Steampunk desktop themes: your screenshots

[yereverluvinunclebert]

A quick media player widget.

Not the full-blown version I promised, just a minimal version that allows you to play/select tracks, control media player volume &c.

This is how it will look on your desktop, quite large:



And here it is in operation in the size I have it on my own desktop:







Here it is for download:

http://lightquick.co.uk/downloads/steampunk-media-player-xwidget.html?Itemid=264

IF I ever finish the other functions - it may look like this:



But for the moment it works! Enjoy it.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

The Panzer Temperature widget for Coretemp is a pretty Xwidget for your desktop. It is a simple Temperature Gauge that displays the highest temperature being experienced within your PC - useful for checking on your GPU. Mine was peaking at 90 degrees before I installed this gauge on my own laptop.

http://lightquick.co.uk/downloads/panzer-temperature-gauge-coretemp-xwidget.html?Itemid=558

This widget uses Coretemp to obtain temperature information. Why is Coretemp needed? The answer is that the Windows operating system is meant to provide an interface to the motherboard and other components to provide system temperature information. Unfortunately, Windows does not yet do its job as there seems to be no stable hardware specification for hardware manufacturers to provide  temperature sensors. Coretemp is pretty good at extracting temperatures from many pieces of PC hardware and as such it is a fundamental requirement for Coretemp to be installed on your Windows PC for this widget to function.

Think of this widget as a graphical interface to coretemp.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Desktop portion showing the media player and volume control hovering over Oxford.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

I have created a Yahoo widget version of the Steampunk Media Player widget. This version is more complete than the previous Xwidget version, this one having more functionality (Xwidget's WMP control is a bit poo in this respect).



You can only get it at Deviantart for the moment while it is being tested/bug-fixed.

http://yereverluvinuncleber.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Media-Player-Yahoo-Konfabulator-Widget-605742870

Please download it and give it a go.



There will be full instructions &c, completing all that now.



There is full help here: http://lightquick.co.uk/instructions-for-the-steampunk-media-player-yahoo-widget.html

[yereverluvinunclebert]

It is available now here, debugged and working.

http://lightquick.co.uk/downloads/steampunk-media-player-yahoo-widget.html?Itemid=264

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Version 1.0.3 of the Steampunk Media Player Konfabulator/Yahoo Widget  is now available for download - use link above.
Recent Changes:

// added drag and drop of files. You can now drag folders, single files or groups of files.
// added restriction to the drive root folders to prevent recursive searching of a whole drive.
// added restriction to 10,000 file playlists.
// added support for .flv','.avi','.mp4','.mpg','.m4a file types

My current desktop with the media player embedded top right.



and also switching between that version and this, both nautical.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Steampunk Weather Widget for your desktop -Now 2.0 RC - MORE changes have been made and I am close to a release candidate for version 2.0. The newest version can be obtained here: http://lightquick.co.uk/downloads/steampunk-weather-widget-mkii.html?Itemid=264

This is a decidedly steampunk icon and widget that you could certainly use for something. Not quite sure what, that is up to you to decide. You could use the icon as a link to any weather monitoring tool that you have on your pad or desktop... or simply for anything you like.

The widget is new and improved in several key respects. The new widget gives windspeed and direction, it reports the cloud layers, it handles more exotic forms of weather but most important of all uses a feed from a source that is unlikely to go offline for long periods. It uses the feed from aviationweather.gov a US government department. The feed is decoded METAR in XML form so it is easy enough to use. It is also free and does not require an API. The search for metar codes is performed offline using a local list of metar stations in a static data file. There are currently 10,000 Metar locations and so a local search is much quicker than an online one.

The new widget also has a pop-up window that summarises weather information in a text form in addition to the image display on the main gauge.

The image below shows my weather widget, the moon widget and a couple of planetary widgets too. A portion of my desktop.

This Windows ICO file, MAC, ICNS and finder, PNG icon file are all eminently usable on windows/ Mac OS/X - The .WIDGET file on Windows XP-10 and Mac OS/X prior to El Kapitan.



It is here to download: http://lightquick.co.uk/downloads/steampunk-weather-widget-mkii.html?Itemid=264

Report any bugs please - it is new and relatively untested.



