Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Binge Grafix..

I spent much of the weekend helping my neighbor set up his new laptop.
Turns out,he really doesn't have any computer experience,so there was a whole lot of hand holding to get him through the process of installing the various software and drivers necessary to do the things most of us take for granted.
.."How do I get an e-mail address?".."Can I play DVD's?"....Left click this,..right click that...

I'm not complaining..Really.

Someone took the time to help me out back when I got my first Commodore 64,(who remembers that?),and I think it's a Karmic imperative to pay that forward.In fact,his enthusiasm for acquiring these new skills reminded me of the reason I was anxious to get involved with computing in the first place.
All those wonderful toys!..


These last several days,I've been playing with a program that came with my Windowblinds software called "Logon Studio",and once I got started,it was hard to let go.

Logon studio lets you create your own logon screen for signing in to your computer.Text and graphics,as well as the layout are all customizable.
It's all about the bells and whistles boys and girls!


I took this wallpaper downloaded from the Windowblinds website,.. ..and made a fun little Halloween logon.
..While still in the spirit of all things demonic,I named this one,"Dante's inferno".
The Lizzard King kicked me down his favorite Scorpion wallpaper.
...and I just couldn't resist.


I'll bet I spent 3 or 4 hours a night tweaking and deleting and cursing,trying to learn how to use all the options and such.Oh,..I could have read the instructions that came with the program,but following instructions is for Pansy's.
I'm more of a,"What's this button for?" kinda guy...
It was frustrating,and time consuming,..and a total blast!
I hope this post has found you and yours in the best of health and spirits.
As for me,..I really think I can get the user icon properly centered on my next try.

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25 Comments:

At 7:57 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Directions? We don't need no stinkin directions.

 
At 1:54 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's very nearly 2am as I type these words...and all I can think of is why you capitalized Pansy.
Do you know a Pansy? Or perhaps multiple Pansy's? Are they all sticklers for following directions?
I'm sleepy.

 
At 5:52 AM , Blogger Sling said...

jan-Hell no we don't need directions..
I don't care if we have to drive around lost for hours.

Hat-I kid you not!..I had it spelled "pansey",and when I ran spellcheck it came up "Pansy".
The first thing I thought was,"Why did they capitalize pansy?"..Get some sleep.

 
At 6:42 AM , Blogger Lorraine said...

I like geeks. Also, Geeks. And pansies. Plus, Pansy was a very nice lady. Made the best cookies and tea cake...

 
At 8:41 AM , Blogger booda baby said...

Which three people did they ever write instructions for? I've never met anyone who - wait. Big lie. I have. I've met one person. One pansy. Seems like a waste of resources just to help him out.

That's a great and wild Halloween screen.

 
At 10:13 AM , Blogger Traveling Matt said...

some of those screens look like a dream i once had and couldn't seem to wake up from regardless of how long i screamed. thanks for the memory! LOL

 
At 10:45 AM , Blogger rosemary said...

Directions are for the geeks that write the program. No real human could ever understand or follow them. Pansy's and Violets are in the same family. They are really pretty. Violets are my favorite flower therefore pansy's might be my second favorite.

 
At 11:05 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

We were too poor for a Commodore 64. We had a VIC 20, and it was a hand-me-down.

I like the last logon screen the best. I must get that software!!!

(will you teach me how to use it?)

 
At 12:42 PM , Blogger Middle Child said...

My husband got his first computer in late 1082... it was an Australian made "Microbee" yes people we used to make computers befire we got clever enough to forget how to make anything.

It used to load up via a cassette player and the programs were on cassette tape. It was very simple and slow but we thought it was the bees knees.

It was also the first year I ever realised that there was such a thing as a video

 
At 3:22 PM , Blogger the rube said...

log on studio and free porn seem to dovetail very nicely.

gosh, who's familiar with dovetail joints and free porn?

 
At 6:11 PM , Blogger Sling said...

lorraine- I may have to reevaluate my position on Pansy...More cookies and tea cake please.

booda baby- I guess they write instructions for people that are able to read all those tiny letters.I have to take off my glasses,and press my face against the screen to see them.

monica- ..and those weren't even some of the darker images that play about my brain!..BWAHAHAHA!

rosemary-Violets were my mom's favorite flower!..Pansies,..not so much.

