Snapshots by Jeremy Hoesly

Email feature returns: After long last, submitter emails are once again included on the snapshot description pages (when provided) to allow you as visitors to provide feedback to contributors. To accomodate ResExcellence’s email policy, email addresses are encoded or “obfuscated” to deter spam bots from harvesting contributors’ addresses while remaining completely unobtrusive to visitors.

Mid-week snapshots are on the way:

• An anonymous contributor sent this screenshot sporting a desktop picture of nebulae amidst a cluster of galaxies. TigerLaunch, a program launching menu extra, resides on the right side of the menubar.
  
  
• A “Marilyn Monroe” desktop picture and Max Rudberg’s SmoothStripes Theme debut in this submission from Austintatious. Menu extra hacks and ATM replacements are custom handiwork.
  
  
• A “Sun Photo” desktop picture adapted from an image taken by the Institute for Solar Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is showcased in this contribution from Brian Lenihan. Numerous menu extras reside in the menubar.
  
  
• Benjamin Ricci submits this screenshot sporting MacUserX’s “Punisher” desktop picture. A selection of icons from Xicons, Icon Factory, and our Icon Archive are nestled in the dock.

See just how easy it is to contribute to ResExcellence! Give our browser-based submission upload page a whirl.

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Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle

Thank's to Butt O'Sigh and the gang from Desktopper.net, we once again have a great looking high tech theme for MacOS X. The only problem is that I couldn't install it! Duality 3 and 4 complained it wasn't compatible with my OS version (10.2.2). If you're having the same problem, there are three key files to install that comprise the majority of the theme. The remainder of elements are icong on the cake. Things like a Boot Panel, Login badge, and Boot Image.

After downloading and unstuffing the theme, view the contents of the Tequa.theme file and locate the following files:

Extras.rsrc replaces the original in the directory:

/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/
HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/Resources/

Localized.rsrc replaces the original in the directory:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/

Finder.rsrc replaces the original in the directory:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/

My Way-cool Tequa Desktop

Please be sure to make backups of all the original files! If you are comfortable with UNIX permissions, you can make the switch while in MacOS X, otherwise boot into MacOS 9 and switch the files there.

This page on Desktopper (after translated to English) outlines a few shortcomings of the theme. If you download the theme from there, you will need Stuffit 7 to decompress it.

The following contributions did not include a READ ME. Please upload them again following the guidelines on the Submission Policy page. Thanks:

• iSync Throbber
• Tokyo MOSS
• Sonic Boot
• MenuPrefs icons
• IE SPlash with extras.
  
  
  

OpenOffice has been updated for Linux/PPC with the release of build 643C. There is a long list of improvements for you to read. Download the Linux/PPC installer from the following sites:

ftp://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yellowdog/software/openoffice/
ftp://ftp.stardiv.de/pub/OpenOffice.org/contrib/linuxppc/

Let's talk a little more about Linux/PPC shall we? Within the next few days, my new 1G Titanium Powerbook will arrive. :-) This will be the first Powerbook since my 3400 that I will not contain a Linux install. Why? Because I can get all the same features and better hardware support under MacOS X.

Many readers wrote to add their opinions. Of those who will continue to use Linux on Apple hardware a common reason is older hardware. If your computer doesn't support Quartz Extreme, then the graphics speed of Linux is very appealing.

Brian Alston, a computer science student, wrote to say he is running Linux on Apple hardware because "many of the standard libraries installed with Mac OS X were not as standard as I had hoped. They are similar to those in the Solaris and SVR4 world but not similar enough. I installed Linux because the compatibility was much closer."

And finally, many readers wrote to say that they are installing Linux to get a better understanding of Unix. I gotta tell ya folks, MacOS X is as real as Unix gets. While the years I spent with Linux perfectly prepared me for the Unix underpinnings of MacOS X, ninety percent of the command line programs are identical in syntax, so these days if you're looking to master Unix, MacOS X is a great start.

What does this mean for the Linux Icebox? Just like MOSS and ATMs, its days are waning.

I've been playing with Chimera 0.6 the past few days and it's smoking fast. It's also a beautiful-to-look-at application. As a Cocoa app, it accepts the look of whichever appearance theme you have installed - something Mozilla doesn't do. One small annoyance is that it won't accept a 'preview page' command from GoLive. Anyone know of a work around? A nice utility for activating a handful of "secret" preferences is Chimerachanga. You can manipulate HTTP piping, disable the disk cache (forcing the app to use RAM), and half a dozen more options. Did I mention it's free?

