Talk:Screensavers and Computer Dreams

== Flying Toaster ==

check if there are any papers about this, if you haven't. Might be just articles in magazines... but I bet there was a lot of writing about these -- or at least a few fun commentary pieces -Mark M.

Notes from Jack Eastman (interviewed)
http://lowendmac.com/thomas/07/0209.html

One of those late nights I was thinking about the artistry problem - how to do something really fun for 2.0. I was wandering around the house. I drifted into the kitchen, and the toaster caught my eye. My sleep-deprived brain put wings on it.

I went upstairs and drew some animation frames - I used the development system's icon editor. Little white outline toasters on a black background with little stubby plucked-chicken wings speed lines and a flapping electrical cord. I coded up the animation that night and brought it to Berkeley Systems the next day. Everybody thought it was hilarious and everybody agreed it needed to be redrawn.

Flying ToastersWes brought in an artist to re-render the toasters, and Patrick re-coded the module in C. The modules all had a little control panel - I insisted on having a slider that controlled the doneness of the toast.

The other thing we were careful to do was not to put the toasters on a track and repeat the show. Random numbers were always important from that point on. I had done Monte Carlo simulations in my physics work and knew how to produce random numbers in various distributions. I think that was an important idea - we had these little movies, but you couldn't predict them.

Competitors didn't have that insight. With After Dark you could just zone out and watch for a long time. Plus it was really a screen saver - it wouldn't do to have images sitting in one place or in repeating patterns.

FLYING TOASTERS PRO screensaver - After Dark 3.2

Original concept by Jack Eastman
Programming by Paul Meyer, Vann Miller, Bruce Burkhalter, Brian Chen & Bob Brickford
Art by Jarir Maani
Original music & lyrics by Nick Rush

(yes, these are the lyrics to the song in the v3.2 screensaver)

Flying out of the sun
The smell of toast is in the air
When there's a job to be done
The flying toasters will be there.
And it's flap! Flap! Flap!
Now help is on the way.
This vict'ry song they sing:
We pop up to save the day
On mighty toaster wings!

In brightest day or After Dark
When times of trouble are at hand.
The Flying Toasters set a spark
And hope is blazing 'cross the land
And its flap! Flap! Flap!
Salvation from above
This precious gift they bring
Gleaming angels of love
On mighty Toaster Wings!

== Other Notes from Mark M. ==

[I like this last line a lot]

[So, you've got the dreams of computers, the transformation of the machine to the holder of life, this notion of