Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS(bryanbraun.com)
bryanbraun.com
Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS
https://www.bryanbraun.com/after-dark-css/
152 comments
Screensavers are a thing again on modern TV because OLEDs have a pretty serious burn-in problem apparently. Not much creativity there, probably because it should not be annoying, so it's stuff like art galleries or subtle fireworks effects that also 'train' the pixels.
Best screensaver I used to have was the BSOD one from xscreensaver, so many people fell for it.
Second best is the nyan cat screensaver.
Currently have an Apple image gallery of space themed pictures.
Best screensaver I used to have was the BSOD one from xscreensaver, so many people fell for it.
Second best is the nyan cat screensaver.
Currently have an Apple image gallery of space themed pictures.
The electron guns in CRTs also take about 30 minutes to warm up. Before then the black level is pretty high and the image is washed out. So there is benefit to running a screensaver on a CRT but OLEDs do best when just put to sleep quickly.
It takes about 5 second for my LCD monitor to wake-up after a sleep, which is a bit annoying. A screen saver disappears in a fraction of a second even on old hardware.
Working on a next-gen operating system for a large tech company in the Pacific NorthWest in the previous century, I was able to reliably bluescreen the OS when stressing the network using an internal network protocol driver.
Later that day, I read in one of the trade rags about a columnist talking about the efficacy of a bluescreen screensaver.
1+1 = 2
Less than an hour later, most of it spent transcribing the bluescreen text output, I had a BSOD screensaver. Released it to the company intranet and waited for the ensuing hilarity.
Wasn't long before the guys in the build lab took advantage of the screensaver.
They installed the BSOD screensaver and disconnected the mouse and keyboard.
The main dev on the project comes in, sees the bluescreen and proceeds to restart the computer! Oops.
A few years later, on another multi-year large software project at this PNW tech company, the morning that the software was supposed to be signed off and released to manufacturing, the build lab, different group of people, installed the BSOD screensaver and disconnected the mouse and keyboard on the dogfood server for the project.
When the project manager arrived, he went to check on the status of the server, only to find the BSOD. This time a server restart was averted.
So, it's all fun and games until a server is hard rebooted.
Later that day, I read in one of the trade rags about a columnist talking about the efficacy of a bluescreen screensaver.
1+1 = 2
Less than an hour later, most of it spent transcribing the bluescreen text output, I had a BSOD screensaver. Released it to the company intranet and waited for the ensuing hilarity.
Wasn't long before the guys in the build lab took advantage of the screensaver.
They installed the BSOD screensaver and disconnected the mouse and keyboard.
The main dev on the project comes in, sees the bluescreen and proceeds to restart the computer! Oops.
A few years later, on another multi-year large software project at this PNW tech company, the morning that the software was supposed to be signed off and released to manufacturing, the build lab, different group of people, installed the BSOD screensaver and disconnected the mouse and keyboard on the dogfood server for the project.
When the project manager arrived, he went to check on the status of the server, only to find the BSOD. This time a server restart was averted.
So, it's all fun and games until a server is hard rebooted.
> Best screensaver I used to have was the BSOD one from xscreensaver, so many people fell for it.
Same here - including myself, when I came back from a bathroom break to find it had landed on the MacOS error screen.
Same here - including myself, when I came back from a bathroom break to find it had landed on the MacOS error screen.
In high school in the very early 2000s my friends and I thought it was hilarious to add bluescreen slides to our PowerPoint presentations. Most of the computers ran Windows 98 and it was a common sight, we’d get gasps in class.
It was dumb harmless fun.
It was dumb harmless fun.
I knew someone that failed to prepare for their presentation, and did this as an excuse the presentation computer was not working and had to reschedule
My favorite trick was to take a screenshot of the desktop, hide all the icons and the task bar, then set the screenshot as the wallpaper. It gets even the most advanced users every time.
I did this to a girl at school. It ended up moving all of her singer, and iTunes found them "again", so half of her songs would show an error "can't find this file", because it was pointing to the old location.
It was the prank that kept on giving.
It was the prank that kept on giving.
This is the one I used to do
It's my last day at my current job. Thank you for inspiring me to set up a 1 minute BSOD screensaver for the next person who uses my current workstation.
> It's my last day at my current job. Thank you for inspiring me to set up a 1 minute BSOD screensaver for the next person who uses my current workstation.
What company won't wipe and reimage it before redeployment?
Hell, I usually wipe my own work PCs before surrendering them after an upgrade, to make sure it's done properly.
What company won't wipe and reimage it before redeployment?
Hell, I usually wipe my own work PCs before surrendering them after an upgrade, to make sure it's done properly.
It's a relatively small lab in a university and part of my job is keeping the computers running.
I could wipe, but I want to make as little work for my replacement as possible. Well, maybe a few minutes of extra work to get rid of a screensaver.
I could wipe, but I want to make as little work for my replacement as possible. Well, maybe a few minutes of extra work to get rid of a screensaver.
If it's a desktop workstation with lots of expensive development tools installed or a delicate toolchain (especially one in a lab), why spend the time and effort wiping the thing just to reinstall all of the same stuff over again? It might even be a shared computer. I remember my help desk summer job, I worked at a hot desk that was staffed 24/7 so the same computers were used by first, second, and third shift. There were a lot of things that had to be logged into (mainframes, customer email accounts, etc) and not all of the desktops covered the same customers so it would have been a nightmare to handle all of the images and configurations. Whenever a configuration had to change, they would make a new backup to cover that specific desktop in case it died.
