Setting Up Aerial Screensaver on Linux

*Setup.md

• sudo apt install xscreensaver jq aria2 notify-osd
• Make a directory in $HOME called Aerial
• Copy aerial-downloader.sh below into $HOME/Aerial
• Run it once
• crontab -e
• 00 10 * * * sh $HOME/Aerial/aerial-downloader.sh to download new stuff (if any) at 10:00 every day
• nano ~/.xscreensaver and add the code in the file below
• Open up the XScreensaver app and pick "Apple Aerial"
• gnome-session-properties and add xscreensaver -nosplash to the list
• If you want, go into the System Settings and add a keyboard shortcut for Shift + Win + L to launch the command xscreensaver-command -lock

Add to List in ~.xscreensaver

  Best:     "Apple Aerial"  cvlc --loop --fullscreen --random                 \
                                  --drawable-xid                              \
                                  $XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW                        \
                                  --no-video-title-show                       \
                                  $HOME/Aerial/*                            \n\

aerial-downloader.sh

#!/usr/bin/bash

cd $HOME/Aerial/

url='http://a1.phobos.apple.com/us/r1000/000/Features/atv/AutumnResources/videos/entries.json'

curl $url \
  | jq -r '.[].assets[].url' \
  > .aria.urls

aria2c -x10 -i .aria.urls \
  --auto-file-renaming=false \
  --conditional-get=true \
  --allow-overwrite=true \
  --save-session=.aria.session \
  --force-save=true

videoscount="$(find $HOME/Aerial/ -name '*.mov' | wc -l)"

notify-send -t 30000 -i face-wink "Checked in with Apple!" "There are currently ${videoscount} videos in the directory"

In Ubuntu 18.10 I edited config file like following:

- GL: 		"Apple Aerial" 	cvlc --loop --fullscreen --random	      \
				  2>>/dev/null				      \
				  --no-video-title-show $HOME/Aerial/*	    \n\

and it works perfectly :)