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GeekTool
GeekTool
4.0
0.0
GeekTool free download for Mac

GeekTool

Version 3.3.1

Display log files, UNIX command output, and more.

4.0
Based on 31 user ratesRead reviews & comments
Free
Absolutely Free

GeekTool overview

GeekTool lets you display various kinds of information on your desktop via 3 default plug-ins.

Plug-Ins:
  • File plugin to monitor OS X activity with /var/log/system.log, or any file that you want to follow.
  • Shell mode to launch custom scripts or commands like "df" to check space left on filesystems or "uptime" to monitor load on your machine.
  • Image mode helps you monitor bandwith usage, CPU load, memory availability on your server with tools like MRTG or RRD.

What’s new in version 3.3.1

Updated on Oct 14 2016

Version 3.3.1:
  • Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.

Information

License

Free

Size

7.4 MB

Downloads

112589

App requirements

  • Intel 64
  • Mac OS X 10.6 or later
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0.0

(0 Reviews of )

There are no reviews yet
  • Comments

  • User Ratings

Hal-Itosis
Hal-Itosis
Oct 14 2016
3.3.1
5.0
Oct 14 2016
5.0
Version: 3.3.1
Indispensable for Mac nerds.
Hal-Itosis
Hal-Itosis
Sep 11 2016
3.1.1
5.0
Sep 11 2016
5.0
Version: 3.1.1
version 3.3.1 available (since August) at https://www.tynsoe.org/v2/geektool/
greenwayrod
greenwayrod
Apr 13 2016
3.1.1
4.0
Apr 13 2016
4.0
Version: 3.1.1
Nice and multifunctional application. Easy to understand how it works. Not only for advanced Mac users. Give it a try and you'll like it. Cheers
Hal-Itosis
Hal-Itosis
Nov 15 2015
3.1.1
5.0
Nov 15 2015
5.0
Version: 3.1.1
up to version 3.1.3 for El Capitan (as of 21.Oct.2015): http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/ -HI-
Bradsmith74
Bradsmith74
Oct 12 2015
3.1.1
5.0
Oct 12 2015
5.0
Version: 3.1.1
First, great system tool. You can use it as little or as much as you want, and it's very extendable if you take the time to run with it. For an idea of the capabilities (and for some creative ideas) do a google image search for GeekTool. Second, the software was recently updated to 3.1.2 for compatibility with El Capitan. For some reason the auto software update detection in the 3.1.1 app isn't detecting this, so you'll need to download it directly from the developer's site: http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/download.php
Hugo-and-Luigi
Hugo-and-Luigi
Apr 30 2015
3.1.1
5.0
Apr 30 2015
5.0
Version: 3.1.1
Love it, nothing wrong with it, free. What more do you want? I have used it for years and since I may not upgrade past 10.8 in my lifetime I may be using it forever.
Macfleckno
Macfleckno
Feb 4 2014
3.1.1
2.0
Feb 4 2014
2.0
Version: 3.1.1
Clumsy to use; no way to uninstall the program.
Wolpertinger
Wolpertinger
Nov 15 2013
3.1.1
3.0
Nov 15 2013
3.0
Version: 3.1.1
I found Geektool to be a mixed bag. The features it provides are very helpful, but the abysmal user interface and the nonexistent documentation make the learning curve very steep. E.g. I spent a whole day experimenting and googling to figure out how to call a shell script file from a geeklet (you have to use "source ~/.bash_profile" on the second line after the shebang, or the output of commands won't be displayed). Also, while Geektool runs without problems on my 10.7.5 machines, it behaves completely haphazard on my 10.8.5 server (Geeklets not being displayed at all, clicking the "close" button of a geeklet not having any effect, etc. etc.). On most of these cases, it helps to kill GeektoolHelper in Activity Monitor. Do not expect to get any help from the forum on the developer's website, as it is overrun with spam.
El-Duderino
El-Duderino
Sep 26 2013
3.1.1
0.0
Sep 26 2013
0.0
Version: 3.1.1
Absolutely bizarre that there is no GUI means of deleting a single geeklet within a group; that you have to go through the faff of not just deleting a plist entry but also quitting not only the application but also the helper application to stop the one you want to get rid of persisting anyway and yes am quite aware the workaround would be to put every single .glet into a separate group but this is rather beside the point and also not much use if you've already got all your geeklets in one. This seeming interface idiocy spoils exploration of the app somewhat... Quite content to stand corrected if there is some really obvious "Delete" button that I'm just not seeing somehow but regardless Geektool should just let you delete a .glet on highlighting it and pressing the delete key (it's not as if backspace in that context is assigned to anything else!) But perhaps this would all be too... ungeekily straightforward?
Jgj
Jgj
Sep 13 2013
3.1.1
5.0
Sep 13 2013
5.0
Version: 3.1.1
