XScreenSaver(r) XScreenSaver(r) NAME xscreensaver-demo - interactively control the background xscreensaver daemon SYNOPSIS xscreensaver-demo [-display host:display.screen] [-prefs] [-xrm resources] DESCRIPTION The xscreensaver-demo program is a graphical front-end for setting the parameters used by the background xscreen- saver(r) daemon. It is essentially two things: a tool for editing the ~/.xscreensaver file; and a tool for demoing the various graphics hacks that the xscreensaver daemon will launch. The main window consists of a menu bar and two tabbed pages. The first page is for editing the list of demos, and the second is for editing various other parameters of the screensaver. MENU COMMANDS All of these commands are on either the File or Help menus: Blank Screen Now Activates the background xscreensaver daemon, which will then run a demo at random. This is the same as running xscreensaver-command(d) with the -activate option. Lock Screen Now Just like Blank Screen Now, except the screen will be locked as well (even if it is not configured to lock all the time.) This is the same as running xscreen- saver-command(d) with the -lock option. Kill Daemon If the xscreensaver daemon is running on this screen, kill it. This is the same as running xscreensaver- command(d) with the -exit option. Restart Daemon If the xscreensaver daemon is running on this screen, kill it. Then launch it again. This is the same as doing ``xscreensaver-command -exit'' followed by ``xscreensaver''. Note that it is not the same as doing ``xscreensaver- command -restart''. Exit Exits the xscreensaver-demo program (this program) without affecting the background xscreensaver daemon, if any. About... Displays the version number of this program, xscreen- saver-demo. Documentation... Opens up a web browser looking at the XScreenSaver web page, where you can find online copies of the xscreen- saver(r), xscreensaver-demo(o), and xscreensaver-com- mand(d) manuals. GRAPHICS DEMOS TAB On the left is a list of the names of the various display modes, and on the right are some fields that let you edit their behavior. Demo List Double-clicking in the list on the left will let you try out the indicated demo. The screen will go black, and the program will run in full-screen mode, just as it would if the xscreensaver daemon had launched it. Clicking the mouse again will stop the demo and un- blank the screen, making the dialog box visible again. Single-clicking in the list will populate the fields on the right side of the window. Each name in the list has a checkbox next to it: this is a duplicate of the Enabled checkbox, and indicates (and controls) whether xscreensaver will use this display mode at all. If the box is not checked, then this demo will not be run automatically (though you can run it explicitly by double-clicking on its name.) Arrow Buttons Beneath the list are a pair of up and down arrows. Clicking on the down arrow will select the next item in the list, and then run it in full-screen mode, just as if you had double-clicked on it. The up arrow goes the other way. This is just a shortcut for trying out all of the display modes in turn. Program Description At the top will be a brief description of the program. Below that is a text field where you can edit the arguments to the program as xscreensaver will invoke it. (Note that most of these programs have their own man pages that describe the command-line options they take.) Enabled The Enabled checkbox controls whether xscreensaver will use this display mode at all. This way, all the modes can remain available, but you can choose which ones will be automatically run. Visual The Visual field is where you can select the X visual type that this demo will require. If you specify one (other than Any) then the program will only be run on that kind of visual. For example, you can specify that a particular program should only be run if color is available, and another should only be run in monochrome. See the discussion of the programs param- eter in the Configuration section of the xscreen- saver(r) manual. This is a combo-box, so you can either select an item from the popup menu, or type in a specific visual's hexadecimal ID. Demo This button runs the demo in full-screen mode so that you can try it out. Click the mouse to dismiss it. Documentation Since each of the display modes is actually a separate program, they each may have their own manual. This opens a window viewing the man page of this program, if it has one. SCREENSAVER OPTIONS TAB This tab lets you change various settings used by the xscreensaver daemon itself, rather than its sub-programs. Blank After After the user has been idle this long, the xscreen- saver daemon will blank the screen. Cycle After After the screensaver has been running for this long, the currently running graphics demo will be killed, and a new one started. If this is 0, then the graph- ics demo will never be changed: only one demo will run until the screensaver is deactivated by user activity. Require Password Whether the screen saver should lock the screen when it activates. Lock After If Require Password is selected, this controls the length of the ``grace period'' between when the screensaver activates, and when the screen becomes locked. For example, if this is 0:05:00, and Blank After is 0:10:00, then after 10 minutes, the screen would blank. If there was user activity at 12 min- utes, no password would be required to un-blank the screen. But, if there was user activity at 15 minutes or later (that is, Lock After minutes after activa- tion) then a password would be required. The default is 0, meaning that if locking is enabled, then a pass- word will be required as soon as the screen blanks. Grab Desktop Images Some of the graphics hacks manipulate images. If this option is selected, then they are allowed to manipu- late