nebbus

Ahh, good to hear that it worked out for you! And thanks for posting the fix!

I don't think I should use absolute paths in the script, but this will help others having a similar problem.
- Dec 17 2008

You could try:
mogrify -list font
to see fonts that imagemagick tries to use,

then
convert -size 500x120 xc:black track.png
mogrify -quality 100 -fill white -pointsize 20 -font SomeFont.ttf -draw "text 100,80 \"$(dcop amarok player album)\"" track.png

Remember to replace SomeFont.ttf with your font name.

Also have a look here for more info on imagemagick and fonts:
http://imagemagick.org/script/command-line-options.php#font
Hope it helps! - Dec 12 2008

Sorry, I made an error there. It should be:

convert -size 500x120 xc:black track.png
mogrify -quality 100 -fill white -pointsize 20 -draw "text 100,80 \"$(dcop amarok player album)\"" track.png

while amarok is playing.

If it doesn't work I have no idea what is wrong. It might be the encoding of your filesystem (though I don't think so), or it might be imagemagick. Imagemagick might be using a font without support for these letters.

Sorry I could not help you any more :) - Dec 11 2008

Could you also post the output of

echo $LANG
and
locale - Dec 08 2008

Try to just run those commands in a terminal and see how track.png turns out, and remember the \ before some of the ". - Dec 08 2008

Try this:
convert -size 500x120 xc:black track.png
mogrify -quality 100 -fill white -pointsize 20 -draw "text 100,50 \"${dcop amarok player artist}\"" -draw "text 100,80 \"${dcop amarok player album}\"" track.png - Dec 07 2008

Strange indeed!

I also use Kubuntu 8.04 and the same version of KDE and Amarok.

Could you give me a link to that Superkaramba theme? - Dec 06 2008

Try this:
convert -size 500x120 xc:black track.png
artist="`dcop amarok player artist`"
album="`dcop amarok player album`"
mogrify -quality 100 -fill white -pointsize 20 -draw -draw "text 100,50 \"$artist\"" -draw "text 100,80 \"$album\"" track.png

It should create an image (track.png) in your working directory. Check if you have the same problem.

Then:
convert -size 500x120 xc:black track.png
artist="æøåÆØÅ"
album="æøåÆØÅ"
mogrify -quality 100 -fill white -pointsize 20 -draw -draw "text 100,50 \"$artist\"" -draw "text 100,80 \"$album\"" track.png

And see if the same problem is still there.

What version of KDe and Amarok are you using? - Dec 05 2008

Strange!

I have songs with æøå in the names and ID3 tags as well (I live in Norway). They show up fine. How does Amarok show the names? Could you try to execute:

dcop amarok player title
dcop amarok player artist

when you are playing a song with this problem? Post the output here. - Dec 04 2008

Well, great to hear that you like the script! A happy user is what keeps me developing this and it gives me a feeling of returning something to the world of open source.

And thanks for solving the problem! - Aug 07 2008

Could you take a look in
/home/<username>/.kde/share/apps/amarok/scripts-data/AmarokScreenSaver/final
and see if there are any images there?

Also run these commands while Amarok is playing:
1. dcop amarok player artist
2. convert -size 60x60 gradient:none-black gradient: -channel A -fx v.R "gradient.png"
3. convert -quality 100 -resize 100x20%! "gradient.png" "shadow.png"
4. dcop kdesktop KScreensaverIface save
5. xset -q

Two of those commands should create images in your workdir.

- Aug 06 2008

Do you have the same problem when you use the screensaver without AmarokScreenSaver running?

The script doesn't handle the stopping of the screensaver, it only starts it. Therefore I believe this is not a problem with the script, but rather a bug in the screensaver it is using.

I am only testing with KDE4.0.5 at the moment and I don't see this behaviour. Could you see if this is the same when yuo use the slideshow screensaver in KDE? - Jul 21 2008

Ah, good to hear that it works for you! I just tested with my openSUSE VM and it worked there too.

Good to hear that you like the script too! - Jul 11 2008

OK

It might be something wrong with the detection of the kde version.

