(Solved) How can I overlay text or an image over the all windows?

TuxForLife · 2015-11-15 04:13:49

Does anyone know of software that can do something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzQOZySCYqc

As you can tell from my post count, I recently migrated from Linux Mint 17, and I'm loving Arch!
I used to use a program called gnome-osd, and it did the job.
I tried installing it, but it depends on Python 2.5, which isn't in the repos anymore.

What do you guys suggest?
a) Is there a program you know of that does this?
b) Should I just try to install Python 2.5 to get gnome-osd to work?

Important criteria
-Must NOT take focus of the window, simply overlay over it
-Preferably make the font really large in the center

I am aware of zenity, xmessage, and notify-send, but I am certain they can't do what I am looking for.

I am also very willing to code something out in Python if I have to, but I wouldn't know where to start.
Overlaying an image such as a png will also work for me.
Any help will be appreciated!

Last edited by TuxForLife (2015-11-15 10:32:30)

mauritiusdadd · 2015-11-15 07:41:57

How about osd_cat? It is provided by the package xosd.
In the AUR there is also notify-osd (not tested) that should be the successor of gnome-osd.

--edit:

Sorry, notify-osd is actually in the official [community] repository.

Last edited by mauritiusdadd (2015-11-15 11:43:25)

TuxForLife · 2015-11-15 10:23:24

osd_cat is perfect for my needs. It's even better than gnome-osd IMO. Thanks!

Here is the code I used in case it helps anyone in the future:

echo $(date +%H:%M) | osd_cat \
-A center -p middle -o -1225 \
-s 10 -S black \
-c white \
-f -bitstream-bitstream*vera*sans*mono-medium-r-normal--500-0-0-0-m-0-iso10646-1 \
-O 5 -u black -d 3

The font was taken from my output from running xlsfonts.
I had to install it with xorg-xlsfonts.
The 500 was my custom font size.

P.S. I also installed notify-osd from a PKGBUILD, however, how do I actually run it? Where is the binary at?
(I know this may sound ridiculously stupid, but it was my first time installing something this way, I hope you can understand)

Marked as solved, thanks again mauritiusdadd.

Last edited by TuxForLife (2015-11-15 10:24:11)

mauritiusdadd · 2015-11-15 11:52:41

You're welcome

Regarding notify-osd, it is actually available in the official repository [community] (I don't know how I could have missed it). The binary is /usr/lib/notify-osd/notify-osd, but you don't have to run it manually because the package provides a dbus service file, so it should be started automatically at login. To show a notification just use notify-send.

PS: please, do not post full size images but only a thumbnail or a link to the image: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … s_and_code

TuxForLife · 2015-11-17 04:26:23

Oh got it, I thought notify-send was something separate!

osd_cat is much more suitable for what I wanted.

Got it, I will keep that in mind, and thanks for the etiquette link.

Thank you for a pleasant first experience in this forum.
I was contemplating for about 3 hours whether to ask for help or not.
I was intimidated since I heard the Arch community is a bit more harsh towards newbs lol

mauritiusdadd · 2015-11-17 08:00:39

From my experience, the Arch community is made by very kind and helpful people and we have nothing against newbies. We only asks two things to everyone who seeks support here: First of all, you should use Arch and second, you should do your own researches before posting and to me it seems you have fulfilled both the requests.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-11-15 04:13:49

(Solved) How can I overlay text or an image over the all windows?

#2 2015-11-15 07:41:57

Re: (Solved) How can I overlay text or an image over the all windows?

#3 2015-11-15 10:23:24

Re: (Solved) How can I overlay text or an image over the all windows?

#4 2015-11-15 11:52:41

Re: (Solved) How can I overlay text or an image over the all windows?

#5 2015-11-17 04:26:23

Re: (Solved) How can I overlay text or an image over the all windows?

#6 2015-11-17 08:00:39

Re: (Solved) How can I overlay text or an image over the all windows?

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