Welcome to the LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Frequently Asked Questions! If anything you are curious about is not listed, please e-mail us and we will get back to you.
- What file formats does the Text Editor support?
-The Text Editor currently only supports .txt extensions. You can set LCARS Interface to be your default text editor in Windows so that all text documents will open with it. - What file formats does the Media Player Support?
-The Media Player currently supports MP4, M4V, AVI. WMV, WMA, MP3, WAV, MPEG, and MPG file extensions. If you have a file type that is not listed, please e-mail us and we will see what we can do about supporting it! Typically the file types that could be supported are ones that Windows Media Player are able to play. - Will the Media Player play DRM protected content from iTunes?
-The Media Player will only be capable of playing media that you are allowed to play. For example, if you have movies that you downloaded through iTunes, and are trying to play them on a Windows 8 Pro computer which has iTunes installed, it should work. If you try and copy those files to your tablet which is running Windows RT, they most likely will NOT work because the media will be unable to authenticate itself with iTunes on that device. This is not something that will likely be changed in the future, as we are not in the business of stripping DRM from files. In order for LCARS Interface to play these files, you will need to convert them using another tool. - Will the Media Player play other DRM protected content?
-The short answer is, it depends. Not all DRMs are the same and we certainly can't test them all to find out what works and what doesn't. If most of your content is protected by some form of DRM (such as being purchased through iTunes, Google Play, or Amazon), this media player may not work very well for you on a Windows RT tablet. If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, a quick test is to see if Windows Media Player plays it. If it doesn't, LCARS Interface likely won't either. If it does, and your file is in the list of supported types, it should work in LCARS Interface. - Does the Media Player support Playlists?
-Yes! The Media Player now supports creating, saving, and opening playlists which have the m3u extension. Additional playlist types should be supported in the future. - I'm having trouble opening Playlist files. What might be causing it?
-The most likely answer is that your music files are not residing in your Windows 8 Music Library folder. Windows 8 apps are only allowed to access files and folders which you give it access to. LCARS Interface is given permission (when you download it, because it declares that it requires this permission to run) to access only your Music and Video libraries. If files in your playlists exist outside these folders, access to them will be denied to LCARS Interface and the playlist will not open. - I created a Playlist with LCARS Interface, but now it won't open! What's wrong?
-Please see the above question for an explanation. Playlists can be created with LCARS Interface because you grant it access to the files you add to the playlist by selecting them. However, the application does not retain access to those files and folders. It is recommended that you either store all of your media in the appropriate libraries, or add the folders containing your media to your Windows Music and Video libraries. - Can I run other applications from within LCARS Interface?
-No. Windows 8 apps run in a "sandboxed" environment which has very strict limitations on what it is allowed to access. This is done so that you are protected from store apps accessing anything without your permission, even if it is inconvenient at times. Windows 8 Store apps are not allowed to execute any external code and have no way of knowing about any other apps. If you are looking for a program to replace all of Windows and let you use any program you want inside, we suggest looking into the LCARSx32 project and deciding for yourself if that or another application fits your needs better. LCARS Interface will only be able to show what is included in the app itself. - What does the "Extra Animations" setting do?
-This setting determines whether the interface will be more "alive" which involves many changing colors and blinking panels. The experience will be much more immersive with this setting turned on (which it is by default). You can, however, turn this setting off if desired. This was done because on some low powered devices, having a lot of animations can cause some performance issues. Having this turned on is probably fine on most machines and it does look best with them on. Moving about the app will be a bit faster with the extra animations off. - Can LCARS Interface replace my Windows Start screen?
-Unfortunately not. Windows Store apps do not have the ability to replace the Start screen (or the Desktop). They can only run as individual apps and don't have access to most system functions that would be required in order for it to replace the Start screen. - Will you add some of the common LCARS Flash based animations from websites to LCARS Interface?
-We fully intend to make this project our own and we are not using anyone else's work, unless they specifically send it to us to use. Things like sound effects are easily located on a number of different websites and it's hard to tell where they originate since most everyone has the same ones, or we make them ourselves from the shows. Full LCARS screens are people's hard work so we don't want to pretend like we did any of it by putting it in here. - Can I use LCARS Interface on my Android and iPad devices?
-While we don't have any plans to officially port this application to other platforms right now, you can see this post we made which may offer a partial solution for you! Use LCARS Interface on Android and iPad! - Why doesn't LCARS Interface (Windows 8) have a web browser?
-Unfortunately this is due to security restrictions from Microsoft. Windows Store apps do have the capability to display some web pages, but there are issues with it such as some javascript not working, flash is not supported, and links that would open a new tab or window will take you out of LCARS Interface and open in your default browser. For many websites this is not a problem, but making a browser that can browse to any page freely will run into these problems eventually. These instabilities are why we chose not to include it at this time. This feature will be re-evaluated any time Microsoft makes any changes that might make it more reliable. The Windows Phone version of LCARS Interface does have a Web browser component, but it also has some limitations. These limitations are not as bad as what Windows 8 apps are restricted to, so we felt it was good enough to add this highly requested feature to it for some basic browsing tasks. It still is not able to get you everything Internet Explorer can at this point, unfortunately.
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Answers to more questions coming soon!
