Topic: Where is the 'no skin' option? (Read 2959 times)

dikdirk · « **on:** February 28, 2004, 08:24:09 am »

Somewhere along the development line the option was lost to use no skin at all... So you always must use a skin, which I personally find very annoying.
I like to set up things the way I like, which means using no skin.

Furthermore, my pc is not that fast and when MC is not doing anything (so no music or video being played what so ever), except be present on my desktop it uses about 10% CPU time (on 350MHz). When minimized (to tray) this CPU usage disappears.

skeeterfood · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2004, 09:41:04 am »

Not gonna happen.

Do a search for the enormous amount of threads already covering this back when JRiver decided to go skin-only...

LonWar · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2004, 04:00:01 pm »

You could always use mc9.0 if you want the no skin option...

KingSparta · « **Reply #3 on:** February 28, 2004, 04:47:25 pm »

Not Going To Happen.

Chris Shaw · « **Reply #4 on:** February 29, 2004, 01:27:01 pm »

I haven't tried recently, but MC9.0 with skins worked really badly with VNC. With skins disabled, it was much better. Is this any better with MC10?

lise · « **Reply #5 on:** March 01, 2004, 11:06:34 am »

cjdshaw,

I vnc using v10 and I have no problems.

Mastiff · « **Reply #6 on:** March 01, 2004, 04:34:10 pm »

My 6 year old daughter has a 1,2 gig XP. Almost nobody uses 350's any more, so MC will not be fashioned after the few strays. If you're on a five year old PC, use five year old programs!

dikdirk · « **Reply #7 on:** March 21, 2004, 03:46:57 pm »

Too bad... I was hoping there would be some purists left that recognise that you don't have to sacrifice CPU time for a usable program. I see plenty of programs running fine and I just don't understand why MC, which has by far the best (fast and easy to use) library system I've been able to find so far, would use an interface that uses 10% of my CPU when doing nothing.

DocLotus · « **Reply #8 on:** March 21, 2004, 06:56:54 pm »

Skins slowing down the CPU is largely a thing of the past... it is more myth then fact on today's current operating systems.

Yes, it is still a problem with older computers running older versions of Windows before Win XP but those machines & operating systems are no longer the mainstream.

Win XP was built from the ground up to run skins; it can still run in the old Classic mode but there is no speed enhancement benefit to do that.

An example is Stardocks WindowBlinds for Win XP. The current version is actually faster then the standard Win XP skins because Stardock uses something called Predictive Skinning which only re-writes the skin every 3rd or 4th scan of the monitor. They found that the human eye can not tell the difference between a writing of the skin every clock cycle or every 4th cycle... it still happens pretty fast.

Today's software has to be designed to perform properly on today's computers. As a result, WindowBlinds 4 only runs all of its features on Win XP. On Win 98, WB 4 is somewhat limited due to Win 98's inherent memory problems.

I am running a two year old 2.2 GHz P4, & Win XP Professional with a LOT of open programs but still am only using about 6% of the CPU time at idle. Yes, I also run WindowBlinds 4 with no speed penalties.

Mastiff · « **Reply #9 on:** March 22, 2004, 01:18:47 am »

Hear, hear!

scott_r · « **Reply #10 on:** March 22, 2004, 01:25:40 am »

Quote

An example is Stardocks WindowBlinds for Win XP. The current version is actually faster then the standard Win XP skins because Stardock uses something called Predictive Skinning which only re-writes the skin every 3rd or 4th scan of the monitor. They found that the human eye can not tell the difference between a writing of the skin every clock cycle or every 4th cycle... it still happens pretty fast.

Now that's an interesting little fact!

I think the poll says it all, well, unless you're a statistics freak

Scott

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #11 on:** March 22, 2004, 06:43:54 am »

In the case of MC you have to wait till somebody writes the Skin to match your choice of skin in XP. If there was a no skin option then you woudn't.

hit_ny · « **Reply #12 on:** March 22, 2004, 08:28:01 am »

Quote

Too bad... I was hoping there would be some purists left that recognise that you don't have to sacrifice CPU time for a usable program. I see plenty of programs running fine and I just don't understand why MC, which has by far the best (fast and easy to use) library system I've been able to find so far, would use an interface that uses 10% of my CPU when doing nothing.

i agree with you actually. i use a 700Mhz P3 and MC works ok provided its the only program running on it.. and this is W2K btw. It's quite snappy when its the only prog and i dont mess around with any visualisations.

i was upset they removed the no-skin option...they thought everyone has a faster computer so lets save time and not worry bout it. u might want to use a less heavy skin, try DJ hazelwoods skin, its quite tight compared with others but still very functional.

Otherwise its time to start looking for an MC replacement.

JimH · « **Reply #13 on:** March 22, 2004, 09:14:43 am »

Quote from: hit_ny on March 22, 2004, 08:28:01 am

I use a 700Mhz P3 and MC works ok provided its the only program running on it.. and this is W2K btw. It's quite snappy when its the only prog and i dont mess around with any visualisations.

This may be related to memory.

jleerigby · « **Reply #14 on:** March 22, 2004, 12:15:50 pm »

Quote from: Mastiff on March 01, 2004, 04:34:10 pm

My 6 year old daughter has a 1,2 gig XP. Almost nobody uses 350's any more, so MC will not be fashioned after the few strays. If you're on a five year old PC, use five year old programs!

So nicely put. I agree totally.

Mastiff · « **Reply #15 on:** March 22, 2004, 12:29:11 pm »

OK, so I'm not polite. Vikings rarely are. But a no BS approach has it's good sides: We never have many visitors since they're afraid what I might say! That gives me more quality time alone with my sound and video systems...

hit_ny · « **Reply #16 on:** March 22, 2004, 01:30:41 pm »

Quote

use a 700Mhz P3 and MC works ok provided its the only program running on it.. and this is W2K btw. It's quite snappy when its the only prog and i dont mess around with any visualisations.

This may be related to memory.

I have a strong feeling you are right about this.

the machine currently has 256Mb RAM.

Here's the kicker...it has a pc-100 bus but after some examination its using memory for a pc-66 bus, so this is very likely slowing things down.

I expect some pc-100 chips soon and can't wait to ditch the slower ones.

xen-uno · « **Reply #17 on:** March 22, 2004, 04:02:28 pm »

FYI Hit...

Running nearly the same setup you are in MC 10.0.95, W2k SP4, 700 MHz PIII, 378 MB of PC100 RAM, NVidia TNT2 Mod 64 Video. Although redraw with MC is not instantaneous...it's pretty darned close even with a lot of other apps going.

10^-27

hit_ny · « **Reply #18 on:** March 23, 2004, 11:44:20 am »

Quote

FYI Hit...

Running nearly the same setup you are in MC 10.0.95, W2k SP4, 700 MHz PIII, 378 MB of PC100 RAM, NVidia TNT2 Mod 64 Video. Although redraw with MC is not instantaneous...it's pretty darned close even with a lot of other apps going

Good once i get the pc100 chip sinstalled , things should be as you say.

In the meantime xen, since we have a similar setup, pls comment bout HDs (if applicable) in this thread

OT - Big hard drives[/u]

xen-uno · « **Reply #19 on:** March 23, 2004, 02:47:43 pm »

I'm there Hit...

loraan · « **Reply #20 on:** March 23, 2004, 03:57:19 pm »

You forgot option #4: don't care.

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Should there be a 'no skin' option?

Author Topic: Where is the 'no skin' option? (Read 2959 times)

jleerigby