I have been looking for a replacement for the old BGinfo, and BGinfo4X looked really promising, although I agree with those complaining about the lack of GUI. Apart from that, I've noticed some bugs that keeps us from using this on our computers:
I want to let the users keep their own wallpapers, so I disabled the corporate wallpaper. But if the username contains foreign characters (lika å,ä,ö) I get an error, as it translates the path wrong.
The background text size seems to follow the wallpaper size. I have my monitor set to 1280x1024. If I have an image with the size 1920x1200 as (scaled) wallpaper, the text gets very small, and if the wallpaper is 640x480 I get a very big text. I want it to be the same size no matter the wallpaper size.
Some features I would like to see in the future, both has to do with readability on different wallpapers:
- The outlining ability is nice, but I would like to have like a drop shadow or something like an outline only on the "southeast" side of the text, if you follow. :)
- I would like to be able to set the background color as semi-transparent.
Thanks in advance!
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1- Ok, this is a clear problem/bug. I will try to solve it in the next week.
2- I'm not an expert in graphics, but what I will say is: the wallpaper resolution must much the monitor resolution to get the best quality results.
So, for me the question is not to create a background as the same size of the wallpaper size. The question is to use a wallpaper as the same size of the monitor resolution. What do you think?
3- Drop shadow: BGINFO4X-IMMODE is based on the powerful ImageMagick.
Can you tell me if you can find what you want in any of the following links?
Tell me also what you like.
My tests confirms that it is ready to work with user accents.
Please, tell me if it works.
Thanks a lot.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
-
2013-04-15
Hello again, and thanks for your quick reply!
I have tested the new version, and it still isn't working, unfortunately. :( I get an error message saying that it can't find the file C:\Users\Administrat"r\AppData\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\wallpaper.bmp.
I tried the suggestion from 'Anonymous' here above as well, but that didn't work either.
Now, my other questions:
2. Yes, I agree that the best would be to choose a wallpaper that fits the monitor's resolution, but we can't control which wallpapers our users will use. So if a user chooses an image with the resolution 2048x1280 the text will be small, and if the user chooses an image with the resolution 640x480, the text will be big. I guess it has something to do with Windows scaling the image to fit the screen, so maybe it would be better to let Windows rescale the image and then apply the text from BGinfo4X.
3. I found two variants of drop shadows that looks good, the Hard Shadow and the Soft Shadow on http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/fonts/.
4. I could not find any example of a semi-transparent background, but what I would want is to be able to draw a colored box behind the text and have it semi-transparent, so that the text will be easier to read when using cluttered wallpapers (like many vacation photos are! :) ).
Regards,
Pär
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"I have tested the new version, and it still isn't working, unfortunately. :( I get an error message saying that it can't find the file C:\Users\Administrat"r\AppData\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\wallpaper.bmp."
Please, send me a personal mail at: bginfo4x at kztsoftware dot com.
We need a little of debugging ...
"2. Yes, I agree that the best would be to choose a wallpaper that fits the monitor's resolution, but we can't control which wallpapers our users will use"
I can't control your users. But you can control which wallpapers they use with CORPORATEWALLPAPER="YES".
"So if a user chooses an image with the resolution 2048x1280 the text will be small, and if the user chooses an image with the resolution 640x480, the text will be big."
I think that this is the normal behaviour.
"I guess it has something to do with Windows scaling the image to fit the screen, so maybe it would be better to let Windows rescale the image and then apply the text from BGinfo4X."
Yes it is, but I don't think that this is a BGINFO4X problem.
When windows rescale the image, there is also a degratation of the wallpaper, because it is rescaled. That is the way that windows works.
In my opinion is better to instruct the users to use the correct wallpapers resolution.
Even, you can try with POINTSIZE_HEADERFILE, POINTSIZE_OUTFILE, POINTSIZE_ALARMFILEFILE to adjust the rescaling, but the good point is to use the same image resolution as your monitor.
One thing that could be done, could be match automatically the monitor resolution with a predefined corporate wallpaper resolution, but this will work only in the case that you force the wallpaper with a corporate one.
Well, for Hard Shadow, it is easy. Do the following.
DRAW_HEADERFILE="-fill white -draw \\"text -3,-3 ' BGINFO4X for Windows !'\\""
See the attached image. The font used is FONT_HEADERFILE="segoe-print". Check your fonts.
For Soft Shadow, you need to play with all the settings. It is not easy, but if you have time you can do it. Tell me if you do it.
"4. I could not find any example of a semi-transparent background, but what I would want is to be able to draw a colored box behind the text and have it semi-transparent, so that the text will be easier to read when using cluttered wallpapers (like many vacation photos are! :) ).
