In memory of Cthugha and other graphics hacks

In the mid-90s, we were all about trippy computer displays, and generally playing around with our displays. I had a crappy laptop I could break out and hook up to a projector or TV (with a VGA-to-composite adapter) and loop into whatever we were using for a sound system to generate audio-responsive graphics using Cthugha:

Cthugha screenshot

(It was more impressive at the time.)

Then there was the fire.exe demo, which was kind of mesmerizing in its own right.

And of course the hypnotic Møire Screensaver on old Macs. (Is that what I’m thinking of? The one that made sort of psychedelic waves flow across the screen? I remember being mesmerized by it listening to a Frank Black CD on the Centris of my overnight host when I toured the school I picked for undergrad... Plasma? Something along those lines.) Satori screensaver (an After Dark module) on old Macs.

Then there was (is?) xsnow on Linux boxes. It was sort of fun watching the snowflakes build up on your windows as you were using the computer. Linux could do all sorts of wacky stuff, with the separation of duties between different software stacks in the X Window System paradigm. (Speaking of which, anyone remember the late 90s, when all the l33t haxx0rs were running Enlightenment with reduced opacity windows?

After Dark had one of the funnest games (at least that we had in our high school computer lab), Lunatic Fringe, and of course there were the flying toasters (I have a tie with that pattern).

The new active screensaver backgrounds in Sonoma, and the dynamic desktop that started with Mojave, are certainly much more refined, polished, and impressive. But they’re not nearly as much fun.