GeekCode (aka: Live System Stats on Desktop)

[Hack5190]

Just discovered GeekTool for use on my MacBook Pro then I noticed a PPC version! Below is a screen shot of GeekTool running on my G5. You can download the PPC version (GeekTool 3.0) from here http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/download.php - geeklets can be found here http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/geeklets/



The Geeklets used for this can be downloaded here https://www.dropbox.com/s/py88b2ivjhrqerm/GeekTool.zip?dl=0

You will most likley need to edit the Network geeklet.

 

[eyoungren]

17" MacBook Pro…

17" PowerBook G4 without Bowtie Running (notice bottom left)

Same PowerBook with iTunes/Bowtie (with Neon theme) running.

Note, all achieved with Geektool, Applescript, Yahoo Widgets (Widescape Weather/Werewolf Monitor), Bowtie (with Neon theme) and Simple Floating Clock (three instances). In the past I have also used Dateline (a calendar app).

 

[JRDN]

How do you have Bowtie running on your PB? Is there a PPC version of it?

 

[eyoungren]

How do you have Bowtie running on your PB? Is there a PPC version of it?

Yep…here you go:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1932210/Bowtie_1.3.1.zip
[doublepost=1454292354][/doublepost]

Just discovered GeekTool for use on my MacBook Pro then I noticed a PPC version! Below is a screen shot of GeekTool running on my G5. You can download the PPC version (GeekTool 3.0) from here http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/download.php - geeklets can be found here http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/geeklets/



The Geeklets used for this can be downloaded here https://www.dropbox.com/s/py88b2ivjhrqerm/GeekTool.zip?dl=0

You will most likley need to edit the Network geeklet.

My main issue with Geektool is that I have iStat Menus 2. Most Geeklets cover what I already have in the menubar so I see it as unnecessary duplication.

What I have tried to do instead is use Geektool to provide information that iStat Menus either cannot or that actually takes clicking on the menubar to see.

Hence, my information is limited to weather, network name (and SSID), channel/channel strength and IP addresses.

iStat could provide me with multiple clocks but there is a bug in the clock in iStat that causes a memory leak if you have more than one clock (only fixed in iStat 3, which is of course Intel only). So, I put three instances of Simple Floating Clock on my springboard instead.

Another problem with Geektool is that you need multiple monitors to appreciate it. It's usually covered by an app if you have only one display. And if you are going to switch to it to get information, well, for me there's iStat Menus.

And lastly, Geeklet polling for information also has the habit of hitting the CPU. Consequently, it either requires you to live with that if you want stats consistently updated or to live with a lower polling time.

iStat Menus on the other hand does not hit the CPU when it polls.

MenuMeters is much the same for those that prefer MM over iStat.

 

[JRDN]

Yep…here you go:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1932210/Bowtie_1.3.1.zip
[doublepost=1454292354][/doublepost]
My main issue with Geektool is that I have iStat Menus 2. Most Geeklets cover what I already have in the menubar so I see it as unnecessary duplication.

What I have tried to do instead is use Geektool to provide information that iStat Menus either cannot or that actually takes clicking on the menubar to see.

Hence, my information is limited to weather, network name (and SSID), channel/channel strength and IP addresses.

iStat could provide me with multiple clocks but there is a bug in the clock in iStat that causes a memory leak if you have more than one clock (only fixed in iStat 3, which is of course Intel only). So, I put three instances of Simple Floating Clock on my springboard instead.

Another problem with Geektool is that you need multiple monitors to appreciate it. It's usually covered by an app if you have only one display. And if you are going to switch to it to get information, well, for me there's iStat Menus.

And lastly, Geeklet polling for information also has the habit of hitting the CPU. Consequently, it either requires you to live with that if you want stats consistently updated or to live with a lower polling time.

iStat Menus on the other hand does not hit the CPU when it polls.

MenuMeters is much the same for those that prefer MM over iStat.

Awesome! thanks.
Do you know if there's a version for Tiger?

 

[eyoungren]

Awesome! thanks.
Do you know if there's a version for Tiger?

I don't believe so.

The initial beta was released in early/mid 2008.

If you do a search for Bowtie 1.0b1 you'll find it (and download links) but I have no idea if it works on Tiger. The beta released after that had full support for 10.5 Intel so I think this is unlikely. But you never know.

 

[Hack5190]

Still researching but it seems that GeekTool is stopping the G5 from sleeping.

It a trickle down problem -> the G5 doesn't sleep, the electric meter gets no rest, I get cranky

 

[eyoungren]

Still researching but it seems that GeekTool is stopping the G5 from sleeping.

It a trickle down problem -> the G5 doesn't sleep, the electric meter gets no rest, I get cranky

Well…essentially geeklets are timed scripts. They run on a repeating schedule according to the time you set.

You are monitoring system stats. Unless you aren't doing that real time or close to real time there's really no point. Doing it real time means the system is being polled - all the time. Another reason my clock geeklet has no seconds component. Polling the system for the time every second is just nuts!

