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Advanced expertise needed: Setting screen-saver as desktop BG

Let's Sekuhara!

Let's Sekuhara!

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 30, 2008
357
1
日本
So there's this great hidden feature of OS X that allows you to set your screen-saver animation as your desktop background, but it is a Terminal command and it requires Terminal to be running in order to continue executing it. Here it is:

Code: 
/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background

So the million-dollar question is → Does anybody know of a way to keep this running even after you quit Terminal?

Yeah I know, it's a waste of CPU cycles and battery power... but my Mac is plenty fast and is a desktop machine so I'm not concerned about that.

So how about a Terminal command to made the above Terminal command not require Terminal to be open in order to continue?
Any ideas?
 
Solution #1: Don't quit the terminal. I never quit it because it uses very little RAM (besides I use it a lot).

Solution #2: My meager knowledge of AppleScript tells me that MAYBE you could make a shell script and call it via AppleScript.
 
Create a plain text file called org.saver.desktopsaver.plist that contains the following text:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>org.saver.desktopsaver</string>
        <key>KeepAlive</key>
        <false/>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine</string>
                <string>-background</string>
        </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Put that file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents (where ~ denotes your home folder).

Log out, and when you log back in you should have what you want. If you wish to revert to a standard desktop background during your session, simply open Terminal and enter

Code: 
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.saver.desktopsaver.plist

And you can turn screensaver-as-desktop back on by entering

Code: 
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.saver.desktopsaver.plist
 
I can suggest using wallsaver. it should do what you want :D

though its not what you asked for but its just an app that will let you set a screensaver as a background
 
Thank you, LPZ!
I have done as instructed.

I can't restart my machine at the moment as I am in the middle of a download and also an installation, but I'll let you know how it goes when I do.
 
Let's Sekuhara! said:
So there's this great hidden feature of OS X that allows you to set your screen-saver animation as your desktop background, but it is a Terminal command and it requires Terminal to be running in order to continue executing it. Here it is:

Code: 
/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background

So the million-dollar question is → Does anybody know of a way to keep this running even after you quit Terminal?

Yeah I know, it's a waste of CPU cycles and battery power... but my Mac is plenty fast and is a desktop machine so I'm not concerned about that.

So how about a Terminal command to made the above Terminal command not require Terminal to be open in order to continue?
Any ideas?
Click to expand...


Screen can do that..


Load up a terminal and type:
screen
/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background
Hold the CTRL button and tap A then D (don't hold them. Tap them one after the other all while still holding down CTRL)

Close the terminal
 
Let's Sekuhara! said:
Thank you, LPZ!
I have done as instructed.

I can't restart my machine at the moment as I am in the middle of a download and also an installation, but I'll let you know how it goes when I do.
Click to expand...

Log out and log in should suffice. No need to restart.
 
Thnx LPZ!!!!!!

werks like a charm-- thnx LPZ

i've been werkin' on that for the past 12 hours. i was just on the brink of banging my hed against the keyboard
:p
 
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