Moire ScreenSaver (portions (c)1987-88 John Lim) is a program that is installed via a cdev file that can be accessed from the Control Panel. After Moire (pronounced mwahr) ScreenSaver is installed, when the Mac is left inactive the screen will be darkened (to prevent the screen image from burning into the phosphor of the CRT) and a pretty Moire pattern will appear. To turn off the screensaver when it is activated, move your mouse. While the Moire pattern is moving, press a few keys to see some special effects...
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VERSION HISTORY
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2.22
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This version fixes the problems with Kermit, etc. Also fixes a problem with multiple screens, and now handles 12/24 hour settings properly. The speed settings have also been modified, and the speed differential between the lowest
and highest settings is more noticable now. Furthermore Moire is now 100%
compatible with Font/DA Juggler.
2.12
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Official release of the colour version of Moire. Program made compatible with other PD Clocks. Problems encountered with Kermit and several other programs in UniFinder. Apologies to all who so suffered, but I mostly use MultiFinder and so never encountered nor suffered from these bugs.
1.45
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Final non-colour version of Moire. Released only in Australia.
1.41
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Accidental release of a beta version to the world.
1.40
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Featured a digital clock for the first time. This version had problems with Excel.
1.2
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Experimental. Only released in Singapore. Used an unusual method for polling for inactivity that was later discarded.
1.1
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First release of Moire.
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More Good Stuff
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Clock
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Moire╒s built-in menu clock should now handle colour monitors correctly. I decided to on providing a clock because all previous menu clocks I have seen are incompatible with Moire in the sense that there's no way to turn them off when the screen is blanked.
If Moire╒s clock is turned off, Moire will not draw it╒s pattern on the menubar. This means that so-called ScreenSaver compatible clocks will not interfere with Moire anymore.
Hope you like the clock. It's drawn a bit high so it won╒t obscure a long menubar with many menu titles too badly. It also automatically adjusts itself so that it does not obscure the MultiFinder application icon nor Easy Access. If you don╒t like the clock, you can also disable it now.
Multiple Screen Problems
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There were some problems with multiple monitors on a Mac 2. Multiple
black and white monitors should work with no problems now. However colour and monochrome monitors used together on a Mac 2 might still produce funny results. Hopefully this will be fixed when I buy a similar setup (or access to one).
Other Changes
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A trouble-shooting section has been added to the docs to indicate possible problems and workarounds. The problem with printing with MacWrite has been fixed provided you use System 4.1 or later, and now Moire should be compatible with MegaScreens.
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GENERAL GUIDE
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Installation
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To try it out, place the Moire cdev file in the System Folder and open it using the Control Panel (use the Control Panel found in System 4.0 or later). Opening the cdev will automatically install the screensaver in memory if it has not yet been installed. ( A ╘cdev╒ is a file that the Control Panel can access).
NOTE : If Moire complains that there is insufficient memory, it means that there is not enough memory in the System Heap. Reboot and it should work.
If you like the results, keep it in your System Folder and every time you bootup Moire ScreenSaver will install itself. During installation on bootup, the Moire icon will appear at the bottom-left of your screen. If you don╒t want Moire to be installed hold down the Shift-Key until the desktop appears on the screen. Any errors during installation are indicated by beeps.
This program will work on any Macintosh with 128K+ Roms. Any System from 3.2 onwards can be used, subject to the following provisos :
Ñ System 3.2 : You must change the Moire cdev file type from cdev to INIT, and then place Moire cdev in the System Folder and reboot. You can do this using the utility provided, ╥Moire cdev =>INIT╙.
Ñ System earlier than 4.1 : You may not change the Permanent Settings from the Control Panel as it needs to use the new routine PopupMenuSelect(). Instead, the Mac will beep when you click the the Change Settings box.
Moire cdev => INIT
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For people who are using System 3.2, or are real squeezed for floppy disk space, I have included in the Moire Release the above utility. This will convert the cdev to an INIT (a startup document). This makes the code much smaller (about 8.5K vs. 16K), but the INIT will no longer be configurable from the Control Panel. I suggest you prepare all the default settings you like from the cdev, then run the above program on the configured cdev to create an INIT. If you are using System 3.2, I suggest you run a newer System temporarily to do this, or do it on a friend╒s Macintosh.
