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poindexte... poindexte...
 
M$10 January 13, 2009 05:07 AM

How can I get Chumby like widgets on my computer?

I have a laptop I modded into a digital picture frame. I can put linux or windows on it and it has an internet connection. What I want to do is turn it into a Chumby of sorts that hangs on my wall. I want the screen to cycle through a weather screen, a news screen, maybe a big clock, etc. Basically I want to take the idea for the chumby and put it full screen on my laptop.

I know I'm not the only person that wants to do this either. I found this in the Chumby forums.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=3258

If there are any programmers out there, this would be a good side project. You would have at least one customer!!

If anyone knows of any existing programs that would do something similar, that would be best.

PLEASE HELP!!

Thanks.
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divyamistr... divyamistr...
 
January 13, 2009 05:28 AM
You should most definitely check-out Konfabulator, aka Yahoo! Widgets. Since you've modded your laptop into an internet connection, I'm guessing windows Vista is not an option for you. Vista has these widgets built into the OS, and you can get more online.

I have used Yahoo! Widgets. They are definitely helpful, and easiest to setup, among other similar services. If installing Windows is an option, definitely check out Yahoo! Widgets at http://widgets.yahoo.com/

If you fancy Linux. Jackfield is a good option for you. I haven't used it, but they claim that they work with widgets downloaded from both Yahoo! Widgets and OS X Dashboard. This is a pretty good option if you feel like trying it out. There are definitely a lot more widgets for OS X than for Yahoo!.

Hope this helps.
Source(s):
http://www.kryogenix.org/code/jackfield/
http://widgets.yahoo.com/


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divyamistr... divyamistr...
 
January 13, 2009 05:33 AM
Forgot to address your "cycle through screen" thing. From what I understand, neither Yahoo! nor Jackfield provide this function. Both are designed for a typical OS use, so they have the widget form. So, if that "cycle through screen" can be traded for "everything on same screen", I think these will surely help.

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poindexter poindexter
 
January 13, 2009 06:39 PM
Having everything one one screen isn't a terrible idea, but I'm really looking for full screen widgets that will cycle through without me having to do anything. Sort of screen saver style. If anyone has any ideas on integrating some widgets into a screen saver that might be a good route.

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poozler poozler
 
January 13, 2009 05:33 AM
You can try Yahoo or Google side bars :)
Although I think Yahoo widgets are prettier.

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dophie dophie
 
January 13, 2009 05:18 PM
Ubuntu 8.10 comes with screenlets built in - everything you'd ever need! Weather, horoscopes, you name it! Here is what they look like in action:

http://www.screenlets.org/index.php/Screenshots

You could even combine it with Compiz-Fusion effects (again, comes built in) -

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QxXBDQjLygU
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_PQL1QTuwrs

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poindexter poindexter
 
January 13, 2009 06:42 PM
That's the idea, but I'm looking for a full screen version that will cycle through..

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philipy philipy
 
January 13, 2009 05:29 PM
This looks like a simple solution that will work for you:

http://tabletblog.com/2008/02/turn-your-internet-tablet-into-virtual.html

Basically you create a Chumby channel for your chosen widgets, drop it into a web page of your choosing, and browse to the web page.

I don't use a Chumby so I don't know if this option is missing anything important from what you wanted, but it gets you at least part way and is very easy to do.
Source(s):
http://tabletblog.com/2008/02/turn-your-internet-tablet-into-virtual.html

 
It was unfair to choose no best answer
He got answers that got him at least 90% of the way to achieving what he wanted. He picked holes in each answer for not being a perfect solution. And didn't respond to suggestions about how he could work around what he didn't like. In my book unfair to give zero tip.
 
 


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poindexter poindexter
 
January 13, 2009 06:44 PM
This would work if I could get the Chumby screen full screen on my computer. I don't necessarily want to look at a picture of the devise I'm trying to emulate.

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philipy philipy
 
January 13, 2009 07:25 PM
I don't know a lot about Chumby, so I can't help you much further.

You may be able to do one of the following...

- Zoom the browser in such a way that you only see the part of the page that you want

- See if there is a way to use ad blocking tools to suppress the parts of the webpage that you don't want to see. (i.e. tell them the junk is an ad)

- Write a wrapper app using .net framework's browser tools that shows only the part of the browser window that you want

Don't know if any of those will work, but those are the only options I can think of, short of writing a full blown custom app.

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coolin86 coolin86
 
January 13, 2009 07:25 PM
I have never seen anything that will work like this right "out of the box". But I think you could get creative and hack something together. This is what I was thinking:

Install any OS (preferably *nix) with Firefox. Find web pages which replicate the functionality that you want. Open all in tabs. Enter "Kiosk Mode" (F11). Find a way to press CTRL+TAB every 15 secs (cron job should do this pretty easily).

Obviously not as "clean" as Chumby but with a little tweaking, I think it could be pretty effective. You can even get more fancy by developing some custom websites and scripts or drop Firefox all together and come up with a way to rotate between apps or widgets. One of the beautiful things about *nix is its customizability.

...I might have to geek-out and try this as well. Good luck and please post some pics if/when you are up and running.

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honkerdown honkerdown
 
May 22, 2009 07:43 PM
To address the CTRL+TAB, try the Tab Slideshow Firefox extension. Cycles through the open tabs at a predetermined interval, and can optionally refresh the upcoming tab prior to loading.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2688

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