Installing the Eternity Screensaver

[parker13]

The Eternity Screensaver Project (http://launchpad.net/eternity) is a new screensaver which displays animations of raytraced scenes. There are a number of plugins including an Eternal Ubuntu animation featuring a spinning Ubuntu logo. Packages are available either from an online APT repository or by installing the .deb files directly. The packages have been tested under both Gnome and KDE. They also work if you're running Beryl/Compiz.



Here's a video showing the Eternal Ubuntu plugin:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...33444734552124


There's also an Ubuntu Satanic Edition plugin featuring 3 animations:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...11495134257826

Full installation instructions are available at:
http://parker1.co.uk/eternity/download.php

...but here's a quick HOWTO:


Using APT
1. Add the repository:
Edit your APT sources file:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following lines to the end:

# Eternity Screensaver
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/eternity/ubuntu feisty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/eternity/ubuntu feisty main

Note: change feisty to gutsy if you're using Ubuntu 7.10

2. Install the packages
To install the screensavers:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install eternal-ubuntu

Note that you will get the following error during the installation:

WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  eternity-screensaver
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y

This is because Launchpad's PPA service does not currently support package signing (see https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/soyuz/+bug/125103).

For the Ubuntu Studio plugin, use:

sudo apt-get install eternal-studio

For the Ubuntu Satanic Edition plugin, use:

sudo apt-get install eternal-damnation

3. Select the screensaver
Run the Screensaver selection tool:
* Gnome: System->Preferences->Screensaver
* KDE: Right-click the desktop and select "Configure Desktop..."

The screensavers are called Eternity, Eternal Ubuntu, Eternal Ubuntu Studio and Eternal Damnation.


Installing from Packages
If you don't want to use the APT repository, you can just download the individual packages. See http://parker1.co.uk/eternity/download.php for links to these.


Any questions or problems, please let me know.

Also, if you have any animations to contribute I'd be glad to hear from you.

Thanks,
Garry.

[parker13]

Just to be clear, I'm the author of the screensaver and the Ubuntu packages, so I'll be happy to give support you require. Thanks!

[fooman]

i like 'em both!

thanks!

[virtualcourtney]

Will these work with xscreensaver?

[parker13]

In theory, yes. All the config is there for xscreensaver.

However, I've never tested it myself. If you'd like to give it a try I'd appreciate the feedback.

[virtualcourtney]

Well, it doesn't show up in xscreensaver by default (though it's there in gnome-screensaver). I don't know too much about getting it to appear, but I'll play around a bit and see what I can dig up.

[johnl]

I installed the amd64 version on my system, but there are no graphics -- the screen just goes black (both in the preview and when the screen saver actually triggers) .

This happens with both the eternity and eternal-ubuntu screensavers.

I'm using the nvidia-glx-new driver, and the black screen happens both with beryl running and without.

[parker13]

Well, it doesn't show up in xscreensaver by default (though it's there in gnome-screensaver). I don't know too much about getting it to appear, but I'll play around a bit and see what I can dig up.

OK, thanks for trying. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and install xscreensaver to get it working.

[parker13]

I installed the amd64 version on my system, but there are no graphics -- the screen just goes black (both in the preview and when the screen saver actually triggers) .

This happens with both the eternity and eternal-ubuntu screensavers.

I'm using the nvidia-glx-new driver, and the black screen happens both with beryl running and without.

Thanks for giving it a try. I'm really sorry that you've had problems - this is pretty new software and Ubuntu just has so many variants! I wonder if this is an amd64 specific problem.

By the way, the projects are registered on launchpad. I'll raise these bugs there. If anyone else wants to raise bugs against the screensaver, the URL is:

https://launchpad.net/eternity/+filebug

The project pages are:
https://launchpad.net/eternity
https://launchpad.net/eternal-ubuntu
https://launchpad.net/eternal-damnation

[parker13]

OK, the bugs have been raised.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/eternity/

Thanks again for your participation!