Change screensaver to photo slideshow(?)

[Buntu Bunny]

I've been trying out various desktops since I installed Ubuntu 12.04; so far I'm really liking Xfce. It's logical and highly customizable. I was also delighted to find that it hadn't abandoned the screensaver. My question is, is there a way to have it do a slideshow from my picture folder? I do a lot of photography and loved this feature with the old Gnome desktop in Ubuntu 10.04. Screensaver Preferences gives me a random mode, but it's all pre-installed stuff.

[Toz]

If you are using xscreensaver, then select the GLSlideshow screensaver, click on the Advanced tab and under Image Manipulation, select "Choose Random Image" and specify the directory to use.

[OM55]

Hello Buntu Bunny (I remember you from another thread... I'm glad you were able to install Ubuntu 12.04 on your new laptop...)

Here is another option for you:

The default screensaver in Ubuntu 12.04 (gnome-screensaver) does not have the option to show user photos. But you can easily replace it with another one that does, for example XScreenSaver. Not only XScreenSaver allows you to show user photos, it has hundreds of nice screensaver options (including even one with the Windows blue-screen-of-death...).

To do that, first remove the gnome-screensaver:


sudo apt-get remove gnome-screensaverThen, install XScreenSaver with the additional data for the screensavers:


sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl-extra
Reboot, and you are done.
You can launch XScreenSaver manually by typing:


screensaverThe option to select a folder with photos is in the 'Advance' tab.

Enjoy!

[Buntu Bunny]

Toz, thanks! It worked.

OM55 (Hi! I remember you too) happily, Xfce comes with the xscreesnaver. :)

[ironscf]

):P Thanks from me too. I should have searched forum sooner. Spent hours looking for a way to display photos from Pictures directory when PC idles.

[AnTonyWmM]

I recently installed the xscreensaver, and have attempted to us GLslideshow to display photos from my Pictures folder. However, it simply goes to a black screen. I can see the pictures playing in the settings box, but when I click preview, the screen goes blank, and then a bit of orange script flashes in the upper corner of the screen momentarily, as if it can't find the directory or something.

Any insight?

Thanks,
Anthony

[Peter Maunder]

There were problems with the XSCREENSAVER slideshow picking up the picture folder as there was a missing dependency libwww-perl in some distributions. I had to download the library for one of my machines. The problem was supposed to be fixed but may still be there. I could see the preview slideshow but GLSlideshow would not find the chosen folder when XScreensaver tripped.

[AnTonyWmM]

Thanks for the info Peter!
Currently using Wallch as a desktop slideshow instead.

[Buntu Bunny]

Thanks for the info Peter!
Currently using Wallch as a desktop slideshow instead.

Is Wallch an actual screensaver? Or is the slideshow on the active desktop as a background?

[eldiabolosk]

TOZ: I do not have the you mentioned under GLSlideshow under advanced settings. All I got is Commandline: glslideshow -root
and Visual: GL

Help please.

[eldiabolosk]

TOZ: I do not have the you mentioned under GLSlideshow under advanced settings. All I got is Commandline: glslideshow -root
and Visual: GL

[Toz]

TOZ: I do not have the you mentioned under GLSlideshow under advanced settings. All I got is Commandline: glslideshow -root
and Visual: GL

Help please.

Look on the "Advanced" tab - the one next to the "Display Modes" tab on the main xscreensaver preferences window (not the button you click if you go through "Settings").

[Sky Aisling]

Peter Maunder writes:

Re: Change screensaver to photo slideshow(?)
There were problems with the XSCREENSAVER slideshow picking up the picture folder as there was a missing dependency libwww-perl in some distributions. I had to download the library for one of my machines. The problem was supposed to be fixed but may still be there. I could see the preview slideshow but GLSlideshow would not find the chosen folder when XScreensaver tripped. I've found the same issue on the download I took yesterday - Ubuntu-12.04-.1-desktop-i386.iso. The libwww-perl dependency was missing.

This site was useful:
http://useranswer.com/answer/installing-libwww-perl-on-ubuntu-12-04se/

I installed (from a terminal window) this command:


sudo apt-get install libwww-perl This solved the issue.

Note: prior to discovering the missing dependency, I had deleted the Gnome-Screensaver and installed the XScreensaver per the same instructions that OM55 gave in the above post of August 15th, 2012 11:47 AM.

