screensaver-settings 0.3.0 (2008-Mar-26) xFX JumpStart http://software.xfx.net/utilities/sss/ Ubuntu 7.10 Package: http://software.xfx.net/ftp/screensaver-settings_0.3.0-1_i386.deb Binary: http://software.xfx.net/ftp/screensaver-settings-bin.tar.gz Source (Mono/C#): http://software.xfx.net/ftp/screensaver-settings-src.tar.gz Tarball: http://software.xfx.net/ftp/screensaver-settings_0.3.0.tar ---------------------------------------------------------- === What is this? === Well, this is my first Linux-based application ;) This application has been developed to cover a missing feature from the actual gnome-screensaver-preferences application: The support to change the screensavers' settings. screensaver-settings provides an almost identical interface to that provided by gnome-screensaver-preferences but with the addition of a "Preferences" button that will let you change the settings of any of the screensavers in your system. Additionally, you will also be able to select which set of screensavers should be used while in "random" mode. === How does it work? === screensaver-settings will read the list of screensavers from the list of XML documents found in the "/usr/share/xscreensaver/config/" folder. The screensaver's preview is generated by executing the appropriate screensaver located in the in the "/usr/lib/xscreensaver/" folder. Finally, changes are applied to the corresponding .desktop file located in the "/usr/share/applications/screensavers/" folder. === Known Bugs/Limitations === (for current version) - This is probably not a bug... but its good to know that: Ubuntu's .theme files for the screensavers do not contain any configuration information; this means that all screensavers run using their default values. Some of these default values cannot be determined by reading the corresponding .xml file or Exec line in the .desktop file which means that, the first time you use screensaver-settings the screensaver may look different from what the controls in the settings window reflect. Once you make changes to a screensaver using screensaver-settings all parameters will be synchronized so all future access to this screensaver's settings will look correct. - The "Default" button in the Settings window is not working... - At this moment, screensaver-settings does not support localization. - No documentation is currently available. - The position and size of all the windows used by screensaver-settings are not saved. - Screensavers that do not implement/support the -window-id parameter will not be displayed in the preview window. === Change log / History === 0.3.0 (2008-Mar-26) - screensaver-settings is now distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3. - The program will now automatically hide the settings window when switching to fullscreen or selecting either the Random or Blank settings. - Added support to display the settings from a "command" control but support to modify the screensaver's command line is not yet supported (and probably never will) so the textbox will appear disabled. - For some reason, getting the Random Cycle Delay parameter from GCONF will fail. This hasn't been resolved yet but, at least, the program will not crash when this occurs. - Made some substantial modifications to the GUI in order to conform to the suggestions made by Matthew Paul Thomas (https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-screensaver/+bug/22007/comments/60). Not all his suggestions are implemented and those that were are not 100% functional. The changes include: - Moved the screensaver daemon settings to the top of the dialog. - Added a selection box (dropdown) to select the operation mode: Blank Screen, One Screensaver or Random. - The selection of which screensavers should be included while in random mode it is now made on the same dialog. 0.2.6 (2008-Feb-2) - Fixed many bugs with the way the program handled values from comboboxes. - Fixed bug that could cause the program to incorrectly handle parameters without values. - Fixed bug that caused the program to crash if the Settings window was closed using the [x] button. 0.2.5 (2008-Jan-24) - Fixed bug that could cause the program to crash if you switched screensavers as the program was closing. - Fixed bug that caused the settings window to improperly initialize number-based controls (such as sliders and spinbuttons). - Removed all the "Console.WriteLine" entries that served only for debugging purposes. - Improved support for other Linux distributions (such as openSUSE). 0.2.4 (2008-Jan-23) - This README file has been updated to reflect the latest changes in the program. - Fixed (again) a bug that caused the program to not close/terminate properly. - Added support for other Linux distributions. So far I can confirm that it "almost" runs under openSUSE 10.3 Better support will be provided on future versions. - Many users have reported that the program is including the "Hufo's Tunnel" screensaver twice and missing the "ColorFire" screensaver. This is because the XML file for the ColorFire screensaver is corrupt. I could implement several solutions but I'd prefer that the responsible for packaging those XML files fixed this problem by correcting the "Name" and "_lable" attributes for the colorfire.xml document. If you wish, you can fix this yourself: 1) Type this on the console: gksudo gedit /usr/share/xscreensaver/config/colorfire.xml 2) Locate this line: 3) Change it for this: 4) Save the document 0.2.3 (2008-Jan-17) - Fixed bug that could cause the program to crash when updating the screensaver's preview - Fixed bug that could cause the program to crash when a screensaver's .desktop file contained corrupted startup parameters 0.2.2 (2007-Oct-26) - screensaver-settings no longer needs to be run as root (gksudo). Whenever the program detects that it needs to update a screensaver it will ask for the user's permission. - The screensavers' configuration files are now updated when the program is closed (not every time the user makes some changes). - Fixed several bugs... 0.2.1 (2007-Oct-24) - Added the ability to configure which screensavers should be rotated in Random mode 0.2.0 (2007-Oct-24) - screensaver-settings has been rewritten, from scratch, using C#/Gtk# 0.1.0 (2007-Jan-25) - Re-released version 0.1 to support Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) 0.1.0 (2006-Sep-12) - Initial Release