README

Minimal Desktop Setup

A clean, minimal Windows 11 desktop built around a monochrome aesthetic — dark sand dunes wallpaper, a geometric clock, and a compact live weather widget, all tuned to sit quietly on screen without visual clutter.

What You're Looking At

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 or 11
• Rainmeter 4.5 or later (free, open source)
• A weather API key from The Weather Channel API (free tier available with registration)
• Your location's Latitude and Longitude — find yours at nominatim.openstreetmap.org

Installation Guide

Step 1 — Install Rainmeter

Download and install Rainmeter from the official site: **[https://www.rainmeter.net/](https://www.rainmeter.net/)**

Run the installer with default settings. Rainmeter will launch automatically.

Step 2 — Set the Wallpaper

1. Copy wallpaper/black-and-white-3840x2160-21293.jpg anywhere on your machine
2. Right-click it → Set as desktop background
3. In Display Settings → Personalization → set fit to Fill or Fit

Step 3 — Install the Mond Skin (Clock & Date)

1. Download Mond from DeviantArt (by hiphopium): **[https://www.deviantart.com/hiphopium/art/Mond-862450046](https://www.deviantart.com/hiphopium/art/Mond-862450046)**
2. Double-click the downloaded .rmskin file — Rainmeter's installer opens automatically
3. Click Install
4. In Rainmeter's Manage window (right-click tray icon → Manage), expand Mond → Clock → click Load

Step 4 — Install the SmallCleanWeather Skin (Weather Widget)

1. Download Small Clean Weather Animated from DeviantArt (by zivallh): **[https://www.deviantart.com/zivallh/art/Small-Clean-Weather-Animated-847002564](https://www.deviantart.com/zivallh/art/Small-Clean-Weather-Animated-847002564)**
2. Double-click the .rmskin file and install
3. In Manage → expand SmallCleanWeather → load SmallCleanWeather Location.ini

Step 5 — Get a Weather API Key

1. Go to The Weather Channel API and register for a free developer account
2. Copy your API key — you'll need it in the next step

Alternative: If the Weather Channel API is unavailable in your region, OpenWeatherMap offers a free current weather API. Note that using OWM requires modifications to the measures file (different JSON format).

Step 6 — Apply the Configuration Files

This repo contains the already-tuned configuration files. Copy them over the defaults:

config/Mond/@Resources/Variables.inc
  ??? Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\Mond\@Resources\Variables.inc

config/SmallCleanWeather/SmallCleanWeather Location.ini
  ??? Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\SmallCleanWeather\SmallCleanWeather Location.ini

config/SmallCleanWeather/@Resources/Variables.inc
  ??? Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\SmallCleanWeather\@Resources\Variables.inc

config/SmallCleanWeather/@Resources/WeatherComJSONVariables.inc
  ??? Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\SmallCleanWeather\@Resources\WeatherComJSONVariables.inc

On OneDrive-linked machines, the Rainmeter Skins folder is typically at: C:\Users\<YourName>\OneDrive\Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\

Step 7 — Set Your Location and API Key

Open config/SmallCleanWeather/@Resources/WeatherComJSONVariables.inc in Notepad and edit:

Latitude=28.4670734        ; your latitude
Longitude=77.5137649       ; your longitude
APIKey=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE   ; paste your Weather Channel API key
LocationName=Your City     ; displayed in the widget (hardcoded fallback)

Find your coordinates:

• Google Maps: right-click any point → the lat/long appears at the top
• Or use Nominatim

Step 8 — Position the Widgets

After refreshing the skins, drag each widget to your preferred position. For the exact centered layout shown in the preview (tested on 1536×864):

Open C:\Users\<YourName>\AppData\Roaming\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.ini and set:

[Mond\Clock]
WindowX=408
WindowY=92

[SmallCleanWeather]
WindowX=688
WindowY=258

For other resolutions, center formula:

• WindowX (Clock) = (ScreenWidth / 2) - 360
• WindowX (Weather) = (ScreenWidth / 2) - 80

Configuration Details

What Was Tuned

Mond Clock (config/Mond/@Resources/Variables.inc):

TextColor=25,25,25,240    ; near-black text, matches the wallpaper's light sky

SmallCleanWeather (config/SmallCleanWeather/@Resources/Variables.inc):

FontColor=25,25,25,240    ; same near-black tone as the clock

SmallCleanWeather Layout (config/SmallCleanWeather/SmallCleanWeather Location.ini):

Scale=0.6                 ; 40% smaller than default — matches date/time visual weight
Update=30                 ; 30ms update enables smooth icon animation

Animation — The Sergey animated icon set cycles through 90 frames at 30ms intervals (~33fps). The Counter % 90 formula ensures all frames are used.

Font Reference

All fonts install automatically when you install the skins. No manual font installation needed.

Color Logic

The wallpaper transitions from light gray (sky, top) to near-black (sand, bottom). Both widgets sit in the light zone, so dark text (25,25,25,240) provides strong contrast without harsh pure black.

Tips & Customization

Resize any widget on the fly: Hover over a widget and use the mouse scroll wheel to scale it up or down. The change is saved automatically.

Toggle Celsius / Fahrenheit: Right-click the weather widget → Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Toggle weather details: Click the temperature number to expand/collapse feels-like temperature, humidity, wind, UV index, and visibility.

Change your location: Edit WeatherComJSONVariables.inc → update Latitude, Longitude, and LocationName → right-click widget → Refresh Skin.

Change font color: Right-click SmallCleanWeather → Change Color — opens the bundled color picker. You can also directly edit FontColor= in Variables.inc.

Dark text not readable on your wallpaper? Change FontColor and TextColor to 255,255,255,240 (white) in the respective Variables.inc files.

Widget flickers during startup: This is normal — the weather widget fetches live data and populates within 2–5 seconds of loading.

Weather API quota: The default UpdateRate=200 (200 ticks × 1s = ~3 min) keeps API calls well within free tier limits. You can raise it to 600 for 10-minute updates.

Repo Structure

minimal-desktop-setup/
????????? README.md
????????? preview/
???   ????????? desktop.png                        ??? Final desktop screenshot
????????? wallpaper/
???   ????????? black-and-white-3840x2160-21293.jpg ??? 4K B&W sand dunes (4K)
????????? config/
    ????????? Mond/
    ???   ????????? @Resources/
    ???       ????????? Variables.inc              ??? TextColor tuned to 25,25,25,240
    ????????? SmallCleanWeather/
        ????????? SmallCleanWeather Location.ini ??? Scale=0.6, animation fix, layout
        ????????? @Resources/
            ????????? Variables.inc              ??? FontColor tuned
            ????????? WeatherComJSONVariables.inc ??? API key + coordinates template

Credits & Licenses

This setup is built entirely on the work of the following creators. Please support them:

• Rainmeter — rainmeter.net — GNU GPL v2 — by the Rainmeter Development Team
• Mond skin — DeviantArt — by hiphopium (Connect-R)
• Small Clean Weather Animated — DeviantArt — by zivallh (Abruzzi)
• Weather data — The Weather Channel API — by IBM / The Weather Company
• Anurati font — Font Squirrel / author — by Emmeran Richard
• Quicksand font — Google Fonts — by Andrew Paglinawan

Note: This repository only contains tuned configuration files and a wallpaper of unknown original authorship. The Rainmeter skins themselves are the property of their respective creators and must be downloaded from their official DeviantArt pages. Do not redistribute .rmskin packages.