a-desk is a script to use video files as a wallpaper. To use this script you need to have Zenity, Mplayer, unrar and rar installed on your system.
To install Zenity and MPlayer open a Terminal window (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and copy+paste the following line:
sudo apt-get install zenity mplayer unrar rar
When installed download a-desk 0.17 HERE (the file size is about 9.3MB) and extract it to a location you want. When extracted open the adesk-0.17 folder and install xwinwrapcvs.deb or xwinwrap64.deb (depending on your system) by double clicking one of the files. Then run the a-desk.installer file by double clicking on it. Now choose the language and system (32 or 64 bit) of a-desk you want to install. When installed you can start a-desk with a right mouse click on your Desktop then select Scripts -> a-desk. Here you can either select the default animated background (The Atomic City) or select your own video file.
I didn’t have to install xwinwrap, zenity and mplayer because it’s already installed in my system so that’s why i didn’t show the installation process in the video 🙂
I followed all the instructions, and the installation went fine, but there when I right click on my desktop there is no script…
Sometimes the script needs to be “activated” first, click with your right mouse button on your desktop and select Scripts-> Open Scripts Folder. If the a-desk script is not there it’s needs to be copied into the folder. Leave the scripts folder open and go to the folder with the installation files for a-desk and copy the a-desk file into the scripts folder or into your /home/your_username/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts folder. The .gnome2 folder is a hidden one to make it visible press Ctrl+h when you’re in the /your_username/ folder.
works on 10.10.. nice 1!
i follow the steps in about 8- percent of them.. untill the part that i have to double click on the a-desk installer format.. i cant install it because whe i double click it it will opened as a text editor… and it shws the weird symbols and stuffs… please help me =(
click with your right mouse button on the file and select properties then click on the permissions tab and mark Execute (Allow executing file as program).Now try installing it again and it should work 🙂
I do all the steps perfectly, open it, but nothing plays, though i am using ubuntu 11.04 🙁
Try to install it again, i had the same problem but after installing it again it worked on my system. not all video formats can be used. avi and wmv video files work other formats you have to try to see if they work.
Hey Andrea, here is a link to an article showing you how to install a-desk on Ubuntu 10.10 but it works the same as installing it on Ubuntu 11.04.
Install a-desk 0.17 on Ubuntu 10.10
There is a newer version (0.18) but you have to pay for it
so here is an url still sharing the older 0.17 version
download the free version of a-desk 0.17
You can download the video file here:
Ubuntu video file
Just a note for everyone – I noticed that video files only play for me when the filename has NO SPACES in it. When I have spaces, they refuse to play. I also cannot play videos on a mounted drive, only locally. Good luck everyone.