Note that the cdev is not altered in any way by this program.
Configuring Moire ScreenSaver
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If you access the program from the Control Panel with System 4.1 or greater, you may configure the following settings - shape, speed, and length. Click in the shadow-framed box that says ╥Click Here To Configure Moire╙. A hierarchical pop-up menu will appear that will allow you to choose how the Moire pattern appears. These settings come into affect everytime you bootup and whenever you access the Moire cdev from the Control Panel.
The settings are :
Ñ SHAPE allows you to set the default shape that appears on bootup.
Ñ ACCELERATION sets the variability of the movement. 1 means that the movement is extremely stately. 0 means that the lines will swing wildly about.
Ñ LENGTH sets the number of lines used in the pattern.
Ñ RANDOMIZE sets the probability that Moire will randomly pick a new shape.
Ñ CHANGE EVERY╔ sets how often Moire changes shape, subject to the preset probability. This menu is not available when RANDOMIZE is set to ╘Never Change╒.
If you set RANDOMIZE to Always Randomize, all shapes should appear 1/11th of the time (there are 11 shapes). If you set it to 50%, the default shape will be automatically displayed half of the time, and the rest of the time all the shapes will each have a 1/11th chance of appearing. For example, when you set the probability to 50%, the default shape will appear 1/2+1/11 = 6/11th of the time, and the other ten shapes have a 1/22nd chance of appearing.
If you have background tasks running, the speed and length settings will NOT affect the speed of those background tasks even if the speed is set to 0 and length to the maximum of 100 lines. However, some shapes, like the oval, are computationally more expensive than others.
Colour
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If your Macintosh supports colour, then clicking on the ╘Colour╒ button will display the standard Colour Picker dialog box for you to choose a colour for Moire to appear in. Moire will then draw itself, when activated, in the colour chosen on a black background.
If you set the colour to black,i.e. RGB = (0,0,0), then Moire will default to colour animation. This means that Moire will randomly chose a colour from a palette and then cycle through the colours in the palette.
Features
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When Moire ScreenSaver is installed the screensaver will activate itself after there has been no user activity for a preset number of minutes. The length of time before Moire ScreenSaver activates itself can be configured from the Control Panel. The new setting is put into effect when the Control Panel is closed or another cdev is selected from the Control Panel. This setting is also saved in the Moire cdev file if the disk is not locked; so the next time you boot up, the new setting will be used.
I use the AutoBlack protocol for controlling darkening the screen as AutoBlack is so widely used. This means that if you place the cursor in the top-right corner of the screen the screensaver will automatically be activated, and if the cursor is put in the bottom-right corner the screensaver will be disabled for as long as you keep the cursor in that corner. (Write to me and complain about this ╘feature╒ if you don╒t like it. If enough of you complain, I will implement corner selection in the next version:-).
While the screen is darkened, a Moire pattern will appear. Try typing these keys while the pattern is active :
'[' and ']' shorten and lengthen the moire queue.
'q' toggles speed quantization.
'1'-'9'-'0' set a speed limit for points (1 = slow to 0 = fast)
' ' - hit spacebar for help.
'c' - toggles the clock.
'a' - toggles colour animation, which is only useful if you
set the default colour to some other colour than black.
Other keys change the pattern╒s shape:
'r' - rectangle
'o' - oval
'd' - diamond
't' - triangle
'p' - pentagram (for satanic users)
'h' - hourglass
'v' - a vee
'x' - an ex
'+' - a cross
'/' & '\' - slanted lines
You may also disable the Moire ScreenSaver temporarily from the Control Panel. This disables it as long as the Macintosh is left on, or until you open the cdev again from the control panel.
The clock may be permanently turned off from the Control Panel. If the ScreenSaver has already been turned off, the clock is disabled.
Trouble-Shooting
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Q. When copying files in the Finder, why does Moire erase the disk icons ?
Ñ This is a bug in the design of the original Finder that apparently has never been corrected.
Q. Why does Moire darken the screen and fails to draw any patterns ?
Ñ This is because Moire only draws the to screen when your foreground application is idle. Thus if you are printing Moire will probably only darken the screen because printing demands some computational power and Moire gives as much of it to the printing program as possible. Future versions of Moire however might allow Moire draw to the screen in all circumstances.
