While it's unlikely any novice users will get the full capabilities of GeekTool in play, for experienced users this is a tool like no other. For advanced users, there's virtually no limit to what you can make your Mac desktop do, and even for novices there's some great preprogrammed geeklets for use. It does take a while to get used to using GeekTool, but once you're used to it the sheer flexibility of the tool to let you modify your system any way you want is exhilarating. Within 10 minutes of our beginning to learn GeekTool our desktop was showing a moving clock, disk and battery capacity meters, and a running log of iTunes music being played. It's simple to create geeklets that allow your desktop to come to life, animating and updating in real time. Fortunately, there is a growing library of geeklets already on the Internet for download that allow those without command shell knowledge to use GeekTool. To really get the most out of GeekTool you need to be familiar with some basic UNIX/Linux commands. Options in the dialog vary depending on the type of geeklet you are creating. ![]() You drag the geeklet icon to your desktop, which then opens a dialog allowing you to customize the behavior of the geeklet. The app installs quickly and opens to a simple interface allowing you to create "geeklets," which accomplish specific tasks. GeekTool is a solid attempt to remedy that situation by bringing an alternate way to handle many Mac system settings. Install finished.Windows users are familiar with a number of utilities for setting system preferences, but Mac users have not had as many options. Again set the refresh to what ever you like. Then create another entry in GeekTool, and select "Picture." In the URL bit, type: file://file:///Users/username/Pictures/iTunes%20Artwork/albumArt.tifReplace username with your user's short username. Set the Refresh to what ever you like mine's set to 10 seconds. In GeekTool, create a new entry and select "Shell." In the command bit, type osascript /path/to/AppleScript, replacing the path part with, hopefully obviously, the correct path. This is then displayed by GeekTool, which to you and me looks like there's nothing there.Ĭopy the folder "iTunes Artwork" into your Pictures folder, which is inside your Home folder. dmg is installed you should have a folder in which Quartz. If there's no artwork, or iTunes isn't running, then the albumArt.tif file is replaced by a transparent version. Following this in the search box to the right search for Graphics Tool and download the. The entry in GeekTool that displays the picture is pointed to where the albumArt.tif is saved. So the PICT file gets converted by Image Events into a TIFF, and is saved as albumArt.tif. ![]() Although GeekTool can display this, you can't have a transparent PICT, which we need later. The AppleScript gets the artwork from iTunes as a PICT file. (There's also a 289KB version, which includes some screenshots that show what you get, and clarify the folder structure.)Īfter downloading the archive, follow the rest of the hint's instructions to get it all working. I've bundled up everything you need to get this working, along with some screenshots, into this 24KB archive. ![]() Then a different GeekTool entry displays it. GeekTool runs an AppleScript that fetches the artwork from iTunes. Then I thought, why not have the Artwork as well as the track info on the desktop, as seen at right (click the image for a larger version)? (I basically got the idea from this previous hint.) So here's my solution: I use GeekTool to display various different bits on my desktop - which mail boxes have unread messages in them, and what is currently playing in iTunes.
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