BackSlide

A simple Gnome-Shell Extension for an automatic background-image (wallpaper) slideshow.

Screenshots

The Widget:

The preferences page to manage the image list.

(Wallpapers not included)

Installation

The extension should be installed from the official extension repository. It can be found here:

Manual installation

If you need to "install" the extension manually, you'll need the following utilities:

git
glib-compile-schemas
gnome-tweak-tool (Optional)

The packages which include the above tools may vary across different Linux distributions. Check your distributions wiki/package list to find the most suitable package for you.

There are multiple stable branches, depending on the version of GnomeShell you're running. Check the DEVELOPMENT.md-file for information on those branches. To build the extension, follow these steps:

:::bash
# Clone the repository (you might already did this!)
git clone https://LukasKnuth@bitbucket.org/LukasKnuth/backslide.git BackSlide
cd BackSlide
  # EXAMPLE: Build for an older GnomeShell version
  git checkout gnome-3.8 # ONLY if you need to!
# "Compile" the settings-schema:
glib-compile-schemas backslide\@codeisland.org/schemas/
# Copy the files over to the local extension directory:
cp -r backslide\@codeisland.org/ ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/

Afterwards, you can activate the extension either by using the gnome-tweak-tool or at extensions.gnome.org/local

Settings

All settings can be changed from the gnome-shell-extension-prefs-tool or from the command line. Although you can set them using the dconf-tool, using the frontend/widget is preferred!.

Delay (in minutes) between wallpaper changes: (default: 5)

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/extensions/backslide/delay 15

Whether or not the wallpaper-list should be shuffled (default: true)

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/extensions/backslide/random true|false

The List of wallpapers as a string-array of absolute, unix-styled path's: (default: [])

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/extensions/backslide/image-list "['/path/to/picture.png', '/another/pic.png']"

The already elapsed time (in minutes) from the last interval (default: 0)

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/extensions/backslide/elapsed-time 0

Settings changed, using the dconf-tool will apply, after the extension is restarted.

Troubleshooting

Changing background hangs/freezes the system

Some users have been experiencing short freezes while changing background. If it happens to you, try setting this gnome preference (see https://bitbucket.org/LukasKnuth/backslide/issues/68/ui-freezes-while-background-changes):

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop background-fade false

Contribute

If you are a developer/translator and you want to contribute to BackSlide, make sure to read "DEVELOPMENT.md" or "TRANSLATION.md" respectively.

fieldju / backslide