popsquares(6x)

💖 popsquares(6x) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the XScreenSaver manual page for popsquares — yes, that's section 6x, the XScreenSaver corner of the world, and yes we are absolutely going to read the whole thing together. grab a snack. 🍓

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✨ NAME ✨

popsquares — pop artish pulsing color grid. it's giving gallery installation but make it a screensaver. 💅

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🫶 SYNOPSIS 🫶

popsquares [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--subdivision number]
[--border number] [--ncolors number] [--twitch] [--no-twitch]
[--transparent] [--db] [--no-db] [--fps]

like, that's the whole summoning ritual. copy it exactly, don't freestyle it. ⭐

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🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

This draws a pop artish grid of pulsing colors. Inspired by cheesy MTV commercials.

no literally that's the whole thing and honestly? iconic. the squares pulse. the colors go. it is highkey channeling a commercial break from 1994. main character energy. 🔥

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• --visual visual — Specify which visual to use. Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. so like, name it or number it (decimal or hex, she contains multitudes 💜).
• --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default. it gets its own lil window, periodt.
• --root — Draw on the root window. aka the whole backdrop. she's everywhere. 👑
• --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. you pick the window, she draws there. very demure.
• --fg string — Starting color of color ramp. Default: red.
• --bg string — Starting color of color ramp. Default: blue.

not me noticing both of these say "Starting color of color ramp" — that is what the page says, so that is what you get. --fg defaults to red, --bg defaults to blue, and I am not out here inventing lore. 🙈

• --delay number — Per-frame delay, in microseconds. Default: 25000. so the vibe speed. microseconds, bestie, we are precision ppl.
• --subdivision number — Number of subdivisions. Default: 5. more subdivisions = more squares. the grid gets dense.
• --border number — Size of border between squares in pixels. Default: 1. that lil gutter between each square, measured in pixels.
• --ncolors number — Number of colors. Default: 128. one hundred and twenty eight whole colors. slay.
• --twitch | --no-twitch — Randomize all squares index into the color ramp periodically. so every so often the squares get yanked to a random spot in the ramp. chaotic. obsessed. ✨
• --db | --no-db — Whether to double buffer. double buffer on or off, your call.
• --fps — Display the current frame rate and CPU load. little numbers in the corner telling you how hard your computer is working. 💀

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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.

environment variables are the backstage crew of this whole operation. no cap. 🧚

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• X(1)
• xscreensaver(1)

go read those too, bestie, iykyk. 💖

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright © 2003 by Levi Burton. 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.

ok so the legal bit is the legal bit — i'm saying it exactly as written, because "as is", no warranty, not liable, that's the deal and it's not negotiable even with a cute font. 🫶

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Levi Burton

absolute legend, wrote the pulsing squares, gave us the grid. we stan. 💅

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and that's the whole page!! from X Version 11, version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026 — mwah, go pulse some squares, bestie, you've earned it ✨🎀💖