Due to a depleted supply of snapshot submissions, I’ve had to temporarily reduce the number of snapshots per update to four. So if you’ve been holding off for that perfect submission time, it has just arrived.
Here’s Friday’s snapshot offering:

• Saul Good contributes this screenshot sporting a “Gil Scott Heron” desktop picture scanned from the Pieces of a Man cover. iTunes is dishing out tunes along the left edge. Icons provided by Xicons propagate the dock.
  
  
• Your humble snapshot manager, Jeremy Hoesly, contributes another submission this time showcasing the “Dockside View” and “Side View” desktop pictures from Hoeslyvista’s OpSail 2000 Gallery in combination with Michael Rabe’s currently unreleased GlassBox Theme. Nicolas Cardot’s Fablue icons, icons.cx’s Spiffy Apps icon sets, and Perfect Yosemite’s PY3 Graphite iPack cover the bases for icons.
  
  
• This snapshot from Andy Moraitis sports the custom “Left/Right Fader” desktop picture. Icons from ResExcellence’s Icon Archive are scattered throughout.
  
  
• This snapshot from an unknown submitter mysteriously materialized in ResExcellence’s FTP dropbox with an aquatic desktop picture.

Show the Mac world how you’ve tamed and trained your desktop to your own liking. Read our submission guidelines and then fire away!

Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly

Snapshots for Thursday have arrived:

• This OS X submission from Charles Bouldin sports a Propaganda desktop picture. The dock hugs the right edge, courtesy of TinkerTool, and OneClick, running from Classic, is nestled in the lower left-hand corner.
  
  
• Dan Flax, lord over the desktop and icon archive domains, submits this snapshot of his desktop featuring his “Laser Beam Organizer” desktop picture coupled with the Irie Mac Theme. Very classy.
  
  
• I, Jeremy Hoesly, manager of the snapshot archive, provide you with a glimpse of my desktop touting the “Brilliant Flower” and “Circle of Trees” desktop pictures available from my personal site, Hoeslyvista, in combination with Michael Rabe’s GlassWorks Blueberry Theme. iTunes provides the background music in the lower right hand corner of the second monitor. Nicolas Cardot’s Fablue icons, Perfect Yosemite’s PY3 Graphite iPack, and icons.cx’s Spiffy Apps collections are featured throughout.
  
  
• This gorgeous OS X contribution from Van Moore sports a custom desktop picture created from one included with the OS. iTunes is cranking out songs in the center, while icons from Xicons and Icon Factory along with a few custom ones strut about down the right edge and in the dock along the bottom.
  
  
• Michael Rabe, master of our theme section, contributes this OS X snapshot providing us with a sneak peak of his soon-to-be-released and much anticipated Pastel Blue Theme for OS X! Very awesome.
  
  
• This screenshot from Josh Wardell touts the “Tiles Blue” desktop picture. iCab, a lean browser recently carbonized for OS X, is surfing through Apple’s OS X webpage. Icons from Xicons abound.

Show the Mac world how you’ve tamed and trained your desktop to your own liking. Read our submission guidelines and then fire away!

Support ResExcellence By Visiting Our Sponsors!

Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle

Netscape Communicator has been updated to version 4.7.7 and that means it time to dig out the ol' MDEF menu patch and "Platinumize" the menus. This two year old edit still works! I haven't pulled out a stopwatch, but this new version seems to render even faster, though it still doesn't buffer previous pages as well as Explorer. One new feature that I noticed: if you go to a page that requires a plugin, a new window opens that takes you directly to the vendor site.

Several readers have emailed, Chris Roehl being first, to let me know that the recent update to Microsoft Office 2001 is not at all happy if you have modified any resources in the applications - and this includes splash screens. You will have to reinstall Office (be sure not to loose any documents or templates). Then run the Office Update, and finally change the splashes. Knowing this is the situation, it's probably a good idea to save the clean backups and StuffIt archive them for the future when the next update comes out.

While we're talking about hacking MS products, Chaz Kelsh reminds us that ResEdit mods for the Mac OS 9 version of Internet Explorer can very easily be done on the MacOS X version! The resources are in the data fork of this file: </Applications/Internet Explorer/Internet Explorer.app/Contents
/Resources/Internet Explorer.rsrc>. Use Snoop 1.6 (while booted into MacOS 9) to copy the data fork into the resource fork. Make sure that Snoop has at least a preferred memory size of 20000K; less might work, I don't know. I've tested both the throbber edit and the IE makeovers. Both work great! After editing, copy the data fork back to the resource fork. Since you were working on a copy (of course), just replace the file, boot into OS X, and surf away!

