Trying to have xscreensaver - for a digital picture frame

[Rich]

Hi Richard Cranium

... also , back to my last question about configuring xscreensaver to auto start..., looking at the install notes in the package manager description is what has me a little confused ...

Do you mean this note:

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                To start at boot, put the following to
                ~/.X.d/xscreensaver:
                   xscreensaver -nosplash &When running a GUI, your home directory contains a hidden directory
called  .X.d. The note is telling you to create a file called  xscreensaver
that contains the command:

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xscreensaver -nosplash &The file name is merely descriptive so you know what it is. You can call
it anything you want. After  .xsession  has started the GUI, it opens any
files it finds in  .X.d  and executes their contents line by line.

Having said all of that, I don't think  xscreensaver  does what you think
it does. From the  xscreensaver  man page:

HOW IT WORKS
When it is time to activate the screensaver, a full-screen black window is created on each screen of the display. Each window is
created in such a way that, to any subsequently-created programs, it will appear to be a "virtual root" window. Because of this, any
program which draws on the root window (and which understands virtual roots) can be used as a screensaver. The various graphics
demos are, in fact, just standalone programs that know how to draw on the provided window.

Found here:
https://www.commandlinux.com/man-page/man1/xscreensaver.1.html

So  xscreensaver  is not copying images to the screen. It's launching programs
that know how to draw to the screen, and those programs probably draw animations.

[gadget42]

xscreensaver background via Jamie Zawinski

https://nieuweinstituut.nl/en/projects/sleep-mode/jamie-zawinski

also see(more generally):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski

https://www.jwz.org/

edited to add jwz.org