I'm sure that this can be done, but I'm not a graphics expert. Can you ask to the imagemagick forums?
You can also try BACKGROUND_HEADERFILE,BACKGROUND_OUTFILE, BACKGROUND_ALARMFILE to frame the section.
Thanks a lot.
Last edit: BGINFO for X and for Windows! 2013-04-15
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In order to solve the problem, another thing that can be done is predefine the user to "bginfo4x". To do this: edit BGINFO4X for Windows.bat and add the line:
set USERNAME=bginfo4x
just before the line :
start "BGINFO4X for Windows" /HIGH "%WD%sh" --login -i -c "./BGINFO4X.sh"
Test it. BGINFO4X will run as the user bginfo4x, so there will not be problems with the foreign characters.
The problem itself with the foreign characters is due the lack of UNICODE in MSYS 1.X. We need to wait for version MSYS2.0 to solve correctly this issue, but this is a workaround.
Regards.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
-
2013-04-23
Hello again, sorry for the delay...
Well, I have to say I disagree with you. Unless we really force a specifik desktop wallpaper (which we don't want to at this point), there is no way for us to control what the users will choose as their wallpaper.
Thanks anyway for all the effort you're putting into this. It still looks promising, but at this point it's not what we're looking for.
Regards,
Pär
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Can you try the last version?
The new version doesn't use anymore /home and %USERPROFILE% is used, so the users with accented characters should work as expected.
Please, let me know.
Thanks.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I have been looking for a replacement for the old BGinfo, and BGinfo4X looked really promising, although I agree with those complaining about the lack of GUI. Apart from that, I've noticed some bugs that keeps us from using this on our computers:
I want to let the users keep their own wallpapers, so I disabled the corporate wallpaper. But if the username contains foreign characters (lika å,ä,ö) I get an error, as it translates the path wrong.
The background text size seems to follow the wallpaper size. I have my monitor set to 1280x1024. If I have an image with the size 1920x1200 as (scaled) wallpaper, the text gets very small, and if the wallpaper is 640x480 I get a very big text. I want it to be the same size no matter the wallpaper size.
Some features I would like to see in the future, both has to do with readability on different wallpapers:
- The outlining ability is nice, but I would like to have like a drop shadow or something like an outline only on the "southeast" side of the text, if you follow. :)
- I would like to be able to set the background color as semi-transparent.
Thanks in advance!
Hello, good news. I will try to respond you:
1- Ok, this is a clear problem/bug. I will try to solve it in the next week.
2- I'm not an expert in graphics, but what I will say is: the wallpaper resolution must much the monitor resolution to get the best quality results.
So, for me the question is not to create a background as the same size of the wallpaper size. The question is to use a wallpaper as the same size of the monitor resolution. What do you think?
3- Drop shadow: BGINFO4X-IMMODE is based on the powerful ImageMagick.
Can you tell me if you can find what you want in any of the following links?
Tell me also what you like.
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/text/
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/fonts/
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/blur/#shadow
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/blur/
4- Background semi-transparent -> The same as point 3.
Thanks a lot for your time .
Hello,
Can you test the following? Edit the file /etc/inputrc.default and add at the end:
"\e[3~": delete-char
set convert-meta off
set output-meta on
set input-meta on
Then, try to start BGINFO4X, and tell me if the home folder for the user with accent is created correctly in /home.
In my environment works ok.
Thanks.
Please, try the last version http://sourceforge.net/projects/bginfo4x/files/
My tests confirms that it is ready to work with user accents.
Please, tell me if it works.
Thanks a lot.
Hello again, and thanks for your quick reply!
I have tested the new version, and it still isn't working, unfortunately. :( I get an error message saying that it can't find the file C:\Users\Administrat"r\AppData\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\wallpaper.bmp.
I tried the suggestion from 'Anonymous' here above as well, but that didn't work either.
Now, my other questions:
2. Yes, I agree that the best would be to choose a wallpaper that fits the monitor's resolution, but we can't control which wallpapers our users will use. So if a user chooses an image with the resolution 2048x1280 the text will be small, and if the user chooses an image with the resolution 640x480, the text will be big. I guess it has something to do with Windows scaling the image to fit the screen, so maybe it would be better to let Windows rescale the image and then apply the text from BGinfo4X.
3. I found two variants of drop shadows that looks good, the Hard Shadow and the Soft Shadow on http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/fonts/.
4. I could not find any example of a semi-transparent background, but what I would want is to be able to draw a colored box behind the text and have it semi-transparent, so that the text will be easier to read when using cluttered wallpapers (like many vacation photos are! :) ).
Regards,
Pär
"I have tested the new version, and it still isn't working, unfortunately. :( I get an error message saying that it can't find the file C:\Users\Administrat"r\AppData\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\wallpaper.bmp."
