Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64
Turn your keyboard LEDs into network activity indicators with a free app
by Lee Mathews Nov 12th 2009 at 6:00PM
Most keyboards built in the last twenty years or so sport three LEDs - number lock, caps lock, and scroll lock. I'm pretty sure that over those same twenty years I've used each one for a combined total of five minutes.
It sure would be nice if I could somehow force the LEDs to perform another duty. Say, for example, blinking in time with my network activity? That would be pretty slick.
And that's exactly what Network Lights does. Download the 44Kb .zip file, extract it, and run the executable and your LEDs will go to work, flashing in time with the flow of network packets to and from your PC.
I'd recommend against running Network Lights on a laptop which doesn't have a full numeric pad on the keyboard. As the app flicks the LED on and off, your dual-mode keys (usually on the right side around J-K-L) will periodically become unresponsive.
While this is an older app and hasn't been updated in quite some time, Network Lights runs just fine under Windows 7.
[via Raymond.cc]
It sure would be nice if I could somehow force the LEDs to perform another duty. Say, for example, blinking in time with my network activity? That would be pretty slick.
And that's exactly what Network Lights does. Download the 44Kb .zip file, extract it, and run the executable and your LEDs will go to work, flashing in time with the flow of network packets to and from your PC.
I'd recommend against running Network Lights on a laptop which doesn't have a full numeric pad on the keyboard. As the app flicks the LED on and off, your dual-mode keys (usually on the right side around J-K-L) will periodically become unresponsive.
While this is an older app and hasn't been updated in quite some time, Network Lights runs just fine under Windows 7.
[via Raymond.cc]
Chromatic is one of the best time-wasters I've recently come across. It's all about the gameplay -- no Flash graphics here. You play a "circle" (it doesn't really have a name in the game). You move around with the arrow keys, and you change colors with Z, X, and C.
You can either be red, blue, or yellow, and you can switch at any time during the game. Each color has different capabilities -- yellow can double-jump, while red has a longer dash (which is like a forward sprint, activated by double-pressing DOWN).
Each ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DeoWulf said 6:47PM on 11-12-2009
I can't see how this would possibly be useful to me, but I'll take it anyway. Not like I use those LEDs.
Reply
Diego said 6:51PM on 11-12-2009
Aparently this program doesn't work on USB keyboards
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David said 8:13PM on 11-12-2009
How about setting it to Scroll Lock?
Nobody uses that, right?
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rokubungi said 8:57PM on 11-12-2009
tried it out it does work with usb keyboards but I won't use it because it interferes with my num lock. give it the option to only use scroll lock and maybe pulse according to the bandwidth and it would be a winner.
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jigglebling said 9:04PM on 11-12-2009
link to awesome wallpaper in screenshot please?
Reply
__smooth__ said 11:01PM on 11-12-2009
http://entertainment.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/6987/
I was bored at 4am and i just googled "teenage mutant ninja turtles donatello wallpaper" and whaddya know?
jigglebling said 2:48AM on 11-13-2009
thank you ninja man
Ishar said 9:20PM on 11-12-2009
Is it possible to set it with scroll lock? I do have another problem, why there isnt a blinking network icon on windows 7?
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xpsypiex said 12:33AM on 11-13-2009
Is there something like this for mac?
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Ypoknons said 12:40AM on 11-13-2009
A backlit keyboard would be an interesting place to use the concept.
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fuguf15h said 6:45AM on 11-13-2009
Doesn't work on my USB keyboard unless you tick "force keyboard capture".
Then, it randomly toggles my KVM switch! (scroll lock X2)
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john said 4:09PM on 11-13-2009
made a gmail notifier a while back that blinked the scroll lock light, so i could always tell from a distance when i had new mail..
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hemanth said 11:32AM on 11-13-2009
I agree with the other readers. Interesting concept. Truly geeky and fun. But it interferes with the functioning of the keyboard. NumLock wont stay pressed. I'd be happy to try it again if this was fixed.
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blogward said 2:14PM on 11-13-2009
xCat network industries' free 'knl'(keyboard network leds) is molre c6nf5g4ranle. But it still randomly changes the N4mLock status. G66g3e 5ts
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