Natural Desktop 2006
One of the coolest desktop enhancements on the net has been updated!
Tuesday, August 2, 2005 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Stardock has released Natural Desktop 2006 v1.5 today. Natural Desktop is a desktop enhancement program that looks at your current local weather, the time of day, the time of year and then applies a wallpaper, sound track, and animations based on that data.
If you're stuck inside working on a summer day, Natural Desktop is just the cure for that. Listen to morning doves singing in the morning or cicadas in the afternoon, crickets in the evening. The sound tracks were put together by famed composer, Mason Fischer to sound just like what one would expect if they were outside. The wallpapers were created by Ryan Bliss, owner of the well known wallpaper site, Digital Blasphemy. The unique animated weather elements were designed and programmed by Matt Crocket, well known here as "Tiggz".
The program is immensely configurable with users turning on and off various elements of Natural Desktop along with being able to add their own sound tracks, wallpapers, and other parts to the included library of sounds and graphics. Version 1.5 is a nearly complete rewrite by Laurence Parry who has gone through and implemented a host of optimizations and new features. Natural Desktop is only $9.95. Proceeds from it help pay for WinCustomize.com and support other unique, cool projects of this kind.
New features & changes include:
- Fast zip-code lookup that gives the user the option to find multiple local weather stations to choose from.
- Will display an extended 5-day forecast for most places in the US.
- Enhanced support for European and other international locales for weather reporting
- Links to infrared and satellite images now available.
- Clouds move at a speed based on the local weather conditions (wind speed)
- Preferences now stored in local directory rather than registry for faster performance.
- Lots of fixes, tweaks, etc.
Screenshots:
Website:
www.naturaldesktop.com
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BlueDev
Reply #42 Thursday, August 4, 2005 9:47 PM
It has been quite a few months since I have seen them
.
Reply #42 Thursday, August 4, 2005 9:47 PM
| I think the snowflakes could be improved, personally. |
It has been quite a few months since I have seen them
.
LAURENCE JOHANSEN
Reply #43 Thursday, August 4, 2005 11:21 PM
Reply #43 Thursday, August 4, 2005 11:21 PM
Great update! Thanks for fixing the persistant bug where ND and ATI All-In-Wonder TV would not play nice together. Since this is fixed, ND now has a regular spot on my desktop!!! 
GreenReaper
Reply #44 Thursday, August 4, 2005 11:36 PM
Reply #44 Thursday, August 4, 2005 11:36 PM
It is? Excellent! I think a lot of the improvement is due to the use of DX 3 - it really is a lot tighter than previous versions. 
For those of you who have had severe problems due to not being English - my apologies, and a fix is in the pipeline.
For those of you who have had severe problems due to not being English - my apologies, and a fix is in the pipeline.
Mackintosh
Reply #45 Friday, August 5, 2005 1:12 AM
Once again it sucks to be in Europe, doesn't it? I feel your pain, brother (*cough* Warsaw, Poland *cough*)
Reply #45 Friday, August 5, 2005 1:12 AM
| 4, The "forcast" says "loading" (as Im not in the US and it doesn't support us: *hint* weather.com) |
Once again it sucks to be in Europe, doesn't it? I feel your pain, brother
(*cough* Warsaw, Poland *cough*)
GreenReaper
Reply #46 Friday, August 5, 2005 8:53 AM
Reply #46 Friday, August 5, 2005 8:53 AM
Ironically I was in Europe when writing most of the new version of Natural Desktop - the country which currently has the EU Presidency, no less.
ZubaZ
Reply #47 Friday, August 5, 2005 11:19 AM
Aladdin Systems (now Allume Systems) had a product called Sundial (PC and Mac) that did what you describe. For a while my team was stuck deep inside a building and we ran it to get a sense of time passing.
Abandonware I guess. Sigh
A review: Link
Reply #47 Friday, August 5, 2005 11:19 AM
| This thing would really be revolutionary if it gradually changed the desktop, like the sun slowly moving from east to west, stars moving, trees blowing, etc. That would be very, very cool. I know I'd pay some duckies for that. |
Aladdin Systems (now Allume Systems) had a product called Sundial (PC and Mac) that did what you describe. For a while my team was stuck deep inside a building and we ran it to get a sense of time passing.
