. ~Thanks

September 25, 2007 - 8:04pm

(Reply to #39) #40

maggotb0y

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Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

New versions

The link at the top points to the new version. (As of 0.7, the version number will be correct for new releases, so you can always double check that). Until I hit a 1.0 release, I'm not going to bother with historical release maintenance.

What error are you getting from Truecrypt and what are the settings for the Truecrypt page under advanced options? If you originally installed before the non-JVCL version came out, the obfuscation of the truecrypt settings has changed, so you'll need to reset those.

September 26, 2007 - 7:39am

(Reply to #40) #41

powerjuce

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Last seen: 12 years 7 months ago

Joined: 2007-09-20 21:34

thanks

hey thanks that worked

Please search before posting. ~Thanks

September 26, 2007 - 3:31pm

(Reply to #41) #42

M-T-P

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Last seen: 15 years 10 months ago

Joined: 2007-09-26 15:29

dead zip

I keep getting messages that the zip file is corrupt when I try to download it.

September 27, 2007 - 9:33am

(Reply to #42) #43

powerjuce

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Last seen: 12 years 7 months ago

Joined: 2007-09-20 21:34

Use 7zip rather than the

Use 7zip rather than the windows extractor

Please search before posting. ~Thanks

September 27, 2007 - 8:01pm

(Reply to #43) #44

maggotb0y

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Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

ZIP file is now pzip standard

I've fixed my build routine, so starting with 0.7.1 and moving forward, the zip should open with Winzip, Windows, etc.

Sorry about that.

September 27, 2007 - 9:51am

(Reply to #44) #45

Zach Thibeau

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Last seen: 11 months 1 week ago

Joined: 2006-05-26 12:08

Nice

It's comming along nicely. I tried the truecrypt portion and never really got it going but I think thats an error on my part, and I am glad you decided to use some categories on your build :). Plus I really enjoy the search features you included.
-----------------------------
"I don't fear Computers. I fear the lack of them" Isaac Asimov
My Personal Blog in the making at a new address thibeaz.com

your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau

September 27, 2007 - 3:40pm

#46

M-T-P

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Last seen: 15 years 10 months ago

Joined: 2007-09-26 15:29

Run both encrypted and unencrypted apps

I seem to be a little confused on how to run both TC encrypted apps and non-TC unencrypted apps from the same menu. When I launch geek.menu and enter the appropriate TC info, I get a list of all of the apps on the encrypted drive. When I launch geek.menu and select the option to run unencrypted, I get a list of all of the apps on the unencrypted drive. How do I get the list of unencrypted apps to show up WITH the encrypted apps when running in encrypted mode without having to make duplicate copies of the handful of unencrypted apps in both locations?

Also, any plans to build in the ability to run batch files or individually select specific applications to place in the menu? I know there are workarounds with Bat2Exe programs, but I think that is one of the greatest features of the SmithTech menu even though I love GeekMenu better now.

Thanks, and awesome program BTW!
M-T-P

September 27, 2007 - 7:59pm

(Reply to #46) #47

jwyanze

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Last seen: 9 years 8 months ago

Joined: 2007-08-08 00:44

Took the words right out of my mouth

well i got the TC to work "thibeaz" but what u said "M-T-P"

"How do I get the list of unencrypted apps to show up WITH the encrypted apps when running in encrypted mode without having to make duplicate copies of the handful of unencrypted apps in both locations?"
is one thing, i also would like to know.

And i don't know if it is just me but how do u use the autorun applications tab in the menu options. I would like to be able to test that out. instead of using the my autorun.inf and my autorun MS-DOS batch file that took from PAM menu and modified to work with geekMenu.

so far every thing else seems to be working fine.
Oh and the eject script. Was it meant to close all running apps. because i tryed it out and it worked fine.
But i also tryed with all the apps from the TC container opened and
1) i got an error not shore which app it was from but quickly went away after i pressed "ok".
2) i installed an old copy or PAM lite so i got Gaim portable. it did not exit after the TC container was unmounted and also after the flash drive was ejected.and it was still running?? maybe it was running stright out of memory.

ok that is it. sorry for the long post....well my longest post. every thing seems to be fine. another great program comes out of this site u seem to be putting in most things that John is against...like converting .jpg to .bmp. that is all i would say. great app;)

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

September 27, 2007 - 8:59pm

(Reply to #47) #48

maggotb0y

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Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

misc

combining app lists
see my post addressing this below.

autorun apps
Looks like the gui isn't quite working for this yet (it lets you edit but not add), but you can cheat by editing an autorun.lst file to the root of your encrypted partition. Each line in this should be formatted as follows

1) a hyphen character (-) if you'd like the app to run minimized
2) the path of the application in quotes excluding drive letter and colon
3) any parameters that need to be passed

for example
-"\PortableApps\portablePutty\putty.exe" -load secureProxySession

will start portable putty minimized, passing the parameters -load secureProxySession

