XSNOW(1)
NAME
xsnow - create a snowy and Santa-y desktop
SYNOPSIS
xsnow [-option .,..]
DESCRIPTION
Xsnow lets it snow on your desktop and windows (sic!).
OPTIONS
-display display_name
Drop the snowflakes on the given display. Make
sure the display is nearby, so you can hear them
enjoy...
-snowflakes num_snowflakes
This is the number of snowflakes. Default is 100,
max is 1000.
-sc snowflake_color
Use the given string as the color for the flakes
instead of the default "snow".
-bg background_color
Use the given string as the color for the back-
ground. Note that the usual default desktop pat-
tern consisting of 50% white 50% black doesn't
particularly look good with Xsnow.
-solidbg
When using solid colored backgrounds specifying
this option may greatly improve performance.
-tc tree_color
Use the given string as the color for the trees.
-slc sleigh_color
Use the given string as the color for the sleigh.
Note that the default color is black, so not much
of Santa will be seen on a black background.
-santa santa_size
There are 3 sizes of Santa: 0, 1 and 2. Default is
1.
-santaspeed santa_speed
The speed Santa should not exceed if he doesn't
want to get fined. The default speed for Santa
size 0 is 1, for Santa 1 it's 2 and for Big Santa
it's 4.
-delay delay
This is the number of milliseconds delay after
updating everything. Default is 50 milliseconds,
i.e. 20 updates per second max.
-unsmooth
If you specify this option the snowflakes will
'whirl' more dramatically, resulting in a somewhat
jerkier movement.
-whirl This sets the whirl factor, i.e. the maximum
adjustment of the horizontal speed. The default
value is 4.
-nowind Default it gets windy now and then. If you prefer
it quiet specify -nowind.
-windtimer period
With -windtimer you can specify how often it gets
windy. It's sort of a period in seconds, default
value is 30.
-xspeed -yspeed
These options set the maximum horizontal and ver-
tical speed. The default X maximum speed is 4, the
default maximum Y speed is 8.
-wsnowdepth -ssnowdepth
This sets the maximum thickness of the snow on top
of windows and at the bottom of the display
respectively. The default snowdepth for windows is
15, at the bottom of the screen the default is 50.
-offset With -offset you can specify that snow starts
building up a number of pixels lower or higher.
This is handy if you use twm and squeezed window
titles.
-notrees
Do not display the trees.
-nosanta
Do not display Santa Claus running all over the
screen.
-norudolf
No Rudolf.
-nokeepsnow
Do not have snow sticking anywhere.
-nokeepsnowonwindows
Do not keep snow on top of the windows.
-nokeepsnowonscreen
Do not keep snow at the bottom of the screen.
-nonopopup
Xsnow takes care to not let it snow on Pop-up win-
dows, due to their nature. If however, you use an
Xserver that has backing store on for all windows,
then specify this option. Symptom would be that no
snow is kept on any window, but only at the screen
bottom.
-version
Prints the current Xsnow version and does not
start Xsnow.
EXAMPLES
xsnow -bg SkyBlue3 -sc snow
Sets the background to a bluish color and lets it
snow white.
xsnow -ssnowdepth 100
Starts with a thin layer of snow that gradually
builds up at the bottom of the screen.
xsnow -santa 2 -santaspeed 10
Gives you the biggest Santa at a speed that is
hardly legal.
xsnow -delay 100 -notrees
For slow systems use longer delay and don't draw
the trees.
xsnow -snowflakes 1000 -delay 0
Uses the maximum number of snowflakes and runs as
fast as possible.
xsnow -bg SkyBlue3 -solidbg
Sets the background to a bluish color and specify
-solidbg for increased performance.
FILES
See /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt for the list of colors and their
respective poetic names, like Chartreuse and SkyBlue3.
BUGS
See xroach(1)
AUTHORS
Rick Jansen rick@sara.nl
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1984, 1988, 1990, 1993-1995 by Rick Jansen
rick@sara.nl
Xsnow is available freely and you may give it to other
people as is, but I retain all rights. Therefore it does
not classify as 'Public Domain' software.
CREDITS
Xsnow borrows some code from xroach by J.T. Anderson
jta@locus.com
Xsnow uses vroot.h for use with virtual window managers.
vroot.h is copyright 1991 by Andreas Stolcke, copyright
1990 by Solbourne Computer Inc. (stolcke@ICSI.Berke-
ley.EDU)
The big Santa with the nice moving antlers and reins was
made by Holger Veit Holger.Veit@gmd.de.
The idea and code for wind are from Eiichi TAZOE
tazoe@yamato.ibm.co.jp, tazoe@vnet.ibm.com.
NOTES
System load
Xsnow itself doen't use very much CPU time, but it can
load the X server and/or network quite substantially. Use
less snowflakes and a bigger delay in such a case. On a
standalone workstation there usually will not be be any
problem. Another improvement can be to specify a solid
background color with -bg and with this also specify the
option -solidbg. This may greatly improve performance!
SGI Irix 5.x
Silicon Graphics and Irix 5.x users may not see any snow
or Santa at all, as long the desktop icons are visible. To
circumvent this problem issue this command:
/usr/lib/desktop/telldesktop quit
The icons will disappear and Xsnow will work perfectly. To
restart the desktop just start /usr/lib/desktop/startdesk-
top or select Desktop->Home Directory from the toolchest.
It's even possible to have both - desktop icons and xsnow
(and even multiple desks). You need to modify the window
manager's resource file 4DWm, the file ~/.desktop-`host-
name`/4DWm. Example:
*Global.backgroundDescription: -execute /etc/killall
-TERM xsnow ; /usr/local/bin/xsnow
*Desk 1.backgroundDescription: -execute /etc/killall
-TERM xsnow ; /usr/local/bin/xsnow
*Desk 2.backgroundDescription: -execute /etc/killall
-TERM xsnow ; /usr/local/bin/xsnow
Restart the window manager (4Dwm) from the toolchest and
Xsnow should appear. What this does is stop the currently
running Xsnow and start a new one when you switch to
another desktop.
HP and hp-ux
HP also uses a Workspace Manager which may interfere with
Xsnow. If Xsnow does not appear: In the "Style Manager",
choose "Backdrop" and select "NoBackdrop". You should now
be able to run Xsnow.
Snow does not stick?
On black-and-white X terminals snow may not stick to win-
dows because backing store is on. Try specifying the
option -nonopopup when starting Xsnow.
Snow hovering above windows?
If you use twm it is possible you see the snow layer hov-
ering a little bit above your windows. In that case set
BorderWidth 0 in your .twmrc file. If you use windows with
'squeezed title bars' specify a -offset to get the snow on
the windows itself.
SEE ALSO
snowplough(1) your_travel_agent(1)