taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) (08/31/90)
I just received the 2.0 revision of After Dark, the screen saver from
Berkeley Systems, and all I can say is "Wow!" The new modules, especially
Fish and Flying Toasters, are just quite exceptional. The quality of the
animation (on my IIci with a 4-bit portrait display) is better than most
of the games I have, and it all just seems to work that much better than
the original After Dark too. (btw, for those Fish fanatics that may have
seen versions of the program that, for example, were on the Microsoft
Office CDROM, the version with After Dark seems a lot smoother and more
enjoyable)
Sound, however, is definitely kind of weird and I've pretty much turned
it off on all the modules I have in use -- it's just too jarring to have
strange beeps and whirs emitted while my screen is supposed to be being
'saved' (is there a speaker saver INIT? :-)
Finally, the packaging is much more up to snuff with other professional
packages, and it's a lot easier to keep track of the documentation,
disk, and so on.
Damn good job, Berkeley Systems! Check it out!!
-- Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California
taylor@limbo.intuitive.com or {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylorins_apw@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Philip Wong) (09/04/90)
I tried this guy out...2.0c and it is still too buggy to be used. I admit taht the screen savers modules are the best ever--Satori is my favorite. For anyone with a ci or wanting to do telecom, the program is unusable. It causes conflicts with fonts (menus as well as files) and doesn't work with modems...ie when you are u/l or d/l, it doesn't go on if you are using System IQ. When you aren't using System IQ, it crashes. Pyro 4.0 (I hate to say it) is much better if you are an avid telecommer.
roskar@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Veljko Roskar) (09/04/90)
In article <6319@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> ins_apw@jhunix.UUCP (Philip Wong) writes: >I tried this guy out...2.0c and it is still too buggy to be used. I admit ... >modems...ie when you are u/l or d/l, it doesn't go on if you are using System >IQ. When you aren't using System IQ, it crashes. Pyro 4.0 (I hate to say it) ... I spoke to Bruce (the author) before ordering my upgrade. He assured me that the System IQ fuction takes care of problems with uploading/downloading. He said that the SSaver will come on during up/downloads, but it will just be animated slower, causing 2-5% slowdown in the transfer. I haven't received it yet, so I can't say anything else but hope it works as he claimed. I tried Pyro 4.0, but found it a pain to set-up. I also think that Pyro slows down transfers a bit. Has anyone determined by how much? -- Veljko Roskar | roskar@jhuvms.bitnet Department of Chemical Engineering | roskar@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore | uunet!mimsy!aplcen!jhunix!roskar
isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Ken Hancock) (09/05/90)
In article <6319@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> ins_apw@jhunix.UUCP (Philip Wong) writes: >I tried this guy out...2.0c and it is still too buggy to be used. I admit >taht the screen savers modules are the best ever--Satori is my favorite. >For anyone with a ci or wanting to do telecom, the program is unusable. >It causes conflicts with fonts (menus as well as files) and doesn't work with >modems...ie when you are u/l or d/l, it doesn't go on if you are using System >IQ. When you aren't using System IQ, it crashes. Pyro 4.0 (I hate to say it) >is much better if you are an avid telecommer. I've had no problems with bugs in After Dark 2.0. True, it doesn't come on when you're downloading when System IQ is on, but that's the whole point of System IQ. If it finds a lot of CPU time going somewhere, it figures that the CPU is doing something. Turing on the screensaver would only take away CPU time from that process. Personally, I leave System IQ off most of the time. For downloads, I find that the performance drops from maybe 95% to 93%. For local calls, that doesn't bother me too much. It's never crashed on me. Ken -- Ken Hancock | This account needs a new home in MA... Isle Systems | Can you provide a link for it? isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu | It doesn't bite... :-)
hallett@enterprise.positron.gemed.ge.com (Jeff Hallett x5163 ) (09/06/90)
Hmm. Tirades on the new After Dark. Is it shipping automatically or
did you have to order it? If so, when did the announcement come out
(obviously, this is the first I've heard of it and I'm a registered
user).
Sounds cool. Can't wait.
