Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

variety is a desktop wallpaper changer downloaded from ppm
it needs not to be run as root

root# /usr/bin/variety
Variety is not supposed to run as root.
You should NEVER run desktop apps as root, unless they are supposed to make system-global changes and you know very well what you are doing.
Please run it with your normal user.

If you are trying to run as root because Variety does not start at all with your normal user, you may be hitting a file permission issue or a bug.
Here is what to do to troubleshoot:

1. Open a terminal and run "variety -v" with your normal user.
Look for exceptions and hints in the log for what the problem might be.

2. You may try to rename ~/.config/variety to ~/.config/variety_bak and try again.
This will have Variety start from a clean state.
Your old config and images will remain in variety_bak

i have done all the above and still cant get to work/tks

note it runs fine in my ubuntu 20.04.2 partition with no modifications

rburkartjo wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:19 pm

i have done all the above and still cant get to work/tks

that is because Variety works in XFCE or Gnome may be (I had in XFCE working well) but in puppy we use JWM that as I suppose is not supported by Variety. JWM has its own place for files and function to change a background. So it looks like Variety changes pictures but not in the right place with a wrong command

I tried to get Variety to work, but quickly gave up. There is such a mention on the git page:
'Optional: feh or nitrogen: used by default to set wallpapers on i3, openbox, and other WMs'
feh and nitrogen are both in PPM. But I haven't tried it.

hey grey tks for trying

grey also messed around with feh and nitrogen no luck

rburkartjo wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:23 pm

note it runs fine in my ubuntu 20.04.2 partition with no modifications

Mm. That's because although

• Ubuntu is Linux, and

• Puppy is Linux

.....they are not, as you've discovered by now, anything like the same. I thought you'd figured that one out by now! (No offence intended...)

As bigpup is very fond of reminding one and all, Puppy has a number of totally unique ways of doing things; while Pup may lack certain 'locations' commonly-found in the "big boys", she has a number of unique locations you'll not find anywhere else.....and certain of those are used as standard by a number of common Puppy applications.

I really don't understand why you're trying so hard to make Fossapup look and act exactly like 20.04..! Run Puppy AS Puppy, the way she was meant to be used.....and ENJOY the difference!

Mike.

rburkartjo wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:38 pm

grey also messed around with feh and nitrogen no luck

In .jwmrc

<Background  type="command">nitrogen --restore</Background>

was suggested here (if you wanted to use nitrogen):

https://bjoernvold.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4094

Probably amend above for slideshow use per: https://www.ubuntuopenbox.com/tips/Nitr ... Slideshow/

Something similar probably possible using feh, and script/program to make auto-slideshow as discussed here (tho not mentioning use with JWM):
(but I understand that feh has a slideshow mode anyway)

https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... tervention

Also see: https://superuser.com/questions/211561/ ... -slideshow

You could also use a (very) simple loop program for any image viewer to change the image like the accepted answer in the following:
https://superuser.com/questions/211561/ ... -slideshow

There is also a (old) program for Ubuntu called Wallch (tho maybe too old to work any more):

https://launchpad.net/wallpaper-changer

Truth be told, Xfce "aboard Pup" supplies it's OWN random wall changer.

thru tks just figured that out when playing in xfce mode.

so tks all. all i wanted to do was to put in a desktop wallpaper changerto rotate my wallpaper at startup. and i couldnt get variety, wallch. wally or any other to work while logged into a session using the jwm.

For JWM, you want SFR's latest "RWC" from here.

tks thru

Say philb, do you, or any other member for this matter, have a functional "Wallpaper Slideshow" working aboard Fossa? The option appears broken on this end.

Keep in mind folks, that Variety not only changes images, it is a wallpaper manager that supports online services such as Flickr, Wallhaven, Unsplash and others. It can be made to work in Fossapup, but this is not a matter of first necessity.

Say philb, do you, or any other member for this matter, have a functional "Wallpaper Slideshow" working aboard Fossa? The option appears broken on this end.

Sorted and redirected "without" forum member input.

rburkartjo wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 1:45 pm

so tks all. all i wanted to do was to put in a desktop wallpaper changerto rotate my wallpaper at startup. and i couldnt get variety, wallch. wally or any other to work while logged into a session using the jwm.

Good you got it working. An important secondary purpose of all lead posts is to provide alternatives and ideas more generally. Similar to what occurs when anyone posts an issue they are looking for solutions to on stackexchange, which incidentally, often provides solutions/ideas as answers on Puppy forum.

just an update that rwc works great. you have to have all the wallpapers you want to use in the same file. i have over 500 and no problems.

Genius "HERO member" and all-around nice guy.