[dccski]

does konfabulator cost anything? as well as the widgets. it doesnt appear so or am i missing something?

[-Q-]

Originally posted by dccski:
does konfabulator cost anything? as well as the widgets. it doesnt appear so or am i missing something?

It's a shareware app. You can pay here.

But it's not obvious from their web site. But if you quit and restart Konfabulator you should be presented with a message stating you need to pay for it...

[Adam Betts]

Yep it cost your CPU load

Really, it cost you $25

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18302

[vmpaul]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Yep it cost your CPU load

I thougt they fixed the Memory leak? Or are you talking about something else?

[dccski]

sounds like you guys arent to fond of it

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by vmpaul:
I thougt they fixed the Memory leak? Or are you talking about something else?

No, it's not Memory leak, it's just those widgets that's taking most of the CPU. One simple animation in Konfab take more CPU than most animations in Safari.

JavaScript are well-known for putting a heavy load on CPU though.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by dccski:
sounds like you guys arent to fond of it

Nope, it is geeky and useless IMO.

It eats CPU time to do cheesy things that can be better done with Docklings and Menulings.

How many people need info smattered on thier desktop?

These are one of those Apps that people install when they want to make there computer look like it was doing a million things or if they take a screengrab.

[Mac Guru]

Actually I'm 180� from SAS' POV.

I find it VERY useful, I have a floating calculator that is there 100% of the time and 100 X faster than Anything Apple has put out.

Many people find it useful to see such things as meters that tell you how full partitions and drives are, etc, etc. Don't be turned off by people saying it's useless, because it's not. It's useless for THEM.

Personally I say, download it, download a couple 3rd party widgets and see for yourself, if you hate it, delete it. If not, pay your $25 and live a happier life.

(if you don't like something no one's forcing you to use it)

Mac Guru

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by Mac Guru:
Actually I'm 180� from SAS' POV.

I find it VERY useful, I have a floating calculator that is there 100% of the time and 100 X faster than Anything Apple has put out.
Mac Guru

I find the $3 one sitting on my desk next to my computer is faster and doesn't eat my CPU

[AKcrab]

Originally posted by Mac Guru:
I find it VERY useful, I have a floating calculator that is there 100% of the time and 100 X faster than Anything Apple has put out.

100 X faster? I don't get it.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by AKcrab:
100 X faster? I don't get it.

It gives you the answer to 2 +3 before you even punch it in.

[jessejlt]

For $24.99 (yes one cent less than Konfabuwhatever) I'll write you one in assembly that will blow the sox off of that sick Java thing anyday.
jesse ;-)

And if you need a calculator to find out what 2 + 3 is...

[SwarmyCurve]

I am beginning to like the program less and less. At first it was a fun new gimmick. Now, however, it seems like it has not delivered on its promise - no real revolutionary widgets have been released. Almost all of them are better preformed in a separate application or are just super simple things that are better suited for a menubar. It really doesn't eat up much CPU though, at least not with 1.02

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
No, it's not Memory leak, it's just those widgets that's taking most of the CPU. One simple animation in Konfab take more CPU than most animations in Safari.

JavaScript are well-known for putting a heavy load on CPU though.

Yup, I have to agree with Adam on this. Although I was excited when Konfabulator first came out, my excitement has been calmed by the excessive use of CPU. Don't get me wrong, I really like it. But when Konfabulator is on, you might have to stop doing other things especially if you have 4-5 widgets running, like the horoscope one (that's a CPU hog). My advice is to test it out for yourself, your use may vary from ours.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
like the horoscope one (that's a CPU hog). My advice is to test it out for yourself, your use may vary from ours.

You need an app running for a daily horoscope? Make it a link in your browser and see how much easier it is.

[Mac Guru]

It gives you the answer to 2 +3 before you even punch it in.

No but it doesn't lag like heck when I push a button or try to type in my calculation.

I find the $3 one sitting on my desk next to my computer is faster and doesn't eat my CPU

I swear you can make any thing sound overhyped... I say oooooh I like my new computer that does such-n-such and it's like, "well I have a peice of paper here and I can do the same thing"

hehehe ooook, kinda like basketball is a mob of guys tossing a sphere at a metal ring...

</sarcasm>

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
You need an app running for a daily horoscope? Make it a link in your browser and see how much easier it is.

Agreed. Point is that some people like having widgets like this. More than anything, it just looked cool.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
Agreed. Point is that some people like having widgets like this. More than anything, it just looked cool.

I know anyone who uses that horoscope it says "Chicks will find you irritable because of your wicked cool widget".

[ShotgunEd]

I like Konfabulator. I use the non-obtrusive mail check because my dock is on autohide and I can't see when I get mail in. I also use Logger to display my system.log on the desktop. I've also got a widget displaying my internal and external ips. I've not noticed a performance hit but then again I'm not using the news tickers or system monitors.

[moki]

Originally posted by ShotgunEd:
I like Konfabulator. I use the non-obtrusive mail check because my dock is on autohide and I can't see when I get mail in. I also use Logger to display my system.log on the desktop.

hrm... just a thought here... if you didn't have so many desktop widgets, you probably could keep your dock always visible.

