[News] Linux Beats Vista "Ultimate" Edition to It (Animated Wallpaper)
Roy Schestowitz
http://geekhacks.com/2007/09/13/screensaver-as-a-desktop-wallpaper/
Watch this video towards the end (film as wallpaper):
Ubuntu 6.10 with XGL & Kiba-Dock
,----[ Quote ]
| After some modifications, here's a video of my Ubuntu 6.10
| desktop with Beryl XGL and Kiba-Dock.
`----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsxaMyFV2Y
Related:
The ext3cow File System
,----[ Quote ]
| Ext3cow is an open-source, versioning file system based on ext3.
| It provides a time-shifting interface that allows a real-time and
| continuous view of the past. This allows users to access their
| file system as it appeared at any point in time.
`----
![[H]omer's profile photo](http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/ALV-UjWMQWyYwHeIwxhG3nGUeGWmLQD0R8TeZrvdWDiv5-2S_z3rHg=s40-c)
[H]omer
> Screensaver as a Desktop Wallpaper
>
> http://geekhacks.com/2007/09/13/screensaver-as-a-desktop-wallpaper/
Ooh that's /old/. X11 has been able to run screensavers in the root
window as long as I can remember. In fact you can display pretty much
anything you want in the root window, including video if you want. The
same thing goes for the root console, using fbdev/vidix (you don't even
need to run X11 to watch a video).
You mean ... Windows /still/ can't do any of that? That's Lame.
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "OOXML is a superb standard"
| - GNU/Linux traitor, Miguel de Icaza.
`----
Fedora release 7 (Moonshine) on sky, running kernel 2.6.22.1-41.fc7
15:07:37 up 38 days, 14:02, 2 users, load average: 0.15, 0.12, 0.09
7
> Related:
>
> The ext3cow File System
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Ext3cow is an open-source, versioning file system based on ext3.
> | It provides a time-shifting interface that allows a real-time and
> | continuous view of the past. This allows users to access their
> | file system as it appeared at any point in time.
> `----
>
> http://www.ext3cow.com/
Oh man! I've been lookin for this for some time!!!
Thanking you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Handover Phist
> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>
>> Screensaver as a Desktop Wallpaper
>>
>> http://geekhacks.com/2007/09/13/screensaver-as-a-desktop-wallpaper/
>
> Ooh that's /old/. X11 has been able to run screensavers in the root
> window as long as I can remember. In fact you can display pretty much
> anything you want in the root window, including video if you want. The
> same thing goes for the root console, using fbdev/vidix (you don't even
> need to run X11 to watch a video).
Yep, I think I discovered this functionality in about 200[12]. Still a
very cool trick.
> You mean ... Windows /still/ can't do any of that? That's Lame.
--
Kids, don't gross me off ... "Adventures with MENTAL HYGIENE" can be
carried too FAR!
spi...@freenet.co.uk
> [H]omer :
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>
>>> Screensaver as a Desktop Wallpaper
>>>
>>> http://geekhacks.com/2007/09/13/screensaver-as-a-desktop-wallpaper/
>>
>> Ooh that's /old/. X11 has been able to run screensavers in the root
>> window as long as I can remember. In fact you can display pretty much
>> anything you want in the root window, including video if you want. The
>> same thing goes for the root console, using fbdev/vidix (you don't even
>> need to run X11 to watch a video).
> Yep, I think I discovered this functionality in about 200[12]. Still a
> very cool trick.
Probably evem earlier. what with xearth being able to run in the root
window.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| spi...@freenet.co.uk | Windows95 (noun): 32 bit extensions and a |
| | graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit |
|Andrew Halliwell BSc(hons)| operating system originally coded for a 4 bit |
| in |microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that|
| Computer Science | can't stand 1 bit of competition. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roy Schestowitz
> Handover Phist <ja...@jason.websterscafe.com> did eloquently scribble:
>> [H]omer :
>>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>>
>>>> Screensaver as a Desktop Wallpaper
>>>>
>>>> http://geekhacks.com/2007/09/13/screensaver-as-a-desktop-wallpaper/
>>>
>>> Ooh that's /old/. X11 has been able to run screensavers in the root
>>> window as long as I can remember. In fact you can display pretty much
>>> anything you want in the root window, including video if you want. The
>>> same thing goes for the root console, using fbdev/vidix (you don't even
>>> need to run X11 to watch a video).