--
Jeffrey A. Hallett, PET Software Engineering
GE Medical Systems, W641, PO Box 414, Milwaukee, WI 53201
(414) 548-5163 : EMAIL - hallettJ@gemed.ge.com
"Keep that sense of humor. It's critical."ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM (Norman Goodger) (09/06/90)
In article <6319@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> ins_apw@jhunix.UUCP (Philip Wong) writes: >I tried this guy out...2.0c and it is still too buggy to be used. I admit >taht the screen savers modules are the best ever--Satori is my favorite. >For anyone with a ci or wanting to do telecom, the program is unusable. >It causes conflicts with fonts (menus as well as files) and doesn't work with >modems...ie when you are u/l or d/l, it doesn't go on if you are using System >IQ. When you aren't using System IQ, it crashes. Pyro 4.0 (I hate to say it) >is much better if you are an avid telecommer. Well I don't know whats wrong with your Mac, or what else you have installed that is causing all the problems you site, however on my IIcx I have no problems downloading files, I have no font conflicts (that is a hard one to buy, since AD is all graphics). No menu conflicts, no problems at all actually. AD2.0 works with my modem without problems. If I were you, I would look for other problems, as AD2.0 causes none of those problems on my Mac. problems, you got one somewhere.... -- Norm Goodger SysOp - MacInfo BBS @415-795-8862 3Com Corp. Co-SysOp FreeSoft RT - GEnie. Enterprise Systems Division (I disclaim anything and everything) UUCP: {3comvax,auspex,sun}!bridge2!ngg Internet: ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM
bruce@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Bruce Burkhalter) (09/07/90)
>I tried this guy out...2.0c and it is still too buggy to be used. I admit >taht the screen savers modules are the best ever--Satori is my favorite. >For anyone with a ci or wanting to do telecom, the program is unusable. >It causes conflicts with fonts (menus as well as files) and doesn't work with >modems...ie when you are u/l or d/l, it doesn't go on if you are using System >IQ. When you aren't using System IQ, it crashes. Pyro 4.0 (I hate to say it) >is much better if you are an avid telecommer. I am sorry to hear you are having problems with AD 2.0. While I am not sure exactly what problems you are having, I do know that AD 2.0 was tested extensively with Mac IIci's and telecom software (in fact that is exactly what I am running right now.) I don't know what is going on with fonts but AD 2.0 does not do anything with fonts.
jem@sm.luth.se (Jan Erik Mostr|m) (09/07/90)
>I tried this guy out...2.0c and it is still too buggy to be used. I admit >For anyone with a ci or wanting to do telecom, the program is unusable. I've got 2.0s and a ci and have no problems jem
ins_apw@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Philip Wong) (09/09/90)
It could easily use a lower CPU intensive module like Pyro does. Simply flashing a pict around doesn't take much CPU time. Hasn't anyone else had trouble with crashes on AD? I've had crashes with TOPS and also while d/l and u/l. It also causes problems with ATM or something such that all the icons and menus loose their names. All that is left is their first letter and in a wierd font. I still can't say I would recommend it until some of these major things are ironed out. ins_apw@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU <--use this address, not the UUCP one
news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU (Six o'clock News) (09/09/90)
>Hasn't anyone else had trouble with crashes on AD? I've had crashes with >TOPS and also while d/l and u/l. It also causes problems with ATM or something >such that all the icons and menus loose their names. All that is left is >their first letter and in a wierd font. I still can't say I would recommend >it until some of these major things are ironed out. > >ins_apw@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU <--use this address, not the UUCP one From: bruce@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Bruce Burkhalter) Path: cory.Berkeley.EDU!bruce Philip, please call our Technical Support! You have said you are having problems with AD 2.0 earlier. We can't help you unless you get in touch with us. We have not heard of *any* the problems you are having. We have TOPS running all of the time with no problems. I have no idea what is going on with fonts. As I said before, AD 2.0 does not do anything with fonts. We find that most problems people have are caused by some weird init or a corrupted System file. While I am not ruling out a problem with AD 2.0, I believe problems like you are having would have been reported in droves awhile ago. AD 1.1 had a problem on the Mac IIci and within 2 days we had over 20 reports of the problem. Please call us! If there is a problem with AD 2.0, I want to fix it. If there isn't, I don't want AD 2.0 to get a "bad rep" on the net. You also had questions about how and why AD 2.0's System IQ works. When enabled System IQ monitors disk activity, CPU activity, and serial port activity. If AD 2.0 senses that the Mac is busy, it will not go to sleep. If AD 2.0 is already asleep and the Mac becomes busy, AD 2.0 will slow its animation way down to 1 frame per second giving more time to the Mac. We feel this is better than Pyro!'s way. Pyro! has "primary" and "secondary" modules that flip back and forth when the Mac is busy. The moduls also have a "persistance" setting that controls how busy the Mac must be before it will switch. We feel this is complex, confusing, and overkill. System IQ is a simple check box and for most users it is more than enough. Bruce Burkhalter Berkeley Systems, Inc.
pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (09/10/90)
In article <27619@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU (Six o'clock News) writes: >>Hasn't anyone else had trouble with crashes on AD? I've had crashes with I was having some weird problems with crashes when the machine was inactive - ie. I had left for a while and when I came back the screen was frozen and all I could do was reboot. The crashes were new in that I hadn't been experiencing them the whole time so I started thinking about new INITs. I finally shut off something called LaunchINIT, which keeps a logfile of all the applications that are run, when they are run, and how long they run for. Since shutting that one off, I haven't had any problems. Seems strange that AD and LaunchINIT would conflict, but as far as I can tell that was the problem. It's ambiguous because I couldn't replicate the AD crashes at will - they just happened every few hours or so randomly. Moral of the story. It's worth checking out other INITs before immediately blaming AD. Adam -- Adam C. Engst pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu --------------------------------------------------------------- Editor of TidBITS, the weekly electronic Macintosh news journal