Using Scratch Projects as Windows Screensavers
I have just updated Chirp with the following three new features:
- Whenever you directly run a project in presentation mode (using the “presentation” command line option) and press the return-button, Chirp will exit back to the OS (and not switch to development mode).
- If you start Chirp with the “presentation” command line argument without specifying a Scratch project, it will run a random project from the Scratch-projects folder. If that folder is empty Chirp will start in development mode instead.
- Building on these modifications I have written a tiny Windows screensaver (Chirp.scr) which plugs into the Windows screensaver list and thereby lets you use your own Scratch projects as Windows screensavers.
You can upgrade to the current version by downloading the Windows installer and installing it over your current Chirp installation (no need to uninstall Chirp first).
I have tested the Screensaver under Windows XP and ME. I would be grateful if someone could test it under Vista and tell me if it works.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Is there a way to make it work under Mac?!
March 12th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I have never worked with a Mac, so I don’t know anything about them, really. But I’m guessing that a screensaver for a Mac won’t be so different from one for Windows. What the Chirp screensaver for Windows does is essentially this:
1. It gets started automatically by the system (checking for some options)
2. It makes sure that no other instance of itself is already running
3. It calls the ScratchVM with the Chirp image and the ‘presentation’ option
4. It waits until Scratch is terminated, then it quits itself
Everything else (loading a random project from the Scratch projects folder, running it in presentation mode and quitting on hitting the return button or the Esc-key) is handled by the Chirp.remix Squeak image.
Therefore porting the Chirp screensaver to Mac should be not a big deal for any Mac programmer. I’m hoping that maybe someone will come up and do it (like Tony Hursh already has done for the presentation mode starter).
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
A mac screen saver is YourScreensaverHere.saver
And It does work on vista. I’m running Home Prenium.