Windows 3.1 Screensavers, Now On Twitter
Back in the early dawn of the GUI age, cathode ray tubes were the dominant display technology for the personal computer. In order to avoid burn-in of static display elements, screensavers were devised to help prevent this problem. Out of love for the software of yesteryear, [Greg Kennedy] has put together a bot that posts Windows 3.1 screensavers on Twitter.
A Perl script runs the show in this case. Screensavers are packed into “units”, which are loaded by the script. A basic Windows 3.1 environment is then configured, and loaded into a specially patched DOSBOX that allows automated demo recording in a headless environment. Once up and running, video is recorded of the desktop and subsequent triggering of the screensaver. After a couple of minutes, the recording is stopped, and FFMPEG is used to transcode the video into a Twitter-suitable format. It’s then a simple job of Tweeting the video using the standard API.
It’s a fun project that makes sharing old screensavers easy. Be sure to check out the Twitter feed @dot_scr. If you’re addicted to the vintage aesthetic, try this Apple ][ screensaver hack on your Linux boxen. Video after the break.
Name: Saturn
Author: Microsoft / HyperDyne 2000 Software
Settings: (none) pic.twitter.com/6C7mXGtheY— Windows 3.1 Screensavers (@dot_scr) September 21, 2019
Name: IdleWild
Author: Microsoft (Bradford Christian et al)
Settings: Module: Mandelbrot pic.twitter.com/n5gPTMiA9E— Windows 3.1 Screensavers (@dot_scr) September 20, 2019
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