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Dashboard "ripple" effect

R

rlowery99

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2003
14
0
Maryland
I noticed something the otherday when i was playing with Dashboard. The ripple effect that was previewed by Apple (when dropping a new widget on the dashboard) doesn't show up on my 17" powerbook. Is this something that only works on G5's of did this feature get left out?

Thanks / Rob
 
rlowery99 said:
I noticed something the otherday when i was playing with Dashboard. The ripple effect that was previewed by Apple (when dropping a new widget on the dashboard) doesn't show up on my 17" powerbook. Is this something that only works on G5's of did this feature get left out?

Thanks / Rob
Click to expand...

Your video card does not support the feature.

The only machine in my sig that supports Core Image (the engine that drives that ripple effect) is my iMac.

It's cool eye candy, but its coolness wears off quick. You're not missing much. :)
 
rlowery99 said:
I noticed something the otherday when i was playing with Dashboard. The ripple effect that was previewed by Apple (when dropping a new widget on the dashboard) doesn't show up on my 17" powerbook. Is this something that only works on G5's of did this feature get left out?

Thanks / Rob
Click to expand...
It works for me on my iMac G4. I have an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 with 64 MB of VRAM. You can find out what GPU you have by opening System Profiler then clicking Hardware -> Graphics/Displays.

Whether or not you get the ripple effect should depend on what GPU you have in there. If yours is as powerful or more powerful than mine, you SHOULD see the ripple effect.
 
I have a geforce 4 MX 64MB on my iMac and it doesn't work.

To be honest though, I care even less!
My Pismo doesn't even to the "flip" thing the widgets do when you press the i button, but do i care.... nope!
My pismo has never had any cube transitions or anything like that, it still doesn't stop OS X being the best OS out there.
In some cases all that stuff just irritates me!
 
I am not going to buy a PEECEE over the effect. IMHO Tiger is the single best OS X version so far. I just wondered what i needed to see this eye candy. (can you see this as a reason to ask the wife for a new Powermac?)

While we are talking about dashboard is there anyone else getting warnings that dashboard is crashing? Dashboard never stops running but the messages get old.

Rob


NVIDIA GeForce4 MX:

Chipset Model: GeForce4 MX
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
VRAM (Total): 64 MB
Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0179
Revision ID: 0x00a5
ROM Revision: 2033.3
Displays:
Display:
Type: Display
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1440 x 900
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display:
Status: No display connected

:eek: :eek:
 
old 17" PB

Mine is the first gen 17" PB (1GHz). If i would have waited a few weeks i would have had the ripple effect, damm i should have waited...lol

Rob
 
I really wish Dashboard wasn't a program per se and didn't have to take up a spot on the dock. I wish it was just kinda "there" like Expose is, and whenever you clicked F12 (or whatever you assign) it would appear.
 
Gherkin said:
I really wish Dashboard wasn't a program per se and didn't have to take up a spot on the dock. I wish it was just kinda "there" like Expose is, and whenever you clicked F12 (or whatever you assign) it would appear.
Click to expand...
it doesn't need to live in the dock. You can drag it out and hit F12 to make it appear
 
Gherkin said:
I really wish Dashboard wasn't a program per se and didn't have to take up a spot on the dock. I wish it was just kinda "there" like Expose is, and whenever you clicked F12 (or whatever you assign) it would appear.
Click to expand...


It is. Just remove it from the dock and press F12.
 
After seeing the ripple effect twice I'm already sick of it. On a 15" PB it just takes up valuable room for like 2 seconds, just bugs me. Maybe on like a 23" monitor it wouldnt affect me as much.

One thing I noticed though after upgrading is that Dashboard isn't nearly as used as I thought it was going to be. Automater however I cant put it down and I thought that would be the program I wouldn't touch.
 
katie ta achoo said:
it doesn't need to live in the dock. You can drag it out and hit F12 to make it appear
Click to expand...

Nice, thanks.

