[rootbear]

XRoach doesn't work even on a modern X desktop. The background window on, say, gnome, isn't really the root window. I compiled XRoach a few years ago and didn't understand at first why it wasn't working. I don't know if any of the modern desktops have an actual root window that's visible.

[zzo38computer]

Perhaps if you do not use a desktop environment, then the root window will be visible and usable. (I do not use a desktop environment myself.)