BOINC project screensavers: Difference between revisions

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One of the distinctive features of early [[BOINC]] projects was the '''project screensaver.''' Many screensavers featured a real-time animated display showing the volunteer's computer actively contributing to science. When a BOINC-attached machine sat idle, the screensaver would launch and visualise the underlying computation: radio telescope signals sweeping across a star field for [[SETI@home]], protein chains folding in three dimensions for [[Rosetta@home]], or a climate model globe spinning for [[Climateprediction.net]].
One of the distinctive features of early [[BOINC]] projects was the '''project screensaver.''' Many screensavers featured a real-time animated display showing the volunteer's computer actively contributing to science. When a BOINC-attached machine sat idle, the screensaver would launch and visualise the underlying computation: radio telescope signals sweeping across a star field for [[SETI@home]], protein chains folding in three dimensions for [[Rosetta@home]], or a climate model globe spinning for [[climateprediction.net]].


As LCD and OLED monitors replaced phosphor-coated CRTs, the original technical justification for screensavers (preventing phosphor burn-in), became obsolete. BOINC projects gradually stopped shipping screensaver graphics. The gallery below preserves recordings of every known BOINC project screensaver. Click any '''▶''' link to watch the YouTube recording; where an animated GIF exists on [[Wikimedia Commons]], it appears in the left column.
As LCD and OLED monitors replaced phosphor-coated CRTs, the original technical justification for screensavers (preventing phosphor burn-in), became obsolete. BOINC projects gradually stopped shipping screensaver graphics. The gallery below preserves recordings of every known BOINC project screensaver. Click any '''▶''' link to watch the YouTube recording; where an animated GIF exists on [[Wikimedia Commons]], it appears in the left column.