User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle

It's easier than ever to contribute using the new Browser Based Upload Page! If you contribute a file to any section of ResExcellence, you could win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 ! (How?)

• If you recently downloaded John Hall's Matrix Dock Poof, grab it again. He had made some small updates. I forgot to mention that this Poof is the first to include a replacement for the Poof sound effect recently added with MacOS X 10.2
  
  
• Based on icons from Hein Mevison, Mini Me created a set of Star Wars boot images.
  
  
• Ya know when you set the Volume or Brightness in MacOS X those little 'Heads-up" displays appear on the screen? Simon Bayaidah has made a replacement set of these images. He did this so they displays would be more appealing with Max Rudberg's SmoothStripes opaque Square theme!
  
  
• Patrick Browning took the dot.mac globe icon and used it to make a ice looking Boot Panel. The download also includes a Login replacement and an image for the "About this Mac" screen.
  
  
• Odd. We have one more Star Wars submission today. Onlooker sent a boot image of the Rouge Leader medallion
  
  
  

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Today's News by Cletus™

I am back into my regular routine. At least for one or two days before the holiday and then it's a business trip to Chicago and a Bass or two with Mr. Coyle. :D Thanks again to all who sent emails.

One of my regularly loaded menubar items has received an update: Meteorologist bumps to 1.1.8. This is an excellent piece of freeware that places the local weather in your menubar or Dock. It has several customizable features. You can also change several of the appearance settings for the Dock, in addition to setting whether to display temperature data in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

• Rearranged the preferences in a much clear way.
  
  
• Temperature data will now always be displayed with the degree symbol (°)
  
  
• It works again: Weather.com changed their format a little, so I had to tweak my algorithm to compensate. I apologize for the delay.
  
  

Macaroni 1.2 is the latest release from Atomic Bird. We are by now all familiar with the AppleScripts that are set to perform in the middle of the night to clean up various Unix log files. Macaroni is a tool which handles this with one exception. You can re-schedule the scripts to run at more practical times. Like when your computer is normally turned on. In addition, even if your computer is not on when you have scheduled the scripts, Macaroni automatically ensures that it's run at the next opportunity. This version is primarily for iBook and Powerbook users, allowing maintenance to be configured to run only when your Mac is using its power adapter, saving battery power.

Ellipsis Productions have provided a new version of Memory Usage Getter that has been completely rewritten. Now MUG is much faster! Other changes include a reworked user interface to make it much more intuitive. You can now scroll through the list in a normal table view. Added a List View window, that simply shows all processes in one big long list. The positions of windows on systems with dual display setups should now be remembered, and they removed the progress bars (to be added back in a future version).

Synergy 0.2 provides iTune control via the menubar. A new feature in this release provides Mouse over for the play/pause button which will now display the current iTunes track in a tooltip.

Launch Items X 1.3.1 adds many new preference settings. In addition, if you have the Mac OS X Dev Tools CD installed, the browse volumes can display developing applications on the root menu. Browse Volumes can hide all invisible and hidden items, and will no longer show the contents of application packages.

ClipCap 1.0 is a new program that is described by the author as a Screenshot helper app. Further description says it will take screenshots and put them in your clipboard without having to have a file on the desktop.

Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!

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Polling Place by Michael Coyle

In an effort reminiscent of the old Evangalist under Guy Kowasaki, lovers of the show Farscape organized in a couple of forums and as a result, the show won last week's Poll as the most popular Sci-Fi show at ResExcellence. That's "Fair and Square" as far as I'm concerned. :-)

I'm surprised Stargate rated so low. Some readers wrote to say this may be due to the fact that for a long period of time, it was only available on Showtime. Even today, it is not available "over the airwaves", you still need cable to see it.

Still, I miss Star Trek: The Next Generation. And now that the novels are primarily an endless progression of lukewarm serials, I seldom read them anymore. Oh well, maybe Santa will bring me the first season on DVD this Christmas.

Four of us were chatting at work and we realized none of us pays to have our hair cut. Since I'm bald, I bought a set of clippers years ago and cut my own hair every week. Two of the other guys have spiked crew-cuts and cut their own hair too. The fourth guy has his hair cut by his wife, a registered beautician. How about you? This week's Polling Place asks, "Do you pay to have your hair cut?"

