Hi folks,

FedoraCore2
KDE

I followed following steps according following link
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=56428

to create a dynamic desktop background but could not find the "Mode" to proceed further.

Is there any other ways to create dynamic desktop background?

TIA

B.R.
satimis

xroot-tail

Hi bigearsbilly

Could you please explain in more detail

$ man xroottail
$ man xroot-tail
$ man root-tail
$ man roottail

could not find it. TIA

B.R.
satimis

you ain't got it installed then.

It's probably not what you were looking for

It's just a way of doing a tail -f
on a file and it displays on the root X window.

there are also programs like:

xearth shows rotating earth
xglobe similar
xsnow snow and santa
xfishtank (?) fishes
xaos (?) fractals

which will run in the root (background) window.

my favourite is xlock
which is the screensaver, but you can set a screensaver to
run on the root window. Looks cool too

Also, any xscreensaver that you have installed can be set to run on your root window as a dynamic background.

I used this fact to get a great Matrix-themed login screen, with the weird green characters raining down the screen

yeah (oneandoneis2),
you got a good .fvwmrc
I could borrow?

Depends what you define as a good fvwmrc - mine's a very uncluttered approach, with no taskbar and no icons. . .

There's a coupla screenshots of both my fvwm setup and my login screens at http://fvwm.lair.be/viewtopic.php?t=124 (If the links to the shots don't work, try replacing .org with .com)

If you're interested in the rc file, I'll put it online (like I keep meaning to) for you. .

Cheers!

Interesting forum anyway.

Well I've always wanted to try
fvwm properly but never got around to
learning it. And the default config I've got is
awful, crap focus placement and raise settings.

P.S.
Sorry Satimis for hijacking your thread

Hi oneandoneis2,

FC2
KDE 3.2.2-12

Tks for your advice.

Could you please give me some more detail.

As user, I have been playing around with Config "Desktop" but can't set xscreensaver as background

On Right-click ->
Config Desktop -> Background -> Check "No Picture' under 'Background' -> Advanced Options -> Check "Use the following program for drawing the background"

Program:
kwdbdesktop
Comment:
KDE Web Desktop
Refresh:
5 min

-> OK -> Ok

But there was nothing happend after sometimes.

Any suggestion? TIA

B.R.
satimis

Ok. Needs a bit of background.

xscreensaver is just an app that blanks the screen and can be set to require a password to unlock it.

In order to make it more interesting, numerous people have created 'hacks' for it - these are programs that draw on the blanked screen and give you the animated screensavers.

The thing is, they can be run OUTSIDE of xscreensaver as well, just as apps that draw on the root window (the background)

They usually don't live in the PATH set for the command prompt, so you have to know where the hacks are kept. Mine are in /usr/lib/xscreensaver for example.

By running any of these with -root appended, I can any of them as effecitvely animated wallpapers.

Some of them have more advanced options to work like the screensaver, which you can find specified in the xscreensaver options - run xscreensaver-command -prefs from the command line if you don't know how to find this, then Display Modes->Settings->Advanced

So, for instance, when I want to get Matrix-style green characters running down my screen, I would run:

/usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root

Hope that helps!

Hi oneandoneis2,

Tks for your explanation and advice.

On my FC2 box those files are stored under;
/usr/X11R6/lib/xscreensaver/

The files are same as yours.

xscreensaver-command -prefs
Display Modes->Settings->Advanced
the command lind found was;
"qix -root -segments 100 -solid"

However ran
/usr/X11R6/lib/xscreensaver/file -root
starting the xscreensaver background. It is wonderful

But how to make it permanent so that after booting up the PC the xscreenbackground will be displayed automatically.

I foud following packagers;Please advise whether they are the same as mentioned in your early posting.

TIA

B.R.
satimis

KDE isn't my strong point, but try putting the xscreensaver hack line into either .xinitrc or .xprofile at the bottom of the file

[Hi oneandoneis2,

I got it, running dynamic desktop background - KDE desktop

Steps taken as follows;
Right click KDE desktop -> Config desktop -> Background -> check "No Picture" -> Advanced options -> check "Use the following program for drawing the background:" -> delete the program in "Background Program" -> Add -> Complete information on "Configure Backgrou Progam - Desktop" by adding "/usr/X11R6/lib/xscreensaver/spheremonics -root" in "Command" and "Executable" boxes -> Ok -> Ok
(Remark: in my case
hack /usr/X11R6/lib/xscreensaver/spheremonics -root
I selected the file "spheremonics")

Then I have dynamic desktop background after Logout and Relogin. It is nice. However I removed it finally because the CUP was running at 90+% speed, almost exhausting the complete resouce.

Any suggestion.

B.R.
satimis

Use a less intensive hack?

Sadly, a dynamic background will always need more resources than a static one. Do you have a graphics card? If not, one of these would certainly lighten the CPU load.

Hi oneandoneis2,

How to discover which file under ~/xscreensaver/ is less intensive without testing it. There are so many files there.

Yes. I have a 32MB WinFast graphic card installed.

B.R.
satimis