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XSNOW(6) User Commands XSNOW(6) NAME xsnow - Snow and Santa on your desktop SYNOPSIS xsnow [OPTION]... DESCRIPTION Xsnow shows an animation of Santa and snow on your desktop. Xsnow can also run in one or more windows, see options -xwininfo, -id . (These options only work satisfactorily in an X11 environment.) Xsnow depends on an X11 environment. This is forced by setting the environment variable GDK_BACKEND=x11 before initializing the GTK. Hopefully, this will ensure that xsnow also runs in a Wayland environment for some time. If xsnow is misbehaving, try to remove the file $HOME/.xsnowrc. General options: Below: <n> denotes an unsigned decimal (e.g 123) or octal (e.g. 017) or hex (e.g. 0x50009) number. <c> denotes a string like "red" or "#123456". <f> denotes a file name, like "/home/rick/Pictures/background.jpg". -h, -help print this text. -H, -manpage print man page. -v, -version prints version of xsnow. -changelog prints ChangeLog. -selfrep put tar ball on stdout, so you can do: xsnow -selfrep > xsnow.tar.gz -display <c> Drop the snowflakes on the given display. Make sure the display is nearby, so you can hear them enjoy... -screen <n> If you have multiple monitors: snow in monitor n. -1: use all monitors (default: -1) Note: for this to work, Xinerama has to be functional. -outline <n> 1: draw outline around snow window. 0: no outline. Default: 0. -vintage Run xsnow in vintage settings. -defaults Do not read config file (see FILES). -noconfig Do not read or write config file (see FILES). -hidemenu Start with hidden interactive menu. -nomenu Do not show interactive menu. -lang <c> Set language, example: -lang it, see LANGUAGES below. Default: sys. -scale <n> Apply scalefactor (default: 100). -doublebuffer <n> 1: use double buffering; 0: do not use double buffering (default: 1). Only effective with '-root' or '-id' or '-xwininfo'. -transparency <n> Transparency in (default: 0) -theme <n> 1: use xsnow theme for menu; 0: use system theme (default: 1) -checkgtk <n> 0: Do not check gtk version before starting the user interface. 1: Check gtk version before starting the user interface. (default: 1). -id <n>, -window-id <n> Snow in window with id (for example from xwininfo). --window-id <n> see -id. -desktop Act as if window is a desktop. -allworkspaces <n> 0: use one desktop for snow, 1: use all desktops (default: 1). -above Snow above your windows. Default is to snow below your windows. NOTE: in some environments this results in an un-clickable desktop. -xwininfo Use a cursor to point at the window you want the snow to be fallen in. -stopafter <n> Stop xsnow after so many seconds. -root, --root Force to paint on (virtual) root window. Use this for xscreensaver: Make sure xscreensaver is running, either as a start-up application or from the command line, e.g: nohup xscreensaver & or nohup xscreensaver -no-capture-stderr & Run the program xscreensaver-demo to create the file ~/.xscreensaver In the file ~.xscreensaver add after the line 'programs:' this line: xsnow -root Use the program xscreensaver-demo to select xsnow as screensaver. You probably want to select: Mode: Only One Screen Saver. -bg <f> file to be used as background when running under xscreensaver. -noisy Write extra info about some mouse clicks, X errors etc, to stdout. -cpuload <n> How busy is your system with xsnow: the higher, the more load on the system (default: 100). Snow options: -snowflakes <n> The higher, the more snowflakes are generated per second. Default: 100. -blowsnow (Default) Animate blow-off snow. -noblowsnow Do not animate blowing snow from trees or windows -sc <c> Use the given string as color for the flakes (default: #fffafa). -sc2 <c> Use the given string as second color for the flakes (default: #87ceff). -enablesc2 <n> 1: enable usage of second color for the flakes (default: 0). -snowspeedfactor <n> Multiply the speed of snow with this number/100 (default: 100). -snowsize <n> Set size of (non-vintage) snow flakes (default: 8). -snow (Default) Show snow. -nosnow -nosnowflakes Do not show snow. -flakecountmax <n> Maximum number of active flakes (default: 300). -blowofffactor <n> The higher, the more snow is generated in blow-off scenarios (default: 40). Tree options: -treetype <n>[,<n> ...] Choose tree types: minimum 0, maximum 8 (default: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,). Thanks to Carla Vermin for numbers >=3! Credits: Image by b0red on Pixabay. -treetype all (Default) Use all non-vintage available tree types. -tc <c> Use the given string as the color for the vintage tree (default: #7fff00). Works only for treetype 0. -notrees Do not display the trees. -showtrees (Default) Display the trees. -trees <n> Desired number of trees. Default 10. -treefill <n> Region in percents of the height of the window where trees grow (default: 30). -treescale <n> Scale scenery (default: 100). -treeoverlap Allow scenery items to overlap each other (default). -notreeoverlap Do not allow scenery items to overlap each other. Santa options: -showsanta (Default) Display Santa running all over