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AndyM48

Member

Registered: 2023-02-12

Posts: 16

Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

Xfce4 4.20
xfdesktop 4.20

I know that I can stop xfdesktop, but that also stops the right-click on desktop actions. I am not worried about the desktop icons, I don't use them, but I need to manage the wallpaper with hsetroot or similar.

I search for this and found

To enable/disable wallpaper/workspace:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -p /backdrop/single-workspace-mode -s <TRUE_OR_FALSE>

but this was quite old and I don't think it applies anymore.

If I can't disable the wallpaper, can I use something else to provide the right-click actions?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 12,507

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

Its not possible to stop xfdesktop from managing the wallpaper - that functionality doesn't exist. However, you can use any tool that supports setting the image via windowid (assuming you are running X windows and not wayland) to over-write xfdesktop's wallpaper load. This will allow the xfdesktop right-click menu to function, but will disable icon functionality.

One such tool is xloadimage:
Note: you need to have wmctrl installed - I use it to automatically get the root window ID.

Edit: Nevermind, it doesn't seem to work - left clicking on the desktop removes the image and brings up the xfdesktop image.

Last edited by ToZ (Yesterday 18:58:13)

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AndyM48

Member

Registered: 2023-02-12

Posts: 16

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

Thanks anyway.

If I can't disable the wallpaper, can I use something else to provide the right-click actions?

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 917

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

What is the end goal here? why do you need to use hsetroot?

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Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc

AndyM48

Member

Registered: 2023-02-12

Posts: 16

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

I like a certain desktop layout: cairo-desk and stalonetray. To set stalonetray to a transparent background requires something like hsetroot. Before I bought a laptop with a hidpi screen I used openbox, but I cannot make that scale the desktop correctly. The best DE for my needs seems to be XFCE4, (I tried several) but now I have two programmes setting the desktop image.

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 917

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

I don't know what cairo-desk is so I can't help there.

It's been a while since I've played with openbox but I found this for hidpi.
https://thebadsleep.excus.eu/2022/05/16 … d-scaling/
https://unix.stackexchange.com/question … le-problem

If it's actually Openbox you like you might like Labwc. Basically Openbox standards with Wayland.
https://labwc.github.io/index.html

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I AM CANADIAN!
Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc

AndyM48

Member

Registered: 2023-02-12

Posts: 16

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

It was rather late for me, of course I meant cairo-dock 

Those articles propose some fairly straightforward changes, e.g. dpi, but they do not scale everything in the same way that xfce4 manages to do. In fact I tried Mate with openbox and it had all the same problems with scaling, which is why I have stuck with xfce4.

May be it's time to try wayland.

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 917

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

I haven't really played with cairo-dock but I thought it had it's own system tray?

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I AM CANADIAN!
Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc

AndyM48

Member

Registered: 2023-02-12

Posts: 16

Re: Is it possible to stop xfdesktop managing the wallpaer

Yes, it does, but I don't like it