Scores of wallpaper downloader apps exist for Linux, with most able to fetch high-quality backgrounds from a myriad of online sources and set them as your desktop wallpaper.
Damask is another such app making its debut on Flathub this weekend.
Built using GTK4 and following the GNOME HIG, Damask fits in perfectly on the modern Ubuntu desktop. It is able to source backgrounds from a range of popular sites, including:
- Microsoft Bing wallpaper of the day
- wallhaven.cc
- NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (requires API key)
- Unsplash (you’ll need to provide your own API key)
The rub is that can only have one of these sources enabled at any one time (i.e. so you can’t have Bing and NASA enabled, and refresh images between them). The app offers global options to adjust refresh interval, run the app in the background, and/or start automatically on login.
Each wallpaper source has its own independent set of preferences with configuration options specific to it.
For example, if using Wallhaven you can choose to filter anime, people, and general wallpapers; select backgrounds based on dominant colour; and set a “purity” level ranging absolutely safe for work, to ‘sketchy’, to absolutely NOT safe for work!
Bing’s backend settings allow you to pick a specific Bing locale (as the image of the day often varies from one country to another). The manual refresh button is only really helpful with Wallhaven or Unsplash sources as they have a much wider pool of images to rotate/pick from.
All of the wallpaper sources available work fine, though both NASA and Unsplash require you to go and generate your own custom API key. This is easy to do, and API keys for both are free for general usage (but maybe don’t mash the refresh button for Unsplash).
In all, Damask is a straight-forward app with a single, clear purpose: fetch a new wallpaper every day (or every 5 minutes – up to you) and change it automatically.
→ Get Damask on Flathub
