MacOS 8.5 has now been unleashed on the general public, continuing the great improvements begun by MacOS 8. It is a great update to the already greatest operating system on the planet. In this update, however, Apple changed the way that Desktop Pictures are displayed by the System. The “Desktop Pictures” control panel has been integrated into the “Appearance” control panel. This makes things more organized in the system folder, but it broke DeskPix 1.0. DeskPix 1.1 makes this utility MacOS 8.5 savvy.
This utility randomly chooses a picture from a list you specify and displays it on the desktop at startup. Rather than patching the OS itself, DeskPix uses the Desktop Pictures Control Panel to change the picture.
DeskPix is easy to configure, yet adds many more choices to the Desktop Pictures idea.
Note: Version 1.1.1 updates the DeskPix Engine to Version 1.1.1. This new version fixes a bug with the random number generator DeskPix uses. On some systems, DeskPix would always choose the same picture. I think this has been fixed. The Control Panel is still at Version 1.1 and has not been changed.
What's in the Package
The DeskPix package consists of three files. The first of these files is the DeskPix control panel (named simply "DeskPix"). This is the software you will use to configure DeskPix. The second file is named "DeskPix Engine". This is the program which will take care of changing the desktop picture. The third file is this readme file.
Installing DeskPix
To install DeskPix you need to move a few of the files into specific locations on your startup disk. Simply drag the DeskPix control panel over the System Folder. Your Macintosh will ask you if you want to place the file into the Control Panels folder. You do. Then, drag the DeskPix Engine file into the Startup Items folder inside your System Folder. Once you have moved these two files, DeskPix is installed and ready to be configured. DeskPix must be configured before it will change your desktop picture.
Configuring DeskPix
While DeskPix Engine may be the heart of DeskPix, the DeskPix control panel is how you configure the program.
When you choose the DeskPix control panel, the following window will appear:
Several different options are available, and how you configure the settings will affect what pictures might appear and how they will be placed on the screen.
Randomize Desktop Picture at Startup: Select this option to change your desktop picture at startup. If this option is not selected, your desktop picture will remain the same.
Look for picture in: One of the advantages of DeskPix is that it allows two different ways for you to tell DeskPix where to find the pictures you want it to choose from. You can build a custom list of pictures you want DeskPix to choose from, which can be located anyware on any hard-drive connected to your Macintosh, or you can have DeskPix look inside a specific folder and choose from any pictures it finds there. This option lets you tell DeskPix which option you want it to use.
Under the top two options in the control panel is a tab-panel which lets you configure DeskPix, depending on which of the two selection options you want DeskPix to use. Each option has its own tab.
The Folder Source Options Tab
The first (default) tab allows you to tell DeskPix which folder to look in to find pictures.
To choose the folder you want DeskPix to look in, click on the "Select Folder..." button. After you select the folder, its pathname will appear to the left of the button. You can change the folder as many times as you would like, however, once you have selected a folder, you can not go back to "No Folder Selected."
Once you have selected a folder, you can choose how any picture selected from that folder will appear on the screen by choosing from the pop-up menu under "Placement..." If you would like to just use the default setting in the Desktop Pictures control panel, select the "Use 'Desktop Pictures' default" option. Please note that this setting applies to all pictures in the selected folder.
The File Source Options Tab
The second tab allows you create a custom list of pictures you want DeskPix to choose from. The pictures in this list can be located anywhere on any hard-disk connected to your Macintosh.
When "File List" is selected in the "Look for pictures in:" pop-up menu, DeskPix will choose a picture from the list of pictures in the listbox on the left of the window.
To add a picture to this list, click on the "Add Picture..." button. A standard open file dialog box will appear. Find and select the picture you want to add to the list and click on "Open". That picture will now appear in the list.
If you want to remove a picture from the list, highlight it and click on the "Remove Picture" button.
The DeskPix control panel will also allow you to preview the pictures you add to the list. To preview a picture, highlight it and click on the "Preview Picture" button (you can also double-click on the picture in the listbox).
One of the advantages of creating a custom list of pictures is that DeskPix allows you to change the positioning options for each picture individually. To do this, select the picture in the listbox and then choose the positioning option you want to use for that picture from the popup-menu in the lower right-hand corner of the tab-panel. When you first add a picture to the list, DeskPix will automatically set the positioning option for that picture to "Tile on Screen."
What Happens Now?
After you have configured DeskPix, it is ready to go. The next time you restart your Macintosh, you will see the following window appear toward the end of the startup process:
When this window appears, DeskPix is doing its stuff. After a moment, a new picture will appear on the desktop and DeskPix will quit (you will also see the "Desktop Pictures" control panel appear briefly in the background).
Limitations
The only limitation to DeskPix is actually a limitation to the MacOS. The only pictures you can use with DeskPix are pictures in JPEG, CompuServeGIF or PICT format. DeskPix will not allow you to select any other type of picture.
Known Issues
DeskPix has been thoroughly tested and should function exactly as described above. However, some issues may exist which have not been found. Once such issue is:
• There is a conflict between the DeskPix Engine and the AOL Scheduler program provided as part of the America Online 3.x package. When both of these applications are present in the Startup Items folder, the DeskPix Engine could crash with a Type-1 Error. This is due to a bug in AOL Scheduler and not due to a bug in DeskPix. A possible solution is to rename "AOL Scheduler" to "~AOL Scheduler" so that it loads after DeskPix.
• There is a conflict between the DeskPix Engine and DragStrip 3.5.x. If both programs are present in the Startup Items folder at system startup, it will cause a freeze of your system. I'm not sure what the problem is here, but I think it may be a problem with DragStrip 3.5.x. I have informed Poppybank Software of the problem. If you use DragStrip 3.5.x, do not use DeskPix. (Note that DragStrip 3.0 and earlier does not seem to have this problem).
System Requirements
DeskPix 1.1 requires MacOS 8.5 to operate, and by association, requires a PowerPC based Mac. AppleScript must be installed and active (DeskPix uses AppleScript to communicate with the “Appearance” control panel). Users of MacOS 8.0 or 8.1 can still download DeskPix 1.0 from the SearchWare Solutions web-site at http://jr.radiks.net/~search. Note that Version 1.0 will not work with MacOS 8.5.
Legal Stuff
DeskPix is freeware. Feel free to distribute DeskPix as much as you'd like online. If you want to distribute DeskPix as part of a collection or as part of any other package for profit, you must ask for permission first. If you do redistribute DeskPix, you may only distribute the original self-extracting archive. DeskPix may not be modified in any way.
The only other thing that I ask is that if you use DeskPix, please e-mail me to let me know what you think. My e-mail address is below. If you have any bug-reports, suggestions or questions, e-mail me as well. You are the final users of my software. I want to make the best products possible. I can't do that without knowing what you want.
Contact Info
If you have any bug-reports or suggestions, please e-mail me at search@radiks.net.
