Simple Beep

We revisit the golden age of Mac interface customization: the development of the Kaleidoscope control panel, the extensive Kaleidoscope scheme archive, and the limited possibilities for theming in OS X.

Links for this episode:

• Kaleidoscope
• The Kaleidoscope scheme archive
   
• "the golden age"
  • John Siracusa's Yosemite review talks about K
  • Appearance Manager
    • Copland
    • Gizmo and Hi-Tech
    • System fonts: Chicago, Charcoal, Espy Sans
    • the Appearance control panel
  • Aaron extension
  • Greg's shareware
• K's creators
  • Greg Landweber
  • Ed Voas
  • Arlo Rose
    • Konfabulator [WayBack Machine]
    • aka Yahoo! Widgets
• K's features
  • version history
  • zoom rectangles
  • icon replacement
    • The Iconfactory's system icon sets
    • CandyBar (no longer supported)
  • WindowShade
• scheme inspirations
  • Echelon, Echelon 8.5, and Kidcon icon sets
  • Layne Karkruff – blueskyheart.com
  • BeOS and NeXTSTEP
• reduced perspective in Yosemite icons
• the schemelist archives
• OS X theming
  • Unsanity
    • unsanity.com [WayBack Machine]
    • APE and haxies
    • ShapeShifter [WayBack Machine]
  • Gruber on Dashboard vs. Konfabulator
  • Flavours
    • themes for Flavours
  • the true story of audion.
• next episode: Ed tries something really stupid

Innovative schemes

OS Mimicry

Minimalist

Getting a little silly…

…and now really impractical

Ed and Brian's picks

Our first episode takes a tour of the Macintosh startup chime, from drilling holes in a prototype Mac case in 1982 to the current chime we've known and loved since 1999.

Links for this episode:

• Origin of the chime
  • From the Apple II to the Macintosh
• Jim Reekes
  • Interview about the chime, Sosumi, and more [NSFW audio]
  • Several retellings of the story: [1] [2] [3] [4]
  • Reekes' (nonexistent) Wikipedia entry
• Stanley Jordan
  • artist of the Power Mac 6100/7100/8100 chime
• The chime in pop culture
  • WALL•E
  • The Mac in Futurama
  • Startup chime library prank
• Trademark on the chime
  • Trademark granted in 2012
  • Sound file included in USPTO filing [MP3]
  • Mactracker

• Silencing the chime
  • Silent Start [MAS link]

  • Macworld tips article [November 1997 issue; link requires library/university access]