NewIcons / GlowIcons / ClassAct

Hello people, this is my 1st post on Amiga.org, and its a plea for help!!

I have been an Amiga user since the 1980s, but in the last few years I've moved over to Windows and consequently my Amiga skills are a little rusty!   :-D

I'm currently trying to build myself up a kick-ass install of OS3.0 on UAE - I have Picasso96 and AHI installed so far without problem...

I came to upgrade my icon set and wanted to install GlowIcons only I'm not sure how to do it. I assumed that I would need to first install NewIcons, then GlowIcons...

When I came to install NewIcons4.6 it told me I had to install ClassAct first, the url for ClassAct doesnt seem to work so I tracked down ClassAct2Demo.lha from Aminet and installed that, but NewIcons still complains that ClassAct isn't installed and so won't continue with the installation (removing the ClassAct check from the install scripts only made the installer hang).

can anyone point me to where I can get the right version of ClassAct, or offer a way around my problem?? :-?

Thanks,
chris  

[DJRJ]

Unfortunately you will find that GlowIcons are an OS3.5+ feature.  The best that you can do with OS3.0 is NewIcons.

As for the problems you have with ClassAct, silly question but have you copied the .library file(s) supplied witht he program over to the LIBS: directory?  (Installer scripts are *supposed* to do stuff like this, but sometimes they forget...)

[iamaboringperson]

Unfortunately you will find that GlowIcons are an OS3.5+ feature. The best that you can do with OS3.0 is NewIcons.

glowicons is really just an icon set! its the icons themselves, i think you may be able to download them from aminet

my biggest reccomendation is upgrade to AmigaOS 3.5 or higher!
 :-)

[Targhan]

ClassAct has become ReAction, and lives in AmigaOS3.5.  If you want GlowIcons, you'll need OS3.5 or above anyway.

[trgse]

with glowicons we now mostly mean the icon's that is provided by 3.5+ and these needs the icon.library from 3.5+

3.0 will never be able to display 3.5+ icons. :-D  :-D  :-D

[Thomas]

NewIcons should work with ClassAct2Demo. Did you doubleclick the "Install Classes" icon ? Did you reboot after you installed ClassAct ?

For the icon topic:

you have to distinguish the file format from the icon layout.

There currently are three file formats:

1. OS3.1 (or older)
2. NewIcons
3. OS3.5 (or better)
(4. OS4.0 will probably have its own format)

And there are different icon layouts:

1. OS3.1 standard (4 colored)
2. OS3.1 extended (more than 4 colors, e.g. MagicWB)
3. NewIcons (original icon set coming with the program)
4. GlowIcons (nicely designed icons with a "glow" effect when activated)
5. there are many more custom layouts without a common standard

OS3.1 file format holds an image with 2 or more bitplanes but without color information. Colors are taken from the Workbench's palette and might look ugly if the palette is not adjusted (e.g. by MagicWB-Daemon or FullPalette).

NewIcons is a patch for OS3.1 to support palette based icons which are rendered to Workbench's palette by the NewIcons program. There is no need to adjust the palette, NewIcons calculates the correct rendering for each palette. The colored images are stored as a special type of tooltypes. The original OS3.1 (bitplane based) image is still present in the file.

OS3.5 introduced a colorful mechanism like NewIcons but incompatible to that. Images are stored in a seperate IFF FORM following the standard icon in the file. It follows the same rules as NewIcons.

So GlowIcons can be stored as NewIcons or as OS3.5 icons. Because the Glow design was introduced as a standard for OS3.5, the word usualy refers to the file format, too. But AFAIK all GlowIcons found on Aminet are stored in NewIcons format.

Bye,
Thomas

@Targhan...
.... but the glowicons in the AIAB package!?
 ;-)

[Zadoc]

Some of the older GlowIcon packages on Aminet are compatible with the newicon.library.

The ColorIcons from OS3.5/3.9 are not compatible as the icon.library has been rewritten.

Unfortunately, there's real no way to tell which icon sets are really NewIcons until you download them as most users have come to associate GlowIcons as ColorIcons.

As far as installation of NewIcons goes IIRC, I think all you really need ClassAction for is for the NewIcons prefs.  Simply copying newicon.library to LIBS: should at least let you use NewIcons.

Thanks for the info everyone, much appreciated!

Right, I had no luck with CassAct / NewIcons so I broke out my trusty DOpus4 and copied all the new Icons files by hand and updated the startup-sequence... and success!

Moslty..

The problem I am now having is that all the icons have a grey border around them (see the pic) despite me setting NewIcons to remove the border and make the icons transparent!

Is this a problem anyone else has encountered, if so how do I fix it?

Here's a grab of my Workbench set-up: Workbench Icon Problem

Thanks again.
Chris :-)

[dezignersrepublic]

Nice bakdrop btw  ;-)

[iamaboringperson]

HumanDebris wrote:
Thanks for the info everyone, much appreciated!

Right, I had no luck with CassAct / NewIcons so I broke out my trusty DOpus4 and copied all the new Icons files by hand and updated the startup-sequence... and success!

Moslty..

The problem I am now having is that all the icons have a grey border around them (see the pic) despite me setting NewIcons to remove the border and make the icons transparent!

Is this a problem anyone else has encountered, if so how do I fix it?

Here's a grab of my Workbench set-up: Workbench Icon Problem

Thanks again.
Chris :-)

hmmm... from memory... newicons itsself should have an option to remove them

but get os 3.5/3.9 instead - it provides the perfect tools for people who are as shallow as you and i  ;-)

[FuZion]

As you can see, ost people mention os3.5+

I have a 3.9 still wrapped up & sort of spare, if you would like it & don't mind parting with a small amount of change to cover postage & a pint or 2, drop me a personal message (Click on the little button below here with "PM" on it)

Oh, & welcome to Amiga.org :-D