rdbomb(6)

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

💅 rd-bomb — a.k.a. rdbomb(6), straight out of the XScreenSaver manual

okay so bestie, welcome to rd-bomb, the program that draws reaction/diffusion textures. that's it, that's the whole vibe. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

rd-bomb [--display host:display.screen] [--foreground color]
[--background color] [--window] [--root]
[--window-id number][--install]
[--visual visual] [--width n] [--height n] [--reaction n] [--diffusion
n] [--size f] [--speed f] [--delay millisecs] [--fps]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the rd-bomb program draws reaction/diffusion textures. literally that's what it does. it's giving chemistry but make it pretty. 🧪💖

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay first, the big brain part 👑: if one of the reaction, diffusion, radius, and palette options is set to a negative value, then that option gets set to a random appropriate value. so like, go off, chaos is a valid setting. 🎲

also, a tip straight from the source, no cap — be sure to try:

-speed 1 -size 0.1 -epoch 3000

(yeah -epoch isn't in the list below, we don't make the rules, we just tell you to try it 💀)

rd-bomb accepts the following options:

  • --window — draws on a newly-created window. this is the default, main character energy as always. 👑
  • --root — draws on the root window. bold. iconic.
  • --window-id number — draws on the specified window. you pick, bestie. 🫶
  • --install — installs a private colormap for the window. fancy.
  • --visual visual — specifies which visual to use. legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. 🔍
  • --width n
  • --height n — specify the size of the tile, in pixels. two flags, one job. 🎀
  • --reaction n
  • --diffusion n — these are constants in the equations that effect its visual nature. each may be one of 0, 1, or 2. default is -1: these constants are chosen randomly. 🎲
  • --radius n — size of the seed. tiny seed, big destiny. 🌱
  • --size f — what fraction of the window is actively drawn, a floating point number between 0 (exclusive) and 1 (inclusive). default is 1.0.
  • --speed f — when a fraction of the screen is active, the active area moves at this rate (a floating point number). default is zero. suggested value: 1.0. 🏃‍♀️
  • --delay millisecs — how many milliseconds to delay between frames; default 1, or about 1/1000th of a second. ⏱️
  • --fps — displays the current frame rate and CPU load. we love a performance check. 📊

📜 HISTORY 📜

the code is derived from the 'd' mode of the "Bomb" visual musical instrument, also by Scott Draves. the equations come from Xmorphia, which is based on a version of the Gray-Scott model taken from:

John E. Pearson "Complex Patterns in a Simple System"
Science, 261,189, 9 July 1993.

and that's the lore. 🧚

🌈 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),

https://scottdraves.com/bomb.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19981206145216/http%3A//www.ccsf.caltech.edu/ismap/image.html

Copyright © 1997 by Scott Draves.

permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. (translation: it's free, just keep the receipts. 🧾)

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Scott Draves <spot@cs.cmu.edu>, Sep 1997

and that's the whole page bestie — brought to you by X Version 11, release 6.15 (30-Mar-2026), aka the glow-up edition. go make some reaction/diffusion art, ily, bye! 💖✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from