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To me, one of the most unused properties of a computer is the desktop display.
There’s nothing much to do with it.
But that’s about it.
But it was not love at first sight.
The tool was too geeky for me.
While it did improve the desktop in the functionality department, it failed miserably in the looks department.
The way it would display system information was actually made my desktop looked uglier.
So I left this app behind and went on with my life.
While tinkering with it, I found out that GeekTool has adjustable elements to tweak the look.
With a little creativity I could get the best of both world; cool functionality and stylish looks.
(kindly note that I’m using the 3.0 RC5 version.
The first step is to install GeekTool by double-clicking at the GeekTool.prefPane icon.
The app will be installed in your Mac’s System Preferences.
Choose install for all users unless you want it to be accessible only by you.
The GeekTool System Preferences will automatically open after the installation.
Check the “Enable” box to activate it.
An empty transparent “Geeklet options” properties window will appear.
The content of this window will change according to which geeklet is selected.
You could also check “Show in menubar” and “Automatically check update” if you want to.
The shell parameters
The next step is to pre-configure GeekTool.
Drag the “Shell” icon to your desktop.
The first setting is the name and posistion of the geeklet.
This is an optional value that you might skip if you want to.
These commands are UNIX command that usually run via Terminal.
There are tons of them, and each of them can be customized using additional command strings.
Don’t forget to fill the the value for “Refresh every XX s”.
The last adjustment is “Font and Color”.
Here’s where you could go wild.
Here’s an example on how I adjusted the font and color to match the background.
Below is what I came up with after few minutes of trying GeekTool.
You could also look at how other people design their desktop using GeekTool in thisFlickr Gallery.
Do you have a GeekTool desktop to show off?
Share using the comment below.
