moebiusgears(6)

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

🎡 moebiusgears — the XScreenSaver manual, bestie edition

Okay so real quick, before we get into it: this is the manual page for moebiusgears(6), which lives in the XScreenSaver manual. Buckle up, she's gorgeous. 💫

✨ NAME ✨

moebiusgears — draws a moebius strip made of interlocking gears. That's it. That's the whole vibe. 🎡🌀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

moebiusgears [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root]
[--window-id number][--install] [--visual visual] [--delay usecs]
[--speed float] [--no-spin] [--no-wander] [--no-roll] [-count integer]
[-teeth integer] [-wireframe] [-fps]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So what does moebiusgears actually do? It draws a closed, interlinked chain of rotating gears, and the layout of those gears follows the path of a moebius strip. Like, literally a loop of gears that twists back on itself. Main character geometry. No cap. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

moebiusgears accepts the following options, and yes we're doing all of them:

  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default, so if you don't say anything, this is what happens. Lowkey the chill option. 🪟
  • --root — Draw on the root window instead. Big "I live on your desktop forever" energy. 🖥️
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. You pick the window, she draws in it. 🎯
  • --install — Install a private colormap for the window. Fancy colour business. 🌈
  • --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. 🧐
  • --delay usecs — The delay between frames of the animation, in microseconds. Default: 30000 (that's 0.03 seconds, bestie). ⏱️
  • --speed float — Larger numbers mean run faster. Default: 1.0. Zoom zoom. 🏎️
  • --no-spin — Don't rotate the object. She stays still. 🚫🌀
  • --no-wander — Don't wander the object around the screen. No drifting today. 🚫🚶‍♀️
  • --no-roll — Don't slowly roll the moebius strip inside out. (Yes, that's a thing it does by default. Iconic.) 🚫🌯
  • --count integer — How many gears to draw. Default: 17. Minimum 11, must be odd. ⚙️
  • --teeth integer — How many teeth to draw on each draw. Default: 15. Minimum 7, must be odd. (The page says "each draw" — im just relaying it fr fr.) 🦷
  • --wireframe — Render in wireframe instead of solid. Skeleton mode. 💀
  • --fps — Display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. Stats girlies rise. 📊
Notice the synopsis writes -count and -teeth with a single dash — that's exactly what the page says, so I'm keeping it exactly as written. Copy-paste at your own risk, bestie. 💅

🦋 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 ⭐

Go read these too, they're the friend group:

Copyright © 2007 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. 📜✨

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Jamie Zawinski. That's the whole section. Legend behaviour. 🫶

mwah 💋 that's the whole page — this beauty is from X Version 11, version 6.15 (30-Mar-2026). Go make some gear loops, bestie. 🌀⚙️🎀

📦 where this page comes from