I'm not rocking rocketdock enough, help!
May 9, 2009 7:24 PM Subscribe
I've recently fallen in love with having an ultra-minimalist desktop. No icons, start menu, etc and just using rocket dock and launchy for all my needs.
However, I would really like to have a laptop battery life indicator icon and a safely remove hardware icon in my dock. I haven't been able to find any good tutorials on how to do this.
Windows Vista if it matters.
If you do a search on the Rocketdock website for docklets you'll find all kinds of neat stuff. The battery one is pretty prevalent, and I think the download includes instructions on how to get it up and running. For example, here's a set of icons plus the files to make the battery icons work. I believe you just drag the files to the indicated folders in your Rocketdock. A search for battery in the docklet area will yield you more results. Here's a docklet that seems to do what you're looking for with hardware, but a better search might dig up some additional options. Yay for Rocketdock!
posted by theantikitty at 7:42 PM on May 9, 2009
posted by theantikitty at 7:42 PM on May 9, 2009
I found trick that I use to quickly get to the Safely Remove Hardware as well as other applications.
On your desktop right-click and create a new shortcut, (New/Shortcut), and make the location read,
and click Next. Don't worry too much about the name, (I named mine SRH). Now click Finish. You now have a shortcut on your desktop that will invoke the Safely Remove Hardware dialog box.
Now, here is the cool part. Right-click that shortcut and select Properties. In addition to that bit of code it has a Start in of
Now, to get it off of your desktop, but keep it available via the keystroke, drag the shortcut to the Start button, don't let go, the Start menu will open, still holding it, point at All Programs until that list appears. Drag it up into that list until you see a dark horizontal bar and drop it.
Now, it is no longer on your desktop but, because you placed it in the Start menu, you can hit the keystroke combo you gave it from anywhere. I have my entire Office suite assigned letters, my calculator, anything that is in the Start menu and has a keystroke assigned will respond from anywhere. So if you are working in your word processor and want the calculator, you might assign Ctrl+Alt+c so it is always at the ready.
Or, on preview, I see that theantikitty found a RocketDock solution.
posted by geekyguy at 8:10 PM on May 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
On your desktop right-click and create a new shortcut, (New/Shortcut), and make the location read,
%windir%\system32\RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dlland click Next. Don't worry too much about the name, (I named mine SRH). Now click Finish. You now have a shortcut on your desktop that will invoke the Safely Remove Hardware dialog box.
Now, here is the cool part. Right-click that shortcut and select Properties. In addition to that bit of code it has a Start in of
%windir%. Directly below that is a field labeled Shortcut key. Click in that field and just type the letter you want to associate with this task and just hit that letter on your keyboard. I use q, so when I typed q in that field and it returned Ctrl+Alt+q. Hit Apply and OK. Now give it a try. Pretty slick, right?Now, to get it off of your desktop, but keep it available via the keystroke, drag the shortcut to the Start button, don't let go, the Start menu will open, still holding it, point at All Programs until that list appears. Drag it up into that list until you see a dark horizontal bar and drop it.
Now, it is no longer on your desktop but, because you placed it in the Start menu, you can hit the keystroke combo you gave it from anywhere. I have my entire Office suite assigned letters, my calculator, anything that is in the Start menu and has a keystroke assigned will respond from anywhere. So if you are working in your word processor and want the calculator, you might assign Ctrl+Alt+c so it is always at the ready.
Or, on preview, I see that theantikitty found a RocketDock solution.
posted by geekyguy at 8:10 PM on May 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
Best answer: hifi, you really ought to try Samurize. It's a completely configurable/skinnable/customizeable system monitor. I used it myself to achieve minimalist desktops when I was really into design.
posted by CRM114 at 5:36 AM on May 10, 2009
posted by CRM114 at 5:36 AM on May 10, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
Warning Signs Battery
Safely Remove Hardware
posted by querty at 7:40 PM on May 9, 2009