.TH xswarm "" "" "X Application"
.PC "X11 animated toy"
.fi
\fBxswarm
[\-A \fIwasp-acceleration\^\fB]
[\-a \fIbee-acceleration\^\fB]
[\-B \fIborder-width\^\fB]
[\-b \fIbees\^\fB]
[\-C \fIbackground-color\^\fB]
[\-c \fIbee-color\^\fB]
[\-D \fIdelay\^\fB]
[\-d \fIhost\^\fB:\fIdisplay\^\fB]
[\-g \fIgeometry\^\fB]
[\-hq?vprVx]
[\-S \fIwasp-velocity\^\fB]
[\-s \fIbee-velocity\^\fB]
[\-t \fItimeout\^\fB]
[\-w \fIwasp-color\^\fB]\fR
.PP
.B xswarm
animates a group of line segments.
One line is called the ``wasp'' and the others are the ``bees''.
The bees constantly accelerate toward the wasp.
Their motion forms a cute pattern that continually changes.
.PP
If you click a mouse button while the mouse-cursor is in the
.B xswarm
window, the mouse controls the wasp.
To release control of the wasp, click the mouse button again.
.PP
To kill
.BR xswarm ,
press `Q' in its window.
.PP
The parameters that affect behavior of the swarm are controllable by the user
through command-line parameters.
Some of the niftier features are controlling
the wasp with the mouse, putting it in the root window,
using it as a screen saver,
and making the swarm fly ``above'' a background bitmap.
.PP
One of
.B xswarm 's
commonest uses is to run it as the background of the root window,
to help break the monotony of X.
When putting it there, do not forget to play with the options
.B \-V
and
.BR \-x .
.PP
You can also use
.B xswarm
as a screen-saver.
If you use the option
.B \-t
with a non-zero timeout period,
.B xswarm
clears the screen after that amount of idle time has passed.
The swarm roam around the screen until you press a key or move the mouse.
.SH "Command-line Options"
.B xswarm
recognizes the following command-line options:
.IP \fB\-h\fR 0.3i
.IS \fB\-q\fR
.IS \fB\-?\fR
Display usage message and exit.
.IP "\fB\-v\fR"
Display verbose information about the current settings.
.IP "\fB\-p\fR"
Use the mouse cursor to control the wasp.
You can turn this off any time:
just move the mouse cursor into the
.B xswarm
window and click a mouse button.
.IP "\fB\-r\fR"
Run in the root window.
.IP "\fB\-V\fR"
Stay in the clear area of the root window.
With this option, the swarm will never dart behind another window.
This option is useful only when used with 
.B \-r
option.
.IP "\fB\-x\fR"
Use XOR raster operation, so that the bees do not destroy the root bitmap.
This option is useful only when used with option
.BR \-r .
.IP "\fB\-t \fIseconds\fR"
Wait
.I seconds
before clearing the screen.
The idle swarm disappears when a key is pressed or the mouse is moved.
.IP "\fB \-D \fImilliseconds\fR"
Set the non-blocking delay between frames to
.IR milliseconds .
.IP "\fB\-g \fIgeometry\fR"
Set the size and position of the
.B xswarm
window.
.I geometry
must be of the form \fIwidth\^\fBx\fIheight\^\fB+\fIXpos\^\fB+\fIYpos\fR.
.IP "\fB\-d \fIhost\^\fB:\fIdisplay\fR"
Run
.B xswarm
on
.IR display .
.IP "\fB\-b \fInumber\fR"
Have
.I number
of bees fly around.
.IP "\fB\-a \fIpixels\fR"
Accelerate the bees
.I pixels
per frame.
.I pixels
should be in the range of two through ten.
.IP "\fB\-s \fIpixels\fR"
Give the bees a velocity of
.I pixels
per frame.
.I pixels
should be in the range of five through 20.
.IP "\fB\-A \fIpixels\fR"
Accelerate the wasp
.I pixels
per frame.
.I pixels
should be in the range of two through ten.
.IP "\fB\-S \fIpixels\fR"
Give the wasp a velocity of
.I pixels
per frame.
.I pixels
should be in the range of five through 20.
.IP "\fB\-w \fIcolor\fR"
Set the wasp's color.
.I color
must be either one of the colors named in file
.B /usr/X11/lib/rgb.txt
or gun settings of the form \fB#\fIrrggbb\fR,
where
.IR r ,
.IR g ,
and
.I b
give hexadecimal values for the red, green, and blue guns, respectively.
.IP "\fB\-c \fIcolor\fR"
Set the bees' color.
.I color
must be set as with the option
.BR \-w ,
described above.
.IP "\fB\-C \fIcolor\fR"
Set the color of the background.
.I color
must be set as with the option
.BR \-w ,
described above.
If you are using the option
.BR \-x ,
then you may have to twiddle with this color to get the bees to show up.
(\fB-x\fR works well with black and white.)
.SH Examples
If you do not want the swarm to stay close to the wasp,
try a larger speed limit for the bees.
For example:
.DM
	xswarm -s 16
.DE
.PP
For a wasp that gets away more often, give the wasp a higher speed limit
and better acceleration.
For example:
.DM
	xswarm -A 7 -S 20
.DE
.PP
To put the swarm onto the root window without harming its bit map,
try this command:
.DM
	xswarm -r -x -V
.DE
.PP
You may need to fiddle with
.BR \-w ,
.BR \-c ,
and
.B \-C
to make the swarm visible.
For example:
.DM
	xswarm -r -x -V -w red -c blue -C green
.DE
.PP
To speed up the swarm, decrease the delay between frames.
For example:
.DM
	xswarm -D 10
.DE
.PP
Try taking control with the mouse button.
.PP
To use
.B xswarm
as a screen saver, put a line like this in your
.B xinitrc
file:
.DM
	xswarm -t 300 -w red -c blue
.DE
.SH "See Also"
.B
X applications
.R
.SH Notes
.II "Butterworth, Jeff"
.B xswarm
was written by Jeff Butterworth (butterwo@cs.unc.edu).
.PP
For a detailed description of persons and program who contributed to
.BR xswarm ,
see the file
.B xswarm.6
included with the source code to
.BR xswarm .
