Customizing my iBook

dale mox

Hello People.



I would like to share with you the beauty of having a customized Laptop. On this laptop there is no dock, the finder is often closed and the background is solid blue. Yes, that's right no Dock.



Here is what I did, obviously by trial & error & Repair DISK PRIVILEGES ;-)

->\tDownload and Install Keyboard Maestro 2 Beta.

->\tDownload and Install LaunchBar.

->\tDownload and Install FruitMenu.

->\tDownload and Install TinkerTool.

->\tIn Terminal do this:

\t\tsudo chmod -x /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock

\t\tenter password

\t\tkillall "Dock"

\t\tmv /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app.DISABLED

->\tMost important step: Enjoy and Enjoy people trying to work on your laptop... ;-)



The reasons for this is that:

With Keyboard Maestro you switch Apps with Opt+Tab and you define keys F7 to F11

With LaunchBar you can run any App without needing the Finder

With Fruitmenu, you customize it to include your Applications menu to open any App you want without needing to open the Finder

With TinkerTool, apart from all the other customizations, you can ask it to quit the Finder, and also to show hidden files

Then the step in the Terminal makes the the Dock unrunable, then quits it, then renames it also.



What I also did was add to the Info.plist in the Package Contents of the Terminal, Stickies, System Preferences, LaunchBar a new Element "NSUIElement" with String value 1 so that the Apps run without an Icon, and a menu.



Suggestions are welcome,



Dale Mox

chych

That's, uh, quite a bit of modifications...



I dunno, I sort of like having pretty pictures in the background, looks less 1980ish.



I do use launchbar though, nifty app, and I only use the dock for application switching (it's small and on the top right of my screen).



You could also throw in something like Path Finder for a total Finder replacement too.

dale mox

Quote:

Originally posted by chych

That's, uh, quite a bit of modifications...



I dunno, I sort of like having pretty pictures in the background, looks less 1980ish.



I do use launchbar though, nifty app, and I only use the dock for application switching (it's small and on the top right of my screen).



You could also throw in something like Path Finder for a total Finder replacement too.

I found I way to have a background:

Some how the desktop is not considered "alive" when the Dock doesn't run. So, I made a script and saved it as a run-only Application called ShowDesktop:

Code:

do shell script "chmod +x /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app.DISABLED/Contents/MacOS/Dock" password "adminpass" with administrator privileges

do shell script "open /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app.DISABLED"

delay 4

do shell script "chmod -x /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app.DISABLED/Contents/MacOS/Dock" password "adminpass" with administrator privileges

do shell script "/usr/bin/quitdock"





where adminpass is my administator's password; and the quitdock is a unix script which does: killall "Dock" (because do shell script "killall "Dock"" doesn't work b/c of the quotations



If someone can tell me what exactly the Dock runs to "activate" the desktop that would be helpfull.



Dale Mox

dale mox

Update of script:

Code:

do shell script "/bin/chmod +x /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app.DISABLED/Contents/MacOS/Dock" password "adminpass" with administrator privileges

do shell script "/usr/bin/open /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app.DISABLED"

do shell script "/bin/sleep 4"

do shell script "/bin/chmod -x /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app.DISABLED/Contents/MacOS/Dock" password "adminpass" with administrator privileges

do shell script "/usr/bin/killall Dock"







again, where adminpass is the administator's password.



Dale Mox

chucker

Quote:

Originally posted by Dale Mox

would like to share with you the beauty of having a customized Laptop. On this laptop there is no dock, the finder is often closed and the background is solid blue. Yes, that's right no Dock.

Why? Without the Dock, you can't even minimize any window.

dale mox

Quote:

Originally posted by Chucker

Why? Without the Dock, you can't even minimize any window.

Yes, but you can shade a window with WindowShade by Unsanity. I define Cmd+m to shade. I just prefer it. You should try it and see if you like it.



Dale Mox