Atari Screensaver for Firebee

[AtariSociety]

What screensavers are all you Firebee owners using?

I need to get something on mine soon.

Thanks

TJ

[Mathias]

I am using TwiLight: http://1x-upon.com/~despens/twilight/

There are a few modules that crash the Bee completely, but once they are excluded (just kicked out of the module folder) the rest works perfectly. My favorite is "Nordsee2000"

[AtariSociety]

Mathias, I have downloaded Twilight.

Wanted to make sure I have this installed correctly.

I copied the Twilight.ACC onto root level of the C drive and copied the Auto_TL.PRG into the AUTO folder that was on my C drive.

After reboot I see the Twilight listed under the DESK menu bar and selected Twilight where it had something in german that I could not understand but after clicking on it, brought up a window where I then selected a TLM file. I selected Breakout.TLM.

I see no place where I can alter or set anything up like how many minutes it takes to come on, etc....

So not sure if this will work this way or not.

After 5 minutes of no activity on the Firebee I still have no screen saver.

Maybe I have something not done correctly or it comes on much later than 5 minutes?

How can I alter settings now?

Thanks for any help!

TJ

[Mathias]

I´ll give you an exact howto tomorrow when I have my hands on my Bee again.

[AtariSociety]

I´ll give you an exact howto tomorrow when I have my hands on my Bee again.

Great... thank you thank you.

TJ

[Mathias]

Sorry for being late. Here we go:

• Download the package http://1x-upon.com/~despens/twilight/twilight.lzh directly to your FireBee.
• Unpack it with QExtract by simply doubleclicking on "twilight.lzh".
• Move the new folder wherever you like it.
• Go to the subfolder "TLM" and delete the following modules:
- dawn
- dornstar
- flcspeed
- huepfer
- melt
- meltping
- mitteil
- puzzel
- pyro
- qcam
- radstar
- schleife
- spyro
The other modules (25 more) are working perfectly.
• Move TWILIGHT.ACC to your root directory (usually C)
• Move AUTO_TL.PRG to your AUTO folder.
• Restart your FireBee
• After the restart you will be asked by Twilight to select the right "Modulpfad" folder. Select the folder "TLM" inside your "Twilight folder".
• Open the TWILIGHT.ACC, and select the dropdown menue at "Dialog:"
• Select "Diverses"
• At the bottom click at "Modulliste neu aufbauen".

Now twilight should work. You can select the modules by doubleclicking and using "test" to see how they work.

[AtariSociety]

Thanks! Will give this a try soon.

TJ

[AtariSociety]

OK, I have it running. Kind of.

It does not remember the screen saver I selected before shutting off the Firebee.

I can demo the modules, single click one to highlite it, and then click the sichern button, then OK button and the window goes away. Reboot the Firebee and the screen saver does not come on after 2 minutes.

It almost seems like it suspends there and when I move the mouse, it acts like it is about to run the screensaver instead of having done it long ago after 2 minutes, if that makes sense. Like the timer does not work and turn it on until I move the mouse <grin>

So I will keep tinkering but can you confirm single clicking on a module, then clicking sichern, then OK will save my settings and upon rebootm supposed to make it come on after 2 minutes?

The twilight.acc also does a few odd things when I scroll through modules to select them, everything below the first 5 or so as I scroll the text and icons become jibberish so I can't read any modules in that window. I select one anyway not know what it is and it does work, but I only see what I selected after I leave the window and re-open it again from menu.

So some bug I guess with the graphics and text going kooky.

But hey, it works.

Thanks much...

TJ

[AtariSociety]

Yup, definately some bug or something odd about this app.

I reboot my Firebee, leave it at the desktop for 5 minutes, came back and the desktop still on the screen. I move my mouse a couple inches and now the screen saver came on. hehe

Same goes if I just click a key on the keyboard, that little toggle makes the screen saver actually come on to.

Once screen save comes on, I can then move the mouse and it will stop but it does not activate the screen saver as it should, coming on after no activity after X minutes. Instead I have to click or move mouse to make it come on.

Almost like a mouse click or key click is a hot corner turning it on finally. <grin>

Is there some setting I have wrong or is this a bug?

TJ

** Update** So after a reboote and leaving Firebee alone, and screen saver never comes on unless I come back to the Firebee after 2 minutes and move the mouse or click a key.... once that 1st toggle is done and screen save comes on, the screen saver timer then seems to work. Meaning if I made screen saver come on, and now leave a 2nd time, I come back and the screen saver does come on after 2 minutes. So it seems that 1st screen saver coming on then makes the timer work, but unless I clicked it etc.... it would never ever come on.

[AtariSociety]

I also notice as I use the Bee now, even when typing, the screen saver comes on... So the mechanism that tells this screen saver to come on is all wonky. hehe TJ

[Mathias]

OK there is something totally wired at your config. Here the entire Twilight program works like it should. I have to investigate a little bit, if I can reproduce the behavior at your FireBee. Give me some days, the weekend perhaps.

The scrambled graphics at the module window can be changed by collapsing /rolling in the window. When you unroll the window agiain the BUg is gone untoll you scroll again. I know its nasty, but usable.

[AtariSociety]

Yup, just curious if you turn off your Firebee, then turn on and let it boot but do nothing on it, what happens.

