I previously covered Desktop Nova, which is a Linux application that brings wallpaper rotation to your Ubuntu desktops. But how about a photo frame centered on your desktop with attractive imagery according to your specified sources? Gnome Photo Frame is a desktop photo frame, which allows users to rotate images from selected online sources, as well as local system folders. You can even use this handy application to rotate your family pictures in a virtual photo frame on your desktop. The sources provided by the Gnome Photo Frame gadget include, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Tumblr, F-Spot, Haikyo Clock, a system folder and even a RSS feed.
Gnome Photo Frame can be downloaded from the Deb package (for Ubuntu and Debian) from the developers website, for which a download link is given at the very end of this post. Gnome Photo Frame is easily configurable and works with both Gnome and Unity desktop environments. This photo frame gadget allows selecting not just the image sources but also the image size and related attributes. Furthermore, you can also view and save the image from the exact online source by opening it in your default browser. This can be quite handy for users looking to find and save attractive imagery from websites like Flickr. As you can see from the below image, you can also choose and replay a recent image, switch to full screen mode, lock the photo frame, access preferences and exit it via right-click menu. If you are wondering the utility of the lock feature, or what it does (Fix Photo frame), it makes the gadget unmovable. This is because just like any common gadget, you can move Gnome Photo Frame by dragging it around.
The General tab from application Preferences enables users to change the time interval for rotating picture, setting a maximum height and width for the frame, automatically starting Gnome Photo Frame when the system starts and toggling visibility.
You can use the Plugins tab to specify picture sources. As mentioned earlier. these may include source like an authenticate online account like Picasa or Facebook for importing album images, Flickr, Tumblr and the like. Similarly, the Photos tab allows manual selection of image sources such as an an RSS Feed.
When I was testing this application, I really liked the fact that it functioned quite smoothly, without any lags or hiccups. The only issue that I have with this application is that there is no way that a user can specify a picture rotation sequence, as the images seem to rotate randomly. Other than that, it is a gem of an application and certainly lightens up the desktop. As one would expected, it is an open source application and hosted at Code.Google.com. Gnome Photo Frame has Deb packages for Ubuntu and Debian, as well as a source page.
