View Full Version : Coolest feature Ever!!!
I recently read a tip on Arstechnica.com on how to run a screensaver (more importantley SereneScenes.com's Marine Aquairium Screen Saver) on the desktop and tried it out for myself.
IT ROCKS!!!
It is without a doubt a crowd pleaser. If they had this running on all the Macs in the Apple stores they would sell like hotcakes.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/02q3/macosx-10.2/macosx-10.2-10.html
MMmmmmm....joyous fish on desktop as I work....Mmmmm....
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/02q3/macosx-10.2/images/fish.jpg
Billicus
Mar 4, 2003, 06:02 PM
I'll bet that's too cpu intensive for my poor old iMac. :o It might catch a few eyes if it was running on the display models.
chibianh
Mar 4, 2003, 06:09 PM
look for an app called Xback or something like that. It does exactly THAT, but with a front end GUI to make it friendlier than typing out the command in terminal.
Yes. xBack is what I am using as well. It works great on my dual gig!
Might be a strain on the older CPUS. Quartz Extreme is required.
Eniregnat
Mar 4, 2003, 06:22 PM
Is Quartz Extreme an application found in OSX or is it an after market product?
Very cool!
It remindes me of the Sundial ap that Alladan baught, and now dosn't offer. It was hearlded as the slowet media player avalible. It alowed a user to configure the background of their desktop to change at an intervle. It also came with stock media, ie 24 hours of a beach in Hawaii, 24 hours of a forest, etc... Very cool.
Quartz Extreme comes with Jaguar. You need certain video cards to support it. I'm not sure which.
WinterMute
Mar 4, 2003, 06:37 PM
I seem to remember reading that you could set the desktop colour to a particular green and sort of chromakey the DVD players output to the desktop, anyone tried that or is it b******t?
evoluzione
Mar 4, 2003, 06:42 PM
i just ditched my marine aquarium (had it for a few months now, time for a change) and am switching between "fluid" and "plasmatunnel" which i think are even more cool. besides the aquarium one is available for peecees too so i've lost that feeling of exclusivity i had when i though it was just us mac owners.
i'm waiting for the real wood fireplace screensaver now. a random generation thing like the aquarium so i don't see a cycle of flames every few minutes. now ~that~ would keep me happy for days on end. :D
medea
Mar 4, 2003, 07:14 PM
A better program to try for this is Backlight, it adds an NSStatusItem (menu item) that you can control the program through.
MightyB
Mar 5, 2003, 12:27 AM
I've tried to run the it through the command prompt, but I get this:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/: Permission denied.
I am the only user and the "admin". I've also repaired my permissions, but have had no luck...
Any suggestions how to change this??
thanks,
Brian
iJon
Mar 5, 2003, 12:52 AM
actually it doesnt take up any cpu power at all. that is why quartz extreme is required. it just sends all processing power to the card. i like it a lot. now to sit back and watch the fishies.
iJon
rainman::|:|
Mar 5, 2003, 12:53 AM
i would *kill* for sundial to be rereleased. that program kicked ass... someone develop a replacement app, quick!
:)
pnw
Just download xBack. It works fine.
evoluzione
Mar 5, 2003, 09:22 AM
Originally posted by medea
A better program to try for this is Backlight, it adds an NSStatusItem (menu item) that you can control the program through.
where can i find backlight???
Stike
Mar 5, 2003, 09:56 AM
Originally posted by evoluzione
where can i find backlight???
Go and get Backlight! Its really better!
You can find it via "search" on versiontracker.com!
evoluzione
Mar 5, 2003, 10:03 AM
Originally posted by Stike
Go and get Backlight! Its really better!
You can find it via "search" on versiontracker.com!
hmmm, that's the first thing i tried, and it came up with nothing. then i try it just now, and i find it. weird :rolleyes:
thanks
back light is nice, though all this is very cpu intensive, even on my new ibook
unc32
Mar 5, 2003, 12:23 PM
Unfortunately, 22 bucks for some fish swimming in the background is a little pricey. Cool though. Are there any cheaper alternatives?
davy the bunny
Mar 5, 2003, 12:49 PM
oops, heh, sorry
Originally posted by uae
Quartz Extreme comes with Jaguar. You need certain video cards to support it. I'm not sure which.
The cards have to have at least 32MB VRAM for Quartz Extreme.
Apple claims that the cards also must be APG, however, there is a hack floating around for the old PCI Radeon cards with 32MB VRAM.
unc32
Mar 5, 2003, 01:21 PM
I mention the screen saver costs 22 bucks. Any good, cheap screen savers out there?
Stike
Mar 5, 2003, 01:45 PM
Originally posted by unc32
I mention the screen saver costs 22 bucks. Any good, cheap screen savers out there?
