Linux Candy is a series of articles covering interesting eye candy software. We only feature open source software in this series.
Some of the programs in this series are purely cosmetic, frivolous pieces of fun. Candy at their finest. But we also include some programs that aren’t purely decorative.
There’s a diverse range of programs included in this series. Programs such as eDEX-UI and Variety are actually highly practical programs. ASCIIQuarium has soothing and relaxing qualities for your desktop. Other programs included in this series (such as lolcat, cacafire) are included purely for their decorative qualities. And then there’s some really fun software that just raises a smile or two.
Fractal Art is software which generates colorful wallpapers. It’s free and open source software available for Linux and Windows.
Installation
I evaluated Fractal Art with Manjaro, an Arch-based Linux distribution.
There’s a package in the Arch User Repository but it failed to build. Rather than work out what’s wrong with the PGKBUILD I built the software manually. My test system needs stack installed which is the Haskell tool stack. There’s a package in Manjaro’s official repositories.
$ sudo pacman -S stack
Next clone the project’s GitHub repository.
$ git clone https://github.com/TomSmeets/FractalArt.git
Change into the directory created by the git command.
$ cd FractalArt
Next i can install the software using stack.
$ stack install
The software is installed in ~/.local/bin. Either make sure this directory is in your PATH or copy/move the executable file to a directory that’s already in your PATH.
In Operation
Issue the command $ FractalArt generates a BMP image.
Here’s the output I get running Manjaro with the KDE desktop environmnet.
As you can see the software tries unsuccessfully to set the background, but it still creates the wallpaper (in BMP format). I’ve shown three examples of its output below.
Summary
Fractal Art hasn’t seen any updates for quite a few years. But it still generates some interesting wallpapers.
Website: github.com/TomSmeets/FractalArt
Support:
Developer: Tom Smeets
License: MIT License
Fractal Art is written in Haskell. Learn Haskell with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Complete list of articles in this series:
| Linux Candy | |
|---|---|
| ASCIIQuarium | Embrace marine life from the terminal with beautiful ASCII art |
| ASCII Art Converter | A small utility that converts images into ASCII art |
| ascii_moon | Displays the moon phase |
| BobRossQuotes | Collection of quotes from Bob Ross |
| Boxes | Command line ASCII boxes |
| Buoh | Online strips comics reader |
| cacafire | Color ASCII fire |
| catclock | xclock with an enhanced cat mode |
| cbonsai | Generate bonsai trees in the terminal |
| christmasfetch | Festive cheer on the desktop |
| chucknorris | Chuck Norris jokes in your terminal |
| Clairvoyant | Like a magic 8-ball inspired fortune teller |
| cornyjokes | Corny jokes for the terminal |
| CMatrix | ncurses program that simulates the display from “The Matrix” |
| ctree | A Christmas tree right on your terminal |
| cutieascii | Displays random ASCII art emojis |
| doge | Simple motd script |
| eDEX-UI | Sci-fi computer terminal emulator and system monitor |
| emoj | Simple tool that to find suitable emojis for pasting to your clipboard |
| Emote | Modern popup emoji picker |
| Evolvotron | Interactive generative art |
| Fantascene | Dynamic wallpaper changer |
| Fondo | Find beautiful wallpapers from Unsplash |
| gti | Typo-based curio inspired by Steam Locomotive |
| Hidamari | Python-based app that offers video wallpaper for Linu |
| Hollywood | Fill your console with Hollywood melodrama technobabble |
| lifecycler | Aquarium right in your terminal |
| linuxwave | Generate music from the entropy of Linux |
| lolcat | Rainbows and unicorns |
| Meme | Fun tool to create memes |
| No More Secrets | Recreates the data decryption effect from the Sneakers movie |
| nook | Plays Animal Crossing hourly themes on the hour |
| nyancat | Terminal-based Pop Tart Cat Animation |
| oneko | Animal chasing fun |
| Picture Of The Day | Your daily wallpaper |
| pipes.sh | Animated pipes terminal screensaver |
| ponysay | cowsay reimplemention for ponies |
| projectM | Music visualizer originally based on Milkdrop |
| pscircle | A different take on the venerable ps command |
| PyBonsai | Generates procedural ASCII art trees |
| pyjokes | One line jokes for programmers |
| Pywal | Generate color schemes on the fly (not actively developed) |
| Relaxator | Relax to soothing sounds |
| ricksay | Rick and Morty quotes of the day |
| Rusty Aquarium | Monitoring by visualization |
| shuffle | ASCII art with a cool shuffle effect |
| Steam Locomotive | C program written in 295 lines. It's harmless fun |
| Ternimal | Animated lifeform in the terminal |
| terminal-parrot | Party parrot time |
| tetris | Tile-matching puzzle video game in your terminal |
| Variety | Wallpaper manager with many desktops and wallpaper sources |
| WallGen | Generate HQ poly wallpapers with a few arguments. |
| WallpaperDownloader | Download, change, and manage wallpapers |
| wallust | Create 16 color palettes |
| walrs | Fast colorscheme generator |
| WSelector | Browse, download, and set wallpapers from Wallhaven.cc |
| xcowsay | Displays a cow on your desktop with message |
| XDecorations | Add some festive cheer to your desktop |
| XScreenSaver | Framework and collection of screensavers |
| yosay | Like cowsay but with less cow |