handsy(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

💅 handsy(6x) — the XScreenSaver manual, but make it make sense

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about handsy from the XScreenSaver manual. it's giving robot hands. it's giving ✨communication✨. it's lowkey iconic and highkey unhinged and i'm obsessed.

✨ NAME ✨

handsy — some hands. that's it. that's the whole name. no notes. 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

handsy [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--speed number] [--count
number] [--no-wander] [--no-spin] [--no-front] [--wireframe] [--fps]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

A set of robotic hands communicate non-verbally.

that's the entire description. they're robots. they're hands. they do not talk. they just vibe and gesture at each other and honestly? relatable. main character energy fr fr 🫶

💖 OPTIONS 💖

here's the whole menu, no skips, no shuffling, every single one of them:

  • --visual visual — pick which visual you wanna use. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of one specific visual. slay.
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you don't say anything, this is what you get. 🎀
  • --root — draw on the root window instead. (the root window is the big backdrop one, iykyk)
  • --window-id number — draw on the window you specify. you pick the number, it does the thing.
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 30000 (that's 0.03 seconds, for the math girlies who need it spelled out).
  • --speed number — animation speed. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. simple as. 🔥
  • --count number — how many hands. range is 1 - 50. default: 2. (two hands is the standard amount of hands, statistically speaking, for a human)
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether the hands should wander around the screen. do they roam? do they stay put? you decide bestie.
  • --spin | --no-spin — whether the object should spin.
  • --front | --no-front — whether to spin all the way around. default: no. (so like, a half spin at most, unless you say otherwise)
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. skeleton mode, love that for them. 💀
  • --fps | --no-fps — whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen. numbers! at the bottom! live! 📊

🌈 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)

Copyright © 2018 by Jamie Zawinski.

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: use it, copy it, sell it, whatever — just keep the notice, and don't come for anybody if it breaks. no warranty, implied or otherwise. periodt.)

🌸 AUTHOR 🌸

Jamie Zawinski.

okay that's the whole page bestie, every flag accounted for, nothing skipped, we ate and left no crumbs 🍓

so yeah — handsy comes to you from X Version 11, page version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026, living at handsy(6x). mwah. 💋✨

📦 where this page comes from