[LeeG]

I really like album cover - I know there are other apps that do this, but none look as nice. Its nice to see the album cover pop up as the song changes...
Lee

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by ShotgunEd:
I like Konfabulator. I use the non-obtrusive mail check because my dock is on autohide and I can't see when I get mail in. I also use Logger to display my system.log on the desktop. I've also got a widget displaying my internal and external ips. I've not noticed a performance hit but then again I'm not using the news tickers or system monitors.

http://www.echo-sol.com/software/menumail/

[xtal]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:


http://www.echo-sol.com/software/menumail/

Looking good, I've downloaded and will check it out.

Thanks for the heads-up.

[invisibleX]

Konfabulator can be great for some people. In some situations. For me none of the widgets that actually work well are useful. One particularly nice one called PowerPill, an aqua pill that changed color with the cpu load, took like 40% of my cpu.

[SubGeniux]

Yeah, I remeber when it came out and thought fantastic, but months later, and a screen full of widgety nonsense, and the novelty factor wearing thin, I gave up and tried to find menubar alternatives. Can't wait for iSeek to come out.,

But..saying that, I still use Konfab. and the world time widget cause I live in Scotland and my fiance lives in Australia and I can neve rremember what time it is there, comes in handy, quite unobtrusive too, only snag is, I told her I had it, she now expects me to be online right on time, lol

sub

[ShotgunEd]

Originally posted by moki:
hrm... just a thought here... if you didn't have so many desktop widgets, you probably could keep your dock always visible.

How'd you figure?

I like Safari fullscreen when I'm browsing. How does a DESKTOP widget mean that i can't have my dock unhidden. An unhidden dock takes up real estate all the time. Widgets are at desktop level so are non-obtrusive.

Adam: Cheers for the recommendation, but my menu bar is pretty full with clock, battery, sound, ichat, menumeters, tigerlaunch, kon, virtual desktop and proteus.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by SubGeniux:
But..saying that, I still use Konfab. and the world time widget cause I live in Scotland and my fiance lives in Australia and I can neve rremember what time it is there, comes in handy, quite unobtrusive too, only snag is, I told her I had it, she now expects me to be online right on time, lol

sub

http://www.versiontracker.com/mp/new...e+zone&x=0&y=0

[SubGeniux]

aha, lol, knew there had to be an alternative. cheers for that

sub

[ThinkInsane]

I think K is cool in a novelty sorta way, But I cannot truly embrace it until they add more clocks.

[Fallout]

I tried it out. It's useless to me...looks cool, but that's it.

[Brooks Seymore]

Originally posted by moki:
hrm... just a thought here... if you didn't have so many desktop widgets, you probably could keep your dock always visible.

That is true, and if I simply turned off the monitor to my old Performa 636, I wouldn't have needed to register your old Eclipse screensaver back when I was in college. It certainly would have cut down on my energy bills. I registered it so I could have little pictures and such floating around my monitor. And I could have scooted around the computer labs and played my own little version of Harry the Handsome Executive; Konfabulator is $5 less and I've never once been killed in a nearly impossible maze after spendng ten to fifteen minutes (with out a nearby save point) slowly scooting around trying to avoid evil robots or drones or whatever those things were that kept blowing me up time and time again while using Konfabulator.

(Just for the record, I've long been a fan of Ambrosia's offerings and have registered quite a few of its products, I'm also very pleased to see that more than of few of the old games--Bubble Trouble and Aperion--are being made available for Mac OS X, and I mean no disrespect to Ambrosia or its developers.)

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/eclipse/
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/harry/

My point is that for some strange reason, whenever I read one of the threads here about Konfabulator I find myself checking to see if I had accidentally stumbled into a Windows forum where some poor fellow accidently posted a question about his Mac. The content of the responces seem very similar to stereotypical anti-Macintosh posts.

Some people like Konfabulator and see value in it, some people don't. Both are equally valid opinions. Maybe its just me, but I just don't see the point of writing post after post after post about something you don't like, especially something as inconsequential as a piece of software. I never see fans of Graphic Converter lurking around Photoshop forums and telling people they can crop images just as well in GC as they can in Photoshop; an argument that misses the point of Photoshop just as much as the posts about a $3 calculator can do the same job as Konfabulator without taxing CPU usage. If your CPU is so overtaxed that using a caluclator program puts a strain on it, I have an old 636 sitting in a closet. I think there is even a copy of Harry the Handsome Executive on it. Watch out in the maze though. Its a pain in the

Anyway, if anyone is interested in a more constructive discussion of a program that has only been out for two months and is still quite early in its development, check out the forums over at http://kmirror.deskmod.com/forums/.

B.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by Brooks Seymore:
$3 calculator can do the same job as Konfabulator without taxing CPU usage.
B.

Who the hell needs a computer for a calculator anyway?

