antinspect(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ antinspect — the NAME section, but make it cute ✨

okay so this is antinspect, and it's an ant model inspection screenhack 💖 (yes really, that's the whole job title). It lives in the XScreenSaver manual, section 6x, because of course it does. 🐜

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

antinspect [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root]
[--window-id number][--install] [--visual visual] [--delay microseconds]
[--fps]

bestie. look at that. that's the whole invocation and honestly it's giving minimal effort, maximum vibes. ✨

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

The antinspect code displays three ant-powered balls churning in a circle. 🐜🐜🐜⚪⚪⚪

That's it. That's the whole thing. Three balls. Powered by ants. Churning. In a circle. Not me being obsessed with this concept actually 😭 it's so silly and so iconic.

👑 OPTIONS 👑

antinspect accepts the following options, and yes we are going through every single one because that's just who I am:

  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default, so if you do nothing, congrats, you already did this one. 🎀
  • --root — Draw on the root window. main character energy, covering your whole desktop. 🌸
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. You tell it which window, it draws there. very "I know a guy" of you. 💜
  • --install — Install a private colormap for the window. 💅 fancy private color situation, no sharing.
  • --shadows — Draw shadows on ground. 🌑 ground shadows specifically. dramatic lighting fr fr.
  • --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. 🔥 (so like, a class name or an id — --fps Display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count.)
  • --fps — Display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. 📊 the numbers!! the stats!! lowkey the best part.
little heads up bestie: the synopsis also mentions --delay microseconds — that one's in the usage line even though it's not spelled out below in the options list. keep it in your back pocket. 🫶

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

the vibes your shell hands over before antinspect even starts:

  • 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 be nosy, i support it:

(i kept the punctuation exactly how the original had it, no notes, don't come for me 🙈)

Copyright © 2004 by Blair Tennessy. 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.

tl;dr: free to use, just keep the notice, and it comes with zero promises. 😌

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Blair Tennessy <tennessy@cs.ubc.ca>, 15-March-2004. 🌟 we love a legend with a ubc dot ca email, periodt.

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💕 this one came to you from X Version 11, and the page itself is 6.17-1.fc44 (13-Oct-2026) — mwah, go churn some ant balls in a circle, ily 🐜⚪💅

📦 where this page comes from