How do you have separate wallpapers on GNOME w/ multimonitor setup?

Thaidog · 12-31-2008, 08:17 PM

I have an extended nVidia twinview desktop with two monitors. How do you set a different wallpaper per monitor with GNOME?

Right now I have one repeated desktop across both monitor desktops.

i92guboj · 01-01-2009, 05:53 PM

I know xfce can do this. I am not sure about kde nor gnome. The evident solution would be to gimp your wallpapers to create a bigger one by joining two smaller wallpapers.

If gnome has no easy way to do this, you could still script it if you want. Using the "composite" tool from imagemagick you could fetch two random wallpapers from a directory, scale them to the correct sizes, join them and use feh (or whatever) to set the wallpapers. It would be some relatively simple bash scripting. Then launch that script using xinitrc or whatever mechanism your desktop uses to autostart stuff.

Thaidog · 01-01-2009, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i92guboj

I know xfce can do this. I am not sure about kde nor gnome. The evident solution would be to gimp your wallpapers to create a bigger one by joining two smaller wallpapers.

If gnome has no easy way to do this, you could still script it if you want. Using the "composite" tool from imagemagick you could fetch two random wallpapers from a directory, scale them to the correct sizes, join them and use feh (or whatever) to set the wallpapers. It would be some relatively simple bash scripting. Then launch that script using xinitrc or whatever mechanism your desktop uses to autostart stuff.

KDE has a way to set a wallpaper per desktop in the Kontrol panel. I was hoping that GNOME would have this... it seems really stupid that they would not have this feature yet. I appreciate your answer but that is too much trouble just to have a unified desktop background.

i92guboj · 01-01-2009, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaidog

KDE has a way to set a wallpaper per desktop in the Kontrol panel. I was hoping that GNOME would have this... it seems really stupid that they would not have this feature yet. I appreciate your answer but that is too much trouble just to have a unified desktop background.

Remember, Gnome crew think that features are a bad thing. They always did, and will always do. No disrespect intended. That might actually be a good thing for some people, but it just doesn't fit me (not that xfce or kde do either).

However I am not sure now what exactly do you want. Do you want a way to set different wallpapers in different desktops OR a way to set different wallpapers on the different monitors that conform a xinerama screen?

KDE can do the first thing, but not the second as far as I know (but I might perfectly be wrong). XFCE can do the second thing for sure.

Thaidog · 01-02-2009, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i92guboj

Remember, Gnome crew think that features are a bad thing. They always did, and will always do. No disrespect intended. That might actually be a good thing for some people, but it just doesn't fit me (not that xfce or kde do either).

However I am not sure now what exactly do you want. Do you want a way to set different wallpapers in different desktops OR a way to set different wallpapers on the different monitors that conform a xinerama screen?

KDE can do the first thing, but not the second as far as I know (but I might perfectly be wrong). XFCE can do the second thing for sure.

What I want is simply for GNOME to support multiple desktop wallpapers... but it sounds like from you that it will not happen. I am really a KDE person but KDE 4 with no desktop icons does not make sense to me - or the way I like to work. That is why I am trying out GNOME right now on Ubuntu for the first time. With everybody using Ubuntu these days I thought the features would be there by now. Guess not. I guess I can live without it albeit a little strange.

i92guboj · 01-02-2009, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaidog

What I want is simply for GNOME to support multiple desktop wallpapers... but it sounds like from you that it will not happen.

Well, I can't speak for the gnome team. I am not affiliated to gnome at all and I have never been a gnome user. I don't follow their mailing lists either so I know nothing about the project.

But I do know that they are really reluctant to add features unless they consider that there's a very good and strong reason to do so.

Maybe some external program can do it, though. You can try a thing called wallpapoz (it just rings a bell on my mind, I can't guarantee that it will do all you need, but it might worth a check).

Thaidog · 01-02-2009, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i92guboj

Well, I can't speak for the gnome team. I am not affiliated to gnome at all and I have never been a gnome user. I don't follow their mailing lists either so I know nothing about the project.

But I do know that they are really reluctant to add features unless they consider that there's a very good and strong reason to do so.

Maybe some external program can do it, though. You can try a thing called wallpapoz (it just rings a bell on my mind, I can't guarantee that it will do all you need, but it might worth a check).

I just found out on the Ubuntu Brainstorm site that they are planing multiple desktop wallpaper for the next release... schweet

talLinux · 12-15-2010, 04:48 AM

I can't see that feature in Gnome 2.32
but you can try out Wallpapoz wich allows you to set different wallpapers for each workspace (virtual desktop) and other nice little things.