I'll try to release a fix for the gui on this quickly.
eject script
the eject script is still pretty alpha-ish and is not something I'm going to focus on too much for now. It attempts to gracefully shut down any applications running from the encrypted and unencrypted volume, then eject the TrueCrypt volume and eject the USB host. Some apps don't respond will to the graceful shutdown request and need to be pushed a little harder- Pidgin is an example of something that needs to be pushed harder and GeekEjector knows about that one and pushes appropriately. Someday, this needs to be user definable, but that involves some work that I'm not likely to get to for a while. In the meantime, you could probably point to a batch file that knows how to kill those things that in turn calls GeekEjector.

But I'm glad to know at least it isn't wreaking total havoc for you.

September 27, 2007 - 9:56pm

(Reply to #48) #49

jwyanze

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Last seen: 9 years 8 months ago

Joined: 2007-08-08 00:44

Quick response. trying to compete with John lol.

OK well thanks for that and the examples. I don't know how to type Batch files but i learn from examples. so i will try that. i dont quite know what u mean by the parameters but trial and error will figure it out for me.lol
and with the shared encrypted and unencrypted volumes well let's just say it not a big deal i just wanted ClamWin to be in the unencrypted volume so it could perform a virus scan before my encrypted volume is opened. and to also appear in the menu.

Edit:
just tried ur example and it works TKS.
Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

September 27, 2007 - 8:41pm

(Reply to #49) #50

maggotb0y

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Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

geek.menu doesn't combine encrypted and unencrypted volumes

This isn't the way the menu is designed. Instead, you can run a secure and an insecure profile. This way you can have (for one example) an encrypted Firefox with cookies and passwords stored, and an unencrypted firefox set to store cookies only for the session and to never store history or passwords.

I realize this is different from the way the Smith Menu works, but it's not what I was interested in, so it's not the way I wrote it. <g>

If there's enough interest I might consider a merged menu as an option in a future version, but for now it will cause more problems than I want to stir up.

September 27, 2007 - 2:22pm

#51

OliverK

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Last seen: 2 years 3 months ago

Joined: 2007-03-27 15:21

New problem

I'm having trouble getting custom icons on the menu. My ini structure is the following:

[Ctg_1]
Name=CamStudio
Caption=CamStudio
Folder=folder.ico
[Ctg_2]
Name=AutoHotkey
Caption=AutoHotkey
Folder=folder.ico
[Ctg_3]
Name=Flash Games
Caption=Flash Games
Folder=games2.ico
OpenIcon=games2.ico
[Ctg_4]
Name=Internet
Caption=Internet
Folder=internet.ico
OpenIcon=internet.ico
[Ctg_5]
Name=Movie Gear
Caption=Movie Gear
Icon=media.ico
OpenIcon=media.ico
[Ctg_6]
Name=Program Development
Caption=Program Development
Icon=development.ico
OpenIcon=development.ico

Even ejecting the drive doesn't allow the icons to work right. I got some of them to work right (Program developement and movie gear).

I would like to work with you as a tester. My email is mr( d o t )soup12( a t )g m a i l( d o t) com (I don't like spam.)
******************************************
There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand Binary
and Those who don't

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

September 27, 2007 - 8:45pm

(Reply to #51) #52

maggotb0y

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Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

Icon path

This isn't documented at all, but the custom icons need to be in
\PortableApps\geekMenu\Data\iconThemes\default\ on the unencrypted drive. I'm guessing that's your issue, let me know if it is not.

If that doesn't fix the issue, post here and I'll send you an email so you can reply with your settings (0.7.1 adds a Help.. Create Support Bundle which should make it easier for me to diagnose problems).

September 27, 2007 - 9:53pm

(Reply to #52) #53

OliverK

Offline

Last seen: 2 years 3 months ago

Joined: 2007-03-27 15:21

Yeah, there they're, but

Yeah, there they're, but they don't mesh.
******************************************
There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand Binary
and Those who don't

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

September 27, 2007 - 9:26pm

#54

jwyanze

Offline

Last seen: 9 years 8 months ago

Joined: 2007-08-08 00:44

Back again

what's this owner info box about. cant seem to type any ting in it.
the Known computers don't seem to remember/save the known pc's. i have been switching between my to pc's and adding them as known computers each time.
U give the ability to change the menu title but seems like u ave taken away the ability to change the name at the bottom before the drive letter(maybe i just don't know how to do it.)
see here http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/70360aa9c18c81692a94316fbcbc798b4g.jpg
and how do u use/setup the category's

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

September 27, 2007 - 9:55pm

(Reply to #54) #55

OliverK

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Last seen: 2 years 3 months ago

