preview area, and some fields that let you configure screen saver behavior.
.TP 4
.B Mode
-This option menu controls the behavior of the screen saver. The options are:
-.RS 8
-.TP 8
+This option menu controls the activation behavior of the screen saver.
+The options are:
+.RS 4
+.TP 4
.B Disable Screen Saver
Don't ever blank the screen, and don't ever allow the monitor to power down.
-.TP 8
+.TP 4
.B Blank Screen Only
-When blanking the screen, just go black: don't run any graphics hacks.
-.TP 8
+When blanking the screen, just go black: don't run any graphics.
+.TP 4
.B Only One Screen Saver
When blanking the screen, only ever use one particular display mode (the
one selected in the list.)
-.TP 8
+.TP 4
.B Random Screen Saver
When blanking the screen, select a random display mode from among those
-that are enabled and applicable. This is the default.
-.TP 8
+that are enabled and applicable. If there are multiple monitors
+connected, run a different display mode on each one. This is the default.
+.TP 4
.B Random Same Saver
-This option only appears if you have multiple monitors.
This is just like \fBRandom Screen Saver\fP, except that the \fIsame\fP
-randomly-chosen display mode will be run on all monitors, instead of a
-different one being run on each.
+randomly-chosen display mode will be run on all monitors, instead of
+different ones on each.
.RE
.TP 4
.B Demo List
Double-clicking in the list on the left will let you try out the indicated
demo. The screen will go black, and the program will run in full-screen
mode, just as it would if the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon had launched it.
-Clicking the mouse again will stop the demo and un-blank the screen, making
-the dialog box visible again.
+Clicking the mouse again will stop the demo and un-blank the screen.
Single-clicking in the list will run it in the small preview pane on the
right. (But beware: many of the display modes behave somewhat differently
.B Settings
This button will pop up a dialog where you can configure settings specific
to the display mode selected in the list.
+.SH SETTINGS DIALOG
+When you click on the \fISettings\fP button on the \fIDisplay Modes\fP
+tab, a configuration dialog will pop up that lets you customize settings
+of the selected display mode. Each display mode has its own custom
+configuration controls on the left side.
+
+On the right side is a paragraph or two describing the display mode.
+Below that is a \fBDocumentation\fP button that will display the display
+mode's manual page, if it has one, in a new window (since each of the
+display modes is actually a separate program, they each have their
+own manual.)
+
+The \fBAdvanced\fP button reconfigures the dialog box so that you can
+edit the display mode's command line directly, instead of using the
+graphical controls.
.SH ADVANCED TAB
This tab lets you change various settings used by the xscreensaver daemon
-itself, rather than its sub-programs.
+itself, as well as some global options shared by all of the display modes.
+
+.B Image Manipulation
+
+Some of the graphics hacks manipulate images. These settings control
+where those source images come from.
+(All of these options work by invoking the
+.BR xscreensaver\-getimage (1)
+program, which is what actually does the work.)
+.RS 4
.TP 4
.B Grab Desktop Images
-Some of the graphics hacks manipulate images. If this option is selected,
-then they are allowed to manipulate the desktop image, that is, a display
-mode might draw a picture of your desktop melting, or being distorted in
-some way. The security-paranoid might want to disable this option, because
-if it is set, it means that the windows on your desktop will occasionally
-be visible while your screen is locked. Others will not be able
-to \fIdo\fP anything, but they may be able to \fIsee\fP whatever you
-left on your screen.
+If this option is selected, then they are allowed to manipulate the
+desktop image, that is, a display mode might draw a picture of your
+desktop melting, or being distorted in some way. The
+security-paranoid might want to disable this option, because if it is
+set, it means that the windows on your desktop will occasionally be
+visible while your screen is locked. Others will not be able to
+\fIdo\fP anything, but they may be able to \fIsee\fP whatever you left
+on your screen.
.TP 4
.B Grab Video Frames
If your system has a video capture card, selecting this option will allow
.TP 4
.B Choose Random Image
If this option is set, then the image-manipulating modes will select a
-random image file from disk, from the directory you specify in the text
-entry field. That directory will be recursively searched for files,
-and it is assumed that all the files under that directory are images.
-
-If more than one of these options are selected, then one will be chosen at
-random. If none of them are selected, then an image of video colorbars will
-be used instead.
-
-(All three of these options work by invoking the
-.BR xscreensaver\-getimage (1)
-program, which is what actually does the work.)
-.TP 4
+random image file to operate on, from the specified source. That
+source may be a local directory, which will be recursively searched
+for images. Or, it may be the URL of an RSS or Atom feed (e.g., a
+Flickr gallery), in which case a random image from that feed will be
+selected instead. The contents of the feed will be cached locally and
+refreshed periodically as needed.
