• Registered: 2010-09-04
  • Posts: 5

Topic: Color Switch Wallpaper

Ich found this nice wallpapers on gnome-look.org:
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/ … ent=125081

For me they fit perfectly to openbox: simple and elegant.
I thought it woud be a good idea to use the transparent one with a script that changes the backgound color regularly (for example every 5 min).
And here is how my solution looks like:

http://ompldr.org/vNWkxbA/2010-09-10--1284081346_1900x1093_scrot.png
http://ompldr.org/vNWkxbQ/2010-09-10--1284081362_1901x1100_scrot.png
http://ompldr.org/vNWkxbg/2010-09-10--1284081380_1904x1102_scrot.png

Instruction:

1) install hsetroot: sudo aptitude install hsetroot
2) Download the transparent wallpaper (thx to alltiptop):
http://gnome-look.org/content/download. … n=30306014
3) Download my color_switch.tar.gz:
http://ompldr.org/vNWkyMQ/color_switch.tar.gz
4) Extract the files wherever you want.
5) Edit line15 in color_switch.sh:
    - /PATH/TO/WALLPAPER/openbox1.png
6) Edit line 14 in color_switch.sh for passing more or less time before switching the color (crontab is possible too) :
    - Default is 300s = 5 min
7) colors.txt is a file with a lot of hex-colors and requires not to be edited.
    - (But you can shorten the file and add only your favorite colors, i recommend gcolor2 for choosing hex-colors)
8) Run in a terminal ./color_switch.sh for a test.
9) If you like it, add it to autostart.sh

Lets talk about nitrogen:
You can remove it and let hsetroot set your wallpaper in autostart.sh: 

hsetroot -solid '#your_preferred_start_color' -full /PATH/TO/WALLPAPER/openbox1.png

Or you keep it, but then you should start nitrogen with the same wallpaper you choosed to use with hsetroot.

This is a first version of the script. A good idea is to add a start/stop functionality, but i have no idea (and time) for a solution so far. Help is welcome.

Feel free to comment, to modify the script or to post more transparent wallpapers.

And i apologize for my rusty english wink

Kriese84

Last edited by Kriese84 (2010-09-10 21:57:55)

  • From: Equarico
  • Registered: 2010-07-15
  • Posts: 716

Re: Color Switch Wallpaper

Very nice.  So smooth.

Proceed with confidence!
http://eldervlacoste.deviantart.com/
  • From: Equarico
  • Registered: 2010-07-15
  • Posts: 716

Re: Color Switch Wallpaper

I don't know what went wrong but my whole desktop just turned pink.  Not exactly MY cup of tea.  Should I set the path to the transparent wallpaper or to one of the other ones?  Any idea what I did wrong?

Proceed with confidence!
http://eldervlacoste.deviantart.com/
  • Registered: 2010-09-04
  • Posts: 5

Re: Color Switch Wallpaper

Sorry for the late replay.
Do you use Openbox or XFCE4?
I tested it only for Openbox.
You can try to run it in a terminal first:

hsetroot -solid '#000000' -full /PATH/TO/WALLPAPER/openbox1.png

Maybe your path was wrong.

If you use XFCE4: Changing the background maybe only works with gconf.
Try something like this: gconftool --type string --set /desktop/gnome/background/primary_color "#000000"

Hope it will work for you.

Greetings Kriese84

Last edited by Kriese84 (2010-09-10 21:57:45)

  • luc
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Munich, Germany
  • Registered: 2010-03-21
  • Posts: 560

Re: Color Switch Wallpaper

very nice!! i like the idea.
now on my mac there is an option to use several images for desktop background in turn, so i though i might just produce some versions of the original. therefor i have made this php script
I think it can actually work with any image file which has a transparent part so that you can see the background color later

<?php

  // usage: 
  // php  set_bg_color.php  original_file  color  output_file

  $col = $_SERVER['argv'][2];
  $src_im = imagecreatefromstring( file_get_contents( $_SERVER['argv'][1] ) );
  $src_w = imagesx( $src_im );
  $src_h = imagesy( $src_im );
  $dst_im = imagecreatetruecolor( $src_w, $src_h );
  imagefill( $dst_im, 0, 0, $col );
  imagecopy( $dst_im, $src_im, 0, 0, 0, 0, $src_w, $src_h );
  imagepng( $dst_im, $_SERVER['argv'][3] );
?>

all comments are welcome

luc

6 Reply by yt

  • yt
  • #! Member
  • Offline
  • From: Duisburg / Germany
  • Registered: 2009-06-01
  • Posts: 72

Re: Color Switch Wallpaper

Great, working fine on my netbook. But at work on a dual screen setup it isn't working correctly. hsetroot has an option called "-screens" for dual screen setups, but it isn't working for me (I found a bug report from 2006).

  • Registered: 2010-08-06
  • Posts: 15

Re: Color Switch Wallpaper

Very, very nice!!
I thought about have a color switch Debian Logo against a black background as wallpaper, how do I do that?
If you can you write a little tutorial how to make my own color switch wallpaper I would be happy big_smile big_smile

Oh, and 1 more question. Can I make the colors fade in to each other?

Last edited by hijacked (2010-09-18 11:54:31)

  • Registered: 2010-09-04
  • Posts: 5

Re: Color Switch Wallpaper

Good to hear that you like it but as i mentioned the wallpapers are not created by me and i am no big digital artist wink
I can not help you with that.
I think there a lot of GIMP tutorials and workshops online, just google for it or take a look here
http://www.gimp.org/docs/

Greetings Kriese84