pulsar(6)

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

💫 pulsar(6) — the XScreenSaver manual, bestie edition 💫

okay so this is pulsar, straight out of the XScreenSaver manual, and it's genuinely one of the prettiest little demos in there. sit down, grab a snack, i'm gonna walk you through it 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

pulsar — intersecting planes, alpha blending, fog, and textures. that's it, that's the whole vibe 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

pulsar [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--no-light] [--wire] [--delay number]
[--quads number] [--image file] [--light] [--fog] [--texture] [--mipmap]
[--no-blend] [--antialias] [--texture_quality] [--do_depth] [--fps]

like, copy that exactly, don't come for me about the line breaks, that's how it's printed 😌

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so what does it actually do? it draws a bunch of intersecting planes — and the way it does it is lowkey showing off: alpha blending, fog, textures, mipmaps, all of it. iconic behavior honestly.

and because it's a little extra, it also throws up a ``frames per second'' meter so you can tell how fast your graphics card is... ngl that's kind of the whole point, it's a benchmark flex 🔥

⚠️ heads up bestie: this one requires OpenGL. no OpenGL, no sparkle. periodt.

💜 OPTIONS 💜

  • --visual visual — tells it which visual to use. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of one specific visual. your pick 🫶
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you say nothing, this is what you get ✨
  • --root — draw on the root window instead.
  • --window-id number — draw on the exact window you specify. very "i know what i want" of you 👑
  • --light | --no-light — use Flat Coloring. (yes, this one shows up twice in the original list — i don't make the rules, i just report them faithfully 💀)
  • --wire — render in wireframe instead of solid. skeletal. editorial. kind of a look.
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 10000 (that's 0.01 seconds, for the record).
  • --image file — the texture map to use. bring your own art bestie 🎨
  • --quads number — quad count. range is 1 - 50. default: 5.
  • --light | --no-light — whether to enable lighting. (yes, again. second appearance. we love consistency 😭)
  • --fog | --no-fog — whether to enable fog. spooky lil haze, iykyk 🌫️
  • --texture | --no-texture — whether to enable texturing.
  • --mipmap | --no-mipmap — whether to enable texture mipmaps.
  • --blend | --no-blend — whether to enable blending.
  • --antialias | --no-antialias — whether to anti-alias lines. smooth those edges, bestie.
  • --texture_quality | --no-texture_quality — whether to enable texture filtering.
  • --do_depth | --no-do_depth — whether to enable the depth buffer.
  • --fps — display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. the full receipts 📊

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

  • DISPLAY — used to get the default host and display number.
  • XENVIRONMENT — used 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 © 2002 by David Konerding.

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. (translation: no promises, bestie, use at your own risk 🙈)

💖 AUTHOR 💖

David Konerding.

and that's the whole page!! 🌟 this lil beauty is from X Version 11, version 6.15 (30-Mar-2026) — go forth and stare at intersecting planes, you absolute icon 💅✨🫶

📦 where this page comes from