# Slideshow backgrounds « regular » method?

**URL:** <https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036>\
**Category:** Budgie Desktop\
**Created:** [June 15, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036 "2022-06-15T13:35:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/1 "2022-06-15T13:35:30Z")

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Hi,

I have some « slideshows » for background desktop ready to go.

Those were made with :  
⋅ pictures in `~/.local/share/backgrounds/`  
⋅ the descriptive sequence, durations and transitions in an .xml file in `~/.local/share/backgrounds/contest/`  
⋅ and the whole description of the set in `~/.local/share/gnome-background-properties/`

And they work - on some DE but it seems not in Budgie. I can set them but they won’t show.

 ![budgie_param_background_slideshow](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/ubuntubudgie/original/2X/0/032d60459c52a93d6d1fe5f836b1eb57bcedb7ae.png)

I know there is Wallstreet applet but those slideshows require a soft and slow ( blended ) transition and should not prevent from displaying icons on desktop.

Maybe I looked at the wrong place in _dconf-editor_…

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/2 "2022-06-15T14:58:08Z")

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The deprecated gnome wallpaper XML switcher stuff was never implemented in budgie’s background handling routine.

I seem to remember recently gnome devs brought up this matter recently since they wanted to remove this old code. Not sure where that discussion eventually concluded or whether it is ongoing.

So rather than use stuff that is deemed ‘dead’ I would dare to suggest look to using/enhancing current supported solutions.

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**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/3 "2022-06-15T15:46:09Z")

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That sounds wise, but what are the « current » solution(s) which allow both :  
⋅ icons on desktop  
⋅ « soft » transitions between pictures ?

The deprecated stuff Budgie decided not to handle is still working in « regular » Ubuntu 22.04 and used elsewhere [How to add dynamic wallpapers to Gnome settings / Change backgrounds? - General Help - Zorin Forum](https://forum.zorin.com/t/how-to-add-dynamic-wallpapers-to-gnome-settings-change-backgrounds/14870)

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 3:57pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/4 "2022-06-15T15:57:11Z")

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Wallstreet doesnt interfere with desktop icons

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/5 "2022-06-15T21:03:31Z")

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OK.

Where does it store its settings ?

Let’s say I need transition between pictures to last an hour long, is it possible ?

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/6 "2022-06-15T22:13:43Z")

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Yep … switchinterval

> <https://github.com/UbuntuBudgie/budgie-extras/blob/master/budgie-wallstreet/schema/org.ubuntubudgie.budgie-wallstreet.gschema.xml>

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**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/7 "2022-06-15T22:44:21Z")

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Mmm. I guessed it was in _dconf-editor_ and already checked. And nope, _these are not the droids I’m looking for_.

I meant the **transition** ( the fading, blending ) between two images - which seems about one or two seconds and much too fast for what I want to do.

Not the time length between one image and the following.

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/8 "2022-06-15T22:55:12Z")

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Right. The transition is fixed by budgie. It isnt a configurable value without recompiling budgie desktop.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 11:47pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/9 "2022-06-15T23:47:22Z")

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Ah.

See, the _deprecated_ thing offered ( and still offers ) that ability 😉

Any other « way » to achieve that in Budgie ?

I guess you’ve guessed the idea behind… pictures for morning, midday, afternoon, sunset, night… only colors shifting - slowly - from a picture to another.

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 12:11am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/10 "2022-06-16T00:11:28Z")

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Sounds like this [GitHub - japamax/gnome-kde-dynamic-wallpaper-mojave: Time based GNOME macOS Mojave wallpaper with real scheludes & Azimuth Elevation based KDE macOS Mojave wallpaper](https://github.com/japamax/gnome-kde-dynamic-wallpaper-mojave)

To be honest, unless you are actively watching the desktop all the time (that would be an odd thing todo me thinks!) are you really going to notice the wallpaper transition time?

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**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 2:48am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/11 "2022-06-16T02:48:01Z")

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> [@fossfreedom](#):
>
> are you really going to notice the wallpaper transition time?

**Of course yes** , by chance anytime pictures will transition, it will happen right under user’s sight ( if it’s _that_ short timed transition ). Trust me on that : if you _expect_ people not to see something, that’s exactly the first thing they will notice 😄

Transition has to be smooth, almost …invisible.

Yes it sounds exactly like the link you mentioned, and guess what ? They make use of the _deprecated gnome wallpaper XML switcher stuff_

In my scenario it’s not countryside with rocky mountain pictures but « branded » wallpapers from organization/business, but same idea.

And it’s exactly the steps I followed with « my » background pictures ( see [here](https://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?id=2072487) in french with screenshots. )

Not perfect though : the slideshow works as expected BUT it’s not offered in gnome-control-center, have to set it through _dconf-editor_ ( see [here](https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+question/702179), question on launchpad, roughly english. )

I don’t know if it’s deprecation but you’re obviously right :  
⋅ some bits about dynamic wallpaper / slideshow backgrounds have changed those last years in Gnome, because it used to work this way ;  
⋅ deprecated or not, it works and offers different modes of _transitions_  
⋅ and ability to to set a _duration_ for those _transitions_.

