14 .TH XScreenSaver 1 "24-Feb-2002 (4.01)" "X Version 11"
16 xscreensaver-demo - interactively control the background xscreensaver daemon
19 [\-display \fIhost:display.screen\fP]
24 The \fIxscreensaver\-demo\fP program is a graphical front-end for
25 setting the parameters used by the background
28 It is essentially two things: a tool for editing the \fI~/.xscreensaver\fP
29 file; and a tool for demoing the various graphics hacks that
30 the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon will launch.
32 The main window consists of a menu bar and two tabbed pages. The first page
33 is for editing the list of demos, and the second is for editing various other
34 parameters of the screensaver.
36 All of these commands are on either the \fBFile\fP or \fBHelp\fP menus:
39 Activates the background \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon, which will then run
40 a demo at random. This is the same as running
41 .BR xscreensaver-command (1)
42 with the \fI\-activate\fP option.
45 Just like \fBBlank Screen Now\fP, except the screen will be locked as
46 well (even if it is not configured to lock all the time.) This is the
48 .BR xscreensaver-command (1)
49 with the \fI\-lock\fP option.
52 If the xscreensaver daemon is running on this screen, kill it.
53 This is the same as running
54 .BR xscreensaver-command (1)
55 with the \fI\-exit\fP option.
58 If the xscreensaver daemon is running on this screen, kill it.
59 Then launch it again. This is the same as doing
60 ``\fIxscreensaver-command -exit\fP'' followed by ``\fIxscreensaver\fP''.
62 Note that it is \fInot\fP the same as doing
63 ``\fIxscreensaver-command -restart\fP''.
66 Exits the \fIxscreensaver-demo\fP program (this program) without
67 affecting the background \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon, if any.
70 Displays the version number of this program, \fIxscreensaver-demo\fP.
73 Opens up a web browser looking at the XScreenSaver web page, where you
74 can find online copies of the
76 .BR xscreensaver\-demo (1),
78 .BR xscreensaver\-command (1)
81 This page contains a list of the names of the various display modes, a
82 preview area, and some fields that let you configure screen saver behavior.
85 This option menu controls the behavior of the screen saver. The options are:
88 .B Random Screen Saver
89 When blanking the screen, select a random display mode from among those
90 that are enabled and applicable. This is the default.
92 .B Only One Screen Saver
93 When blanking the screen, only ever use one particular display mode (the
94 one selected in the list.)
97 When blanking the screen, just go black: don't run any graphics hacks.
99 .B Disable Screen Saver
100 Don't ever blank the screen, and don't ever allow the monitor to power down.
105 Double-clicking in the list on the left will let you try out the indicated
106 demo. The screen will go black, and the program will run in full-screen
107 mode, just as it would if the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon had launched it.
108 Clicking the mouse again will stop the demo and un-blank the screen, making
109 the dialog box visible again.
111 Single-clicking in the list will run it in the small preview pane on the
112 right. (But beware: many of the display modes behave somewhat differently
113 when running in full-screen mode, so the scaled-down view might not give
114 an accurate impression.)
116 When \fBMode\fP is set to \fBRandom Screen Saver\fP, each name in the list
117 has a checkbox next to it: this controls whether this display mode is
118 enabled. If it is unchecked, then that mode will not be chosen. (Though
119 you can still run it explicitly by double-clicking on its name.)
122 Beneath the list are a pair of up and down arrows. Clicking on the down
123 arrow will select the next item in the list, and then run it in full-screen
124 mode, just as if you had double-clicked on it. The up arrow goes the other
125 way. This is just a shortcut for trying out all of the display modes in turn.
128 After the user has been idle this long, the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon
129 will blank the screen.
132 jAfter the screensaver has been running for this long, the currently
133 running graphics demo will be killed, and a new one started.
134 If this is 0, then the graphics demo will never be changed:
135 only one demo will run until the screensaver is deactivated by user
139 When this is checked, the screen will be locked when it activates.
142 This controls the length of the ``grace period'' between when the
143 screensaver activates, and when the screen becomes locked. For
144 example, if this is 5 minutes, and \fIBlank After\fP is 10 minutes,
145 then after 10 minutes, the screen would blank. If there was user
146 activity at 12 minutes, no password would be required to un-blank the
147 screen. But, if there was user activity at 15 minutes or later (that
148 is, \fILock Screen After\fP minutes after activation) then a password
149 would be required. The default is 0, meaning that if locking is
150 enabled, then a password will be required as soon as the screen blanks.
153 This button, below the small preview window, runs the demo in full-screen
154 mode so that you can try it out. This is the same thing that happens when
155 you double-click an element in the list. Click the mouse to dismiss the
159 This button will pop up a dialog where you can configure settings specific
160 to the display mode selected in the list.
162 This tab lets you change various settings used by the xscreensaver daemon
163 itself, rather than its sub-programs.
165 .B Grab Desktop Images
166 Some of the graphics hacks manipulate images. If this option is selected,
167 then they are allowed to manipulate the desktop image, that is, a display
168 mode might draw a picture of your desktop melting, or being distorted in
169 some way. The security-paranoid might want to disable this option, because
170 if it is set, it means that the windows on your desktop will occasionally
171 be visible while your screen is locked. Others will not be able
172 to \fIdo\fP anything, but they may be able to \fIsee\fP whatever you
176 If your system has a video capture card, selecting this option will allow
177 the image-manipulating modes to capture a frame of video to operate on.
179 .B Choose Random Image
180 If this option is set, then the image-manipulating modes will select a
181 random image file from disk, from the directory you specify in the text
182 entry field. That directory will be recursively searched for files,
183 and it is assumed that all the files under that directory are images.
