Xplanet on Ubuntu

May 12, 2007
Filed under: computing, en 

Several years ago, I always used xearth to render my desktop background.

However, when I started using Nautilus, it broke, and I never bothered to find a solution.

Today I realised that xearth has been replaced by xplanet, and it’s available as an Ubuntu package. And it’s beautiful!

However, the Nautilus problem remains: The window manager controls the background, so a program cannot write straight to it. The solution is to render a file and then ask Nautilus to reload it at regular intervals.

Fortunately, somebody written a script that does this, and one can download it here. Just remember to change the PREFIX to a path that exists.

Comments

4 Responses to “Xplanet on Ubuntu”

  1. Sebastian on May 12th, 2007 18:57

    Man kan da også bare bruge OSXPlanet, der kan man zoome ind og sætte byer på, og se skyer og ovenikøbet også se ISS’es bane ;)
    Nåå – du bruger ikke OS X, din stakkel ;M)

  2. Thomas on May 13th, 2007 20:52

    Jeg tror faktisk, xplanet kan det samme (og vise andre planeter end Jorden) – man skal bare finde de relevante datafiler et sted.

  3. cvnico on October 21st, 2009 15:51

    Stupid question maybe but where do you have to put the script? I’ve downloaded it recently and tried to use it but with no luck so far :( . Without the script I do get to see xplanet working very briefly whenever I log out.

  4. thomas on October 21st, 2009 16:45

    Yes, you see it when Nautilus exits.
    I think you can put it anywhere, but you have to remember to run it, preferably automatically when you log in.

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