[marcisim]

Hi everyboy,

I have a problem similar to that of AnTonyWmM: I removed gnome-screensaver, installe xscreensaver, selected the slideshow mode, but both in the settings box and in the preview, the application just picks up just one image and repeat it.
The images are in a directory are all in the same directory and are named with numbers (i.e.: 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg etcetc)

Thank you in advance for helping

Marcello :)

[marcisim]

Well...it seems that i fixed it. I had a suggestion from this (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xscreensaver/+bug/278941) post: by reading the documentation of xcreensaver it seems that the -pan and -duration command line options are involved in choosing the number of time we want an image appearing.

-duration seconds

How long each image will be displayed before loading a new one.
Default 30 seconds.


-pan seconds

How long each pan-and-zoom should last. Default 6 seconds.

With the default settings of -pan 6 -duration 30, each image
will be displayed five times (30/6), and then a new image will
be loaded. If you want a new image to be loaded at each fade,
then set -pan and -duration to the same value.



Therfore I went on "settings" → "advanced" and in the command line i put both values to 6 seconds (but you can choose another value) and it fixed it.

WOW!

[AndyCinDallas]

I had the right directory of images selected in GLSlideshow (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS), but they weren't showing. The below just worked for me:


Peter Maunder writes:
I've found the same issue on the download I took yesterday - Ubuntu-12.04-.1-desktop-i386.iso. The libwww-perl dependency was missing.

This site was useful:
http://useranswer.com/answer/installing-libwww-perl-on-ubuntu-12-04se/

I installed (from a terminal window) this command:


sudo apt-get install libwww-perl This solved the issue.

Note: prior to discovering the missing dependency, I had deleted the Gnome-Screensaver and installed the XScreensaver per the same instructions that OM55 gave in the above post of August 15th, 2012 11:47 AM.

As soon as I installed libwww-perl as above, my pics were visible - thank you!

[Randymanme]

I would also like to use a slideshow of my pictures folder for a screensaver, but I don't see how to do it with xscreensaver. Xscreensaver says "Directory does not exist: 'home/randall/pictures.' Please see screenshot. Well maybe not -- I don't see how to add a screenshot from my comcomputer.

What am I doing wrong? And how do I fix it?
libwww-perl is already installed.

Any help would be much appreciated.

P.S., One solution, if I could do it, would be to install mate screensaver [but I'd only want mate screensaver and only mate screensaver (not the whole mate desktop)] on Ubuntu.

[Toz]

....."Directory does not exist: 'home/randall/pictures.'.....
The default pictures folder name is Pictures (capital P). Double-check to make sure you have it spelled correctly, Linux is case sensitive.

[Randymanme]

Thank you for the suggestion, but that doesn't work either. Now I get: "Error: File does not exist /home/randall/Pictures"

[Toz]

Thank you for the suggestion, but that doesn't work either. Now I get: "Error: File does not exist /home/randall/Pictures"

Can you open a terminal window, type in the following commands, and post back the results:

ls -l /home/randall
...and

ls -l /home/randall/[Pp]ictures

[Randymanme]

Thank you for spending time with me on this. I appreciate it.


