ari@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Ari Halberstadt) (02/07/90)
Ok, so this is an old topic, so what. I WANT A SCREEN SAVER that works on all "new" macs and does so with the least amount of extra features. The screen saver should be a CDEV document, with an on/off button, a user settable dim now/dim never area, and a variable time delay before activation. The screen saver SHOULD NOT be like Moire, which creates tremendously annoying patterns (you see, I like to work next to my computer, and moire patterns are very distracting). Hopefully, the CDEV won't cause major bugs. Since it will be as simple as possible, debugging it should not be difficult. This is especially important since I intend to use it on software development machines; if the CDEV alters the mac in some hideous way I'd be very annoyed. I'd be quite happy if this CDEV works on Mac Pluses and up. The CDEV should allow background processing. Also, if a modal dialog pops up from another program then the CDEV should undim the screen for a while and then redim (or blacken) the screen. [this may not be essential]. Actually, the Dimmer CDEV is nearly perfect; only problem is that it runs only on a mac with a color screen. Oh ya, the CDEV should work with multiple screens, dimming them all at once. Remember good old Fade to Black? That was pretty close to a good dimmer, except that if caused bombs, and the floating icon was a little annoying. The interface in the control panel should be kept as simple as possible, both from a programmers point of view and from the users'. This is to help limit the size of the code so that bugs will be easy to find and so that it won't slow down system boot-up significantly. In other words, I just want a nice simple program which will dim/blacken my screen without fanfare. If there are no such programs out there, and if no one is willing to write one, I may, in my spare time, perhaps someday write such a thing. Also, a shareware program will be appreciated (and will finally receive my contribution). Most commercial screen savers cost ridiculous amounts (eg, $50), and I don't even know if they'd work. Thank you all for reading through this posting! P.S. Please email if you're reading this on comp.sys.mac, since I've stopped reading that NG (too much volume to keep up with). Also, if everyone emails, and if enough people seem interested, then I may summarize my results. Finally, FTP site addresses or some other source of the software will be greatly appreciated. -- Ari Halberstadt '91 "May the force be with you" ari@eleazar.dartmouth.edu Disclaimer: "Live Free or Die"