On mine, nothing. Desktop stays lite up and ready to go. Not until I move the mouse around does it then engage my screensaver and I have to move the mouse some more to stop it. Very odd sensation when it does that. I then use the Firebee and leave it running. Came back and screen saver now comes on by itself.

What makes it even odder and more of a pain, is as I am using it with screen saver set at 2 minutes, even when I am typing the screen saver then engages and causes havoc. Now the time decides to work but does not see I am working here. hehe.

So it is more a nuisance having it run as it does not work right for me and blacks out screen and tries to launch the screen saver when I am actually using the Firebee.

Anyway, yes curious what happens for you. My Firebee is stock and pretty basic other than AtarIRC that I am using on it and now this Twilight I am trying to get to run.

Thanks,
TJ

[AtariSociety]

I have continued to tinker. Set at 5 minutes instead of 2. At least it comes on now by itself after 5 minutes. But, as I type the screen saver wants to come on every so often even with activity. Maybe some setting to tell Twilight to not come on when typing? To wake screen only a mouse click seems to work now. Typing on keyboard with screen saver running does not wake it. tj

* Update... Ah, this AM the screen saver no longer comes in. Doing same thing as my 1st time, that it never goes to sleep and then I move my mouse, it then starts going to sleep. hehe. I "think" unless I do something like open an app or use it for a bit, then leave it alone, will it work. I will try that next. Either way it is too kooky at this point but heah, no biggee.

[jfl]

I too installed TwiLight and except for the quirky accessory window it seems to be working fine. The graphics are really fun and have that unique 90s feel to them

On a side note: I suppose the "Energie Sparen" feature isn't working for anybody? So, is there any means of switching off the monitor? The built in feature (in the CPX) never worked for me. What I'm really looking for is saving energy and I'm getting tired of having to reach the side of my monitor to switch if off whenever I leave for a bit. This is 2015 (almost), after all...

[Gamer]

Hello,

Been trying to get Twilight to work on the Firebee. Ran great on my Hades060, but seems to have a snag on the FB. I can run the demos just fine, but when it tries to kick in XaAes gives me a BUS error. Is there a setting I need to adjust or add in the XeAes.cnf file?

[jfl]

Been trying to get Twilight to work on the Firebee. Ran great on my Hades060, but seems to have a snag on the FB. I can run the demos just fine, but when it tries to kick in XaAes gives me a BUS error. Is there a setting I need to adjust or add in the XeAes.cnf file?

I'm checking my TwiLight setup right now and I don't see anything special. All I have is AUTO_TL.PRG in the AUTO folder and then the accessory. And since it looks like it saves its config in the ACC itself, maybe I can send you my ACC?

[Gamer]

Been trying to get Twilight to work on the Firebee. Ran great on my Hades060, but seems to have a snag on the FB. I can run the demos just fine, but when it tries to kick in XaAes gives me a BUS error. Is there a setting I need to adjust or add in the XeAes.cnf file?

I'm checking my TwiLight setup right now and I don't see anything special. All I have is AUTO_TL.PRG in the AUTO folder and then the accessory. And since it looks like it saves its config in the ACC itself, maybe I can send you my ACC?

Sure that would be great. I will give it a try. I thought maybe it was something that I did since I am still setting up Mint 1.19. I tried using it in verion 1.18 of Mint which I received when I got my Firebee and it did the same thing. Maybe my settings in the ACC are wrong. My email address is edbaizjr@comcast.net. Thanks much for the reply.

[Gamer]

Still having the same problem. I think I need to adjust the settings in the ACC.

[Gamer]

I still cannot get Twilight to run correctly. Again, I can get it to come up and adjust the settings. I can run all the screensavers in the demo mode. They come up fine and look great. However it still crashes when I set it to come after 30 seconds or more. Here is what Xaaes says when Twilight crashes. Maybe some of you programmers can tell me just what is happening:

pid 12(twilight): Bus
Error: user PC=12278E
Address 0 (basepage=122000,
text = 122100, data = 12A46A,
bss = 12D188)

Thanks for any help anyone can give me...

[wongck]

are you using memory protection?

[jfl]

are you using memory protection?

On the FireBee? No way.

[Gamer]

are you using memory protection?

On the FireBee? No way.

Yes, that is true. I would love to use memory protection, but cannot. It just bogs my mind why other are using Twilight when I cannot. I am using a Vizio TV with my FB. Could that be the problem? I am going to buy a big Multi-sync monitor soon. Could it be when I was flashing my FB and it crashed and I had to re-flash it using a PC computer that something was messed up? Who knows right now. I will just have to keep experimenting.

[vido]

In my case only few modules of screensaver worked with the FireBee. But I stil had some problems after screensaver stoped and resumed back to desktop. I dont remember what was the problem. After that I deleted Twilight from my FireBee.

[wongck]

are you using memory protection?

On the FireBee? No way.

Good to know that it does not work on the FB.

[Rajah Lone]

I don't care about screensavers anymore. FireBee is too precious to run it without using it. But if one is interested, then it would be interesting to adapt my old RageCalm utilitary. GFA source is provided in the archive, you just have to clean PCI Rage screen on/off, recompile it for v4e.
The "modules" are my VDI Fx, but one can call any program or write some new effects using these VDI Fx.

ragecalm.png