Cheers

Guyverix · 03-05-2011, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by talLinux

I can't see that feature in Gnome 2.32
but you can try out Wallpapoz wich allows you to set different wallpapers for each workspace (virtual desktop) and other nice little things.

Cheers

Actually I have not found a good solution for this problem and have been looking for something myself, so I wrote one last night.. Not all the functions / features have been written yet, but the basic functions work, and if you look at the code, I think you can follow where I am trying to take it..

edit dual.cfg so that it knows:
1) the monitor resolution (They should both be the same in twinview) If you cannot find it, try xrandr -q and divide the larger number by 2 for your real resolution per monitor.
2) the path to look in for wallpapers.
3) How often to change the wallpaper. (var timer)
4) The background color if you dont like black..

** Some of the code is stubbed and does not actually do anything yet, but the options I listed work just fine. Just make sure you have installed imagemagick before trying to run this.

Then run multi_wallpapers.sh

The first time it runs it will take some time as it is indexing your images with imagemagick making sure that the jpg files that it finds are bigger that 640x480.

I would recommend making a dir in your home directory and running this from there commandline for now. I am writing a new version so that the wallpapers that are really big and would fit with span are NOT stitched together but actually spanning. In the meantime you are more than welcome to use these scripts.

The attachment will need to be renamed to multiwall.tar. I had to fool the system to think it was a txt file to attach it..

bluebox · 03-05-2011, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaidog

I am really a KDE person but KDE 4 with no desktop icons does not make sense to me - or the way I like to work.

Uhm ... I don't know about Ubuntu ... I'm running stock Debian Squeeze with KDE 4.4.5.

There are no icons on the desktop, right. But I can place them there, no problem.

Actually, it's not "Icons" but "Plasmoids" in KDE4, as far as I understood, but finally, they work like icons, look like icons, smell like icons ...

I was quite annoyed with KDE4 and I'm quite happy that Debian protected me from KDE4 until now. Preconfiguration is crap ... but after digging deep in the configuration menus, slowly, I become comfortable with it. Especially, anything on the desktop is a Plasmoid, now, not an icon, and there are plenty of Plasmoids, you can install, remove, configure ...

mrnerd · 09-24-2011, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyverix

Actually I have not found a good solution for this problem and have been looking for something myself, so I wrote one last night.. Not all the functions / features have been written yet, but the basic functions work, and if you look at the code, I think you can follow where I am trying to take it..

edit dual.cfg so that it knows:
1) the monitor resolution (They should both be the same in twinview) If you cannot find it, try xrandr -q and divide the larger number by 2 for your real resolution per monitor.
2) the path to look in for wallpapers.
3) How often to change the wallpaper. (var timer)
4) The background color if you dont like black..

** Some of the code is stubbed and does not actually do anything yet, but the options I listed work just fine. Just make sure you have installed imagemagick before trying to run this.

Then run multi_wallpapers.sh

The first time it runs it will take some time as it is indexing your images with imagemagick making sure that the jpg files that it finds are bigger that 640x480.

I would recommend making a dir in your home directory and running this from there commandline for now. I am writing a new version so that the wallpapers that are really big and would fit with span are NOT stitched together but actually spanning. In the meantime you are more than welcome to use these scripts.

The attachment will need to be renamed to multiwall.tar. I had to fool the system to think it was a txt file to attach it..

Thanks for this, it's a good start. I'm still working to achieve this with Gnome. Your solution may assist! I'm having an issue because my two monitors are different sizes. I have a 17" monitor - NOT wide screen - on the left, and a 23" widescreen on the right. I'd like to have two different wallpapers on each one.

Is there a way to offset the left wallpaper by 1/4" or so? I've got the bottoms of the monitors level. If anyone has done this already, I'd appreciate knowing about it before I try to build it over from scratch.

Thanks for any ideas or information!

Guyverix · 11-25-2011, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnerd

Thanks for this, it's a good start. I'm still working to achieve this with Gnome. Your solution may assist! I'm having an issue because my two monitors are different sizes. I have a 17" monitor - NOT wide screen - on the left, and a 23" widescreen on the right. I'd like to have two different wallpapers on each one.

Is there a way to offset the left wallpaper by 1/4" or so? I've got the bottoms of the monitors level. If anyone has done this already, I'd appreciate knowing about it before I try to build it over from scratch.

Thanks for any ideas or information!

https://github.com/Guyverix/Gnome-Mu...itor-Wallpaper

I am using it for my 6 head display in Gnome. This should do exactly what you need. The offset you are talking about would be the gravity option in the multi.cfg file. Its designed to allow the images to merge at top, bottom, or center. LMK if the instructions I posted are unclear (first time I have ever written a README, heh)