Filed under: Software
Konfabulator 2: The Pre-Dashboard Dashboard Updated
Konfabulator, the pre-Dashboard and pre-Tiger widget-running program that everyone loved to love / hate has been updated to version 2 today, and there is a new Windows version of the program to boot. The Konfabulator site has virtually no information about the update, opting for a flashy graphic and download links to both the Windows and OS X versions. Once you download the program, you are presented with the program and no Read Me file. However, MacCentral notes, "With version 2, the Konfabulator engine has been expanded allowing Widgets to have multiple windows and allows for more complex, application-like Widgets, according to the developer. The Widget gallery has also been redone and now has over 1000 user contributed Widgets to download." I downloaded and installed it and my first impression is: seems a bit sluggish.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ccs178 (Chris) said 6:12PM on 7-14-2005
Sluggish is par for the course when dealing with Konfabulator. It is a resource hog. Although, Dashboard and Konfabulator both perform the same role, the difference between they way they perform is very dramatic. Dashboard is much more resource efficient.
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Michael said 3:20PM on 10-12-2005
I have to admit that initially I didn't see a good reason for Dashboard.... But now I start to actually like it. Press F12 and right then and there I can get an overview of a lot of information pulled from different sources.
I was thinking about maybe springing for a Konfabulator license, but I really don't see anymore why.....
Let the Widgets for Dashboard come and be useful :)
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Andrew said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
The one thing I like about Konfabulator versus Dashboard is the ability to have the widgets on your desktop. There are just certain widgets I would like to have visible at all times, not just when I have F12. I know if you put Dashboard in debug mode you can have one widget on the desktop, but I want the ability to have multiples.
Plus, I have to use a Windows machine at work. It's nice to now be able to run the same widgets on both desktops.
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Steve said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
You CAN have any or all of your Dashboard widgets now on your desktop at anytime and they are each individually configurable.... Tidbits has an article about it (came in a weekly email) and I use it at home.
Sitting here at this ugly PC at work keeps me from being able to just spit the link out.
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Andrew said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Yeah, I think you are talking about Amnesty. I'm gonna look into that when I get home tonight.
http://www.mesadynamics.com/amnesty.htm
I also re-read the Mac OSX Hints website on putting Dashboard into Dev mode. Turns out you can multiple widgets detached...there are some other issues with that, but at least a step in the right direction.
Hopefully Apple will follow Konfabulator's lead a little bit and allow users to easily place Widgets on the desktop and change the layers that they are at. Although, Amnesty looks like a good solution to that.
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Brian said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Too bad the Windows version just flat out doesn't work. Back when they first released it on Windows there was a bug that caused problems on certain set ups, well once you encountered this problem there is apparently no hope of ever getting it to work again. The program runs, but none of the widgets ever display. No amount of uninstalling/reinstalling, deleting registry keys, clearing TEMP files helps. It just doesn't work.
I haven't run the thing in at least 4 or 5 months, but I thought I'd give v2 a try. Download and install, and yet again nothing. There's many people on the forums (which because they removed the menu from their homepage is only accessible via direct link or by clicking "Get more widgets..." inside the app) with the same problem and no real resolution ever mentioned. There's even a paid user or two complaining.
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oliver said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
well, the windows version does work for some people. a buddy of mine uses it sometimes, with no problems whatsoever.
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David said 7:42AM on 11-18-2005
You can find the release notes here: http://www.konfabulator.com/info/RelNotes20.html
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Fred said 12:03PM on 8-10-2005
here is what the site says on the update:
Here's a list of things we added in 2.0. Full release notes for additions are posted on our site.
Whats New in 2.0 For End Users
- Multi-Pane Preferences dialogs for Widgets
- New Widgets: PIM Overview (looks at iCal/Outlook data) and Memory Gauge.
- Improved Proxy support for web resources (AutoProxy)
- Analog Clock: updated look, new colorization features, second hand.
- Battery: updated look, removed multi-battery support.
- Calendar: new colorization features, double-click day to see info in PIM Overview for that day.
- Digital Clock: revised graphics and new alarm manager... very cool.
- Picture Frame: updated look and new frame choices.
- The Weather has brand new look and new feed from Accuweather
- Where Is It: package tracking added.
- WiFi signal: revised look.
Whats New in 2.0 For Widget Authors
- COM support
- Inter-Widget messaging
- Image Tiling/Scaling
- ClipRects on Images
- vAlign on images and text areas
- Colorization (colorize, hsl adjustment, hsl tinting)
- Context menu addition support
- filesystem.read/writeFile (utf-8 only)
- filesystem.volumes array of currently mounted volumes
- filesystem.move/copy
- filesystem.getFileInfo
- filesystem.getDisplayName
- chooseFile/chooseFolder dialog functions
- saveAs dialog function
- chooseColor dialog function
- Trash/Recycle Bin open/empty
- Multiple Window support
- Multi-Click handling
- New Timer object
Beyond this there are a TON of fixes in this release.
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pb said 1:03AM on 11-02-2005
Konfabulator just completely blew it by charging for the runtime. Konfabulator *could* have been the definitive source for Dashboard Widgets.
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footle said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
brian - "There's many people on the forums.."
Where on the forums?
pb - But how would that pay the morgage?
As far as I can tell, Konfab 2 finally contains the necessary stuff (ie. COM) to allow Windows authors to do really interesting things with their widgets, rather than just redisplay web feeds.
It'll be interesting to see if anything really useful now appears in the gallery.
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