Did you ever dream about Matrix Desktop? A desktop where you could use your screensaver as your desktop wallpaper? Today I’m going to show you a way how you can achieve this effect in Linux, especially when you use Gnome as your desktop environment:
1. The first step we need to take is turn off Nautilus which draws the current desktop and icons in Gnome:
gconftool-2 --type bool --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop false
2. Next we need to turn up xscreensaver and its ‘glmatrix’ screensaver (nice Matrix movie like screensaver) in the root window (in the desktop):
/usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root
3. Congratulations! That’s all 
4. Optional: If you would like to start the animation whenever you log in, then create a file “~/.config/autostart/glmatrix.desktop” with the following content:
[Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Encoding=UTF-8 Name=No name Name[en_IN]=Desktop matrix Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
After you would like to get back to your previous desktop, just insert the following on the command line (ElecBoy thanks for that):
gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true && nautilus
When all steps are successfully done we should expect something like this:
Too sick
Great post.
Cool, but kinda useless without desktop icons, IMHO.
this applies to most of the xscreensaver screen savers. If you really need a matrix background xmatrix is much more cpu-friendly.
(Also, your input fields are REALLY badly styled, try this form with a dark theme)
Those of you on a mac can do the same thing by downloading Wallsaver @ http://www.nwwnetwork.net/wallsaver
how can you do this in KDE?
note for fedora 7 x86_64 and potentially other users, replace /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix with:
/usr/libexec/xscreensaver/glmatrix
minor change, but yeah
Very nice.
Cool, but couldn’t you just use an animated gif as you background image? I’m pretty sure it would still work and since it’s animated it would look the same, and probably use less resources?
Hi All,
You can run arbitrary video in a loop on the root canvas via:
mplayer -zoom -fs -rootwin -loop 0 /var/tmp/troon-2007-08-09-13\:12.avi
Enjoy,
Doug
How much of an impact does this have on the system’s performance if any? Would try it out myself, but am at work right now, and we are stuck with XP boxes here.
You sure this process is reversable ?
That’s nice. You might also be interested in a bunch of other background hacks, including tricks with bggen, ImageMagick, xaos, and xlock for just about any screensaver in the background.
So how do i unbreak what i just did?
Le Sigh.
i wish there was something like this for osx.
I’ve lost my desktop items! Basically, the desktop doesn’t display the contents of the desktop folder anymore after applying this hack…then removing it.
Any ideas how to get them back?
Twas pretty cool though!
What if you’re running beryl as a window manager?
For those who use OSX you can use “xBack”. It’s a performance drain (as it probably is in linux aswell), but if you can afford it, it’s pretty!
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/11202
In KDE go to desktop properties > Behavior > Show icons on desktop [disable]. Next run: /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root
If you want Autostart, go to ~/.kde/Autostart/ and create file named glmatrix.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
PS. You could also try with the icons enabled, but I have them off anyway…
PPS. This doesn’t need compositing enabled!
How about instructions on how to do this on Windows? I never understood why someone wouldn’t / couldn’t do like a fish tank as a desktop / screen saver?
How about vista or xp?
Will this work with any WM? What should i do to redraw the icons?
Can you do this in windows?
Seems great, but may distract user’s attension if used frequently
Very nice. But how to revert to normal settings. Just issuing:
gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true
does’nt work for me.
Is there a way to do this with Windows XP?
Very cool,
ANy tips on how to get this to work with compiz-fusion?
I’d love to have them both enabled, but the -root window doesn;t seem to exist with the beryl window manager.
Great tip. I’m definitely going to try this out.
I found how to revert the changes, just reset the boolean to ‘true’ and restart nautilus:
gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true
nautilus &
awsome..is it possible in windows !?
There are screen savers that are of fish tanks. ~M
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article o.us poetry, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
i cant get my icons back, please post solution
[...] 你可以点击这里去原文看看动态截图。 [...]
No way to do it with XP that I’ve ever heard of.
I have wondered it it would ever be possible to use an animated gif as a background…
THAT would be really sweet.
for Windows people, they can try running a video(in a loop) on VLC , and change the Video settings to Wallpaper . It looks far cooler than this..
For those who want their icons back: Simply restart the session by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Backspace. Caution: All unsaved work should be saved before or it will be lost.
For those who used the optional method: Simply delete the created file and restart the session as described above.
[...] The howto is here. [...]
@ bashkim
for Windows: http://zmatrix.sourceforge.net/
In the original post I did added the instructions to remove the effects and get the icons back.
http://blog.prashanthellina.com/2007/08/22/matrix-desktop/
ElecBoy: Thanks for letting us know!
Also thanks to all for your comments!
Hey Erik add the Remove Command to the post.
gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true && nautilus
[...] The howto is here. [...]
Looks like this feature is anyways possible in windowsXp home edition. I tries setting a gif file as wallpaper and it actually animated as the wallpaper. Although the sytem went a little slow but yes you can do the same stuff in WXPHE
Hmmmm. Not a good idea in Gutsy Herd 5. Can only regain desktop background but not icons…… Even rebooted….
Doh. I O I O searching google I go….
Not a good idea in 7.04 either, icons don’t come back.
