Post #2169792
2026-05-07 17:43 UTC
@k@chaos.social Well the main reason it's not a thing is that it's a terrible idea from a UI design perspective because you can't tell whether the screen is locked which leads to user confusion about whether you are typing commands or passwords. But the technical reason it's hard is that X11 says "alpha channel, who's that?" See driver/fade.c
Replies (1)
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@k@chaos.social 2026-05-07 21:18
@jwz@mastodon.social Thanks! UX is easy. If a key has been pressed or a button clicked, blur the screen (blanking works too) and display a password input box or call the relevant pam modules. If ESC has been pressed or no keys have been pressed for at least 10 seconds, delete the contents of the box and get back to full transparency. The technical aspect is the interesting one. Must the screensaver draw over the whole screen / all displays? Can it re-render what's underneath and display that indirectly?