Wallsaver
Put Your Screen Saver On Your Desktop!
Want a more exciting wallpaper for your desktop? Then turn it into a Wallsaver! The Wallsaver widget allows you to run the screen saver of your choice on your desktop, right behind all your icons. Simply select which screen saver you’d like to see from the back of the widget, flip it over and click the large green button on the front. To stop, click the same button which will have turned red. It even remembers the previous selection you made.
Features of Interest
- Completely native and self contained
- Uses no third party applications
- All utilities are built into the OS
- Free!
FAQ
How do I run a slideshow of an iPhoto or Aperture album?
Currently, the Wallsaver widget doesn’t support running iPhoto or Aperture albums on your desktop. This feature has been recognized and will be included in a future release. Be sure to check for updates!
How much processing power does this take?
The Wallsaver widget contains no extra applications or plugins and simply runs your regular old screen saver on your Desktop. Therefore, it takes the same amount of CPU processing power as the regular screen saver does. On average, you can expect that the screen saver running shouldn’t take more than 2–7% of your CPU power.
Keep in mind that under normal conditions, screen savers are invoked when little or no activity is occuring on your computer (i.e. you leave for 10 minutes) and are terminated upon your return. Since the Wallsaver widget allows you to continue working as a screen saver is being run, be aware of the implications this can have. If you’re concerned or experience abnormal slowness of your system, check the Activity Monitor application located in your utilities.
Your widget is tiny! How does it work?
Your screen saver is invoked and controlled by an application called ScreenSaverEngine located in a Framework of your System’s Library. By default, this application runs the screen saver in the foreground (as you would expect it to). However, if you pass the correct arguments, you can force it to run behind all your icons and applications. This widget is minimalist in the sense that it is simply a wrapper for the following command:
$ /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background
Release Notes
Version 1.0 — August 18, 2007
- Initial release
The Wallsaver widget is provided as is. By downloading the Wallsaver widget, you agree that there is no warranty associated with its functionality or impact it may have on your system.