Want rotating wallpaper in Ubuntu, but don’t want to use the default slideshows? Design your own with SlideWall. This easy-to-use software lets you pick which photos you want to rotate and when, and can even automatically download and rotate high-quality wallpapers from the web.

You can even set your wallpaper to a real-time depiction of where the sun is an isn’t shining on earth, if you want.

Windows and OS X both let you pick a folder of wallpapers to rotate – something mysteriously missing from Ubuntu and other Gnome-based Linux distributions. Luckily SlideWall fills the void quite nicely while providing you with web-based photos as well. It’s well worth checking out if you enjoy seeing different images throughout the day.

Slidewall was made with Ubuntu’s Unity in mind, but also works in Gnome Shell and Gnome Classic.

Wallpaper Slideshow

The wallpaper tab in SlideWall lets you add as many images as you like to your rotating wallpaper, or remove ones you’ve decided you no longer like.

Zoom settings for the images are also present, if you want control over how your images show up on screen.

The options tab gives you control over how frequently your wallpaper switches, and more:

You can also manually switch the next wallpaper, anytime, by clicking the tray icon (if enabled). “Next” and “Previous” buttons there make the job easy.

Live Wallpapers!

Like the idea, but don’t have a collection of wallpaper handy? Head to the “live” tab of SlideWall. Here you can pick from three different live collections of wallpapers:

You can use the latest or random wallpapers from Wallbase, if you want to be surprised throughout theday. Or, if constantly being aware of which parts of the world are experiencing day or night is more your thing, you can use the live earth setting:

Pretty cool, right? Variations on this have been possible in Linux distros for a decade or so, but many of these older programs no longer work. It’s nice to have an easy-to-use option for Unity and Gnome Shell.

Install Slidewall

Ready to give SlideWall a shot? Ubuntu 12.04 users can find the program in the Ubuntu Software Center; just search for “slidewall”. Or, if the the command-line is more your thing, use a good old-fashioned “sudo apt-get install slidewall”.

Users of other Linux distros can download SlideWall here. Some assembly required; sorry about that.

Conclusion

My wife Kathy collects her favorite photographs in a folder. Because of SlideWall I can now rotate them in Linux the same way she does in Windows 7, and that makes me happy.

Let me know how you like SlideWall in the comments below, along with the usual questions. Alternative software for the job is appreciated too.

Also feel free to let me know which features Windows and/or OS X comes with by default that you find lacking in Ubuntu specifically or Linux in general – I’ll see if I can’t find software for the job.