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 are 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.
Picture Of The Day is a GUI tool that grabs a picture of the day from a variety of sources and lets you use the image as your daily wallpaper.
Installation
We evaluated Picture Of The Day using Manjaro, an Arch-based distro, as well as the ubiquitous Ubuntu 25.04 distro.
There’s a Flatpak available. Flatpak is an open source containerized package format similar to Snap. While Snap relies on a central repository for software, Flatpak can be installed from different sources. The primary source is Flathub.
$ flatpak install flathub io.github.archisman_panigrahi.typhoon
You can now launch the program from GNOME’s Activities or whatever desktop environment you use.
In Operation
Here’s an image of the software in action. We’re showing the picture of the day from NASA Earth Observatory. By default, the program displays a sidebar with information about the image displayed.
At the top left of the interface is a Source dropdown that lets you choose the picture of the day from a variety of sources. Here are the available sources:
Other features include:
- Set the current image as the wallpaper.
- Open the image with an external program.
- The Simon Stålenhag source has 7 collections available:
- Swedish Machines (2024).
- The Labyrinth (2020).
- The Electric State (2017).
- Things from the Flood (2016).
- Tales from the Loop (2014).
- Paleoart.
- Commissions, unpublished work and solo pieces.
- Each of these collections can be disabled.
- Save the image.
- Hide the sidebar.
- Keyboard shortcuts.
Simon Stålenhag is a Swedish artist, musician, and designer specialising in retro-futuristic digital art.
Summary
Picture of the Day is not going to set the world on fire. But it’s a simple program to get interesting wallpaper on your desktop with the minimum of fuss and bother.
The software doesn’t automatically set the wallpaper. This lets you preview different sources without actually changing the desktop background.
Website: codeberg.org/swsnr/picture-of-the-day
Support:
Developer: Sebastian Wiesner
License: Mozilla Public License Version 2.0
Picture Of The Day is written in Rust. Learn Rust 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |