[Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

tom5760 · 2008-12-23 17:01:05

Hey all:

I'm trying to install the ElectricSheep screensaver (in community), but I can't seem to get it to appear in the xscreensaver-demo menu. I see the config file in /usr/share/xscreensaver/config, but I can't seem to get XScreensaver to see it.

Am I missing some crutial step? Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

EDIT: Marked as solved.

Last edited by tom5760 (2009-01-07 16:26:03)

arch_nemesis · 2008-12-24 18:07:45

Bump for same question! electricsheep is the only screensaver I like. (and my 4 year old loves it!)

moljac024 · 2008-12-24 18:13:30

gnome-screensaver's Comsos is my favorite!

Last edited by moljac024 (2008-12-24 18:13:45)

arch_nemesis · 2009-01-06 20:55:34

Is it OK to bump this again?

arch_nemesis · 2009-01-06 23:53:44

I've made partial progress.

To get it to show up in the gnome-screensaver dialogue, you have to create this file, which I kinda figured out from a couple of different howtos plus looking at the .desktop file for some other screensavers.

in /usr/share/applications/screensavers create electricsheep.desktop

Inside it put this:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=ElectricSheep
Comment=Electric Sheep is a distributed screen-saver that harnesses idle comput$
TryExec=electricsheep
Exec=electricsheep -root
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Screensaver;
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;

This will get it to show up, but not run.

For troubleshooting, I suggest you download at least one "sheep pack" and extract it to /home/yourusername/.sheep/

You can get them here: http://d3lta.net/sheep/

This way you don't have to worry about waiting for it to download sheep.

Anyhow -- as I said, that file will get it to show up but NOT run.

If I run "electricsheep" in a terminal, I get X errors which I've had difficulty finding solutions for.

However, if I run it in a terminal with this command, it works:

electricsheep --mplayer 1

(I'm guessing you need mplayer installed for this to work )

What I can't seem to do is understand how to modify the .desktop file to use the same --mplayer 1 option, or perhaps I've figured it out (I tried putting it after -root) but it doesn't work anyway.

I don't mean this in a "neener neener" way, but it DID work on this same hardware under openSUSE and Ubuntu, so I'm confident that it *should* work.

So at this point I'm stuck until I figure out where to look for error messages from gnome-screensaver...

Last edited by arch_nemesis (2009-01-07 00:33:56)

arch_nemesis · 2009-01-07 02:37:58

**OK, I got it working!**

First, let me give thanks that he'll probably never see to Brian Pitts who worked this out in early 2007 and posted it to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … /+bug/5823

I did almost nothing right in my previous post.

First, be aware that I have xscreensaver installed even though I'm using gnome-screensaver. Brian points out a couple of valid locations for the needed script at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … omments/23 -- mine is in /usr/lib/xscreensaver/

I have no idea how to translate this to be helpful for KDE folks.

The short version of his instructions is this:

create the file /usr/lib/xscreensaver/esheep.sh <-- Again, there are other options for the location of this file if you don't want to install xscreensaver.

It should contain these lines:

#!/bin/sh
electricsheep --root 1 --max-megabytes 3000 --zoom 1 --display-anim 1 --show-errors 0 --nrepeats 2 --frame-rate 30

After you save it, chmod 755 /usr/lib/xscreensaver/esheep.sh

Then, create the file /usr/share/applications/screensavers/electricsheep.desktop

electricsheep.desktop should contain these lines:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=ElectricSheep
Comment=Electric Sheep is a distributed screen-saver that harnesses idle computers into a render farm with the purpose of animating and evolving artificial life-forms. This module requires a high-bandwidth, always-on connection to the internet such as DSL or cable-modem. The first time you run it, it normally takes 5 to 10 minutes before the first sheep is downloaded and displayed. After that, it should come up immediately. If you have installed the hacked xscreensaver that supports passing key-presses onto the graphics hack and this feature is enabled, then pressing the up arrow-key transmits a vote for the currently displayed sheep to the server. The votes are the basis of a fitness function for an evolutionary algorithm on the sheep genomes. Vote for the sheep you like, and they will mate, reproduce, and evolve! See http://electricsheep.org for more information.
TryExec=esheep.sh
Exec="esheep.sh"
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Screensaver

On my system, If you use the preview button, the small preview window in the system-->preferences-->screensaver *will* flicker afterwards until you close and reopen the gui. However, this behavior does not seem to carry over to the screensaver when it actually kicks in (thankfully).

Last edited by arch_nemesis (2009-01-07 02:38:30)

tom5760 · 2009-01-07 03:13:46

Sweet! Great job arch_nemesis. I'll have to try this later.

arch_nemesis · 2009-01-07 03:27:50

Good luck!

Remember to download and extract at least one sheep pack before you try this -- so that if it doesn't seem to work you know it isn't just that you have no sheep.

hbekel · 2009-01-07 13:09:35

Hmm, for xscreensaver all i had to do was to add this line to my ~/.xscreensaver, right below "programs:"

electricsheep --root 1\n\

to make it appear in xscreensaver-demo

arch_nemesis · 2009-01-07 15:33:03

I do confess that I didn't grasp that xscreensaver provided a different interface for managing screensavers than gnome-scresnsaver until I was elbows deep in trying to get gnome-screensaver to work with electricsheep. But by then I was kinda fixated on getting it to work.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-12-23 17:01:05

[Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#2 2008-12-24 18:07:45

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#3 2008-12-24 18:13:30

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#4 2009-01-06 20:55:34

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#5 2009-01-06 23:53:44

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#6 2009-01-07 02:37:58

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#7 2009-01-07 03:13:46

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#8 2009-01-07 03:27:50

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#9 2009-01-07 13:09:35

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

#10 2009-01-07 15:33:03

Re: [Solved] XScreensaver and ElectricSheep

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