blinkbox(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

okay bestie, gather round, because today we're talking about blinkbox, from the XScreenSaver manual. literally the whole thing is: a ball. inside a box. colored blocks blink in when it smacks the edges. that's it. that's the program. and honestly? iconic. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

blinkbox — shows a ball inside a box. 🌸 yes queen, that's the entire concept, no notes.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

blinkbox [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--wireframe] [--boxsize
number] [--dissolve] [--fade] [--no-blur] [--fps]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so basically 💅: it shows a ball contained inside of a bounding box. and then — here's the main character moment — colored blocks blink in when the ball hits the edges. that's the whole vibe. the ball bounces, the walls glow, we all cheer. 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay so here's every single flag, no skips, fr fr:

  • --visual visual — pick which visual to use, bestie. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex, we're flexible 💅) of a specific visual.
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you do nothing, this is what you get. 🦋
  • --root — draw on the root window instead. going full desktop takeover. 👑
  • --window-id number — draw on the window you specify. you pick, bestie.
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default is 30000, which is 0.03 seconds. (yes the period in that sentence is part of the original, we keep receipts 🧾).
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. skeletal realness. 💀✨
  • --boxsize — sets the size of the colored boxes. should be between 1 and 8. default: 2.
  • --dissolve | --no-dissolve — boxes shrink instead of just vanishing. they get the full dramatic exit. 😭
  • --fade | --no-fade — boxes fade to transparency instead of just vanishing. soft launch. 🌈
  • --blur | --no-blur — enable or disable motion blur on the ball. default: blurry. the ball is in its soft-focus era. 🎀
  • --fps — display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. numbers! stats! slay. 🔥

✨ ENVIRONMENT ✨

the env vars are lowkey doing work in the background, respect them:

  • 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 read these too, bestie:

Copyright © 2003 by Jeremy English.

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.

ngl that's the legal stuff and we do not edit the legal stuff. periodt. 💅

✨ AUTHOR ✨

Jeremy English. Motion blur by John Boero. 👑 giving credit where credit is due, always.

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🫶 this was X Version 11, 6.17-1.fc44 dated 13-Oct-2026, and you just read the blinkbox(6x) manual. stay sparkly, go watch a ball hit some walls ✨🎀🦋💖

📦 where this page comes from