I was always fond of this one.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/blue...
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/blue...
The new nintendo switch has an oled screen. Is that likely to be vulnerable to burn in due to game ui staying constant?
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/worried-about-nintendo-s...
> We've designed the OLED screen to aim for longevity as much as possible, but OLED displays can experience image retention if subjected to static visuals over a long period of time. However, users can take preventative measures to preserve the screen [by] utilizing features included in the Nintendo Switch systems by default, such as auto-brightness function to prevent the screen from getting too bright, and the auto-sleep function to go into 'auto sleep' mode after short periods of time.
> We've designed the OLED screen to aim for longevity as much as possible, but OLED displays can experience image retention if subjected to static visuals over a long period of time. However, users can take preventative measures to preserve the screen [by] utilizing features included in the Nintendo Switch systems by default, such as auto-brightness function to prevent the screen from getting too bright, and the auto-sleep function to go into 'auto sleep' mode after short periods of time.
The Apple TV 4k screensavers (city flyovers filmed in slow motion with a drone) are beautiful and I always end up staring at the screen for a while.
https://youtu.be/lbj9kihTwcc
https://youtu.be/lbj9kihTwcc
That's a horribly outdated version linked in that video sadly, and that one no longer runs on recent macOS (because it's not notarized).
Just in case anyone wants to try it, please grab latest build here instead : https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial/releases
Or if you want an installer with auto updates, get it here : https://aerialscreensaver.github.io
Latest betas include Apple Music/Spotify integration, Speed control, and brings back the ability to put your videos anywhere (including an external drive!) on Monterey.
Just in case anyone wants to try it, please grab latest build here instead : https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial/releases
Or if you want an installer with auto updates, get it here : https://aerialscreensaver.github.io
Latest betas include Apple Music/Spotify integration, Speed control, and brings back the ability to put your videos anywhere (including an external drive!) on Monterey.
Wow! Is there anything similar that you know of for Android TV? I would love to have something like this over the stock photo slideshow.
I only make the mac version, but I've seen this "port" for Android TV.
No guarantees from me that it's any good : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codingbuff...
It's open source too, according to the description, it streams and doesn't cache videos and apparently it handles 4K HDR. If data usage is a concern to you, be aware that some videos are close to 1 GB.
No guarantees from me that it's any good : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codingbuff...
It's open source too, according to the description, it streams and doesn't cache videos and apparently it handles 4K HDR. If data usage is a concern to you, be aware that some videos are close to 1 GB.
I use this one on my TV, and it's great, highly recommend.
If bandwidth is a concern, you can also point it towards a local JSON file with whatever URLs you want, so you can mirror the screensavers locally and then stream them from there.
If bandwidth is a concern, you can also point it towards a local JSON file with whatever URLs you want, so you can mirror the screensavers locally and then stream them from there.
I grabbed a screensaver app for my Sony TV that uses the AppleTV 4K HDR screensavers, and... yeah, it's really, really nice.
Not all of them are city flyovers; there are also long, slow pans of areas like the Great Wall. Generally, it's just gorgeous.
Not all of them are city flyovers; there are also long, slow pans of areas like the Great Wall. Generally, it's just gorgeous.
Part of the reason these are so captivating is that they are slowed down instead of real time. This gives them an other-worldly quality where you can see extreme detail but in a different motion than you would normally see it.
Many of the cityscape ones I don't believe are slowed down, at least the ones I have seen. If you watch the movement of traffic it appears to be moving at normal speeds. Even the orbital ones appear to be real-time.
The otherworldliness of the video seems to come more from the smoothness of the motion and the uncommon perspective. Because many of the scenes are captured with drones instead of helicopters or airplanes they have a literal bird's perspective in terms of velocity and altitude.
The otherworldliness of the video seems to come more from the smoothness of the motion and the uncommon perspective. Because many of the scenes are captured with drones instead of helicopters or airplanes they have a literal bird's perspective in terms of velocity and altitude.
It's been an ongoing debate I've had with some Aerial users, but I agree with you. Most if not all are real time or barely slowed down (latest beta I've put a slider to speed a video up/down partly to try and settle this).
They definitely are massively stabilised though and Apple used to update videos from time to time, tweaking stabilization, colors or sometimes length and pushing new versions. They haven't done that in a long while though.
Some seem shot from fairly high altitude and may use planes instead, and at least for some videos, I've heard they used 3rd parties to shoot them.
They definitely are massively stabilised though and Apple used to update videos from time to time, tweaking stabilization, colors or sometimes length and pushing new versions. They haven't done that in a long while though.
Some seem shot from fairly high altitude and may use planes instead, and at least for some videos, I've heard they used 3rd parties to shoot them.
The other reason is that you have to have biggest-company-in-the-world-sized connections (and pocketbook) to get permission to run a 120fps 8k drone over an active LAX.
Such a subtle huge flex.
Such a subtle huge flex.
Airports have PR departments. LAX's is: https://www.lawa.org/groups-and-divisions/public-relations
I'm sure for the right opportunity they'd work with anybody. I suspect it's not a matter of connections, but rather, "We'll put a gorgeous shot of your facility on millions of TVs worldwide" is a slam-dunk pitch.
