Geektool

Date: 7th October 2011 Tutor: Don McAllisterRating: 0 Likes
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Geektool
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Category: Utilities Trailer Duration: 0:50
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Geektool Description

This week, a greatly misunderstood, free utility to allow you to customise your OSX desktop - GeekTool

Create "Geeklets" to echo the contents of textual log files, display multiple images or even run Unix scripts, directly on your Desktop.

GeekTool is a great utility but it suffers in one area, and that’s in the documentation. It can do so much, but it’s a little bit impenetrable for most people!

That’s where this week’s ScreenCastsOnline tutorial comes in useful. I take you through the basics of GeekTool, now available via the Mac App Store.

In the tutorial I explain and demonstrate how to configure and use "Geeklets". These are the components that allow you to add different types of content to your desktop.

  • File Geeklets - These allow you to display the contents of text files directly onto your desktop. Not just static files, but files being updated in real time. Want to keep an eye on a log file? Just create a File Geeklet and the contents of the file are echoed to your desktop as the file is updated. Full control of the frequency of when the file geeklet is refreshed, it's position and size and even the colour and font of it's display/
  • Image Geeklets - Display images or sequences of images on your desktop. The images can be from your local filesystem or hosted somewhere out on the web. Again, full control of how the images are displayed.
  • Shell Geeklets - Probably the most powerful of all the geeklets as these allow you to run anything from a simple Unix command to a full shell script. This section demonstrates some simple commands that can be run from Shell geeklets to build a dynamic calendar on your desktop.

As mentioned, there are lot's of example geeklets available on the web if you seek them out. Here are some links to help you:

MacOSX Tips

Mac AppStorm

Flickr

Keyboard Shortcuts

Geektool Chapters

ChapterDuration
Start[49s]
GeekTool Introduction[1m 24s]
Geeklets[46s]
Image Geeklets[4m 12s]
Geeklet Groups[1m 10s]
File Geeklets[3m 30s]
Shell Geeklets[6m 26s]
Example Desktops[1m 32s]
Wrap Up[1m 56s]

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Discussion

(2 comments posted on Geektool)
  • Vincent Albanese
    Links in the show notes. Where can I find the show notes for this ep?
  • reply
    Don McAllister
    I've inserted the links in main page - the tab marked GeekTool
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