randall@randall-EL1358G:~$ ls -l /home/randall
total 186576
drwxrwxr-x 3 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 17:30 ~
drwx------ 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 14:57 black-wallpapers-NoobsLab.com
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 1351 Aug 22 13:59 compiz_backup.profile
-rwxr-xr-x 1 randall randall 20318 Aug 12 00:44 conky-builder.sh
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 22 14:44 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 25 04:21 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 23 randall randall 4096 Aug 25 13:57 Downloads
drwx------ 7 randall randall 4096 Aug 23 12:17 Dropbox
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 25 16:37 dwhelper
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 19 04:26 Educational_Vidieos
drwxrwxr-x 5 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:10 Extracted_TarBalls
drwxrwxr-x 5 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 13:47 FavoriteTVvideos
drwxr-xr-x 4 randall randall 4096 Aug 17 22:43 Fight_Films
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 786003 Aug 17 18:32 Firefox_wallpaper.png
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 14:57 FlvVideos
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 12 10:29 gymnastics
drwxrwxr-x 6 randall randall 4096 Aug 12 11:00 ISOs
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:10 JW4Sweetie
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 14:57 KindleBoobks
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 13:20 Law and Order Special Victims Unit season 4-JDmaX
drwx------ 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 19 04:13 Law and Order SVU - The Complete Season 13 [HDTV]
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 02:40 Law & Order - Criminal Intent - Season 4 Complete
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 14:21 Law&OrderS20
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 0 Aug 12 01:22 libpeerconnection.log
drwxrwxr-x 3 randall randall 4096 Aug 17 18:38 Library_downloads
drwxrwxr-x 7 randall randall 65536 Aug 19 04:22 Lisa'sDwhelper
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:10 Me4upload
drwxr-xr-x 3 randall randall 4096 Aug 19 04:29 Miscellania
drwxr-xr-x 3 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:09 MoreDownloads
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:09 motivation
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 25 16:37 Movies
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 62878 Aug 25 04:20 mozilla.pdf
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 12 00:58 Music
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:11 NeedToGetBack
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 12 11:03 Newer_UnseenVideos
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 19 04:28 newPorn
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:11 News videos
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 181706752 Aug 17 15:54 OMG GIRLZ - Performing New Single _Baddie_.mpeg
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 16:09 OtherPictures
drwxr-xr-x 4 randall randall 4096 Aug 25 03:37 Pictures
drwxrwxr-x 3 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 16:09 PicturesMqain
drwxrwxr-x 8 randall randall 4096 Aug 19 04:47 Porn
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:20 Post Install Info
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 12 00:58 Public
drwxrwxr-x 8 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:20 RetrievedDociuments
drwxrwxr-x 3 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 14:57 Safe.House.2012.DVDRiP.XviD.AC3-REFiLL
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 99647 Aug 18 04:22 Screenshot from 2013-08-18 04:21:57.png
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:13 Serious_Music
drwxr-xr-x 17 randall randall 4096 Aug 15 16:44 SomeWindowsDownloads
drwxr-xr-x 3 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:15 Sports_Videos
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:20 TarBalls
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 12 00:58 Templates
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8656 Aug 19 12:34 testdisk.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 8083456 Aug 16 18:22 The_Greenerator_Rapid_Prototype-_Residential_Green_Energy_Ge.mpeg
drwxr-xr-x 5 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:21 ThemeTarBalls
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 17 16:20 Torrents
drwxrwxr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 20 16:27 Ubuntu One
drwxr-xr-x 12 randall randall 4096 Aug 19 11:35 Videos
drwxrwxr-x 4 randall randall 4096 Aug 17 18:20 Vuze Downloads
randall@randall-EL1358G:~$
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

