My New Geektool Desktop

By James Kendrick | Tuesday, October 20, 2009 | 5:20 PM CT | 10 comments | Tweet This (3)

UPDATED: I am a true geek, and as such in order to maintain my membership in this elite group I have to constantly noodle with my desktop. I can’t let it just sit there, I have to customize it the way I want. Here’s my Mac desktop as I am currently using it:

The customization involves the panel on the left side, produced mostly via the free Geektool utility. Geektool lets Mac users put virtually anything on the desktop, with live refreshing. I have (from top to bottom):

Time
Date
Monthly calendar
Accuweather stratus (not Geektool)
Remember the Milk task list

All of the Geektool customizations refresh automatically at defined intervals in the background. The RTM task list is not interactive, it is just for reference. It is pulled from the RSS feed that RTM creates for each user. What do you think? You like?

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Comments (10)

I wish Geektool were updated by someone.

Darwin — 8:55 PM on October 20, 2009 Reply
- Huh? It’s been updated. 3.0 RC5 came out in August.
  
  JP — 11:33 AM on November 3, 2009 Reply
James,

This looks really good. Funny, I was just reading Lifehacker and investigating GeekTool, right before I read this article. I just purchased my first Mac, and I’m enjoying it so far. I had started to use Rainmeter on my Windows XP machine to do similar things.

I’ll probably give GeekTool a try after I get more familure with Mac. I figure I should know more of the system before I start tweaking it.

Thanks, for sharing your desktop.

Perry Harris — 10:04 PM on October 20, 2009 Reply
Its very functional James but where is the style??

We have seen some of your desktops before with gorgeous desktop background pictures of lakes and all manner of beautiful scenes!

Guy

Guy Adams — 4:00 AM on October 21, 2009 Reply
- I’m always trying new things. The beauty of the Geektool method is I can easily change the wallpaper separately and keep the rest there.
  
  James Kendrick, jkOnTheRun — 6:05 AM on October 21, 2009 Reply
- I added a new desktop just for you, Guy. I like it better.
  
  James Kendrick, jkOnTheRun — 6:14 AM on October 21, 2009 Reply
Perfect!

Now to find a Windows equivalent of geektool.

Guy Adams — 7:20 AM on October 21, 2009 Reply
Thanks for the look, and the info on the utility.
Amazing scene. I agree with Guy, love to do it with my
Windows OS PC. It’s another way that Mac allows you to “imagine the possibilities”.

Larry — 10:31 AM on October 21, 2009 Reply
Isn’t Rainmaker similar for Windows? I think that’s what it’s called.

James Kendrick, jkOnTheRun — 10:42 AM on October 21, 2009 Reply
James, just curious, where did you get the desktop evening river scene? Its great photography !

Your site is great, and I support the vendors.

Rich Thomas

Rich Thomas — 12:23 PM on October 21, 2009 Reply