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Every default macOS wallpaper

512pixels.net

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Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#161

Post by _thisdot »

Affric wrote: post #92
_benj wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (admirable) these images did incredible psychic damage to kde designers made me chuckle :-) But for real, there is something about a good wallpaper, at least for me, the wallpaper being the first thing I set on a new linux install. I fully believe that a solid default wallpaper can help with desktop manager adoption (i.e. kde, gnome, xfce4), at least for the bohemians types like me!

Do you have a recommendation for a good place to source wallpapers? With the photography it’s one of the things Apple get so right about UX.

Always loved the default wallpapers on Ubuntu too. I still have some old Ubuntu default wallpapers on my Mac!

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#162

Post by KuzMenachem »

vanilla_nut wrote: post #42

I wish more OSes would work with independent photographers to compile a set of beautiful wallpapers. It used to feel easy to find good wallpaper online, but nowadays, especially with macOS's hiDPI settings and my personal desire for #000 true black wallpapers to hide notches and camera holes, it can feel very difficult. Search engines don't yield good results for 4k or 5k images, and a lot of the hi-res wallpaper sub…

One thing I found annoying about the MBP mini LED screen is that macOS will not make the menu bar truly black, no matter how hard I've tried. Even using a #000000 picture as background, with 'Digital Color Meter' claiming that the screen is showing 000 everywhere, in dark environments it's obvious that the menu bar is a different color from the rest of the background.

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#163

Post by judge2020 »

scq wrote: post #127

It's not mentioned on the page, but at least 10.0 to 10.8 are AI upscaled -- you can tell from the artifacts when looking at the image closely. I don't think it's reasonable to call this an "archive", as the link does, when the images have undisclosed changes to them and are clearly not the original files :/

Hmm, this forum post[0] is from 2012 and includes a high res photo from the OS, but it seems nearly visually identical to the photo on 512pixels.net. I don't see almost any artifacts that give me the impression of AI upscaling.

0: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/10-8-new-wallpaper-back...

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#164

Post by xyzwave »

watersb wrote: post #118

You can run screen savers on your Mac desktop (wallpaper), buy running the "ScreenSaverEngine" with the "-background" option from the command line. The executable is inside the screen saver application package. cd /System/Library/CoreServices/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS ./ScreenSaverEngine -background (Earlier versions of macOS have the app under /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources )

Independent of location on disk: `open -b com.apple.ScreenSaver.Engine`

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#165

Post by AlexAndScripts »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #154
AlexAndScripts wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's infuriating finding an excellent wallpaper, only to find that it's 900 pixels wide or "4k" with so much compression it looks worse than uncompressed 720p. That and the grotesque photoshops that fill the results when looking for space wallpapers. On the plus side, Tineye can be quite helpful for finding things in their original size. And I only use 1080p!

> That and the grotesque photoshops that fill the results when looking for space wallpapers Use the HST and JWST pages for space wallpaper sources[1][2]. Make sure to check only the 'observation' checkbox; this filters out all the infographics, 'artist's impressions', simulations, etc. I suggest downloading the TIFF, opening this in some photo post-processing program (Lightroom, Darktable, RawTherapee, etc), and appl…

Thank you! There are some really excellent images there.

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#166

Post by AlexAndScripts »

gaetgu wrote: post #124
AlexAndScripts wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's infuriating finding an excellent wallpaper, only to find that it's 900 pixels wide or "4k" with so much compression it looks worse than uncompressed 720p. That and the grotesque photoshops that fill the results when looking for space wallpapers. On the plus side, Tineye can be quite helpful for finding things in their original size. And I only use 1080p!

Re: space wallpapers My favorite source for all space-related pictures are the Apollo flight journal photography archives[1]. I’m not sure if there’s a better resource, as-is you have to click through to see a higher resolution version to check if the picture is even in focus, but honestly that adds to the fun of it :) [1]: https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap08fj/a08-photoindex.html

Thank you. Beyond the brilliant photos, the archive itself is fascinating.

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#167

Post by sithadmin »

bandergirl wrote: post #155
rezmason wrote: post #72

Don't forget the OS 9 wallpapers: https://512pixels.net/projects/mac-os-9-5k-wallpapers My favorites among these are the gradient-rich desktops that dropped in Mac OS 8.5 back in '98, like those UFO ones. That's when the OS gained support for icons with 24-bit color and 8-bit masks, which are the direct ancestors to today's 1024x1024 32-bit app icons. Perhaps to commemorate this full leveling up of the classic Mac de…

Speaking as an outsider that has no emotional attachment to those wallpapers: wow, they’re really awful (except maybe the first one) I mean one of them is bright green and red? The holy grail of what not to set as a background, as well as one of the most awful color combinations (unless it’s Christmas)

That was the era of rainbow-colored iMacs. Seeing folks use the default wallpaper that matched the case accent color was fairly typical.

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#168

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

archargelod wrote: post #134
_benj wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (admirable) these images did incredible psychic damage to kde designers made me chuckle :-) But for real, there is something about a good wallpaper, at least for me, the wallpaper being the first thing I set on a new linux install. I fully believe that a solid default wallpaper can help with desktop manager adoption (i.e. kde, gnome, xfce4), at least for the bohemians types like me!

> the wallpaper being the first thing I set on a new linux install That's something I also always do. Even though I use i3 with 100% opaque windows (transparency is ugly and distracting IMO). I could only see wallpaper after startup and maybe 2-3 times during the day if I'm switching from my usual workflow. But for some reason I always set the background. Perhaps an old habit from Windows XP days (Autumn is the best…

I'll fight. Vortec Space is the best, after Bliss, and Red Moon Desert is a close third

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#169

Post by nxobject »

tambourine_man wrote: post #156
nomel wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree completely. The best wallpaper is pure black. I haven't used anything other than black in ~20 years.

50% gray is the way to go. I've been doing it since we had to simulate gray by dithering black and white pixels.

I agree. Black and white often pop up against certain types of content (e.g. white spreadsheets on black background, dark mode terminals on white), but gray's a good compromise.

Re: Every default macOS wallpaper

#170

Post by willio58 »

nrabulinski wrote: post #61

To me leopard is the most iconic. In my head it’s the wallpaper of modern macOS. I still remember back in the day that was the first thing I downloaded when I tried to make my Vista PC look at least a little bit like a Mac :-)

Same, leopard was the version that just came out when I bought my first white Macbook with money I saved as a kid shoveling driveways for an entire winter (and admittedly got paid too much by neighbors to do so).

I remember being in awe as I set up that computer and that was the first computer I started writing some HTML on. All these years and 2 Macbooks later my career is in web dev and I _still_ love MacOS.

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