Joined: 2007-03-27 15:21

Edit the name in the ini

Edit the name in the ini hidden away. I believe its

[Owner Info]
Line 1=
Line 2=
Line 3=

Look in the autorun to change the name at the bottom.
******************************************
There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand Binary
and Those who don't

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

September 28, 2007 - 12:27am

(Reply to #55) #56

jwyanze

Offline

Last seen: 9 years 8 months ago

Joined: 2007-08-08 00:44

Well i though of that.

well this is my autorun.ini

[autorun]
Open=Autorun.bat
Icon=PortableApps\geekMenu\GeekMenu.exe
Label=JWYANZE LIBERT (this u mean to edit. that changes the 
name of the drive but not on the menu it self.)
Action=Start PortableApps

and this is the original

[autorun]
label=geek.menu
icon=PortableApps\geekMenu\GeekMenu.exe
action=Run geek.menu
open=PortableApps\geekMenu\GeekMenu.exe
UseAutoPlay=1

and this is my own from PAM which seems to work

[Autorun]
Open=Autorun.bat
Icon=PortableApps\PortableAppsMenu\PortableAppsMenu.exe
Label=JWYANZE LIBERT
Action=Start PortableApps
Shell\Read1\Command=PortableApps\PortableAppsMenu\PortableAppsMenu.exe
Shell\Read1=&Start PortableApps
Shell\Read2\Command=PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe
Shell\Read2=Start &Firefox Portable

all that's different form the Geek to PAM is it don't have the shell commands.
and also i edited the .ini from the unencrypted volume not the encrypted.
don't mean to sound harsh but this is what i did it may have been a mistake on my path. and as i stated in my earlier post i dont know how to rite these files i just learn by examples.

thanks for the help.

Edit:
problem solved. don't know how but it works now. thanks again.
also got the Owner info in.

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

September 28, 2007 - 12:55am

#57

jwyanze

Offline

Last seen: 9 years 8 months ago

Joined: 2007-08-08 00:44

Last post for the night

When u use the search bar at the bottom there is one 1 thing that needs to be fixed. That is when u search, it is nice that it opens the Firefox contained in the flash drive but if u already have Firefox open (eg. form your pc)the search does not fall back on that one. It tells u to exit the instance of Firefox that currently running.
Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

October 2, 2007 - 6:52pm

#58

M-T-P

Offline

Last seen: 15 years 10 months ago

Joined: 2007-09-26 15:29

Document buttons not working when encrypted

Whenever I run GeekMenu in unencrypted mode and use the Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, or Explore buttons - it successfully launches the appropriate folder in the unencrypted drive space. However, whenever I run GeekMenu in encypted mode and use these buttons it does nothing. In encrypted mode, the only button that seems to work is Explore which does open the encrpyted volume's root as I would expect the other buttons to do for the appropriate folders.

Also as a little FYI, the zip package has a Documents>Video folder that doesn't work until it is renamed Documents>Videos (with the 's'). It is nothing major, but something that you might want to fix prior to the eagerly awaited 1.0 release.

Finally, per your response about combining the encrypted and unencrypted menu, I would really love to see that feature implemented as either a "combined" menu OR IDEALLY a manually added menu of shortcuts to the unencrypted space or to another system partition. Being able to manually add additional applications to the menu would solve the problem of combining two menus; I could just add the unencrypted apps manually (like shortcuts) to the encrypted apps menu.

Thanks again for your excellent work on this project!

M-T-P

October 2, 2007 - 9:41pm

(Reply to #58) #59

maggotb0y

Offline

Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

Comments

Do you have documents\music, videos, etc folders in your encrypted partition? They need to be there. It works for me quite well, as I work 98% of the time off of my encrypted partition.

My zip package doesn't have any documents directory- possibly an older version did (but not on purpose). When the feature set settles down I'll work on an installer which will deal with this stuff.

Your idea of adding any application to the menu is a good one, and one I had thought to include at some point. It'll probably work it's way into a 0.8.x at some point. (0.8.0 just hit the forums)

October 2, 2007 - 6:54pm

#60

M-T-P

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Last seen: 15 years 10 months ago

Joined: 2007-09-26 15:29

GeekMenu Home

To avoid any "self promotion" TOS arguments, I am asking this as a question about the product. Does GeekMenu have a website or other location for documentation, feedback, distributions, etc? Or is this forum the primary home for this menu?

October 2, 2007 - 9:43pm

(Reply to #60) #61

maggotb0y

Offline

Last seen: 13 years 11 months ago

Joined: 2007-06-06 09:13

Home

Eventually, it will have a home on my site (which is pretty easy to guess if you look at the link above). Right now, I'm concentrating more on the product itself. Other stuff like polished installer and documentation and a more formal home on the interweb is yet to come.

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