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Really confused - please help

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FancoverFive
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Joined: June 18th, 2010, 9:53 pm

Really confused - please help

Post by FancoverFive »

Okay, well, mentions of this thing called Rainmeter have been popping up in my Lifehacker feed for a while, but it was this article that finally made me decide to investigate. I downloaded the 32-bit installer version (I don't know if that was right) and I installed it. And wow... what can I say except I'm really bad at this...

It started with the default theme, which I think is Gnometer. I messed around with that for a bit, but I wasn't very good at it. I tried looking for help on the Rainmeter site, but it was all confusing stuff about Themes and Configs and how to create a skin (which I don't think I want to do here).

The linked article mentioned the fact that people preferred the "Enigma" theme, so I managed to switch to that (don't ask how I did it - I'll be darned if I can remember). That looked a bit better, but I still had no idea about how to customise it or do any of the cool stuff that I have seen in previous Lifehacker articles.

On the ugly bit in the middle of the Enigma screen is a link to browse different skins. I browsed that for a bit, and found one that I thought I might like - Lexis. I downloaded it, unzipped it, moved it to the correct folder, "Refresh All"ed Rainmeter, but... now what?

I can see no way of just changing to this skin. In the Lexis folder, there's an option called "LEXIS-clock.ini", which I thought might do something. It loaded up a clock in the top left-hand corner of the desktop which quickly disappeared. It's still listed in the right-click of the system tray - Lexis\Clock.

What do I do? All I want is to just install this skin and customise the weather or whatever to my home location. This is really confusing, not helped by the sheer lack of documentation regarding this programme available online. I'm normally fairly technical with this sort of stuff (as in, I can deal with most anything in a GUI, I'm absolutely lost when it comes to code and command line), but I just have this thing on my desktop. Help?
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Chewtoy
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Re: Really confused - please help

Post by Chewtoy »

Lack of documentation?
http://rainmeter.net/cms/Support
I don't think, therefore I'm not.
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JpsCrazy
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Re: Really confused - please help

Post by JpsCrazy »

Well, I'm sorry to say, but if you can't deal with the codes... this isn't for you.

If your computer didn't like the 32bit version, I think it would've let you known.

There are now two default themes, Gnometer and Enigma. Both have a GUI sort of configuring tool.
For Enigma, middle click on the taskbar or sidebar to make it open. Then you'll have a window with a whole lot of options. Scroll through, changing each one to the one that applies to you as you go clicking Set after every one. Then, when you're done, click Save All. Then refresh all, and your skins should work for you.

Now for the newer skin. Right click on the Rainmeter icon, and highlight Configs. Then, highlight Lexis and select the skin you want.
You can do this for any skin you have, including changing up Enigma.
Most skins can just be dragged to where you want it, and the default location (that's not a theme) is the top left corner.

If you go to the Lexis folder, and open the .ini files you can edit the skin's code and make it your own, rather than the out of the box kind of situation. You probably won't want to mess with this yet. Again, same for any skin*.

Lack of documentation? You're really not trying hard enough.
There's plenty on Youtube.
Rainmeter 101
The Full Manual


*Gnometer and Enigma have configurers and their .ini's are NOT meant to be edited. They have a variables.inc, or something similar, and the codes are pretty much manipulated there. When you get better, you can edit the .ini's but it's not recommended.
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jsmorley
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Re: Really confused - please help

Post by jsmorley »

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FancoverFive
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Re: Really confused - please help

Post by FancoverFive »

JpsCrazy wrote:Well, I'm sorry to say, but if you can't deal with the codes... this isn't for you.

If your computer didn't like the 32bit version, I think it would've let you known.

There are now two default themes, Gnometer and Enigma. Both have a GUI sort of configuring tool.
For Enigma, middle click on the taskbar or sidebar to make it open. Then you'll have a window with a whole lot of options. Scroll through, changing each one to the one that applies to you as you go clicking Set after every one. Then, when you're done, click Save All. Then refresh all, and your skins should work for you.

Now for the newer skin. Right click on the Rainmeter icon, and highlight Configs. Then, highlight Lexis and select the skin you want.
You can do this for any skin you have, including changing up Enigma.
Most skins can just be dragged to where you want it, and the default location (that's not a theme) is the top left corner.
That's what I did before to get the Lexis clock up. Do I have to do this for each .ini? Because I didn't when I switched to Enigma. Will I then have to individually close each Enigma file - there's a dozen or so there.
JpsCrazy wrote:If you go to the Lexis folder, and open the .ini files you can edit the skin's code and make it your own, rather than the out of the box kind of situation. You probably won't want to mess with this yet. Again, same for any skin*.

Lack of documentation? You're really not trying hard enough.
There's plenty on Youtube.
Rainmeter 101
The Full Manual


*Gnometer and Enigma have configurers and their .ini's are NOT meant to be edited. They have a variables.inc, or something similar, and the codes are pretty much manipulated there. When you get better, you can edit the .ini's but it's not recommended.
I tried some of that documentation - the Skin Tutorials, which was helpful in installing the Lexis script, but then it started explaining how to create my own, which I don't want to do. Which link do I want?

But really, how do you make the cool stuff that I've seen on Lifehacker? Is that a "theme"?

EDIT: I've opened the other .ini files in the Lexis folder, and gone through and closed each Enigma file, but I'm having trouble with the settings on the weather app. It says to visit http://weather.msn.com/sitemap.aspx and find my "city" and get the feed URL. However it looks like it was designed by Americans - there's only one weather feed for the WHOLE of the United Kingdom, and it's called "Great Britain". Um... the UK isn't the size of Monaco, you know, it's like the size of Oregon. The weather in Oregon won't all be the same at the same time, will it? So, essentially, a) can I use another RSS feed that is more specific, and have it work in the script; and b) where would I find such a feed?
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JamesAC
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Re: Really confused - please help

Post by JamesAC »

FancoverFive wrote:It says to visit http://weather.msn.com/sitemap.aspx and find my "city" and get the feed URL. However it looks like it was designed by Americans - there's only one weather feed for the WHOLE of the United Kingdom, and it's called "Great Britain". Um... the UK isn't the size of Monaco, you know, it's like the size of Oregon.
There are feed for many UK cities, go to that page and type your city into the "Find Weather for:" box near the top then press go. You should find your city somewhere in the list.
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JpsCrazy
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Re: Really confused - please help

Post by JpsCrazy »

FancoverFive wrote:That's what I did before to get the Lexis clock up. Do I have to do this for each .ini? Because I didn't when I switched to Enigma. Will I then have to individually close each Enigma file - there's a dozen or so there.
Alright. Let's start addressing this.
Do you have to do this for each .ini? - Yes. As a general statement. You can open up Rainmeter.ini in your AppData folder and then delete any skin you don't want - but be careful when doing so. The more and more you use Rainmeter, you'll realize what you really need or want and what you don't. Enigma and Gnometer are different, they are Themes. Most any skin you download is a Config, or well, just the Skin. Point being, there's very few .ini's compared to either of the two above. (There are other themes, I'd imagine, but Enigma and Gnometer are the big ones.)
FancoverFive wrote:I tried some of that documentation - the Skin Tutorials, which was helpful in installing the Lexis script, but then it started explaining how to create my own, which I don't want to do. Which link do I want?
Well. Yeah. Skin Tutorials are tutorials on making skins... You should read the first half of Rainmeter 101 and as much of The Manual as you can... which is kind of what I gave you.
The Manual is EVERYTHING you need to know (okay, not everything, but everything you'll need to.) And Rainmeter 101 is the basics.
FancoverFive wrote:But really, how do you make the cool stuff that I've seen on Lifehacker? Is that a "theme"?

EDIT: I've opened the other .ini files in the Lexis folder, and gone through and closed each Enigma file, but I'm having trouble with the settings on the weather app. It says to visit http://weather.msn.com/sitemap.aspx and find my "city" and get the feed URL. However it looks like it was designed by Americans - there's only one weather feed for the WHOLE of the United Kingdom, and it's called "Great Britain". Um... the UK isn't the size of Monaco, you know, it's like the size of Oregon. The weather in Oregon won't all be the same at the same time, will it? So, essentially, a) can I use another RSS feed that is more specific, and have it work in the script; and b) where would I find such a feed?
9/10 it's not a theme. People take some time to make everything their own. That's what Rainmeter's about. Most people who really are dedicated to Rainmeter aren't looking for the out of the box feel. They want to create there own, and fix others for themselves.
For example: http://rainmeter.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4124&hilit=spaceship
Third picture down. Every bit of that is bits and pieces of skins around. Not one big thing.
You search around here, Customize.org, Deviantart.com and anywhere else you can find Rainmeter and find the skins you like. That's how you make an awesome desktop.