Alias/wavefront, the makers of Maya, have released a free screensaver for MacOS X. On their Free Stuff page, they have some beautiful desktop pictures you may want to snag. If after running the screensaver you decide you don't like the floating Maya Log, Bryan sends this tip to remove it, "If you open up the screensaver's package contents and dig around a little you'll find a file named Maya Paint Effects.rsrc. Drag this to the trash and voila! No more Maya logo floating around."

Two Faced Mac has a new redesign, and posted 4 new desktops 4 snapshots.

A snapshot of my Linux desktop was posted at Themes.org. :)

Greg from the Devil's Desktop says you can take any TrueType font that's in Windows format (.ttf) and use it in MacOS X - no conversion needed! Just drop them in your HOME/Library/Fonts folder or the /Library/Fonts folder.

This is pretty cool! Brycetopia has posted a page showing what the future of Apple hardware could be!

I can finallly learn the function of all those drawing tools in Appleworks! Take a look at this indepth article at MacInstruct: How to Draw in Appleworks. No artistic skills required. :)

Sleeping Powerbooks by Michael Coyle

After lots of hard work by Benjamin Herrenschmidt and others, the Pismo series of Powerbooks now can sleep! There is no precompiled kernel yet (or even source), the only way to get it is by rsync, but if you have been anxious to get a sleeping book, it's worth the effort. Here's what I did.

cd /usr/scr/
mkdir linux-2.4-benh
rsync -vcaz penguinppc.org::linux-2.4-benh linux-2.4-benh

This gets the source. Then build the kernel. (I like the instructions at this site.)

If you use Mac-on-Linux, you will also need to build via rsync the latest version to work with this new kernel.

cd /usr/src
mkdir mol-rsync
rsync -vcaz zorn.theophys.kth.se::mol mol-rsync

And follow the included build instructions.

I'm not usually so bleeding-edge, but I have wanted sleep on my Powerbook under Linux for more than a year. Eventually, these updates will make their way into the main kernel trees, but that could take months.

The beauty of setting up rsync is that in the future, you just change into /usr/src and execute the rsync line to update only the necessary source files.

User Contributed Splash Screens: by Michael Coyle

• Does your iMac run MacOS X? Here is a set of three Boot and Login panels from Robert Marking featuring the newest colorful releases.
  
  
• Here's an unusual contribution! Bill Surber sent a great Theme Soundset. Comprised mostly of harp glisses and bells, the set gives you Mac a magical quality!
  
  
• This set of three MOSS from Nicolas Cardot have a cool Cube look with Aqua power buttons.
  
  
• Determined to beautify every Apple control panel, John Bailey sends a little makeover with new icons for the Internet Control Panel.
  
  
• Featuring lovely lips, this AIM splash from Jeff Delauney is very pretty.
  
  
• If "The West Wind" is a favorite of yours, then check out this MOSS from MAJArch Studios.
  

Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly

Icon & Desktop News: by Dan

Icons - Desktops: We've got two brand new icon sets and ( 6 ) outstanding desktops on display for today's update.

• "Unsolved Cases" by Jeff Welsh is a stylishly handsome set of 10 Aqua flavored folders created for OS X.
  
  
• Patrick O'Kelly gives eye candy a new meaning with his "Mercury Lense Icons". Part of a unified package of GUI goodies including a unique desktop and an upcoming Kaleidoscope scheme. All available on Pats's website Eye9 , where there are many ways to see things.
  
  
• We have the great good fortune to have a series of 3-D desktops for posting by Chris Kiss. The fourth of these high grade backdrops on display is titled "TiBook/AquaTitanium", and comes in 1152x resolution. Chris reports using only Photoshop 6 and Bryce in creating these beauties. His desktops can also be downloaded/viewed at www.chriskiss.com or more directly at www.art.chriskiss.com. Look for more right here in the next week.
  
  
• "After The Rain" is a peaceful and placid 3-D rendered Bryce desktop by Bradford J. Wiles. Enjoy this calming landscape in 1024x and 832x resolutions.
  
  
• Derryck Wilson made "Orelse" to vent some frustration with having to use a "Winblows" machine at work. This Pro-Apple desktop bids you to resist being assimilated into the "dark side" and better Think Different Or Else!
  
  
• SoulRocka Nasty Nene returns with another of his very funky character desktops. "Brown Sugar OS" comes in 1024x resolution.
  