Can't wait for 10.4.1. I feel like I'm walking on thin ice right now, though I haven't fell through yet.
 
rlowery99 said:
(can you see this as a reason to ask the wife for a new Powermac?)
Click to expand...

I think you know, deep down, the answer to that one.

HINT: It's a yes. ;)

I get the ripple on Rev. C 12" PowerBook but not on Rev. (A or B?) iMac with GeForce2 MX. I do get the flippy effect though.
 
Dr. Dastardly said:
One thing I noticed though after upgrading is that Dashboard isn't nearly as used as I thought it was going to be. Automater however I cant put it down and I thought that would be the program I wouldn't touch.
Click to expand...

I don't use Dashboard as much as I did the first week, but I find myself checking it once in a while, and I miss it when it's not there. I use it to check the weather every once in a while, take little notes, and look things up on Wikipedia. It was designed to be out of the way--now you see why the widgets live on a hidden layer not visible on the desktop (I don't get those people who want the widgets on their desktop). Dashboard's only there when you want it to be.

I'm the same way about Automator that you are. Never thought I'd touch it. Then I opened it once out of curiosity. I've used it to do some cool things with webpages in Safari, like making image downloaders.
 
MacRumorSkeptic said:
Works for me. I have a 17"inch 1.33Ghz Powerbook w/ ATI Mobility 9600.
Click to expand...

That is because you have a Rev B or C I think...just know that the first Rev came with the MX 4 and that does not support core-image...so there you go. ;)
 
RAM

Gherkin said:
I really wish Dashboard wasn't a program per se and didn't have to take up a spot on the dock. I wish it was just kinda "there" like Expose is, and whenever you clicked F12 (or whatever you assign) it would appear.
Click to expand...

I agree, those widgets also take up a decent amount of ram as well. I think one widget takes up more than the whole konfab program did.
 
on my ibook i just drag out the widgets and i get a sorta cool suck out widget... the widget kinda expands itself...
 
slb said:
I don't use Dashboard as much as I did the first week, but I find myself checking it once in a while, and I miss it when it's not there.
Click to expand...

Agreed - but I realised today how used to having my widgets there I'd become. At work on the PC, I had to check some train times, someone asked about the weather forecast for the weekend and I needed a 'bugmenot' name/password for a site. At home, f12 and I'd be sorted. At work, various websites etc and more time.

I also found myself craving Spotlight in the office today when looking for an email someone had sent me... obviously those two features are more integrated into my computer habits that I'd realised!
 
I find the ripple effect totally annoying. It was cute at first, but then after the first two times, I just wanted to use my widgets instead of waiting for the ripple to stop rippling. If you click the mouse during the ripple, it stops the effect, but still. There should be an option to dump the ripple.

There should also be an option to have a keyboard shortcut bring up the dashboard drawer. Maybe with 10.4.1...who knows.
 
Flux Harmonic said:
I find the ripple effect totally annoying. It was cute at first, but then after the first two times, I just wanted to use my widgets instead of waiting for the ripple to stop rippling. If you click the mouse during the ripple, it stops the effect, but still. There should be an option to dump the ripple.

There should also be an option to have a keyboard shortcut bring up the dashboard drawer. Maybe with 10.4.1...who knows.
Click to expand...
have you tried apple-+ (the = key) while in dashboard mode? :)
 
Flux Harmonic said:
I find the ripple effect totally annoying. It was cute at first, but then after the first two times, I just wanted to use my widgets instead of waiting for the ripple to stop rippling. If you click the mouse during the ripple, it stops the effect, but still. There should be an option to dump the ripple.

There should also be an option to have a keyboard shortcut bring up the dashboard drawer. Maybe with 10.4.1...who knows.
Click to expand...

I agree, at first i thought the Ripple effect was cool but it is just annoying now and wastes a few seconds each time. I much prefer it when using our family Mini and the widgets just instantly display - i too hope there is a way to turn off the Ripple effect.
Quite silly really that there are so many threads with dissapointed people who didn't have graphics cards that supported core image and hence couldn't get the Ripple Effect!
 
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