I'm sure for the right opportunity they'd work with anybody. I suspect it's not a matter of connections, but rather, "We'll put a gorgeous shot of your facility on millions of TVs worldwide" is a slam-dunk pitch.
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I used to change my screensaver every week or so. These days, I’m really happy with a slightly customised Flurry on macOS, or an clone on Linux.
Oooh now let's talk about PointCast. Who remembers when the future of the Internet was push?
https://www.wired.com/1997/03/ff-push/
https://www.wired.com/1997/03/ff-push/
I ran software for Dell's portables during the height of PointCast craziness - they eventually banned it because aboutq 2/3 (IIRC) of the company's bandwidth for the Product Group offices was being consumed by PointCast news updates and animations!
Man I miss the enthusiasm and optimism of the 90's
No, I knew that "push" was BS. The concept and the promise of the Internet as a whole was exciting but most of the startup scene (especially in the frothy late 90s) was pure land-grab easy-money types.
I keep trying to figure out if the internet really was more fun back then, or if I was just younger and less jaded. Maybe both?
Both. The internet was full of early adopter, tech enthusiast types. You'd certainly pickup on this. Maybe a bit of the magic was your youth, but the tech was new and magical to everyone.
Every article I read back then was written by a real person about something they cared about. Now it feels like every search result is just 100 pages of AI generated, generic content used to drive clicks to the site. And what content is actually written by a real person, it's in service to their brand and it's tuned for engagement and sharing on social media.
A lot of software back then was open and didn't hide too many of the details. Today, all the technical bits are hidden away and user experiences are carefully controlled and tuned for engagement. Think IRC vs Slack or FB messenger. On irc, you can whois, dcc, technical bits everywhere in the UI.
In the 90s, there was a question whether or not you should include ads and banners on your site. Later, it seemed like the ads went away but actually they took over. So much of the internet experience now is about monetization. Even malware is about making money. You gotta jump into the new tech to get that feeling of wonder and possibly.
Every article I read back then was written by a real person about something they cared about. Now it feels like every search result is just 100 pages of AI generated, generic content used to drive clicks to the site. And what content is actually written by a real person, it's in service to their brand and it's tuned for engagement and sharing on social media.
A lot of software back then was open and didn't hide too many of the details. Today, all the technical bits are hidden away and user experiences are carefully controlled and tuned for engagement. Think IRC vs Slack or FB messenger. On irc, you can whois, dcc, technical bits everywhere in the UI.
In the 90s, there was a question whether or not you should include ads and banners on your site. Later, it seemed like the ads went away but actually they took over. So much of the internet experience now is about monetization. Even malware is about making money. You gotta jump into the new tech to get that feeling of wonder and possibly.
Exactly. When it was young, the internet was about communication. Now it is about money and all the tackiness that comes with it.
Yes! And learning, and experimentation, and *sharing*, as compared now to *hoarding*.
Haha, PointCast was one of the earliest "next big thing" apps I installed on my Mac in the Dot-com era. I never really found it useful apart from the always available implementation of SameGame.
Man, but didn't it feel like the future? All this information in real time being shown on-screen! What's the weather? What is Ciena's stock price right now?
Never mind those ads that keep showing up, that's just a minor inconvenience, right?
And yeah, I need to keep my modem on all the time and tie up my voice line but maybe someday we'll get that T1 installed in the office.
Never mind those ads that keep showing up, that's just a minor inconvenience, right?
And yeah, I need to keep my modem on all the time and tie up my voice line but maybe someday we'll get that T1 installed in the office.
It sure did feel like the future, like a lot of things in the dot com era. Exciting times!
PointCast was what I what load up with new content for long flights. Catch up my news.
> This new medium doesn't wait for clicks. It doesn't need computers. It means personalized experiences not bound by a page - think of a how-to origami video channel or a 3-D furry-muckers VR space. It means information that cascades, not just through a PC, but across all forms of communication devices - headlines sent to a pager, or a traffic map popping up on a cellular phone. And it means content that will not hesitate to find you - whether you've clicked on something recently or not.
Sounds pretty much completely accurate.
Sounds pretty much completely accurate.
I think writers for Wired in the 90s were paid by the buzzword.
In the most generous framing, Wired was (is?) a monthly magazine focused on how tech and the people in it are changing the world, oriented to a general audience.
Every article needs to be about something that's world changing (positive or negative) and they need enough articles to put in between all the ads they sold. If there isn't enough world changing stuff in a given month, or the writers got started on the wrong things, they've got to hype up what they've got.
Every article needs to be about something that's world changing (positive or negative) and they need enough articles to put in between all the ads they sold. If there isn't enough world changing stuff in a given month, or the writers got started on the wrong things, they've got to hype up what they've got.
I remember someone once describing Wired as a dumbed-down version of High Technology and Byte dressed up in Mondo 2000's clothes. That's pretty accurate. Sadly, Wired has somehow been the one that still exists...
Windows users might remember Active Desktop in the context of "push". Oh, those were the days.
Oh, so that's why! Until now, I believed they were used to reduce energy consumption when the screen wasn't used. That's why I believed they were just some gimmicky, useless piece of software.
