Samurize Tutorials, Help, and Configs

[Beginning]

Some people have requested these items... The backgound.png isn't the best but oh well, Whatever!! And I don't take any credit for the Cromeclock.zip.. I'll just post it so more people can access it..

 

[muzikool]

That's a cool background. I might have to use that later on.

 

[Beginning]

Nah... It was a first attempt at a background creation... I personally think it sucks bigtime..

 

[muzikool]

Well it's nothing spectacular, but it's simplistic and that's usually what I like. Besides, I can't create graphics anyway, so it's better than what I could do.

 

[muzikool]

Meter-Linkage

This is a simple guide for what I find to be a useful feature in my Samurize config. You can make it so that any text or images in your config can link to an executable, a script, or even a website. I have attached my current config to point out the links that I have created.

The Shutdown, Restart, and Logoff buttons each link to a script with that particular command. First off, insert an image such as the Shutdown button by clicking Add Meter --> Add Text. The meter properties will come up, and under Draw Type, you select Image. Under Display, check Use Default Image, and then you just browse to the image on your hard drive. Now that the image is loaded in the Design Area, you can resize it and put it anywhere you want. Finally, in the General section, check Allow Meter-Linkage. Under Link Meter To: you browse to the script file with the shutdown command. Now do the same for the Restart and Logoff buttons.

Here are the scripts for these commands in WinXP:

• Shutdown: shutdown -s -t 0
• Restart: shutdown -r -t 0
• Logoff: shutdown -l -t 0

The weather icon (clouds) in my config links to the radar at Weather.com when I click on it. Since the icon dynamically changes depending on weather conditions, I set up the link a bit differently. Instead of linking every possible image, I simply put an empty text field on top of the image and made that the link. When you go to Add Meter --> Text, leave the draw type as text and then place it on top of your weather image, stretching the area completely over the image. Check Allow Meter-Linkage and then enter the URL that you want to link to. You can use the following link: http://www.weather.com/weather/map/xxxxx?from=LAPmaps and simply replace the x's with your zip code if you live in the U.S.

Obviously, there are endless possibilites as far as Meter-Linkage goes. I just wanted to introduce the feature and give a couple of possible uses.

 

[muzikool]

Running Multiple Configs Uses Fewer Resources

Something I've just recently learned is that a larger config should be broken into smaller, individual ones... the reason being that it saves your processor's resources. Another advantage to doing this is that editing a certain part of your config is easier if it exists on its own.

Right now, I have 5 separate configs that are running:

1. Weather
2. CPU
3. HD (Hard Disks)
4. Network
5. Shutdown (Shutdown, Restart, Logoff)

The way to make these all run at once is simple. Go ahead and set your default instance of Samurize to a config such as Weather, by right-clicking on the tray icon and selecting the config.

In your Startup folder, you should already have one shortcut of Samurize, and that one will now be for Weather. Now, copy that shortcut and paste it again in Startup so that you have two instances of Samurize. Right-click and select the Properties of the new shortcut. In the Target field, add "i=CPU" to the end of the line so that your target will look like this:
"D:\Program Files\Samurize\Client.exe" i=CPU
This shortcut is specifically for your CPU config, so double-click the new shortut and select the CPU config by right-clicking on the "Samurize Client CPU" tray icon. ("CPU" will replace "default" as the name of that system tray icon.)

Continue doing this with each config that you want to run. By adding the "i=x" ('x' being whatever config name), Samurize will distinguish it as a separate instance and run each simultaneously.

After doing this, my processor usage dropped from around 25% to just 10%. If you have a lot of meters going, or your config is spread out across the entire desktop, then I really recommend doing this to free up some resources.

 

[dreamliner77]

THere are a couple of things I wish Samuize would do:

1) Allow you to show a stat in the tray icon, ala coolmon or weatherbug
2) Allow multiple configs within ONE instance
3) Option to hide tray Icon.



just venting...

 

[muzikool]

1) You can show a stat on the taskbar, which you could put right next to the system tray. Not exactly the same but close.

2) This may happen further down the road, but I don't know.

3) You can choose "always hide" through the Taskbar Properties under "hide inactive icons." This is what I do. If you are saying that you'd like the option for it not to show up at all, then the program would have to be completely reworked since all of the functionality exists in the right-click menu of the tray icon. From there you reload the config, edit the config, or change your config. I think it would be inconvenient to have to completely open up the program to do these things.

 

[dreamliner77]

you could always have a hotkey combination open it..

 

[muzikool]

It's not really an issue for me. I'm not sure an app exists that satisfies the unique preferences of every single person. Samurize can do so much and I really enjoy it's benefits, plus it's free. I'm not going to pick it apart if I can't even design such a program myself.

 

[dreamliner77]

good mantra.

 

[Beginning]

Any idea how one would make samurize go looking for a certain .png as per the iCal docklet in YsDock? Id like to know if this is possible? So it would eliminate one more program running... I'm thinkin' if one could do that it would pretty much be like desktopX right?... or is it another program that has that feature?.. Cheers!!

 

[muzikool]

Beginning, I'm not familiar with the iCal docklet. Could you give a bit more detail on what it does that you want Samurize to do?

 

[Beginning]

You know about YsDock... You can get a docklet for it that gets goes looking for a certain .png as the days of the month go by... I'm using YsDock for that reason only.. Now if I could have samurize script that would change .png's to the next day, (say from monday to tuesday and so on) with a script of some kind that would be awsome... Here's a link to the docklet download..

http://www.dockex.com/index.php?pageId=docklets&dkview=15

 

[muzikool]

OK, I gotcha. Here's a script that you can probably use for this with a bit of editing. If you didn't want the PNGs randomized, then you would need to make that change for instance. There are probably other ways of doing so, but to have the PNG update at the beginning of the day, you could set that part of the config to update every 24 hours.

This is what came to mind immediately. Let me know if it's not going to work and I'll look into it some more.

 

[Beginning]

K, thanks I'll see if I can make it work.. I'm a bit busy... So it may be a while...

 

[khs]

muzikool,
i really like your config. im having a bit of trouble jumping into this, would you mind posting it? or is it already available on the samurize site?
thanks

 

[muzikool]

Are you wanting the config posted earlier in this thread or the one I posted recently in the May Desktops thread? I'll attach whichever one you want and help you get it going.

 

[khs]

I'm hoping to get the one you posted in this thread on 4/16, not the longhorn look-alike that was posted near the beginning of this thread. thanks again

 

[muzikool]

OK, you will need DesktopWeatherXML 1.4 installed. Get it here: http://www.samurize.com/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=9

Follow the instructions for getting the Weather script to work before you start editing my config file.

I included a "Read Me" in the zip file that I've attached. Read it for instructions on how to get started with the config. Good luck, and post back with any questions.