Kaelri
Remnants (Desktop 22)
I'm not dead.
- - - - - - -
Sorry for the long absence. It may not yet be over, sadly; I still have some other projects on my plate, and desktop modding just isn't a priority. I have no intention of abandoning it entirely, however. There are still plenty of ideas that I want to play with, just don't expect a blitz for a while.
- - - - - - -
Enigma
Anyone who's e-mailed me about Enigma deserves my deepest apologies. I'm doing my best to respond to as many of you as possible, but there are still hundreds of messages that have gone unanswered, some of them for months, and I feel terrible about that. If I ever run into some money, I'll hire an assistant to respond to them all. I know it's become cliché to say something like this, but it's humbling to see how passionate and genuinely appreciative you are, and I really have read each message.
Since interest clearly has yet to die, I'm making it a goal to release Enigma 3 by the end of the year. Rather than piling on with new functions, I want to keep the focus on making it easier to set up and use:
- As I've talked about in the past, my chief objective for this is to make Enigma part of a fully-developed Litestep theme. Beyond the eye candy, this would ideally let the user switch between skins, profiles and templates using shell-integrated controls. (For those who aren't interested in a shell replacement, don't worry - the package will still and always be available as a Rainmeter module.)
- Setting modesty aside for a moment, I believe a lot of Enigma's success comes from its detailed documentation and its (albeit crude) installer tool, which made it far more accessible to the average user. The only other Rainmeter suite I've seen with any such automation is Vista Rainbar. This has been a successful policy, and if possible, I hope to continue it by streamlining the installation of Litestep and the Enigma theme as much as possible.
- I realize the existing version has some problems that need fixing. The Location skin is still plagued by servers thinking it's a web crawler and cutting it off, so the search is still on for a permanent provider. I also realize that MoxaWeather is no longer working - this is the fault of Weather.com, who shut down the convenient XML feed that we've all been using. I know there are talks going on between Weather.com and the Rainmeter community, and they've asked that skin developers refrain from exploiting a well-known loophole to fix the problem until they've worked out a deal. I'm happy to oblige.
- - - - - - -
Liquid Crystal Discourse
still exists, technically. I got to write one post, and then, naturally, Real Life™ swept in and buried it like a hurricane. I've heard from a few people who were disappointed about that, so I'm now reaffirming my commitment to the blog. My plan is to post at least once a week.
- - - - - - -
Desktop
As you can tell, another reason I haven't posted in a while is that very little has changed. I'm no longer running Google Desktop, because, well, I don't use it anymore. Autohotkey, Rainmeter and Notepad pretty much joined forces to render it obsolete.
I'm really looking forward to Windows 7, which shall, I'm sure, initiate a new stage of evolution for my dear laptop.
See the notes for more trivia.
Theme:
- NOOTO VS. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.
- Wallpaper: Remnants, by freelancah, resized and rotated.
Startups:
- Autohotkey.
- Launchy.
Programs running:
- Rainmeter. Skin: Enigma, customized with Amana Icons.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4.
Remnants (Desktop 22)
I'm not dead.
- - - - - - -
Sorry for the long absence. It may not yet be over, sadly; I still have some other projects on my plate, and desktop modding just isn't a priority. I have no intention of abandoning it entirely, however. There are still plenty of ideas that I want to play with, just don't expect a blitz for a while.
- - - - - - -
Enigma
Anyone who's e-mailed me about Enigma deserves my deepest apologies. I'm doing my best to respond to as many of you as possible, but there are still hundreds of messages that have gone unanswered, some of them for months, and I feel terrible about that. If I ever run into some money, I'll hire an assistant to respond to them all. I know it's become cliché to say something like this, but it's humbling to see how passionate and genuinely appreciative you are, and I really have read each message.
Since interest clearly has yet to die, I'm making it a goal to release Enigma 3 by the end of the year. Rather than piling on with new functions, I want to keep the focus on making it easier to set up and use:
- As I've talked about in the past, my chief objective for this is to make Enigma part of a fully-developed Litestep theme. Beyond the eye candy, this would ideally let the user switch between skins, profiles and templates using shell-integrated controls. (For those who aren't interested in a shell replacement, don't worry - the package will still and always be available as a Rainmeter module.)
- Setting modesty aside for a moment, I believe a lot of Enigma's success comes from its detailed documentation and its (albeit crude) installer tool, which made it far more accessible to the average user. The only other Rainmeter suite I've seen with any such automation is Vista Rainbar. This has been a successful policy, and if possible, I hope to continue it by streamlining the installation of Litestep and the Enigma theme as much as possible.
- I realize the existing version has some problems that need fixing. The Location skin is still plagued by servers thinking it's a web crawler and cutting it off, so the search is still on for a permanent provider. I also realize that MoxaWeather is no longer working - this is the fault of Weather.com, who shut down the convenient XML feed that we've all been using. I know there are talks going on between Weather.com and the Rainmeter community, and they've asked that skin developers refrain from exploiting a well-known loophole to fix the problem until they've worked out a deal. I'm happy to oblige.
- - - - - - -
Liquid Crystal Discourse
still exists, technically. I got to write one post, and then, naturally, Real Life™ swept in and buried it like a hurricane. I've heard from a few people who were disappointed about that, so I'm now reaffirming my commitment to the blog. My plan is to post at least once a week.
- - - - - - -
Desktop
As you can tell, another reason I haven't posted in a while is that very little has changed. I'm no longer running Google Desktop, because, well, I don't use it anymore. Autohotkey, Rainmeter and Notepad pretty much joined forces to render it obsolete.
I'm really looking forward to Windows 7, which shall, I'm sure, initiate a new stage of evolution for my dear laptop.
See the notes for more trivia.
Theme:
- NOOTO VS. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.
- Wallpaper: Remnants, by freelancah, resized and rotated.
Startups:
- Autohotkey.
- Launchy.
Programs running:
- Rainmeter. Skin: Enigma, customized with Amana Icons.
- Yod'm 3D 1.4.