>
>> Yep, I think I discovered this functionality in about 200[12]. Still a
>> very cool trick.
>
> Probably evem earlier. what with xearth being able to run in the root
> window.
xsnow back in 2000 over here.
hat I found amusing was that, in a not-so-recent Vista demo at C|Net, the
feature whereby you have an animated waterfall somewhere in the wallpaper was
seen as a major thing (you must have "Ultimate Edition" though, IIRC).
Don't forget all the noise Microsoft was making about symbolic links and UAC
(AKA sudo, sort of). Microsoft said that UAC was such a good feature that
other operating systems (Mac OS and Linux) should copy it.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | YaSTall Linux to figure out the magic
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Load average (/proc/loadavg): 0.57 1.13 1.74 3/129 13404
http://iuron.com - semantic search engine project initiative
[H]omer
> Microsoft said that UAC was such a good feature that other operating
> systems (Mac OS and Linux) should copy it.
Hilarious.
I suppose they've patented it too, have they.
ROTFLMAO!
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "OOXML is a superb standard"
| - GNU/Linux traitor, Miguel de Icaza.
`----
Fedora release 7 (Moonshine) on sky, running kernel 2.6.22.1-41.fc7
01:07:13 up 39 days, 2 min, 2 users, load average: 0.65, 0.93, 1.36
Roy Schestowitz
> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>
>> Microsoft said that UAC was such a good feature that other operating
>> systems (Mac OS and Linux) should copy it.
>
> Hilarious.
>
> I suppose they've patented it too, have they.
>
> ROTFLMAO!
>
Yes, they have.
http://boycottnovell.com/2007/05/04/sudo-patent/
--
~~ Best of wishes
Linux is like a girlfriend; try to stick to one distribution for a lifetime
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU is Not UNIX | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine
graeme
for wallpaper.
tcforrest
the then current version of Redhat,
impressive but a bit distracting.
E-Live E17 features some animated wallpapers that are much more
subtle
tc
Mark Kent
> MS released a Vista Ultimate "Extra" called DreamScene - it loops a movie
> for wallpaper.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2lcvwm
It must be frustrating working for Microsoft now, where really, all you
get to do is copy what's already out there.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
Mr. Doug Hoel
"Mark Kent" <mark...@demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:frn1s4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk...
> graeme <www.ril...@no.spam.wanted> espoused:
>> MS released a Vista Ultimate "Extra" called DreamScene - it loops a movie
>> for wallpaper.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/2lcvwm
>
> It must be frustrating working for Microsoft now, where really, all you
> get to do is copy what's already out there.
You mean how this animated desktop that was just released (or possibly
released in 2002) is a cheap knock-off of Active Desktop which Microsoft
released in 1997.
Yet another example of OSS "innovation" where they shamelessly copy existing
Microsoft technology. I just can't wait to see the next version of
open-office where OSS will "innovate" the ribbon bar that MS-Office 2007
has.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Mark Kent
1997? X-windows-system had a changeable root-window years before that.
It must be frustrating working for Microsoft, where all you get to do is
copy what's out there.
The Ghost In The Machine
<mark...@demon.co.uk>
wrote
on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:47:08 +0100
<s7aas4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk>:
> Mr. Doug Hoel <dh...@verizon.net> espoused:
>>
>> "Mark Kent" <mark...@demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:frn1s4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk...
>>> graeme <www.ril...@no.spam.wanted> espoused:
>>>> MS released a Vista Ultimate "Extra" called DreamScene - it loops a movie
>>>> for wallpaper.
>>>>
>>>> http://tinyurl.com/2lcvwm
>>>
>>> It must be frustrating working for Microsoft now, where really, all you
>>> get to do is copy what's already out there.
>>
>> You mean how this animated desktop that was just released (or possibly
>> released in 2002) is a cheap knock-off of Active Desktop which Microsoft
>> released in 1997.
