The HAL 9000 Windows Desktop

I think all of us have at some point been both interested and afraid of the idea of HAL 9000 in our computers. Flickr user ts_looney actually made it happen, thanks to a creative Rainmeter skin that did most of the work for him.

This one’s pretty simple to create, and the focus here is on the Rainmeter skin that makes this possible. Here’s how to get the look on your Windows system:

• A standard flat black desktop (you could download a simple flat colour from MinimalWall too, if you want something different)
• The Rainmeter system configuration and management utility for Windows
• The HAL 9000 Rainmeter theme from DeviantArt for the panels around the sides of the screen and the HAL panel in the center

The HAL 9000 theme replaces the start orb with HAL’s eye, and it drops that iconic HAL 900 panel right in the centre of the desktop. If you poke HAL in the eye on that panel, he’ll talk to you. That’s fun, but the theme’s usefulness comes from the eight panels that surround HAL: each one can be customised to show such things as Flickr photos, RSS feeds, current weather conditions, your Gmail inbox, online search tools, local hard drives and system status.

This theme is actually ts_looney’s handiwork, so if you really like it, head over to his Flickr page or his DeviantArt page to ask about the theme. If you’re new to Rainmeter, check out our guide to get started.

Hal.desktop [Flickr]