Setup

Setup

This guide covers the easiest way to install and enable Livedesk.

Recommended Install

On Debian/Ubuntu, install from the TamKungZ_ APT repository:

curl -fsSL https://packages.tamkungz.me/gpg.key \
  | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/tamkungz-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/tamkungz-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.tamkungz.me/apt stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tamkungz.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install livedesk
livedesk-setup

Or install a local Debian package from dist/ or from a GitHub release:

sudo dpkg -i dist/livedesk_0.1.0_amd64.deb
livedesk-setup

Then log out and back in if GNOME Shell does not see the extension yet.

Open the app:

livedesk

Put videos in:

~/Videos/Livedesk

Double-click a thumbnail, or click Save and Apply.

RPM Install

On Fedora/RHEL-like distributions:

sudo rpm --import https://packages.tamkungz.me/gpg.key
sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/tamkungz.repo >/dev/null <<'EOF'
[tamkungz]
name=TamKungZ_ Packages
baseurl=https://packages.tamkungz.me/rpm/x86_64
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://packages.tamkungz.me/gpg.key
EOF
sudo dnf install livedesk
livedesk-setup

Or install a local RPM:

sudo rpm -Uvh dist/livedesk-0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpm
livedesk-setup

Source Install

Install build dependencies first. On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install cargo rustc pkg-config gjs gir1.2-gtk-4.0 gir1.2-adw-1 \
  libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev libdbus-1-dev \
  libunwind-dev \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-libav \
  totem

Then:

./install.sh
livedesk-setup

Extension Zip Only

The GNOME Extensions zip installs only the Shell extension. It does not include the native daemon or GTK app.

Use the zip only for extensions.gnome.org upload/testing. End users should install the .deb, .rpm, or source package.

GNOME Versions

Livedesk ships two extension variants:

• GNOME 40-44: legacy extension
• GNOME 45-51: modern ES module extension

The .deb and .rpm packages install both variants and choose the active one during post-install from gnome-shell --version.

Troubleshooting

Check the extension state:

gnome-extensions info livedesk@me.tamkungz

If the state is OUT OF DATE, check the installed metadata:

gnome-shell --version
cat /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/livedesk@me.tamkungz/metadata.json

On GNOME 43, metadata must include 43. On GNOME 45 or newer, metadata must include that major version.

Check the daemon:

systemctl --user status livedesk-daemon --no-pager
journalctl --user -u livedesk-daemon -n 80 --no-pager

If the wallpaper is black, make sure the daemon received a video source:

[monitor-0] source set to file:///...

Check GNOME Shell extension logs:

journalctl --user -b /usr/bin/gnome-shell -n 120 --no-pager | grep -i livedesk

Uninstall

For a clean uninstall:

livedesk-uninstall

To also remove settings and thumbnail cache:

livedesk-uninstall --purge

The video library at ~/Videos/Livedesk is kept by default. To remove it too, pass --purge-library.