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Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

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Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#51

Post by dhosek »

irusensei wrote: post #32
maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

Not so early internet but what happened to over the top Compiz 3D cube desktops and wobbly windows that catch on fire when closed?

There used to be a great rotating cube animation in OS X when you locked the screen or switched users with fast user switching. It was especially impressive on the 24" iMac screen (I remember being delayed going to lunch one day because everyone in the office wanted to see it in action).

Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#52

Post by dhosek »

maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

Or the old desktop extensions of the early Mac days like talking moose or the one that, when you emptied the trash, had Oscar the Grouch pop out of the trashcan icon and sing, "I love trash"

Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#53

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

irusensei wrote: post #32
maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

Not so early internet but what happened to over the top Compiz 3D cube desktops and wobbly windows that catch on fire when closed?

A couple months ago I loaded compiz on my Debian box. I messed with a lot of the eye candy, then settled into a few fun gee-gaws, like switching virtual desktops via rotating cube, windows that desaturate when not focused, etc and still am using it today. Puts a little whimsy back into my work day.

Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#54

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #46
maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

I remember this kind of purely for fun desktop stuff was all over Windows 3.1 and 95. There'd be shareware apps with no purpose other than making bullet holes appear randomly on your screen, or snow flakes fall everywhere. It was wacky and fun vs. the all serious business that operating systems have become today.

I had the MST3K "creeping error" program that put the guys on screen like when they were watching a movie. They'd randomly make a comment or move. It was pretty fun,and totally useless.

Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#55

Post by bitwize »

irusensei wrote: post #32
maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

Not so early internet but what happened to over the top Compiz 3D cube desktops and wobbly windows that catch on fire when closed?

Older ThinkPads had accelerometers in them to detect when the machine had been dropped and park the disk heads in the instant before it hit the floor hard to avoid data destruction. A Linux driver was written for this accelerometer, and someone had configured Compiz to shift to the virtual desktop immediately to the left or right, depending on which side the laptop had been smacked.

Now that's hack value.

Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#57

Post by [deleted] »

irusensei wrote: post #32
maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

Not so early internet but what happened to over the top Compiz 3D cube desktops and wobbly windows that catch on fire when closed?

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#58

Post by trelane »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #46
maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

I remember this kind of purely for fun desktop stuff was all over Windows 3.1 and 95. There'd be shareware apps with no purpose other than making bullet holes appear randomly on your screen, or snow flakes fall everywhere. It was wacky and fun vs. the all serious business that operating systems have become today.

xroach says hello. https://software.opensuse.org/package/xroach

Oh! And XSnow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xsnow

Re: Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows

#59

Post by airstrike »

irusensei wrote: post #32
maybelsyrup wrote: post #11

This is exactly the sort of fun, random, small project that reminds me of the more anarchic and playful older days of computing and the web. Those days are gone and not coming back, but their spirit lives on in things like this. It’s not some earth shattering YCombinator thing, it’s not a SaaS, it’s not (at least to my eye) about money — it’s a neat thing to do with a piece of screen real estate we all look at a mill…

Not so early internet but what happened to over the top Compiz 3D cube desktops and wobbly windows that catch on fire when closed?

Rotating cube desktops are such good UI/UX I wish they were more mainstream... it really helps compartmentalizing tasks into different virtual/mental spaces
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