Screensaver
[Note] This screensaver has been replaced by the new Eternity Screensaver.
The obvious choice for possessing your screen when it’s idle is the XFlame screensaver. This is no longer part of the standard Ubuntu packages (it’s hidden in the xscreensaver-data-extra package), but can easily be installed (see below).
A pentagram looks fantastic (suggested by JT Hundley). Here’s a bitmap which can be used:
I suggest installing xscreensaver and xscreensaver-data-extra alongside gnome-screensaver. We will still use gnome-screensaver as the default, so no functionality will be lost:
First, make sure you have the universe repository, see the following link for instructions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu
Then, add the packages:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-data-extra
You change the image shown by XFlame by editing the Exec line in its config file, eg:
gksu gedit /usr/share/applications/screensavers/xflame.desktop
Exec=xflame -root -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.bmp
December 20th, 2006 at 4:38 am
Looks interesting… but what is behind the idea of the satanic distro?
December 20th, 2006 at 6:43 am
Just fun ^^
December 20th, 2006 at 8:12 am
Thanks. I am new to Ubuntu, and this certainly makes it fun !!
December 20th, 2006 at 9:29 am
The idea behind the distro is to restore the balance to the universe.
December 20th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
marche pas
install xscreensaver xscreensaver-data-extra
j’ai copier l’image ….
modifier xflame.desktop Exec= ….
marche pas !!
December 21st, 2006 at 3:25 pm
can’t find /usr/share/applications/screensavers/xflame.desktop
are you sure the path’s correct?
compliments for the great distro! \m/-.-\m/
December 21st, 2006 at 4:14 pm
found!
…great!
January 1st, 2007 at 7:20 am
When I search for xscreensaver-data-extra, I cant find anything, I run xscreensaver, and I can see the xflame option, however it is listed as not installed, any suggestions?
January 1st, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Sorry – you need to add the “universe” repository first. See the following link for instructions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:10 pm
i think the idea is, to be against Ubuntu Christian Edtion, really funny !
January 3rd, 2007 at 8:17 am
WHAT ONCE WAS, SHALL NEVER BE AGAIN.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:59 am
Thanks for the pentagram,I was using steveballmer.bmp and it was giving me nightmares……Satanic Edition ….brilliant!
January 11th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
E: Couldn’t find package xscreensaver-data-extra
January 12th, 2007 at 7:46 am
You need to add the Ubuntu “universe” repository:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu
January 18th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Thanks
March 13th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
nikel ! ^^
ca clack bien – THX
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:42 pm
thanks for Ubuntu Satanic Edition, and this screen saver really finishes it
btw, it works great with Beryl (flames animation)
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:52 pm
It’s more anti-satanic then satanic because pentagram is burning.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:54 am
awesome!!!!!
May 19th, 2007 at 7:14 am
whoow!!!!
May 24th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Ok how exactly do i change the bitmap file?
Bare with me i’m a noobee but i got your login screen up
and your wallpaper And i’m workin on the splash screen and i need this screensaver I have xflame just can’t figure out how to change the .bmp
May 25th, 2007 at 6:56 am
Hi Lokigom,
You download the .bmp file from the link above and change the following file to point to it:
/usr/share/applications/screensavers/xflame.desktop
…by editing the following line:
Exec=xflame -root -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.bmp
The instructions at the top of this page should be enough to get it working. Please let me know if you have any more problems.
May 26th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Ok got it to work for some reason the first 2 times i tried to
open xflame.desktop i got a blank page.
But after a few tries i edited the Exec line
Now the screensaver just has a fiery square i know it’s
the pentegram cause when the screesaver starts i get to
see a glimpse of pentegram and then the whole square
becomes engulfed in flame ?
May 26th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
That’s weird. It’s as if the pantagram has become inverted. Edit it with the gimp – it should be a black pentagram on a white background.
You could also try running the following and see what you get (it runs the screensaver in a window):
xflame -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.bmp
May 29th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
It´s very good!!!