>>
>> Yet another example of OSS "innovation" where they shamelessly copy existing
>> Microsoft technology. I just can't wait to see the next version of
>> open-office where OSS will "innovate" the ribbon bar that MS-Office 2007
>> has.
>>
>
> 1997? X-windows-system had a changeable root-window years before that.
> It must be frustrating working for Microsoft, where all you get to do is
> copy what's out there.
>
Erm...what exactly does this mean?
[1] Changing the root window background? xv was able to do that
in the late 80's. xsetroot was able to change the colors
since X's inception, presumably; the stipple pattern of
course is merely the default when X first fires up.
Programming this is almost trivial, though not all that
useful in modern environments -- mostly because Nautilus
and Konqueror cover things up.
[2] Putting something else on top of the root window,
as a borderless extension a la Nautilus? This doesn't
quite count but does do the job visually.
[3] Instructing X to change its root window to an application
specified one? I'm not aware of this one.
[4] Hijacking events meant for the root window? This is
done routinely by window managers, who can draw
things thereon should they wish to. Of course, so
can anyone else, if they take some care and no one
else gets in the way -- and only one application
can register for such things as Expose events,
if I'm not totally mistaken. Certainly I cannot
register for ButtonPress events if twm is running.
Nautilus spits out some mildly interesting diagnostics
relating to _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS and _NET_WORKAREA
on an X server running no window manager at all.
Interestingly, I *can* register for ButtonPress if
Nautilus is running, but I get no events.
(Note: the application cannot depend on an Expose event
upon first invoke.)
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
Linux. Because vaporware only goes so far.
Ofc. Michael Clayton
"The Ghost In The Machine" <ew...@sirius.tg00suus7038.net> wrote in message
news:8ljas4-...@sirius.tg00suus7038.net...
It means he's trying to move the goal-posts once again. This big [NEWS]
article was about some completely useless feature where desktop wallpaper
can be animated. About as useful as all those stupid animated icons on
websites. But I digress.
The claim was that some distro that was just released beats Vista in
delivering this worthless features - as if it's something to crow about. The
FACT is that Microsoft shipped "Active Desktop" in early 1997 with betas
being available in 1996. So this Kent troll moves the goalposts by changing
the argument from "Linux had this feature" to "X-Windows had this feature."
Which means that Linux is once again "innovating" what both X-Windows and
Microsoft Windows had over a decade ago.
chrisv
>It means he's trying to
*plonk*
The Ghost In The Machine
<cla...@moon.net>
wrote
on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:05:44 -0400
<46f29c6a$0$25455$8826...@free.teranews.com>:
Windows has already innovated this in 1995-1996 -- Active
Backdrop or Active Background, as you mention below.
The animation could be implemented in a number of ways,
though I'm not sure when Flash was first available.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Desktop
stipulates that Windows continues to innovate by replacing
Active Desktop with Windows Sidebar. There is also
a Channel Definition Format. There is also a search form
provided by Wiki that can go directly to the Vista desktop.
Linux does not have this capability.
Gnome does not have this capability.
KDE does not have this capability.
Motif does not have this capability.
X Intrinsics does not have this capability.
X does not have this capability. [*]
>
> The claim was that some distro that was just released
> beats Vista in delivering this worthless features - as
> if it's something to crow about. The FACT is that Microsoft
> shipped "Active Desktop" in early 1997 with betas
> being available in 1996. So this Kent troll moves the goalposts
> by changing the argument from "Linux had this feature" to
> "X-Windows had this feature."
X Windows has *NEVER* had this feature (and never will;
it is implemented above the base level). At best, X
allows for certain hooks -- drawing on the root window
is trivial, for example. Presumably, a variant of Active
Desktop could be implemented by minor code modifications
to Mozilla Firefox (which does have a Fullscreen mode,
but that's not the same), but it wouldn't work very well
on a modern Gnome affair, mostly because Nautilus gets in
the way. KDE has similar issues with Konqueror.
> Which means that Linux is once again "innovating" what both X-Windows and
> Microsoft Windows had over a decade ago.
