glmatrix(6)

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

💚 glmatrix — the manual, but make it iconic

okay so bestie, we're in glmatrix(6) territory, part of the XScreenSaver manual, and honestly? this whole page ate. let me walk you through it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

glmatrix — it simulates that title-sequence effect from the movie. you know the one. the one. 💅

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

glmatrix [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root]
[--window-id number] [--install] [--visual visual] [--delay usecs]
[--speed ratio] [--density pct] [--no-fog] [--no-waves] [--no-rotate]
[--binary] [--hexadecimal] [--dna] [--clock] [--timefmt fmt]
[--wireframe] [--fps]

like yes, that's a lot of flags. no, you don't need all of them. but we're listing every single one anyway because that's the vibe 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

glmatrix draws the 3D "digital rain" effect, exactly as seen in the title sequence of the Wachowski brothers' film, "The Matrix". iconic behavior, no notes ✨

also, if you want the 2D rendering of the similar effect that showed up on the computer monitors actually in the movie, go check out xmatrix(6). different girl, same energy 💜

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

glmatrix accepts the following options:

  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so like, you're already doing it bestie 💅
  • --root — draw on the root window.
  • --window-id number — draw on the specific window you point at.
  • --install — install a private colormap for the window.
  • --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. iykyk 🌸
  • --delay usecs — the delay between frames of the animation, in microseconds. default 30000.
  • --speed ratio — how fast the glyphs should move. default 1.0. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. go fast, go slow, it's your world ⭐
  • --density percentage — the approximate percentage of the screen that should be filled with characters at any given time. default 20%.
  • --no-fog — by default, glyphs are dimmer the farther away they are. this argument disables that. (yes the depth was doing something 💀)
  • --no-waves — by default, waves of color roll down the columns of glyphs. this argument disables that. honestly? the waves are the moment. but ok 🙈
  • --no-rotate — by default, the scene slowly tilts and rotates. this argument disables that. no more main character camera moves, i guess 😭
  • --binary — instead of displaying Matrix glyphs, only display ones and zeros. baby's first matrix 👑
  • --hexadecimal — instead of displaying Matrix glyphs, display hexadecimal digits.
  • --dna — instead of displaying Matrix glyphs, display genetic code (guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine.) science slay 🧬 (ok that emoji's not on the list but you get it)
  • --clock — hide a clock displaying the current time somewhere in the glyphs. it's hiding. it's lurking. it's giving where's waldo 🕵️ (again, vibes)
  • --timefmt strftime-string — how to format the clock when --clock is specified. default " %l%M%p ".
  • --speed ratio — less than 1 for slower, greater than 1 for faster. default 1. yes, this one is listed twice in the original and yes, we're keeping both, periodt.
  • --wireframe — just draw boxes instead of textured characters. minimalism era 🎀
  • --fps — display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. numbers go brrr 📊

🌸 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.
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root.

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

xmatrix(6), X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read them, they're the supporting cast and they understood the assignment 🫶

Copyright © 1999-2003 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.

fr fr, it's "as is" — no promises, no guarantees, we're all just out here running software 💀

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 8-Jun-2003. legend behavior, honestly.

and that's the whole page bestie ✨ this was X Version 11, 6.15 (30-Mar-2026) — so like, dated and sourced, we stay citable 💅🎀 bye!

📦 where this page comes from