Changing Desktop Background

Forum: X and Fluxbox
Topic: Changing Desktop Background
started by: Nmeumonic

Posted by Nmeumonic on Nov. 12 2004,05:07

I'm very new to Linux of all types and was wondering how you change the desktop background. I've been Windows handicapped for sooooo long.

Posted by mikshaw on Nov. 12 2004,06:04

Use bsetbg or xsri.
example: bsetbg -f /path/to/imagefile.jpg
To make it automatic, add the command to your favorite fluxbox style file or fluxbox/init

Posted by Nmeumonic on Nov. 12 2004,06:45

Well, I'm still just running the live cd for now. I was just wondering because next week I'm getting copies of Mandrake 10 and a SuSe live cd to tinker with. DSL is my first Linux experiance and I'm trying to get the feel for the way things are done. Thanks alot for the info, I'll see if I can get it to work when I install DSL on a 4gig drive I've got at the house collecting dust.

Posted by ico2 on Nov. 12 2004,14:05

another option for bsetbg: bsetbg -solid yellow, i think there is a "gradient" option but i cannot remember the syntax. :s

Posted by mikshaw on Nov. 12 2004,16:23

The gradient option is not well documented, in my opinion. I had to refer to various style files to get the proper syntax (which of course I can't currently remember).

If you're planning to use Mandrake and SuSE, you will have more options for setting backgrounds. Xsri may not be one of them (it's a redhat application), but there is Esetroot, xv, feh, xsetroot, wmsetbg to name a few, and a few wrappers --> bsetbg, bsetroot, fbsetbg.
Additionally, if you'll be trying a desktop environment such as KDE or Gnome, you'll have a gui tool with which to set backgrounds.

Posted by john73 on Nov. 13 2004,00:12

Fluxbox/Blackbox also has a GUI tool that you can use for this called Whitebox. Whitebox will set it for you. Whitebox BTW is a MY DSL extension < http://www.ibiblio.org/pub....wm_apps >

Anyhow the actual command to change/set the background is;

xsri --color=value --emblem=path to PNG or JPG --center-x --center-y

for example I want my background to be green then I would open up Bash (Xterminal) and type "xrsi --color=green" (remove the quotes)

or lets say I want a picture then I would type "xrsi --emblem=/home/john/picture.png --center-x --center-y" (The last part if you want it centered)

Anyhow you get the idea.

Posted by Caspar_s on Nov. 23 2004,02:15

Can you have different backgrounds for each uhhhhh desktop? Workspace? heh - dsl is the third dist I am trying. Redhat a couple of years ago, Ubuntu on my wife's computer, and I have Suse donwloaded, but not installed. I just like the idea of a small fast OS after windows.... Oh, and the wife had to reinstall her OS so made me download ubuntu - she's back on windows because I don't know enough about linux to get her computer up and running "normally" I run this one as a server for the music.

Cya