Variety is packed with great features, yet slim and easy to use. It can use local images or automatically download wallpapers from Unsplash and other online sources, allows you to rotate them on a regular interval, and provides easy ways to separate the great images from the junk. Variety can also display wise and funny quotations or a nice digital clock on the desktop.
Variety has an optional slideshow/screensaver companion application, Variety Slideshow. It can be installed separately, but it integrates nicely with Variety.
Installation
On a recent Ubuntu or Debian-based system (Universe repository has to be enabled on Ubuntu):
sudo apt update && sudo apt install variety
Detailed installation instructions are here. Variety runs on most distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Fedora, and their derivatives.
Variety is available in the distro repositories of:
For Ubuntu, a PPA is also available that provides newer releases than the ones available in the Universe repository:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:variety/stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install variety
If you have added the PPA, you may also install Variety Slideshow – a pan and zoom image slideshow/screensaver, which is an nice optional addition and integrates well into Variety:
sudo apt install variety-slideshow
Regardless of how you install, you can launch Variety from the dash or applications menu, or by running variety in a terminal.
Source code and bug-reporting
You can find the source code or report bugs at Variety’s project page in GitHub.
Variety Slideshow is also on GitHub.
Credits
Variety is developed by Peter Levi, a software developer from Bulgaria. Translations are provided by different contributing enthusiasts, you may join this effort here.
August 25, 2024 at 20:31
I am using parallels running Debian 11…are you able to scale images to fit the window size using this app? So that larger & smaller images fit the window size.
August 20, 2024 at 02:48
Is it possible to use WallpaperEngine (WE) or Steam Workshop files for WE as a source?
August 12, 2024 at 23:13
Does Variety work on Windows 10 ? if not. Please tell me about similar program that have same features like this and works on windows 10 , Thank you.
August 14, 2024 at 20:58
Wallpaper Engine, in steam.
August 4, 2024 at 20:54
I have been using Variety with Raspbian and Mint for a few years now and it has been excellent. However, I recently upgraded to Raspberry OS and it does not work.
The program runs but the wallpaper does not change.
I would be grateful for any assistance you can give in fixing this problem.
August 7, 2024 at 16:18
+1 Same issue here.
June 9, 2024 at 02:46
Hello
Variety on Mint 21.3 Virgina how to uninstall have tried all below:-
sudo apt remove variety
sudo apt-get purge –auto-remove variety
sudo apt autoclean && sudo apt autoremove
Your help appreciated
May 25, 2024 at 17:03
Flickr no longer works. “Invalid API Key (Key has expired)” is what I get when refreshing a previous search. “No images found” is the message for a new search even though the search term results in thousands of photos from the Flickr site itself.
March 19, 2024 at 16:08
Hi Peter,
After a power outage, my Variety stopped recognizing the external drive where I store the images.
How can I solve that?
Thank you so much.
March 18, 2024 at 13:08
Hello, does not work on the latest version of rasbian on raspberry pi5…
The software icon is well below except that the wallpaper does not apply. Of course when I open a photo in jpeg and I make set in background of desktop in rasbian nothing happens and the basic photo remains well in the menu of change of wallpaper.
Thank you for your feedback.
February 5, 2024 at 01:46
Best wallpaper app out there. Only thing wrong with it is its not on mac. I know of no good mac equivalent.
July 31, 2024 at 05:13
Try John’s background switcher for MAC.