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11-22-02

News

Icons/Desktops

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Calendar & Appointment Scheduler for Mac OS X

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11-21-02

Tools of the Trade

User Contributions

REALbasic

Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle

BBX Mercury, the Kaleidoscope scheme by William Bart, is being ported to a MacOS X theme by Max Rudberg. There is a discussion thread at MacNN covering the port.

Another highly anticipated theme is Tequa 1.0. This is being discussed on Desktopper, but unfortunately, even with a babel translation, I can't make sense of it. Apparently, it's due to be released soon. :-)

Click the preview for full image in a new window

Preview of BBX Mercury	Preview of Tequa 1.0

Updated in the theme archive is Lars' QuickSilverR. A bug that allowed some white squares to sneak in to windows has been squashed.

Since Farscape is so popular in this week's Poll, I thought I'd post this link to a site containing over one dozen Farscape desktop pictures.

I know from email I have received that many of you use ProTools for audio editing. In my job as an audio postproduction engineer, I use ProTools to mix commercials to picture. One problem I have is the inability to accurately slow scroll the video while still providing frame accurate timecode to ProTools.

I found a very cool solution in the VueFinder Jog.Shuttle controller. This RS-422 controller duplicates the transport controls and jog wheel on most professional VTRs and has the advantage of a buffered RS-422 loop-through so the signal can continue on to the ProTools machine control.

Now I can accurately control my VTR, and have the transport commands and timecode simultaneously read by ProTools. The VueFinder with Pass Through option is $319.

My last Linux snapshot?
Click for full size image.

Whither Linux/PPC? Since the release of MacOS X 10.2 and the increased speed it has provided, I haven't booted into my 5 gig Linux partition! As much as I enjoy the learning experience of Linux, I equally hate the lack of hardware support for Firewire, PCMCIA, and the difficulty configuring most hardware devices. I'm at the point where I could use that 5 gig partition for editing some iMovies.

Most of the popular Linux/PPC web sites haven't been updated in weeks. Has MacOS X killed Linux on Apple hardware? I'm interested in compiling your recent experiences with Linux and MacOS X and whether you have decided to Switch from Linux to MacOS X. Drop me a line.

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User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle

It's easier than ever to contribute using the new Browser Based Upload Page! If you contribute a file to any section of ResExcellence, you could win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 ! (How?)

• "the pinky toe" sent a nice little care-package for lovers of the anime Nyago, a sleepy little boy tabby cat born in the streets of a small town in Japan. The package contains a pair of Boot Panels, a Log in logo, and a Finder folder background image.
  
  
• Patrick Browning sent a boot image of the Thoth logo. I have no idea where the Thoth logo comes from, but if you have been searching for it you can stop now.
  
  
• Of all the names I have posted over the years on ResEx, Ben Boldt has the distinction of being the most misspelled. I must have some mental block regarding Benn's name. I apologize. Today Mr. Bolt sends a full makeover package for Audio Overload. To me, it looks kinda Star Trek LCARS.
  
  
• Feeling a little devilish? Onlooker sends two boot images featuring the BSD Devil logo.
  
  
  

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Click here to learn more about Toast 6 Titanium

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11-20-02

News

Icons/Desktops

Today's News by Cletus™

I need a break, a distraction. So I decided to do my update for today and then not on Friday. I want to first say a quick thank you to all who have sent condolences. It is much appreciated. Mike made a point of mentioning how and why ResExcellence is so popular on this page, (#2). The interaction between staff and readers. I feel this is so very true, when I receive the kind emails that were sent. I showed all of them to my wife. Thanks.

I wanted to mention, in case you missed it that Riccardo Ettore has (finally) released version 1.0 of TypeIt4Me X. You definitely want to try this program out if you haven't already.

OnMyCommandCM 1.3.1 brings many updates, bug fixes and enhancements to this CMM. One note is that the Online command collection contains now over 40 commands and still grows.

HotApp X 1.7 has been updated. It allows the assignment of keyboard shortcut commands to Mac OS X. Changes include:

• Powerful quick AddressBook search (require OS 10.2.x *).
  
  
• Direct support for HotAlias file.
  
  
• Improved AppleScript support and configurable auto software update.
  
  
• Demo time limit increased to 3 hours
  
  
• New icon for HotApp keyboard listener.
  
  

The very popular Launch Items X also receives and update going to version 1.3. Launch Items is an easy-to-use contextual menu plug-in which allows to launch customized applications, folders, URLs or open documents with customized applications.

• Holding down the Option key and selecting a menu item from Launch Items Menu will show that item in Finder.
  
  
• The Move Items.plugin will try to copy the selected items if it fails to move those items.
  
  
• The Move Items, Make Copy, Make Alias and Add To Favorites now can handle duplicated items.
  
  

The folks at Unsanity have updated several of their excellent "Haxies" for Mac OS X. I use them all myself. Here is a quick run down of what has been updated.

First and foremost is the required Application Enhancer 1.2 which pulls all the haxies into one neat control panel. You will need this to run the haxies. It is also free.

Metallifizer 1.1 brings consistent to the Apple GUI for many of its programs. It allows you to do three things. Selectively decide which programs have the metallic look, allow all the Apple programs to have the metal look, or allow all the Apple programs to have the Aqua "lickable" look! I opt for the metallic look myself.

ClearDock 1.2.2 settings have been moved into new APE Manager that comes with Application Enhancer 1.2. ClearDock allows total customization of the Dock, from transparency affects to board color.

Have a Press Release? Software or General News? Submit it here: Suggestions!

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Complete Cable Management For The Home & Office.

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11-19-02

Tools of the Trade

User Contributions

REALbasic

Tools of the Trade by Michael Coyle

Themer Kevin Husted from Swizcore has updated two of his past creations for use under MacOS X 10.2.2. Check out BeOS and Pearl. Pearl comes with a new default folder and matching desktop picture. Kevin says Pearl will be his last white theme for awhile. Expect more colorful creations in the near future!

Click the preview for full image in a new window

Pearl for Jaguar	BeOS for Jaguar

Psssst.... I added four new sites to the ResExcellence Links page. Keep it quiet will ya?

Sarah Childers has a 'thing' for rainbows. If you don't believe me, just visit her website for some cool software. In fact, she has written a shell script to make the Terminal.app prompt colorful! She says,

"This file adds an easy way to add color to your terminal prompt. Colors are formed by escape sequences which are very ugly to type by hand. Each item of the prompt can be set to a different color. Additionally, I have set the text command to a different color each time a command is excecuted. (ie. The first command you type is in red, then the next is in yellow...) This works best on a black background, although you can edit the variables myprompt, myrprompt, and mycolors list to your liking."

A big macho guy like me wouldn't get caught dead with a rainbow terminal prompt, but I must admit the effect is cool looking and by studying the script, you can learn what is possible with shell scripts!

If you are thinking about getting your favorite WebMaster™ a Christmas present, I'll accept either of the following:

Segway $4950	AirScooter $25,000

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User Contributed Splash Screens. by Michael Coyle

It's easier than ever to contribute using the new Browser Based Upload Page! If you contribute a file to any section of ResExcellence, you could win a PowerMax gift certificate worth $50 ! (How?)

• This should appeal to Powerbook/iBook owners. David Escamilla made a boot image that looks like a battery icon!
  
  
• For users of Maya, Onlooker made a boot image of the company's logo.
  
  
• A cool Boot Panel for Jaguar users was created by zapz. It features a snarling big cat.
  
  
• John Hall made a great looking Dock Poof in the style of the green Matrix text.
  
  
• Regardless of the difficulty level at which you play Halo, Jonathan Chapman has a set of boot images to cover you.
  
  
• Ouch! Chump or Chimp is the question asked in this Presidential boot image by Mini Me.

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11-18-02

News

Polling Place

Icons/Desktops

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Polling Place by Michael Coyle

Surprisingly, one third of ResEx readers make an effort to not use MS products. 15% don't use any of Microsoft products at all, and 22% have only Internet Explorer installed. In the forum thread, the biggest complaint was the need for a replacement for MS Office. Again, I recommend ThinkFree.

There were lots of TV shows nominated for the Best Sci-Fi show by ResExcellence readers. Deserving an honorable mention are:

• Space: 1999
• Twilight Zone
• Quantum Leap
• The Incredible Hulk
• Sliders
• V and V:The Final Battle
• MST3K !!
• Buck Rogers: The 25th Century
• and even My Favorite Martian

Listed in the Polling Place are the top nine suggestions. Let the voting begin! It will be interesting to see which show wins. On a related note, James Huff sent me the URL to Gate World. This site covers all the running Sci-Fi shows and has tons of cool info.

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You can now upload your contributions (include a READ ME) to the ResExcellence
Web Based Upload Page and let us know with an email. Be sure to read the Submission Policy