bsod - Blue Screen of Death emulator
Contents
Bugs
Unlike the systems being simulated, bsod does not require a reboot after running.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998-2022 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this
software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above
copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice
appear in supporting documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this software
for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. No animals were harmed
during the testing of these simulations. Always mount a scratch monkey.
Description
The bsod program is the finest in personal computer emulation.
bsod steps through a set of screens, each one a recreation of a different failure mode of an operating
system. Systems depicted include Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, MS-DOS, AmigaDOS 1.3, Linux, SCO
UNIX, BSD UNIX, HPUX, Solaris, Tru64, VMS, HVX/GCOS6, IBM OS/390, OS/2, MacOS (MacsBug, Bomb, Sad Mac,
and OSX), Atari ST, Apple ][+, VMware and NCD X Terminals.
Environment
DISPLAY to get the default host and display number.
XENVIRONMENT
to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the
RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW
The window ID to use with --root.
Name
bsod - Blue Screen of Death emulator
Options
bsod accepts the following options:
--window
Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default.
--root Draw on the root window.
--window-idnumber
Draw on the specified window.
--mono If on a color display, pretend we're on a monochrome display.
--install
Install a private colormap for the window.
--visualvisual
Specify which visual to use. Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number
(decimal or hex) of a specific visual.
--delaydelay
The duration each crash-mode is displayed before selecting another.
--onlywhich
Tell it to run only one mode, e.g., --onlyHPUX.
--fps Display the current frame rate and CPU load.
See Also
X(1), xscreensaver(1)
Synopsis
bsod [--display host:display.screen] [--foreground color] [--background color] [--window] [--root]
[--window-id number][--mono] [--install] [--visual visual] [--delay seconds] [--fps]
Trademarks
Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 95, and Microsoft Windows NT are all registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation. Apple Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer. Amiga is a
registered trademark of Amiga International, Inc. Solaris is a trademark of Sun Microsystems. HP-UX is
a trademark of HP Hewlett Packard Group LLC. Nvidia is a tradmark of Nvidia Corporation. VMS is
probably a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. Atari ST is probably a trademark, too, but it's
hard to tell who owns it. SCO is probably still a trademark of somebody these days, I guess. Linux is a
registered trademark of Linus Torvalds, but it isn't his fault. OS/2 is a registered trademark of
International Business Machines Corporation. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. Android is
a trademark of Google LLC. GladOS is a trademark of Aperture Science Incorporated.
X Resources
Notable X resources supported include the following, which control which hacks are displayed and which
aren't. doWindows, doNT, doWin2K, doWin10, doRansomware, doAmiga, doMac, doMac1, doMacsBug, doMacX,
doSCO, doAtari, doBSD, doLinux, doSparcLinux, doHPPALinux, doBlitDamage, doSolaris, doHPUX, doApple2,
doOS390, doTru64, doVMS, doMSDOS, doOS2, doHVX, doVMware, and doATM. Each of these is a Boolean
resource, they all default to true, except for doAtari, doBSD, doSparcLinux, and doHPPALinux, which are
turned off by default, because they're really not all that interesting looking unless you're a fan of
those systems.
There are command-line options for all of these: e.g., --bsd, --no-bsd. (Also note the --only option.)