And there's literally plenty of weather feeds. If you're not satisfied with weather.msn.com, find a skin that uses a different feed. The biggest one are weather.yahoo.com and weather.com.
FancoverFive
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Joined: June 18th, 2010, 9:53 pm

Re: Really confused - please help

Post by FancoverFive »

JamesAC wrote: There are feed for many UK cities, go to that page and type your city into the "Find Weather for:" box near the top then press go. You should find your city somewhere in the list.
Oh, I didn't see that - I was using the 'browse' box below. That works great now!
JpsCrazy wrote: Alright. Let's start addressing this.
Do you have to do this for each .ini? - Yes. As a general statement. You can open up Rainmeter.ini in your AppData folder and then delete any skin you don't want - but be careful when doing so. The more and more you use Rainmeter, you'll realize what you really need or want and what you don't. Enigma and Gnometer are different, they are Themes. Most any skin you download is a Config, or well, just the Skin. Point being, there's very few .ini's compared to either of the two above. (There are other themes, I'd imagine, but Enigma and Gnometer are the big ones.)
Well. Yeah. Skin Tutorials are tutorials on making skins... You should read the first half of Rainmeter 101 and as much of The Manual as you can... which is kind of what I gave you.
The Manual is EVERYTHING you need to know (okay, not everything, but everything you'll need to.) And Rainmeter 101 is the basics.
9/10 it's not a theme. People take some time to make everything their own. That's what Rainmeter's about. Most people who really are dedicated to Rainmeter aren't looking for the out of the box feel. They want to create there own, and fix others for themselves.
For example: http://rainmeter.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4124&hilit=spaceship
Third picture down. Every bit of that is bits and pieces of skins around. Not one big thing.
You search around here, Customize.org, Deviantart.com and anywhere else you can find Rainmeter and find the skins you like. That's how you make an awesome desktop.

And there's literally plenty of weather feeds. If you're not satisfied with weather.msn.com, find a skin that uses a different feed. The biggest one are weather.yahoo.com and weather.com.
Oh, wow. That's sort of nerdy, but at the same time... really cool. I'll have to play around with that documentation and see what I can do.

On another note, how can you get the Recycle Bin off of the desktop in Windows XP? It seems to want to stay there.

EDIT: Also, how do you quickly bring all of the rainmeter things back to the desktop when you put a new wallpaper on? The wallpaper on seems to be added on top of the rest.
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JpsCrazy
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Re: Really confused - please help

Post by JpsCrazy »

Yeah, exactly. If you take your time, it will come out looking great.

For the recycle bin - http://lmgtfy.com/?q=hide+recycle+bin+winxp

For the wallpaper... i have no idea what you mean. I changed mine twice without Rainmeter disappearing. How are you changing yours? If it's the normal 'Set as desktop Background' you shouldn't have a problem.
FancoverFive
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Joined: June 18th, 2010, 9:53 pm

Re: Really confused - please help

Post by FancoverFive »

JpsCrazy wrote:Yeah, exactly. If you take your time, it will come out looking great.

For the recycle bin - http://lmgtfy.com/?q=hide+recycle+bin+winxp

For the wallpaper... i have no idea what you mean. I changed mine twice without Rainmeter disappearing. How are you changing yours? If it's the normal 'Set as desktop Background' you shouldn't have a problem.
I just tried it again so I could list the steps, and it went funny. After using "Set as Desktop Background" in Firefox, it took me to the desktop, where the only thing that showed up over the desktop was a bar that was set to Position > On Desktop. The other skins that were set to Position > Normal weren't there. I opened a window and minimised it and there they were. This also happens when I use the desktop shortcut in the taskbar.