[HOW_TO] MagicMirror as Desktop Wallpaper (all platform : updated)

[MMRIZE]

@doctorwhen
Interesting. I know pcmanfm can set desktop wallpaper with image, but is it possible also application to locate in background layer?

Anyway, now we can do it natively since 2.17

[doctorwhen]

@mmrize no, pcmanfm cannot run an application in the desktop background layer, just a wallpaper image. so, i take my comment back, i did not fully understand what you are talking about. but, now i want to try running magicmirror as my desktop background!

[lexcyr]

@mmrize Hello
i just tried it on Xubuntu, the background stay black for me and not transparent. so i can’t see my desktop icons anymore :(.

[MMRIZE]

@lexcyr
In the Linux environment, some additional options might be needed or modified (I mentioned it in README)
Anyway, you’ve said;

so i can’t see my desktop icons anymore

It means, your MM is not placed on the desktop layer, but normal application layer. (And your transparent setting also doesn’t work)
I doubt you probably miss these;

• Your MM might not be 2.17.
• Or your configuration was wrong.

[OscarVsp]

Hello, thank for this !

I’ve followed configuration for linux, and i also had to add the custom css content to have transparency. It works well expect one issue: the mouse click don’t go through magicmirror, so i can’t click on folder/app on the desktop.

Is it normal, and am i supposed to only use the menu to launch app or am i missing something ? I looked on the electron documentation but i didn’t found answer to this…

Thanks for your help

[MMRIZE]

@OscarVsp

I’ve tested MacOS and Windows, but not Linux, sorry. But Electron Manual says type: 'desktop' options would work on Linux Environment too.
What kind of Linux are you using?

[MMRIZE]

@OscarVsp
You can check whether MM is really ‘most-bottomed’. Adjust some CSS to check whether MM is “COVERING but just transparent” against other icons or applications.

[MMRIZE]

@OscarVsp

• Non-X-11 based Linux Desktop might not work.
• This behaviour may severely be dependent on the platform, so in some environment, it might not work.
• When some OTHER application occupies the “most-bottomed position” later, MM might be expelled to the foreground. I’m not sure.

[MMRIZE]

Just for confirmation about still-working. (2024-05-16)

Both electronOptions and electronSwitches to be added must reside within the config variable in config.js. I didn’t mention it because it seemed obvious. Surprisingly, it seems to be misunderstood as adding this to the end of the file.

[plainbroke]

@MMRIZE
I tried to figure out what and how to make this work. Wow, way above my abilities.
Can you make a script for all of it so, us dummies can use it?