Feeling lonely this holiday season? Try Xsnow. This little app will let it snow on the Unix / Linux desktop. Santa and his reindeer will complete your festive season feeling with moving snowflakes on your desktop, with Santa Claus running all over the screen.
I first installed this 13 or 14 years ago. It was was originally created for Macintosh systems in 1984. One cab create a snowy and Santa-y desktop. You can install it as follows:
Install xsnow
Debian / Ubuntu / Mint Linux users type the following apt command/apt-get command:
$ sudo apt-get install xsnow
Freebsd users type the following command to install the same:
# cd /usr/ports/x11/xsnow/
# make install clean
OR, try to add the binary package using pkg command:
# pkg_add -r xsnow
OR
# pkg install xsnow
OpenBSD users type the following pkg_add command:
# pkg_add -v xsnow
How Do I Use xsnow?
Open a command-line terminal (select Applications > Accessories > Terminal), and then type the following to starts xsnow:
$ xsnow
Sample outputs:
Fig.01: Snow for your Linux and Unix desktop systems
$ xsnow -bg blue -sc snowTo set the maximum number of snowflakes and runs as fast as possible, type:
$ xsnow -snowflakes 10000 -delay 0Do not display the trees and Santa Claus running all over the screen, enter:
$ xsnow -notrees -nosantaFor more information about xsnow and other options, please see the manual page by typing man xsnow from the command line:
$ man xsnow
Recommended readings:
- Download Xsnow from the official site.
- Please note that MS-Windows and Mac OS X version attracts one time shareware fee.
If you enjoyed this desktop fun app, you may also like to use the following apps on Linux:
- Terminal ASCII Aquarium
- Steam Locomotive
- Let it Snow On Your Desktop
- Summon Swarms Of Penguins To Waddle About The Desktop
- Text Mode Box and Comment Drawing
- Christmas Tree For Your Terminal
- Cat And Mouse Chase All Over Your Screen
- Bastet Tetris(r) clone with block-choosing AI for console
- The Digital Rain: Simulates the display from "The Matrix"
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An updated xsnow, working on legacy (FVWM, …) and new (GNOME, KDE, …) desktops is available here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/xsnow/
Doesnt work on Debian at all………xsnow exists in usr/games. When i run it from a terminal nothing happens!
Shame, i was looking forward to some snow!!!
For all your holiday decorations try this:
http://xfce-look.org/content/show.php/XDecorations?content=167575
Wow, it looks beautiful. Already Installed it on my Ubuntu box. Pretty simple
its good
doesn’t seem to work on enlightenment. 🙁
OpenIndiana users: package can be installed with “pkgutil” from OpenCSW:
pkgadd -d http://get.opencsw.org/now
/opt/csw/bin/pkgutil -i xsnow (or add /opt/csw/bin to ~/.profile)
Recommended: xsnow -bg SkyBlue3
Happy Holidays Solaris nerds! 😀
Good to see something colorful on my desktop. Works great on my CrunchBang Linux box.
Debian squeeze 64 bit user download xsnow manually as it will not install on the 64- bit system using the apt-get and friends. So get the 32-bit version and install it: