Make Tech Easier » Wallpaper Changer

Nitrogen: A Background Setter For Lightweight Desktop Manager

Damien — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:24:41 +0000

Gnome, KDE and XFCE users will have no problem changing the wallpaper on their desktop. However, if you are using a lightweight desktop manager such Openbox or Fluxbox, you will find that there is no way that you can set the wallpaper for your desktop. In this case, Nitrogen will come in handy.

Nitrogen is a simple, lightweight application that allows you to change the background of your desktop. Some of its key features include support for Multihead and Xinerama, a recall mode that can remember the last wallpaper set and command line mode for script use.

If you are using Ubuntu 8.10 (with Openbox) or any other debian-based system, here is how you install and configure Nitrogen.

In your terminal,

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

add this two lines to the end of the file.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/k-belding/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/k-belding/ubuntu intrepid main

Press Ctrl + O to save the file and Ctrl + X to close the file.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nitrogen

This should install Nitrogen on your system

Setting background wallpaper

Assume that your wallpaper folder is at /home/username/wallpaper.

In the terminal, type

nitrogen ~/wallpaper

A window will pop up showing all the wallpaper in the folder. Pick the one that you want to set as background image and click Apply.

That’s it

To get it to autostart everytime you log in, in your terminal,

nano ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh

Paste this into the end of the file

nitrogen --restore &

If the autostart.sh file does not exist, you will have to manually create one before you can carry out the above step.

Nitrogen: A Background Setter For Lightweight Desktop Manager originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Desktop Drapes: Another GNOME Wallpaper Changer

Damien — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:21:26 +0000

We have covered several wallpaper changers for GNOME. Here is another one to add to the list.

Desktop Drapes is a simple wallpaper manager application for the GNOME desktop. It can automatically pick up any new wallpapers you have added to a directory and randomly change your wallpaper at regular interval, or whenever you fell like it.

Installation

Installing Desktop Drapes in Ubuntu is easy. Go to System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager. Search for ‘drapes‘. Check the box beside it and click Apply.

Once installed, you can start Desktop Drapes via System->Preferences->Desktop Drapes. There won’t be any popup window or configuration menu. Instead you will find a new icon on the right of the top panel. Simply click on it to change your current wallpaper.

Configuration

To configure Desktop Drapes, right-click on the icon and select Preferences. You won’t see a window with many options. On the main screen, you will see your current wallpaper. To add extra wallpapers from other folders, click “Add”.

On the General tab, you can choose whether you want Desktop Drapes to start and switch wallpaper when login. You can also set the timing to auto switch the wallpaper at regular interval.

Generally, this is a simple wallpaper changer that performs what it suppose to do: change wallpaper at regular interval. If you just want a simple set-and-leave-it wallpaper changer, then this would be the right choice. However if you want more functionality such as auto-download photos from Flickr, I would recommend Webilder.

Desktop Drapes: Another GNOME Wallpaper Changer originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

How to Grab Photos From Flickr And Set As Ubuntu Wallpaper (Automatically)

Damien — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:57:49 +0000

There are tons of interesting and nice photos on Flickr. While you can download them and set it as your desktop wallpaper manually, wouldn’t it be great if there is a software that can automate the downloading process and change your Ubuntu wallpaper every now and then?

Webilder does just that. It allows you to download images from Flickr and Webshots and set it as your wallpaper. You can customize it by setting the keywords (or tags) to watch for and/or check out the Webilder channel for tags and albums shared by others.

Installing Webilder (on Ubuntu Hardy Heron)

In your terminal,

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Insert the following codes to the repository: (yes, the code is for Feisty, but it works in Hardy too)

deb http://debian.websterwood.com/ feisty main
deb-src http://debian.websterwood.com/ feisty main

Save and exit.

In the terminal again,

sudo apt-get update

For GNOME,

sudo apt-get install webilder webilder-gnome

For KDE,

sudo apt-get install webilder webilder-kde

Once installed, right click on the top-right panel and select “Add to Panel“. Scroll down the list to find “Webilder Desktop Applet“. Click “Add” follow by “Close“. You will now see the Webilder icon on the panel.

Click on the Webilder icon to open the configuration manager.

Go to Tools->Preferences to customize your setting.

The General tab allows you to determine the frequency to rotate your wallpaper and to download new photos.

The Flickr tab allows you to add custom tags to define the type of photos you want to download.

Some syntax you can use:

party, beach : download photos that are tagged with both party and beach
party, beach;swimsuit : download photos that are tagged with both party and beach, or with swimsuit

Other things that you can customize include the photos from specific flickr user and album.

The Webshots tab allows you to configure download from Webshots. You will need to enter your login account to activate it.

The Advanced tab determines the path where the photos are downloaded to.

Once you are done with the configuration, click Tools->Download Photos to begin the downloading. After the downloading is completed, you should see all the photos on the main window. Filter out those that you don’t want (right-click and select Delete Forever). It should now change your wallpaper regularly at the interval that you have specified previously.

How to Grab Photos From Flickr And Set As Ubuntu Wallpaper (Automatically) originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Ubuntu: How To Change Wallpaper Easily With Wallpapoz

Damien — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:23:50 +0000

Wallpapoz is an easy to use wallpaper changer application for GNOME. If you love to collect wallpapers, and like your desktop to change wallpaper at regular interval, then Wallpapoz is right for you.

GNOME desktop does not come with a wallpaper changer. While there has been lots of wallpaper changing script developed by enthusiasts, none of them provide an easy to use graphical interface. Most of them will require you to run the code in your terminal.

Wallpapoz is different…

It provides a simple interface where you can add/manage/preview wallpaper (or the whole wallpaper folder) easily. You can set the time (in minute) for the wallpaper to change and whether to change in an ordered list or in random order.

One of the features that I like most is its ability to change wallpaper when you switch workspace. Did I mention that it also works well with Compiz? :)

Installing Wallpapoz

Download the source code from http://wallpapoz.akbarhome.com/download.html

Retrieve the required dependencies (for Ubuntu Gutsy):

sudo apt-get install python-gnome2 python-imaging python-gtk2

Unzip the Wallpapoz file:

tar -xzf wallpapoz-0.4.tar.gz

Installing the Wallpapoz

cd wallpapoz-0.4
sudo python setup.py install

Upon successful installation, you should see

Configuring Wallpapoz

Open Wallpapoz via Applications->Accessories->Wallpapoz

Click “Add Files” to add a single wallpaper or “Add Directory” to add the whole wallpaper folder.

Click on the “Preferences” button

Change the time (in minute) to your liking. Check the “Change desktop wallpaper…” box if you want to change wallpaper when you switch workspace. If you have 4 desktop spaces, you should see the following:

where the 1, 2, 3, 4 on the left hand side refer to the workspace number. You can choose to add different wallpapers for different workspace.

Once you have finished your configuration, click “Restart” to run the Daemon.

To configure the Wallpapoz Daemon to run every time you boot up your PC, go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions.
Click Add. Enter the following:

Name: Wallpapoz
Command: /usr/local/bin/daemon_wallpapoz

Click OK.

Done!

Ubuntu: How To Change Wallpaper Easily With Wallpapoz originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)