esper(6)

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

💅 esper(6) — ok so bestie, let's talk about the Esper Machine

This one's from the XScreenSaver manual, and it's lowkey one of the most iconic ones. Sit down, get comfy, we're doing forensics. 🕵️‍♀️✨

✨ NAME ✨

esper — Enhance 224 to 176. Go right. Enhance 57 19. Track 45 left. 🎀

Like, that's literally the whole vibe of the name section, no notes, slay.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

esper [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--speed number]
[--titles] [--fps]

That's the whole invocation, fr fr. Every flag is right there 💖

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

Bestie. Okay. First, the quote, because it's required reading:

"Enhance 224 to 176. Pull out track right. Center in pull back. Pull back. Wait a minute. Go right. Stop. Enhance 57 19. Track 45 left. Gimme a hardcopy right there."

The Esper Machine was a voice-controlled forensic device used by the LAPD in 2019, as documented in the 1982 film, Blade Runner. 🎬

And like… what it could do was genuinely unhinged in the best way — it was capable of enhancing photographs to an extreme degree, including reconstructing different viewpoints within the space from the reflections on various objects in the photograph. Reflections!! In a photo!! Reconstructing whole other camera angles from them!! The way that is literally impossible and yet the movie said periodt. 👑

Anyway. This screensaver is that whole energy. Go right. Stop. 💅

✨ OPTIONS ✨

Every single one, bestie, no skips:

  • --visual visual — Specify which visual to use. Legal values are 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. 🪟
  • --root — Draw on the root window. 🌍
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window.
  • --delay number — Per-frame delay, in microseconds. Default: 20000 (0.02 seconds). ⏱️
  • --speed number — Animation speed. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. 🏃‍♀️💨
  • --titles | --no-titles — Show file names. Boolean. 🏷️
  • --fps | --no-fps — Whether to show a frames-per-second display at the top of the screen. 📊

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

The env vars it looks at, respecting them like the main characters they are:

  • 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.
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — The window ID to use with --root.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

Go read these too, iykyk:

Copyright © 2017 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.

(Yes I copied that exactly, it's a legal thing bestie, we don't paraphrase those 😭)

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

Jamie Zawinski. 👑 The blueprint, honestly.

And that's the whole page!! Signing off like a boss: this was X Version 11, version 6.15 (30-Mar-2026), for esper(6). Gimme a hardcopy right there. 🫶💖

📦 where this page comes from