Neko is a

cross-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software r ...

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

animated cursor-chasing cat

screenmate A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet, or pet-raising simulation) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment. People may keep a digital pet in lieu of a real pet. Digital ...

application. ''Neko'' () is the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

word for ''

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

''.

About Neko

Neko was originally written for the

NEC PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more th ...

. It was later

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

as a

desk accessory A desk accessory (DA) in computing is a small transient or auxiliary application that can be run concurrently in a desktop environment with any other application on the system. Early examples, such as Sidekick and Macintosh desk accessories, used s ...

to the Macintosh in 1989 by Kenji Gotoh. He also designed the sleeping graphics for Neko. An X version was later made by Masayuki Koba. In the application, a sprite follows the mouse pointer around. In the

System 7 System 7, codenamed "Big Bang", and also known as Mac OS 7, is a graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers and is part of the classic Mac OS series of operating systems. It was introduced on May 13, 1991, by Apple Co ...

version, the pointer could be modified to various cat toys such as a mouse, fish, or bird. When Neko caught up with the pointer, it would stare at the screen for a few seconds, scratch an itch on its body, yawn, and fall asleep until the pointer was disturbed. In windowed mode, Neko would stop at window boundaries and scratch at the edge of the window.

Other appearances

The Neko cat has been used as a sprite in many other programs. * In 1995, a shareware game for the Macintosh called ''Kitten Shaver'' had used sprites that looked similar to Neko. The object of the game was cruel but humorous, as the player would have to shave the cats, with various layers of fur, as they ran across the screen within a limited time. The game was a parody of a game called ''Bunny Killer''. ''Kitten Shaver'' was such a success, that a sequel called ''Kitten Shaver 2: Kitty's Revenge'' was released in 1997. * Neko has been ported to many other systems: ** There is also a Neko

screensaver A screensaver (or screen saver) is a computer program that blanks the display screen or fills it with moving images or patterns when the computer has been idle for a designated time. The original purpose of screensavers was to prevent phosphor ...

for

NEXTSTEP NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of proprieta ...

. ** Neko was available on

Acorn Computers Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the United Kingdom, UK, including the Acorn Electron and the Acorn Archi ...

RISC OS RISC OS is a computer operating system originally designed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England. First released in 1987, it was designed to run on the ARM chipset, which Acorn had designed concurrently for use in its new line of Archim ...

. ** Windows 3.x variants Michael Bankstahl (1991), Dara T. Khani (1992) ** A port was made, ''Ameko'' in 1997 for the

Amiga Computer Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

and attributed to Neko by its author, Carl Revell. ** It has been ported to

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

. The screensaver Neko.saver waited 5 years to move from version .91a to version .92, a

universal binary The universal binary format is, in Apple parlance, a format for executable files that run natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64 or ARM64-based Macintosh computers. The format originated on NeXTStep as " Multi-Archi ...

. There's also a free-standing application for OS X 10.4 and up. ** A shareware port titled ''Cat!'' or ''TopCAT!'' was made for

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Windows 3.1 Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows 3 ...

by Robert Dannbauer in 1991. ** A

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...

port was made by David Harvey from the X source. ** Ports have been made for the x64 version of Windows, along with the Dec Alpha & MIPS versions of Windows NT. ** A

BeOS BeOS is an operating system for personal computers first developed by Be Inc. in 1990. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was positioned as a multimedia platform that could be used by a substantial population of desktop users a ...

version was written from scratch by Greg Weston (later author of the Mac OS X app), as a demonstration of Be's "replicants" technology. An enhanced version of this program by John Yanarella is available. ** IBM

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...

version 2.0 shipped with Neko as an entertainment program. ** A port of Neko is used as a demo program for the

XCB XCB (''X protocol C-language Binding'') is a library implementing the client-side of the X11 display server protocol. XCB is written in the C programming language and distributed under the MIT License. The project was started in 2001 by B ...

library. ** Oneko is a port based on Xneko, for

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

and

BSD The Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) is a discontinued operating system based on Research Unix, developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berk ...

systems. ** A port named NekoCat was made by Laurent Duveau for

Palm OS Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...

. ** A Neko character is available for the Linux toy AMOR (Amusing Misuse Of Resources). ** A port named WebNeko is available for the iPhone. ** There is an Xneko live wallpaper for

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

called Xnekodroid. ** Another Android port is called ANeko, and runs on top of any applications, not just as a live wallpaper. Several skins are also available as separate applications by a different developer. ** An

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

widget is available. ** A

Windows Mobile 6.5 Windows Mobile 6.5 was a stopgap update to Windows Mobile 6.1 intended to bridge the gap between version 6.1, that arrived in 2008, and Windows Phone 7 that was released in 2010. It was never part of Microsoft's original mobile phone roadmap, ...

port was made by Jayson Ragasa. ** There are some ports of Neko by fans to the

Arduino Arduino () is an open-source hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardware products are licensed unde ...

micro controller boards. ** A

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

Swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

port is available. * Neko appears as an animated, directional paintbrush in

Tux Paint ''Tux Paint'' is a free and open source raster graphics editor (a program for creating and processing raster graphics) geared towards young children. The project was started in 2002 by Bill Kendrick who continues to maintain and improve it, with ...

. * In the 2000s (decade), after Todd Goldman admitted to committing

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

by copying a webcomic panel into a painting and labeling the painting as his work, other bloggers accused Goldman of copying Neko and using it as "Goodbye Kitty." Goldman denies these allegations.Todd Goldman issues apology
" "The Beat." ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

''. April 12, 2007.

References

External links

*https://www.clubic.com/telechargement-en-cours/55398-0-neko.html - Neko Windows Version running under Windows 10
WebNeko.net
- Neko in JavaScript.

(WayBack Machine link due to GeoCities closing)
Masayuki Koba's X11 version

iPhone version

Neko games
- Online games employing Neko
Neko x64
- Links to Windows x64, Dec Alpha & MIPS version of Neko *http://users.frii.com/suzannem/neko/ - A Neko kitty collection (and download) {{DEFAULTSORT:Neko (Computer Program) Desktop widgets Cross-platform free software Cats in popular culture

About Neko

Other appearances

See also

References

External links