Video playing in background
 

Hi i'm new to Linux and wanna know if there's a way of playing a video in the background (NOT in another window) while having transparent windows and stuff in the foreground. I'm guessing i should install Super karamba and then run some kind of video program in full screen mode with transparency? Is this the way to go? Has anyone tried it? Any advice?

Yes there is a way. I have done this before using mplayer. I did a quick search here at LQ and found this thread:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ayer+wallpaper

In this thread Thymox gives this example:

Cool backgrounds, eh? Digital Blasphemy is good... but I prefer something a little different (well, I would!). If you have the processor for it, you could run a video file as your 'wallpaper'. The line from my .xinitrc file is as follows:
exec mplayer -ao null -loop 0 -fs -rootwin ~/files/Films/kayaking/test2.avi ~/files/Films/kayaking/test.avi &
How cool is that! A movie file on your desktop!

Hope this helps.
Dave

Where can i get the RPM for the mandrake version of Mplayer without being part of the mandrake club?

I believe Penguin Liberation Front has MPlayer RPMs for Mandrake. http://plf.zarb.org/

Regards,
R.

I've installed Mplayer and all its bits&bobs..... i've also run through the man pages for what the command above actually does....

the -rootwin option runs the player in the background.....

unfortunately, it doesnt work on mine.... i dont know why, i'm running superkaramba with a few themes..... and also a small transparent eterm..... i have a gradient applied to a desktop background...... when i execute mplayer with the suggest command, it shows its running but i cant see any input anywhere..... is there anyting i should do to see the picture on my background?