185 If more than one of these options are selected, then one will be chosen at
186 random. If none of them are selected, then an image of video colorbars will
189 (All three of these options work by invoking the
190 .BR xscreensaver\-getimage (1)
191 program, which is what actually does the work.)
193 .B Verbose Diagnostics
194 Whether to print lots of debugging information.
196 .B Display Subprocess Errors
197 If this is set, then if one of the graphics demos prints something to
198 stdout or stderr, it will show up on the screen immediately (instead of
199 being lost in a hidden terminal or file that you can't see.)
201 If you change this option, it will only take effect the next time the
202 xscreensaver daemon is restarted. (All other settings take effect
205 .B Display Splash Screen at Startup
206 Normally when xscreensaver starts up, it briefly displays a splash dialog
207 showing the version number, a \fIHelp\fP button, etc. If this option is
208 turned off, the splash screen will not be shown at all.
210 .B Power Management Enabled
211 Whether the monitor should be powered down after a period of inactivity.
213 If this option is grayed out, it means your X server does not support
214 the XDPMS extension, and so control over the monitor's power state is
217 If you're using a laptop, don't be surprised if this has no effect:
218 many laptops have monitor power-saving behavior built in at a very low
219 level that is invisible to Unix and X. On such systems, you can
220 typically only adjust the power-saving delays by changing settings
221 in the BIOS in some hardware-specific way.
224 If \fIPower Management Enabled\fP is selected, the monitor will go black
225 after this much idle time. (Graphics demos will stop running, also.)
228 If \fIPower Management Enabled\fP is selected, the monitor will go
229 into power-saving mode after this much idle time. This duration should
230 be greater than or equal to \fIStandby\fP.
233 If \fIPower Management Enabled\fP is selected, the monitor will fully
234 power down after this much idle time. This duration should be greater
235 than or equal to \fISuspend\fP.
238 Whether to install a private colormap while the screensaver is active, so
239 that the graphics hacks can get as many colors as possible. (This only
240 applies when the screen's default visual is being used, since non-default
241 visuals get their own colormaps automatically.) This can also be overridden
244 .B Fade To Black When Blanking
245 If selected, then when the screensaver activates, the current contents
246 of the screen will fade to black instead of simply winking out. (Note:
247 this doesn't work with all X servers.) A fade will also be done when
248 switching graphics hacks (when the \fICycle After\fP expires.)
250 .B Unfade From Black When Unblanking
251 The complement to \fIFade Colormap\fP: if selected, then when the screensaver
252 deactivates, the original contents of the screen will fade in from black
253 instead of appearing immediately. This is only done if \fIFade Colormap\fP
257 When fading or unfading are selected, this controls how long the fade will
260 There are more settings than these available, but these are the most
261 commonly used ones; see the manual for
263 for other parameters that can be set by editing the \fI~/.xscreensaver\fP
264 file, or the X resource database.
266 When you click on the \fISettings\fP button on the \fIDisplay Modes\fP
267 tab, a configuration dialog will pop up that lets you customize settings
268 of the selected display mode. Each display mode has its own custom
269 configuration controls on the left side.
271 On the right side is a paragraph or two describing the display mode.
272 Below that is a \fBDocumentation\fP button that will display the display
273 mode's manual page, if it has one, in a new window (since each of the
274 display modes is actually a separate program, they each may have their
277 The \fBAdvanced\fP button reconfigures the dialog box so that you can
278 edit the display mode's command line directly, instead of using the
279 graphical controls. It also lets you configure the X visual type that
280 this mode will require. If you specify one (other than \fIAny\fP) then
281 the program will only be run on that kind of visual. For example, you
282 can specify that a particular program should only be run if color is
283 available, and another should only be run in monochrome. See the
284 discussion of the \fIprograms\fP parameter in the \fIConfiguration\fP
288 .SH COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
289 .I xscreensaver\-demo
290 accepts the following command line options.
292 .B \-display \fIhost:display.screen\fP
293 The X display to use. The \fIxscreensaver\-demo\fP program will open its
294 window on that display, and also control the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon that
295 is managing that same display.
298 Start up with the \fBAdvanced\fP tab selected by default
299 instead of the \fBDisplay Modes\fP tab.
302 For use by the Gnome Control Center code: this causes this program to
303 be embedded inside the Control Center window.
306 Causes lots of diagnostics to be printed on stderr.
308 It is important that the \fIxscreensaver\fP and \fIxscreensaver\-demo\fP
309 processes be running on the same machine, or at least, on two machines
310 that share a file system. When \fIxscreensaver\-demo\fP writes a new version
311 of the \fI~/.xscreensaver\fP file, it's important that the \fIxscreensaver\fP
312 see that same file. If the two processes are seeing
313 different \fI~/.xscreensaver\fP files, things will malfunction.
318 to get the default host and display number.
321 to find the sub-programs to run. However, note that the sub-programs
322 are actually launched by the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon, not
323 by \fIxscreensaver-demo\fP itself. So, what matters is what \fB$PATH\fP
324 the \fIxscreensaver\fP program sees.
327 for the directory in which to read and write the \fI.xscreensaver\fP file.
330 to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources
331 stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
333 The latest version can always be found at
334 http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
337 .BR xscreensaver (1),
338 .BR xscreensaver\-command (1),
339 .BR xscreensaver\-getimage (1)
341 Copyright \(co 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
342 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell
343 this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without
344 fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
345 both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
346 documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this
347 software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied
350 Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-aug-92.
352 Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements.
projects / xscreensaver / blob