discoball(6)

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

💫 discoball(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, but make it cute

okay bestie, so this is discoball, a page from the XScreenSaver manual, and it's literally about a dusty, dented disco ball. yes. that's the whole bit. woop woop. 🪩

✨ NAME ✨

discoball — a dusty, dented disco ball screen saver. that's it. that's the vibe. 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

discoball [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--speed number] [--count
number] [--no-wander] [--spin] [--wireframe] [--fps]

like, type the thing, add some flags, get a disco ball. slay. 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

A dusty, dented disco ball. Woop woop. 🪩✨

no cap, that's the entire description and honestly? iconic. it's giving "the spec is the vibe." dusty. dented. disco ball. periodt.

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --visual visual — tell it which visual to use, bestie. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. 🎨
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you do nothing, congrats, you already did this one. 👑
  • --root — draw on the root window. main character energy, whole-screen edition. 🌈
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you pick, queen. 🪟
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, in microseconds. default: 30000 (0.03 seconds). 🕰️
  • --speed number — animation speed. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. zoom zoom or slo-mo, your call. 🔥
  • --count number — number of rows of tiles on the ball. 10 - 100. default: 30. more tiles = more sparkle iykyk. ✨
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether the object should wander around the screen. free-range ball. 🦋
  • --spin | --no-spin — whether the scene should spin. (it should. obviously. but you do you.) 💫
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. skeleton ball realness. 🦴
  • --fps | --no-fps — whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen. numbers!! at the bottom!! 🔢

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. 🖥️
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. fancy override behavior, we love to see it. 🎀
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. 🔑

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

X(1), xscreensaver(1)

go read those too, bestie, they're the lore. 📚

Copyright © 2016 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.

okay so the legal bit is literally "do whatever, just keep the notice, and no promises that it works." classic. don't come for me if your disco ball is dented — it's supposed to be dented. 😭

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

Jamie Zawinski. a legend, fr fr. 🫶

and that's the whole page!! mwah 💋

X Version 11 · 6.15 · (30-Mar-2026) — catch you in the next release, bestie 🌸💖🎀

📦 where this page comes from