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From Brian Bergstrand:
- Changes your Desktop picture at a specified interval on up to eight monitors
- Installs a system wide hot key so you change your Desktop picture from any application.
- Can choose a picture at random, or choose each picture in sequence. If pictures are chosen at random, ChangeDesktop can be configured to use all pictures before repeating any picture
- Coalesces pictures from multiple folders so you don't have to move all of your pictures to one folder. Sub-folders are also searched
- Will notice additions and removals to any folder without having to restart the application
- iTunes integration allows desktop changes to be synced with iTunes track changes.
- If your system goes to sleep, the daemon can be told to change the desktop picture when the system wakes up.
- Thumbnail pictures are automatically filtered so they will not be displayed. This is particularly useful with iPhoto.
- Web Pics feature that allows you get pictures from any webserver and automatically add them to your collection. Includes support for Rendezvous (Jaguar and later) and the capability to archive the downloaded pictures.
- Remote Access feature that will allow anyone to view your current desktop picture from any web browser. Also included are system statistics such as processor speed, memory usage, and uptime
- Publish Desktop feature that allows the daemon to automatically upload your desktop picture to any FTP server every time the desktop is changed
- Includes a Menu Extra that allows you to launch ChangeDesktop or change the Desktop picture
- Supports MacOS aliases.
- Fully compatible with Panther's Fast User Switching.
- Localized for French
What's new in this version:
- Make sure the built in system desktop changer is disabled when the Server is started.
- Fixed a bug that would cause incorrect behavior if another display was promoted to main after Server startup. Fixed another bug related to detecting the correct main display.
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- Image driver.
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All versions:
4.0 starsout of 2 votes
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Current version:
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My rating:
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"good update, but not for me"
Version: ChangeDesktop 3.1.1
Pros
being able to set a different desktop wallpaper for each virtual space is pretty neat.
Cons
the process for setting up image groups is unintuitive and more laborious than it should be. also, it doesn't like symbolic links, which i tend to use a lot of. the software crashed more than a few times, which may be related to this.
Summary
3.1.1 is a good update, but i'm sticking with version 2.5.2.1 for a while longer.
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"My favorite non-productivity Mac application!"
Version: ChangeDesktop 3.1.1
Pros
One of my favorite applications for amusement and non-productivity. I have almost 7000 images that it rotates through. Many of them are my own vacation photos, some are images from the web, some are scanned in. It handles desktop display for me!
Cons
none! really rare to say about software.
Summary
I love the nice reminders of my travels to places like Cinque Terre, Paris, Madeira, Morocco, or holidays with family. ChangeDesktop allows me to collect aliases of my chosen folders in a folder instead of moving actual photos our of their "album" folder. It can select a background fill color to match when the photo does not fill my 2560x1600 Apple Display. Never a dull moment with new images every 30 minute! It is free and the developer is very responsive to suggestions and the rarely needed bug report.
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"Update much appreciated, but..."
Version: ChangeDesktop 3.0.3
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
I have relied on this program since becoming a Mac user about 3 years ago, and was extremely happy when updates became available after a long spell. However, I've tried to use 3.0.2 and 3.0.3 but wind up reverting back to 2.5.2.1 (which, due to space in the new app's name, still resides on my system, an early-2008 Macbook with 4GB of memory).
The main reason for reverting is the new program's swelling level of memory consumption (currently, with 3.0.3 running and some uptime, close to 825MB), which is excessive. The secondary reasons are things which 2.5.2.1 does very nicely.
* Being able to see the full path name for the current image on the old server status window (rather than just the file name under "Now Showing" in 3.0.3) was very useful. (It was also nice to have the "Dump Cache Information" option in 2.5.2.1 to verify that all images and folders were being picked up.)
* On 2.5.2.1, I always used the "Center" display option to show larger-than-screen images full size but centered on the screen, trimming the edges as necessary. Hence, I'm not fond of the 3.0.3 center option that forces larger-than-screen-resolution pictures to the screen dimensions. The 3.0.3 "Crop" display option comes close to displaying images as I'd prefer, but is inconsistent in what it uses as the anchor point---most often, images are cropped as though they are truly centered (desirable), but I've seen it crop from the upper left, upper right, top center, bottom center, etc.,
* I like having the menu extra to be able to temporarily suspend changes, but it was also useful to use Quicksilver or such to define a keyboard shortcut to open CD as an application, to change preferences, picture sets, and such, rather than mouse up to "Preferences...".
