XScreenSaver(1)XScreenSaver(1)NAMExscreensaver-demo - interactively control the background
xscreensaver daemon
SYNOPSISxscreensaver-demo [-display host:display.screen] [-prefs]
[--crapplet] [--debug]
DESCRIPTION
The xscreensaver-demo program is a graphical front-end for
setting the parameters used by the background xscreen
saver(1) 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(1) 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(1) 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(1) 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(1), xscreensaver-demo(1), and xscreensaver-com
mand(1) manuals.
DISPLAY MODES TAB
This page contains a list of the names of the various dis
play modes, a preview area, and some fields that let you
configure screen saver behavior.
Mode
This option menu controls the behavior of the screen
saver. The options are:
Random Screen Saver
When blanking the screen, select a random
display mode from among those that are
enabled and applicable. This is the
default.
Only One Screen Saver
When blanking the screen, only ever use
one particular display mode (the one
selected in the list.)
Blank Screen Only
When blanking the screen, just go black:
don't run any graphics hacks.
Disable Screen Saver
Don't ever blank the screen, and don't
ever allow the monitor to power down.
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 run it in the small
preview pane on the right. (But beware: many of the
display modes behave somewhat differently when running
in full-screen mode, so the scaled-down view might not
give an accurate impression.)
When Mode is set to Random Screen Saver, each name in
the list has a checkbox next to it: this controls
whether this display mode is enabled. If it is
unchecked, then that mode will not be chosen. (Though
you can still 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.
Blank After
After the user has been idle this long, the xscreen_
saver daemon will blank the screen.
Cycle After
jAfter 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.
Lock Screen
When this is checked, the screen will be locked when
it activates.
Lock Screen After
This controls the length of the ``grace period''
between when the screensaver activates, and when the
screen becomes locked. For example, if this is 5 min
utes, and Blank After is 10 minutes, then after 10
minutes, the screen would blank. If there was user
activity at 12 minutes, no password would be required
to un-blank the screen. But, if there was user activ
ity at 15 minutes or later (that is, Lock Screen After
minutes after activation) then a password would be
required. The default is 0, meaning that if locking
is enabled, then a password will be required as soon
as the screen blanks.
Preview
This button, below the small preview window, runs the
demo in full-screen mode so that you can try it out.
This is the same thing that happens when you double-
click an element in the list. Click the mouse to dis
miss the full-screen preview.
Settings
This button will pop up a dialog where you can config
ure settings specific to the display mode selected in
the list.
ADVANCED TAB
This tab lets you change various settings used by the
xscreensaver daemon itself, rather than its sub-programs.
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(1) 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(1) for other parameters that can be set by
editing the ~/.xscreensaver file, or the X resource
database.
SETTINGS DIALOG
When you click on the Settings button on the Display Modes
tab, a configuration dialog will pop up that lets you cus
tomize settings of the selected display mode. Each dis
play mode has its own custom configuration controls on the
left side.
On the right side is a paragraph or two describing the
display mode. Below that is a Documentation button that
will display the display mode's manual page, if it has
one, in a new window (since each of the display modes is
actually a separate program, they each may have their own
manual.)
The Advanced button reconfigures the dialog box so that
you can edit the display mode's command line directly,
instead of using the graphical controls. It also lets you
configure the X visual type that this mode 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 parameter
in the Configuration section of the xscreensaver(1) man
ual.
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 Advanced tab selected by default
instead of the Display Modes tab.
-crapplet
For use by the Gnome Control Center code: this
causes this program to be embedded inside the Con
trol Center window.
-debug Causes lots of diagnostics to be printed on
stderr.
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 ALSOX(1), xscreensaver(1), xscreensaver-command(1), xscreen
saver-getimage(1)COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
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 24-Feb-2002 (4.01) XScreenSaver(1)