No offense, but it's no surprise then that the system won't sleep.

As I mentioned above, this is why I elected to just stick with iStat Menus for real time data. Everything else on my desktop can afford to have much longer polling times.

 

[Hack5190]

The only tool (geeklet) I run is network related (see below) set to refresh every 60 seconds. I use multiple VPN connections throughout the the day, mix that with a touch of OCD and you know why I like to see the IP's of all interfaces at a glance. If there is a tool that displays all of this without 'filling up' my menu bar I'd be all over it.

PS: After stopping GeekTool, the G5 has gone to sleep as before.

 

[eyoungren]

You have two other Geeklets running. CPU and Top Processes.

I don't see anything wrong with the net stats geeklet, but that's something I wouldn't set for 60 seconds myself. But that's just me. I don't see a need to poll the computer about whether the firewall is enabled or not every 60 seconds.

In any case, the other two are probably also polling more than they should. But what would a 'top processes' geeklet and 'CPU' geeklet be if you set them to grab stale data.

Again, this is why I don't have Geeklets on my desktop that require real time data.

As for something that can show you your VPNs, I don't know. Someone else here might have an idea. I know iStat Menus will show you your IP address but I don't believe that's all that you want.
[doublepost=1454601719][/doublepost]Lastly, you might benefit from splitting things up so that you can set different poll times.

This is what I have done with some of my geeklets in order to cut down CPU time.

For instance, with my clock, the hour is one geeklet set to poll the hour, every hour. The minutes are another geeklet set to poll every 60 seconds. My network status is set to poll ONLY when a certain preference is changed. For example, whenever you change your wifi network OS X writes to a specific preference file for airport. I have a daemon that detects that change and reports to the geeklet that grabs my network info. I'm not polling for the SSID every X seconds.

So on and so forth…

 

[Hack5190]

You have two other Geeklets running. CPU and Top Processes.

I don't see anything wrong with the net stats geeklet, but that's something I wouldn't set for 60 seconds myself. But that's just me.

In any case, the other two are probably also polling more than they should. But what would a 'top processes' geeklet and 'CPU' geeklet be if you set them to grab stale data.

Again, this is why I don't have Geeklets on my desktop that require real time data.

As for something that can show you your VPNs, I don't know. Someone else here might have an idea. I know iStat Menus will show you your IP address but I don't believe that's all that you want.

The only geeklet running on the G5 (when it wouldn't sleep) was the network monitor. The screen shot in post #1 was an example of what could be done. You should see my geeklet that continuously monitors the system log for new entries

It's clear I need to decide between knowing all IP's and active interfaces or auto sleep.

 

[eyoungren]

The only geeklet running on the G5 (when it wouldn't sleep) was the network monitor. The screen shot in post #1 was an example of what could be done. You should see my geeklet that continuously monitors the system log for new entries

It's clear I need to decide between knowing all IP's and active interfaces or auto sleep.

If you look up towards the menubar in my screenshots you'll see a black bar under that with one line of code.

That's my monitoring of the system log. I cropped it to display only the current line.

 

[Hack5190]

Just noticed the screen image in post #9 was from my MacBook not the G5 - fixed.

If you look up towards the menubar in my screenshots you'll see a black bar under that with one line of code.

That's my monitoring of the system log. I cropped it to display only the current line.

I'll bite, what are you using to display the system log?

 

[eyoungren]

I'll bite, what are using to display the system log?

I believe it's just a system geeklet (forget the specific name for it right now and I'm not on a Mac at the moment that is using Geektool).

Here is my geeklet for it though, I dug it out of a compressed file in my Dropbox.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1932210/syslog.glet.zip

I edited the geeklet to show just one line (the bottom of the log) with the width of it being my screen width using white type. I have a black image in the shape of a thin bar set behind it so you can read it. And I shoved everything up to the top. My menubar is actually hiding the other two lines because if I reduce it more the actual copy starts to shave off.

In any case, the whole point is that the last line of the log is the important data. It lets me know what's happening and what happened depending on how long it's up there. If I really need to know more that's when I open Console.

 

[Hack5190]

I believe it's just a system geeklet (forget the specific name for it right now and I'm not on a Mac at the moment that is using Geektool).

Here is my geeklet for it though, I dug it out of a compressed file in my Dropbox.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1932210/syslog.glet.zip

I edited the geeklet to show just one line (the bottom of the log) with the width of it being my screen width using white type. I have a black image in the shape of a thin bar set behind it so you can read it. And I shoved everything up to the top. My menubar is actually hiding the other two lines because if I reduce it more the actual copy starts to shave off.

In any case, the whole point is that the last line of the log is the important data. It lets me know what's happening and what happened depending on how long it's up there. If I really need to know more that's when I open Console.

Works great, thank you. Currently it's installed on my MacBook pro displaying the last 4 lines.