Morning Star
- Initial Release Date
- July 14, 1990
- Color Palette
- 4/18b and 8/18b
- Max Resolution
- 640x480
- License Status
- Public Domain (Source Available)
- Codebase
- x86 Assembly
- Platform(s)
- MS-DOS
- Author(s)
- Christopher Antos and D. Finkbeiner
Description
Morning Star renders lightning bolts, bouncing sets of lines, or Sierpinski's triangles on a VGA display.
I am ... the bright Morning Star
Morning Star started as a simpler bouncing lines program, known as VGAMoire. Though VGAMoire had fairly simple output, it had sophisticated MS-DOS screensaver functionality:
- Running as a TSR program
- Saving text mode programs and restoring them upon exit
- Exiting on mouse/keyboard use
- Monitoring COM ports for phone calls / modem use
Morning Star improved upon VGAMoire by:
- Supporting 320x200x8b mode
- Implementing multiple outputs via "saver modules". D. Finkbeiner appears to have assisted with some of these modules.
- Enabling password protection
- Providing configuration menus
Upon graduating the University of Michigan, Christopher Antos made Morning Star and VGAMoire public domain, and released their source code. I've been unable to find the Morning Star source, but did find VGAMoire v1.4b's source in it's archive.
VGAMoire and some modules of Morning Star, like many other line bouncers, take a fairly simplified approach to drawing each set of lines, only drawing 2 lines per update: a black line to erase the line drawn X steps back (40 by default); and a line of the next color. Since the full set of lines isn't updated each time it performs quickly, but the simple erasure method used overwrites parts of lines not intended for deletion causing subtle black artifacts.
There is an unrelated program from March 8, 1989, also known as VGAMoire, that renders static Moiré pattern images. Besides it's name, it appears to be completely unrelated to Christopher Antos's VGAMoire.
Operation and Options
Morning Star is intended to be a MS-DOS screensaver, and normally will only start up after a set timeout. It can be configured or launched immediately via hotkeys.
Saver Modules
Morning Star provides eight screensaver modules, and a ninth that selects from the other modules at random at set intervals.
Blanker
Simply blanks the screen. Appears to have no configuration, but has this odd text in it's configuration panel.
LIST resource ==== a. is very useful. b. was hard to get working. c. is really cool. d. could get me sued for look--and-feel violations. e. is the most flexible resource.
Lightning
Draws a jagged flashing line similar to lightning. It provides only one option, Frequency, with two settings: Often, and Frightening.
This module is a bit disappointing. The lightning is always just a single line, never branching into multiple leaders as seen with lightning normally.
Moire
Draws bouncing, rainbow colored lines with optional kaleidescope-like mirroring, often producing Moiré patterns. It provides a number of options:
- Lines: The number of lines to draw before erasing the last one (1-100).
- Delay: A delay to slow things down on faster computers (0-100). Even with the maximum delay this tends to run too quickly on modern PCs.
- Color Cycling: The number of lines to draw before moving to the next color (1-100).
- Mirror: How to mirror the lines: None, Horizontal, Vertical, Both, Diagonal.
Points
Draws a snake-like design of rainbow colored moving points. It provides a number of options:
- Points: The number of lines to draw before erasing the last one (1-100, Infinite).
- Delay: A delay to slow things down on faster computers (0-100).
- Color Cycling: The number of lines to draw before moving to the next color (1-100).
- Mirror: How to mirror the lines: None, Horizontal, Vertical, Both, Diagonal.
Sierpinski ▲
Draws a bouncing/rotating Sierpinski triangle in rotating colors. D.Finkbeiner is also credited here. It provides a few options:
- Delay: A delay to slow things down on faster computers (0-100).
- Color Cycling: The number of Sierpinski triangles to draw before moving to the next color (1-100).
Sierpinski II
Draws a bouncing/rotating Sierpinski triangle in rotating colors, preserving the six prior iterations. D.Finkbeiner is also credited here. It provides a few options:
- Delay: A delay to slow things down on faster computers (0-100).
- Color Cycling: The number of Sierpinski triangles to draw before moving to the next color (1-100).
Triangle
Draws a bouncing, rainbow colored set of triangles. It provides a number of options:
- Points: The number of triangles to draw before erasing the last one (1-100).
- Delay: A delay to slow things down on faster computers (0-100). Even with the maximum delay this tends to run too quickly on modern PCs.
- Color Cycling: The number of triangles to draw before moving to the next color (1-100).
Wraparound
Draws a Lissajous-like pattern of bouncing lines, pauses, and then draws another. D.Finkbeiner is also credited here. It provides a few options:
- Lines: The number of lines to draw before erasing the last one (1-256).
- Pause: How long to wait after drawing one set of lines, before clearing the screen and drawing the next.
Video Modes
Allows one to set the video mode used: 640x480x4b or 320x200x8b.
Video
Screenshots
Downloads
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Morning Star (Windows DOSBox edition):
The MS-DOS version compatible with Windows via DOSBox.
Morning Star's default start hotkeys (i.e. left+right shift) may not work with DOSBox. The hotkeys have been revised to easier to use options.
- Launch Morning Star immediately: a
- Open Morning Star configuration: c
- Disable screensaver mode: >
- Enable screensaver mode: <
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Morning Star (v1) (v0):
MS-DOS Morning Star
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VGAMoire (v2) (v1.8) (v1.7) (v1.6i) (v1.4b):
MS-DOS VGAMoire. Though v2.0 is newer, v1.8 may be preferable as it allows for immediate execution without screensaver timeouts / hotkeys.