+.PP
+If more than one of the above image-related options are selected, then
+one will be chosen at random. If none of them are selected, then an
+image of video colorbars will be used instead.
+.RE
+.PP
.B Text Manipulation
+
Some of the display modes display and manipulate text. The following
options control how that text is generated. (These parameters control
the behavior of the
.BR xscreensaver\-text (1)
program, which is what actually does the work.)
+.RS 4
.TP 4
.B Host Name and Time
If this checkbox is selected, then the text used by the screen savers
-will be the local host name, date, time, and system load.
+will be the local host name, OS version, date, time, and system load.
.TP 4
.B Text
If this checkbox is selected, then the literal text typed in the
.TP 4
.B Program
If this checkbox is selected, then the given program will be run,
-and its output will be displayed.
+repeatedly, and its output will be displayed.
.TP 4
.B URL
If this checkbox is selected, then the given HTTP URL will be downloaded
it will be converted to plain-text first.
Note: this re-downloads the document every time the screen saver
-runs out of text! It might be considered abusive for you to point
-this at a web server that you do not control, as it will probably
-be hitting that server multiple times a minute.
+runs out of text, so it will probably be hitting that web server multiple
+times a minute. Be careful that the owner of that server doesn't
+consider that to be abusive.
+.RE
+.PP
+.B Power Management Settings
+
+These settings control whether, and when, your monitor powers down.
+.RS 4
.TP 4
.B Power Management Enabled
Whether the monitor should be powered down after a period of inactivity.
way, the power management idle-timers can be completely disabled, but
the screen will be powered off when black. (This might be preferable
on laptops.)
+.RE
+.PP
+.B Fading and Colormaps
+
+These options control how the screen fades to or from black when
+a screen saver begins or ends.
+.RS 4
.TP 4
.B Fade To Black When Blanking
If selected, then when the screensaver activates, the current contents
colors as possible. This does nothing if you are running in 16-bit
or better.
.PP
+.RE
There are more settings than these available, but these are the most
commonly used ones; see the manual for
.BR xscreensaver (1)
for other parameters that can be set by editing the \fI~/.xscreensaver\fP
file, or the X resource database.
-.SH SETTINGS DIALOG
-When you click on the \fISettings\fP button on the \fIDisplay Modes\fP
-tab, a configuration dialog will pop up that lets you customize settings
-of the selected display mode. Each display mode has its own custom
-configuration controls on the left side.
-
-On the right side is a paragraph or two describing the display mode.
-Below that is a \fBDocumentation\fP button that will display the display
-mode's manual page, if it has one, in a new window (since each of the
-display modes is actually a separate program, they each may have their
-own manual.)
-
-The \fBAdvanced\fP button reconfigures the dialog box so that you can
-edit the display mode's command line directly, instead of using the
-graphical controls. It also lets you configure the X visual type that
-this mode will require. If you specify one (other than \fIAny\fP) then
-the program will only be run on that kind of visual. For example, you
-can specify that a particular program should only be run if color is
-available, and another should only be run in monochrome. See the
-discussion of the \fIprograms\fP parameter in the \fIConfiguration\fP
-section of the
-.BR xscreensaver (1)
-manual. (OpenGL programs should always have their visual set to "GL".)
.SH COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
.I xscreensaver\-demo
accepts the following command line options.
to find the sub-programs to run. However, note that the sub-programs
are actually launched by the \fIxscreensaver\fP daemon, not
by \fIxscreensaver-demo\fP itself. So, what matters is what \fB$PATH\fP
-the \fIxscreensaver\fP program sees.
+that the \fIxscreensaver\fP program sees.
.TP 8
.B HOME
for the directory in which to read and write the \fI.xscreensaver\fP file.
.B HTTP_PROXY\fR or \fPhttp_proxy
to get the default HTTP proxy host and port.
.SH UPGRADES
-The latest version can always be found at
-http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
+The latest version of xscreensaver, an online version of this manual,
+and a FAQ can always be found at http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR X (1),
.BR xscreensaver (1),
.BR xscreensaver\-getimage (1),
.BR xscreensaver\-text (1)
.SH COPYRIGHT
-Copyright \(co 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
-by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell
-this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without
-fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
-both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
-documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this
-software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied
-warranty.
+Copyright \(co 1992-2011 by Jamie Zawinski.
+Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software
+and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
+provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
+both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
+supporting documentation. No representations are made about the
+suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is"
+without express or implied warranty.
.SH AUTHOR
Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-aug-92.
projects / xscreensaver / blobdiff