Idesk - ArchWiki

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Idesk is a simple program for adding icons to your X desktop. It can also manage your wallpaper with a built in changer similar to that found in Windows 7.

## Installation

Install ideskAUR. Then copy the necessary configuration files to your home directory as shown below:

    $ mkdir ~/.idesktop
    $ cp /usr/share/idesk/dot.ideskrc ~/.ideskrc

optional:

    $ cp /usr/share/idesk/default.lnk ~/.idesktop/

(This adds the default icon which just runs Xdialog to display a welcome message. It can be used as a template for other icons.)

## Configuration

The ideskAUR package does not come with a man page, but it does come with a readme file: `/usr/share/idesk/README`. There is also documentation on SourceForge.net however most of the configuration options should be self-explanatory.

### Background options

If you are using another wallpaper setter such as Feh or Nitrogen, Idesk's background settings do not need to be modified.

If you are using Idesk's own background setter, supported wallpaper formats include JPEG, PNG, GIF, and XPM. Using either `Background.File` or `Background.Source`, specify the path to the image file you wish to use as a wallaper.

Tip: `Background.Source` seems to take precedence over `Background.File`; however, it is ignored if `Background.Delay` is set to 0.

### Icons

Idesk looks in `~/.idesktop` for files which names end with `.lnk` for icons. Each file should define one icon If you attempt to define a second icon it will be silently ignored. Aside from ending with `.lnk`, the files' names are not important.

Example for Chromium:

    chromium.lnk

    table Icon
      Caption: Chromium
      ToolTip.Caption: Google's OSS Web Browser
      Icon: /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/chromium.png
      Width: 32
      Height: 32
      X: 977
      Y: 369
      Command[0]: chromium
    end

`Width` and `Height` should match the actual dimensions of the icon. `X` and `Y` will be modified by idesk to reflect the icon's actual position.

Tip:

- Most system icons can be found in the following locations: `/usr/share/icons/hicolor`, `/usr/share/icons/gnome` and `/usr/share/pixmaps`.
- Many icon themes provide a variety of different sizes of icon - 48x48 is a commonly used size for desktop icons.

### Idesktool

The idesk-extrasAUR package provides a graphical configuration tool for Idesk. It can be started by running the `idesktool` command. Users can use Idesktool to create and remove icons, modify settings and restart Idesk.

Category:

- X server