[nforcer]

Originally posted by SwarmyCurve:
I am beginning to like the program less and less. At first it was a fun new gimmick. Now, however, it seems like it has not delivered on its promise - no real revolutionary widgets have been released. Almost all of them are better preformed in a separate application or are just super simple things that are better suited for a menubar. It really doesn't eat up much CPU though, at least not with 1.02

Echos my thoughts very closely, although it does eat up a very noticable amount of CPU time with any version depending on what widgets you have open. Speaking of the widgets, how many 300x300 pixel clocks do you really need when the menuling that ships with the system is 100x20 pixels (or less) and uses less CPU time than any widget? How many volume lister widgets do you need when you can open any finder window and view the relevant info. in the status bar? How many more mp3 players/iTunes controllers do we still need? How many web widgets actually tell you something that you need to be looking at all the time, and haven't already been created as a well optimized application/service/menuling?

I'm not trying to bash Konfabulator or its supporters. It's neat to have a cool looking desktop. Its just that it seems that there is a significant tradeoff of usable desktop space and noticable CPU power for a bunch of widgets that don't seem to add much value other than aesthetic appeal.

[Brooks Seymore]

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
Who the hell needs a computer for a calculator anyway?

Statisticians, physicists, astronomers, accountants, financial traders, economists, etc.

B.

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by nforcer:
...I'm not trying to bash Konfabulator or its supporters. It's neat to have a cool looking desktop. Its just that it seems that there is a significant tradeoff of usable desktop space and noticable CPU power for a bunch of widgets that don't seem to add much value other than aesthetic appeal.

I completely agree with you on this one. I think the idea of Konfabulator is GREAT. However, for me I have stopped using it for this very reason. I can't see the widgets because my Safari or Camino window takes up most or all of the desktop. So in order to see any of the "cool" widgets, I would have to minimize the window or move it in order to see the widgets underneath. This, to me, is very inefficient. Great idea, not very practical. But hey, to each his/her own. Some people like it and find it useful. It's just not for me.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by Brooks Seymore:
Statisticians, physicists, astronomers, accountants, financial traders, economists, etc.

B.

So they buy a computer for $3000 just to do that when you can get a real calculator for the same cost as Konfabulator and not have to boot your computer to use it.

[Brooks Seymore]

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
So they buy a computer for $3000 just to do that when you can get a real calculator for the same cost as Konfabulator and not have to boot your computer to use it.

You didn't ask who uses Konfabulator instead of a calculator, you asked who uses a computer instead for a calculator.

Try doing what Statview or Mathematica or even a large Excel spreadsheet does on your $3 dollar calculator as fast as any of those applications.

Bye.

B.

[WJMoore]

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
http://www.versiontracker.com/mp/new...e+zone&x=0&y=0

None of those are free (the only free one was for Mac OS X Server 1.2), smallest one was over 900k, cheapest one was US$12... one was $20. Maybe they are better than the alternative (buying K and using a widget) but I know which one I'd choose. Just my observation.

Wesley

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by Brooks Seymore:
You didn't ask who uses Konfabulator instead of a calculator, you asked who uses a computer instead for a calculator.

Try doing what Statview or Mathematica or even a large Excel spreadsheet does on your $3 dollar calculator as fast as any of those applications.

Bye.

B.

Konfab costs $3?

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by WJMoore:
None of those are free (the only free one was for Mac OS X Server 1.2), smallest one was over 900k, cheapest one was US$12... one was $20. Maybe they are better than the alternative (buying K and using a widget) but I know which one I'd choose. Just my observation.

Wesley

Ya, I would also choose $12 dockling then the $25 K and a widget.

[moki]

Originally posted by Brooks Seymore:
Some people like Konfabulator and see value in it, some people don't. Both are equally valid opinions. Maybe its just me, but I just don't see the point of writing post after post after post about something you don't like, especially something as inconsequential as a piece of software. I never see fans of Graphic Converter lurking around Photoshop forums and telling people they can crop images just as well in GC as they can in Photoshop; an argument that misses the point of Photoshop just as much as the posts about a $3 calculator can do the same job as Konfabulator without taxing CPU usage. If your CPU is so overtaxed that using a caluclator program puts a strain on it, I have an old 636 sitting in a closet. I think there is even a copy of Harry the Handsome Executive on it. Watch out in the maze though. Its a pain in the B.

Well, this isn't a forum dedicated to Konfabulator, so the above analogy is a bit flawed, but that's neither here nor there. I don't think I've written post after post concerning Konfabulator; I wrote a single "my thoughts" write up on here here when it was initially released, but that's it.

I don't think there is anything wrong with discussing the merrits of any piece of software, and I'm definitely not trying to "trash" the product at all. It's definitely a cool concept, and has been well-executed.

I just thought it was ironic that someone didn't want the Dock always visible yet was using rather screen realestate-intensive Konfabulator widgets. He since clarified that the widgets he is using are sitting on the desktop, not floating, so I retract my irony-based comment.

[Brooks Seymore]

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
Konfab costs $3?

The $3 sum was a reference to an earlier post of yours.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...325895#1325895

B.