I have been using GeekTool for a couple of months now and I find it to be a really useful tool. When you want to display certain types of information on your empty Mac desktop screen, this tool will allow you the ability to make it more personalized through the use of commands, scripts and other tools being used in the program. Here is a little bit of information as to what GeekTool is.

GeekTool is a PrefPane (System Preferences module) for Mac OS 10.5+. It allows you to display different blocks of information on your desktop screen. The tool provides 3 default modules (or Geeklets) which each have their own uses. They are as follows:

The File module is primarily used to monitor MacOS X activity with /var/log/system.log, or any file that you want to follow. It is used to display live content of an arbitrary file.  The content will scroll live with the latest lines at the bottom. It also handles log file rotation as well.

The Shell module is the most powerful module. It is used to launch custom scripts or commands like “df” to check space left on file systems, “uptime” to monitor load of your machine, and many other scripts. It allows you to display the output of any unix shell command.

And the Image module helps you monitor bandwith usage, CPU loads, memory availability of your server, via tools like MRTG or RRD. The image module is used to display graphs issued from monitoring systems like MRTG or Cacti.  You can also display slideshow images from a folder (or pick random ones). The results are displayed on the desktop between the finder icons and the desktop picture (although you can have them set to “keep on top”), they are contained in a square frame on any screen and sticks to that screen, they are visible on all spaces, they are organized in groups (you can choose to display as a group or alone), and they are easy to export and share with friends.

To install GeekTool, (of course after you have downloaded it first), you open the GeekTool prefPane icon and the system will open in System Preferences, asking you if you would like to install GeekTool for all users on the system or just for the current user.

After that, the GeekTool settings window is opened and you can start having fun with it. It’s that easy.

Here are some tips when first using GeekTool:

In the main area of the window, you will see the three modules which you can use (file, shell and image).  To create your first Geeklet, pick the shell icon and drop it somewhere on your desktop. There will be an empty black translucent area that sits on your desktop screen and the inspector palette will be ready for you to configure. Set “date” in the Command field and the result should be displayed in the selected translucent window. You can change the text, color, font, alignment, etc…

Here are some of the scripts that I am currently using in the Shell Module:

For the day number, I use the following script: date +%d (enter it exactly like that).

For the month, I use the following script: date +%B (again, enter it exactly like that).

For the actual day (whatever day of the week you are on), I use the following script: date +%A (you know how to enter it).

And for the time of day, I used the following script: date +%l%M (same thing, enter it exactly like that).

That is just a few of the scripts that you can use with this tool. There are many others out there. Just type in GeekTool user scripts in Google and I’m sure some will show up.

NOTE: The version of GeekTool used in this article is GeekTool v2. There is a newer version of it at their website. Just click on the picture below to download their latest version.