Please, send me a personal mail at: bginfo4x at kztsoftware dot com.
We need a little of debugging ...
"2. Yes, I agree that the best would be to choose a wallpaper that fits the monitor's resolution, but we can't control which wallpapers our users will use"
I can't control your users. But you can control which wallpapers they use with CORPORATEWALLPAPER="YES".
"So if a user chooses an image with the resolution 2048x1280 the text will be small, and if the user chooses an image with the resolution 640x480, the text will be big."
I think that this is the normal behaviour.
"I guess it has something to do with Windows scaling the image to fit the screen, so maybe it would be better to let Windows rescale the image and then apply the text from BGinfo4X."
Yes it is, but I don't think that this is a BGINFO4X problem.
When windows rescale the image, there is also a degratation of the wallpaper, because it is rescaled. That is the way that windows works.
In my opinion is better to instruct the users to use the correct wallpapers resolution.
Even, you can try with POINTSIZE_HEADERFILE, POINTSIZE_OUTFILE, POINTSIZE_ALARMFILEFILE to adjust the rescaling, but the good point is to use the same image resolution as your monitor.
One thing that could be done, could be match automatically the monitor resolution with a predefined corporate wallpaper resolution, but this will work only in the case that you force the wallpaper with a corporate one.
"3. I found two variants of drop shadows that looks good, the Hard Shadow and the Soft Shadow on http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/fonts/."
Well, for Hard Shadow, it is easy. Do the following.
DRAW_HEADERFILE="-fill white -draw \\"text -3,-3 ' BGINFO4X for Windows !'\\""
See the attached image. The font used is FONT_HEADERFILE="segoe-print". Check your fonts.
For Soft Shadow, you need to play with all the settings. It is not easy, but if you have time you can do it. Tell me if you do it.
"4. I could not find any example of a semi-transparent background, but what I would want is to be able to draw a colored box behind the text and have it semi-transparent, so that the text will be easier to read when using cluttered wallpapers (like many vacation photos are! :) ).
I'm sure that this can be done, but I'm not a graphics expert. Can you ask to the imagemagick forums?
You can also try BACKGROUND_HEADERFILE,BACKGROUND_OUTFILE, BACKGROUND_ALARMFILE to frame the section.
Thanks a lot.
Last edit: BGINFO for X and for Windows! 2013-04-15
Hello,
In order to solve the problem, another thing that can be done is predefine the user to "bginfo4x". To do this: edit BGINFO4X for Windows.bat and add the line:
set USERNAME=bginfo4x
just before the line :
start "BGINFO4X for Windows" /HIGH "%WD%sh" --login -i -c "./BGINFO4X.sh"
Test it. BGINFO4X will run as the user bginfo4x, so there will not be problems with the foreign characters.
The problem itself with the foreign characters is due the lack of UNICODE in MSYS 1.X. We need to wait for version MSYS2.0 to solve correctly this issue, but this is a workaround.
Regards.
Hello again, sorry for the delay...
Well, I have to say I disagree with you. Unless we really force a specifik desktop wallpaper (which we don't want to at this point), there is no way for us to control what the users will choose as their wallpaper.
Thanks anyway for all the effort you're putting into this. It still looks promising, but at this point it's not what we're looking for.
Regards,
Pär
Hello,
Well, For lower resolutions increase the value of DENSITY and Decrease POINTSIZE.
For example: for 800x600 use:
DENSITY_HEADERFILE="300", DENSITY_OUTFILE="300", DENSITY_ALARMFILE="300"
and
POINTSIZE_HEADERFILE="18", POINTSIZE_OUTFILE="8", POINTSIZE_ALARMFILE="8"
Adjunt them to your needs.
Even though, I will play with the option -resample
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/command-line-options.php#resample
It seems what you want. Do you agree?
Hello,
Well, For lower resolutions increase the value of DENSITY and Decrease POINTSIZE.
For example: for 800x600 use:
DENSITY_HEADERFILE="300", DENSITY_OUTFILE="300", DENSITY_ALARMFILE="300"
and
POINTSIZE_HEADERFILE="18", POINTSIZE_OUTFILE="8", POINTSIZE_ALARMFILE="8"
Adjunt them to your needs.
Even though, I will play with the option -resample
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/command-line-options.php#resample
It seems what you want. Do you agree?
Hello,
Can you try the last version?
The new version doesn't use anymore /home and %USERPROFILE% is used, so the users with accented characters should work as expected.
Please, let me know.
Thanks.
Hello,
The new release 3.2.2 solves this problem.
Regards.
Hello,
Try the new release 3.3.2, it supports unicode, so the problem should be solved.
Regards.