penetrate(6)

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

💥 penetrate(6) 💥

okay bestie, so penetrate is an XScreenSaver manual page and honestly? it's giving arcade nostalgia 🎮✨ the manual name is literally penetrate — that's the whole vibe — a classic arcade shooting game simulator, and we're gonna go through it together, no cap.

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

penetrate [--display host:display.screen] [--root] [--window]
[--window-id number] [--install] [--noinstall] [--visual visual]
[--bgrowth microseconds] [--lrate number] [--smart number] [--fps]

like, that's the whole invocation, periodt 💅 copy it exactly, bestie, --bgrowth takes microseconds in the synopsis, don't come for me.

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Okay so Penetrate simulates the arcade classic with the cities and the stuff shooting down from the sky and stuff. literally the stuff. 🏙️💀

The computer plays against itself, desperately defending the forces of good against those thingies raining down. and when I say desperately I mean it — main character energy defending the whole planet fr fr 😭🫶

Bonus cities are awarded at ever-increasing intervals. every five levels appears a bonus round. and here's the slay part: the computer player gets progressively more intelligent as the game progresses. Better aim, more economical with ammo, and better target selection. it's literally learning, bestie 🧠✨

Points are in the bottom right, and high score is in the bottom left. iykyk 👑

Start with -smart to have the computer player skip the learning process. like, no studying arc, straight to genius 💅

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --display host:display.screen — Specifies which X display we should use. the whole "where am I rendering" question 💖
  • --root — Draw on the root window. 🌸
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window.
  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default. 🦋
  • --install — Install a private colormap for the window. 🎨
  • --noinstall — Don't 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. Possible choices include:
default, best, mono, monochrome, gray, grey, color, staticgray,
staticcolor, truecolor, grayscale, greyscale, pseudocolor,
directcolor, number

If a decimal or hexadecimal number is used, XGetVisualInfo(3X) is consulted to obtain the required visual. nerd stuff but iconic 🔥

  • --foreground color — Specifies the default foreground color. 💜
  • --background color — Specifies the default background color. 💙
  • --bgrowth integer — Specifies the growth rate of the bomb explosions. 💥 (yes, the synopsis says microseconds, the option says integer — I just report, I don't judge 🙈)
  • --lrate integer — Set the initial rate of laser fire. pew pew ⭐
  • -smart — Have the computer player skip the learning process. immediately smarter than you, sorry not sorry 💅
  • --fps — Display the current frame rate and CPU load. numbers!!! 📊

💀 BUGS 💀

ngl the layout of the screen isn't quite the same as the game this program tries to emulate. 😭 In this this program, the missiles come out of the cities; when really, there are supposed to be three missile bases on hills, with the cities in the valleys between them.

(and yes, "in this this program" — that's the original, I'm not fixing it, that's their typo and it's lowkey iconic 🫶)

🌸 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 🦋

X(1), xscreensaver(1)

Copyright © 1999 Adam Miller. 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 ⭐

Adam Miller <adum@aya.yale.edu>, 1999.

k that's the whole page bestie, go defend those cities 💖 — this manual page is penetrate(6) from the XScreenSaver manual, X Version 11, 6.15 (30-Mar-2026). mwah, go forth and --fps responsibly 🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from