Robot Monkey Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 The LCVG desktop for Windows XP is here! Or at least some of it is here. Lovingly hand-made by a simian craftsman using ancient, well-worn tools... Click the thumbnail below to see it at 1024x768. The desktop wallpaper is available in 1024 or 1280 resolutions. When you set the wallpaper, do not select "stretch." Select "center" instead, unless you have a nonstandard resolution. Downloads: 1024 LCVGwallpaper 1280 LCVG wallpaper I also made a Sysmetrix skin to integrate into the LCVG wallpaper, as you can see from the screenshot. Sysmetrix is a free system monitoring tool available from www.xymantix.com. I included the following features: CPU usage as a percentage and as a histogram Physical memory usage as a percentage and as a bar graph Swap memory usage as a percentage and as a bar graph Average TCP bytes IN as a histogram Average TCP bytes OUT as a histogram CPU temperature in Fahrenheit (you can change it to Celsius) Fan speed in RPM Outside temperature in Fahrenheit (you can change it to Celsius) Wind speed Email account polling. The email icon changes when mail is available for your client. A double-click on the icon will open your mail client. Web browser button. Click to open browser. The icon makes sense if LCVG is your homepage. System mute status. You can switch its state by a double-click. There is plenty of room to add buttons or more information. You can even add transport controls and a "now playing" window for WinAmp and, I think, QCD. Check the Xymantix site for more information. There are two versions, one for 1024 and one for 1280. Downloads: 1024 LCVG Sysmetrix skin 1280 LCVG Sysmetrix skin The WindowsXP skin is a StyleXP-compatible skin called Tetra, available here from StyleXP.org. I'm running it in Default style, not Compact and in Zero Resources mode. I might make a skin like it with a few orange accents. I'm also running Rainy's Rainlendar, which comes with the To Do list you see. I'm using a default skin called "Shadow3" and have it set to import events from Outlook. The desktop looks a lot neater without Rainlender, but it seems like a pretty neat program. It uses very little system resources. I might make a similar skin that uses the same font as my Sysmetrix skin. An interesting feature is the ability to set up a public Rainlender server. Clients (like you and me, for example) can set Rainlender to grab events from the server (like game nights and game releases, for example). Even cooler is the ability to assign colorful little icons to individual events (like an Xbox icon, a PC icon, or a trophy icon for tourneys, for example). I haven't fooled with those features, though. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam P Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Great work, Jay! Lovingly hand-made by a simian craftsman using ancient, well-worn tools... "It even has little bubbles and imperfections to remind you these are crafted by the hard-working, indigenous people of... wherever". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Thanks, Sam! Did you use any of it yet? What did you think of the Sysmetrix skin? -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcalx Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 I haven't used it yet, but will try it out when I get home, Jay. Out of curiosity, what program is that calendar a part of? I see that all the time in screen caps on Wincustomize.com but can't seem to figure out where it comes from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 "It even has little bubbles and imperfections to remind you these are crafted by the hard-working, indigenous people of... wherever". Oh, I know I heard this recently...but where?? Nice job Jay! You tool-using monkeys are really advancing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Oh, I know I heard this recently...but where?? Fight Club Ed. What kind of wallpaper defines me as a person? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by FreakTornado@Feb 17 2004, 06:53 PM Nice job Jay! You tool-using monkeys are really advancing. Thanks, Ed! Just last week I was learning how to get termites out of the mound with a blade of grass! I wanted to move on to customizing XP right away, but my handler said I should learn to fly a jet first. Blackcalx, that little calendar program (and To Do list) is called Rainlendar. There's a link to it in my first post. To anyone unfamiliar with Sysmetrix: Download and install the program. Do not delete any of the skins it comes with (they don't really take up space anyway and the program thinks components are missing when you remove them). Then copy the contents of the zip file I made available into the Sysmetrix/Themes/LCVG directory (you'll need to make the LCVG directory unless you have magic powers). Then run it and right click on it to bring up "Sysmetrix configurations" (or something). Under theme browser select the LCVG theme. Then go to the preferences and put in your email accounts, weather location and so on. Then drag it down to one of the gray bars. You can tell it to remember its position and also to start automatically. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam P Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 What kind of wallpaper defines me as a person? :lmfao: Jay, Nothing except the superb wallpaper. As you have probably guessed, I have a bit of a phobia with regards to installing new programs. I resist and resist and resist until I absolutely have to. That's why I went back to my original Trillian skin and it's also the reason my Trillian avatar remains an empty void. I found out that it's a serious mental condition and there are thousands of others like me out there. We don't like to install anything. I might join a support group some day, when I find the courage. But the features sounded brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoisonJam Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Damn, monk, that is tight! Very nice job, man. I love your sample "To Do" list as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by PoisonJam@Feb 17 2004, 07:22 PM Damn, monk, that is tight! Very nice job, man. I love your sample "To Do" list as well... That was no sample. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DataScion Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Very well done, Jay. <applauds> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Nice work, Jay I downloaded and installed the Sysmetrix program, but I've turned it off for the time being. The main reason is that the damn thing eats up 15MB of my system RAM :shock: Not that big of a deal as I have 512MB, but still, that's a lot for an app that's basically is just a monitor. Also, if anyone is interested in a black and orange version of the LCVG wallpaper, you can get it here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Fight Club Ed. Ah, I guess that's a sign I need to watch it again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Weird, it only uses about 7 on mine. I'll leave it running and check later to see if there's a memory black hole in it somewhere. Not that I could do anything about it. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishepa Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 When I use the show desktop quicklaunch icon on the taskbar, the systemix thing goes away, is there any way to make it stay there the whole time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 I looked and didn't find anything to help, Paul. All I know is that it will come back if you hit the show desktop toggle a second time. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 So, no love for 1600x1200? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Originally posted by FreakTornado@Feb 20 2004, 01:18 PM So, no love for 1600x1200? Sorry. 1600x1280 Tell me whether it looks okay or if you want it a little less compressed. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted February 23, 2004 Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 Remind me again about unsigned XP Themes? I know there is some shareware that costs real cash, but I'm sure there is a way to do it for free; its only a dll hack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 I use StyleXP, but Belchfire.net suggests PatchXP as a free alternative. They talk about it here and have further instructions here. I never used it, so I'd suggest researching user opinions and setting an XP System Restore Point at the very least. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 Hmm, sounds fun. I might just stick with my green start button for now; its not too clashy. Other than moving the (excellent, cool, thanks Jay) Sysmetrix line to the top of the screen in order to be able to see it more easily, I've got the rest set up now. Its very nice. Took a little bit of fiddling to get all the meters working correctly (and my nearest weather station isn't that near), but its nice now. I might add the other temperatures and fan speeds of my machine as well, and fiddle with a few other things, but its generally great. Oh, and I got what two of the icons were (email and a web browser), but what is the third? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 The third (middle one) is a gamepad. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 Ah. Actually, when I clicked on the gamepad I got a web browser appear; its the right one that doesn't seem to do anything. Never mind, I'm getting the hang of the configuration stuff now, so I should be able to figure it out myself. Great program this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 Double click the megaphone icon -- it will toggle between system MUTE ON and MUTE OFF. It will also indicate it's current state (the noise lines disappear when muted). The email waiting indicator can also be double-clicked to open your email client. When you configure a POP account in Sysmetrix it will poll the account and tell you when you have mail waiting (indicated by by a "zoomy" email icon). There are tons of Sysmetrix skins out there (try customize.org), so you can find another if you prefer. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 I use PatchXP for my themes on my WinXP box at work and I've never had a problem with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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