Slashdot Mirror
Run Linux as a Windows Screensaver
zornorph writes "A software engineer at IBM has come up with a way to 'construct and package a Linux® LiveCD so that it will install using the standard Microsoft® Windows® install process and will operate as a standard Windows screensaver.'"
The article doesn't make it clear why it should run as a screensaver... is the ISO interactive? How does one escape the screensaver? Why not just run it stand-alone?
Also, this was surprising: "OS/2 is finally being withdrawn on December 23, 2005. According to the IBM Web site on OS/2 Warp migration (see Resources), there is no replacement product from IBM. IBM suggests that OS/2 customers consider Linux." They should at least recommend a specific product, else the remaining OS/2 userbase will entirely fragment. Recommendations are not irresponsible, only the customer blindly accepting it would be.
Following the instructions in the article is not for the faint of heart!
Is this just a "proof of concept" and not really something useful? I mean, if it shows Linux running in screen-saver mode, any disturbance of the keyboard/mouse will bring back windows...am I missing something?
Still, pretty cool!!!
This is cool, as long as you don't need to use your keyboard or mouse.
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
OK, other than the "cool factor", WTF is the point of this? Its nice to know what IBM's people are spending their time on...
Every time you post an article on Slashdot, I kill a server. Think of the servers!
That is awesome. What would you use it for?
I run Windows as a Linux screen saver all the time. Or at least the major parts. ;-)
And with the new modularized X, if it crashes it won't bring down the fonts.
Or you could just install and run Linux the normal way... I know, not as interesting, but less BSODs has got to count for something, right?
The word for the (first?) post is: oppose
Why the hell would anyone want to run Linux as a screen saver? To admire X11R7 (jesus! X devs actually do something!)
WASTE - The Secure P2P
... how?
Screensavers on windows are just executables.
You could use the mouse without it quitting...
To boot Knoppix, I'm going to have to wait 5 minutes?
Why do I get a feeling Microsoft's spyware program will detect this as malware?
FTFA :
oh, the irony.
this is pretty much all linux is good for
Am I the only one® to find non-legal documents® polluted by legalese bullshit® extremely annoying®?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
perhaps dynamic clustering is a useful purpose of this method to run the linux kernel.
A distributed computing project (ala SETI) which relied on Linux could run this way.
The submitter referred to this software as a "screen saver", but if he had bothered to read the story at all he would have realized it should in fact be classified as a "computer saver".
Still, it's a very interesting story!
What are you eating? isItVeg?.
But aren't screensavers just regular programs with a different extension? That is, if I put a program into my windows folder and rename it as a .scr doesn't windows just consider it a screensaver? Also, the program itself would have to implement the waking up on mouse move or keyboard press... I'm pulling this information from back in my days of windows 98 screensaver creation using visualbasic 5, so I may be completely wrong.
And if I'm right, wouldn't that mean this can be run as a regular program?
You run Windows and the screen saver kicks in...
And it runs Linux with Wine, and the screen saver kicks in...
And it runs Linux with Wine, and the screen saver kicks in...
Ad Infinitum...
"So why should you read this article? Why, indeed, should I write it? "
said the author - AND I AGREE. I think there's a mouse fart article out there; can we read that instead?
Someone must have absolutely nothing better to do with his time..
You've just unveiled your 2005 product line, days away from 2006. It's no secret now: the GNAA is dying.
You can pretty much make any exe a screen saver. I remember a coworker doing this once with logon.exe on Win 2k. Funny thing is, that the screen saver ran as admin, this was a pretty big security hole, and quite amusing.
Entropy just isn't what it used to be.
Can we run other distros like this? Ie gentoo?
If it runs as a screensaver, why call it a LiveCD?
they use it to scare people away from tinkering with your PC while away.
the article says its running as a screensaver so it'll be faster than just having an executable...
having made several screen savers for windows several years ago, i know that a screen saver is simply* an EXE renamed to a SCR file and put in the windows\system directory.
wtf is this article talking about?
