How I made this screenshot

In wanting to make a kick ass screenshot like the ones I have seen immortalized on the web, here is my feeble attempt along with the work that it took to make it.

First I needed a wallpaper, that was not too difficult to do, I found a wallpaper online and and used the fluxbox wallpaper command (I also inserted it in the /home/username/.fluxbox/apps file).
fbsetbg -f /path/to/image.jpeg
[startup] {fbsetbg -f /path/to/image.jpeg} #in the apps file to autostart

Then I configured the transparency through the fluxbox right click menu as can be seen in the actual screenshot.

Then I installed aterm through aptitude and used this command line string to get a transparent terminal. Link.
aterm -name aterm -title 'Gentoo Terminal' -sl 3000 -tr +sb -sr -si -sk -bg black -shading 60 -fade 90 -tn xterm -fn -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-120-*-*-c-*-iso8859-2 -g 130x50+20-0 -fg \#cecece

I then inserted this into the fluxbox menu for aterm to get it to always start transparently. This file is located in /home/username/.fluxbox/menu (if it has been copied there; see this post)
[submenu] (XShells) {}
[exec] (Aterm) {aterm -name aterm -title 'Debian Terminal' -sl 3000 -tr +sb -sr -si -sk -bg black -shading 60 -fade 90 -tn xterm -fn -misc- fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-120-*-*-c-*-iso8859-2 -g 130x50+20-0 -fg \#cecece} <>
[exec] (XTerm) {xterm} <>
[exec] (XTerm (Unicode\)) {uxterm} <>
[end]

Then I installed ImageMagick through aptitude to actually take the screenshot. The code to take the screenshot can be seen in the picture and from this site.
import screenshot.png

And there you have it.

One side note this is not true transparency because if you try to open the right click menu or aterm over a window like a web browser you will see the wallpaper not the window directly underneath it, I know this going into it but I still think it looks semi cool.

~ by debconf on August 31, 2007.