ifs(6x)

💅 ifs(6x) — the XScreenSaver manual, bestie edition

okay so you found ifs(6x) in the XScreenSaver manual and you're like "what is this" — don't worry, I gotchu. this whole page is basically the group chat rundown of a screensaver that draws spinning, colliding iterated-function-system images. yes that's a lot of words. we'll get there. 🌀

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✨ NAME ✨

ifs — draws spinning, colliding iterated-function-system images 💫

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

ifs [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--no-db] [--delay number] [--detail
number] [--colors number] [--functions number] [--iterate | --recurse]
[--no-rotate] [--no-scale] [--no-translate] [--fps]

like, copy-paste that and it just works. periodt. 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The ifs program draws spinning, colliding iterated-function-system images.

that's it. that's the description. it spins. it collides. it's giving fractal chaos main character energy and honestly we're obsessed. 😭✨

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🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

• --visual visual — tells it which visual to use. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex, either one works) of a specific visual. pick your fighter. 🎯
• --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you don't say anything, this is what you get. lowkey the chill option. 🪟
• --root — draw on the root window instead. full-screen chaos, no window chrome. 🌈
• --window-id number — draw on the specified window. yes you gotta hand it the actual number. no vibes-based windowing here. 🔢
• --no-db — disable double-buffering. (double-buffering is the thing keeping your eyeballs from seeing the ugly in-between frames, just so we're clear 👀)
• --delay number — per-frame delay, in microseconds. default: 20000. that's tiny. that's the point. ⏱️
• --colors number — number of colours to use. default: 200. two hundred. a whole palette. slay. 🎨
• --detail number — okay this one has two moods depending on mode:
  • in --iterate mode, it's the number of times to randomly iterate the functions, in thousands.
  • in --recurse mode, it's the number of times to apply functions (recursion depth) before drawing each point.

default: 9. yes, same number, different meaning. iykyk. 🧠

• --functions number — number of functions to be iterated. default: 3. three little functions doing their little dance. 🩰
• --iterate — calculate by iteratively applying the functions in a random order. usually faster than --recurse. this is the default, so it's already doing this unless you say otherwise. ⚡
• --recurse — calculate by recursively applying all combinations of the functions. this is the historical behavior, and it may produce neater output than --iterate. so like… the vintage one. respect the classics. 🕰️
• --no-rotate — disable the rotation component of the functions. no spinning from that part. 🚫🔄
• --no-scale — disable the scaling component of the functions. no growing/shrinking from that part. 🚫📏
• --no-translate — disable the varying translation component of the functions. (varying! it says varying! that's the detail!) 🚫➡️
• --no-multi — turn off multi-coloured mode. only one colour is used to colour the whole set. monochrome era. minimalism. 🤍
• --fps — display the current frame rate and CPU load. numbers on screen. ngl kind of satisfying. 📊

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🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

• DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. the classic. 🖥️
• XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. very "overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property" of it. 💜
• XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. 🪟

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

X(1), xscreensaver(1), ifs(6x)

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📜 COPYRIGHT 📜

Copyright © Chris Le Sueur and Robby Griffin, 2005-2006

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE X CONSORTIUM BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

okay bestie the all-caps part is not me being dramatic for once — that's the actual legal text and it is FR FR. 🤝

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⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

This version by Chris Le Sueur <thefishface@gmail.com>, Feb 2005. Many improvements by Robby Griffin <rmg@terc.edu>, Mar 2006.

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 — shoutout to the footer for the deets: this is X Version 11, version 6.09 (07-Jun-2024), and yes it's still stamped ifs(6x) at the bottom. go make some spinning colliding fractals, you earned it 💖🌸