(*it is also passed different command line arguments so you know if its being run, previewed, or the settings button is being pressed, and some other stuff)
As a user who would try this out, it sounds fishy in terms of any practical use. You type something, the screensaver vanishes. Not much use there. A great LiveCD however to experiment with linux in my opinion is Ubuntu, which lets you boot the operating system entirely from one of their livecd's. Ubuntu which is now being worked on by many debian developers is not a screensaver, but its certainly a lifesaver when it comes to often needed quick-fixes in the linux world. Praise Linux :)
Finally. A reason for the screensaver function in Windows.
Why the heck would you run Linux as a screensaver? It's non-standardized, breaks itself, and any time you change anything you have to recompile the damn kernel. Now... if you could run NetBSD as a screensaver... or even OS X... that would be something...
The Admin and the Engineer
Linux runs just fine on Windows. I use it all the time.
It's called Cygwin
Good job IBM! Reinventing the wheel!
The devil makes use of idle hands?
Based on This[Slashdot Preferred Link], I'd say it was only a matter of time. Windows users beware!
Damn Small Linux already runs on top of Windows.
Of course running Linux on Windows is similar to driving a BMW around inside of a Triumph.
When you try to get out of the screen saver, does it give you a black screen with "LI" up in the left corner?
The words "What the f...??" spring to mind.
As saying that Linux and windows can run at the same time on the same hardware, with quick switching between the two? Depending on how easy that is to do, this either makes the story a lot more or a lot less interesting.
http://www.TheGamerNation.com/Forums
He is running a linux livecd under QEmu for the screen saver (and hardcoding the iso image file name in the binary).
Running coLinux would be tons neater.
I imagine running Linux instead of Windows would help solve 99% of all "unauthorized access to the data" problems people have in an office environment.
Whenever you see a screenshot of MacOS its always with a shot of Safari, ITunes or Corel Draw. Whenever you see a screenshot of Windows its always the Control Panel, Windows Media Player, MS Office, or IE.
Whenever you see a screenshot of Linux its always with shots of people using Fractial Apps, drawing PCB Diagrams, or something to do with the planets orbit.
All they need to do now is to be able to the same with MacOS and then you'll be able to download mp3's and draw pictures with one os, watch porn and write word documents with the other, and lastly be able to discover the cure to cancer the last os and the great thing is you'll be able to do this all off the same computer.
Subject: Hi!
Body: How are you ?
When I saw this screen saver, I immediately thought about you
I am in a harry, I promise you will love it!
Attachment: Linux.SCR
I leave my computer alone for 5 minutes and it's switched to Linux all by itself!
/just kidding, my computer always runs Linux
Meh.
Does it run wine?
as a linux game. It's pretty fun... if you don't get a virus in 14 minutes you win!
I used OS/2 for 6 years at home and it was good. However, one of the several weird things about marketing the product is that IBM sold OS/2 Warp 3 and OS/2 Warp 3 _for_ [emphasis mine] Windows. The intent was to sell one version cheaper for people who already had Windows 3.1 and didn't need the capabilities of WinOS2.
However, I always thought labeling it as _FOR_ Windows was moronic. What was that supposed to imply to the purchaser? That it was a Windows add-on?
Maybe this linux screensaver is a final OS/2 team joke to confuse the hell out of selected users. I'm not sure I don't approve.
Because when you go to use the system it will turn off!
the You can see but you can't touch?
geek page at KY speaks
Good Lord this machine has been infected with Linux... Doh, Wait!!! I Think I want That.
to use this, would be to in effect run Xscreensaver on Windows! Using XP, I really miss those. And they will never be ported.
Does this mean I can run 3D Pipes as an OS?
Blessed are the 1337, for they shall pwn the earth.
This actually piques my interest as I don't have to re-partition my HD or make some drastic change. It's an easy shell to get experienced with linux and maybe even switch over.
Difference between a brave man and a smart man: a brave man will die for his country. A smart man kills for his.