Try looking for free OpenGL Screensavers on versiontracker. I found about 16 screensavers, my current favourite is "Lattice". It can produce nice images if you play around with the settings. It also looks great as desktop background.
dprlynch
Mar 5, 2003, 02:25 PM
How do you get iTunes to minimize to a tiny window, as shown in the screenshot?
MightyB
Mar 5, 2003, 02:25 PM
the green button
Jeffx342
Mar 5, 2003, 02:31 PM
Thats really cool! Apple should have this in their computers at the store makes it more apealing to the eye
Tommy!
Mar 5, 2003, 03:28 PM
Are there any OSX screen savers that are just plain scrolling text? Like some of those windows ones? I've been looking for one forever and I'd love to have scrolling text as my background...
Eniregnat
Mar 5, 2003, 04:21 PM
Originally posted by paulwhannel
i would *kill* for sundial to be rereleased. that program kicked ass... someone develop a replacement app, quick!
:)
pnw
It isn't likely that the original programmer will venture to rebuild sundial. He sold his company and is working on different projects.
What few people realized that Sundial was a true media player, just a really slow one.
It looks like QE and Backlight are good substitutes if you have the proper hardware. You could use the old photo archives on the Sundial disks with the process described on the first link. The CDs had hundreds of time laps images. It was a very cool product.
Over Achiever
Mar 6, 2003, 08:58 AM
Originally posted by WinterMute
I seem to remember reading that you could set the desktop colour to a particular green and sort of chromakey the DVD players output to the desktop, anyone tried that or is it b******t?
So anyone figure out how to do this? Play a DVD as the desktop?
idkew
Mar 6, 2003, 09:34 AM
Originally posted by hitman
The cards have to have at least 32MB VRAM for Quartz Extreme.
Apple claims that the cards also must be APG, however, there is a hack floating around for the old PCI Radeon cards with 32MB VRAM.
no, 32 mb is recommended, but 16 is only necessary. my 16mb tibook runs qx.
iAndy
Mar 6, 2003, 11:29 AM
Originally posted by evoluzione
i just ditched my marine aquarium (had it for a few months now, time for a change) .....besides the aquarium one is available for peecees too so i've lost that feeling of exclusivity i had when i though it was just us mac owners.
Bad News: Sorry folks, but this type of aquarium screensaver have been available for PC users for YEARS...
Good News: They have now obviously ported it to OS-X. Does this W#ndows version of SereneScreen Aquarium look familiar (or should I say identical) ;-)
http://www.prolific.com/utilities/serene/images/cd640.jpg
Now if someone could only port my sons Thomas the Tank Engine software to OS-X - we would be a happy household...!
Yes it may be identical...BUT...can Windoze users run it on their desktop??? And work at the same time? I'm not sure! ;)
(although I wouldn't recommend editing video with it running...but I've tried! - Office works great though)
Jeffx342
Mar 6, 2003, 03:25 PM
I may buy Xback, but I am wondering will this programe run at startup?
evoluzione
Mar 6, 2003, 03:50 PM
Originally posted by Jeffx342
I may buy Xback, but I am wondering will this programe run at startup?
i like backlight a tad better, seems to run a li'l smoother. and yeah both can be set to startup at login. or you can just go to login items with sys prefs and do it that way
User X
Mar 7, 2003, 08:42 AM
Originally posted by iJon
actually it doesnt take up any cpu power at all. that is why quartz extreme is required. it just sends all processing power to the card. i like it a lot. now to sit back and watch the fishies.
iJon
I had marine aquarium running with xback and the screen saver engine was using anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of my cpu under process veiw (I am using a geforce 3 64meg card, 867quicksilver).That is a huge performance hit. I guess it depends on which settings you choose. It is still a great program though. Some other screen savers use less than 10%.
User X
Mar 7, 2003, 08:45 AM
Originally posted by Jeffx342
I may buy Xback, but I am wondering will this programe run at startup?
In the pull down menu there is a option to start up on login , so yes it will.
User X
Mar 7, 2003, 08:48 AM
I have a problem.....when I wake up the computer from energy saver xback freezes the screen saver and I have to stop it and run it again....a little anoying...anybody else have this problem?
Jaykay
Mar 7, 2003, 09:24 AM
Hey Hey Hey
This is an excellent program for this purpose (and best of all, its free.)
Cool Desktop (http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=16021&db=mac)
MacBandit
Mar 11, 2003, 02:39 AM
I have a new favorite background screen saver. Try out Helios (http://spazioinwind.libero.it/tpecorella/uselesssoft/software/Helios_1.4.0.dmg.gz). You can also get many many more screen savers from the same site by going here (http://spazioinwind.libero.it/tpecorella/uselesssoft/software.htm).
Warning helios uses anywhere between %50 and %80 of cpu time on my Dual/GHz/DDR PowerMac with a G4MX. Though it doesn't seem to hurt the performance of any programs I run. It's CPU demand must be set at Nice +20.
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