Desklets, Screenlets, Widgets, and Compiz
Widgets (or desklets, or screenlets, or whatever) are small programs which run embedded on your desktop. Compiz has a plugin which creates a separate layer for widgets, flying them in and out with the press of a key, similar to the dashboard on Mac OS.
In order to make use of the Widget Layer, you first need a widget engine. Once you have your widgets running normally outside of Compiz, you configure the plugin to hide the widgets, presenting them in the Widget Layer when you hit F9.
Widget Engines
adesklets
Homepage: http://adesklets.sourceforge.net/
HowTo: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AdeskletsHowto
gDesklets
Homepage: http://www.gdesklets.de/
Engine Installation: sudo apt-get install gdesklets. Most of the desklets included in the gdesklets-data package are broken; you’ll want to download them directly from the gdesklets site.
Widget Language: Python
To start the engine run gdesklets start.
To start a widget double-click the widget in the GUI you get from gdesklets shell.
Although the man page claims beta support for transparency, it didn’t work for me at all. I added a simple clock widget and it ate a constant 5% of my CPU :(.
Glossitope
Homepage: http://www.glossitope.org/site/
Widget Language: Java
Note: Not very many widgets.
Screenlets
Homepage: http://screenlets.org/
Widget Installation: untar and run make install
Widget Language: Python
To start the engine run screenlets-daemon.py (probably under /usr/local/share/screenlets-manager/) or enable the screenlet in the GUI. (I’m not sure if this is even necessary.)
To start a widget just run it directly: /path/to/my_widget.py (probably under /usr/local/share/screenlets/ or ~/.screenlets/). To add each widget to the widget layer right-click on it and select “Window” -> “Widget”. The widget should disappear and reappear in your widget layer.
These widget support true transparency!
Other widget engines
Find more widgets at