ANSI-Saver
The most recommended of 4 screensavers
Free macOS screensaver showing ANSI art packs, loved by people nostalgic for BBS and demoscene art. Critics note Lulu can block pack downloads.
Free macOS screensaver showing ANSI art packs, loved by people nostalgic for BBS and demoscene art. Critics note Lulu can block pack downloads.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Nostalgia for BBS and ANSI art
“If you want to have that BBS vibe on your Mac, check out the ANSI Saver screen saver”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Darkrealms BBS” “Nice work! The ANSI art scene was such a unique corner of computing history.”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” “Very cool... definitely brings back great memories of all the cool ANSI art!”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” - Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver”
Praised as brilliant, great work
“This is absolutely brilliant. I've been toying with the codebase and thought this would work really well”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” “This is brilliant - thanks!”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” “This is really great work”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” Interest in trying or modifying it
“This is absolutely brilliant. I've been toying with the codebase and thought this would work really well”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” “I can’t wait to try this.”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Lulu blocks pack downloads
“It's able to download packs but you have to disable Lulu when you first run the screen saver itself”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” Blank preview and unclear setup
“No art sources configured. Open Screen Saver Options to add pack URLs or a local folder.”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” “when I use preview (in the screen saver options,) I just get a blank screen”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver” Unclear tap target for video
“I kept trying to tap the text to open the video before I realized I had to tap the image.”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: ANSI-Saver – A macOS Screensaver”
Other screensavers people recommend
The three most recommended other screensavers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANSI-SaverThis page | 13 | 3 | 81% | 1 | — | — |
| XScreenSaver | 7 | 4 | 64% | 5 | — | — |
| Fishoid | 6 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| After Dark screen saver | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Thank you! For those of us that are reluctant to upgrade to Tahoe, I thank you!”
“If you want to have that BBS vibe on your Mac, check out the ANSI Saver screen saver”
“Very cool... definitely brings back great memories of all the cool ANSI art!”
“Nice work! The ANSI art scene was such a unique corner of computing history.”
“The larger demoscene art community needs something like this.”
“It's able to download packs but you have to disable Lulu when you first run the screen saver itself”
“No art sources configured. Open Screen Saver Options to add pack URLs or a local folder.”
“when I use preview (in the screen saver options,) I just get a blank screen”
“This is absolutely brilliant. I've been toying with the codebase and thought this would work really well”
“This is brilliant - thanks!”
“I kept trying to tap the text to open the video before I realized I had to tap the image.”
“This would be great with an option to draw each ANSI line by line with pixels drawn left to right.”
“This is really great work”
“I can’t wait to try this.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.