A bit off topic, but I also miss the screen obliterating hammer we used to play with as kids. Any modern, web rendition of that piece of stress-reliever?
A bit off topic, but I also miss the screen obliterating hammer we used to play with as kids. Any modern, web rendition of that piece of stress-reliever?
You mean this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYatZdABrs
Yes, that's the one. I totally forgot that there were other options too.
It's sad that such cultural artifacts are more ephemeral than a mesopotamian clay tablet. Humans four thousand years from now may wonder what happened that made us culturally unproductive, unaware that almost everything we made didn't even exist.
It's sad that such cultural artifacts are more ephemeral than a mesopotamian clay tablet. Humans four thousand years from now may wonder what happened that made us culturally unproductive, unaware that almost everything we made didn't even exist.
This reminds me of recently learning more about ancient Rome. Since most stuff except for some monuments was built with wood, it's all gone now.
Most people lived in 3 or 4 IIRC story rowhouses. The richest were at the bottom nearest the latrine, and had their own kitchen and servants to work the kitchen. The middle class were in the middle, with some kitchen facilities they operated themselves. The poorest were at the top with no way to cook and relied on street carts.
I was kinda shocked to read this description and how similar it was to a modern city. But since all that is wood, it's all gone. We only know even this because Rome was such a powerful and rich culture that there was a lot of writing, and a comparatively lot got saved for centuries. (Although the vast majority has still been lost, just from estimating based on works cited by ancient works that we don't have copies of)
Writing wasn't cheap, and preserving and transmitting writing isn't cheap. Writing about obvious everyday stuff everyone knows in such an environment has a much smaller chance of making it through the many historical hoops it needed to make its way to us.
Many other more prehistorical places could well have had significant buildup that we would recognize as modern in all but industrialization, but except when someone went to the trouble to build with stone instead of the more common random natural materials like wood.... all gone.
Who knows what went on that we just will never know about because it didn't get written down enough or the culture that wrote it wasn't powerful enough or long lived enough to preserve enough of those writings?
(IANA historian and might be a bit or a lot off. Biggest sources are "Rome: A history in seven sackings" and "Against the grain" Not trying to make strong claims here, just a general sense of wonder at how big the gap between what we assume about the past and what actually was could be. As a layman just dipping my toe into learning more about early history / prehistory, it's shocking and fascinating)
Most people lived in 3 or 4 IIRC story rowhouses. The richest were at the bottom nearest the latrine, and had their own kitchen and servants to work the kitchen. The middle class were in the middle, with some kitchen facilities they operated themselves. The poorest were at the top with no way to cook and relied on street carts.
I was kinda shocked to read this description and how similar it was to a modern city. But since all that is wood, it's all gone. We only know even this because Rome was such a powerful and rich culture that there was a lot of writing, and a comparatively lot got saved for centuries. (Although the vast majority has still been lost, just from estimating based on works cited by ancient works that we don't have copies of)
Writing wasn't cheap, and preserving and transmitting writing isn't cheap. Writing about obvious everyday stuff everyone knows in such an environment has a much smaller chance of making it through the many historical hoops it needed to make its way to us.
Many other more prehistorical places could well have had significant buildup that we would recognize as modern in all but industrialization, but except when someone went to the trouble to build with stone instead of the more common random natural materials like wood.... all gone.
Who knows what went on that we just will never know about because it didn't get written down enough or the culture that wrote it wasn't powerful enough or long lived enough to preserve enough of those writings?
(IANA historian and might be a bit or a lot off. Biggest sources are "Rome: A history in seven sackings" and "Against the grain" Not trying to make strong claims here, just a general sense of wonder at how big the gap between what we assume about the past and what actually was could be. As a layman just dipping my toe into learning more about early history / prehistory, it's shocking and fascinating)
The same goes for mesopotamia. We know a bit from the clay tablets, but we don't know anything about the ephemoral memes of the time.
Occasionally we find clay tablets like the one where the guy is bitching about quality of copper ingots he was supposed to buy for his boss. It's kind of a fun look into normal, everyday life that almost never made it past the recycle bin of history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir
It looks like the program you are talking about, "Desktop Games," is still hosted on: http://www.gemtree.com/program.htm. No idea if it works on modern Windows or not.
Not just CRTs - I had an LCD around 2006 that I left on a browser window for hours and I had the browser's window & menu bar slightly burned in for a good few months after that.
I had this happen a couple times to my iMac. The worst time I went on a week long vacation and my screen never went to sleep.
I used to use this program that flashed the screen white and black rapidly and it would clear it up in about an hour.
Haven’t seen any trouble in a few years, is this a solved problem now?
I used to use this program that flashed the screen white and black rapidly and it would clear it up in about an hour.
Haven’t seen any trouble in a few years, is this a solved problem now?
I have a 2017 5K iMac and don't use screensaver. Just a few weeks ago I noticed that the Dock and menu bar is very slightly burned in.
Yep, there are two different 5K panels on iMacs, off the top of my head LG and Samsung, and the LG one does have slight transient burn in.
It's not "true" burn-in (like CRTs or OLED) as it goes away after a bit but it's fairly easy to trigger with the current trend of very white/light grey designs in macOS, the easiest way to notice it is move from a whitish area to a mid grey one (Daring Fireball is a great example of that problematic grey).