Fantastic app. It's called GeekTool for a reason; you have to already have some geekery ability to make it do much of interest. If you don't know what a shell script is, or how to write one, or are totally unfamiliar with things that live in /usr/bin, you won't be able to do much besides put images on your desktop. And most other things don't make a lot of sense then. But if you are a Geek, it couldn't really much get easier to use. It could use improvement in certain areas. For instance, it often reshuffles the order of which geeklets get loaded first. This can ruin a carefully-crafted desktop. If you try to fix this, you can, but you run into the fact that GeekTool keeps track of its geeklets by means of hexadecimal UIDs instead of the names that you already gave your geeklets when you created them. So to shuffle their order in the plist, you have to write down which UID goes with which geeklet. There should be a box or something in the app's preferences that allow you to change the load order of geeklets, and shows you a list of them by name (not UIDs). It would probably work smoother if there was something in the preferences that allowed the user to set a custom $PATH. One gripe: 3.1.1 came out, and it destroyed the look of Monaco at 9pt and 10pt. They are now antialiased, where they never were before. Monaco looks *terrible* antialiased at those sizes, and having it antialiased makes things displayed look much, much less geeky :) Indeed, I'd love to see it get the ability to optionally disable antialiasing for *any* font (like in Terminal).
Jisss8
Jisss8
Aug 25 2012
3.0
4.5
Aug 25 2012
4.5
Version: 3.0
Very nice app, and it's indeed not only for geeks. I don't understand a thing about the commands, but I found the commands I needed just by googling them. For someone who isn't a geek, it's too difficult to use without some research, but there are a lot of easy tutorials which you can follow. You don't even have to know what the commands mean, you just need to know what you want. So google it, follow the steps in the tutorials, copy and past and you're done.
Noivad
Noivad
May 19 2012
3.0
4.0
May 19 2012
4.0
Version: 3.0
I tried this app a few years back and found it difficult to figure out how to use. I found the need for something like this again, and tried it again. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I needed a different version for Lion so setting it up wasn’t working (the site wasn’t incredibly clear about that months back: It is the standalone app you need for Lion BTW. The System Prefs Pane does not work). So finally, I tried it yet again, saw the warning, and got it running fairly quickly. I’ve read the first page of reviews: you don’t _have_ to be a geek to use this app, but it helps. If you know a few Unix shell commands and are willing to learn, you will be well rewarded. Since GeekTool free and anything you leaner can be used in the CLI, you won’t be wasting money or time. My favorite feature is the ability to make things float over everything else. (I wish it would optionally bring things to the front automatically for a second when updated.) I already knew all the essential shell commands, so once I got a working version, it was easy to adapt to. (Note: any command that self-updates in place such as “top” will cause problems since GT takes care of refreshing.) I found just loading the security, system and kernel logs works well, and is light on the processor load (since displaying logs is essentially a tail command: 0.1%CPU {2.53GHz/DC} & ~30MB RAM). Also, I loaded uptime, calendar, and a few other slow refresh commands. It you find that geek tool is taking up too many resources, lower the refresh times. If you read the sites about configuration, there are a ton of helpful tips, and prebuilt sets one can download. Try DuckDuckGo.com and look for “GeekTool” with “tips” or “configuration” if the developer’s site isn’t enough. (I noticed documentation is getting better on the dev site last time I checked about a month ago.) BOTTOM LINE: If you want to know what is going on in your system without buying various monitoring programs, want complete configuration, and are willing to read a bit, GeekTool is well worth your time.
Xente
Xente
Jan 24 2012
3.0
4.0
Jan 24 2012
4.0
Version: 3.0
GeekTool is really cool and it's not only for geeks. Just google geeklets and you'll find a bunch of them. Only complaint is that it's pretty bad on memory. I closed it because it was taking 200 mb of my ram. I'm just glad I'm gonna upgrade to 8 gb of ram--I'm just waiting for it to come in the mail.
waggonerwheel
waggonerwheel
Jan 3 2012
3.0
4.0
Jan 3 2012
4.0
Version: 3.0
Like the user below me, I downloaded it from MAS and I found it to be difficult to use without doing some research. There are tutorials on the web that helped me learn this tool.
Mikebenda
Mikebenda
Oct 3 2011
3.0
3.5
Oct 3 2011
3.5
Version: 3.0