randall@randall-EL1358G:~$ ls -l /home/randall/[Pp]ictures
total 28044
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 53673 Feb 27 20:30 000016-CulturesSM2MalinPalm-jpg_050705.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 50337 Feb 27 20:29 00006-WildMomentsRUThomaKokta-jpg_050641.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 49740 Jan 13 2013 04-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 95208 Nov 25 2011 12300_380474477890_582742890_3890248_2414919_n.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 191488 Nov 29 2011 12b3e3eb8dc11cd21c81742b231f6640.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 149703 Feb 7 2012 144.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 44289 Jan 13 2013 16-21-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 36451 Nov 25 2011 17571_267487822890_582742890_3444833_5786249_n.jpg
drwxr-xr-x 3 randall randall 12288 Aug 23 02:23 (1) Abigeal Benson_files
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 585603 Aug 23 02:23 (1) Abigeal Benson.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 157383 Nov 29 2011 2011-11-29-024153.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 74649 Aug 14 17:24 2013-08-14-172445.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 307516 Nov 29 2011 21bec8d2423cf50eff5b36fa1f755a88.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 60786 Jan 13 2013 24B-64-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 54607 Nov 25 2011 250984_10150202066022891_582742890_7157148_7873987 _n.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 51465 Jan 13 2013 26B-66-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 46916 Jan 13 2013 33-38-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 96091 Nov 18 2012 4romAndroid 1258.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 20045 Nov 20 2012 4romAndroid 1347.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 27288 Nov 20 2012 4romAndroid 1349.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 11417 Dec 22 2012 4romAndroid 1621.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 12813 Dec 22 2012 4romAndroid 1625.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 72032 Dec 25 2012 4romAndroid 1716.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 331950 Aug 4 2012 4romAndroid 541.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 112559 Aug 10 2012 4romAndroid 544.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 90687 Aug 28 2012 4romAndroid 553.jpg
-rw------- 1 randall randall 50841 Feb 14 2012 5.1.PNG
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 176152 Mar 17 01:25 558906_453037458092511_611078973_n.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 59239 Jan 13 2013 77-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 36033 Jan 13 2013 83-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 58386 Jan 13 2013 84-WhiteHouse2012Photos_620x413.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 130237 Feb 7 2012 Beijing-China-A-square-de-011.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 683434 Nov 10 2011 beyonceAtLast.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 48985 Dec 12 2011 capt.75d9e77faac44c678c3781aceca14625-75d9e77faac44c678c3781aceca14625-0.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 35116 Dec 12 2011 capt.d18f553d00d743d4a88958e9c41877a3-d18f553d00d743d4a88958e9c41877a3-0.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 205289 Jan 10 2013 Capture2.PNG
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 3628 Nov 15 2011 certificate.png
-rw------- 1 randall randall 93075 Jun 16 2012 CheapVideoCards.PNG
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 15823 Dec 12 2011 coexist.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 40140 Apr 29 00:11 condi rice.jpeg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 167946 Nov 29 2011 d9e090a2bf91a51e784ed499581fbbdf.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 835088 Oct 10 2011 Dawes1.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 139108 Dec 26 2011 Dazesha.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 401168 Aug 25 03:37 DownloadSetup.exe
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 15543 Jul 19 2012 DwF9vJ5HMEKIy9umElyteA.jpeg
-rw------- 1 randall randall 283961 Mar 28 2012 Ella2.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 1545536 Aug 14 23:53 Firefox_wallpaper.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 12575448 Aug 23 17:40 google-talkplugin_current_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 524088 Nov 16 2012 IMAG0127.jpg
-rw------- 1 randall randall 162838 Mar 15 17:44 Image 4528.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 8975 Aug 17 18:31 images.jpeg
-rw------- 1 randall randall 91061 Jul 23 2012 i'm.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 3863 Dec 12 2011 janet1.jpeg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 41594 Apr 29 00:11 jesse&halle.jpg
-rw------- 1 randall randall 35010 Feb 11 2012 Me.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 35442 Apr 29 00:11 MJ & Janet Jackson_jpg.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 82916 Aug 17 18:30 obama-family-victory-night2.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 746971 Oct 10 2011 Prince1.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 4364 Jun 24 2012 randall.jpeg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 107406 Aug 7 17:27 Screenshot-1.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 682571 Dec 12 2011 Screenshot-5.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 2363851 Nov 24 2011 Screenshot at 2011-11-24 05_44_37.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 289908 Sep 26 2012 Screenshot at 2012-09-26 22:57:36.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 578625 Sep 26 2012 Screenshot at 2012-09-26 23:43:59.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 476768 Jul 9 21:25 Screenshot from 2013-07-09 21:25:46.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 109265 Aug 22 13:29 Screenshot from 2013-08-22 13:29:36.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 286240 Aug 23 02:24 Screenshot from 2013-08-23 02:23:56.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 145605 Aug 7 17:26 Screenshot.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 553066 Jan 29 2012 Selection_006.png
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 496596 Jan 29 2012 Selection_007.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 4632 Dec 12 2011 serena2.jpeg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 3720 Dec 12 2011 serena3.aspx.jpeg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 26822 May 13 2012 slide_196203_459542_large.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 35167 Dec 12 2011 swilliams.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 randall randall 159226 Aug 12 01:47 TailgateSavethedateHeader.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 randall randall 4165 Dec 12 2011 venus2.jpeg
-rw------- 1 randall randall 102358 Jun 14 2012 VillaVillaKhula.jpg
drwxr-xr-x 2 randall randall 4096 Aug 14 17:24 Webcam
randall@randall-EL1358G:~$

[Toz]

I added code tags to your previous post to make it easier to read.

The listings look fine. In the configuration dialog:
- Make sure that only "Choose Random Image" is selected.
- Delete the existing text in text box to the left of the Browse button.
- Click on the Browse button, then the Pictures folder, then OK

Does that help? It seems that there is an issue if you have existing text in the box before clicking on Browse.

[Randymanme]

Thank you very much, Toz; I appreciate your help and consideration.

I continued googling the problem and arrived at http://a1.blogspot.com/2012/04/ubuntu-1204-explained-setting-up.html
(http://a1.blogspot.com/2012/04/ubuntu-1204-explained-setting-up.html) and followed the directions (which included installing kdelibs-bi, kdelibs5-data, kdelibs5-plugins).

So now, xscreensaver works like I wanted it to.

Thank you.

[Toz]

Thats really odd. I don't have those kde libs installed and the GLslideshow works. I can't imagine how a kde lib would be a dependency for an xscreensaver screensaver. (*scratches head*). But anyways, it worked for you.