I also have been unlucky on that draw on my 2015 iMac. I barely noticed it at first but newer macOS versions have made it very noticeable sadly. One more reason to run Aerial ;)
It's not "true" burn-in (like CRTs or OLED) as it goes away after a bit but it's fairly easy to trigger with the current trend of very white/light grey designs in macOS, the easiest way to notice it is move from a whitish area to a mid grey one (Daring Fireball is a great example of that problematic grey).
I also have been unlucky on that draw on my 2015 iMac. I barely noticed it at first but newer macOS versions have made it very noticeable sadly. One more reason to run Aerial ;)
Bingo, Daring Fireball on fullscreen shows my burn-in in the full glory.
Can’t recall any burn-in with recent LED displays. AFAIK it is an issue with OLED ones still.
Sure is. My Galaxy S7 has the keyboard and some of the WhatsApp top bar interface (from texting my wife so much) burned in.
[deleted]
> screensavers used to be a neccessity as old CRT tubes would 'burn in' an image if they held it static for too long
Why didn't we just show a black image?
Why didn't we just show a black image?
You could, but it was (and is?) cooler to have flying toasters.
That's not the whole reason, though (at least for the original intent). Turning off CRT monitors means both a cycle added (which is not good for the electromagnets and capacitors) and diminished brightness due to cycling (this is due to the "warming up" needed to ensure that the screen is as bright as it can be, which takes up to around 30 minutes).
Turning off and showing a black image are not the same thing. Some old CRTs had a low power most where the power was on - thus the parts stayed warm - but no image was displayed.
Though too be fair, I think the low power mode wasn't signaled by a black image but instead turning off the sync signals or something like that. (I hope you get the idea that I don't know how it worked here)
Though too be fair, I think the low power mode wasn't signaled by a black image but instead turning off the sync signals or something like that. (I hope you get the idea that I don't know how it worked here)
Show a black image, not turn off.
Could be a UI thing. When the screen is black you expect the monitor to be off and press the on-off switch.
Same thing with switching monitors off after work.
Though same screensavers would run for a while and then switch the monitor to power saving mode, effectively turning it off.
Same thing with switching monitors off after work.
Though same screensavers would run for a while and then switch the monitor to power saving mode, effectively turning it off.
CRTs were in use for decades.
In the early 1990s, there was no power saving. You could turn off the monitor with the front power switch, or use the screensaver.
A few years later, power saving options began to be introduced. The computer could signal to the monitor that it should go into a low(er) power state. Turning on again took at least 5 seconds for a visible picture, sometimes 15-20. That might not be appropriate if the computer had to be used in response to something like a phone call, or visitor at reception.
In the early 1990s, there was no power saving. You could turn off the monitor with the front power switch, or use the screensaver.
A few years later, power saving options began to be introduced. The computer could signal to the monitor that it should go into a low(er) power state. Turning on again took at least 5 seconds for a visible picture, sometimes 15-20. That might not be appropriate if the computer had to be used in response to something like a phone call, or visitor at reception.
CRTS couldn't really show "black". It was more of a dull gray. That's what made the plasma display so amazing with it's true black. LEDs and now OLED are the same except they do not ahve the mass of a dying star.
That's not how CRT physics works.
The screen is charged. That charge causes burn in. The best way to not burn in, short of turning the screen off, is to charge the screen as little as possible. The least charge you can give it is a black signal, which means least burn in.
The screen is charged. That charge causes burn in. The best way to not burn in, short of turning the screen off, is to charge the screen as little as possible. The least charge you can give it is a black signal, which means least burn in.
>The least charge you can give it is a black signal
The point is that you could not give it no signal without it being off. LEDs can do this. The closest to black from a CRT I saw was from Sony's Professional Studio reference monitors that were $32K for a 32" screen. When Sony brought out their OLED reference monitors, they did a side-by-side comparisson of their best CRT, an LCD and the new OLED. All 3 were receiving the same signal, and when the demo started black, the CRT was clearly "on" but the OLED looked "off" with the LCD in between. Just about the time I'm thinking to myself that the CRT brightness was turned up, they switched to reference bars and all were calibrated correctly.
Arguing that CRTs could display true black is arguing against history.
The point is that you could not give it no signal without it being off. LEDs can do this. The closest to black from a CRT I saw was from Sony's Professional Studio reference monitors that were $32K for a 32" screen. When Sony brought out their OLED reference monitors, they did a side-by-side comparisson of their best CRT, an LCD and the new OLED. All 3 were receiving the same signal, and when the demo started black, the CRT was clearly "on" but the OLED looked "off" with the LCD in between. Just about the time I'm thinking to myself that the CRT brightness was turned up, they switched to reference bars and all were calibrated correctly.
Arguing that CRTs could display true black is arguing against history.
I think you've got the wrong end of the discussion, there.
If you can't or don't want to turn you CRT off... then what's the next best thing for avoiding burn-in?
Send it a black signal, or send it a bright signal?
It's the black signal, because it charges the screen less. Charging the screen is what causes burn in. If you charge it less you get less burn in.
> Arguing that CRTs could display true black
Nobody argued this. Where did you think you read this? I said 'show a black image'. Send it a black signal. It's the minimum signal you can send it without turning it off.
