#Xscreensaver how to#
#Xscreensaver install#
#Xscreensaver windows#

In 2012 some distros forked and renamed it as both mate-screensaver(1) and cinnamon-screensaver(1), which seem to be basically the same. In fact, in 2011 it lost the ability to run display modes at all. As a result, the gnome-screensaver program is insecure, bug-ridden, and missing many features of XScreenSaver. In 2005, however, they decided to needlessly re-invent the wheel and ship their own replacement for the xscreensaver daemon called gnome-screensaver(1) rather than improving XScreenSaver and contributing their changes back. Installing Xscreensaver on Gnome or Unityįor many years, GNOME shipped XScreenSaver as-is, and everything just worked. InstallationĮach desktop environment has its own system for launching long-running daemons like XScreenSaver, and since many of them come bundled with their own (buggy, insecure, inferior) screen-locking frameworks, it is also necessary to disable those other frameworks before XScreenSaver can work. Parts of KDE and GNOME may need to be disabled first for that to work see below. Likewise, if you have systemd(1) 221 or newer, or elogind(8), then all of the popular video players and web browsers will prevent XScreenSaver from blanking the screen while video is playing.īoth of these features require that xscreensaver-systemd(6) be able connect to the systemd bus. So if you don't use systemd, you might want to get in the habit of doing xscreensaver-command -lock before closing the lid. If not, then the screen might not lock until a few seconds after you re-open the lid. If your system has systemd(1) 221 or newer, or elogind(8), then closing the lid of your laptop will cause the screen to lock immediately. Whatever is in the ~/.xscreensaver file takes precedence. Note: if you use xset(1) to change the power management settings, XScreenSaver will override those changes. When the monitor is powered down, the display hacks are stopped (though it may take a minute or two for XScreenSaver to notice). If the power management section is grayed out in the xscreensaver-settings(1) window, then that means that your X server does not support the XDPMS extension, and so control over the monitor's power state is not available. It saves the settings in your ~/.xscreensaver file. The xscreensaver-settings(1) program is where you configure if and when your monitor should power off. no-splashĭon't display the splash screen at startup. log filenameĪppend all diagnostic output to the given file. For displays with multiple screens, XScreenSaver will manage all screens on the display simultaneously. Command-Line Options -display host:display.screen The display modes are run at a low process priority, and spend most of their time sleeping/idle by default, so they should not consume significant system resources.

#Xscreensaver windows#

When the user becomes active again, the screensaver windows are unmapped, and the running subprocesses are killed.

The various graphics demos are, in fact, just standalone programs that do that. Because of this, any program which can draw on a provided window can be used as a screensaver. A sub-process is launched for each one running a graphics demo, pointed at the appropriate window. When it is time to activate the screensaver, a full-screen black window is created that covers each monitor. You configure it with the xscreensaver-settings(1) program.

XScreenSaver is a daemon that runs in the background. XScreenSaver is also available on macOS, iOS and Android. It can also lock your screen, and provides configuration and control of display power management. XScreenSaver waits until the user is idle, and then runs graphics demos chosen at random.

Installing Xscreensaver on Gnome or UnityĮxtensible screen saver and screen locking framework Synopsis.

More display modes can be found in the xscreensaver-data, xscreensaver-data-extra and xscreensaver-gl packages. This is the set of GL screensavers not shipped by default with xscreensaver-gl: antmaze, atlantis, blocktube, boing, bouncingcow, boxed, cage, carousel, companioncube, crackberg, cube21, cubenetic, cubicgrid, dangerball, extrusion, fliptext, flurry, glhanoi, glplanet, hilbert, hypnowheel, jigsaw, juggler3d, klein, lament, menger, noof, photopile, pinion, providence, rubik, rubikblocks, sballs, skytentacles, sproingies, stairs, starwars, surfaces, tangram, timetunnel, tronbit, unknownpleasures.

This package can be used by xscreensaver and also some other screensaver engines. This package contains the rest of the 3D (OpenGL) screen saver modules from the xscreensaver collection. XScreenSaver is a modular screen saver and locker for X11, containing more than 200 screen savers.

#Xscreensaver install#

Install xscreensaver-gl-extra by entering the following commands in the terminal: sudo apt updateĮxtra GL(Mesa) screen saver modules for screensaver frontends

#Xscreensaver how to#

How to Install xscreensaver-gl-extra in Ubuntu 18.04