How to add snow effect to Ubuntu desktop

Anyway, December is the best time of the year. So in this article, I will show you how to add a snow effect to the Ubuntu desktop.

How to add snow effect to Ubuntu desktop

Using ‘Let it Snow’ GNOME Extension

By far the easiest way to get a snowfall effect on Ubuntu (or any other Linux distro that uses GNOME Shell) is to install the extension Let it Snow GNOME. This widget will add a layer of snowflakes falling continuously all over your screen

Combined with winter wallpapers, Let it Snow is a quick and easy way to make your Ubuntu desktop more Christmas. In addition, you can also precisely control the amount of white snow falling.

Let it Snow also works great with a variety of screen setups.

Or you can also use xSnow

If you don’t use GNOME Shell, you can try xSnow.

xSnow is a free and open source tool that works (virtually) anywhere an X11 session is available. The code of this version of xSnow is derived from xsnow by the developer Rick Jansen created in the early 2000s.

Now, xSnow is different from the Snow GNOME extension. It doesn’t give you a bunch of unicode snowflake emojis. And Second, this is not just an overlay effect but the entire animation.

When xSnow runs, snow will fall from the top of the screen. Snow will fall on top of open windows and pile up at the bottom of the screen (on any panels or docks you have down there). When you close the window, the snow deposited on the window will fall onto the screen.

The longer you let xSnow run, the more snow you will get.

In fact, you can enable various xmas-themed animations, from Santa’s sleigh pulled by reindeer to twinkling stars, shooting stars, birds, and more.

xSnow is available in the Ubuntu repositories on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and later:

sudo apt install xsnow

Once the installation is done, open the XSnow app to start seeing snowfall.

You can also download the .deb installer for xSnow from Sourceforge. This tool should work on any Ubuntu-based Linux distribution from 18.04 LTS or later, although I have only tested it on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and 18.04 LTS.

summary

So you already have a snow effect on your Ubuntu desktop. Whether you want a white blizzard in GNOME or a blizzard in another desktop environment. In addition, you can also decorate the Desktop with a Christmas tree in the corner of the screen here.