petri(6x)

💅 petri(6x) — the mold girlies are THRIVING ✨

Okay bestie, so this is a little XScreenSaver situation called petri, and I need you to understand it because it's honestly iconic. It's lowkey a whole vibe. 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS

petri [--display host:display.screen] [--foreground color] [--background color] [--window] [--root] [--window-id number][--mono] [--install] [--visual visual] [--delay microseconds] [--size integer] [--mem-throttle amount] [--count integer] [--originalcolors] [--diaglim real] [--anychan real] [--minorchan real] [--instantdeathchan real] [--minlifespeed real] [--maxlifespeed real] [--mindeathspeed real] [--maxdeathspeed real] [--minlifespan integer] [--maxlifespan integer] [--fps]

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🧫 DESCRIPTION

So petri simulates mold growing in a petri dish 🌿 — and not in a cute aesthetic way, in a state-heavy grid of automata kind of way. Picture Conway's Life but each cell is carrying way more state, like it's got main character energy and a skincare routine and a diary. It's giving "vaguely like Conway's Life, only with much more state per cell." Obsessed. 😭

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

petri accepts the following options, bestie:

• --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is literally the default, so like, you're already doing this. 💖
• --root — Draw on the root window. Going fullscreen desktop-mold, no cap.
• --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. You pick the window, it draws there. iykyk.
• --mono — If you're on a color display, pretend we're on a monochrome display. Delulu is the solulu. 🎀
• --install — Install a private colormap for the window. Very exclusive, VIP colormap situation.
• --visual visual — Which visual to use. Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. Pick your vibe.
• --delay microseconds — The interframe delay, in microseconds. Defaults to 10000, resource delay.
• --size integer — The size of a cell in pixels. Defaults to 4, resource size.
• --mem-throttle amount — The maximum amount of memory to consume, specified either in megabytes (suffix "M"), kilobytes (suffix "K"), or bytes (sans suffix). In order to meet the memory requirement, the cell size may be increased. Defaults to 22M, resource memThrottle. She's on a budget bestie, she respects the limit. 💀
• --count integer — How many different varieties of mold to grow (including Black Death). Defaults to 8, resource count. A whole friend group of mold. 🍓
• --originalcolors — If specified, indicates that the colors used should be the artist's original choices (a fixed set of primary and secondary colors). In this case, count must be 8 or less. Defaults to not specified (i.e., false), resource originalcolors. Respect the artist's vision, periodt. 👑
• --diaglim real — The age limit for diagonal growth as a multiplier of orthogonal growth (range 1..2). 1 means square growth, 1.414 (i.e., sqrt(2)) means approximately circular growth, 2 means diamond growth. Defaults to 1.414, resource diaglim. Geometry era. 📐
• --anychan real — The chance (range 0..1) that at each iteration, one or more new cells will be born. Defaults to 0.0015, resource anychan. Baby mold incoming 🌱
• --minorchan real — The chance (range 0..1) that, given that new cells will be born, that only two will be added (hence being a minor cell birth event). Defaults to 0.5, resource minorchan. Small batch, artisanal mold.
• --instantdeathchan real — The chance (range 0..1) that, given that death and destruction will happen, that instead of using Black Death cells, death will come instantaneously. Defaults to 0.2, resource instantdeathchan. The drama of it all. 😭
• --minlifespeed real — The minimum speed for living cells as a fraction of the maximum possible speed (range 0..1). Defaults to 0.04, resource minlifespeed.
• --maxlifespeed real — The maximum speed for living cells as a fraction of the maximum possible speed (range 0..1). Defaults to 0.13, resource maxlifespeed.
• --mindeathspeed real — The minimum speed for Black Death cells as a fraction of the maximum possible speed (range 0..1). Defaults to 0.42, resource mindeathspeed.
• --maxdeathspeed real — The maximum speed for Black Death cells as a fraction of the maximum possible speed (range 0..1). Defaults to 0.46, resource maxdeathspeed. Black Death is fast, ngl.
• --minlifespan integer — The minimum lifespan for a colony, in iterations, before Black Death comes. Defaults to 500, resource minlifespan.
• --maxlifespan integer — The maximum lifespan for a colony, in iterations, before Black Death comes. Defaults to 1500, resource maxlifespan. Live your truth queen, but the clock is ticking ⏳
• --fps — Display the current frame rate and CPU load. Performance check bestie, slay. 🔥

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🌈 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.

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🫶 X RESOURCES

There are resource equivalents for each option, noted above. So like, every flag has a matching resource name, all listed in the options. Easy peasy. 💜

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🦋 BUGS

There are no known bugs in petri as of this writing. She's flawless, your honor. ✨

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🧚 SEE ALSO

xscreensaver(1)

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👑 COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 1992-2000 by Dan Bornstein.

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.

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⭐ AUTHOR

Dan Bornstein <danfuzz@milk.com>, 06-Jul-2000.

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💖 Okay that's the whole manual bestie, go grow some mold, respect the Black Death timeline, and hydrate. X Version 11, 6.09 (07-Jun-2024) — petri(6x) out. Periodt. 🎀