Q. Why does Moire permanently erase the windows of some programs ?
Ñ These programs are poorly written. All well-written programs are required to respond to a command from the operating system when windows are updated. Some programs ignore this message because they assume that no window will be in front of it, which isn╒t strictly true if Moire is installed.
Q. When I have the clock installed, why do I have to swap disks all the time in Copy ][ Mac ?
Ñ Copy ][ Mac clears as much of memory as possible for its own use. This flushes out the Monaco font from memory, which is needed to draw the clock. The fix is to disable the clock first. (Expert Tip : Set the System Heap bit for the font).
Q. Why does Moire move in jerks in some programs ?
Ñ A possible reason is that you may have other programs that work in background running at the same time as Moire. For example TOPs or a Clock INIT. There╒s no easy fix for that unfortunately short of removing the other background program or upgrading to a faster computer.
Q. Are there any programs that won╒t work with Moire ?
Ñ This is a toughie. Artisto+ DA has a problem. The first time you are prompted to open a file, do NOT activate Moire. You will hang. Activating Moire when opening files from the DA menu seems ok however. The fact that it does work from the DA menu suggests that Artisto+ does not initialize its data structures properly in certain circumstances. The fix is not to activate Moire when the Artisto GetFile dialog box appears - pretty simple, huh ?
Q. The Moire icon is displayed on bootup, but it doesn╒t activate. Why ?
Ñ Is your disk locked ? The first time you boot up on a particular machine, Moire attempts to customize itself to adapt to the system. If you lock the disk, Moire is unable to save the customized features and won╒t activate. After customization, you may lock your bootup disk again as customization is only needed the first time. If you change computers, systems, hard disks, printers or install a new card into your computer you might need to recustomize Moire by booting up on an unlocked disk.
Q. I hate your clock ! What can I do to replace it with my own ?
Ñ If you take that sort of attitude, I╒m not going to speak to you... Seriously though, if you disable Moire╒s clock and use your own clock program, you will be glad to know that Moire does not draw its patterns in the menubar anymore, so screensaver compatible clocks will stay turned off. This won╒t work if you have multiple monitors positioned in funny positions. If you use my clock, the full screen including the menubar is used in drawing the patterns.
Ñ Another advantage of using my clock is that it is very fast and small. If you use some of the public domain clocks in conjunction with Moire on a 68000 Mac, Moire might move jerkily when activated. This is because the pd clock is taking too much computational power away from Moire. However Moire╒s internal clock turns itself off when Moire is active, so that Moire gets going on full engines.
Q. How come some FKEY╒s don╒t work when Moire╒s running ?
Ñ Moire disables all FKEYs except for FKEYs 1 to 4. This is because there are too many FKEYs that have unpleasant side-affects if they are activated when Moire is running. Another side-effect of this is that some Macro programs, like QuicKeys, turn themselves off when FKEYs are disabled.
Q. On a colour Macintosh, Moire appears to interfere with the colour windows. After Moire is deactivated, all the colour is distorted. Why ?
Ñ This is because the programs you are currently using do not comply with Apple guide-lines for colour programs, i.e. the Palette Manager. An example of such a program is PixelPaint version 1.0. SuperMac has released version 1.1 of PixelPaint that remedies this problem.
Q. The fonts used by other cdev╒s in the Control Panel look funny after I open Moire. Why ?
Ñ This is problem only with older Control Panels. I suggest you upgrade to Control Panel 3.2 or later.
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TECHNICAL SECTIONS FOLLOW :
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Why should you use Moire ScreenSaver ?
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There already exist at least two other well-known screensavers, AutoBlack and Pyro!¬.
AutoBlack is excellent in my opinion as it is very transparent to the user, but it takes up a lot of memory (at least 22K) and also it steals some cpu cycles - that is it ╥might╙ slow down your computer during cpu intensive tasks. For example if you are compressing a large file, AutoBlack will activate itself if you shift the cursor to the top-right corner, slowing down the compression process. Moire ScreenSaver might darken the screen, but it will probably not draw the moire pattern on the screen - thus saving cpu cycles. Similarly during i/o intensive tasks like reading/writing to disks, Moire will not use the processor as extensively as AutoBlack (though this isn╒t so important).
