diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f468f234..eaf4224d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,25 +6,25 @@ os:
 julia:
   - 0.4
   #- nightly
-#
-#
-# # addons:
-# #   apt:
-# #     packages:
-# #       - wkhtmltopdf
-# #
+
+
 # # before install:
 # #   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "osx" ]]; then brew update          ; fi
 # #   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "osx" ]]; then brew install wkhtmltopdf; fi
-#
-#
+
+# ref: http://askubuntu.com/a/556672 for the wkhtmltopdf apt repository info
+
 sudo: required
 before_install:
-  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:pov/wkhtmltopdf  ; fi
-  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  sudo apt-get -qq update                      ; fi
-  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  sudo apt-get install -y wkhtmltopdf          ; fi
-  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  wkhtmltopdf -V                               ; fi
-  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  wkhtmltoimage -V                             ; fi
+  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then pwd ; fi
+  - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then ./install_wkhtmltoimage.sh ; fi
+#   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:pov/wkhtmltopdf  ; fi
+#   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  sudo apt-get -qq update                      ; fi
+#   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  sudo apt-get install -y wkhtmltopdf          ; fi
+#   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  wkhtmltopdf -V                               ; fi
+#   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then  wkhtmltoimage -V                             ; fi
+#   echo 'exec xvfb-run -a -s "-screen 0 640x480x16" wkhtmltopdf "$@"' | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh >/dev/null
+# sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh
 
 # # borrowed from Blink.jl's travis file
 # matrix:
@@ -36,14 +36,6 @@ before_install:
 #       julia: 0.4
 #       env: TESTCMD="julia"
 
-# matrix:
-#   include:
-#     - os: linux
-#       sudo: required
-#       before_install:
-#         - sudo apt-get -qq update
-#         - sudo apt-get install -y wkhtmltopdf
-#     - os: osx
 
 
 notifications:
@@ -52,16 +44,12 @@ notifications:
 script:
  - if [[ -a .git/shallow ]]; then git fetch --unshallow; fi
  - julia -e 'Pkg.clone(pwd()); Pkg.build("Plots")'
- # - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("https://github.com/tbreloff/Images.jl.git"); Pkg.checkout("Images","tom_imgcompare");'
- # - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("Images"); Pkg.build("Images")'
  - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("ImageMagick"); Pkg.build("ImageMagick")'
  - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("GR"); Pkg.build("GR")'
  # - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("https://github.com/tbreloff/ImageMagick.jl.git"); Pkg.checkout("ImageMagick","tb_write"); Pkg.build("ImageMagick")'
- # - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("https://github.com/tbreloff/VisualRegressionTests.jl.git");'
  - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("https://github.com/tbreloff/ExamplePlots.jl.git");'
  # - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("https://github.com/JunoLab/Blink.jl.git"); Pkg.build("Blink"); import Blink; Blink.AtomShell.install()'
  # - julia -e 'Pkg.clone("https://github.com/spencerlyon2/PlotlyJS.jl.git")'
- # - julia -e 'Pkg.add("Cairo"); Pkg.build("Cairo")'
  - julia -e 'ENV["PYTHON"] = ""; Pkg.add("PyPlot"); Pkg.build("PyPlot")'
 
  # - $TESTCMD -e 'Pkg.test("Plots"; coverage=false)'
diff --git a/test/install_wkhtmltoimage.sh b/test/install_wkhtmltoimage.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bba78215
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/install_wkhtmltoimage.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+set -e
+sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:pov/wkhtmltopdf
+sudo apt-get -qq update
+sudo apt-get install -y wkhtmltopdf
+wkhtmltopdf -V
+wkhtmltoimage -V
+echo 'exec xvfb-run -a -s "-screen 0 640x480x16" wkhtmltoimage "$@"' | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltoimage.sh >/dev/null
+sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltoimage.sh