If you can't or don't want to turn you CRT off... then what's the next best thing for avoiding burn-in?
Send it a black signal, or send it a bright signal?
It's the black signal, because it charges the screen less. Charging the screen is what causes burn in. If you charge it less you get less burn in.
> Arguing that CRTs could display true black
Nobody argued this. Where did you think you read this? I said 'show a black image'. Send it a black signal. It's the minimum signal you can send it without turning it off.
Or just send it a random signal, such as static or even better, an aesthetic screensaver. Showing black on a CRT didn't save any power, and the computer stayed on anyways (since it often took 3-5 minutes to boot up in those days). Black could mean something is wrong or signal is disconnected.
I can hear the 8-bit flapping sounds in my head, even though I haven't heard them in at least 2 decades.
https://uxfactor.ca/1151/
I know one of the authors of Flying Toasters and sent him the link. Here's what he had to say:
"It's a rough approximation, which is super cool, but misses all of the nuance.
"You see, back in the day, there were very strong competitors to After Dark that had as much or more animations. The thing that set After Dark was a "je ne sais quoi" that felt like an elevated experience. Both the customers & the competitors thought this was some sort of accident, or that the animations were important, but neither of these things was true.
"The secret was that people loved the nuance of interacting with the product (& subtlety in the animations) and it was very carefully designed with cognitive science. I pushed the team very hard before I would let anything be released because I insisted on the nuance."
I know one of the authors of Flying Toasters and sent him the link. Here's what he had to say:
"It's a rough approximation, which is super cool, but misses all of the nuance.
"You see, back in the day, there were very strong competitors to After Dark that had as much or more animations. The thing that set After Dark was a "je ne sais quoi" that felt like an elevated experience. Both the customers & the competitors thought this was some sort of accident, or that the animations were important, but neither of these things was true.
"The secret was that people loved the nuance of interacting with the product (& subtlety in the animations) and it was very carefully designed with cognitive science. I pushed the team very hard before I would let anything be released because I insisted on the nuance."
The first thing I looked for was to see if the toasters would roll, eject toast, flap faster, etc. I guess I'll have to fork it to add those features!
When I was a kid in the 90s learning to program, writing screen savers was one of the best ways to demo your "skills". Also just something creative to do when you didn't really have a project in mind. I still think they're an underappreciated art form, and it's kind of disappointing that OSX only ships with a couple really basic ones. Apple should bundle in all the AfterDark modules (there were several releases).
There was also an amazing set of screensavers which I don't remember the name of, but one of the set was called 'kaos', and a lot of them were based on fractals. If anyone recalls the name of that software...
[edit] I found it! DarkSide of the Mac by Tom Dowdy. Brilliant. http://poubelle.com/DarkSideDocs.html
There was also an amazing set of screensavers which I don't remember the name of, but one of the set was called 'kaos', and a lot of them were based on fractals. If anyone recalls the name of that software...
[edit] I found it! DarkSide of the Mac by Tom Dowdy. Brilliant. http://poubelle.com/DarkSideDocs.html
RIP Tom Dowdy
Tom was a good guy.
I knew Tom Dowdy's name as a 14 year old kid in the early 90s; from DarkSide, which was an important inspiration to me trying to write graphics demos at the time, and I knew I'd seen his name in Apple credits. I've just been reading today how admired and loved he was, and I fell deep into his journals from the culinary academy, and his over-the-top method of making cassoulet, which is my favorite dish on the planet and seems like it was one of his. Many years later, my ex and I also talked about quitting the racket and going to culinary school, but I didn't have the guts. He sounds like an extraordinary fellow, and his work left an impression in my brain. I got DarkSide running on macintosh.js today and took a screenshot of his lovely "Kaos" algorithm, which builds these abstract works over time; I remember watching it for hours on a Mac II.
https://ibb.co/ZTntfD5
https://ibb.co/ZTntfD5
Johnny Castaway [0] was my all-time favorite. Loved the Easter Eggs on certain days, loved that it adapted to the system clock to match day and night themes with real life and found the story entertaining (almost binge-worthy I might dare to say).
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Castaway
[1] https://uxdesign.cc/the-tale-of-johnny-castaway-the-legendar...
[2] http://nivs.dk/jc/ (open source recreation project)
[3] https://genesistemple.com/johnny-castaway-no-johnny-is-an-is...
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Castaway
[1] https://uxdesign.cc/the-tale-of-johnny-castaway-the-legendar...
[2] http://nivs.dk/jc/ (open source recreation project)
[3] https://genesistemple.com/johnny-castaway-no-johnny-is-an-is...
I just want to add that my first introduction to PC's was a 286 or 386 at my friend's house in elementary school. His dad had this screensaver and I remember watching the guy on the island.
Someone reminded me of the iconic toaster screensaver the other day. And I totally forgot that people used to go to a physical store, purchase a diskette or disc with screensavers on it and then install it on their computer for cool points.
Just wild to think of having to go through all of that for something you can download in less than a few milliseconds today.
Just wild to think of having to go through all of that for something you can download in less than a few milliseconds today.
Reminds me of a Kurt Vonnegut story about going to the post office to mail a letter
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9299135
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9299135
> We are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different.
I need this on a shirt. And in a plaque on my desk at the office. And framed at home.
I need this on a shirt. And in a plaque on my desk at the office. And framed at home.
