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Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

bryanbraun.com

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Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#11

Post by Nextgrid »

fredley wrote: post #3

Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. 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 somethin…

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.

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#12

Post by ahmedfromtunis »

fredley wrote: post #3

Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. 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 somethin…

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?

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#13

Post by willis936 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #6
fredley wrote: post #3

Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. 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 somethin…

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 hav…

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.

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#14

Post by fredley »

ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #12
fredley wrote: post #3

Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. 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 somethin…

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?

You mean this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYatZdABrs

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#15

Post by donatj »

Nextgrid wrote: post #11
fredley wrote: post #3

Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. 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 somethin…

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?

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#16

Post by donatj »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #6
fredley wrote: post #3

Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. 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 somethin…

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 hav…

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.

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#18

Post by k__ »

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.

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#19

Post by chrisseaton »

fredley wrote: post #3

Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. 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 somethin…

> 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?

Re: Berkeley Systems “After Dark” screensavers recreated in CSS

#20

Post by chrisco255 »

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.

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