xspirograph(6)

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

✨ xspirograph(6) ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to xspirograph, a little gem from the XScreenSaver manual and honestly? it's giving math class but make it aesthetic 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

xspirograph — it literally simulates the rotation of a disk inside a circular rim 🌀✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

xspirograph [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root]
[--window-id number][--install] [--visual visual] [--delay seconds]
[--subdelay useconds] [--layers integer] [--alwaysfinish]
[--noalwaysfinish] [--fps]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so xspirograph draws patterns — like, the actual spirograph kind you had as a kid but now it's on your screen 🦋. no cap, it's the curve traced by a point on a circular disk rotating on the inside of a hollow circular rim. iconic behavior honestly 👑

⭐ OPTIONS ⭐

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

  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is literally the default, iykyk 🪟
  • --root — draw on the root window. main character energy fr.
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you pick, bestie 🎯
  • --install — install a private colormap for the window. fancy 💅
  • --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. get specific with it ✨
  • --delay secs — the delay between finishing one draw and starting the next. default: 5 seconds. so like, a lil breather between patterns 🍓
  • --subdelay usec — the time to delay between each hundred line draws. use this if you want to see the pattern form. default: 0. lowkey obsessed with watching it build 🌈
  • --alwaysfinish --noalwaysfinish — if you want each pattern to draw until it is done, specify the first. otherwise, they will stop after a set number of iterations. default: no. your call bestie 🫶
  • --layers integer — number of pairs of patterns to draw between each erase. stack 'em up 🧚

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. where the magic happens 💜
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. the override era 🙈
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. yes, with --root. noted 💀

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read those too, bestie, they're right there 👑

Copyright © 2000 by Rohit Singh <rohit_singh@hotmail.com>

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.

Modified by Matthew Strait <straitm@mathcs.carleton.edu> Dec 2001.

okay that's the whole thing babes, and before you go — this little beauty is X Version 11, dated 6.15 (30-Mar-2026) 🎀 slay, go make some spirals 💫🌀

📦 where this page comes from