Downloaded it from the App store and although I'm not a geek, I found a lot of materials online where I learned the basics on how to use this app. It would be nice if the developers would provide a basic tutorial and perhaps step-by-step instructions for beginners. It would also be great if finished desktops could be "packaged" into template files that one could install. I stopped using it after a day because I found that the time I had displayed on my desktop was always incorrect. The system time was correct and displayed correctly in the menu bar but not with this app. I searched but couldn't find a solution.
Macmend-com
Macmend-com
Sep 26 2011
3.0
5.0
Sep 26 2011
5.0
Version: 3.0
wouldn't be without it, an amazing little tool and in case you were wondering the Lion version (experimental) is here http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1760713/GeekTool-3.0.2.zip/
tilleyrw
tilleyrw
Sep 12 2011
3.0
0.0
Sep 12 2011
0.0
Version: 3.0
I am following the GeekTool guide at LifeHacker. My background color (desktop) is blue. The text GeekTool defaults to black. Nothing is visible. I check all colors in preferences and yet nothing is visible. I don't know if this curious piece of software is working or not.
tilleyrw
tilleyrw
Sep 12 2011
3.0
0.0
Sep 12 2011
0.0
Version: 3.0
Glowing reports abound for this software. It doesn't work for me. After downloading from the App Store, it is an application not a prefPane for the System Preferences. I must open it from my applications folder. The rest goes downhill as scripts from the web don't work for me. Something ain't right and I think it's me.
Petersphilo
Petersphilo
Sep 4 2011
3.0
5.0
Sep 4 2011
5.0
Version: 3.0
GeekTool is simply amazing! I've been using it ever since it first came out! It still works under Lion, except i can't figure out how to configure existing Geeklets, other than doing it in Snow Leopard, and using the preference files in Lion... Oh well.. Small price to pay for such a great product Also, contrary to a report below, GeekTool has a tiny --and stable-- memory footprint, and uses barely as much cpu as Terminal (it really all depends on what you do with it!!!) Be Well All! Peter Ps: here's the command to get the stats from 'top': top -F -l1 -n0 If you want to show IP addresses connected to your machine: netstat -f inet -n | grep '.548 ' | awk '{ print $5 }' If you want just the Pageouts: top -l 1 | awk '/VM/ {print "Pageouts: " $9}' if you want just 'Used' and 'Free' memory: top -l 1 | awk '/PhysMem/ {print "Used: " $8 " Free: " $10}' Enjoy!
Thyx
Thyx
Apr 3 2011
3.0
0.0
Apr 3 2011
0.0
Version: 3.0
Welcome Lifehacker readers and good luck! Recently featured over there, but I guess I'm shy and stick with Growl etc.
zgojic11
zgojic11
Mar 15 2021
3.3.1
1.0
Mar 15 2021
1.0
Version: 3.3.1
PRjohnson
PRjohnson
Nov 1 2018
5.0
Nov 1 2018
5.0
Version: null
MilanBoruvka4543
MilanBoruvka4543
Mar 18 2017
3.0
Mar 18 2017
3.0
Version: null
Chehab
Chehab
Dec 17 2016
2.5
Dec 17 2016
2.5
Version: null
Hal-Itosis
Hal-Itosis
Oct 14 2016
5.0
Oct 14 2016
5.0
Version: null
greenwayrod
greenwayrod
Apr 13 2016
4.0
Apr 13 2016
4.0
Version: null
anonymous-impala-4810
anonymous-impala-4810
Mar 18 2016
5.0
Mar 18 2016
5.0
Version: null
Bradsmith74
Bradsmith74
Oct 12 2015
5.0
Oct 12 2015
5.0
Version: null
Hugo-and-Luigi
Hugo-and-Luigi
Apr 30 2015
5.0
Apr 30 2015
5.0
Version: null
Macfleckno
Macfleckno
Feb 4 2014
2.0
Feb 4 2014
2.0
Version: null
Wolpertinger
Wolpertinger
Nov 15 2013
3.0
Nov 15 2013
3.0
Version: null
Jgj
Jgj
Sep 13 2013
5.0
Sep 13 2013
5.0
Version: null
Senpraks
Senpraks
Jul 12 2013
5.0
Jul 12 2013
5.0
Version: null
Jisss8
Jisss8
Aug 25 2012
4.5
Aug 25 2012
4.5
Version: null
Noivad
Noivad
May 19 2012
4.0
May 19 2012
4.0
Version: null
ztheil
ztheil
Jan 27 2012
5.0
Jan 27 2012
5.0
Version: null
Xente
Xente
Jan 24 2012
4.0
Jan 24 2012
4.0
Version: null
waggonerwheel
waggonerwheel
Jan 3 2012
4.0
Jan 3 2012
4.0
Version: null
Mikebenda
Mikebenda
Oct 3 2011
3.5
Oct 3 2011
3.5
Version: null
Macmend-com
Macmend-com
Sep 26 2011
5.0
Sep 26 2011
5.0
Version: null
Petersphilo
Petersphilo
Sep 4 2011
5.0
Sep 4 2011
5.0
Version: null
N0b0d1
N0b0d1
Jun 16 2011
5.0
Jun 16 2011
5.0
Version: null
RiyadhDesigner
RiyadhDesigner
Feb 14 2011
4.5
Feb 14 2011
4.5
Version: null
Tobit
Tobit
Feb 11 2011
4.0
Feb 11 2011
4.0
Version: null
Billyok
Billyok
Dec 29 2010
1.0
Dec 29 2010
1.0
Version: null
SimonM
SimonM
Dec 20 2009
3.0
Dec 20 2009
3.0
Version: null
Itistoday
Itistoday
Aug 27 2009
3.0
Aug 27 2009
3.0
Version: null
Nicolasd
Nicolasd
Aug 13 2009
5.0
Aug 13 2009
5.0
Version: null
Guest
Guest
Jul 6 2005
4.3
Jul 6 2005
4.3
Version: null
Guest
Guest
Feb 10 2004
5.0
Feb 10 2004
5.0
Version: null
Eableson
Eableson
Oct 16 2003
4.8
Oct 16 2003
4.8
Version: null
Free
Absolutely Free
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