  
• Jeff Welsh couldn't decide what to call his latest desktop creation and so simply settled on calling it "What the å&Mac195;&Mac186;© !" Download this manic backdrop, and decide for yourself what it's all about in 800x and 1024x resolutions.
  
  
• Soft, floaty and fun, "Bubbles" desktop by Daniel Zollinger comes in 1152x and 1280x resolutions.

News From Around the Web:

Dean's Designs updates with five new desktops.

Hansworks Design updates with Another desktop picture of last week, =B3Monitor=B2, made for both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9!

Layne Karkruff of Blueskyheart announces the release of a new desktop picture, "Electrum Poppa". For those with too much time on their hands like him, "Electrum Poppa" is an anagram.

'Tray's Trove updates with eight new desktop designs as of April 1st.

'Flax Creations updates with two new Organizer desktops over the weekend.

'Epoch Icons updates the site with a new pic by Jason W. and some icons by Lauri Kieksi.

'Steve Sobek updates with four new desktops this week and a new Startup Movie
created in Bryce!

Just a note to let U know that Dragon Tongue has another new icon set available at his site.

Max Rudberg updates with "Game icons for OS X" and contain 30 game icons in 128x128 pixel format and can be used under both 8.5-9.1 and OS X.

xmac.50megs.com has been updated. and X desktops. He also has OS 9 and X desktops. Plus some Os X tips and more...

Mando Gomez wants to let you know of his two new desktops at http://www.mandolux.com. These new desktops, "The Boeing Super Cruiser," are about the brand new proposed design by the Boeing Company (http://www.boeing.com).

'KCz Custom Desktops wants us to know that he has added another page of desktop pictures (page 16).

'Eye9 announces the release of the Mercury Lense desktop series and other goodies

Kadir danis writes to let us know about the application Iconshop which can convert Mac icon files to PC format and vice versa.

So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!

Need more workspace? Get Virtual Desktop!

iIndigo - in the Archive now!

Last Sunday the Doghouse pulled its first April Fool's joke, saying that Theme Maker will be released Monday. Everyone at the Doghouse would like to say thank you for all the emails, but it was a joke. "Theme Maker" is far from being released. It is still in it's beginning stages.

Here is some good news for you on "X" themes. Pastel Blue for MacOS X is almost finished. This Thursday I should have a preview for you. If all the testing goes well, it should be released here next week.

Today iIndigo has been added to the Theme Archive. Stop back on Thursday because iLime will be added as well!

See ya on the flip flop!

If you have a theme you wish to add to the Archive, drop me an email.

4/3/01

Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X

A note from Michael...

If you missed it, we posted an April Fools Page yesterday. I hope we tricked you. :)

April is also the anniversary month of ResExcellence and this year marks our fourth year online! Can you believe it? That's about 22 dog years and a century of internet time. Last month for the first time, we served one million pages in a single month. It boggles the mind.

Obviously, it is the readers that make ResExcellence a great place to visit. Without your comments and contributions, this place would consist of two paragraphs of my ramblings. Let me use this milestone as an opportunity to thank all of you for making ResEx the Number One Mac interface site (IMHO).

Today's News by Cletus™ ^{Michael had way too much time on his hands last week!}

What a great contest we just finished with Power On Software. Twelve lucky people walked away with a copy of Rewind! The rest of you will be receiving a discount offer on another Power On item.

Power On and ResExcellence would like to thank all those that entered. Congratulations to the final four winners listed below:

I know we have been having weekly giveaways. It's just working out this way. We have many more great giveaways still to come. We will eventually be going back to the "every-other-week" routine. But for now, it is every week, so enjoy.

And now for this week...

ResExcellence and No-U-Turn Software are teaming up this week for a terrific giveaway. The prize is a free registration for five (5) copies of Dot What? Dot What? is available for Mac, Windows, and Mac OS X. Stop by the contest page and enter!

Not sure what Dot What? can do for you? Did you ever receive a file from a friend or from an internet download and wonder how to read it? Many files have some sort of 3 digit extension at the end of the name (ie. sit, hqx, psd), rendering it very difficult to determine the correct application to associate with them. Simply launch Dot What?, type in the questionable file extension, and instantly be presented with its description, recommended application to open it with, and even a corresponding web site for each application!

Wapp pro 3.1b2 has been released to provide for the Navigation Services enhancements in this "ultimate windows/applications switcher."

Matthew Drayton has released version 1.2 of Flame. Flame creates an animated flame that can be viewed in the Dock or a floating window. It can be used to monitor system load, or to draw a random animated flame.

