Creating Slideshow Wallpapers in Linux

[ph0bYx]

Hello all.
I really like slideshow wallpapers and I decided to make myself one. Turns out you can do it really easily WITHOUT a GUI program. So lets get started!


Note: I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 but I'm pretty sure it will work on any distro
I'm sure you all know about the cosmos wallpaper slideshow that comes with installation. Here's how the folder for that slideshow looks like:


For creating our slideshow we'll need images and an .xml. You can keep those wherever you want but for the purpose of this tutorial and because I like organization will do it in one folder.
OK, so this is how my test slideshow folder looks like:


And here's the necessary code in the .xml file:

Code: Select all

<background>

	<starttime>
		<year>2012</year>
		<month>01</month>
		<day>01</day>
		<hour>00</hour>
		<minute>00</minute>
		<second>00</second>
	</starttime>
	
	
	
	<static>
		<duration>10.0</duration>
		<file>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/3F2BF211661A-9.jpg</file>
	</static>
	
	<transition>
		<duration>1.0</duration>
		<from>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/3F2BF211661A-9.jpg</from>
		<to>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/0000037-2650.jpg</to>
	</transition>
	
	
	
	
	<static>
		<duration>10.0</duration>
		<file>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/0000037-2650.jpg</file>
	</static>
	
	<transition>
		<duration>1.0</duration>
		<from>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/0000037-2650.jpg</from>
		<to>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/52lhopt.jpg</to>
	</transition>
	
	
	
	
	<static>
		<duration>10.0</duration>
		<file>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/52lhopt.jpg</file>
	</static>
	
	<transition>
		<duration>1.0</duration>
		<from>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/52lhopt.jpg</from>
		<to>/home/vedran/Pictures/Wallpapers/3F2BF211661A-9.jpg</to>
	</transition>
	
	
	
</background>

The 'starttime' part is supposedly when the slideshow should start. However in my test I put the year 2013 and the slideshow started nonetheless. Also now I tested without that part and still works, I have no idea why it's included in the cosmos slideshow. But that's not that important, the important parts are the static and transition.
In the <static> part you put the location of one of the wallpapers and the duration for how long it will stay on the background.
In the <transition> part you put the duration for how long the transition will last, from which wallpaper it will transit to which one (obviously from the upper static to the next one).

And that's pretty much it. It's important that you start with a static form > transit from the already static to the next one > make the next one static and so on. Make sure that the last transition is from the last static image to the first one in order to create a loop.
The duration times are in seconds, I used very short time spans for testing purposes, you should adjust them to your own preferences.

Last but not least, right click somewhere on your desktop, select "change desktop background" and drag and drop the .xml file in the backgrounds tab in order to select the slideshow.

That's it. All very much straightforward, but if you have any questions feel free to ask them.

Happy slideshowing!

[bad_brain]

good one! moved.