Afterglow: Run classic After Dark screen savers on modern macOS

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.

We need this for the Death Toasters from Opus 'n Bill: Brain Saver

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.

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.

I get the nostalgia factor, but is it actually a good idea to use screensavers on modern monitors rather than letting them sleep?

I need this for Wayland. Maybe when the maintainers discover that joy in computing both exists and can be a worthwhile pursuit.

I’m surprised still that there hasn’t been a port of the classic old old Windows screensavers.

"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?

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.

Is there just the one Mowin' Man in More After Dark?

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.

jcs has this on their blog.

https://jcs.org/

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

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.

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.

"You can also browse and install software releases directly from the Internet Archive without leaving the app. "

AFAIK there are a lot of Javascript implementations, e.g.: https://www.bryanbraun.com/after-dark-css/

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.

I’m surprised still that there hasn’t been a port of the classic old old Windows screensavers.

Is there just the one Mowin' Man in More After Dark?

We need this for the Death Toasters from Opus 'n Bill: Brain Saver

They're not as satisfying on today's high resolution displays unless you wanted to also redraw the artwork.

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."

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.

I need this for Wayland. Maybe when the maintainers discover that joy in computing both exists and can be a worthwhile pursuit.

jcs has this on their blog.

https://jcs.org/

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

Dedicated Lunatic Fringe player: https://morphing.cloud/lunacy/

I need the Star Trek modules

They're there. Installable from within the program.

Did you forget to use that download protocol that lets you resume downloads or were you normal. I think it was zoom something.

I get the nostalgia factor, but is it actually a good idea to use screensavers on modern monitors rather than letting them sleep?

Leaving it on all the time would probably dim the backlight eventually more than turning it off, but I’m sure the monitor could handle it. Mostly a waste of energy.

Yes it works, but you need to enable it in the Afterglow settings first.

AFAIK there are a lot of Javascript implementations, e.g.: https://www.bryanbraun.com/after-dark-css/

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.

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.

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.

"HAL 9000". This blog has how to do it on modern machines: https://www.fluffytech.co.uk/fluff/the-hal-project/#top

general idea, rip the 4k vids from YT and use a video screensaver app

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.

You need to enable the Screen Saver module in the Afterglow settings first. Works great.

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.

I forget, doesn't Audacity also have you do this, if you want to be able to export projects as MP3?

winamp did something similar, you actually had to whip the llamas ass yourself

Dedicated Lunatic Fringe player: https://morphing.cloud/lunacy/

I need the Star Trek modules

They're there. Installable from within the program.

They're not as satisfying on today's high resolution displays unless you wanted to also redraw the artwork.

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.

Did you forget to use that download protocol that lets you resume downloads or were you normal. I think it was zoom something.

You need to enable the Screen Saver module in the Afterglow settings first. Works great.

Yes it works, but you need to enable it in the Afterglow settings first.

Leaving it on all the time would probably dim the backlight eventually more than turning it off, but I’m sure the monitor could handle it. Mostly a waste of energy.

"HAL 9000". This blog has how to do it on modern machines: https://www.fluffytech.co.uk/fluff/the-hal-project/#top

general idea, rip the 4k vids from YT and use a video screensaver app

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.

winamp did something similar, you actually had to whip the llamas ass yourself

Took a look to links from your link to get to the 4K YT. At first I wasn't that impressed until I realized it was defaulting to 480p. The 2160 stream looks amazing. Sadly, being it's a YT stream, that might be the cleanest I've seen clips from that movie. Color me impressed as I go off to find the full movie like that.

I forget, doesn't Audacity also have you do this, if you want to be able to export projects as MP3?

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.

yes, although the I recently tried doing this on a cloud Ubuntu instance, and it refused to see the .so file

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!

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!

yes, although the I recently tried doing this on a cloud Ubuntu instance, and it refused to see the .so file

morphing.cloud

Run classic After Dark screen savers on modern macOS

In the ’90s, Berkeley Systems’ After Dark screen savers brought Flying Toasters, Fish, and Starry Skylines to Macintosh screens everywhere. They served a practical purpose in preventing burn-in on CRT monitors, but also entertained, with animations that could be funny, surreal, beautiful -- sometimes gross.

They are works of art worth preserving.

Running After Dark modules in the present day has involved fussy configuration of Mac OS emulators or vintage hardware. Even then, no single emulator or vintage computer can faithfully run every module: some animate too fast, some too slow.

Afterglow is an emulator built specifically for running After Dark modules -- the original 68k module code, not a remake or port -- with no dependencies on ROMs or classic Mac OS. Created in the spirit of software preservation, it makes After Dark easy to enjoy today and for years to come.

See it in action

Afterglow running Flying Toasters, with the module library on the left and its original settings and notes on the right. Afterglow running Satori, filling the preview with intricate red, orange, and gold animated patterns. Afterglow running Bad Dog over a classic Macintosh desktop, with module settings and original notes visible. Afterglow’s Internet Archive browser showing cover art for six releases from After Dark 1.0 through After Dark 4.5J. Afterglow displaying a rotatable 3D preview of the More After Dark retail box.

Features

Import all most of the things

Modules aren’t included, but importing is easy: drag and drop module files, disk images, or compressed archives into the app and Afterglow extracts and imports them automatically. Whatever you have, if there are modules in there, you can probably drop it into Afterglow.

You can also browse and install software releases directly from the Internet Archive without leaving the app.

macOS screen saver

The joy of screen savers is in the surprise and delight of returning to your computer and seeing something unexpected: a psychedelic fractal, a procedurally generated mountain landscape, a Bad Dog defiling your desktop.

Afterglow includes a screen saver module for modern macOS, allowing you to run any of the classic modules you’ve imported.

The Liquid Glass lock screen has never looked better!

Dependency-free

Powered by the Musashi 68k CPU emulator, Afterglow reimplements just enough of the Macintosh Toolbox and OS APIs to run After Dark modules.

No Apple ROM or classic Mac OS installation is required.

And more…

Module controls
Full-screen mode
Randomizer
Multimodule
3D box art
CRT shader
Resource inspector
DrawMorph editor

Questions or feedback?

Visit Afterglow Help

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