Should have asked here first.
I followed some instructions to change the text in GLText screensaver and think I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
I’ve ended up with 2 GLTexts in the screensavers folder and my graphics card fan constantly running.
Can’t remove highlighted GLText or GLtime.
TIA
GTDM
What’s the output from:
ls -al /usr/share/applications/screensavers
??
As you’ll see, the files in there may appear to be called something else, but they are actually .desktop files with names like gltext.desktop
So once you know their names, just move the spurious one to your home folder with:
sudo mv /usr/share/applications/screensavers/<[i]filename[/i]>.desktop ~/<[i]filename[/i]>.desktop
The original should be called gltext.desktop
You can delete the one in your home folder later, once you’re sure everything is running OK.
FYI, they are text files/application launchers… you can see it’s contents in gedit:
gedit /usr/share/applications/screensavers/gltext.desktop
It mine (Ubuntu 10.10) its contents are:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GLText
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext -root
TryExec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext
Comment=Displays a few lines of text spinning around in a solid 3D font. The text can use strftime() escape codes to display the current date and time. Written by Jamie Zawinski.
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Screensaver;
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;
When trying to move I get
mv: invalid option – ‘a’
Ooops, sorry, that will teach ME 
… to copy and paste bits of an earlier command.
Command fixed in above posting :-[
Right, got them both into the home folder and deleted them from there, thanx.
Now for the original problem, how to change the text in gltext.
Mine looks like this atm
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GLText
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext -root
TryExec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext
Comment=Displays a few lines of text spinning around in a solid 3D font. The text can use strftime() escape codes to display the current date and time. Written by Jamie Zawinski.
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Screensaver;
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;
To display day date and time would it be as simple as changing
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext -root
to
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext -root -front -text ‘%A%n%d %b %Y%n%l:%M:%S %p’
or to add your own text
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext -text ‘YOUR TEXT HERE’ -root
via
gedit /usr/share/applications/screensavers/gltext.desktop
and then just hit save?
Yup, but you’ll have to prefix the gedit with sudo.
sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/screensavers/gltext.desktop
you can loose the /usr/lib/xscreensaver/ “path” part if you wish… as in:
Exec=gltext -root -front -text ‘your text here\n %l:%M:%S %p’
Excellent, thanx for the advice again
combined the two with
Exec=/usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext -root -front -text 'YOUR TEXT%n%A%n%d %b %Y%n%l:%M:%S %p'
Not complaining, but this is exactly the reason why people are put off using Linux.
This would have been a 30 second job in windows and the reason that it seems more user friendly.
I personally prefer Linux but can see why others don’t.
Why not write a GUI config util for it then ? … at least you can… and I’m sure someone will if there’s enough call for it.
All the info you’d need is there:
man gltext
A quick “Google” seems to suggest nobody has bothered doing a GUI front end for it… you could be the first 
I think installing all your software/updates from one place makes Linux easier to use… but hey, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion
Was thinking about that but the last programming I did was on a BBC B+.
Think I have a bit of a learning curve ahead.
Any suggested reading material?
I’m not a programmer, so wouldn’t know where to suggest you start…
Maybe someone who else could jump in… anyone ?
Every time I’ve asked about starting, the general consensus seems to be “go for Python”… so maybe here would be a start point.
http://docs.python.org/
including
There are millions of python tutorials online, including tutorials on using things like Glade or Qt Designer for designing the GUI
or Gambas maybe ??
As I said… I haven’t really got a clue, so could be talking complete gibberish here :-\