[HN Gopher] Show HN: ANSI-Saver - A macOS Screensaver
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Show HN: ANSI-Saver - A macOS Screensaver
Hi, I've been working on something I've been thinking for long time
but since I had no experience with macOS screen savers I always
posponed. Now thanks to Claude I was able to create a screensaver
that scroll ANSI files while your computer is idle. It allow to
use local ANS files or packs directly from 16colo.rs. Repo:
https://github.com/lardissone/ansi-saver
Author : lardissone
Score : 82 points
Date : 2026-03-07 14:34 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| binaryturtle wrote:
| Those are some intense system requirements.
| adambb wrote:
| (unintentional) satire? almost a meditation on the seemingly
| inevitable bloat of software
| lardissone wrote:
| Ah, yes, I'm not able to test in Intel Macs. Will try to make
| it available to lower macOS versions at least.
| xp84 wrote:
| You might find some volunteers here willing to make Intel
| builds :)
| lardissone wrote:
| it's open source, anyone can help with it, I'm happy to
| merge PRs
| lardissone wrote:
| Just added support to macOS Sequoia.
| user3939382 wrote:
| As someone with a flying toasters tie, I can't wait to try this.
| conception wrote:
| On an aside, I've gotten After Dark to work on Windows 10 with
| some effort. Haven't tried 11 yet.
| jcynix wrote:
| Ah, yes, After Dark, with the "Lunatic Fringe" module, which
| was fun (and was a time sink ;-0). And what I would like to see
| again is the "Stained Glass" module which produced phantastic
| visual effects when tuned a bit.
| retlehs wrote:
| This is really great work, I'm installing this immediately once
| I'm back on my machine
|
| My terminal loads ANSI each time it opens, but requires
| downloading artpacks first: https://github.com/retlehs/ansimotd
|
| I also like how your README suggests specific packs to grab
| superultra wrote:
| Tahoe only? Yikes!
| lardissone wrote:
| I just pushed a new version with support to macOS Sequoia.
| ynac wrote:
| You're inspiring me to attempt a rescue of my last BBS (MajorBBS
| system) from 1991-1993. It had some great ANSI room and section
| screens. It was run from a single 1GB(!!) drive that cost us
| $1000. We had email, a couple stores (one of the first online
| book stores) and store-n-forward mail systems, maybe finger and
| telnet(?). Unfortunately, a neighbor got stoned, had a cigarette
| in bed and burned up his house and ours. Nobody hurt, but the BBS
| wasn't backed up offsite.
| lardissone wrote:
| Beautiful! No backups at all of something? Sorry for your house
| burnt.
| ynac wrote:
| It was a weird time frame. My partner was living in the
| house, and I was moving to Seattle. The backup was pretty
| much inches from the system itself. Not the last time I
| learned that lesson. But, the original SCSI drive did
| survive, even if the machines and desk and couches, etc. were
| all ruined. With HTML coming along we didn't rebuild. It's
| still seems like such a huge loss not having entities like
| BBSs on the internet. Just like the loss of IRC and other
| basic systems / plumbing of the capital I Internet. Yeah,
| they needed upgrades, but that's what IETF, RFC, and scrappy
| hackers are for. <sigh> Loving on the ANSI!
| gwbas1c wrote:
| There were telnet BBSes on the internet in the 1990s. I
| even used some in 2005. Haven't gone looking, but I'm sure
| if you look, you'll find one. (But it might be better to
| use ssh today.)
| mike_d wrote:
| In the BBS days persistent storage was expensive. Backups
| were at best saving something to two different floppy disks.
| If you got lucky you could rebuild most stuff from files you
| had shared with friends.
| lardissone wrote:
| Added a demo video and an explaining post on my own site:
| https://leandroardissone.com/posts/ansi-saver
| pimlottc wrote:
| Minor nit: I kept trying to tap the text to open the video
| before I realized I had to tap the image.
| lardissone wrote:
| ah, good catch.
| primaryobjects wrote:
| This would be great with an option to draw each ANSI line by line
| with pixels drawn left to right. The same way it was experienced
| over dialup.
|
| The options could be baud rates: 56k, 14.4, 2400
| lardissone wrote:
| Sounds like a great idea.
| b800h wrote:
| This is brilliant - thanks!
|
| There are so many packs on that site to choose from, it would be
| great to get some pointers on which ones to install.
| stnvh wrote:
| This is absolutely brilliant. I've been toying with the codebase
| and thought this would work really well similar to the
| 'Macintosh' style animated screensaver present in macOS's more
| recent updates.
|
| https://youtu.be/gSss24I_y3M
|
| Still a bit rough around the edges. I am currently adding per-
| character animation so the grid enters like a "wave"
| gwbas1c wrote:
| Anyone else having trouble getting this to work?
|
| I tried building myself, and the build ended with a certificate
| error. (I get it, distributing software always hits unexpected
| snags.)
|
| Then I installed from zip and when I use preview (in the screen
| saver options,) I just get a blank screen. There's a message at
| the top of the screen, but most of it is truncated from the notch
| from the camera.
|
| ---
|
| Edit: I tried adding sources, but they don't seem to download.
| Not sure why. Sigh.
| doodpants wrote:
| Doesn't work for me either. I'm running Sequoia on an Intel
| Mac. When the saver runs, it says "No art sources configured.
| Open Screen Saver Options to add pack URLs or a local folder."
| I've added all 5 of the recommended pack URLs listed on the
| GitHub page, and even tried clicking the Refetch Packs button,
| but it won't show anything except that message.
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