Or copy a friend’s disk, piracy was rife then.
On one hand super cool due to tricks employed, on the other CSS animations tend to be very power hungry
https://www.bryanbraun.com/after-dark-css/all/rainstorm.html
takes <40% of idle low range gaming GPU = nothing, but 30% of one gaming 4GHz CPU thread, what is going on there? Chrome GPU process jumps between 20 an 40% while sliding 6 bitmaps around, something you could even do on a Virge in 1996.
Some time ago I noticed an older 3GHz i5 laptop, otherwise perfectly usable, would start to struggle decoding h264 webcam stream because webmaster decided to use CSS animation for a scrolling title bar superimposed over video feed.
https://www.bryanbraun.com/after-dark-css/all/rainstorm.html
takes <40% of idle low range gaming GPU = nothing, but 30% of one gaming 4GHz CPU thread, what is going on there? Chrome GPU process jumps between 20 an 40% while sliding 6 bitmaps around, something you could even do on a Virge in 1996.
Some time ago I noticed an older 3GHz i5 laptop, otherwise perfectly usable, would start to struggle decoding h264 webcam stream because webmaster decided to use CSS animation for a scrolling title bar superimposed over video feed.
That's why it's a good idea to develop for and test on outdated and underpowered hardware, or at least an emulator of it.
Many of your customers won't have top-notch systems.
Many of your customers won't have top-notch systems.
This might be a situation where we need to publicly shame Google into optimizing Chrome. Something akin to 1998 CSS1 Test Suite ACID tests https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-rise-of-css/ making a case for IE/Netscape fixing their bad implementations.
I'd assume CSS animations would be much more efficient than JS-based animations because they can be entirely comprehended and executed by native code
I wonder if there's some unnecessary reflow going on here? (reflow forces animations to happen on the CPU instead of the GPU)
I wonder if there's some unnecessary reflow going on here? (reflow forces animations to happen on the CPU instead of the GPU)
Me too. They were designed in a way any modern hardware Accelerated GUI 2D/3D engine should be able to perform them entirely in hardware with CPU just pre filling command lists. When I researched the problem I found they might be much leaner on Safari which isnt surprising considering they were proposed by WebKit in 2007, and Apple (in its fight vs Flash) would want them optimized for phone battery. On Chrome they are second class citizen. There isnt even a visibility check - CSS animation will run on 100% obscured or offscreen elements.
You can edit
Hmm, maybe its reading buffer back from GPU and compositing in software? I did an experiment and deleted 5 of the 6 DIVs reducing load to 100MB/s fillrate and CPU utilization didnt even budge .... so Chrome is doing something stupid like reading GPU buffer back to main memory and pushing it to GPU again. This explains why my older i5 laptop was so loaded by stupid tiny text scroll.
You can edit
.rain {top: -4800px;
Hmm, maybe its reading buffer back from GPU and compositing in software? I did an experiment and deleted 5 of the 6 DIVs reducing load to 100MB/s fillrate and CPU utilization didnt even budge .... so Chrome is doing something stupid like reading GPU buffer back to main memory and pushing it to GPU again. This explains why my older i5 laptop was so loaded by stupid tiny text scroll.
Original dev here. I took another look at these and I found a lot of animations that we could convert to transforms to improve performance. I just created a new issue here: https://github.com/bryanbraun/after-dark-css/issues/9
BTW, since 1997: https://www.masswerk.at/flyer/
(Flying toaster images came apparently from there.)
(Flying toaster images came apparently from there.)
These guys also make a version of flying toasters for macOS (it’s what I use as my screen saver):
https://en.infinisys.co.jp/product/afterdarkclassicset/upgra...
Don't forget JWZ of Netscape fame.
https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
NSFW.
Is there a way to slow down the animation or make it more choppy, so it better recreates the experience of running After Dark on my Performa 25 years ago?
open devtools, edit CSS, speed is usually in seconds transformation takes, bigger number = slower
EDIT: or even better
EDIT: or even better
document.getAnimations().forEach(animation => animation.playbackRate = 0.1)
Last year I went down a long rabbit hole of trying to get the original After Dark screen saver to run on macOS. I got pretty close; following a guide and using a Wine wrapper I was able to create a stand alone application that when launched runs After Dark full screen. Wiggling the mouse would exit full screen and close the app. The only part I am missing is getting macOS to launch an app instead of a traditional screen saver.
A link to the original guide and the modified steps I used: https://gist.github.com/atommclain/863e5cd47ab714c1e4e966606...
A link to the original guide and the modified steps I used: https://gist.github.com/atommclain/863e5cd47ab714c1e4e966606...
Given a standalone application, you might just be able to stick the executable in a .saver in the right place with the right Info.plist entries.
Perhaps you need to adapt your work to actually render on an NSView first ...
Perhaps you need to adapt your work to actually render on an NSView first ...
I miss the worms which ate the screen. Very Pink Floyd.
Always loved the Flying Toasters... the XScreensaver version of it stinks in comparison.
I seem to remember there being a city skyline screensaver as well, was there an After Dark 2?
I seem to remember there being a city skyline screensaver as well, was there an After Dark 2?
Was it the Starry Night screensaver in After Dark? I remember staring in awe at my parents’ Mac Plus showing this thing, when I was a kid.
