Suzannem's Web Projects

[new: 5 July 2008] [7-5-08] I haven't got around to trying this link someone sent a half year ago, but maybe you will: try out a Neko Yahoo Widget.

A Neko kitty hi! collection     (to neko library directory, to other links)

 
neko kitty In my old diskettes, I recently ran across an old neko.exe for Windows 3.0. I was surprised that it works on Windows Me. I remember having tried to find it on the Web with no luck, so here is a zip of it: neko.zip. It is Version 1.0, 1991. It is freeware. You can use "Settings" to make the cat move slower. (In 1991, computers were slower and the initial settings make it too fast for us today.) It is only 46K (24K, zipped).

animated image
(animated image)

If you've never seen the Neko program in action, it is very simple: the kitty, 'Neko,' follows your mouse around until the mouse leaves the window, at which point Neko shortly falls asleep. If the mouse comes back on the window, Neko wakes up! Sometimes it's fun to keep a little Neko window up while working in other, non-maximized, windows.

"Neko" means "cat" in Japanese. Neko was originally written by Masayuki Koba and later modified by Tatsuya Kato. Then Dara T. Khani made a version for MS Windows. While looking for links for this page (see below), I found out that David Harvey made a freeware version for Win 95 and up, with interesting improvements! It currently is at version 4 now. Harvey is still adding improvements.
Inspired by all of this, I made an orange tabby image library for the new program. This tabby looks much like the animation above, except the back paws are orange, not white.
Frustrated by the often crypic names of the image libraries, and the lack of a directory of any sort for them, I made a Directory of the Neko Image Libraries.

Other Links:
These sites have more recent downloads than Version 1.0 and you can even get the source code (C++).

Notes about these sites: the images zip is of ICL files, which are files the recent program can use. That is, the images are not images you can put on a Web page. The latest version (at David Harvey's site) self-extracts and includes the ICL files. His site also has a zip of the ICL files, but it is only needed if you don't use the self-extracting one.

  greatgreatgreatgreatgreat David Harvey's FreewareLagoon The site of the most recent Neko coder, himself. The latest neko stuff is here. Includes a poll of what features to add next.

  okok http://www.angelfire.com/ct/neko/ A pretty basic fan site.
  basic http://members.nbci.com/orion88/neko.html A short fan site, the least up to date. Site seems to be down (12-5-01).

Note: I have not looked much at Neko sites since 2002, so those ratings and descriptions are old.

Here is a neko on a web page! You can even put more than one on this page and they show how you can code your own web page to add a neko. The page also has a few links. (http://webneko.net)

 


That's it!

And here is a Neko Yahoo Widget. I don't know what a Yahoo Widget is, but apparently that is a Neko. (http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/view.php?widget=42931)

 

5 July 2008