Is the possibility of work of screensaver kclock.kss in Plasma 5?
I’m going to upgrade my 13.2 to Tumbleweed and would like to leave my favourite applications.
Can I use old screensaver kclock from kdeartwork4 in Plasma 5?
I don’t find a solution and hope to your advices, thank you for a possible help.
I hope that helps:
https://forums.opensuse.org/content.php/190-Alternate-Screensaver-in-KDE-Plasma-5
There the talking is about xscreensaver. It works OK.
I want to run kclock.kss screensaver from kdeartwork4 and don’t know how.
kdeartwork4-screensaver is already installed on the tested TW. What else can I do?
Added:
I can run file /usr/bin/kclock.kss from console and clock works with default settings.
How can control this application, for example by script? (run after 30 min of inactivity, set full screen above all windows, preferred screensaver settings and others parameters).
:’(Alas, I’m not a programmer and I can not write scripts and other code.
I don’t think you can. KDE4 is a completely different beast than KDE Plasma5. Over the past couple of years all the KDE apps have been rewriten, en KDE4 is considered dead now.
If /usr/bin/kclock.kss is copied from openSUSE-13.2 to Tumbleweed /usr/local/bin it can be run from bash without problems. I did not work out how to add it to the screensavers.
The application kclock.kss is started manually and works correctly in my Tumbleweed.
I need a script to run this application for screensavers in accordance with standard rules, for example: start after 30 minutes of inactivity, work in full screen mode on top of all windows for 6 hours, exit from the screensaver with the space bar or mouse.
Yes, the simplest bash script runs this screensaver.
However, my knowledge of writing scripts is very insignificant, and I do not know how to set the necessary parameters for the screensaver to work as needed.
Command /usr/bin/kclock.kss --setup allows to configure only the appearance of the application.
Maybe in my 13.2 there is already a configured config file for the application.
Where can it be located and can I transfer it to Tumbleweed?
Are there ways to create a file directly in Tumbleweed or set the parameters directly from the script?
Have a look at the Powersaving settings in Systemsettings. This has an option to run a script after X minutes. AFAICS it would only require a bash script that actually starts the screensaver.
Thank You for info, really the setting “Run script” is presented there!
It can help me.
Now I try to set parameters of the window of screensaver (full screen mode on top of all windows).
I set parameters of the window of screensaver (full screen mode on top of all windows), I hope correctly.
How can I configure exit from screensaver by a mouse and (or) Space bar? Currently I push Alt+F3 and then use appearing window for exit.
On locked screen with running screensaver also there is a cursor, how is it possible to hide it?
It isn’t.
Except if you change the code.
I understood, and yes, I can’t change code.
Please tell me else why is the same screensaver kclock.kss in 13.2 runs with a hidden cursor, and in TW a cursor is visible? Is the related code situated in the code of the window manager or somewhere?
Because 13.2 comes with KDE4/Plasma1 where the screenlocker still supported “screensavers” and hid the mouse cursor.
Is the related code situated in the code of the window manager or somewhere?
It’s in kscreenlocker.
But screensaver support has been removed completely.
You could of course disable the screenlocker in KDE’s settings completely and use xscreensaver instead.
But that won’t allow you to use kclock.kss either I think.
If you run kclock.css manually, you’d also need to hide the mouse cursor manually.
But TBH, I have no idea at the moment how to do that in a script.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. At least a general understanding of the functioning of the system is important to me.
If it’s difficult to solve this problem, then I think that it’s possible to leave the screensaver as it is, because the presence of the cursor on the screensaver is not such a big problem.
Exiting the screensaver via Space or mouse activity is probably impossible for the same reason, but Alt + F4 and Alt + F3 are effective.
Also I would like to know what is the difference in running the script through Powersaving settings in Systemsettings or via Startup and Shutdown in Systemsettings.
Once again I thank for the help.
If you go to System Settings> Notifications, in the “Event Source” drop down box, “Screensaver” is listed there. You can set an action for when the screen has been Locked or Unlocked.
I used the Kcometen4 screensaver for ages with a work around using scrot (a screenshot utility). Kcometen4 takes a screenshot and displays it in 3D as the screensaver. KDE made the screensaver code clear the screen before the screensaver kicked in for security reasons, as in the case of office workers with credit card numbers on the screen for instance. Using scrot and that notification, I took a screenshot and in Kcometen4 settings, I had it load the saved screenshot. You couldn’t tell it wasn’t running just as it always did. I had to install two packages, the screensaver and one dependency on Magiea 6.
It’s a really nice screensaver and I’ve used it since I found it in 2007: https://store.kde.org/content/show.php/KCometen4?content=87586
Now, to Plasma 5. I had this working in Mageia 6 using Xscreensaver and I forget the exact details, but I didn’t have to do the screenshot with scrot because Xscreensaver doesn’t clear the screen. I think it did still have the cursor but there is probably a way to hide the cursor with a script. I didn’t go any further because I switched to Tumbleweed and haven’t worked on it in TW. I’ll post what I find when I get to it which will probably be tonight.
With Screensaver still listed in the Event Source, I don’t know if KDE intends to supply a screensaver function or if it’s just hasn’t been changed to “Screen locker” or something, but it is there now.
I hope this helps the OP and everyone looking to get a screensaver going. I’m going to do all I can to get Kcometen4 running.
OK, jsmith64. Thanks a lot. I’ll wait for you here with new info.
Hello,
Kcometen4 works but it kept leaving a copy running every time it was activated. You could do a script to find the PID and kill it before running it again.To add your screensaver to Xscreensaver, add it to he bottom of the list in the file .xscreensaver in your home holder. Once you have it in the Xscreensaver list you can experiment with it. I just grabbed kcometen4.kss from my other drive with Mageia on it but you can extract kclock.kss from an RPM with Ark.
I also had problems with Xscreensaver clearing the screen but you won’t have to worry about it because your clock generates its own display and Kcometen4 needs a screenshot. Also, I has to use a script to get my screenshot and everything going so that’s why Xscrensaver wouldn’t kill it. If you just add it to the ~.xscreensaver file it should work. Make sure you don’t have extra Xscreensaver instances running and that everything is under control and I think you’ll be ok. I’m going to go get kclock and take a look.
Yes, it works great! As I said, edit ~.xscreensaver and go to the bottom of the list which isn’t the bottom of the file. You’ll see it, the bottom of the screensaver list, very close to the end of the file. Just add kclock.kss and copy the line above it so it matches except for the name. Run “kclock.kss --setup” to set up your clock colors then run “xscreensaver-command -prefs” to setup Xscreensaver. It didn’t have any problems at all.
You can get kclock.kss from here if you don’t have a copy or if yours doesn’t run.
I used this so we could make sure we had the same file. Right click it and open it with Ark and put kclock.kss in /usr/bin/. Good luck!
jsmith64, I’m very glad and grade your advice very much. As soon as possible I’ll try your recomendations. I hope my task will solved with your help. A lot of thanks.