Yeah, sudo gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true && nautilus worked perfect for me.
any console that can be transparent with the screen saver bellow ?
and with nautilus desktop rendering disabled
gnome is loading faster (same speed as xfce for example)
so who needs nautilus back
The problem with the restore script (line) is that the syntax is slightly wrong. It should be –type and –set (that’s dash dash).
The comment post box turns dash dash to one long dash, as I’ve just found
I’m not really fussed by by having no Desktop Icons. First time I’ve even looked in the last 3 days. But most Windows migraters would be lost like a Blind Man in a desert. Come Oct 10th I’ll be going clean Gutsy final anyway.
Fixing the joined dashes in the command still doesn’t bring the Icons back. A bit of a warming/disclaimer at the the top of this blog would we good.
Oh. Fixing the dashes does work to restore Icons for Gutsy Herd 5. Just requires a reboot, instead of refiring nautilus or restarting the X server.
@ ~M
… ur point?
Thanks for nothing! Tried all of the “solutions” in here: dashes, no dashes, double dashes, restarted X, restarted the whole system, etc. Nothing!!! My desktop icons are lost. I run the command, the home/username folder appears, and that`s it. I click X to close it, the command in the terminal ends, and that`s it! No icons, no nothing!
That’s a great lookin hack for linux , but since i dont use linux as desktop i’m gonna have to wait or try to search a windows version , maybe someone made something like this for windows
There is only one program I’ve ever found that will do this in Windows. It’s called Drempels:
http://www.geisswerks.com/drempels/index.html
It’s written by the guy who wrote the Geiss visualization plugin included in older versions of Winamp (1.x/2.x).
I’ve run it and it’s pretty cool (but not terribly cpu-friendly).
Nice to see the paradigm of the linux user base shifting with the advent of newbie friendly distros (i.e. Ubuntu). Now we have a bunch of morons like Terriblous showing up in blogs and irc channels wanting their hands held for every little thing. Note to newbies: If you’re unwilling to read and/or incapable of learning I suggest you stay with what you know. To the rest of you that do have a brain and are just starting out, welcome to the community and happy learning. :>
Although not the same thing, I’ve posted something similar (transparent console as desktop) on my site – might be something else to try out.
This stuffed up my whole desktop. I did the restoring command and now it’s like an image over my real desktop. What do i do???
@Raf:
Did you remember to remove the .desktop file that you created in “~/.config/autostart/” ?
In windows XP you can use a little thing called Active Desktop and set your wallpaper to a web site.
Right now I’ve got one of my displays set to
http://mrdoob.com/lab/pv3d/dof/05/
and the other is using a static image ..
You can use Active Desktop on a system with more than one display to display two different images as wallpaper…
[...] read more | digg story [...]
im using feisty whth beryl active and i have tried this and my icons were gone to but u can get them back whith the comand line given by the autor just dont use sudo whit it try simpli the comand line as it is and whit double dashes before “type” and “set”
$ gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true && nautilus
double dash ( – - ) before “type” and “set”
hope this can help cherrs
OMG OMG I FIGURED OUT HOW TO HAVE YOUR ICONS BACK!!!!!!!!!
when that window comes up when after running
gconftool-2 -s /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop -t bool true && nautilus
you navigate to the desktop folder and drag all the icons into the terminal window and then close the other window that came up
hope this works for everyone else!!!
If you really need icons then try iDesk
But if you were using a nice WM like fluxbox you wouldnt need icons. lol.
Add compiz fusion and you get the best desktop man ever created
WinXP/2k, 98, ME…. anything you can do as a web page can be a background… including an Animated FLASH Matrix movie…. About 6 years ago I told people how to create an animated desktop using flash, simple HTML embedding and the standard Windows Desktop properties…
I’ve since stopped playing with flash and don’t host any animate wallpapers, but I can give you a couple of hints on how to do it.
1. Create (or acquire) a nice flash animation that you like.
2. Embed it in a simple web page without constraining it to any size.
3. If you have a server go ahead and host it yourself and you can pull it down anywhere.
4. Right click the desktop, hit properties, go to the Desktop Tab and click “Customize Desktop”. Hit the Web tab and point it at your flash page…
5. Hit OK, OK and then yell at everyone to come see how cool you are…
You will have some issues with a blank bar on the left (color match it to your background)… cool things for animation geeks… make icons that run away and explode…
There was a way to do this with a WinAmp plug-in.
First, set your background to None.
Open winamp, and goto the vis plugins.
Start AVS, double click the vis window, then settings -> display.
Check the box that says Overlay and Set Desktop to Color,
then you should be good to go
your background now moves to your music, or you could just set a different preset that doesn’t use a whole lot of music and that should work as well. BTW I’m using winamp v2.91, not sure how well it works in winamp v5.xx
To unbreak this:
killall -9 nautilus
then
gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true && nautilus
Actually I just created two scripts to do it for me:
matrixstart:
#!/bin/sh
gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop false
/usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root
exit 0
matrixstop:
#!/bin/sh
killall -9 nautilus
killall -9 glmatrix
gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop true && nautilus
exit 0
There, it can now get no easier.
> killall -9 nautilus
> killall -9 glmatrix
“killall -9″ is like shooting the process in his neck. You should always tell him to die with a simple “killall”, or explicitly with “killall -15″. Nautilus and glmatrix will kindly commit suicide.
cu, Stefan.
on my old Windows XP System the freeware XPScene does the trick. It runs original DreamScene videos as looped wallpapers on XP.