substrate(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ substrate — the crystal city builder ✨

okay so real talk, bestie, this is substrate(6x) from the XScreenSaver manual, and it's genuinely one of the prettiest things in the whole pack. it grows crystal-like lines on a computational substrate 🦋 and you're gonna be obsessed.

🌸 NAME 🌸

substrate — grow crystal-like lines on a computational substrate 💎

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

substrate [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--foreground color] [--background color]
[--wireframe] [--max-cycles cyclecount] [--growth-delay delayms]
[--initial-cracks numinitial] [--max-cracks nummax] [--sand-grains
numgrains] [--circle-percent circlepercent] [--fps]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so basically lines like crystals grow on a computational substrate. that's the whole vibe. 🧚

a simple perpendicular growth rule creates intricate city-like structures — like, actual cityscapes emerging from math?? no cap, it's giving urban planning but make it ✨divine✨.

and optionally, cracks may also be circular, which produces a cityscape more familiar to places for which city planning is a distant, theoretical concern 😭💀 — yes bestie, that's the manual shading us, and honestly? deserved.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

substrate accepts the following options, and you're gonna want to know all of them, fr fr:

  • --wireframe (Default: False) — skips the sand-painting colored effects entirely and only makes a wireframe. skeleton mode. bare bones. lowkey chic tbh 🦋
  • --max-cycles cyclecount (Default: 10000) — the maximum number of growth cycles before it restarts. the higher this is, the more complex the art. so if you want maximum chaos, turn it up 👑
  • --growth-delay delayms (Default: 18000) — delay in ms between growth cycles. more delay = slower art, but it's smoother and less CPU intensive. so it's a whole tradeoff: patient queen energy vs. chaotic fast energy 🔥
  • --initial-cracks numinitial (Default: 3) — initial number of cracks in the substrate. it starts with 3 hotties and grows from there ✨
  • --max-cracks nummax (Default: 100) — maximum number of cracks in the substrate at a single time. that's the ceiling, bestie, no more than 100 at once 💅
  • --sand-grains numgrains (Default: 64) — number of sand grains dropped during coloring. more grains cause a denser colour but use more cpu power. so like, denser color = hungrier CPU, iykyk 🌸
  • --circle-percent circlepercent (Default: 0) — the percentage of the cracks that will be circular. at 0 they're not circular at all, but you can crank it up 🌀
  • --fps — display the current frame rate and CPU load. numbers on screen! nerdy and iconic 💜
  • --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.
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default. 🪟
  • --root — draw on the root window.
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you pick the exact one, main character energy only 👑

🦋 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)

go read those too, bestie, they're the lore 🫶

Copyright © 2003 by J. Tarbell <complex@complexification.net>. XScreenSaver port: Mike Kershaw <dragorn@kismetwireless.net>

💅 AUTHOR 💅

J. Tarbell <complex@complexification.net>, Jun 2003. Mike Kershaw <dragorn@kismetwireless.net>, Oct 2004.

and that's the whole thing, bestie 🎀 this page is from X Version 11, version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026, and it belongs to the substrate(6x) manual. slay, stay sparkly, go grow a crystal city 💖✨

📦 where this page comes from