loop(6x)

💫 loop 💫 (section 6x of the manual, bestie)

okay so first things first: this whole page lives in the XScreenSaver manual, section 6x, and it's called loop. that's the name, that's the vibe. 🌀

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✨ NAME ✨

loop — it's a cellular automaton. that's it. that's the tweet. 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

loop [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--cycles number] [--delay number]
[ncolors number] [--size number] [--fps]

wait, no, don't copy that — the actual synopsis is exactly:

loop [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--cycles number] [--delay number]
[--ncolors number] [--size number] [--fps]

(had to double check the --ncolors one, sorry, we move 🫶)

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so it's another cellular automaton, bestie. but this one? this one is different. it makes loop-shaped colonies that spawn, then they age, and then — as all things must — they eventually die. 😭 like literally the circle of life but rendered in pixels. it's giving main character energy, it's giving mortality, it's giving screensaver. ngl I'm obsessed. 🌸

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

• --visual visual — pick which visual to use. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number of a specific visual — and yes, that id can be decimal or hex, so go off with your 0x moment. 👑
• --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. big "I own this desktop" energy.
• --window-id number — draw on the window you specify. that exact one. no cap.
• --cycles number — timeout, babes. range is 0 - 8000. default: 1600. ⏳
• --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 100000, which is 0.10 seconds (yes there's a period in there, that's how the page writes it, don't come for me 🥲).
• --ncolors number — how many colors. default: 15. 🌈
• --size number — size. range -50 - 50. default: -12. (negative sizes are a whole thing and they're valid, okay??) 📏
• --fps — show the current frame rate and CPU load. for the data girlies. 📊

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🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

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

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

X(1), xscreensaver(1)

go read them, they're iconic in their own right. 🫶

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright © 2002 by David Bagley. and here's the legal tea, verbatim-ish but in my voice: permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose — provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies AND that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in the supporting documentation. also: no representations are made about the suitability of this software for any purpose. it's provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. so like, no guarantees, bestie, we are not liable. 💀

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🌸 AUTHOR 🌸

David Bagley. legend behavior fr fr.

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okay and the cute sign-off: this page is from X Version 11, dated 6.09 (07-Jun-2024), and it's loop(6x) — that's a wrap, slay, periodt. 💅✨🎀