Overview:
So I had a little free time last week and was reading some material on IP a week and a bit ago, and came across some work in OpenGL,
and as such, I decided to pick up a little OpenGL to see if it could be any use later. Of course, the first
thing that came into mind was the intriguing RSS screen saver bundled with OSX. So, here's my version of the
screen saver (for Windows) which pulls articles from RSS feeds and displays them such. I actually have a more
features coded, but texture loading troubles have me stumped right now, don't worry, I'll update once it's resolved.
Of course, this version doesn't compare much to the one on OSX. It doesn't have any of the complicated motions
or swirly backgrounds, or the spectacular Quartz compositing engine, but it does support multiple sources, quickly
moving through articles, and various colors. Overall, it was a good lesson in GL even though it is unlikely that
I would do it this way, if I were to do it again.
Demo Video:
Notes:
Some things to take note of:
- This screensaver has been tested on WinXP ONLY, although, there is no reason it shouldn't work on Win9X. Let me know if you get it working on your system!
- This screensaver does NOT work on widescreen displays (you'll see wierd stuff on the sides), also, note that the program was done with 4:3 resolutions in mind such as 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200.
- Lastly, this is my first try at OpenGL, so I'm pretty sure the screensaver has some problems, and is not nearly as optimized as possible, if you have any ideas, feel free to shoot them along!
- This was done for fun as a learning exercise, if you really hate it (and some people do), then please to not use it.
- Any comments or suggestions can be sent to my email (found under About)
Downloads & Instructions:
Ok, so here are the downloads. After copying the files, right click on the desktop, and choose it under the list (like in the little video).
- RSSGL.scr - Copy into your C:\Windows\System32\ directory (or equivalent for your system)
- The screensaver - rssgl_feeds.txt (Right click, Save as) - If you are using WinXP, copy into your C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name here>\ directory (or equivalent for your system), otherwise try putting it in the same directory as the screensaver
- The list of rss feeds to load. Feel free to change this file, and add any feeds that you frequent. Please note, since feeds are loaded at the start of the screensaver, the more feeds you include, the longer it will take to load (a couple seconds more, especially for feeds like Engadget which include full articles instead of summaries). If you do not download this file, you will be stuck with the default Slashdot/Engadget feeds. - Lucida Console Font - (Only download the Font if you do not have it WinXP users should have this font already) The font it displays (otherwise, standard Arial if not found). Place into C:\Windows\Fonts directory (or equivalent for your system)
- By downloading this program, you acknowledge that the author can not be held liable for any offending matrial gathered from the specified feeds and sources.
Downloads & Instructions:
- [05/27/05] 0.44 - Addendum, got the texture loading fixed, with great help from Chris Leathley, flickr mode now available; only as popular tags though (also, no control in flickr mode, don't want you to hammer the image server now). Fixed an aspect ratio bug, should work on slightly off 4:3 resolutions as well (ie. 1280x1024).
- [05/21/05] 0.4 - Initial release