the desktop image, that is, a display mode might draw a picture of your desktop melting, or being dis- torted in some way. The security-paranoid might want to disable this option, because if it is set, it means that the windows on your desktop will occasionally be visible while your screen is locked. Others will not be able to do anything, but they may be able to see whatever you left on your screen. Grab Video Frames If your system has a video capture card, selecting this option will allow the image-manipulating modes to capture a frame of video to operate on. Choose Random Image If this option is set, then the image-manipulating modes will select a random image file from disk, from the directory you specify in the text entry field. That directory will be recursively searched for files, and it is assumed that all the files under that direc- tory are images. If more than one of these options are selected, then one will be chosen at random. If none of them are selected, then an image of video colorbars will be used instead. (All three of these options work by invoking the xscreensaver-getimage(e) program, which is what actu- ally does the work.) Verbose Diagnostics Whether to print lots of debugging information. Display Subprocess Errors If this is set, then if one of the graphics demos prints something to stdout or stderr, it will show up on the screen immediately (instead of being lost in a hidden terminal or file that you can't see.) If you change this option, it will only take effect the next time the xscreensaver daemon is restarted. (All other settings take effect immediately.) Display Splash Screen at Startup Normally when xscreensaver starts up, it briefly dis- plays a splash dialog showing the version number, a Help button, etc. If this option is turned off, the splash screen will not be shown at all. Power Management Enabled Whether the monitor should be powered down after a period of inactivity. If this option is grayed out, it means your X server does not support the XDPMS extension, and so control over the monitor's power state is not available. If you're using a laptop, don't be surprised if this has no effect: many laptops have monitor power-saving behavior built in at a very low level that is invisi- ble to Unix and X. On such systems, you can typically only adjust the power-saving delays by changing set- tings in the BIOS in some hardware-specific way. Standby After If Power Management Enabled is selected, the monitor will go black after this much idle time. (Graphics demos will stop running, also.) Suspend After If Power Management Enabled is selected, the monitor will go into power-saving mode after this much idle time. This duration should be greater than or equal to Standby. Off After If Power Management Enabled is selected, the monitor will fully power down after this much idle time. This duration should be greater than or equal to Suspend. Install Colormap Whether to install a private colormap while the screensaver is active, so that the graphics hacks can get as many colors as possible. (This only applies when the screen's default visual is being used, since non-default visuals get their own colormaps automati- cally.) This can also be overridden on a per-demo basis. Fade To Black When Blanking If selected, then when the screensaver activates, the current contents of the screen will fade to black instead of simply winking out. (Note: this doesn't work with all X servers.) A fade will also be done when switching graphics hacks (when the Cycle After expires.) Unfade From Black When Unblanking The complement to Fade Colormap: if selected, then when the screensaver deactivates, the original con- tents of the screen will fade in from black instead of appearing immediately. This is only done if Fade Col- ormap is also selected. Fade Duration When fading or unfading are selected, this controls how long the fade will take. There are more settings than these available, but these are the most commonly used ones; see the manual for xscreensaver(r) for other parameters that can be set by editing the ~/.xscreensaver file, or the X resource database. COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS xscreensaver-demo accepts the following command line options. -display host:display.screen The X display to use. The xscreensaver-demo pro- gram will open its window on that display, and also control the xscreensaver daemon that is man- aging that same display. -prefs Start up with the Screensaver Options tab selected by default instead of the Graphics Demos tab. It is important that the xscreensaver and xscreen- saver-demo processes be running on the same machine, or at least, on two machines that share a file system. When xscreensaver-demo writes a new version of the ~/.xscreen- saver file, it's important that the xscreensaver see that same file. If the two processes are seeing different ~/.xscreensaver files, things will malfunction. ENVIRONMENT DISPLAY to get the default host and display number. PATH to find the sub-programs to run. However, note that the sub-programs are actually launched by the xscreensaver daemon, not by xscreensaver-demo itself. So, what matters is what $PATH the xscreensaver program sees. HOME for the directory in which to read and write the .xscreensaver file. XENVIRONMENT to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MAN- AGER property. UPGRADES The latest version can always be found at http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/ SEE ALSO X(X), xscreensaver(r), xscreensaver-command(d), xscreen- saver-getimage(e) COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, dis- tribute, 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. AUTHOR Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-aug-92. Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements. X Version 11 25-Oct-2001 (3.34) XScreenSaver(r)