Typography wallpaper is an awesome little script created by Dave Child that generates a wallpaper using your installed fonts – using a different font and character each time it is run.
Download
- First download the script from here (right click, save as)
- Now ensure you have PHP and ImageMagick installed
sudo apt-get install imagemagick php5
- Now rename the script extension to .php
- Move it to your Home folder
Before we run the script you need to tailor it. Make sure you pay attention to each section of the command highlighted below.
Location
php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440×900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000
This is the path to where you want the wallpaper to be created. Make sure wherever you select is writeable. For ease of mind just your home folder.
Size
php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440×900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000
This is the size the wallpaper – enter the dimensions fully. You can check your screen-size in System > Preferences > Monitors
Characters to display/rotate through
php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440×900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000
In the example above I’ve entered the letter ö. You can enter as many letters as you like, all of which are case-specific, too. Note that only one will show at a time.
Background colour
php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440×900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000
Enter the hexadecimal value of the background colour you’d like. There are many online tools for finding hex values such as html-color-codes.com
The value in the example above is the new Ubuntu 10.04 purple colour.
Foreground colour
php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440×900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000
This is the colour that the typography on your wallpaper will be written in, so choose something complimentary to the background colour.
In the example above the foreground colour is the orange used on OMG! Ubuntu!
Finish up
Once you’ve tailored each part you can run the script as one command: -
php fontpaper.php -i ~/wallpaper.jpg -s 1440×900 -l d0od -b 230417 -f ff9000
The resulting image will be set as your wallpaper.
Set wallpaper to Auto-change
If you want the wallpaper to auto-change, setting a new wallpaper with a new character in a random font then you can set the script to run at set intervals though an application called GNOME-Schedule.
- sudo apt-get install gnome-schedule
- Start GNOME-Schedule
- Click ‘new’
- Select ‘recurrent’ task type
- In the command field paste your custom command
- In the drop down box beneath the command field choose ‘Suppress behaviour’
- Set a running interval
- Click ‘add’.
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