UPDATE AVAILABLE FOR EARTHDESK 5

Download EarthDesk 5.4.1  (or run EarthDesk and click on "Check for Update" in the General Tab).

Please make sure you have the most current version.

If you have no image on the screen, please check the "borderless window" option in the Advanced Tab.

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How do I uninstall EarthDesk v4 or v5?

AUTOMATIC UNINSTALL
There is an uninstall button located in the License Tab of the EarthDesk System Preference Pane. If you have partially removed EarthDesk, it is easiest to reinstall the software and use this button. In rare cases, there may be permissions errors on your machine which prevent the automatic uninstall from working. Please use manual uninstall in these cases.

If you originally installed EarthDesk for all users on your machine, after clicking the uninstall button, go back into System Preferences and control-click on the EarthDesk icon to fully remove it.

MANUAL UNINSTALL
You can manually remove EarthDesk by following these steps (note that some files mentioned may not exist):

1. Open Activity Monitor and be sure "EarthDesk Core," "EarthDesk Engine" and "EarthDesk Menu" are not running. If they are, select each one and choose "Quit Process" form the View Menu.
2. Remove the following PrefPane file (check both user and root level Library folders):
         (~) /Library/PreferencePanes/EarthDesk.prefpane
3. Delete the following files in your Preferences folder:
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.xericdesign.earthdesk.core.plist
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.xericdesign.earthdesk.engine.plist
         (~) /Library/Preferences/com.xericdesign.earthdesk.prefPane.plist
4. Delete the EarthDesk folder located in ~/Library/Application Support/
5. Delete the EarthDesk folder located in /Users/Shared/
6. In System Preferences, click Accounts and remove EarthDesk items under the Login Items Tab.
7. Use the System Preferences utility to choose a desktop picture.
8. Remove the files at ~/Library/Caches/Desktop

At this stage, EarthDesk has effectively been removed from your system and can be reinstalled to start fresh, but we suggest you log out and back in first. You will need to enter your license key and configure your settings the next time you use EarthDesk.

Why is the bottom half of the map a milky white color?

This happens when a cloud image is not fully downloaded from the server, either because of a lost connection or because the image on the server was replaced with a fresh one during the download. For some reason the OS is reporting this image to EarthDesk as being a valid image (although an error message is written to the Console). We are looking into this and working with Apple on a solution.

To fix this when it happens, you can stop EarthDesk, delete the file at ~/Library/Application Support/EarthDesk/Clouds, and restart EarthDesk.

EarthDesk hangs about half way through preparing the cache. Why?

Check that the permissions of the folder at /Users/Shared/EarthDesk are set to Read & Write. Click on this folder in the Finder and choose Get Info from the File menu. Change the permissions for the folder and then quit and reopen EarthDesk. This seems to be caused by the upgrade process from OS 10.4 to 10.5 not properly maintaining permissions for some folders.

How do I configure EarthDesk as a screen saver?

• Launch EarthDesk and make sure it is displaying the Earth image.
• Open the System Preferences utility.
• Click on Desktop & Screen Saver. (Note that on older versions of OS X, the screen saver module is separate from the desktop module.)
• Select "Choose Folder..."
• Navigate to /Library/Application Support/EarthDesk/Desktops
• Click "Choose"

Why is EarthDesk contacting other sites?

To download cloud images.

The cloud images are provided by the Dundee UK Satellite tracking station. They provide six images which together cover the globe. These images are assembled into a single flat map by an open-source, volunteer organization and then distributed to a number of mirror sites. The image can then be accessed by programs like EarthDesk for free. EarthDesk selects a random mirror each time it needs to update the clouds.

Many other applications use the same list of mirrors. The goal is to distribute network traffic to help reduce bandwidth on individual servers. It also reduces the burden on the Dundee UK Satellite Station as only one site is pulling back the six images every three hours. By keeping bandwidth to a minimum, it is hoped that this free data service can continue indefinitely.

Why is EarthDesk contacting xericdesign.com?

EarthDesk needs to download a list of servers that host the cloud images. The list is not distributed with EarthDesk because it stays more current if it is simply updated on our site. No other information is transferred in either direction.

How often do the clouds update?

A new image is received from the satellite ground station every three hours.

Why aren't the clouds showing up?

Check to be sure you are connected to the internet. It is possible that EarthDesk is unable to reach www.xericdesign.com to download the list of cloud servers or that the satellite station that produces the images is down. Please try again later.

Also make sure that the clouds are turned on in the General Tab of the System Preferences Pane and that the cloud slider in the Display Tab is set well above 0%.

It is possible the problem is at the source... please see this link.

As a last resort, please quit EarthDesk, then delete the "com.xericdesign.earthdesk.cloudservers.plist" file in ~/Library/Application Support/EarthDesk/Servers and relaunch EarthDesk.

Why do the clouds look strange?

Sometimes there can be an error in transmission of cloud data from the satellite to the receiving station on Earth. You can try forcing a cloud update by clicking the "Force Cloud Update" button in the Advanced Tab. The software will try an alternate cloud server, but it will likely be the same. The problem will almost always clear up on the next pass (within 3 hours).

EarthDesk seems to be using a lot of memory. Why?

EarthDesk stores its map data in large files on disk which are mapped into memory. This allows it to be loaded and purged as needed. Additionally, it uses 10-30MB for pixel buffers depending on the size of your display(s). While EarthDesk may show that it is using a few hundred megabytes, most of it is purgeable... if any other process needs this space, the memory will be released.

Why is EarthDesk showing two different colors of night?

What you are seeing is the area where there is moonlight and the area where the moon is not visible. The intensity of the moonlight will change with the phase of the moon and is most prominent in highly-reflective areas such as the sands of North Africa.