GKrellM BgChg README
====================
GKrellMBgChg is a plugin for GKrellM, which periodically updates the
desktops background image. It is also possible to force an image update by
clicking on the panel or to "hold" the image with the mouse wheel.
Compiling and Installing
------------------------
To compile the plugin, first untar it and change into the new directory
with
tar xvfz gkrellmbgchg2-<version>.tar.gz
cd gkrellmbgchg2-<version>
Then compile it with
make
and install it into your GKrellM plugin directory (usually
$HOME/.gkrellm2/plugins) with
cp gkrellmbgchg.so ~/.gkrellm2/plugins
or
make install
After a restart of GKrellM the plugin should be visible in the
configuration dialogue.
Usage and Configuration
-----------------------
Mouse buttons:
* Left changes the background image at once and resets the counter,
+<Shift> toggles the background lock.
* Middle reloads the images from the image database (see Image Database).
* Right opens the GKrellM Background Changer config window,
+<Shift> toggles the background lock.
Mouse wheel:
* Up "locks" the current background image (if you like it very much).
* Down unlocks the image again and the counter continues. Whether it
should start from the initial value, or continue where it was, when
the image was locked, is configurable.
Configuration:
* Format String
The text output format is controlled by this string, where
o $s are the seconds that are remaining to the next update,
o $S are the seconds that passed since the last change,
o $m are the minutes that are remaining to the next update,
o $M are the minutes that passed since the last change,
o $t is the time remaining to the next update, displayed as
"-mm:ss" and
o $T is the time that passed since the last change, displayed as
"mm:ss".
Default: $t
* Command
The Program to use to set the desktop background image (including all
parameters), has no effect on Windows.
Default: Esetroot -f
* Image Database
Full path to a file containing all the images (wherein one full path/
line) to be used by the plugin, e.g. the output from
find / -name *.jpg | sort.
Entries starting with a "#" will be ignored.
Default: /home/user/images.idb
* Randomise Images
Select whether the image list should be randomised or not. If it is
not set, it will always start at the first entry of the image
database.
Default: on
* Reset Counter
Reset the counter to the initial value, if the "image lock" is
released.
Default: off
Tips and Tricks
---------------
This plugin takes an "image database", i.e. a file with a bunch of *full*
pathnames as its input (see above). It is up to the user, to provide valid
ones. If unsure, try
ls `grep -v '^#' images.idb`
and watch out for messages like "No such file or directory" at the prompt.
All these pathnames are stored in a list and the plugin takes care, that
the number of the new image is different from the one of the former. This
should prevent displaying of the same image accidently. However, if you
want to increase the probability of a certain image, you can include it
more than once, but then be aware, that it could happen that it gets
displayed twice in a row.
*Note* that the background setting program should fit your installation,
check that it works on the command line first, before reporting any bugs to
me. For example, if you don't have Esetroot installed you can stick to
plain xsetbg
* xsetbg -fullscreen
or, if you use gnome2, set it to
* gconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename
and so on for your favourite window manager.
More information
----------------
The official website is:
http://www.uni-jena.de/~p6best/english/comp/gkrellmbgchg.html
*Note* for Windows users:
The mouse wheel doesn't work on Windows, so you have to use
<Shift>+click for locking.
If you have any problems, suggestions, feel free to contact me.
Stefan Bender
stefan@bender-suhl.de