Thanks..
June 1st, 2007 at 6:49 pm
The pentagram is on botton of my screen, how can I center it?
June 4th, 2007 at 7:19 am
I think that the only way to do this (besides hacking the xflame code) is to edit the pentagram image in The GIMP and add some space at the bottom.
June 5th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
i am trying to figure out how to make the background image of xflame be the pentagram ….how do i edit the config file and what folder is it in?
June 5th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
The file you need to edit is:
/usr/share/applications/screensavers/xflame.desktop
You need to edit it using sudo as it is a system file. Something like the following should do the trick:
gksu gedit /usr/share/applications/screensavers/xflame.desktop
Change the Exec line to read:
Exec=xflame -root -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.bmp
June 9th, 2007 at 2:20 am
I am new to Linux and this theme really helped get me more into it. Great job. I have one question though. I setup the screensaver exactly as you described but have the same issue as lokigom on ppc with the pentagram showing up for a split second and then turning into a yellow square of flames. I looked at the bitmap image in Gimp and it is black lines with a white background. I also tried using another image and the same thing happens with the yellow flaming square. It seems as though the intensity of the flames is too high, but then again I am new to Linux and am really not sure how this all works. Is there anything else I can try to fix it to get it to look like it’s supposed to?
June 10th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Hi Steve. I’m glad we helped you get into Linux; that’s what we’re here for – the dark side of open source!
May I suggest running xflame from the command line and playing with the parameters? You can get a list of the settings by doing:
man xflame
Changing some of there, such as “-no-bloom” may help you. This stops the flames from getting hot and “blooming” and keeps the intensity constant. Give it and the other settings a try:
xflame -no-bloom -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.bmp
June 10th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
This might be a silly question but how do I run xflame from the command line? I tried opening a shell and typing xflame and get the following message “bash: xflame: command not found” I also tried to run xflame -no-bloom -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.bmp but get the same message. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated
June 11th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Oh, sorry. Xflame is in the /usr/lib/xscreensaver directory. This must be in my $PATH so just typing xflame works for me. Try (all one line):
/usr/lib/xscreensaver/xflame -no-bloom -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.bmp
July 16th, 2007 at 4:17 am
Hi,
Same problem here on a TP T20 and Ubuntu Fiesty. I see a big yellow block. I tried to fiddle with the xflame parameters and found that the following is the best I could sort out :
/usr/lib/xscreensaver/xflame -hspread 26 -vspread 90 -residual 105 -variance 32 -bitmap /usr/share/pixmaps/pentagram.xbm
vspread and hspread seems to control the height and width of the yellow flame, residual the time that the flame stay yellow. But I haven’t see the source, it’s only trial and error…
Can anybody find out from the source why the pentagram bitmap doesn’t work anymore ? It used to be perfect before Fiesty.
Also may be taking a look at the source of Xflame would tell what the heck are meaning the undocumented parameters…
July 16th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Hi PerfMonk,
Unfortunately this may not help you, but I’ve just retested it on Feisty using the pentagram bitmap and it works fine for me.
I’ve tested it at both 1680×1050 and 1024×768 resolutions.
…so, again I’m baffled.
Anyway, we have a far superior official screen saver coming out soon, so I suggest you wait for that!
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:17 pm
wow… im christian, and i wich i could wipe satan off the face of the earth. but it still is a good screensaver!
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:04 pm
The Devil has always had the best tunes!
September 30th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
http://happyhalloweengifts.com/halloween-costumes/cowgirl-halloween-costumes.php
October 21st, 2007 at 12:39 am
Fantastic themes and mods. I love the sense of humour…haha!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Спасибо изучил.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
“Мне нравятся Ваши посты”
December 31st, 2008 at 10:10 am
I am using freespire, and I was wanting to know if anyone knew how to change the bmp correctly? I have changed it, but it comes up a white box, I tried to invert the colors and I get the same white box.
December 7th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Great! love my new burning logo
~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/56770502@N02/5241673433/