____/ Mark Kent on Friday 21 September 2007 10:06 : \____
> The Ghost In The Machine <ewill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Ofc. Michael Clayton
>><clayton@xxxxxxxx>
>> wrote
>> on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:05:44 -0400
>><46f29c6a$0$25455$88260bb3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>>>
>>> "The Ghost In The Machine" <ewill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>> news:8ljas4-3ch.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Mark Kent
>>>> <mark.kent@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> wrote
>>>> on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:47:08 +0100
>>>> <s7aas4-339.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>>>>> Mr. Doug Hoel <dhoel@xxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Mark Kent" <mark.kent@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:frn1s4-pa3.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> graeme <www.rillion.net@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>>>>>>> MS released a Vista Ultimate "Extra" called DreamScene - it loops a
>>>>>>>> movie
>>>>>>>> for wallpaper.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://tinyurl.com/2lcvwm
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It must be frustrating working for Microsoft now, where really, all you
>>>>>>> get to do is copy what's already out there.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You mean how this animated desktop that was just released (or possibly
>>>>>> released in 2002) is a cheap knock-off of Active Desktop which Microsoft
>>>>>> released in 1997.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yet another example of OSS "innovation" where they shamelessly copy
>>>>>> existing
>>>>>> Microsoft technology. I just can't wait to see the next version of
>>>>>> open-office where OSS will "innovate" the ribbon bar that MS-Office 2007
>>>>>> has.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 1997? X-windows-system had a changeable root-window years before that.
>>>>> It must be frustrating working for Microsoft, where all you get to do is
>>>>> copy what's out there.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Erm...what exactly does this mean?
>>>>
>>>
>>> It means he's trying to move the goal-posts once again. This big [NEWS]
>>> article was about some completely useless feature where desktop wallpaper
>>> can be animated. About as useful as all those stupid animated icons on
>>> websites. But I digress.
>>
>> Windows has already innovated this in 1995-1996 -- Active
>> Backdrop or Active Background, as you mention below.
>> The animation could be implemented in a number of ways,
>> though I'm not sure when Flash was first available.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Desktop
>>
>> stipulates that Windows continues to innovate by replacing
>> Active Desktop with Windows Sidebar. There is also
>> a Channel Definition Format. There is also a search form
>> provided by Wiki that can go directly to the Vista desktop.
>>
>> Linux does not have this capability.
>> Gnome does not have this capability.
>> KDE does not have this capability.
>> Motif does not have this capability.
>> X Intrinsics does not have this capability.
>> X does not have this capability. [*]
>>
>
> The claim was regarding playing videos in the background in Windows
> Vista. It's been possible to render images in the X root window for as
> long as I can remember, just like this:
>
> $ display -window root animage.jpeg
>
> So, in order to display a video in the root window, you split it into
> jpegs, store them in a directory (here called ~/pix), and then do this:
>
> $ for i in ~/pix/*; do display -window root $i; done
>
> This will display video in the root window at the fastest frame-rate
> which the machine can render. To keep the speed up, you use the lowest
> resolution jpegs, and you can tailor display's rendering methods to make
> them as quick as possible.
>
> As I said above, it must be dreadful being at Microsoft trying to copy
> this stuff years after it's been available on linux.
>
> Similarly, if you want to render web pages, then use wget to get the
> pages, htmldoc to convert to pdfs, convert to make jpegs out of them,
> and the script above to render them on the root window. You do this:
>
> $ wget -p --convert-links www.bt.com
> $ htmldoc --continuous -f index.pdf index.html
> $ display -window root index.pdf
>
> And there you have it. Put it in a script, update it every however you
> like, or crontab it, or whatever you want. You have a "live" or
> "active" desktop.
>
> Here's a "real" example, put this in a text file call "active-destop":
>
> cd ~/liveweb
> rm -r news.bbc.co.uk
> wget -p --convert-links news.bbc.co.uk
> cd news.bbc.co.uk
> htmldoc --continuous -f index.pdf index.html
> display -window root index.pdf
>
> Make the directory called ~/liveweb, and store this baby script in it.
> do:
>
> $ sh active-desktop
>
> And lo, you'll have the BBC news front page as your root window. If you
> want to update it every so often, start it with this command line (you
> need to be in the directory ~/liveweb for it to work!)
>
> $ while true; do sh ./active-desktop; sleep 120; done
>
> This will update the page every 2 minutes, thus you have a real active
> desktop.
>
> The wonderful thing with the whole unix design is that it's modularity
> and flexibility allows you to do pretty much anything. If you want to
> get really cute, you could write a baby script which plays a jpeg-based
> video animation on your root window for 5 minutes, and then displays a
> web page for a few minutes, and so on. All this, using standard tools,
> without even needing to start up a compiler.
>
> Obviously, programmes like htmldoc and wget have all manner of options
> which can be used to optimise the rendering. I leave you to read the
> man pages as you wish.
You can use the versatile ImageMagick library to achieve a lot more. Here's my
10-minutes cron:
#!/bin/sh
export DISPLAY=:0.0
# set display (to make cron job work)
###################################
# Get current virtual desktop
import -window root ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
# capture display
mogrify -resize 25% -border 3 ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
# save to temporary file so as to avoid full-sized
# image from being public for a second
convert ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
20 -fill gray -stro
ke white -draw "text 40,20 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
convert ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
20 -fill darkblue -
stroke blue -draw "text 42,22 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg
cp ~/public_html/screen.jpeg ~/public_html/screen-previous.jpeg
# save the previous screenshot
mv ~/public_html/screen-temp.jpeg ~/public_html/screen.jpeg
# below are bits that write information to a simple text file
###################################
# Grab pager with 8 virtual desktops
import -window root -crop 1085x200+2738+1270 ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
# save to temporary file (unneeded)
mogrify -resize 75% -border 3 ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
convert ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
16 -fill black -stro
ke black -draw "text 205,18 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
convert ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize
16 -fill white -stro
ke blue -draw "text 206,19 '`date` - schestowitz.com'"
~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg
cp ~/public_html/pager.jpeg ~/public_html/pager-previous.jpeg
# save the previous pager screenshot
mv ~/public_html/pager-temp.jpeg ~/public_html/pager.jpeg
# below are bits that write information to a simple text file
--
~~ Best of wishes
Charity: compensating for a broken system rather than actually fixing it
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