# ANSI-Saver

13 Hacker News commenters recommended ANSI-Saver and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free macOS screensaver showing ANSI art packs, loved by people nostalgic for BBS and demoscene art. Critics note Lulu can block pack downloads.

## Why people recommend it

- Nostalgia for BBS and ANSI art (4 comments): "If you want to have that BBS vibe on your Mac, check out the ANSI Saver screen saver" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47325371)) "Nice work! The ANSI art scene was such a unique corner of computing history." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47294848)) "Very cool... definitely brings back great memories of all the cool ANSI art!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47310084))
- Praised as brilliant, great work (3 comments): "This is absolutely brilliant. I've been toying with the codebase and thought this would work really well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47291926)) "This is brilliant - thanks!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47291487)) "This is really great work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47289060))
- Interest in trying or modifying it (2 comments): "This is absolutely brilliant. I've been toying with the codebase and thought this would work really well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47291926)) "I can’t wait to try this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47288629))

## What people warn about

- Lulu blocks pack downloads (1 comments): "It's able to download packs but you have to disable Lulu when you first run the screen saver itself" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47293344))
- Blank preview and unclear setup (2 comments): "No art sources configured. Open Screen Saver Options to add pack URLs or a local folder." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47292078)) "when I use preview (in the screen saver options,) I just get a blank screen" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47292011))
- Unclear tap target for video (1 comments): "I kept trying to tap the text to open the video before I realized I had to tap the image." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47290160))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [After Dark screen saver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/after-dark.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "ANSI-Saver", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ansi-saver/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).