The following changes have been made to the MKII version.

// .10 changed the weather feed to aviationweather.gov
// .10 changed the icao lookup to a local data file rather than a http request
// .10 changed the city lookup to a local data file rather than a http request
// .10 added raw metar data read (partially implemented and tested, currently unused)
// .10 added day/night script to test the sunset/sunrise
// .10 added read of XML data instead of raw metar data
// .10 added various alerts on icao input failures
// .10 added length check for input icao codes
// .10 added humidity calculation
// .10 added calculation of wx weather codes
// .10 added decode of cloud cover information
// .10 expanded the tooltip information displayed, cloud, windspeed and precipitation
// .10 added facebook menu option
// .10 added F5 to refresh
// .10 added animation to data generation to make it clearer that an update has occurred
// .10 added the hands animation when the feed has updated
// .10 added the search for secondary metar sky_condition attributes
// .10 removed trailing spaces from copy/pasted icao codes longer than 4 characters
// .10 improved the structure, created metar.js and functions.js, filled them...
// .10 when an empty icao code is entered it searches... it should not - fixed
// .10 added logic to handle the wx weather data instead of just receiving the weather codes
// .10 added handling of second cloud layer in tooltip reporting
// .10 added the test for light or heavy conditions
// .10 added weather type to the tooltip
// .10 use night and day boolean to change the icon
// .10 added consideration of three cloud layers rather than just one
// .10 take into account all the weather icons and adjust weather logic
// .10 hail and snow - add logic to display the icon
// .10 create new icons for thunderstorms
// .10 add sentence case to location text
// .10 added showers in the vicinity translation of wx codes
// .10 fog add the bars , 1 2 and 3 as a separate icon on top of the cloud icon
// .10 add exotic icon on top of the current icon if wind strong
// .10 add wind icon on top of the current icon if wind strong
// .10 add wind direction
// .10 added wind report using the beaufort scale
// .10 fixed an valid city search on an icao code search returning no data alert issues
// .10 added pop-up for weather
// .10 added options for the weather pop-up for hover or permanent display.
// .10 added options for the weather pop-up for display of the time
// .10 added handling of rain showers
// .10 add switch from imperial to metric measurements - note: ft/knots are not imperial
// .10 romanian tooltip translations added to lang files
// .10 css errors on the tooltip corrected
// .10 provide romanian translations for preferences descriptions
// .10 provide romanian translations for preferences titles
// .10 fixed a problem in XP handling of SSL certificates by simply removing the https XML request
// .10 removed the advanced tooltip functionality, only required by Macs and hat engine is now defunct
// .10 allowed the locking pin to display on top of the gauge rim
// .10 fixed the resize and stopped the mini clock from resizing too.
// .10 sort the tooltip creation, spacing &c
// .10 added link to aviationweather.gov

[yereverluvinunclebert]

This is my lovely old XP Professional laptop system. I haven't used it for a long time - but it just booted and it came up with my lovely old XP steampunk desktop. I'd forgotten how good it looked.

The laptop is merely a 2.5ghz core2duo system with 4gb of RAM and two hybrid drives but regardless of any lack of raw processing power - XP flies! XP runs quicker and better than my Win10 quad core i7 system, Windows XP is easier to use, XP explorer functions much better with regard to being able to display the most recent files, the desktop itself is customisable (fonts, colours). Why did Microsoft ever feck up Windows with Vista, then Windows 8+

[N1v3n]

Mine used to be a screen grab of this, which is the google image search for Steampunk bass guitars 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=steampunk+bass+guitars&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiS-9y6j4_PAhVFFMAKHTKGAqUQsAQIHQ&biw=1280&bih=909

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Steampunk Orrery, Calendar Yahoo Widget MKII

I have just been experimenting with various video capture tools, this stuff is not as easy as you think. Finally I have found some video editing tools that seem to suit me with regard to usability and functionality. I am doing this as an exercise as video creation and manipulation has not been one of my higher skills. I've previously been using older video editing solutions/tools on Windows XP and as that o/s has become obsolete so have the tools. They don't work anymore on my Win10 laptop which has meant a dearth of videos. Finally, though I am finding my feet and starting to create again.