>
Correct, though the innovation was distributed through
IE4 -- a minor point at most.
[*] Linux distros are inherently layered, with Linux
handling device drivers allowing X to hook in; X
handles the graphics allowing other things to hook in;
Gnome and KDE implement/package widget sets (GTK/GDK
and Qt) and surrounding utilities/environments/tools.
Windows has a similar but somewhat less visible
layering.
Note that QT and GTK/GDK do not use Intrinsics.
There is the possibility of coding up a Gnome panel
applet (I've done some research in the past regarding
such) but do not know if anyone's followed through
therewith. It would be nowhere near as convenient
as the Vista HTML form declaration.
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
/dev/brain: Permission denied
The Ghost In The Machine
<mark...@demon.co.uk>
wrote
on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:47:08 +0100
<s7aas4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk>:
>>
>> "Mark Kent" <mark...@demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:frn1s4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk...
>>> graeme <www.ril...@no.spam.wanted> espoused:
>>>> MS released a Vista Ultimate "Extra" called DreamScene - it loops a movie
>>>> for wallpaper.
>>>>
>>>> http://tinyurl.com/2lcvwm
>>>
>>> It must be frustrating working for Microsoft now, where really, all you
>>> get to do is copy what's already out there.
>>
>> You mean how this animated desktop that was just released (or possibly
>> released in 2002) is a cheap knock-off of Active Desktop which Microsoft
>> released in 1997.
>>
>> Yet another example of OSS "innovation" where they shamelessly copy existing
>> Microsoft technology. I just can't wait to see the next version of
>> open-office where OSS will "innovate" the ribbon bar that MS-Office 2007
>> has.
>>
>
> 1997? X-windows-system had a changeable root-window years before that.
> It must be frustrating working for Microsoft, where all you get to do is
> copy what's out there.
>
As a second note: Amiga was more innovative than X
in this regard; a screen could hold multiple backdrop
windows (though the subsequent ones were invisible, being
covered up -- multiple backdrops is not all that useful a
capability, really, though multiple screens were, as one
could drag them around), and these were, apart from the
border, full-fledged windows capable of having requesters,
gadgets, and events [*]. (In Amiga, like in Windows,
there was no concept of a window manager; windows were
expected to decorate themselves with provided bordering
specifications, though a specialized title bar and sizing
flag trapped mouse events and handled resizing.)
In X the window manager has to get involved, and I'd
have to research the details (it may differ within Qt
and Gtk/Gdk); in Amiga Intuition this was automatic (or,
more precisely, Intuition handled most of the details).
(Windows, of course, has its own ideas, which I'd have
to research. Most likely IE manages the backdrop;
certainly the few times IE dies on Windows XP, the
backdrop gets munged up, then redrawn as IE restarts.
I could probably replace that backdrop with SOL.EXE,
if I really wanted to...certainly Andrew Schullman was
able to in Win95.)
Granted, someone's engineered something in X to achieve
much the same effect; Nautilus in particular will draw
on the root window (or something in lieu thereof) and
handle mouse events, with or without a window manager.
However, such are implementation details; the sad fact
is that Windows came out with this second (after Amiga,
which is now dead), well before anything on X did.
The best X could do in the early 1990s time frame was a
static picture, since no tools were courageous enough to
hijack the root except for the window managers -- and no
window managers had HTML interpretation code back then.
(AFAIK, they still don't.)
[*] the official Amiga names. Nowadays one might call
them dialog boxes, controls, and signals (in GTK/GDK),
though X does have the notion of an event -- a
lower-level concept for such things as keypresses,
exposure, and mouse clicks.
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
Useless C++ Programming Idea #992398129:
void f(unsigned u) { if(u < 0) ... }
Mark Kent
The claim was regarding playing videos in the background in Windows
Vista. It's been possible to render images in the X root window for as
long as I can remember, just like this:
$ display -window root animage.jpeg
So, in order to display a video in the root window, you split it into
jpegs, store them in a directory (here called ~/pix), and then do this:
$ for i in ~/pix/*; do display -window root $i; done
This will display video in the root window at the fastest frame-rate
which the machine can render. To keep the speed up, you use the lowest
resolution jpegs, and you can tailor display's rendering methods to make
them as quick as possible.
