Want to make a video or web-page as background wallpaper in your Linux? Try Hidamari!
It’s a free open-source tool written in Python programming language and works in most Linux with either GNOME Wayland (default in Ubuntu & Fedora) or classic Xorg.
The app uses VLC library as backend for video playback, and support GPU hardware acceleration for less CPU usage. However, the HW acceleration so far does not work on GNOME Wayland with NVIDIA graphics card.
It has a clean and easy to use user interface. Just put video files under the “Hidamari” sub-folder of user’s Videos folder, then app will find them and list in the first tab. Select a video from the list and click “Apply” button will make it work. Or, use the header-bar ‘I’m feeling lucky‘ button to play a random video as wallpaper.
It can also play online videos as wallpaper using yt-dlp tool (youtube-dl fork). All you need to do is just inputting the streaming URL, such as YouTube and Vimeo, and hit Enter. See the supported video sites.
You may also display a web page with live information, such as world clock or live earth, as background wallpaper. Similarly, just input the URL in the corresponding tab and hit Enter.
Non-GNOME desktop user may go to “hamburger menu -> Open config folder“, and edit the config file to set “is_show_systray” to true. So, it shows system tray indicator with control options next time you launch the app.
Other features of Hidamari include:
- Multiple monitor support.
- Automatically pause playback when app maximized or run in full-screen for X11.
- Auto-start at login.
- Volume control.
- Option to play/pause video.
- Apply static wallpaper with blur effect
Keep in mind video wallpaper will increase CPU consumption and drain your battery fast!
How to Install Hidamari:
The software is available for most Linux via universal Flatpak package. Linux Mint user can simply search for and install it from Software Manager.
1. Though, other Linux may need to first setup Flatpak support via the link below:
Fedora, Pop! OS, Zorin OS, etc support Flatpak out-of-the-box, though Ubuntu user has to first open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to enable it:
sudo apt install flatpak
2. Then, open a terminal window and install the tool via command that works for most Linux:
flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/io.github.jeffshee.Hidamari.flatpakref
Finally, move your videos (if any) to user’s ‘home -> Videos -> Hidamari‘ folder. Search for and launch the app from either start menu or Activities overview, and enjoy!
Uninstall Hudamari
To remove the application, open a terminal window and run command:
flatpak uninstall --delete-data io.github.jeffshee.Hidamari
And clean up useless runtime via flatpak uninstall --unused.
