Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver

A macOS screensaver that brings back the art of the BBS era.

Remember dialing into BBSes at 14.4k, watching ANSI art fill your terminal line by line? The vibrant CP437 characters, the neon color palettes, the logos crafted pixel-by-pixel by scene artists — that whole world lives on at 16colo.rs, the largest ANSI/ASCII art archive on the internet.

AnsiSaver pulls art directly from 16colo.rs packs and scrolls it across your screen, rendered with the same libansilove library the archive uses. It's like leaving your terminal connected to a BBS you never logged off from.

• Downloads ANSI art packs from 16colo.rs and caches them locally
• Renders .ANS, .ICE, .ASC, .BIN, .XB, .PCB, and .ADF files with authentic CP437 fonts
• Scrolls art across your screen with smooth 60fps animation
• Continuous scroll mode: art files stack vertically into an endless stream, like a never-ending BBS file listing
• Crossfade transitions: smooth fade between pieces in standard mode
• Optional separator between files showing the filename — just like browsing a pack in ACiDView
• Configurable scroll speed and render scale (2x–4x for sharp output on Retina displays)
• Works with local folders too — point it at your personal ANSI art collection

Requirements: macOS Sequoia (15.0) or later. Supports both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Grab the latest release from the Releases page:

• Apple Silicon: AnsiSaver-arm64.saver.zip
• Intel: AnsiSaver-x86_64.saver.zip

1. Unzip the file
2. Double-click AnsiSaver.saver
3. macOS will ask if you want to install it — click Install

macOS security notice: Since the screensaver is not signed with an Apple Developer certificate, macOS will block it on first launch. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the AnsiSaver message. You only need to do this once.

If you prefer to build it yourself, you need Homebrew and Xcode:

brew install libgd
git clone --recursive https://github.com/lardissone/ansi-saver.git
cd ansi-saver
xcodebuild -project AnsiSaver.xcodeproj -target AnsiSaver -configuration Release build
cp -R build/Release/AnsiSaver.saver ~/Library/Screen\ Savers/

Note: Builds link statically against Homebrew's libgd. Requires macOS Sequoia (15.0) or later.

Open System Settings > Screen Saver, select AnsiSaver, and click Options... to configure:

16colo.rs Pack URLs — Add pack URLs to pull art from the archive. Browse packs at 16colo.rs and paste the URL:

https://16colo.rs/pack/acid-100/
https://16colo.rs/pack/mist0222/
https://16colo.rs/pack/blocktronics-space/

Local Folder — Point to a directory on disk containing .ANS files. Great for your personal collection or artpacks you've downloaded.

Art files are cached in ~/Library/Caches/AnsiSaver/. Hit Refetch Packs in the config panel to clear the cache and re-download everything.

16colo.rs packs ──→ Download & cache ──→ libansilove ──→ Core Animation ──→ Screen
Local .ANS files ─────────────────────↗   (CP437 render)   (60fps scroll)

1. Art sources provide file paths (from network or disk)
2. libansilove renders each file to a PNG using authentic CP437 bitmap fonts — the same rendering 16colo.rs uses
3. Core Animation displays and scrolls the rendered images at 60fps
4. Files are rendered one at a time on demand, so even packs with thousands of files use minimal memory

A few packs to get you started:

Browse the full archive at 16colo.rs — there are thousands of packs spanning from 1990 to the present day.

• libansilove by the Ansilove team — the definitive ANSI art rendering library
• 16colo.rs — preserving the artscene since the early days
• The BBS artscene — ACiD, iCE, Fire, Mistigris, Blocktronics, and every group and artist who kept the art alive

MIT