Abandonware I guess. Sigh
A review: Link
GreenReaper
Reply #48 Friday, August 5, 2005 9:38 PM
Reply #48 Friday, August 5, 2005 9:38 PM
If you've had problems with things just not working (european users, particularly), please try the most recent beta build.
MickeM
Reply #49 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:18 AM
Reply #49 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:18 AM
Works like a charm for me (notice that I dont have a .se version of windows at home, only at work so I cannot try it "fully" till I get back from my vacation in a few weeeks)
But I had the same problems at home on a .us windows running "Swedish non-unicode locale" (and now that works fine, so it seems to work alot better.
I havent had any crashes and also the "customized" options are "snappier" (faster) so something has been "fixed" there.
I also figured out why none of the "options" "did anything".
I thought I could set the current "simulated" weather with them, but I figured out I can only set the resulting "image" and such. Is there a way to set the simlutaed weather (or could you add that)?
I mean somwtimes I want to have a winter night, when it is actually summer. And I will defenetly be wanting the opposit during winter...
Also the dual-monitor thingy isn't fixed either but you probably know that. It is actually slightly "worse" as I can no longer drag the mini-small widget to my secondary monitor.
Thanx for a nice update
// MickeM
But I had the same problems at home on a .us windows running "Swedish non-unicode locale" (and now that works fine, so it seems to work alot better.
I havent had any crashes and also the "customized" options are "snappier" (faster) so something has been "fixed" there.
I also figured out why none of the "options" "did anything".
I thought I could set the current "simulated" weather with them, but I figured out I can only set the resulting "image" and such. Is there a way to set the simlutaed weather (or could you add that)?
I mean somwtimes I want to have a winter night, when it is actually summer. And I will defenetly be wanting the opposit during winter...
Also the dual-monitor thingy isn't fixed either but you probably know that. It is actually slightly "worse" as I can no longer drag the mini-small widget to my secondary monitor.
Thanx for a nice update
// MickeM
Mackintosh
Reply #50 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:39 AM
Reply #50 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:39 AM
Well, dunno what you did, but it doesn't work here at all. Just sits in the corner frozen and eats up resources. Moreover, I can't kill it even with the task manager, have to reboot to get rid of the bastard.
GreenReaper
Reply #51 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:40 AM
Reply #51 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:40 AM
Well, you could certainly set the wallpaper for the season and time of day - the wallpapers are appropriately named and are in the Natural Desktop\AppData folder, so you would just need to adjust the seasons and time, then specify a single wallpaper. For example, you could set the AutumnNight.jpg file to come up in Morning during Summer, if you so wished. The colour of the window's background can be set in a similar way, although it does not vary with the time of day.
Dual-monitor won't be possible until there's some feature in DesktopX to access it, which could take a while.
Dual-monitor won't be possible until there's some feature in DesktopX to access it, which could take a while.
GreenReaper
Reply #52 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:43 AM
You're using the latest beta, 1.50a? If so, please tell me all of the settings from your regional and language options (all tabs) and I will try and duplicate your problems here. You could also try wiping the Natural Desktop\AppData\{8AACBEAC-7CD7-4C45-BD0E-DA535AFE641A}.DXScriptLocal file, which contains settings, in case those have become corrupted and are causing the new build to freeze too.
Reply #52 Saturday, August 6, 2005 2:43 AM
| Well, dunno what you did, but it doesn't work here at all. Just sits in the corner frozen and eats up resources. Moreover, I can't kill it even with the task manager, have to reboot to get rid of the bastard. |
You're using the latest beta, 1.50a? If so, please tell me all of the settings from your regional and language options (all tabs) and I will try and duplicate your problems here. You could also try wiping the Natural Desktop\AppData\{8AACBEAC-7CD7-4C45-BD0E-DA535AFE641A}.DXScriptLocal file, which contains settings, in case those have become corrupted and are causing the new build to freeze too.