Please post the output of the following command:

echo KDE_SESSION_VERSION

while you are using KDE 3.5.9 - Jul 11 2008

OK, those seem to work fine then!

I am dl'ing opensuse right now. Will try to get it installed in a VM tomorrow. Anything special with your installation? I have never used opensuse before so I might use some time to get around it. Is ImageMagic and Amarok installed by default? - Jul 10 2008

Something is wrong, that's for sure!

It is strange that you get a screenshot as a screensaver. Nothing in the script will do that.

Could you, while playing a track in Amarok issue the following five commands and post the output (two of them will produce images in your workdir):

1. dcop amarok player artist
2. convert -size 60x60 gradient:none-black gradient: -channel A -fx v.R "gradient.png"
3. convert -quality 100 -resize 100x20%! "gradient.png" "shadow.png"
4. dcop kdesktop KScreensaverIface save
5. xset -q - Jul 10 2008

That is _strange_!

Could you start the script and leave it until the screensaver starts. Then in the scriptmanager right click the script and select show output (or similar). Paste the output in a reply below.

It might be your imagemagick version that changes something, I am running 6.3.7. This happened before and should be no problem to fix! - Jul 09 2008

The screensaver starts when Amarok changes track. I know, this can be anoying if you are using the computer. I have not found a way to prevent this with KDE3, but with KDE4 it is easy. I will put this feature into the next release.

I created a small script and made a hotkey to run it. The script turns AmarokScreenSaver on and off. This way it is easy to prevent this problem. The script only has these lines:

#!/bin/bash

if dcop amarok script listRunningScripts | grep $1; then
dcop amarok script stopScript $1;
else
dcop amarok script runScript $1;
fi

save it as toggleamarokscript.sh and run it with 'toggleamarokscript.sh AmarokScreenSaver' to turn my Amarok script on/off. - Apr 16 2008

Hey! Glad you like the script!

I updated it today, it now does what you wanted. It restores the settings on pause and stop! - Apr 07 2008

Yes, should not be a problem.

I am working an a new veresion of the script and will put it into that. I do not know when I will finish it though. KDE4 is out and I need the script to work with that. Amarok 2 is also in the works and things will need to be prepared for that.

Perhaps a bugfix-release first... - Apr 07 2008

Hi, sorry for not answering your first post.

It might be your imagemagic version. I am using version 6.2.4 with Kubuntu 7.04.

Have you got xwininfo and bc installed? They are needed. The next version will (probably) not need them. Check if they are installed and if not install them. This might be the reason you get blury cover images as well.

If this is not the case:
- In settings disable "Rotate placement"
- In the script, on line 147 replace "${placement[0]}" with "+150+150". Try different values as you see fit.

I am glad you like the script and hope this helps. I am rather busy at the moment but I am hope I will find time to enhance the script in the next two months(!).

Please give feedback if this helps! - Jun 27 2007

I am thinking of putting in a reflection like in AmarokFS, but keep in mind that it would take longer to make the images then.

It should not be difficult to hide the track number when there is none.

I also find it annoying when the screensaver starts when I am working. Therefore I have assigned a shortcut that starts/stops the script. When I am working I don't use the script. But I am thinking of ways to prevent the screensaver from starting like this.

I am afraid it will take some time until I finish a new version, because I just got a second daughter and there is a lot of things to do. I will look into your suggestions when I have the time though! - Apr 23 2007

Ahhh

I renamed it anyway. I found out that the name did not say anything about what the script did. The new name is AmarokScreenSaver. Hope you like it! - Feb 22 2007

Yes, you are right. The name does resemble the Nazi organisation SS. I knew about this when I made the script and I thought about an other name, but I did not find one I liked. KoverSaver was taken and KoverScreenSaver was too long. AmarokSaver is the best alternative.

I chose to stay with the name for a number of reasons. There are a lot of technologies already that have SS in their name (ssh, css, ssl comes to mind), and even tough the Nazis did a lot of horrible things I still think the world has to go on. We should not forget what they did, but neither should we be afraid for using 'SS' in names or any other objects that might resemble any Nazi organisation.