JP- I'm kinda partial to that one myself. :)
You can download Logon Studio for free at:
http://www.stardock.com/products/logonstudio.

..and you'll have to jump in with both feet buddy!..(or I'll be glad to help too).

middle child- A Microbee??..Sounds like one o' them damm newfangled gadgets. :)

rube- Oh,I'm pretty sure logon studio and free porn work quite nicely together..I'm not sayin' I tried it..just sayin'..

 
At 6:16 PM , Blogger Sling said...

***EDIT FOR JP***
Ratz..there should be a / at the end of that link I gave you...Thus;

http://www.stardock.com/products/logonstudio/

Have fun buddy!

 
At 8:52 PM , Blogger barista brat said...

sling!
just dropping by to say how much i've missed your blog.

 
At 6:11 AM , Blogger Sling said...

Hi B.Brat!.. :)

 
At 8:18 AM , Blogger Citymouse said...

i fully believe to operate a blog you must have been called a geek at least once in your life!

 
At 11:14 AM , Blogger more cowbell said...

Commodore 64! Oh those were the days! The Ex and I had one, and we'd use the cassette drive to sslloooowwllyy load up our favorite game: Phantasie. It was the "Pong" of the dungeons and dragons world.

When we upgraded to the 128 ... whoo-eee, we thought we were the shit, baby.

And I admit ... I read the directions.

 
At 11:24 AM , Blogger Foofa said...

I loved the Commodore 64 some of the greatest games ever were on that thing. My favorite was one, maybe called Hero, where a guy went spelunking while wearing a jetpack and shot spiders. Man that was a really good game. Blue Max, storymaker, That game where I always got eaten by a gru, programming the turtle with logo. Oh the memories.

 
At 11:34 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

Okay, geek that I am, you'd think I would have had a C-64, right? Nope. Could NOT afford one. In fact, I remember not being able to afford an HP-35 calculator in college when practically every other engineering student had one. It sucks to be poor. The first PC I ever got to mess with was an XT with dual 5 1/4" floppies (no hard drive), a green screen, and maybe 512kb of RAM. But the first personal computer I ever got to mess with was an Apple (not sure of the model) with the OS on a 12-second long cassette tape. San Francisco, 1977. The two Steves were always in the place (we duped the tapes for them). Pretty cool stuff.

And if you think I didn't Google Logon Studio immediately and download it to play with, you really don't know me very well.

Oh, and I pretty much never read instructions. Like you, I'm a "what's THIS button do?" kinda gal.

Love all the iterations, by the way, but 'specially the last.

 
At 5:09 PM , Blogger Serena said...

Those log-on screens are very cool!

 
At 5:50 PM , Blogger Sling said...

citymouse- If only it were just once!

more cowbell- I was hooked on a D&D type game called Zork II..You had a 128?..You were the shit!

natalie- Wow..The 64 was back in the day girl.You musta been like 3 years old!

gina- Remember Windows 3.1?
It took like 36 floppies to install the OS,and a 500 MB hard drive was so huge!
Enjoy the Logon Studio.

serena joy-..and fun to make!

 
At 10:03 AM , Blogger Mom said...

The biggest fight I ever had with my beloved was when he borrowed money to buy his first computer - an Apple of some sort. I thought it was way to expensive for a toy. He framed a copy of the first check he earned using that computer and hung it on the wall by the computer. His way of saying he was right.I've lost count of the number of replacement computers we've owned, but we now have four working ones in our office.

 
At 10:35 AM , Blogger Sling said...

mom- Who knew back in the days of "Pong" what this technology would become?..Now it seems as though it's always been around.
I remember how cool it was the first time I made a few bucks sitting at my computer...what a concept!

 
At 11:59 AM , Blogger Allan said...

The West Coast has better weed. This proves it!

 
At 12:22 PM , Blogger Sling said...

allan- We take the quality of our stash very seriously my friend...That's how we rolllll!

 
At 9:34 PM , Blogger Middle Child said...

Typo again ..not in 1082... but 1982 of course!

 

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