Mackintosh
Reply #53 Saturday, August 6, 2005 3:10 AM
Reply #53 Saturday, August 6, 2005 3:10 AM
Yep, latest beta. All regional settings set to English (US), I never ever change those 
Deleting the file hasn't changed anything I'm afraid, still hangs at startup.
Deleting the file hasn't changed anything I'm afraid, still hangs at startup.
Tarkus
Reply #54 Saturday, August 6, 2005 8:39 PM
Yeah, there's a Konfabulator widget that has the sun and moon move across your desktop, according to your geographic location. Comes with different images that you can select for the sun and moon. Very cool idea, but unfortunately, doesn't play well with WindowBlinds.
Reply #54 Saturday, August 6, 2005 8:39 PM
| This thing would really be revolutionary if it gradually changed the desktop, like the sun slowly moving from east to west, stars moving, trees blowing, etc. That would be very, very cool. I know I'd pay some duckies for that. |
Yeah, there's a Konfabulator widget that has the sun and moon move across your desktop, according to your geographic location. Comes with different images that you can select for the sun and moon. Very cool idea, but unfortunately, doesn't play well with WindowBlinds.
MickeM
Reply #55 Monday, August 8, 2005 8:33 AM
No, what I meant was, now it is summer, lets say I feel like I want to "play that it is winter and night" outside, then it would be nice to have an option to manualy set the "current season". Much like you can set the "Conditions" an options for setting the current season / time of day would be nice.
// MickeM
Reply #55 Monday, August 8, 2005 8:33 AM
| Well, you could certainly set the wallpaper for the season and time of day - the wallpapers are appropriately named and are in the Natural Desktop\AppData folder, so you would just need to adjust the seasons and time, then specify a single wallpaper. |
No, what I meant was, now it is summer, lets say I feel like I want to "play that it is winter and night" outside, then it would be nice to have an option to manualy set the "current season". Much like you can set the "Conditions" an options for setting the current season / time of day would be nice.
// MickeM
GreenReaper
Reply #56 Monday, August 8, 2005 12:06 PM
Reply #56 Monday, August 8, 2005 12:06 PM
Mackintosh: Are you using any virus or script-checking software that could be interfering? Not sure why it would be causing problems if it worked before, but I guess it's a possibility . . .
You could also try reinstalling the Windows Script Engine, as if that's not working then there's definitely going to be problems.
You could also try reinstalling the Windows Script Engine, as if that's not working then there's definitely going to be problems.
Wendi
Reply #57 Tuesday, August 9, 2005 8:31 AM
Reply #57 Tuesday, August 9, 2005 8:31 AM
I too am haveing a problem my sounds dont work the older version of Natural desktop worked now this one wont everything works but the sounds to me thats the best part...
wendi
wendi
GreenReaper
Reply #58 Tuesday, August 9, 2005 9:12 AM
Reply #58 Tuesday, August 9, 2005 9:12 AM
Wendi: Sounds like something odd is up with the MP3 player component, then! You could try doing a reinstall with the following procedure:
Go to C:\Windows\System32\ and rename the file l3codeca.acm to l3codeca.bak. Then open Windows Media Player and go to Help>>Check for Updates. This will re-download the decoder and place a new copy on your system.
If that does not do it then go to Start | Run | Type "regsvr32.exe l3codeca.acm"
Go to C:\Windows\System32\ and rename the file l3codeca.acm to l3codeca.bak. Then open Windows Media Player and go to Help>>Check for Updates. This will re-download the decoder and place a new copy on your system.
If that does not do it then go to Start | Run | Type "regsvr32.exe l3codeca.acm"
Mackintosh
Reply #59 Tuesday, August 9, 2005 9:40 AM
Reply #59 Tuesday, August 9, 2005 9:40 AM
GR, I'll give your suggestions a go when I have the time and report back on IRC. For now, I've rolled back to the archived version and all seems well.
~Mack
~Mack
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Reply #41 Thursday, August 4, 2005 9:35 PM