console outputs on the background !

deskscript.sh

#! /usr/bin/env bash
# launch a desktop output stuff ! 

# conky stuff might use some tweaking with some window managers
# basically use conky to detect what is the real desktop window on your desktop
WINDOW=0x$(conky -i 1 2>&1 | head -n 1 | awk '{print $4}' | sed -e 's/(//' -e 's/)//')
ITVAL=5 # update interval (seconds)


# prepare some named pipes. (in tmp) 
# you can push any data through them to make them out 
mkfifo /tmp/fifo_white /tmp/fifo_yellow /tmp/fifo_red /tmp/fifo_green /tmp/fifo /tmp/fifo_choco

# set up display on desktop

# top-right, colored streams
root-tail -fn -*-fixed-medium-*-normal-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -i $ITVAL \
	-g 480x540+1440+0 -id $WINDOW \
	/tmp/fifo_white,Gainsboro,'' \
	/tmp/fifo_yellow,Gold,'' \
	/tmp/fifo_red,red,'' \
	/tmp/fifo_green,chartreuse,'' &

#bottom right, white twits 
root-tail -fn -*-fixed-medium-*-normal-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -i $ITVAL \
	-g 480x510+1440+540 -id $WINDOW \
	/tmp/fifo_choco,Chocolate1,'' &

# center, main fifo, if need be =) 
root-tail -fn -*-fixed-medium-*-normal-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -i $ITVAL \
	-g 476x1050+960+0 -id $WINDOW \
	/tmp/fifo,grey,'' &

# push some data to init the streams

# you get to init them with a lil data throught
echo '' > /tmp/fifo_white > /tmp/fifo_yellow > /tmp/fifo_red > /tmp/fifo_green > /tmp/fifo

# send the uname and date to green as a wecome message : 
uname -a > /tmp/fifo_green &
date > /tmp/fifo_yellow &

test.sh

# some uses for the outputs :

# feed the auth log to red : 
tail -f -n 1 /var/log/auth.log > /tmp/fifo_red & 

# provided you fifos are named /tmp/fifo* this ouputs their name to desktop
# it helps remember where to pipe stuff
for output in $(ls /tmp/fifo*) ; do echo $output > $output ; done

# output clock every so often to a fifo (requires 'at', and creates a lot of jobs in at. funny once or twice though) 
for mm in {00..23}:{00..59..5} ; do  echo 'date > /tmp/fifo_green' | at $mm ; done

tweetertodesktop.sh

#! /usr/bin/env bash

# shell script to feed a FIFO

# requires the t twitter CLI client https://github.com/sferik/t
# not really hard to install


while true 
	do 
	# cleanup
	for i in {1..60} ; do echo " " > /tmp/fifo_choco ; done
	# first format
	t timeline -l -n 10 | \
		awk '{print $2 " " $3 " " $4 "\t" $5 "\n" substr($0, index($0,$6)) "\n"} '	\
			> /tmp/fifo_choco
	
	# second format (no date) 
	#t timeline -n 10 > /tmp/fifo_choco
	
	# third format (really compact : more tweets but hard to read)
	# t timeline -l | sed -e 's/\(\@[a-zA-Z_]*\)[ ]*/\1\n/' > /tmp/fifo_choco
	
	# wait 5 minutes before updating
	sleep 300
	done

using root-tail with some named pipes

REQUIREMENTS

for the console on the desktop itself : 
-conky (used to detect the real root window) 
-root-tail (http://freshmeat.net/projects/root-tail) 
-X server (duh!)

install the requirements on any debian based machine with 

$ sudo aptitude install conky root-tail 

simply launch as a program (alt-F2) with ./<scrpitname>.sh