Graphic Converter 4.0.6 was released over the weekend for Mac OS X. The PPC version remains at 4.0.5. Refinements to this version include:

• Carbon version is much improved
  
  
• Swf export has been added
  
  
• A crash on opening JPEGs that look like a PICT has been fixed
  
  
• The fill tool now supports patterns
  
  
• Color table correction can now be disabled
  
  
• Iptc information of TIFFs with mixed tags will now be imported correctly
  
  
• Possible crash with MacOS 8.1 or earlier fixed
  
  
• Creation of 128x128 thumbnail icons added
  
  
• Loss-less mirroring of JPEGs added in the browser
  
  
• Bug in zoom selection fixed
  

Noah Pepper Software has posted 1.0.3 of How Long. This program will keep track of how long your Mac has been running. The program will also run in Mac OS X. Over all bug fixes and enhancements are found in this update.

Keyboard Shutdown 1.1 lets AppleScript use the F-Keys to shutdown your Mac. Very useful if you have a newer keyboard without a power button.

Submit Software and General News Suggestions!

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Click here to learn more about Toast 6 Titanium

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Polling Place by Michael Coyle

It does in fact appear that DVD's will rapidly replace the VCR tape in the not too distant future. In the meantime, there will be quite a bit of confusion around the Coyle Home as we crawl behind the TV to constantly swap cables between the VCR, PlayStation, and N64.

One hi-tech hardware option that's missing from my house is a wireless network. With four computers (three of them Powerbooks) it would be great to wander the house and yard without a tether. This week's Polling Place asks, "Do you use wireless networking?"

Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle

ResEx Theme Editor Michael Rabe is putting the final touches on his first theme for MacOS X. The theme file is called Extras.rsrc and Michael is looking for a ResEx reader who may be able to write an Applescript to automate the process of of swapping out the original Extras theme file and replacing it with a new Theme file. If you can help, please email Michael Rabe.

Melissa has added seven new sites to the Links Page. And a special mention today for Tray's Trove. The site was accidentally deleted from the links page, but is now back!

Patrick O'Kelly is the first to admit his beautiful web site, Eye9Design, is a little slow to load, but if you're patient, you'll be treated to a great looking iTunes makeover and some Wrappers for your G4 Cube. There are bonus 128x128 icon collections in each download.

More on root in MacOS X

Tom Penzer sends info on another way to access the root account in MacOS X.

Just a little note, in OSX, you can get the root password function in one line:

sudo passwd root

It will ask for your admin account pass, a root pass and a confirm for root pass, and that's it...just slightly simpler than the command on your page.

You can also do it with the NetInfo Manager, in the Domains menu, look at the Security submenu. You authenticate, and then you can enable root account.

And Scott Parrish gives me a spanking...

On your MacOS X tips page you mention that /System/Library/StartupItems is where startup items are stored. These are subsystems and daemons started when the system boots as the article mentions. I would like to point out that people should NEVER alter the contents of this folder. If you wish to add your own StartupItems you may create a folder in Library (/Library/StartupItems) for adding localized startup items. Despite the fact that the folder is not present on a default install, if present, this folder will be checked along with the folder in /System during the boot process. Items in /System do not get priority over items in /Library.

User Contributed Splash Screens: by Michael Coyle

• The crack of the bat and roar of the crowd fills the air this week as the baseball season kicks off! Today I have three team MOSS from which to choose:
  
  
  • Will is an Oakland Athletics fan and sent two nice MOSS, one with Jason Giambi and another with pitcher Tim Hudson.
    
    
  • Paul Rouffa has the good taste to be a Chicago White Sox fan. His MOSS features the 1917 Sox - the last team to win a World Series (until this year that is!)
  • And poor Frank is stuck rooting for the Yankees. A team that can only fall from their height perch. Unfortunately, the Yankees and Sox don't play each other until September. :)
    
    
• John Bailey created a very cool makeover kit for Apple's Remote Access. Take a look at the preview to get a better idea.
  
  
• Conrad sent a Hotline replacement splash featuring Laura Ponte.
  
  
• For users of MacOS X, Ryan Schwartz sent a Dock replacement background. This one really accentuates the docks transparencies.
  
  

Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly

Get Monday’s batch of snapshots right here:

• Andre returns with this OS X snapshot sporting Digital Blasphemy’s “Song of the Sky” desktop picture. iTunes is serving up music in the lower right. OS X’s Quartz drawing engine is certainly getting a workout with seven terminal windows overlapping each other!
  