the screen. -nosanta Do not display Santa running all over the screen. -showrudolph (Default) With Rudolph. -norudolph No Rudolph. -santa <n> The minimum size of Santa is 0, the maximum size is 4. Default is 3. Thanks to Thomas Linder for the (big) Santa 2! Santa 3 is derived from Santa 2, and shows the required eight reindeer. The appearance of Santa 4 may be a surprise, thanks to Carla Vermin for this one. -santaspeedfactor <n> The speed Santa should not be excessive if he doesn't want to get fined. The appropriate speed for the Santa chosen will be multiplied by santaspeedfactor/100 (default: 100). -santascale <n> The scale to be used when drawing Santa (default: 100). Celestial options: -wind (Default) It will get windy now and then. -nowind By default it gets windy now and then. If you prefer quiet weather specify -nowind. -whirlfactor <n> This sets the whirl factor, i.e. the maximum adjustment of the horizontal speed. The default value is 100. -windtimer <n> With -windtimer you can specify how often it gets windy. It's sort of a period in seconds, default value is 30. -stars <n> The number of stars (default: 20). -meteors (Default) Show meteors. -nometeors Do not show meteors. -meteorfrequency Frequency of falling of meteors, 0..100 (default: 40). -moon <n> 1: show moon, 0: do not show moon (default: 1). Picture of moon thanks to Pedro Lasta on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/wCujVcf0JDw -moonspeed <n> Speed of moon in pixels/minute (default: 120). -moonsize <n> Relative size of moon (default: 100). -mooncolor <n> Color of moon 0: yellow-ish; 1: white-ish (default: 0). -halo <n> 1: show halo around moon, 0: do not show halo (default: 1). -halobrightness <n> Brightness of halo (default: 25). -aurora <n> To show (1) or not to show(0) aurora (default: 1). On most desktops aurora works, but not on all. Try! -auroraleft Place aurora in top left of screen. -auroramiddle Place aurora in top middle of screen. -auroraright Place aurora in top right of screen (default). -aurorawidth <n> Width of aurora in percentage of screen width (default: 60). -aurorabase <n> Height of aurora's base line in percentage of screen height (default: 50). -auroraheight <n> Height of aurora (default: 30). -auroraspeed <n> Animation speed of aurora (default: 50). 10: about real value, 100: timelapse. -aurorabrightness <n> Brightness of aurora (default: 15). Fallen snow options: -wsnowdepth <n> Maximum thickness of snow on top of windows (default: 30). -ssnowdepth <n> Maximum thickness of snow at the bottom of the screen (default: 50). -maxontrees <n> Maximum number of flakes on trees. Default 200. -keepsnowonwindows (Default) Keep snow on top of the windows. -nokeepsnowonwindows Do not keep snow on top of the windows. -keepsnowonscreen (Default) Keep snow at the bottom of the screen. -nokeepsnowonscreen Do not keep snow at the bottom of the screen. -keepsnowontrees (Default) Keep snow on trees. -nokeepsnowontrees Do not keep snow on trees. -keepsnow (Default) Have snow sticking anywhere. -nokeepsnow Do not have snow sticking anywhere. -fluffy (Default) Create fluff on fallen snow. -nofluffy Do not create fluff on fallen snow. -offsetx <n> Correction for window-manager provided x-coordinate of window. Default 4. -offsety <n> Correction for window-manager provided y-coordinate of window. Default 0. -offsetw <n> Correction for window-manager provided width of window. Default -8. -offsets <n> Correction for bottom coordinate of your screen. A negative value lifts the xsnow screen up. Default 0. -ignoretop <n> Do not collect snow on window > 0.8*width of screen and closer than <n> pixels from the top. Sometimes an hidden window is sitting there, but treated as a normal window by xsnow. Default 0. -ignorebottom <n> Analog to -ignoretop, but now for the bottom. Default 0. Birds options: -anarchy <n> Anarchy factor ( 0..100 default: 50). -birdscolor <c> Use the given string as color for the birds (default: #361A07). -birdsonly <n> Show only birds ( 0/1 default: 0). -birdsspeed <n> Speed of birds ( 0..300 default: 100). -disweight <n> Eagerness to keep desired distance ( 0..100 default: 20). -focuscentre <n> Eagerness to fly to the focus ( 0..300 default: 100). -followneighbours <n> Eagerness to follow neighbours ( 0..100 default: 30). -nbirds <n> Number of birds ( 0..400 default: 70). -neighbours <n> Number of neighbours to watch ( 0..20 default: 7). -prefdistance <n> Preferred distance to neighbours ( 0..100 default: 40). -showbirds <n> Show birds ( 0/1 default: 1). -showattr <n> Show attraction point ( 0/1 default: 0). -attrspace <n> Vertical space to be used by the attraction point (default: 40). -followsanta <n> Birds like Santa ( 0/1 default: 0). -viewingdistance <n> Viewing distance ( 0..95 default: 40). -birdsscale <n> Scalefactor used painting the birds (default: 100). LANGUAGES Xsnow comes with some translations to non-english languages. The translations are done with the aid of translate.google.com (implemented in package 'trans'), so there will be room for improvement. Any suggestions are welcome: contact@ratrabbit.nl . FILES $HOME/.xsnowrc Settings are read from and written to this file. See flags -noconfig and -defaults how to influence this behaviour. NOTE: the following settings are not read or written: -above -defaults -desktop -fullscreen -noconfig -id -nomenu -stopafter -xwininfo -display -noisy -checkgtk NOTE: the file also contains the screen locations of a number of buttons, which can be used for testing purposes. $HOME/.xsnowstop Xsnow checks regularly the existence of this file. If present, xsnow will remove the file and stop. $HOME/xsnow/pixmaps/tree.xpm If present, xsnow will try this file for displaying the trees. The format must be xpm (X PixMap) format, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_PixMap . $HOME/xsnow/pixmaps/santa<n>.xpm where <n> = 1,2,3,4. If present, xsnow will try this files (4 of them) for displaying Santa. The format must be xpm (X PixMap) format, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_PixMap . NOTE: To show: activate the first Santa in the menu. SIGNALS On receiving the SIGUSR1 signal, xsnow writes the file ~/.xsnowrc. EXAMPLES $ xsnow -defaults # run with defaults. $ xsnow # run using values from the config file. $ xsnow -treetype 1,2 # use tree types 1 and 2. WINDOW MANAGER ISSUES In general, xsnow works better when using a compositing window manager like xcompmgr, compton or picom. However, with some window managers (FVWM for example), the xsnow-window is transparent, but not click-through. Flags to be tried in this case include: -root, -doublebuffer, -xwininfo, -id. Here follow some window managers with their issues: Tiling window managers Here you need to float windows with class=Xsnow. AWESOME Without compositor: no issues. With compositor: no click-through xsnow window, and issues with multi-monitor setup. BSPWM No issues if you add to your bspwmrc (the bspwm configuration file): bspc rule -a Xsnow state=floating border=off CINNAMON No issues. DWM No issues, except the "Below Windows" setting in the "settings" panel. ENLIGHTENMENT With one monitor: no issuses. With more montors: probems with showing in 'all monitors' FLUXBOX Without compositor: no issues. With compositor: no click-through xsnow window FVWM Without compositor: no issues. With compositor: no click-through xsnow window GNOME on Xorg No issues. GNOME on Wayland Most windows don't catch snow. HERBSTLUFTWM No issues. I3 Without compositor: windows don't catch snow, use the next line in "config": for_window [class="Xsnow"] floating enable;border none With compositor: unworkable. JVM No issues. LXDE With compositor: no issues. Without compositor: works with one monitor. Maybe you need to run with the flag -xwininfo LXQT Without compositor: unworkable. With compositor: no issues. MATE No issues. OPENBOX No issues. PLASMA (KDE) No issues. SPECTRWM Various issues. In any case you need in spectrwm.conf: quirk[Xsnow] = FLOAT TWM Without compositor: no issues. With compositor: no click-through xsnow window and you need to tweak settings->lift snow on windows. WINDOW MAKER Without compositor: no issues. With compositor: no click-through xsnow window XFCE No issues when compositing is on, unworkable when compositing is off. See settings -> Window Manager Tweaks -> Compositor XMONAD No issues if you add to your xmonad.hs: import XMonad.Hooks.EwmhDesktops xmonad $ ewmh $ defaultConfig in the ManageHook section: className = ? "Xsnow" --> doFloat BUGS - Xsnow needs a complete rewrite: the code is a mess. - The flags are not consistent, caused by trying to be compatible with older versions. - Xsnow stresses the Xserver too much. - Xsnow does run in Wayland, but will not snow on all windows. - Xsnow tries to create a click-through window. This is not successful in for example FVWM/xcompmgr. In that case, xsnow tries to keep the snow window below all others, resulting in a transient effect when you click on the desktop. Sadly, no FVWM menu will appear... - Remnants of fluffy snow can persist after removing the fallen snow. These will gradually disappear, so no big deal. - Remnants of meteors can persist after passage of Santa. These will eventually be wiped out by snow or Santa. - Xsnow tries to adapt its snowing window if the display settings are changed while xsnow is running. This does not function always well. - Xsnow does not play well with 'xcompmgr -a'. In some environments (Raspberry 64 bit) xcompmgr is started with the flag '-a', resulting in a black snow window. Remedy: In a terminal window type: killall xcompmgr nohup xcompmgr -n & and try again. - In XFCE, compositing must be enabled for xsnow. Settings -> Window Manager Tweaks -> Compositor -> Enable display compositing - In multi-screen environments, it depends on the display settings if it is snowing on all screens. Experiment! Please report your comments via: https://ratrabbit.nl/ratrabbit/contact . HOMEPAGE https://ratrabbit.nl/ratrabbit/xsnow COPYRIGHT This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. xsnow-3.8.4~pre01 2024 XSNOW(6)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | HOMEPAGE | COPYRIGHT
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