Run OS X Dashboard Widgets In Ubuntu

Kuldgets is a small application that lets you run OS X Dashboard Widgets in Linux.

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Install Kludgets

Grab the source: http://kludgets.googlecode.com/files/kludgets-0.9.1.linux.tar.gz

Save it to your desktop and extract. (Right Click > Extract)

Enter the extracted folder and double click on the 'Kludgets' runtime.

You'll now notice a little rocket in your notification tray.

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It's from here that you can launch and add new widgets.

Widgets

Sadly, whilst not not every widget works well under Kludgets, a great selection do.

Below are some of my top picks that seem to work fine!

Twitter Trends

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Twitter-aholics ahoy!

This nifty widget displays the top 10 trending topics on Twitter and is updated every minute.

You can choose between
- the current top 10 trending topics on Twitter
- the top 10 trending topics for each hour of today
- the top 10 trending topics for each day of the current week

Download: http://www.apple.com/dashboard/twittertrends.html

Tea Timer

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€œA widget that reminds you of all that stuff that you always forget and that then either gets bitter/cold (your tea) or burned (your pizza).€

What works: You can cutomize this widgets 'til your hearts content! Set background colour, opacity, the title of the €œcountdown€, the countdown time, etc€¦

What's borked: Sadly the €œmain€ function of this widget – the alarm €“ doesn't function in Kludgets but it is still a handy countdown timer €“ so long as you remember to look!

Download: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/food/teatimer.html

Word Of The Day

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Displays a 'word of the day' from a choice of different websites.

Also has various themes to choose from. I'm using 'Smoke' in the above screenshot.

Download: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/reference/wordoftheday.html

 

BBC News Ticker

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A simple news ticker for the BBC News website.

Headlines and short summaries €œtype€ along inside the widget. Clicking on a headline will open up your default browser and take you straight to the story.

Download: http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/prototypes/mac_os_x_dashbo.html

Dashtrology

 screenshot.com.astrology.dashtrology€œEnjoy a wide variety of over 20 daily, weekly and monthly horoscopes for all 12 signs of the zodiac. Minimizable to a small footprint, this handy gadget sits on your desktop, making the rich content of Astrology.com available right at your fingertips!€

I have loved this widget for a long, long time. (Bite me!) Part of what i love about it is that it's so fluid, so uncluttered and the sweet little animation when clicking on it to open or close the shell is just€¦ awwwwh!

Download: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/astrologycomdashtrology.html

Worth It?

I found some widgets running through kludgets are resource hogs €“ not so much that they slow the system down, but still more usage than probably needed for long periods.

As such, i recommend opening Kludgets only when you want access to your screenlets.

Think of it as a manual €œDashboard€!

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  • Mohan

    Nice, I should try this out!

  • redapple

    uhm… can you share info about wallpaper and font, please?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      no matter the post… people only ever want to know what the wallpaper is :P Sure. The walllpaper is @ https://launchpad.net/~bisigi/+archive/ppa/+fil…and the font is use is Google’s ‘Droid’ fonts which you can install in Jaunty with sudo apt-get install ttf-droid

  • Name

    Doesn’t work on KDE :’(

    • Duane

      KDE4 can display some Mac Dashboard widgets – not all, just like this.

      • Gerry

        I tried several widgets, none worked and gave up for the moment … but I won’t give up. The idea is too cool to not keep trying.

        • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

          I must’ve downloaded and tried quite a few myself! it’s worth it when you get a useful one to work tho :)

          be sure to let me know if you get any super-duper OMG!MUST!HAVE!IT! type widgets to work.

  • http://disqus.com/forums/omgubuntu/move_over_screenlets_opera_desktop_widgets_come_to_town/trackback/ murderslastcrow@gmail.com

    Niiiiice. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this!

  • h4nnibal

    As far as i am concerned. In a world of free software and freedom, who cares of Windows and walls.

  • http://www.easyrecovery.co.uk hard disk recovery

    I will try to run OS x widgets with Ubuntu.

  • http://twitter.com/iheartubuntu i [heart] ubuntu

    Kludgets does not look like it has advanced at all, and I dont see any other simple way to get mac widgets working in Ubuntu. Any updates Dood?

  • http://nowwhatthe.blogspot.com/ Jos Poortvliet

    Actually there has been native linux desktop support for Mac OS X widgets for years now – just click the cashew and unlock your widgets, choose add widgets, choose “get new widgets” and pick the OS X one there. Navigate to your OS X widget, add it and you’re done :D

  • http://nowwhatthe.blogspot.com/ Jos Poortvliet

    Actually there has been native linux desktop support for Mac OS X widgets for years now – just click the cashew and unlock your widgets, choose add widgets, choose “get new widgets” and pick the OS X one there. Navigate to your OS X widget, add it and you’re done :D

  • Igor Nikolai Wilkomirsky Caffi

    mmm bubble bazinga!

  • Igor Nikolai Wilkomirsky Caffi

    mmm bubble bazinga!

  • Igor Nikolai Wilkomirsky Caffi

    mmm bubble bazinga!

  • Igor Nikolai Wilkomirsky Caffi

    mmm bubble bazinga!

  • Igor Nikolai Wilkomirsky Caffi

    mmm bubble bazinga!

  • Igor Nikolai Wilkomirsky Caffi

    mmm bubble bazinga!