2026-02-17 00:02 UTC
Replies (27)
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@cstross__dup_483@wandering.shop 2026-02-18 10:14
@halcyon@bitbang.social Aaaand now I DESPERATELY want to go hunt through the junk room in case I still have the CD for AFTER DARK: TOTALLY TWISTED so I can have the Lawnmower Kittens screensaver again!
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@halcyon@bitbang.social 2026-02-17 23:31
Hi there @csilverman @root42 👋 In brief, the approach is: 1. Load the code and resources from the original module 2. Execute the original 68k module code using https://github.com/kstenerud/Musashi (Thank you kstenerud!) 3. Add handling for unhandled traps to draw to a Metal view, reimplementing the behaviors of QuickDraw one at a time (setting pixels, drawing rects, sprites, etc) Huge thanks to the M.A.C.E project for demonstrating this approach might be viable.
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@jonathankoren@sfba.social 2026-02-17 22:10
@halcyon
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@csilverman@mastodon.social 2026-02-17 22:12
@halcyon This is amazing. I'm curious, how hard was it to reverse-engineer these? I dimly remember that the After Dark manual included technical docs on writing screensavers—an unusually thorough inclusion that I didn't appreciate until years later—but generally, nuts-and-bolts info about the internals of After Dark seems pretty hard to find these days. Any plans to release it at some point?
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@zerodogg@hachyderm.io 2026-02-17 22:29
@halcyon Okay this is amazing. Think this could be ported to ie. Linux? I need some After Dark in my life I feel.
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@lykrast@eldritch.cafe 2026-02-17 22:32
@halcyon :neocat_aww:
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@root42@chaos.social 2026-02-17 22:35
@halcyon any details? Sounds very interesting.
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@oscillik@mstdn.social 2026-02-17 23:25
@halcyon OMG I need Satori
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@rk@mastodon.well.com 2026-02-17 23:43
@halcyon Oh my. Does it have an embedded M68k emulator or did After Dark have some sort of VM (there was a Windows screensaver package that ran screensavers on SCI, Sierra’s adventure game VM).
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@petehare@mastodon.xyz 2026-02-18 00:03
@halcyon @Gte omg this is taking me right back in time
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@jessek@mastodon.online 2026-02-18 00:05
@halcyon Thought those were so cool in the 90s, even though I couldn't afford a mac
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@waynedixon@mastodon.social 2026-02-18 00:07
@halcyon
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@dgentry@mastodon.social 2026-02-18 00:22
@halcyon Oh, wow. I'm pretty sure I still have the After Dark CD, and the second After Dark CD, from all those decades ago. I could have flying toasters again...
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@whophd@ioc.exchange 2026-02-18 00:38
@halcyon This is the way.
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@superpixels@mastodon.social 2026-02-18 00:40
@halcyon This is awesome
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@FormerlyStC@mas.to 2026-02-18 00:40
@halcyon Dare I dream of playing Lunatic Fringe again?
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@jsnell@zeppelin.flights 2026-02-18 00:48
@halcyon @Gte As the former Screen Saver beat editor at MacUser magazine, I approve this entire project. Gold stars all around!!
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@deviantintegral@drupal.community 2026-02-18 01:26
@halcyon Wow, awesome! Think it’s possible to actually run them as macOS screensavers? Next level would be to integrate with the animated lock screen and desktop to use a static image from AD as your background.
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@darren_robinette@mstdn.social 2026-02-18 02:02
@halcyon Annnnnddd…. take my money!
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@metaning@mastodon.social 2026-02-18 03:16
@halcyon extra credit assignment, can you implement the settings as a tear-off palette?
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@virtualwolf@toot.virtualwolf.org 2026-02-18 10:44
@halcyon :takemymoney:
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@computernut43@nexto.my 2026-02-18 12:00
@halcyon I have this as my screen saver on my M1
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@Eric_Neue@indieweb.social 2026-02-18 17:46
@halcyon If you’re working on a downloadable app, could you add me to your release announcement list? If not, do you have a public repo?
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@QueenieDeerhart@meow.social 2026-02-20 02:11
@halcyon @kieran Ok, there is a level of need right now...
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@MacBalance@mstdn.games 2026-02-21 01:11
@halcyon Now I’m trying to remember why, circa 1998, i wrote a super basic screensaver for my Mac Classic II. Did macOS not have password protection at that point? I was in a dorm and may have wanted to keep my roommates from messing with my computer.
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@garyseven@mastodon.social 2026-02-26 04:09
@halcyon@bitbang.social Well done! Want.
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@arroz@mastodon.social 2026-02-26 07:07
@halcyon@bitbang.social Awesome! Can you wrap this into an actual modern macOS screensaver module?