In rating, I have to agree with previous comments that the new interface for choosing folders and sets was not intuitive (and not documented), and that it feels clunky. I would give 2.5.x excellent ratings across the board, but...
I will watch for and try out newer revisions--and again emphasize that I love this program--but, for the moment, will stay with the "old" 2.5.2.1. -
"Nicely improved - if odd way to add sources"
Version: ChangeDesktop 3.0.2
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
In my previous "comments" I mentioned what I assumed to be a bug in adding images to the sources. The developer supplied me with the correct steps to keep images added and it all works great now.
I really like the "smart" background feature for images smaller than the display. Seems to know exactly what color to select for a background.
I'll knock one star off "ease of use" because I really do not find the new method of adding sources any were as simple as the previous version.
And my download did not have any documentation that might have explained the steps to add images.
Overall a great app that is wonderful to have back in the land of the living - I'll be sending a donation for the hard work the developer has put into it. -
"Love It - but Intel problems"
Version: ChangeDesktop 2.5.2.1
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
I've used ChangeDesktop (CD) for several years and love it. Works great on dual monitor G5's and on my single monitor G4. Now I've got a MacBook Pro and must agree with bhughes that I miss the Menu Extra a lot - it is fun to demostrate to friends CD but switching photos several times. While I hope a fix is in the works a suggestion: add CD to your Login startup items but have it HIDE. Add its icon to the Dock. Then you can click/hold on the dock icon and have it ChangePictures Now - this will get the pic count and change.
And I agree with someone else when they mention a feature to NOT fill the screen with certain photos would be nice - a setting so if the photo is a certain size to simply center it (while others can FILL SCREEN). Not so critical but nice.
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"Nice!"
Version: ChangeDesktop 2.5.2.1
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Man, how did I miss this? Ever since I migrated away from iPhoto, I've been looking for something that would let me keep my photos in an organized folder structure but still allow me to randomly put one of them on my desktop every five minutes. This looks like it could be the solution
I just have one problem: I currently have about 14,500 photos organized in folders by date and event, but for some reason ChangeDesktop only finds 1,662 of them. I dunno what's going on, but it would be great if this could get fixed. Thanks! -
"Not New"
Version: ChangeDesktop 2.5.2.1
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Version 2.5.2.1 is not new. I've been using this version since July 2005. It is just greatâ?¦ one of the best downloads I ever made. -
"\"All except Main\" isn't working ?"
Version: ChangeDesktop 2.5
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Tried v2.5 the first time. Good feature set, but cannot make the "all display except main work". I have an TiBk attached to a 23" HD display, which I set to be the main (where the menu bar resides). But I keep getting picture displayed on the big screen as well, no matter what option I choose. Ability to handle different display resolution will be great (my Tibook is 1280 x 768 and my cinema display is 1900 x 1200). Besides, the display option sometimes cannot accommodate photos (cropped) with strange aspect ratio, but this may, as the author put it, a "Finder" problem, not his. Overall, good start, easy to use, but not yet "perfect". -
"Great App - EXCEPT no \"Fit to Page\""
Version: ChangeDesktop 2.4.2
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Awesome App. Still wish it would have an option for "Fit to Page" (ie, not crop not "fills screen" that distorts), but a simple resize such that portrait images would proportionally be shrunk/expanded so the top-bottom fits. The same for landscape except right-left fit. -
"both 2.4.2 and .3 worked fine in Panther"
Version: ChangeDesktop 2.4.3
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
I didn't have any problems with 2.4.2 in Panther but I upgraded to .3 anyway. No problems. The only thing I don't like is that the auto scaling or placement style isn't perfect (eg I would get pics where the person's head is not shown b/c the image taller than it is wide). ChangeDesktop handles it better than System Prefs, along with everything else, so it's worth keeping around.
