Status Report

I feel the need for a status report on various stuff I've mentioned in this blog.

Palm Tungsten T2: I haven't used this so much recently, I only use it as a diary. This is partly because it is summer and I don't wear a coat with pockets to carry it around. It's too big for trouser pockets. I do my blogging with Python Desktop Server, I don't use DayNotez any more.
Dell Inspiron 500m: I love my notebook, I'm using it now, I'd say it was my primary PC. I sit on the sofa in front of the TV and go through RSS feeds. My main gripe with it is that sometimes when it comes out of hibernate it does not see the wireless network and I have to hibernate it and unhibernate it again to kick it into life. Oh, also the SVideo output is only black and white. The laptop is just nice, no noisy fans and it doesn't make my lap overheat. About 2 hours of battery life.
Desktop PC: Hasn't crashed recently but that may be because I don't use it very often. The only time I used it this week was as a print server. The drivers with the PC TV card might have fixed the PCI latency issues. There are a number of PCs at work, including the firewall PC, that use VIA chipsets and they randomly hang as well. I have no love for VIA.
Python Desktop Server: Use it most days. I use it at work for my engineering logs which are behind a firewall. I haven't got around to adding tools or anything, I mainly use it for RSS aggregation. Having the aggregation in the web browser makes it so convenient for following links: in firefox I middle-click and read in a new tab. As a blogging tool my main gripe is the lack of a preview facility: checking links and formatting before uploading. I have to set it to offline mode before I start composing.
Debian: My debian server is still whirring away (noisy fans this summer but it's in a room I don't go in much). It handles email and Python Desktop Server and is also useful as a squid proxy that I can access from work through an SSH tunnel. I can use this to check the work firewall, to make sure it is possible to get in through the firewall. I might change server to a desktop pc as the laptop is a bit slow (166MHz pentium). That would allow me to make it a headless X server.
Object Desktop: I got fed up with animated fish using my CPU time in DesktopX. I use windowsblinds on the laptop to make it a bit more interesting but I don't think it was worth buying.
Intellimail: Still using it at home but I am tempted to move to IMAP + thunderbird like I use at work. Awaiting a home server decision.
Thunderbird: It's ok if a bit utilitarian when compared to Intellimail. However it handles IMAP, if a little flakily (it sometimes displays Inbox(3) but doesn't show the new messages).
Firefox: Love it. I only use IE for broken websites.
ITunes: May register for it today. If I can buy just the tracks I want and blow them to an audio CD then I see no need to buy CD's that are 75% filler material.
Furl: I'm beginning to see Furl as a place to look for websites that other people find interesting. When I run out of RSS articles I now try, e.g. this.
Motorbike: Sold for the asking price to a dealer who was advertising for CBR600's.

Object Desktop

In a weak moment I signed up for Stardock Object Desktop which is a set of various utilities for Windows. It's mostly a stupid toy but there are useful things in there.

Highlights:

Window Blinds: Flexible skinning for windows which I dabbled with before. I've found one theme that has readable colour schemes (not black text on dark blackground: 90% of theme designers appear to be Goths). The one I chose makes it hard to tell if a check box is checked.
SkinStudio: Skin editor. Very complex but it does mean I can create some bright cheerful themes to make people happy (or maybe I can't be bothered).
DesktopX: Put objects on the desktop. Have cute fish swim across the screen as you edit. Have a transparent clock 'always on top'. It is scriptable, it supports activescript but it only enables VBScript and JScript (MS version of JavaScript) not python, apperently because they could be bothered to support python syntax highlighting in the editor.
DriveScan: Incredibly useful tool to scan directory tree and show you where all those gigabytes have disappeared to. Shows pie charts, allows you to go into subfolders and delete stuff in place. Not a tool to use every day but good at what it does.

There is various other stuff to play with but I am wary of having too much crap installed.

One of the DesktopX toys was a text-to-speech thing using Microsoft SAM which I didn't realise existed in XP. I only have a male voice. I may try getting the desk top objects to say rude things as I move round the screen (what other use is text to speech?).

One nice thing about it is the licence: I can use it on as many computers as I like but only one at a time, like the old Borland Turbo Pascal paperback licence of the 80's.

Related Posts: desktopx python theme windows

Peter's Blog - Nodes for desktopx

Status Report

Object Desktop