The subject? My old Steampunk Timekeeper Orrery, just think of it as a piece of Space 1899 high tech. - perhaps the Martian attack has failed and the humans are returning to Mars for theiru revenge? This is a piece of the Victorian space technology that human space farers might use in their quest for conquest of Mars.

In reality it is my old Konfabulator desktop widget. You can select a date and enter a memorandum for that date, it is fully configurable. An elegant widget- give it a go.

Steampunk Orrery - Up Close and Personal

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Mediaplayer - a new version on the way.



The original media player widget had simple functionality, basic stuff. It will have a lot more shortly.

My media player widget (the Yahoo version) is undergoing some revamping to give it new functionality. It now responds to standard keypresses for next/back (N,B keys), fwd and rwd (left/right keys), volume slider control (up and down keys), play and pause (spacebar), same standard shortcuts as for VLC and Youtube.

In addition I am adding playlist functionality.. It already has a playlist built in that you can drag and drop a selection of files onto the widget but up until now it has not had the visual capacity to display that list graphically - so shortly it will be able to display that play list, the currently selected folder, the playing track, eleven tracks of the current play list &c.



The play list is being enhanced, it now shows the list of tracks in 'chunks' of eleven. It causes the current track playing to scroll from left to right. As you hover over any track in the list it will be highlighted. Added two buttons (not shown) that allow you to navigate the playlist, chunk by chunk. The playlist  and elements therein are resizable. The code is fully documented and debuggable.

Really enjoying working on the Yahoo widgets again, just some bugs/fixes/enhances. Abandoning the Xwidget engine has been quite satisfying as it means I am not working against a buggy development environment. Back to my preferred tool Konfabulator/ Yahoo widgets and it is a nice place to be.

The widget will be available in the enhanced form soon.

The Xwidget version of this media player widget is so broken that keypresses cannot be added. Xwidget does not support keypresses of any sort unless on an text edit box. That means you cannot add hotkeys or shortcuts to any Xwidgets. Rubbish.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Latest version of the media player widget - it works!

http://lightquick.co.uk/downloads/steampunk-media-player-yahoo-widget.html?Itemid=264


The latest image showing page control buttons.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

The steampunk media player has reached 1.0.6 which means most things work!

Download it here: http://yereverluvinuncleber.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-MediaPlayer-Ywidget-1-0-6-640962325

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Has everyone stopped customising their machines since windows 10 and the ipad took over?

Are you all content with the corporate look of Upple and Microdolts?

Don't let this thread die,  be individual !  post screenshots of your machines !

(PLEASE)

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Steampunk Weather Icon and Widget MkII



UPDATED - Now 2.0.2 - This is a decidedly steampunk icon and widget that you could certainly use for something. Not quite sure what, that is up to you to decide.

Widget bug fixes addressed, help resizing, buttons properly placed after resizing &c.

You could use the icon as a link to any weather monitoring tool that you have on your pad or desktop... or simply for anything you like.

The widget is another thing altogether, it is a beautiful bit of steampunk desktop functionality. The widget is new and improved in several key respects. The new widget gives windspeed and direction, it reports the cloud layers, it handles more exotic forms of weather but most important of all uses a feed from a source that is unlikely to go offline for long periods. It uses the feed from aviationweather.gov a US government department. The feed is decoded METAR in XML form so it is easy enough to use. It is also free and does not require an API. The search for metar codes is performed offline using a local list of metar stations in a static data file. There are currently 10,000 Metar locations and so a search using a local file is much quicker than an online one.



The new widget also has a pop-up window that summarises weather information in a text form in addition to the image display on the main gauge.

The above image shows my weather widget, the moon widget and a couple of planetary widgets too.



This Windows ICO file, MAC, ICNS and finder, PNG icon file are all eminently usable on windows/ Mac OS/X - The .WIDGET file on Windows XP-10 and Mac OS/X prior to El Kapitan.

Provided in the following formats:

This .PNG is larger and has more detail so that you can resize if you wish or use "as-is".
The .ICO file is delivered in 256, 128, 64, 48, 32 and 16 byte formats.
The .ICNS file is available for Mac OS/X
The .HQX file is available for Mac OS/X finder.
The .BMP file is available for Blackbox Desktop and any o/ses that use bitmap icons.
The .WIDGET file is for use with the Yahoo widget engine.