Any way; I will change the name if I five or more persons make a post that they will not use the script because of the name. Please post also if you do not want me to change it! AmarokSaver is one alternative, but pleas give me ideas if you can think of anything else. - Feb 20 2007

Hi, sorry for my late answer, I have been quite busy at work...

I hadn't thought about the kopete problem. It is easily fixed either your way or with some more dcop-magic! I wil take care of that in an upcoming release!

About the two lines you commented out:
This will fix the kopete problem, but it will also prevent the screensaver from starting on a track-change. The screensaver will start after the time you have sett in you preferences. This will also make the "lock screensaver" function of the script not work. But if you like it more this way that is just fine!

But all of this got me thinking quite a bit! And I have some new ideas for the next release, taking care of these problems. It should not be difficult!

Anyway: Glad you like the script, and glad you could make it work the way you want! Thanks for the feedback, this will make the script better and better!

nebbus - Feb 07 2007

Sorry, I thought those were part of a standard install. Apparently not! I added both to the list of requirements. Glad to see that you liked the script, and thanks for helping out!

nebbus - Jan 08 2007

Glad you like the script! And glad to help!

That's the spirit of Linux! - Oct 20 2006

Sorry, I think I was a little bit quick. We will try something different...

On line 117 change:

composite -compose atop -gravity center $WORKDIR/cover.png $WORKDIR/song.png /$FINALDIR/final.png

into

composite -compose atop -geometry "+x+y" $WORKDIR/cover.png $WORKDIR/song.png /$FINALDIR/final.png

Now use x values bigger than the width of your left screen, and y value a bit smaller than your screen height. With '+' composite places the cover x and y pixels from the left and top edges. With '-' it was supposed to place it according to the bottom and right edges. But this did not work for me either.

Hope this helps!

- Oct 19 2006

Thanks! Good to hear that you like the script!

Yes, I think I can help you with your problem.

On line 37 and 38 the screen resolution is set. Change HEIGHT and WIDTH to your values. (HEIGHT=1024 and WIDTH=2560)

On line 117 you can change '-gravity center' to '-gravity east'. This should put the cover art on your right screen. You could also try adding '-geometry -x-y' where x and y are integers (try x=400 and y=300 as a start).

I have not tried this as I do not have a dual-display like this (my second display is my TV, and that is a clone of my primary display).

Hope this helps!

Even - Oct 14 2006

Thanks again for your feedback!

Turns out, Amarok's dcop function to get the URL of the cover image returns the URL of a small version of the image. When the image is resized the quality is heavily degraded. I have updated the script a bit. It now checks if a larger image exists and uses this instead of the small one. But I have found no way to do this if the image resides inside the album folder, it must have been retrieved with Amarok's amazon.com function. - Oct 02 2006

Thank you!

Open up the script and on line 33 you will find a variable "COVERFACTOR", change it to something bigger and the image will be bigger.

The variable is the size if the image relative to your screen resolution.

If you comment out line 98 the image will not be resized at all.

nebbus - Sep 30 2006

Hi

You Amarok script background-cover on kde-aps.org is in violation of the GPL.

My script, AmarokScreenSaver (formerly KoverSS), witch your script is clearly based on is released under the GPL.

Read about compatibility of licenses here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#compat-matrix-footnote-7

You can not release GPLed code under any other license (except later versions of GPL).

Please change your license!

I would also kindly ask you to change the source code so that it does not look like it was written by me. Please include a "Based on the work by nebbus" and a link to AmarokScreenSaver. - Feb 13 2008

That feature exists! It is an Amarok script. It is called KoverSS (KoverScreenSaver)

check it out!
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=46488

nebbus - Feb 17 2007

There exists an Amarok script that does this:

http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=46488 - Sep 30 2006

I have now finished my KoverSS script doing this exact thing.

http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=46488 - Sep 30 2006

I have already made an Amarok script that does this. It needs to be tested though. I have tried it under Mandriva 2006 and Kubuntu 6.06, and it works as it should.

I will publish it here when I get the time (probably soon...) - Sep 25 2006

Does this work with SE w800i?

I keep getting an error when I try to run the script. The error is:

"¡Error! Can't open device"

I would really like to see this script working! - May 06 2006