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I.e. how can I run xroach on a VM?

A search on RC for xroach didn't turn anything up.

xroach, as I remember it, ran under old versions of X and had a certain number of cockroaches on the root window which would run for cover if you closed, quickly moved, etc. a window they were hiding under.

Christos Hayward
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    Is using a VM and an old Linux version a hard requirement? From what I understand, xroach should still work under modern versions of Linux; packages are available here (https://pkgs.org/download/xroach). If it doesn't, it's probably because xroach tries to paint on the root window, but modern desktop environments tend to obscure that. You can work around that by using a virtual X server like xnest or Xephyr. – Michael Graf Sep 14 '20 at 21:04
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    It there are issues, it would be the X server version, and possibly modern desktops trying to interfere. Did you try with the distro of your choice, but modern desktops not installed (e.g. plain fvwm as WM)? – dirkt Sep 15 '20 at 04:30
  • Also you need to slow it down. They move fast on modern hardware. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen May 17 '21 at 16:13

2 Answers2

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I just uploaded a new version of xroach to sourceforge. This version works in Gnome KDE, but also in FVWM and the like:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/xroachng/

for the bleeding edge visit:

https://www.ratrabbit.nl/ratrabbit/software/xroach_ng

Willem Vermin
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xroach (at least, this version, fixed for modern compilers) still works on current Linux distributions, as long as the desktop uses X and the root window is visible. Here it is running on Debian 10, with FVWM running the show:

xroach running on Debian 10 with FVWM

(the cockroaches are in the top-left of the screen).

To reproduce this, regardless of your current desktop (assuming all four programs are available):

Xephyr :20 &
DISPLAY=:20 fvwm &
DISPLAY=:20 xterm &
DISPLAY=:20 xroach &

If you want real “old school”, there’s no need for FVWM and XTerm:

DISPLAY=:20 xsetroot -gray

xroach running on Debian 10 on a stippled background

Most “full-blown” desktop environments hide the root window, and there’s not necessarily an easy way to disable this. In any case as desktops move to Wayland, xroach-style programs will stop working, and their replacements will have to be desktop extensions rather than generic X or Wayland clients.

Stephen Kitt
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  • The simplest way to get a visible root window on an out-of-the-box desktop would probably be to run an LXDE-based desktop and then run pcmanfm --desktop-off to reveal the root window. (You'll then need a more traditional desktop background setter, like Nitrogen.) – ssokolow Sep 15 '20 at 10:17