Yes. Starry Night was the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRQYFTPV2W4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRQYFTPV2W4
Here is Starry Night
https://github.com/ldtcooper/starry-night
https://github.com/ldtcooper/starry-night
The Star Trek TOS and TNG After Dark Screensavers took things to another level. Tribbles filling your screen. Worf phasering away your desktop.
I had this as well. It also included sound effects so you stumble to bed late late at night after a long session of _Pathways into Darkness_, or maybe after meeting Achanar for the first time in _Myst_ and just as you're drifting into sleep you're jolted awake by the sound of a communicator establishing a connection, a red alert claxon, or more gently roused by tribbles cooing. You have to stumble back to the computer to turn off the power to your beige Yamaha powered computer speakers.
When I "played" with the PC of my step dad, I somehow made everything a game.
Paint, PowerPoint, even screensavers. Counting elements, making bets with my brother which will appear more often. Pointing fingers at the screen in the hopes nothing will touch it.
Good times.
Paint, PowerPoint, even screensavers. Counting elements, making bets with my brother which will appear more often. Pointing fingers at the screen in the hopes nothing will touch it.
Good times.
My uncle had a PC with the "warp" screensaver on it. My brother and I would sit in front of it and pretend to be Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.
It is rare that something I read getting ready for work actually brightens my day, but this made me actually smile. Thanks for this and thank HN for being the kind of place that a post like this can hit the top of the page.
Somewhat related, I would love a recreation of the W95 3D maze screensaver.
If Berkeley Systems reproduced these screensavers for modern Macs and sold them in the Mac App Store for ten bucks, they would make an absolute killing.
When I was a kind, I liked the Pyro! fish screensaver more than the After Dark one.
Sure, it was in B&W instead of color, but when a bigger fish collided with a smaller fish, he'd eat it!
Edit: here's a video where someone (who was probably -20 years old when it came out) demos it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyLtenNh7Sc
Sure, it was in B&W instead of color, but when a bigger fish collided with a smaller fish, he'd eat it!
Edit: here's a video where someone (who was probably -20 years old when it came out) demos it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyLtenNh7Sc
My favorites were the "Totally Twisted" screen savers from Berkeley Systems - particularly the "Voyer" screen saver where you saw the silhouettes of all the people in their apartments doing crazy things at night.
https://shorturl.at/fDGTW
https://shorturl.at/fDGTW
I liked the daredevil, trying to jump schoolbuses and stuff with his motorbike. Once in a blue moon, he'd be driving a schoolbus trying to jump other stuff.
What's funny is that these screensavers were _expensive_, and thus people pirated them. I remember the most active warez BBS in area had a whole file section dedicated to screensavers.
What's funny is that these screensavers were _expensive_, and thus people pirated them. I remember the most active warez BBS in area had a whole file section dedicated to screensavers.
One of the reasons I turned to open source is that I did pay for most the After Dark series and they all disappeared when Seirra? bought them out and shelved the company. That really killed any interest in commercial software for me.
The link does not work.
My dad ran a flying toaster screensaver on our first home computer, a Macintosh Quadra 610. I used to love it as a kid!
Everytime I passed this appliances store which had this small computer exhibited, I had to stop and stare thought the window for minutes to watch the flying toasters thingie. I was mesmerized. My 486 was nice, but that was sooo cool.. so high res and smooth..
It's missing the music! I still remember the Flying Toasters music 20 years later...
And the toast popping :)
https://youtu.be/3j-SODCxknc
https://youtu.be/3j-SODCxknc
And it's flap! Flap! Flap!
Now help is on the way.
I browse with javascript disabled and this site works perfectly. Kudos for that!
I remembered the time when I was a kid, I was siting in my mom's office, in front of a Windows XP box and browsing through all different screensavers, themes, start button styles, etc.
Good memories.
I was just playing around with an old version of After Dark yesterday and the "Warp" one is the only one out of these that was on it. These mostly seem to be from After Dark 2.0 and later.
I'll just leave this here:
https://schwal10.github.io/lunatic-fringe/
https://schwal10.github.io/lunatic-fringe/
The After Dark "Mandelbrot" screensaver introduced me to the beauty of fractals. Anyone know if the source code is available?
I still have their Simpson's package for MacOS 7 macs... The Itchy and Scratchy one is the best.
There was also a Windows (3.x) version.
There was also a Windows (3.x) version.
Did I miss the night city saver that’s pictured in the logo?? It’s my favorite and does not appear to me there…
Honestly if you can't adjust the doneness of the toast with a little slider, is it really Flying Toasters?
Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
The first thing I tried to do is drag the title bar of that "window".
Needs more homer mowing the lawn in a moomoo.
Warp.
Obviously, warp.
Obviously, warp.
Flying toasters FTW!
Flying toasters!
(2014) please
Lovely work!
I remember in the original version you had all sorts of options, and could even combine screensavers.
For people who may not remember: screensavers used to be a neccessity as old CRT tubes would 'burn in' an image if they held it static for too long - leaving a shadow of the static image permanently. Screensavers kicked in after a few minutes and displayed something dynamic so as to save your screen from burn in.
In the 90's, having a cool custom screensaver was cool (around the same time that having a custom ringtone on your 3210 was cool), and you'd pay money for software like After Dark.