The Steampunk weather widget MkII  is based on our previous Digistation widget but now with a completely new feed and logic.

The old widget took a feed from the meteorological centre in Rumania. That feed occasionally goes off-line and recently went down for over a week. To cater for this I created a widget with an alternative feed. This one takes its feed from http://aviationweather.gov/

The two feeds are quite different and not interchangeable so it has required this totally new widget. The old weather widget is here .
This widget requires Yahoo widgets and an internet connection to operate. Download yahoo widgets from here:

http://desktopwidgets.zenfs.com/4.5.2x10a50/ywidgets_sdk_setup.exe
(it has all you need to get started).

and the Mac version of the Yahoo widget engine here:
http://desktopwidgets.zenfs.com/4.5.2x10a50/yahoo_widgets_4.5.2.dmg

Note: This widget runs in XP/Vista/Windows 7, Windows 8-10 and Mac OS/X prior to El Kapitan.

Latest versions include the following changes :

// .10 changed the weather feed to aviation.gov
// .10 changed the icao lookup to a local data file rather than a http request
// .10 changed the city lookup to a local data file rather than a http request
// .10 added raw metar data read (partially implemented and tested, currently unused)
// .10 added day/night script to test the sunset/sunrise
// .10 added read of XML data instead of raw metar data
// .10 added various alerts on icao input failures
// .10 added length check for input icao codes
// .10 added humidity calculation
// .10 added calculation of wx weather codes
// .10 added decode of cloud cover information
// .10 expanded the tooltip information displayed, cloud, windspeed and precipitation
// .10 added facebook menu option
// .10 added F5 to refresh
// .10 added animation to data generation to make it clearer that an update has occurred
// .10 added the hands animation when the feed has updated
// .10 added the search for secondary metar sky_condition attributes
// .10 removed trailing spaces from copy/pasted icao codes longer than 4 characters
// .10 improved the structure, created metar.js and functions.js, filled them...
// .10 when an empty icao code is entered it searches... it should not - fixed
// .10 added logic to handle the wx weather data instead of just receiving the weather codes
// .10 added handling of second cloud layer in tooltip reporting
// .10 added the test for light or heavy conditions
// .10 added weather type to the tooltip
// .10 use night and day boolean to change the icon
// .10 added consideration of three cloud layers rather than just one
// .10 take into account all the weather icons and adjust weather logic
// .10 hail and snow - add logic to display the icon
// .10 create new icons for thunderstorms
// .10 add sentence case to location text
// .10 added showers in the vicinity translation of wx codes
// .10 fog add the bars , 1 2 and 3 as a separate icon on top of the cloud icon
// .10 add exotic icon on top of the current icon if wind strong
// .10 add wind icon on top of the current icon if wind strong
// .10 add wind direction
// .10 added wind report using the beaufort scale
// .10 fixed a valid city search on an icao code search returning no data alert issues
// .10 added pop-up for weather
// .10 added options for the weather pop-up for hover or permanent display.
// .10 added options for the weather pop-up for display of the time
// .10 added handling of rain showers
// .10 add switch from imperial to metric measurements - note: ft/knots are not imperial
// .10 romanian tooltip translations added to lang files
// .10 css errors on the tooltip corrected
// .10 preferences romanian translations provide
// .10 fixed a problem in XP handling of SSL certificates by simply removing the https XML request
// .10 removed the advanced tooltip functionality, only required by Macs and hat engine is now defunct
// .10 allowed the locking pin to display on top of the gauge rim
// .10 fixed the resize and stopped the mini clock from resizing too.
// .10 sort the tooltip creation, spacing &c
// .10 added link to aviationweather.gov
// .10 romanian tooltip weather translations enable, rain and clouds
// .10 change the time shown on the watch to the last weather update time

The Instructions for the Steampunk Weather Gauge Widget are here: http://lightquick.co.uk/instructions-for-the-steampunk-weather-gauge.html

The only condition for downloading and using is that you leave feedback. Please leave a message and rate the icons/widgets as it is the only payment I get for creating this small desktop addition

You may use any of my images in your own creations but commercially only with my permission. In all cases I require a credit to the original artist using my name or pseudonym and a link to my own site.

