6 ms·

So the animated wallpaper scene on linux is pretty bizarre. There are some popular methods out there like calling `feh --fill-bg` continuously in a bash loop bu

So the animated wallpaper scene on linux is pretty bizarre. There are some popular methods out there like calling `feh --fill-bg` continuously in a bash loop but it sends your CPU usage to an astronomical 40% which drains the laptop battery pretty quickly. I couldn't find a reasonable animated desktop wallpaper setter, so I wrote a little utility in 150 lines or so in C that I call from .xinitrc to randomly pick a fairly unobtrusive desktop scene when I startx. Quick youtube showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZTiA885bWM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZTiA885bWM

0xdeadb00f 6y ago
Fantastic work!
Polylactic_acid 6y ago
Really it should be something built in to the DE. You need it to stop rendering when the background is covered.
- microcolonel 6y ago
  You can accomplish this with straight X11, no need for the DE to be aware of it.
  - pengaru 6y ago
    I don't think that's so trivial in a composited world. IIRC once upon a time you could easily get a viewable state from the X server for windows, but with compositing xorg made it basically always true.
    - cycloptic 6y ago
      In wayland it's very simple. You would use surface frame callbacks, which aren't supposed to trigger when the window is fully obscured, minimized, or off-screen on another desktop. This mechanism never seems to have made it back into composited X.
      - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
        >In wayland it's very simple This seems to be the trend
- bkor 6y ago
  GNOME has backgrounds which change over the day. That's entirely different from animated though. Reading the GNOME config file, seems the background slowly transitions (fades) from one picture to another. See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-backgrounds/-/blob/master/backgrounds/adwaita-timed.xml.in https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-backgrounds/-/blob/mast...
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jcelerier 6y ago
for animated stuff I had good results with setting mpv as background. though yours looks like it uses even less CPU, super nice :) will work wonders with https://1041uuu.tumblr.com https://1041uuu.tumblr.com stuff ! ... or at least it would, if I was seeing my desktop background once in a while
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  > ... or at least it would, if I was seeing my desktop background once in a while One of the very few reasons I miss stacking window managers:)
- jmcqk6 6y ago
  >setting mpv as background how does one do this? Just replace the Feh call with mpv?
  - jcelerier 6y ago
    mpv foo.mp4 --wid=0
- glouwbug 6y ago
  True that, MPV is solid. Paperview gives me ~3% cpu usage and ~9% GPU usage on an old x230, while MPV gives me 40% cpu usage for a similar mp4. MPV works great on desktops with mp4s, while paperview is great for laptops and battery life if 15 frame gifs are being rendered (pixel art, of course!)
IPTN 6y ago
Did you create those scenes yourself? They look fantastic.
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claudiawerner 6y ago
>There are some popular methods out there like calling `feh --fill-bg` continuously in a bash loop but it sends your CPU usage to an astronomical 40% which drains the laptop battery pretty quickly Is this true when you have a loop that sleeps for 5 minutes before calling it again? I've always set my wallpapers this way. It's also similar to what I do on Sway. The only alternative I've found is simple enough and still works is using an ad-hoc systemd timer task. Edit: nevermind, I forgot this is about animated wallpapers. I use a while loop + feh for setting a static wallpaper that changes every 5 minutes.

0xdeadb00f 6y ago

Fantastic work!

Polylactic_acid 6y ago

Really it should be something built in to the DE. You need it to stop rendering when the background is covered.

microcolonel 6y ago
You can accomplish this with straight X11, no need for the DE to be aware of it.
- pengaru 6y ago
  I don't think that's so trivial in a composited world. IIRC once upon a time you could easily get a viewable state from the X server for windows, but with compositing xorg made it basically always true.
  - cycloptic 6y ago
    In wayland it's very simple. You would use surface frame callbacks, which aren't supposed to trigger when the window is fully obscured, minimized, or off-screen on another desktop. This mechanism never seems to have made it back into composited X.
    - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
      >In wayland it's very simple This seems to be the trend
bkor 6y ago
GNOME has backgrounds which change over the day. That's entirely different from animated though. Reading the GNOME config file, seems the background slowly transitions (fades) from one picture to another. See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-backgrounds/-/blob/master/backgrounds/adwaita-timed.xml.in https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-backgrounds/-/blob/mast...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jcelerier 6y ago

for animated stuff I had good results with setting mpv as background. though yours looks like it uses even less CPU, super nice :) will work wonders with https://1041uuu.tumblr.com https://1041uuu.tumblr.com stuff ! ... or at least it would, if I was seeing my desktop background once in a while

yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
> ... or at least it would, if I was seeing my desktop background once in a while One of the very few reasons I miss stacking window managers:)
jmcqk6 6y ago
>setting mpv as background how does one do this? Just replace the Feh call with mpv?
- jcelerier 6y ago
  mpv foo.mp4 --wid=0
glouwbug 6y ago
True that, MPV is solid. Paperview gives me ~3% cpu usage and ~9% GPU usage on an old x230, while MPV gives me 40% cpu usage for a similar mp4. MPV works great on desktops with mp4s, while paperview is great for laptops and battery life if 15 frame gifs are being rendered (pixel art, of course!)

IPTN 6y ago

Did you create those scenes yourself? They look fantastic.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

claudiawerner 6y ago

>There are some popular methods out there like calling `feh --fill-bg` continuously in a bash loop but it sends your CPU usage to an astronomical 40% which drains the laptop battery pretty quickly Is this true when you have a loop that sleeps for 5 minutes before calling it again? I've always set my wallpapers this way. It's also similar to what I do on Sway. The only alternative I've found is simple enough and still works is using an ad-hoc systemd timer task. Edit: nevermind, I forgot this is about animated wallpapers. I use a while loop + feh for setting a static wallpaper that changes every 5 minutes.