  
• Maury McCown’s “QNX” desktop picture and MacQNX K2-Scheme are in the spotlight in this screenshot from Rob Hanlon. Audion, equipped with the TS2mini face, is chucking songs your way.
  
  
• This OS X submission from Justin Higgins touts Epoch Icons’ “Frozen EOS” desktop picture. iTunes is cranking out musical selections in the lower right-hand corner. Icons from Icon Factory and icons.cx are on display.
  
  
• The Mac OS default pattern and Brad Matter’s System Seven-dot-Seven Plus K-Scheme debut in this snapshot from John Montgomery. The classic Glider game is running in the center. Boy does that bring back memories…
  
  
• This screenshot from Neoform features a custom desktop picture. ICQ with a simulated transparent background hugs the left edge.
  
  
• Manuel Velazquez contributes this two part OS X submission sporting the custom “Flight of the Seraphim” desktop picture from the Metaphysical series. Music Player is handling the background music in the lower left-hand corner, and Adobe and Macromedia icons are on the loose.

Show the Mac world how you’ve tamed and trained your desktop to your own liking. Read our submission guidelines and then fire away!

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Complete Cable Management For The Home & Office.

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Icon & Desktop News: by Dan

Over the weekend I've received a whopping 13 new press items from around the web, and quite a few new desktop submissions. The Mac -GUI community really seems to be hoppin rockin and rollin at the moment. Wow!

Icons - Desktops: We've got ( 7 ) outstanding new desktops on display for today's update.

• We have the great good fortune to have a series of 3-D desktops for posting by Chris Kiss. The third of these professional grade backdrops on display is titled "TiBookAmerican-Beauty", and comes in 1152x resolution. His desktops can also be downloaded/viewed at www.chriskiss.com or more directly at www.art.chriskiss.com. Look for more right here in the next week.
  
  
• 'Dean Fusaro submits "Blue Dalmation", another preview of one of his many great desktop creations. You will find this fine backdrop amongst others on Dean's newly opened website.
  
  
• John Rose immortalizes the words of Sci-Fi author Arthur C. Clarke with his latest desktop creation. "A sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from Magic". This Apple Centric backdrop comes in 1280x resolution.
  
  
• "Macintosh", a 3-D Macintosh desktop by Bradford J. Wiles is full of heart. Enjoy this cleaver creation in 1024x and 832x resolutions.
  
  
• "Rise'n'Shine" is another fun and sorta strange 3-D masterpiece by Bradford J. Wiles, and comes in 1024x and 832x resolutions.
  
  
• A group of friends, a frisbee and an awesome fiery sunset might make you long for those endless summer days with Josh Bishop's "Rock Desktop". Another selection from Josh's "Desktop Dump", this one come in four resolutions.
  
  
• Patrick O'Kelly submits "Mercury Lens Desktop" for your enjoyment. Part of a whole package of goodies available on his website Eye9 , where there are many ways to see things.

News From Around the Web:

Layne Karkruff of Blueskyheart announces the release of a new desktop picture, "Electrum Poppa". For those with too much time on their hands like him, "Electrum Poppa" is an anagram.

'Tray's Trove updates with eight new desktop designs as of April 1st.

'Flax Creations updates with two new Organizer desktops over the weekend.

'Epoch Icons updates the site with a new pic by Jason W. and some icons by Lauri Kieksi.

'Steve Sobek updates with four new desktops this week and a new Startup Movie
created in Bryce!

Just a note to let U know that Dragon Tongue has another new icon set available at his site.

Max Rudberg updates with "Game icons for OS X" and contain 30 game icons in 128x128 pixel format and can be used under both 8.5-9.1 and OS X.

xmac.50megs.com has been updated. and X desktops. He also has OS 9 and X desktops. Plus some Os X tips and more...

Mando Gomez wants to let you know of his two new desktops at http://www.mandolux.com. These new desktops, "The Boeing Super Cruiser," are about the brand new proposed design by the Boeing Company (http://www.boeing.com).

'KCz Custom Desktops wants us to know that he has added another page of desktop pictures (page 16).

'Eye9 announces the release of the Mercury Lense desktop series and other goodies

Kadir danis writes to let us know about the application Iconshop which can convert Mac icon files to PC format and vice versa.

The Devil's Desktop has been updated with 6 new desktops and 1 new icon set "Batman".

Little Dark Room, has undergone a major redesign. Icons and desktop pictures are still available to download, and there's also a new section under development.

So what's up WWW? Icons? Desktop pictures? News? Inform us! We'll post it!

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