cannot use kde screensavers as desktop background

[Diovanti]

I'm using Xfree 4.2.1-r2, kde3.1 & the latest nvidia drivers

Okay, here's the deal. I want to be able to use a screensaver as my desktop background. However the kde screensavers don't want to cooperate...

Here's what works:
xscreensaver demos w/o opengl -- e.g. xmatrix
xscreensaver demos w/ gl -- e.g. gears
kde demos w/o opengl -- e.g. klines.kss
What doesn't work:
kde demos w/ gl -- e.g. ksolarwinds.kss

If I try for example, 'ksolarwinds.kss --root' from konsole, I get a full size window that the demo runs in. It will not draw to the root window for some reason. Also, the following message is written to konsole:

[ebrostig]

I think this is more or less "by design"
Some screensavers ahve been designed to run as a background, some to actually take over the complete screen. If you find one that works, great. If it doesn't work, too bad.

Maybe, if you have a particular one that you would really want on your desktop, that you can contact the author and ask if he has looked into the possibility of changing the code to work as you want it?

Erik
_________________
'Yes, Firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'

[Strenuus]

Not sure if this will help you or not, but make sure that in Control Center on the Desktop::Behavior section on the General tab you have Allow programs in desktop window. Otherwise you will get a full screen window that runs the screen saver.

The next step is to go to Appearance & Themes::Background and select Advanced Options... If you haven't already Add a new background program. Perhaps someone else can explain the difference, but type the same thing in Command and Executable. example: /usr/kde/3.2/bin/ksolarwinds.kss --root

You should be able to find a list of a few different screen savers in that folder.

I hope this helps a little bit. I'll try to answer any questions you might have.