Q I know it's rather sad but I should like to be able to set up Xfishtank to act as a background. I use Free Mandriva 2006 with KDE and have installed the Xfishtank software from an RPM. However, the best I have achieved is a fleeting glimpse of the fish tank when I switch the computer off. All I get otherwise is my usual KDE background or screensaver. How do I get to see the little fishies?
A KDE runs its own root window on top of the normal X root window (the desktop background), so programs that normally display their output on the root window are hidden. The glimpse you see is the brief interval between KDE shutting down and X quitting, when the X root window is visible. Fortunately, there is an extremely easy solution. Right-click on the desktop and select Configure Desktop from the menu that appears. Go into the Behaviour section and enable Allow Programs In Desktop Window. This assumes that you have not changed the default action for right-clicking on the desktop. You can also change this setting from the Desktop > Behaviour section of the KDE Control Centre.