sballs(6x)

🎀 sballs(6x) 🎀

ok bestie, welcome to the sballs(6x) page, aka the part of the XScreenSaver manual where we make BALLS spin like absolute maniacs in GL 💅✨

---

✨ NAME ✨

sballs — draws balls spinning like crazy in GL 🌀🔮

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sballs [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root] [--window-id
number] [--visual visual] [--delay microseconds] [--object
object_number] [--cycles sphere_speed] [--size viewport_size]
[--texture] [--no-texture] [--wireframe] [--no-wireframe] [--trackmouse]
[--no-trackmouse] [--fps]

like… yes, that's a lot of flags. she has range. respect it. 👑

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

The sballs program draws an animation of balls spinning like crazy in GL.

that's it. that's the whole job. spheres going feral in OpenGL and honestly? iconic. no notes. 🫶

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

sballs accepts the following options:

• --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default. 🪟 like, this one's the ride-or-die, no extra setup needed.
• --root — Draw on the root window. 🌍 going full desktop-wallpaper mode.
• --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. 🎯 you're pointing her at one exact window, by id.
• --install — Install a private colormap for the window. 🎨
• --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. 👀 name it OR number it (decimal or hex, she doesn't judge).
• --fps — Display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. 📊 numbers on screen, we love a performance check bestie.
• --object object_number — Specify how the spheres are grouped (forming an object). Objects are:
  • 1 — tetrahedron
  • 2 — cube. This is the default.
  • 3 — octahedron
  • 4 — dodecahedron
  • 5 — icosahedron
  • 6 — plane
  • 7 — pyramid
  • 8 — star
• --size viewport_size — Viewport of GL scene is specified size if greater than 32 and less than screensize. Default value is 0, meaning full screensize. 📐 so like, bigger than 32, smaller than your screen, and 0 = just take the whole screen, go off.
• --texture — Show a textured background and spheres. This is the default. 🧵✨ textures on the bg AND the spheres, default behaviour, we're glam.
• --no-texture — Disables texturing the animation. 🚫🧵 smooth untextured vibes only.
• --trackmouse — Let the mouse be a joystick to change the view of the animation. This implies --no-wander. 🖱️ your mouse is now the controller, and heads up: this implies --no-wander.
• --no-trackmouse — Disables mouse tracking. This is the default. 🖱️🚫 mouse does nothing, and that's the default state.
• --wire — Draw a wireframe rendition of the spheres. 🕸️ skeleton mode, all the bones visible.

---

🌈 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. 🪟👑

---

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

X(1), xscreensaver(1)

---

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright © 2001 by Eric Lassauge.

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.

fr fr read that part, it's the legal vibe check and it means what it says. 📜

---

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

• Mustata Bogdan (LoneRunner) <lonerunner@planetquake.com>
• Eric Lassauge <lassauge@users.sourceforge.net>

---

that's the whole page bestie, you ate it 💅✨

and for the lil sign-off: this whole thing lives under X Version 11, version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026 — so yeah, she's current, she's cute, she's spinning. 🎀🌀🫶