Is there an android-like live wallpaper for unity?

Question

Is there any program which can run a 'live wallpaper' like the ones in Android? I've searched quite a bit but haven't found anything usable yet. anibg looks promising, but it is not working in 11.10.

Answer 1

You can use a video file or a screensaver as your wallpaper with VDesk, which can be downloaded here: http://www.gnome-look.org/CONTENT/content-files/141678-VDesk_1.3.zip.

Just download the file, extract it, open a terminal window, cd to the folder where you extracted the archive, and run sudo ./installer && ./VDesk.
Next you'll get a very simple wizard which allows you to use a video file or a screensaver as your wallpaper.

Answer 2

1. Enlightenment (window manager) supports animated backgrounds. Those are quite heavy on the CPU though. http://www.enlightenment.org/

2. Conky can be set up so that it draws images over the current bg. Official: http://conky.sourceforge.net/ Nice examples: http://pieter.blinkenshell.org/blog/?tag=conky

3. Xplanetfx is also a choice (it's a gui that controls xplanet). This is limited to rendering planet, but it's quite easy to use with the gui. http://mein-neues-blog.de/xplanetfx/

Answer 3

Animated backgrounds are already supported and Ubuntu already ships with some example of wallpapers that change through the day. The only thing missing (as far as I know) is a tool to create such wallpapers.

You can find an example in /usr/share/backgrounds/contest/background-1.xml.

Answer 4

FOR UBUNTU 11.04

You can try this Compiz plugin which simulates Android's Galaxy Live Wallpaper (instructions from this OMG! Ubuntu article):

Install

Installing the plugin is relatively straightforward. The instructions below assume you already have Compiz and the Compiz settings manager installed.

Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and enter the following two lines separately, hitting the enter key after each.

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ilap/lwp
• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install compiz-plugins-livewallpapers

Proceed to enable and configure the plugin: -

1. Right click on the Desktop and choose ‘Change Desktop Background’
2. Press the “Add” button
3. Enter “/usr/share/backgrounds” in “Location” field. Hit the return/enter key
4. Select “Space_by_ilap.jpg”
5. Press “Open” followed by “Close”

After the background is changed you need to enable the “Galaxy Live Wallpaper” plugin via the CompizConfig Settings Manager. Launch it from:

**Systems -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager**

The Compiz Configuration Settings Manager window will open. In the left-hand side pane select “Live Wallpapers” and check/enable ‘Galaxy Live Wallpaper’.

Toggle the live galaxy effect by pressing the “Super” (Windows logo button) and F4 keys in unison.

Galaxy Live Wallpaper in action

You can delve in the live wallpaper settings accessible through the CompizConfig Settings Manager to further tweak how the wallpaper behaves.