cool desktop shtuffff. ..

[pjchappy]

i've seen screen shots of people w/ calendars, weather reports, time, etc. on their desktops. . .. how / where can i get such things??????





Gateway 700XL
2.4 GHZ
1024 MB RDRAM
120 GB HD
Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti-4600
Soundblaster Audigy w/ IE1394
Boston Acoustics BA7800
DVD RAM/R
CD-RW

 

[xsivforce]

Statbar , Desktop Weather

 

[xsivforce]

Desktop Calender

 

[xsivforce]

Desktop Clock

 

[madmatt]

Active Desktop rocks. So simple, but so nice.

 

[dreamliner77]

Maybe I'm just an idiot or this comes from avoiding all things microshaft (except XP). But what is that .net framework? What exactly does it do? I'd like the nice desktop weather, but I hate installing things if I don't know exactly what they do to my machine...

 

[AmarSingh]

Originally posted by dreamliner77
what is that .net framework? What exactly does it do?

check this out.

 

[wizard]

Cool Desktop stuff

For Weather I recomend a Product called AWS Weather Bug. This program will put the Temprature in the System Tray by the clock.

This can be expanded to a full screen that gives you the basic or
a 5 day forecast. You can also select weather alerts. Get Pollen counts etc. This is ad driven to a certain extent and does require an internet connection to work right. The Ad portion is not of the in your face and does not install spyware. This is XP compatable and FREE for the adware version. $ 19.99 USD for yearly ad free version. Dont have the url Available try a seach for the AWS Weatherbug.
For a calender Recommend R A I N L E N D A R. Available from http://www.iki.fi/~rainy/
This wll give you an on screen calender that can be some what cofigured and can be set up on the desketop .

Word of warning a lot of this cool desktop stuff will tie up resources. So while it looks nice. These can cause problems with ram and resources.

 

[dreamliner77]

I'm still trying to figure out what the .net framework really does. More or less does it eat resources or slow anything down. Maybe I'll just have to experiemnt. Is it kinda like the VB runtime files?

 

[wizard]

Cool Desktop stuff

For Weather I recomend a Product called AWS Weather Bug. This program will put the Temprature in the System Tray by the clock.

This can be expanded to a full screen that gives you the basic or
a 5 day forecast. You can also select weather alerts. Get Pollen counts etc. This is ad driven to a certain extent and does require an internet connection to work right. The Ad portion is not of the in your face and does not install spyware. This is XP compatable and FREE for the adware version. $ 19.99 USD for yearly ad free version. Dont have the url Available try a seach for the AWS Weatherbug.
For a calender Recommend R A I N L E N D A R. Available from http://www.iki.fi/~rainy/
This wll give you an on screen calender that can be some what cofigured and can be set up on the desketop .

Word of warning a lot of this cool desktop stuff will tie up resources. So while it looks nice. These can cause problems with ram and resources.

 

[Tech-1]

I like this idea of Active Desktop..... sounds and looks pretty neat....however, i wanted to know about how much resources these things will take.... Usually im just surfing the net, but at times I play 3d games and dont want anything unneccessary to take up resources that can be used for the game

Do these take up much resources?

 

[OMightyManII]

The Best .net Response I Can Give

Ok, I just finished taking a class on Objects and Design (programming in Squeak... for those who know, ahh!)

But one interesting thing we discussed near the end was the .net framework- what it is, and how it works.

I will try my best to explain what I know, so bear w/ me:

.net is a method of using xml serialization to create 'objects' that have a basic state but no true behaviors. In english, this means .net lets you 'program' by writing xml to define 'objects' but not quite in the true sense of the word, since if you create a class in C++ or Java, the resulting instances of the class would have both a state and behaviors, whereas in the .net strategy xml 'objects' would have their state defined but no specific behaviors that it can use/perform. Sorry, I know that doesn't make much sense.

What this means really is that w/ .net you should be able to rapidly create and deploy classes, and write programs that take up little space, and are easily modified (GUI or otherwise) and updated. In this sense, .net seems like a good idea.

Cons though- there is no way to regulate the xml class files, therefore any joe blow with a text editor can go and edit the xml files, i.e. no file-protection or modification 'blocking', I suppose you could say.

Ok, I am done ranting for now, feel free to correct me if I made a mistake or wrote something incorrectly, and if I can find the lecture slides on .net i'll post the link so you all can read about it and see if I am just plain nuts.

Man, it's late (or early).

Here is the link to the slides: http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu:8888/cs2340/uploads/1847/NET-framework.1.ppt
Hope it is helpful to all those curious minds.

Related Topic on SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol): http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu:8888/cs2340/uploads/1847/soap.html

Enjoy my friends!

 

[dreamliner77]

so, basically what you're saying is that .net is very similar to using the Java VM, ie, that it shouldn't eat up anymore resources?

 

[OMightyManII]

As far as it was described to me, that's what it seems like. The xml class files are compiled and the resulting 'objects' are run in some sort of vm or similar runtime, allowing them to be flexible and use few resources.

One example- the Desktop Weather program.... a great lilttle weather forecast program on your desktop- it uses the .net framework, and consumes very few resources when running on my laptop.

 

[dreamliner77]

Thanks

 

[Azzuron]

Re: Cool Desktop stuff

I think weatherbug is spyware... Adware finds it i beleive, so, id stay away, but www.weather.com also makes a good one thats tailored to your location. Even gives you sever weather warnings and such. pretty good deal for 0 dolla.

Originally posted by wizard
For Weather I recomend a Product called AWS Weather Bug. This program will put the Temprature in the System Tray by the clock.

This can be expanded to a full screen that gives you the basic or
a 5 day forecast. You can also select weather alerts. Get Pollen counts etc. This is ad driven to a certain extent and does require an internet connection to work right. The Ad portion is not of the in your face and does not install spyware. This is XP compatable and FREE for the adware version. $ 19.99 USD for yearly ad free version. Dont have the url Available try a seach for the AWS Weatherbug.
For a calender Recommend R A I N L E N D A R. Available from http://www.iki.fi/~rainy/
This wll give you an on screen calender that can be some what cofigured and can be set up on the desketop .

Word of warning a lot of this cool desktop stuff will tie up resources. So while it looks nice. These can cause problems with ram and resources.

 

[kjlite]

Lava soft ad ware does not pickup

 

[Azzuron]

Oh, well based on what these people say at download.com, ill stick to a adless Weather.com weather tool either way .

"Aditya: 'Lots of Popup Ads and Spyware'
It has lots' of Spyware and ads in it and moreover It dosen't tell you International Weather even for other Major Countries like Australia. You have to pay for it and then also you are not sure as it dosen't say how much countries weather they will tell you. Instead, I recommened you Dektop Weather From The Weather Channel."

PS. No i didnt base my previous statments off this, i just happened across this while searching for "Weatherbug spyware" on google.

 

[brunsodj]

Also try Samurize. It allows you to monitor almost everything you can think of. Displays graphs on your desktop and uses very few system resources.

With this program you can access local weather by running already made scripts. Its very good for being a beta and I highly recommend it.

~Dan