What will it cost to restore _the deprecated thing_ on a Budgie system ( 20.04 and 22.04 ), I bet more than my 2 cents ?

Or any chance _budgie-wallpaper-applet_ might improve on that matter ( duration for transitions ) ?

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 11:24am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/12 "2022-06-16T11:24:03Z")

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Zero chance to add in deprecated code.

You could test if turning off window animations also affects the transition speed i.e. sets the transition to zero.

If it does work this way then you could fashion some sort of bash script that switches off window animation, does the wallpaper change, waits for the change to finish and then switch animations back on.

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**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/13 "2022-06-16T13:25:06Z")

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Mmmm… you’d agree it’s not user-friendly. At least not friendlier than the so-called deprecated method.

And I might not explain correctly what I’m looking for :  
⋅ I **do** want a _transition_ between 2 images ( blending, fading, overlaying … don’t know how to name it )  
⋅ I want that _transition_ to **last long** , almost as long as the time _interval_ between 2 images.  
⋅ I **do not** want an instant or sudden switch between 2 images, but very very slow smoothness.

_budgie-wallstreet-applet_ would be enough **if** it allowed to set a duration for the _transition_ effect.

The _deprecated code_ allowed that, for years so any successor should at least offer the same.

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**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/14 "2022-06-16T13:53:59Z")

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Note my initial comment. The transition is dictated by budgie desktop… so it needs a change there … such as exposing the hard coded transition time to a user controllable value.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/15 "2022-06-16T15:26:36Z")

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I had noted.

Note also « the _deprecated code_ allowed that, for years so any successor should at least offer the same. »

It’s a kind of mistake to hard code something that might / should be changed by user as night / day or dark / light theming become ( not only a trend but ) an expected default feature of any OS.

_budgie-wallstreet-applet_ looks to be the place for such options - if it could override ( disable ? ) the budgie-desktop transition hard coded setting and use its own transition(s).

And timed - with a start-time ( here, a hard coded value won’t bother if it’s known that the slideshow starts at, say, midnight, 00:00:00 )

Also, reading pictures by their name order ( seems always random by my side )  
A\_01.jpg → A\_02.png → A\_03.jpg → B.png → C.jpg → D.jpg → E\_112.png → E\_113.png and so on,  
to organize sequence of images.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/16 "2022-06-18T19:29:37Z")

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deprecated or not, seems discussion is ongoing ?

> **[The big background cleanup (#4936) · Issues · GNOME / gnome-shell · GitLab](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/4936)**
>
> Given that @exalm is working on making the shell switch to a separate wallpaper in dark mode, and...

and not a « new » idea

> [@Xml wallpaper and exposing transition time to gsettings](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/xml-wallpaper-and-exposing-transition-time-to-gsettings/1287):
>
> (Question at the end) After getting the black background after trying to use a xml as wallpaper I did some research too see if I could get a dynamic wallpaper working. I wrote a python script that reads a json(personally think its more readable but it can convert to xml) file containing a path to each image and the time of day I want the that image to be the wallpaper. The script checks every interval amount of time(defined in the json file), does some math using the wallpaper time and the cu…

…I don’t understand how but it seems possible to expose the ( Budgie ) transition length in gsettings.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/17 "2022-06-18T21:29:48Z")

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Yep … its a matter of replacing this hard coded value with a gsettings key value [budgie-desktop/background.vala at 5717f54062d941cd77a03a444c212aa8f05e0ef4 · BuddiesOfBudgie/budgie-desktop · GitHub](https://github.com/BuddiesOfBudgie/budgie-desktop/blob/5717f54062d941cd77a03a444c212aa8f05e0ef4/src/wm/background.vala#L34)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/18 "2022-06-18T23:30:33Z")

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…but does it mean that value is only one and for all transitions ?

In one given slideshow, some pictures may require slow/long transition while other pictures may require a fast/short transition, or even no transition at all.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fossfreedom](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/fossfreedom/32/1405_2.png) [@fossfreedom](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/fossfreedom)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2022, 12:37am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/19 "2022-06-19T00:37:56Z")

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Once you have a gsettings value to tweak then any applet including wallstreet can access it. So, for example, wallstreet could be enhanced to point to an xml file, read it, set the wallpaper and the transition value etc.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coeur-Noir](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/coeur-noir/32/4515_2.png) [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/slideshow-backgrounds-regular-method/6036/20 "2023-05-25T14:09:21Z")

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Sorry for my obsession. 2 new questions about that matter.

⋅ is installing « libgnome-bg » into Ubuntu Budgie a way to enable dynamic-slideshow background ?  
[https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=libgnome-bg&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all](https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=libgnome-bg&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all)  
It does not seem to install gnome-shell but many gnome-desktop related packages.

⋅ is it possible to use a high res / full colored .gif file as a background picture in Budgie ( and be it synchronized with local time ) ?

[![brick-figures-shift-alt-optimized](https://i.ibb.co/CsyqZbX/brick-figures-shift-alt-optimized.gif)](https://imgbb.com/)

[![brick-figures-shift-optimized](https://i.ibb.co/PjNMR4H/brick-figures-shift-optimized.gif)](https://imgbb.com/)

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