As I said above, it must be dreadful being at Microsoft trying to copy
this stuff years after it's been available on linux.
Similarly, if you want to render web pages, then use wget to get the
pages, htmldoc to convert to pdfs, convert to make jpegs out of them,
and the script above to render them on the root window. You do this:
$ wget -p --convert-links www.bt.com
$ htmldoc --continuous -f index.pdf index.html
$ display -window root index.pdf
And there you have it. Put it in a script, update it every however you
like, or crontab it, or whatever you want. You have a "live" or
"active" desktop.
Here's a "real" example, put this in a text file call "active-destop":
cd ~/liveweb
rm -r news.bbc.co.uk
wget -p --convert-links news.bbc.co.uk
cd news.bbc.co.uk
htmldoc --continuous -f index.pdf index.html
display -window root index.pdf
Make the directory called ~/liveweb, and store this baby script in it.
do:
$ sh active-desktop
And lo, you'll have the BBC news front page as your root window. If you
want to update it every so often, start it with this command line (you
need to be in the directory ~/liveweb for it to work!)
$ while true; do sh ./active-desktop; sleep 120; done
This will update the page every 2 minutes, thus you have a real active
desktop.
The wonderful thing with the whole unix design is that it's modularity
and flexibility allows you to do pretty much anything. If you want to
get really cute, you could write a baby script which plays a jpeg-based
video animation on your root window for 5 minutes, and then displays a
web page for a few minutes, and so on. All this, using standard tools,
without even needing to start up a compiler.
Obviously, programmes like htmldoc and wget have all manner of options
which can be used to optimise the rendering. I leave you to read the
man pages as you wish.
Mark Kent
See my other posting on this. The display programme can render anything
on the root window in X, which means that you can display videos,
web-pages, or anything else. I included a couple of simple shell scripts
as proof of concept, and am right now, here, looking at the BBC News
pages being rendered on my root window every couple of minutes, as an
"active desktop", just using a few simple unix commands.
Roy Schestowitz
You can use the versatile ImageMagick library to achieve a lot more. Here's my
10-minutes cron:
#!/bin/sh
export DISPLAY=:0.0
# set display (to make cron job work)
###################################
# Get current virtual desktop
import -window root ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
# capture display
mogrify -resize 25% -border 3 ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
# save to temporary file so as to avoid full-sized
# image from being public for a second
convert ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
20 -fill gray -stro
ke white -draw "text 40,20 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
convert ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
20 -fill darkblue -
stroke blue -draw "text 42,22 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
cp ~/public_html/screen.jpeg ~/public_html/screen-previous.jpeg
# save the previous screenshot
mv ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg ~/public_html/screen.jpeg
# below are bits that write information to a simple text file
###################################
# Grab pager with 8 virtual desktops
import -window root -crop 1085x200+2738+1270 ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
# save to temporary file (unneeded)
mogrify -resize 75% -border 3 ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
convert ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
16 -fill black -stro
ke black -draw "text 205,18 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
convert ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
16 -fill white -stro
ke blue -draw "text 206,19 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
cp ~/public_html/pager.jpeg ~/public_html/pager-previous.jpeg
# save the previous pager screenshot
mv ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg ~/public_html/pager.jpeg
# below are bits that write information to a simple text file
--
~~ Best of wishes
Charity: compensating for a broken system rather than actually fixing it
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Mem: 515500k total, 444484k used, 71016k free, 1296k buffers
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
Roy Schestowitz
Could do a quick GTK/Qt GUI within hours to wrap up this little scripts, sort
out the dependency and put it up on a repo. Voila! KDE/GNOME have Active
Desktop right there for point-and-clickers. Modularity pays off. Development
is fast and the outcome robust.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Open the Gate$ to Hell
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Load average (/proc/loadavg): 1.07 0.76 0.69 3/142 28550
Mark Kent
A good set of stuff! Note thought that "display" above *is* part of
imagemagick!
