A geek need!

[Guest theeldergeek]

OK, this is really geeky, but does anyone know of a little 'utility' that leaves a small window open on the desktop which is 'number crunching', a la CSI stylee?

 

It is purely for show, doesn't have to have any useful function at all, but just needs to look as if it's doing something! Nice graphs, scrolling text and 'geeky' activity would be good.

[buzzard]

lol I'd love that aswell, makes you look busy

[Pete10141748]

I've looked for something like this before, never found anything though. Have thought about creating something myself but never gotten around to it.....

[Fatmas]

Having a command prompt window open that is pinging an ip address on repeat usually looks ok. I don't know about anything "flashier"

 

"Burn In Test" Might work though, does calculations on RAM/CPU etc with nice little graphics.

[Pete10141748]

Having a command prompt window open that is pinging an ip address on repeat usually looks ok

 

Problem with that is that once the cmd window is filled with the same text it doesn't look like it is scrolling anymore, so the effect only lasts a few seconds....

(can you tell I've used that before? LOL)

[Batman]

Having a command prompt window open that is pinging an ip address on repeat usually looks ok. I don't know about anything "flashier"

 

"Burn In Test" Might work though, does calculations on RAM/CPU etc with nice little graphics.

 

Might slow your PC down too... it is a burn in test after all!

 

The Gnome System Monitor looks reasonably geeky but obviously only runs in Linux

[Fatmas]

You could set up burn in test to run at a lower percentage. Although if you're making it look like you're doing work you may not be using your system's resources anyway

[dayzd]

I wrote an HTML page that looks like a Command window and spews out random error messages at random intervals a few years ago, I could dig that up and bung it into an .HTA, I guess...

 

We set it as a screensaver (fullscreen) on our HoDs desktop once... My and my boss found reasons to be in his classroom when we knew it would trigger; "Oh, I just need to check this printer..." It took him a moment to notice it projecting on his whiteboard, but when he did, he thought his machine was well fuxored. Me and my boss couldn't stop giggling.

 

Luckily he saw the funny side!

[tmcd35]

Folding@home used to be quiet good or there was the alien search one (can't remember it's name), kicks in a screensaver and looks very CSI - they usually have the option to run in a window rather than as a screensaver. And you can actually contribute to some genuine scientific research at the same time

[Batman]

Problem with that is that once the cmd window is filled with the same text it doesn't look like it is scrolling anymore, so the effect only lasts a few seconds....

(can you tell I've used that before? LOL)

 

Hmm but what if you ran it from a batch file? I think you can get a loop going if you use the call command so the batch file calls itself, eg. if the file is called fruityloop.bat then...

 

 

@echo off

ping 127.0.0.1

call fruityloop.bat

[flyinghaggis]

If you're running Windows Vista/7 the built-in Resource Monitor looks pretty cool when left on full screen (in addition to being quite useful to keep track on CPU/Disk/network activity).

 

edit: Just to add I've never seen CSI so aplogies is this isnt what you're after!

[IT_Monkeh]

If it's just a scrolling stream of numbers you're after, how about this in a .bat?

 

@echo off

:start

echo %random%%random%%random%%random%%random%%random%

ping -n 2 127.0.0.1 >NUL

goto start

 

Change the -n value of the invisible ping to adjust the speed of the number crunching

[Guest theeldergeek]

Hmm but what if you ran it from a batch file? I think you can get a loop going if you use the call command so the batch file calls itself, eg. if the file is called fruityloop.bat then...

 

 

@echo off

ping 127.0.0.1

call fruityloop.bat

 

not really what I was after. Looking for something that is displaying constantly updating pie charts/graphs, scrolling text etc. It really is for nothing but show, so it won't matter too much if it uses resources, but it must run continuously, looping if needed, be very 'technical' in appearance and constantly active.

Edited May 18, 2010 by theeldergeek

[Guest theeldergeek]

If you're running Windows Vista/7 the built-in Resource Monitor looks pretty cool when left on full screen (in addition to being quite useful to keep track on CPU/Disk/network activity).

 

edit: Just to add I've never seen CSI so aplogies is this isnt what you're after!

 

That's the sort of thing, but it needs a bit of "Hollywood" adding to it, a la CSI

[Ric_]

Not used it in a while but the Boinc project used to be able to do something like that - see BOINC

[cl0n3]

Maybe Wireshark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SYNACK]

Folding@Home looks good, you could even join the rather lonely edugeek team Folding@Home

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7095[/ATTACH]

[TwoZeroAlpha]

under linux (ubuntu/debian derivatives anhow)

 

cat /dev/urandom

 

works quite nicely, I tend to pull is when I see someone I don't want to deal with at the door and tell them I'm sorting a network crisis.

[Guest theeldergeek]

lol I'd love that aswell, makes you look busy

 

I was aiming for the "makes me look intelligent" way of thinking, but busy is an acceptable compromise.

Edited May 18, 2010 by theeldergeek

[powdarrmonkey]

[quote=TwoZeroAlpha;511315

cat /dev/urandom

 

caution, although a cool trick, this can screw your terminal up something rotten.

 

/dev/random is a standard feature of unixy kernels, it's not Debian specific.

[TwoZeroAlpha]

@powdarrmonkey - should be ok surely, not running under any sort of su or elevated privileges, and it's just viewing right?

[frosty]

I was aiming for the "makes me look intelligent" way of thinking, but busy is an acceptable compromise.

 

Is this something you need then - help to look intelligent?

[Guest theeldergeek]

Is this something you need then - help to look intelligent?

 

It was aimed more at the department as a whole...

 

[TechMonkey]

Spotlight on Windows looks incredibly cool. Pretty graphs, spining data wheels, pulsing usage points all you could need! oh and freeware!

[dayzd]

Well, I found my old Fake-Command tool thing, dusted it off a bit, then decided I could re-write it better.

 

Un-rar to the folder of your choosing and open cmd2.html or cmd2.hta -- the .HTA being the better option -- as I've not cross-browser tested this in any way, if you don't have IE7, it may behave oddly. The HTA should bypass this and keep everything Micro$oft.

 

There's a handful of options towards the top of both versions if you open them in a text editor (you can change a couple of messages and the update speed), and if you want to edit the text displayed, that's in 'cmd2text.txt'.

 

Use and abuse as you see fit.

cmd2.rar