ripples(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ ripples ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the manual for ripples, part of the XScreenSaver manual page collection 💖 it's a screensaver, it's a vibe, it's literally interference patterns and you're gonna be obsessed.

🌊 NAME 🌊

ripples — interference patterns. that's it, that's the whole name, no cap. 🦋

🪩 SYNOPSIS 🪩

ripples [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--duration secs] [--rate
number] [--fluidity number] [--light number] [--water] [--stir] [--oily]
[--grayscale] [--colors number] [--no-shm] [--fps]

like, that's the whole summoning ritual. type it, run it, watch the water go 💅

💧 DESCRIPTION 💧

so what does this icon actually do? it draws rippling interference patterns that look exactly like water getting splashed. yes, literally. it's giving "someone dropped a rock in a puddle" energy and we stan. 🌊✨

and here's the plot twist: if you pass the -water option, it straight-up grabs your desktop image and warps it so it looks like something is drip-drip-dripping into it. your actual screen. dripping. iconic behavior fr fr. 😭💖

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

every single one of these, no skips, because we don't gatekeep here 🫶

  • --visual visual — pick which visual to use. the legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number of a specific visual (and yes, decimal or hex both eat, choose your fighter). slay.
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, bestie, so if you do nothing, this is what you get. 🪟
  • --root — draw on the root window instead. main character energy, covering the whole screen. 🌈
  • --window-id number — draw on the specific window you point at. you're the boss. 👑
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 50000 (that's 0.05 seconds, if you needed the math done for you 💅).
  • --duration seconds — how long it runs before it loads a new image. default: 120 seconds. so two whole minutes of the same drip. commit to the bit. ⏳
  • --rate number — drizzle. range is 1 - 100. default: 5. 💦
  • --fluidity number — small drops. range is 0 - 16. default: 6. 🫧
  • --light number — lighting effect. range is 0 - 8. default: 0. ✨
  • --water | --no-water — grab screen image. it's a boolean, so it's on or it's off, no in-between. 🚰
  • --stir | --no-stir — moving splashes. boolean. stirring the pot, literally. 🥄
  • --oily | --no-oily — psychedelic colors. boolean. we're tripping (visually) 🌈✨
  • --grayscale — convert the screen image to grayscale. ⚠️ heads up though: this gets ignored if we don't grab the screen image, or if our screen doesn't have enough color depth. so it can just... do nothing. rude, but true.
  • --colors number — colors two. default: 200. 🎨
  • --shm | --no-shm — use shared memory. boolean. 🧠
  • --fps — display the current frame rate and CPU load. the little numbers go brrr and honestly? watching them is its own hobby. 📊

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

the environment variables that do stuff behind the scenes, iykyk:

  • DISPLAY — used to get the default host and display number. 🖥️
  • XENVIRONMENT — used to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. it's the "actually, no" of resource files. 💅
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. 🌟

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

go read these next, they're the friend group:

Copyright © 2002 by Tom Hammersley.

and here's the legal bit, verbatim vibe and all: 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.

like. no warranty bestie. she's pretty but she comes as-is. 😭

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Tom Hammersley. that's the whole legend. 🫶

X Version 11 · 6.17-1.fc44 · (13-Oct-2026)

and that's the tea, bestie — that version string and date are the little signature at the bottom of the page. go make some ripples, you absolute icon 💖🌊✨

📦 where this page comes from