blaster(6)

📦
version 6.15 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

💥 blaster(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, but make it bestie 💥

okay so this is blaster, a page from the XScreenSaver manual, and honestly? it's giving arcade cabinet energy in the best way possible. grab a snack, we're doing space combat 🚀

✨ NAME ✨

blaster — a whole simulation of space combat, no cap 💫

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

blaster [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--num_robots number] [--num_lasers
number] [--num_stars number] [--delay number] [--fps]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So basically, blaster draws a simulation of flying space-combat robots — and yes, they are cleverly disguised as colored circles 😭😭 like that is the funniest possible way to describe a robot and I'm obsessed. these little circle-guys are out there doing battle in front of a moving star field. main character energy fr fr. ⭐💥

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --visual visual — tells it which visual to use, bestie. the legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of one specific visual. pick your fighter 💅
  • --window — draws on a freshly-created window. this one is the default, so it's already doing this unless you say otherwise ✨
  • --root — draws on the root window instead. big "i live here now" energy 🏠
  • --window-id number — draws on the specific window you point at. not this one, that one 👉🫶
  • --num_robots number — how many Robots. range is 2 – 50. default: 5. tiny army, honestly 😤
  • --num_lasers number — how many Lasers. range is 1 – 100. default: 3. pew pew, but make it minimal 🔫
  • --delay number — the per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 10000 (which is 0.01 seconds.). yes microseconds, yes that's a lot of zeroes, we stay precise 🧚
  • --fps — displays the current frame rate and CPU load. numbers on screen, we love a performance check 👑

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

  • DISPLAY — used to get the default host and display number. this is how it knows where to go 🗺️
  • XENVIRONMENT — used to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. the override era 💜
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. yep, it's exactly what it sounds like 🪟

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

go read those too, iykyk 📚

Copyright © 2002 by Jonathan Lin.

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. ⚠️ (like, it might be a bunch of colored circles fighting, so. temper expectations, bestie 😅)

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

Jonathan Lin. legend behavior, honestly 👑

cute little sign-off: this one's X Version 11, version 6.15, dated 30-Mar-2026. slay, go watch some circles fight 💖🎀🦋
📦 where this page comes from