Pyro!¬ is nice, but it disables any foreground tasks that the application is currently running. For example, if you are using a terminal emulation program while you are logged onto Compuserve and receiving a TEXT file, Pyro!¬ will refuse to turn itself on.This is NOT application-friendly in my opinion. Conversely, Moire ScreenSaver enables foreground tasks because it only draws the Moire pattern whenever the foreground application calls SystemTask().
(Stop Press : version 3 of Pyro!¬ is rumoured to enable foreground tasks).
The last reason why I think you should use my ScreenSaver is because it╒s interactive, and it╒s prettier !
Theory of Operation
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This program polls GetNextEvent() and EventAvail(). If the mouse is in the special corners, the appropriate tasks are carried out. If we have been receiving nullEvents for a preset number of minutes,a new dialog window the size of the screen created and painted black. Then whenever SystemTask() is called the moire pattern is drawn on the new window.
If the screen is painted black but no pattern is drawn, it probably means that the application calls GetNextEvent() but doesn╒t call SystemTask(). If nothing happens when you move the mouse to the top-right corner, it means that the Window Manager is not initialized or the application is not calling GetNextEvent() - this probably implies that the Mac is doing something cpu-intensive, so the screensaver should not be activated anyway. If the moire movements are jerky (as in MultiFinder on a Mac+) it is because SystemTask() is called infrequently by the application (see about MultiFinder below).
Under Switcher the Hibernation flag is set when the screensaver is activated. This means that Switcher background tasks are disabled. This is necessary as otherwise conflicts can occur between the current active application╒s process and the screensaver╒s task.
Note that because the screensaver uses the Window Manager, it is the application╒s responsibility to save and restore the screen; so if a program does not properly save the screen when the screensaver is ever activated, make sure you keep the cursor in the bottom-right corner !
Big Screens
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This screensaver will work with big screens and multiple-screen Macs. If you have 2 or more monitors Moire will darken all screens and then the pattern will move across all screens as if they were one ! However Stepping-Out¬ poses a problem because it dynamically modifies the screen-size. Therefore the program always checks the screen-size whenever the Moire cdev is accessed via the Control Panel and just before the Moire is activated.
This means if Moire ScreenSaver is misbehaving because of a change in screen-size, just open Moire cdev again from the Control Panel.
MultiFinder
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Moire works best with MultiFinder when you are using at least System 4.3 onwards. This is because earlier Systems had bugs which might prevent Moire from activating itself under certain unusual circumstances.
Colour
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Moire uses the Palette Manager to arbitrate its colours. If colour animation is selected, colours are randomly selected based on HSV coordinates, then converted to RGB. Colours with a saturation less than 0.9 and a value below 0.5 are not selected.
Acknowledgements
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Congrats if you read every line of my documentation up to this point. No one I personally know has read all of it, judging from the questions they pose to me. I tell them, it╒s all in the docs, but they never listen !
Moire ScreenSaver was inspired by Pyro!¬ by Steve Brecher. I thought that I could do it better╔
Thanks especially to Jason Castan for the colour testing, and also Stuart Burden, Ray Ryan, David Platt, Greg Ward, Jeff Laing, Graham Cottew and Simon Darcy for their testing and bug reports. Also thanks to John Pearce and William Orvis for their help with the Kermit and Word bugs. This program was written using LSC, and thus portions ⌐ THINK Technologies.
The Moire algorithm was taken from some code distributed via UseNet. Unfortunately the author of the code forgot to include his name, so if the moire code looks mighty familiar to you write to me and I will include your name in the next version. I hope the author answers sometime because it╒s been nearly a year since Moire was first released and I haven╒t got any reply from him/her yet.
I reserve all rights to the portions of the program that were written by myself. This program is now shareware unlike previous versions because of the numerous improvements made and the many hours of testing to ensure that all the improvements actually did work. Virtually every line of the program has been rewritten. Therefore I ask you send a $10 licensing fee to the address given below. I don╒t mind foreign currency, but there╒s a $2-3 Australian charge for converting overseas cheques, so please don╒t send me 10 Yen or worse.
Moire does not come with any warranty at all. Any screensaver operates by fooling the operating system, unless it is already incorporated into the firmware. Therefore no liability is assumed for any use that is made of this program. Nevertheless, even if liability is found to exist, it shall not exceed the sum paid to the author.