Thanks! Do enjoy the icon and/or widget here: http://lightquick.co.uk/downloads/steampunk-weather-widget-mkii.html?Itemid=264

[Banfili]

My word, unclebert, you have been busy! Looks pretty swish, too!

My Mac desktop is a sepia-ed close up of a steam train. Photo taken a couple of years ago after the last broad-gauge run from Melbourne. Lots of steam!!

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Damn El Kapitan!

[Banfili]

Oh well, give it time - I'm sure you will come up with something!

You can have the photos, if you like!

[yereverluvinunclebert]

I can't fix os/x I am afraid, the yahoo widget engine just won't run well on El Kapitan. As you know, it has issues with the dock. The previous version of os/x worked just fine with the YWE! and a few users have stuck with that version.

Mac OS/X will be gone altogether in a few years so it might be wise to think about moving over to the dark side before Apple forces you to...

I am always on the lookout for new javascript desktop engines but there is nothing new on the skyline except Xwidget ver. 2 (which has always been for windows alone and is just a little bit sh1t) or plexydesk, neither of which will run on Mac.

There is always Rainmeter which I have never quite managed to get to grips with but that's Windows too...

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Showing Yahoo widgets operating on os/x 10.11 El Kapitan.



So it does work, all widgets run, only the dock that is a bit dodgy.

On the subject of plexydesk, the developers there have just brought out a version for Mac os/x so that the same widgets ought to run on Windows, linux and os/x. It is still in beta though but really worth a try. There are likely to be few widgets though until the engine matures.

[Banfili]

Just which 'dark side' would that be, unclebert?

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Just which 'dark side' would that be, unclebert?

Come to the dark side Banfili, the force is strong in this one and we need you on the dark side.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

My Media player is now available as both a Xwidget and a Yahoo widget. I tried this before but failed as the functionality just wasn't there in Xwidget.



The one on the left is the Xwidget version.

I've dragged the Xwidget kicking and screaming away from using the dev's poor quality media API instead using ActiveX to provide a usable steampunk media player interface to Windows. The codebase for the two engines is more or less identical so changes to one can be carried over to the other.

The Xwidget version is here:
http://yereverluvinuncleber.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-media-player-Xwidget-MKII-RC-677973202

The yahoo widget here:
http://yereverluvinuncleber.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-MediaPlayer-Ywidget-1-0-7-640962325

The Yahoo version has been upgraded to keep in line with the Xwidget version, it now allows audio files to be drag/dropped into a playlist.

The overall changes in 1.0.7.

o allows dragging and dropping onto an existing playlist. This now adds to the playlist instead of replacing it.
o .MPG  capitalised suffixes handled
o handles CDs when selected using the file explorer

The process of conversion is documented here: http://yereverluvinuncleber.deviantart.com/journal/Guide-to-converting-Yahoo-Widgets-to-Xwidget-Pt1-677100991

[yereverluvinunclebert]

If anyone here has ever created a Yahoo widget - here is a tool that will allow you to create a Xwidget from the same Photoshop design.



It is the original script created by Arlo Rose that originally took a Photoshop design and made a working Yahoo widget. I have modified it so that it is now compatible with Xwidgets. Changes include respecting the layer ordering of an Xwidget, using .top and .left instead of .voffset and .hoffset, it creates a widget.xwl instead of a widget.xml and it also creates a main.xul instead of a .KON file. These output files have the correct contents.

(The above image is merely a placeholder to attract your attention, something script-ish and steampunk at the same time)

This script makes the process of creating Xwidgets much easier as it graphically composes your Xwidget for you automatically. All you have to do is double click on the resulting widget.xwl file to run the widget, then you add your code and/or cores.

Here it is for your delectation: http://yereverluvinuncleber.deviantart.com/art/1-0-Photoshop-Xwidget-creation-script-684570793

[Banfili]

Just which 'dark side' would that be, unclebert?

Come to the dark side Banfili, the force is strong in this one and we need you on the dark side.

unclebert, I do, alas, run separate machines on Windows XP & Vista, but my everyday,-do-all-my-work machine is a Mac.