LCARS 24 (DOS version) is a fast, smooth, powerful, and handsome 32-bit,
TrueColor Starfleet-standard GUI with file manager and various LCARS
games, applications, and utilities plus DOS program launcher
and file library. Standby mode features a large clock with MIDI alarm
and calendar, with hot-key access to a calculator, phone book, etc. Runs
best under DOS, can run on a Windows 9x machine in pure DOS mode or
under XP with power management off. Handles .txt, .bmp, .jpg, .gif,
.wav, mp3, .mid, and .htm files. Compatible with FreeDOS and FreeDOS32.
Open-source (DJGPP [c]). Porting to Linux, BSD, etc. from sources
possible with modifications (change the LCARS DOS Service to Unix Service?). Internet
functions possible without Windows on a machine with a hardware modem.
Free download available soon.
Here are some screenshots:
Not a desktop, but a working clock and calendar with hot keys.
Left: Standby screen on an 800 x 600 flat-screen display or set to
800 mode for a CRT display. Right: 1024 mode on a 1024 x 768
flat-screen display.
One-touch access to your phone book, with a convenient place to type
in more numbers and info as the need arises. One-touch access to a calculator
with no mouse foolishness. The DOS box looks similar to this and provides
an editable command line and neat, friendly output. It's not just a clone of
COMMAND.COM. DOS users will be surprised.
Launch your DOS programs from this screen or try an instant-on
LCARS program.
Games? Ferengi Blackjack (split up to four hands, three levels of a
powerful card-counting system provided),
Borg Solitaire, master-level chess, Trek crossword puzzles!
The file manager: The upper-left quadrant is currently selected here.
This is like having two Explorer windows, a floppy disk window, and the
Recycle Bin all open at once. Quick browsing, copying, deleting, etc. View
pictures, hear sounds, even look at Web pages! Very fast and smooth!
Lots of reference stuff. You can imagine how big this world map is!
This is not a complete Web browser, but it does render Web pages,
albeit not in their intended colors! They get an LCARS twist. We're working
on making it more complete, but you'll need a hardware modem. For now,
if you've got the right hardware, you can install Arachne and launch it from
LCARS 24 to get e-mail and Web-browsing functions. For Unix versions of
LCARS 24, our own browser would really be unnecessary.
You can install all kinds of DOS text editors, etc. but this one is true to
LCARS form and expands partial words or predefined macros when you press
Alt (great for scientific writing) and does word wrap and spell checking
with .txt files.
Just a file picker, but nothing like the annoying little things we're used too!
This could actually come in handy. It even converts Arabic to Roman
numerals. Anyway, it's fast and fun, also an excuse to use an LCARS panel
design. Spin the numbers with the arrow keys. No mouse needed here
or anywhere in LCARS 24. You can operate a laptop on a waterbed!
The startup screen does some showing off with animation, but this
puts the planets out to Saturn in their relative positions according to the
date and sends them through their orbits in a 3D representation, without
using a huge database.
There's plenty more. We're not asking you to dump your existing system. But just having LCARS 24 on an old, otherwise useless laptop can provide at least a clock but also a lot of quick reference, entertainment, and more, not to mention some nice music you haven't heard before (for the alarm function).
LCARS 24 comes as a Winzip file that contains floppy-sized
DOS-based self-extracting zips to make it easy to transfer to a computer that only
has DOS. Just copy those zips and their little installer script and type "INSTALL." Then
type "800" if you want 800 x 600 screen output or "1024" or "LCARS24" to start
in 1024 x 768 mode. On a laptop with 800 x 600 screen, either mode looks the
same. A complete MIDI patch set is included.
Check here for download info.