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#214022 - 2021-10-07 12:55 PM Kixtart Future?
Robdutoit Offline
Hey THIS is FUN
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Registered: 2012-03-27
Posts: 363
Loc: London, England
Dear all,

I have been a very happy user of Kixtart. I am not a programmer, so I like the simplicity of Kixtart compared to other programs which seem to require quite a lot of code to do even the simplest of things. Not to mention the poor documentation many languages have.

I am just wanting to hear feedback on the future of Kixtart? I fully understand that many younger technicians are into Powershell and outsourcing all their work to Microsoft via the cloud! So I do understand why Kixtart has declined in popularity to a large extent. Which is a shame, because I think Kixtart is so much better.

However, Kixtart still has something that Powershell etc does not. The sense of community here, not a faceless corporation.

I still use Kixtart for all my startup and logon scripts. Works beautifully and I have never had any issues. But even I can see that Kixtart is starting to show it's age with lack of support for things like:

@Producttype bug for Server 2019.

@domain Variable returns Netbios name. The DNS name is far more relevant now than Netbios.

If I want to get rid of all the apps like Xbox crap on Windows - I have to use Powershell to delete the apps from the computer completely. While it works, it's a pity that I could not do this via Kixtart.

A project that I have been working on lately is auditing NTFS permissions on Servers and exporting the information to csv. Icacls doesn't really do this very well, lacking options and exports to txt format, which then needs to be converted to csv format. So Kixtart was not a good choice for this due to it's reliance on Icacls to do the actual work. I have got most of the NTFS audit coding working in Powershell, but I have to say that I am appalled at how difficult it is to code in powershell and how appalling the documentation is. I still have not got it quite right. I am sure that Kixtart could do this so much more easily and more efficiently!

I don't really like powershell, but I am having to use it for certain things as nothing else does the job. I expect this to only increase as the years go by.

With the latest PrintNightMare issues, I have had to use pnputil and kixtart to deploy all printer drivers to the driverstore. So once again Kixtart came to the rescue and was so simple to implement! Even today, Kixtart clearly shows it's relevance!

In short, I still see a need for scripting languages like Kixtart. Handles my startup and logon scripts perfectly, even came to the rescue with pnputil and printnightmare! So simple to use and great community.

If this is indeed the end of an era (as all good things must end eventually I suppose), then I would just like to give a big thanks to the developer for providing such a brilliant resource that I have used for over 15 years now! I will continue to use Kixtart until it no longer works in Windows!

Completely off topic - anybody tried Windows 11 yet? I must admit I like the visual look of it. W10 always looked so boring compared to W7.

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#214023 - 2021-10-11 09:31 PM Re: Kixtart Future? [Re: Robdutoit]
Mart Moderator Offline
KiX Supporter
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Registered: 2002-03-27
Posts: 4672
Loc: The Netherlands
What he said ^

I've been using it for 20-ish years and still use it today. The lack of some things/functionality will become annoying at some point but maybe server 2019 support and an update to the @domain macro (or maybe a new macro so legacy scripts are not broken) will come. I really hope so. PowerShell is the stuff to use if we listen to Microsoft. I needed to use it for some things but if possible I still like to use KiXtart.

Ruud (the developer, for those that do not know) has made an amazing tool that saved my b#tt a few times over the years and definitely made so many tasks and repetitive jobs a lot easier.
_________________________
Mart

- Chuck Norris once sold ebay to ebay on ebay.

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#214025 - 2021-10-20 12:29 AM Re: Kixtart Future? [Re: Mart]
Arend_ Moderator Offline
MM club member
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Registered: 2005-01-17
Posts: 1894
Loc: Hilversum, The Netherlands
You've never checked out my NTFSPerms UDF ?
Also, I agree with the future of KiXtart, while I also code a lot in Powershell these days, I still don't like it very much, it feels like Microsoft had tried to make "BATch" compliant with Linux Bash and then implement their .Net Framework into it.
Whenever I make a GUI based project, I first make it into KiX/KixForms.Net and then convert it to Power(s)hell.

The @Domain Macro or the @ProductType macro has always been useless to me as it relies on the version of KiX you are using, so I get these values straight from the registry.

But even still,these days KiX is still my go to scripting language whenever I wante to code something quickly and get results.

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#214026 - 2021-10-21 05:32 PM Re: Kixtart Future? [Re: Arend_]
Robdutoit Offline
Hey THIS is FUN
***

Registered: 2012-03-27
Posts: 363
Loc: London, England
Just thinking. This post should probably be moved to the lounge as it's not really a scripting question. I didn't think of it at the time.

I am glad I am not the only one that doesn't really like Powershell. It just seems really hard to work out what the code is doing. I have been spoilt by Kixtart which is so easy to understand.

You know I never even thought of checking the registry to see the @producttype and @domain. That's a very good idea. I will look into it.

If you can make it in Kix/Kixforms, why can't you use that instead of having to convert it to Powershell? If it works in Kix?

I will have a look at the NTFSPerms Udf and see if that would work better than the Powershell script. Thanks.

Not sure what to suggest about Kixtart. I think what would make a difference is using a new forum like Discourse, which is really modern and popular. Part of the problem with Linuxquestions and Kixtart etc is the very dated forum looks. However discord is not cheap and more importantly if Kixtart is end of life, then there is not much point obviously.

Maybe Kixtart could re-establish itself as a player by providing solutions for things that even Powershell users find hard to implement? Just a thought? I suspect the developer has retired the project and in fairness to him, he has spent more than two decades maintaining the project. Maybe somebody who has the necessary skills and interest could take over the project?

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