while true
do {
cd ~/liveweb
rm -r news.bbc.co.uk
wget -p --convert-links news.bbc.co.uk
cd news.bbc.co.uk
htmldoc --right 20 --left 20 --size 720x900 --no-compression --fontsize 16 --charset iso8859-1 --embedfonts --fontspacing 1.2 --bodycolor grey --textfont times --bodyfont helvetica --header 0 --footer 0 --format pdf13 --jpeg 0 --color --webpage -f index.pdf index.html
convert index.pdf index.jpg
montage index-{0,1}.jpg -frame 10 -geometry 720x900+5+5 montage.jpg
display -window root montage.jpg
}
sleep 120
done
This puts the two pages of the BBC news site onto my desktop root
window, side by side, with some nice borders around them. It's quite
neat!
Mark Kent
I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult to have konqueror or
firefox/iceweasel render directly onto the root window anyway, although
I've not looked at that. I don't think that X does anything
particularly special with the root window, in fact, it does almost
nothing with it, I think!
As you say, the value of modularity is this kind of flexibility.
The Ghost In The Machine
<h80ds4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk>:
> The Ghost In The Machine <ew...@sirius.tg00suus7038.net> espoused:
>> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Mark Kent
>><mark...@demon.co.uk>
>> wrote
>><2hmcs4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk>:
>> it suffers a bit from having to go through two rendering
>> filters. But xv was able to draw to the root in the late
>> 80's, though I'm not sure how command-line oriented it was.
>
> Well, yeah, I confess, I like simple :-)) I'm using htmldoc to render
> the web-pages, which is pretty good, although I don't think that the
> rendering engine is up to the levels of a Firefox or Konqueror. Perhaps
> in due course it will improve. Nevertheless, it's more than readable,
> and I'm quite enjoying having this "up to date" webpage on my root
> window. I'm considering doing some more tailoring to have it swing
> around different pages like Page 152 of the BBC CEEFAX service does,
> where it works like a news-ticker through all the main pages.
>
>>
>> In any event the root window is wrappable easily enough;
>> it's just a Window, after all. I'd have to look to see
>> what Gtk/Gdk does in that area but suspect it's already
>> wrapped.
>>
>
> I don't know, and I suspect you're much better qualified than I am to
> comment on it anyway.
>
What's that, sonny???! *whips out tin ear* I didn't hear you!
:-)
Anyway, turns out there's media-gfx/xv in Gentoo. This was
the tool I was referring to. One wonders if John Bradley
is still around... :-)
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
Useless C/C++ Programming Idea #11823822:
signal(SIGKILL, catchkill);
Roy Schestowitz
> The Ghost In The Machine <ew...@sirius.tg00suus7038.net> espoused:
>> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Mark Kent
>><mark...@demon.co.uk>
>> wrote
>> on Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:29:06 +0100
>><2hmcs4-...@ellandroad.demon.co.uk>:
>> Now that I see the solution it is rather obvious; however,
>> it suffers a bit from having to go through two rendering
>> filters. But xv was able to draw to the root in the late
>> 80's, though I'm not sure how command-line oriented it was.
>
> Well, yeah, I confess, I like simple :-)) I'm using htmldoc to render
> the web-pages, which is pretty good, although I don't think that the
> rendering engine is up to the levels of a Firefox or Konqueror. Perhaps
> in due course it will improve. Nevertheless, it's more than readable,
> and I'm quite enjoying having this "up to date" webpage on my root
> window. I'm considering doing some more tailoring to have it swing
> around different pages like Page 152 of the BBC CEEFAX service does,
> where it works like a news-ticker through all the main pages.
>
>>
>> In any event the root window is wrappable easily enough;
>> it's just a Window, after all. I'd have to look to see
>> what Gtk/Gdk does in that area but suspect it's already
>> wrapped.
>>
>
> I don't know, and I suspect you're much better qualified than I am to
> comment on it anyway.
Also see khtml2png. It's on SourceForge, IIRC. It was handy for acquiring
screenshots or emulating stuff for site compatibility testing. There's also
browsershots, but it's a Web service, not a native executable.
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[H]omer
[snip script]
> This puts the two pages of the BBC news site onto my desktop root
> window, side by side, with some nice borders around them. It's quite
> neat!
