Trystan Casey
Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves that can be installed on almost any device. It is a crowdsourced project run by thousands of people worldwide. When a computer goes to 'sleep', Electric Sheep comes on, and the devices start communicating with each other via the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as 'sheep'. The animations can be voted on by users, and the popular ones live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm. This article will explain how to set Electric Sheep as your screensaver.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Ubuntu |
| Tool | Xwinwrap |
| Window Management System | Beryl |
| Movie Player | Mplayer |
| Screensaver | Gnome-screensaver |
| Script | Devilspie |
| Script Name | Xwinsheep |
| Script Location | "/usr/bin/xwinsheep" |
| Script Usage | xwinsheep |
| Script Example | xwinsheep 0.3 10 |
| Script Function | Runs the electric sheep screensaver on your desktop |
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What You'll Learn
Electric Sheep as a screensaver for desktop and laptop computers
Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It can be installed on almost anything, including desktop and laptop computers. When these computers "sleep", the Electric Sheep comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The computer-generated sheep parameters and movies are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC) license; user-generated sheep parameters are under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. Both are automatically downloaded by the screen saver.
To get the Electric Sheep screensaver for desktop and laptop computers, go to electricsheep.org. It is recommended only if you have a high-bandwidth, always-on connection to the internet such as DSL or cable modem. It should download and display within a minute, but due to server load, it may take longer. When it's running, press F1 for help.
Electric Sheep is also available for Android, iPad, and Apple TV. On Android, it works as a Live Wallpaper, Daydream, or an interactive app and has been carefully optimized to preserve your battery.
There are several ways to set up the Electric Sheep screensaver on Ubuntu. One way is to use xwinwrap, a tool designed for use with the beryl window management system, to make movies run in mplayer or screensavers from xscreensaver run as your background. Another way is to use gnome-screensaver, although this method seems to have issues with the 'show desktop' icon in the bottom right corner turning off the Electric Sheep background.
For full-screen mode, change the configuration file for mplayer in ~/.mplayer/config by adding the following lines:
Vo=x11 fs=yes
These will set it to be in full-screen mode and use x11 as the rendering option.
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Electric Sheep as a screensaver for Ubuntu
Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It can be installed on almost any desktop or laptop computer and is a free and open-source service. The screensaver creates and shares different patterns via BitTorrent, and some people use a tool called Xwinwrap to run the screensaver as their background.
To set Electric Sheep as your screensaver on Ubuntu, first add the multiverse Ubuntu repository to install mplayer:
Sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Then add the lines:
Deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy multiverse
Deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy multiverse
Next, install xwinwrap, mplayer, and electricsheep:
Sudo apt-get install electricsheep mplayer wget http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/pool/edgy/beryl-svn/xwinwrap_0.1+cvs20060209_i386.deb
Sudo dpkg -i xwinwrap_0.1+cvs20060209_i386.deb
Now you should be able to run Electric Sheep in a window using the mplayer engine. Note that the Electric Sheep program requires mpg files to play, so you will have to let it download some via BitTorrent or download some manually to your cache directory (~/.sheep/).
If you are already using XScreenSaver, you can add `GL: electricsheep --root 1 \n` to your config. If you are using gnome-screensaver, you can try following the instructions on the Electric Sheep homepage: http://community.electricsheep.org/node/51.
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Electric Sheep as a screensaver for dual monitors
Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It can be installed on almost anything, including dual-monitor setups. When the computers "sleep", the screensaver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The animations are formed collaboratively by thousands of users around the world, and users can vote for their favourite animations using the keyboard. This drives a genetic algorithm, so the more popular sheep live longer and reproduce, and the flock evolves to please its global audience.
To get the Electric Sheep screensaver for dual monitors, you will need to download it from electricsheep.org. It is recommended only if you have a high-bandwidth, always-on connection to the internet such as DSL or cable modem. It should download and display within a minute, but due to server load, it may take longer. You can press F2 to monitor its progress.
Once it is downloaded, you can modify the settings to specify your entire desktop resolution to get it to fill multiple monitors. If you are using Ubuntu, you can also try the following:
> gedit ~/.mplayer/config you will then want to add the following lines to the end of this file vo=x11 fs=yes These will set it to be in full-screen mode, and use x11 as the rendering (gl should probably work fine here too). This also means you do not have to add the option to electric sheep each time.
Alternatively, you can try Ultramon, which will detect all your monitors and allow you to change the screensaver for each screen.
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Electric Sheep as a screensaver for Android, iPad and Apple TV
Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It is run by thousands of people globally and can be installed on almost any device. When a device goes into sleep mode, Electric Sheep comes on, and the device connects to the internet to share abstract animations with other devices. These animations are called "sheep", and users can vote for their favourite ones. The more popular sheep are reproduced according to a genetic algorithm, allowing the flock to evolve based on the preferences of its global audience. The Electric Sheep is a free and open-source service, with an HD premium version called Gold Sheep.
You can get Electric Sheep for Android, iPad, and Apple TV. On Android, it functions as a Live Wallpaper, Daydream, or an interactive app. It has been optimised to preserve battery life. To get Electric Sheep on your Android device, you can download it from the Google Play Store.
For iPad and Apple TV, you can download Electric Sheep from the App Store. Once you have downloaded it, you can set it as your screensaver by going into your device's settings.
It is recommended that you only install Electric Sheep if you have a high-bandwidth, always-on internet connection, such as DSL or cable modem. This is because the animations are downloaded and shared via the internet. When it's running, press F1 for help.
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Xwinwrap as a tool to run Electric Sheep as a screensaver
Xwinwrap is a tool designed for use with the Beryl window management system. It allows users to run movies or screensavers from xscreensaver as their desktop background. Electric Sheep is a screensaver that creates and shares different patterns via BitTorrent. Some users may want to use these patterns with xwinwrap's screensaver setting.
To use Electric Sheep with xwinwrap, you first need to add the multiverse Ubuntu repository to install mplayer. Then, you need to install xwinwrap, mplayer, and electricsheep. Once installed, you should be able to run Electric Sheep in a window using the mplayer engine. Note that the Electric Sheep program requires mpg files to play, so you will need to download some via BitTorrent or manually to your cache directory.
After getting Electric Sheep to work with mplayer, you can modify the xwinsheep script to work with Electric Sheep. To do this, you need to overwrite the contents of the xwinsheep file with the following:
#!/bin/bash
This script runs the electric sheep screensaver on your desktop,
And drops the name of the screensaver in a marker file.
To get Electric Sheep to display in full-screen mode, you need to change the configuration file for mplayer by adding the following lines:
Vo=x11 fs=yes
These lines will set it to full-screen mode and use x11 as the rendering. This means you do not have to add the option to Electric Sheep each time.
Nice -n $NICENESS xwinwrap -ni -o $OPACITY -fs -s -st -sp -b -nf -- nice -n $NICENESS /usr/bin/electricsheep -window-id WID & touch $DIR.flipflopmarker2 exit
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Frequently asked questions
Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It is run by thousands of people globally and can be installed on almost anything. When these computers "sleep", the Electric Sheep comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep".
To set Electric Sheep as your screensaver, you can download it from electricsheep.org. Once downloaded, you can refer to guides on forums such as Ubuntu Forums and Reddit.
One common issue with setting Electric Sheep as your screensaver is that the fade-in between the two screensavers can be jerky. Another issue is that the show desktop icon in the bottom right turns off the Electric Sheep background.
