Afterglow: Run classic After Dark screen savers on modern macOS

(morphing.cloud)

73 points | by NaOH 22 hours ago

9 comments

  • Backslasher 24 minutes ago
    Semi-related, I redid just the other day the Flying Toasters in-browser with the full logic from the original, toast-juggler and everything.

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49432857

    Thought about doing it as a Linux screensaver, but I didn't have the patience to actually wait for the idle time, and that way I can share it with my non-Linux-using family.

  • devindotcom 3 hours ago
    I need the Star Trek modules, which I recall waiting overnight to pirate from a BBS on my 14.4k. "Do NOT pick up the phone, mom."

    Also Lunatic Fringe - somehow and for some reason a full top down space shoot-em-up in After Dark. Probably for office workers to play, I do recall there was a "boss mode" that pulled up a fake spreadsheet or something.

  • Scramblejams 3 hours ago
    I need this for Wayland. Maybe when the maintainers discover that joy in computing both exists and can be a worthwhile pursuit.
  • pogue 13 hours ago
    I need this for Windows.

    The After Dark screensavers are on the internet archive, but obviously they look and run like crap since they're made for Windows 3.x to maybe 95/98.

    • netsharc 2 hours ago
      AFAIK there are a lot of Javascript implementations, e.g.: https://www.bryanbraun.com/after-dark-css/
      • pogue 5 minutes ago
        I appreciate the link, but as far as using it aa a screen saver, that's not what I'm looking for.

        I would think if this mac After Dark project is open source, the assets would be available to use in other software.

  • dallen33 2 hours ago
    Has anyone been able to make this actually work as a macOS screensaver? I'm using Tahoe and when I go to System Settings -> Wallpapers -> Screensavers, I don't see any option to select like Afterglow or any of the wallpapers I installed.
    • jamesfmilne 1 hour ago
      Yes it works, but you need to enable it in the Afterglow settings first.
  • alberth 58 minutes ago
    jcs has this on their blog.

    https://jcs.org/

    If you are idle for too long, the flying toasters / screensaver kicks in.

  • dylan604 3 hours ago
    "You can also browse and install software releases directly from the Internet Archive without leaving the app. "

    That's a fine line being walked there. If they are worried about rights issues and not including the bundles, this seems like a risky FU by building this feature in directly. The part about using bundles you may have without asking questions of origin is fine. Otherwise, why not just include the bundles?

    • jedberg 2 hours ago
      This is pretty well trod legally. By the user taking a specific action, it makes the user responsible. Comma.ai uses the same technique. Technically their self driving hardware comes with no software. You have to click a button and point it at their GitHub to get the software on it, but it's automatic after that.
      • schoen 2 hours ago
        We lost a Supreme Court case in 2005 on "inducement liability" (not a familiar copyright doctrine before that).

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Studios,_Inc._v._Grokster,....

        I'm not sure if this doctrine has continued to be applied to anything else.

        • jedberg 2 hours ago
          That's a good point. The other examples didn't involve copyright.

          Hopefully since it's so old, the copyright holders are cool about it.

          ps. Hi Seth, good to see you around!

      • CaliforniaKarl 2 hours ago
        I forget, doesn't Audacity also have you do this, if you want to be able to export projects as MP3?
        • dylan604 2 hours ago
          yes, although the I recently tried doing this on a cloud Ubuntu instance, and it refused to see the .so file
      • micromacrofoot 1 hour ago
        winamp did something similar, you actually had to whip the llamas ass yourself
  • CodeWriter23 2 hours ago
    Anyone get this running? I installed and downloaded content but cannot figure out how to get it to appear under Screen Savers in System Settings.
    • nickt 42 minutes ago
      In screen savers, scroll to the bottom - and click on the easy to miss "Show All" on the right side. You should see Afterglow in the expanded list.
    • jamesfmilne 1 hour ago
      You need to enable the Screen Saver module in the Afterglow settings first. Works great.
  • reaperducer 3 hours ago
    I wish someone would do this for a recently deceased OS X screen saver I loved.

    Someone went through the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and re-created all of the computer screens, with animation.

    It was a masterpiece of mid-century design and space-age optimism.

    IIRC, the author got a cease-and-desist demand, and was left to languish and die when Macs went 64-bit only.