Interesting use of ImageMagick!
I wonder if it might be possible to use KHTML/Gecko to render a live
Webpage to the root window too.
--
K.
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[H]omer
> I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult to have konqueror or
> firefox/iceweasel render directly onto the root window anyway
Deja vu. I just asked that question 30 seconds before reading this ;)
--
K.
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Mark Kent
Actually, I realised when I went digging into KDE that it has some kind
of support built-in, almost certainly using Konq, to do this anyway.
Still, it was great fun doing it the modular Unix way, particularly
since this would work whether one were using KDE or not. Anyway, if you
want to do it the KDE way, you need to r-clk on the background, choose
configure desktop, select "advanced options" from the "background" menu,
r-clk on the "use these programmes" button, then select "kdewebdesktop".
Choose "modify" to put the URL of choice in, and then press all the
"okay" buttons, and lo, you have an "active desktop".
Mark Kent
> Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
>
>> I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult to have konqueror or
>> firefox/iceweasel render directly onto the root window anyway
>
> Deja vu. I just asked that question 30 seconds before reading this ;)
>
Hehe - see my other reply to Roy. There's "kdewebdesktop" which does
precisely this. Works a treat.
Mark Kent
> [H]omer <sp...@uce.gov> espoused:
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
>>
>>> I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult to have konqueror or
>>> firefox/iceweasel render directly onto the root window anyway
>>
>> Deja vu. I just asked that question 30 seconds before reading this ;)
>>
>
> Hehe - see my other reply to Roy. There's "kdewebdesktop" which does
> precisely this. Works a treat.
>
A quick check of the mplayer man-page shows how difficult it is to play
films on the root window:
$ mplayer -vo xv -rootwin film.avi
Ah, linux - so many ways.
Roy Schestowitz
> [H]omer <sp...@uce.gov> espoused:
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
>>
>>> I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult to have konqueror or
>>> firefox/iceweasel render directly onto the root window anyway
>>
>> Deja vu. I just asked that question 30 seconds before reading this ;)
>>
>
> Hehe - see my other reply to Roy. There's "kdewebdesktop" which does
> precisely this. Works a treat.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
kdewebdesktop, I presume, not the BillBC.
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Roy Schestowitz
> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
The KDE workspace/wallpaper is already treated as though it's a file browser
(Konqueror), with a few differences though.
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Mark Kent
> ____/ Mark Kent on Saturday 22 September 2007 07:55 : \____
>
>> [H]omer <sp...@uce.gov> espoused:
>>> Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
>>>
>>>> I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult to have konqueror or
>>>> firefox/iceweasel render directly onto the root window anyway
>>>
>>> Deja vu. I just asked that question 30 seconds before reading this ;)
>>>
>>
>> Hehe - see my other reply to Roy. There's "kdewebdesktop" which does
>> precisely this. Works a treat.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> kdewebdesktop, I presume, not the BillBC.
>
Quite. I spelt it wrongly, by the way, it's kwebdesktop.
Roy Schestowitz
> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> ____/ Mark Kent on Saturday 22 September 2007 07:55 : \____
>>
>>> [H]omer <sp...@uce.gov> espoused:
>>>> Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
>>>>
>>>>> I suspect it wouldn't be all that difficult to have konqueror or
>>>>> firefox/iceweasel render directly onto the root window anyway
>>>>
>>>> Deja vu. I just asked that question 30 seconds before reading this ;)
>>>>
>>>
>>> Hehe - see my other reply to Roy. There's "kdewebdesktop" which does
>>> precisely this. Works a treat.
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> kdewebdesktop, I presume, not the BillBC.
>>
>
> Quite. I spelt it wrongly, by the way, it's kwebdesktop.
>
KDE 4 will support animated wallpapers without the complexity and weight of
such component. Plasma will, in general, be a very exciting technology. The
whole look and feel will be merely a layered and compartmentalised element, so
you could easily replace Plasma with another theme (think of Aero being
changed, or even a DE). This gives room for future extensions by 'third
parties' (no such thing in Linux really).
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