I've seen screen-savers that are essentially small games. You can use your mouse and keyboard to interact with a screen-saver. I'm guessing you would use Esc to exit.
My journal: Clicky. Read it because it
Now you can let the screensave run and go into another OS and then the screensaver on that runs and you go into another OS and then the screensaver on that runs and you go into another OS and then the screensaver on that runs and you go into another OS and then the screensaver on that runs and you go into another OS and then the screensaver on that runs and you go into another OS and then the screensaver on that runs and you go into another OS and then the screensaver on that runs and you go into another OS... ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
This Linux screensaver is from Nathalie Carrie and Arnaud Verhille, science teachers on Reunion Island, a French colony in the Indian Ocean. Verhille asks "Does anyone know where I can get a free Java," because he is concerned about encumbering his pupils with Sun®'s license conditions." Does it really matter? I'm of the opinion that schoolchildren on a remote Indian Ocean island are unlikely to do anything that would cause Sun to chase after them.
how robust Windows is.
there's no place like ~
To wich Bill Gates replied, "and this time we fucking make sure IBM stays dead."
Oh god, the world is upside down. IBM the new and happening company, MS and Intel as "the man". Apple is still a bunch of new age hippies right?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The-Rest-of-the-World will love it for that very reason.
I wonder how long it will be before the anti-virus outfits give it a signature?
Once that happens it will have 'made it', and everybody will want it.
Congratulations and thanks to IBM.
Am I the only one who doesn't understand xhat this thing does exactly? Does it
A) install Linux during the screensaver?
B) run Linux during the screensaver? What happens to windows? Why would you want to wait for the screensaver?
C)show a linux slideshow. What's the use of that?
I hope they port it to Linux!
According to the article, this runs Linux in emulation mode, which is slow. CoLinux runs Linux as a Windows application, which is faster. CoLinux, however, lacks a graphics interface. I use it with X, but that doesn't work out of the box with existing live CDs.
It's only fair. After all, Windows has been running as an X11 screensaver for years (just invoke the BSOD module of xscreensaver).
Add mosix and you have a company wide screen saver cluster...
Got Code?
I'll have linux use the BSOD screen saver. Mocks windows perfectly.
"I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm."
Microsoft announces that Vista will not support screensavers.
This would be great for running Condor flocks in a University computer lab. Distributed computing, only when not being used.
Excuse me for being pedantic but the exit code i.e. disturbance of mouse / keyboard, has to be programmed in to the screensaver, it is not controlled by Windows.
.scr file and change the extenson to .exe. It will run and as soon as u move the mouse it will exit and vise versa rename an exe file and rename it to scr. It will run as a screensaver and wont exit when u move the mouse.
Try it take your standard
I hope there aren't any API gurus out there to prove me wrong.
Soviet Russia, right? Is that where you're from?
Finally, Linux occupies a place it deserves. A screensaver...
Well, Now we don't have to worry about jwz porting xscreensaver to windows!!!
xscreensaver
win-xmatrix, here I come!
/didn't rtfa
//don't run windows
///oops, wrong site.
Why aren't you encrypting your e-mail?
I'm halfway serious when I say "Imagine a beowulf cluster of these."
OK. When andLinux (http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/AndLinux) was released to the public over a week ago, Slashdot flagged it as uninteresting and ignored the news. andLinux is a Debian based Linux distribution that runs in Windows. It uses CoLinux, Xming and several other technologies to work.
So, is it that LordDavon (yes, me!) is just a john-q-public open source developer and doesn't matter... but if Big Blue does something similar they matter!? Is it that Dynamism is supporting andLinux and not IBM? I really am a bit pissed on this one! I really believed that Slashdot would want to promote a project made for the public, by the public. I guess I need to try and make money off of Linux for them to care.
Honestly, I just don't know. What I do know is that I don't need a screensaver to run Linux in Windows, I was first and Slashdot and IBM can kiss my ass!
So... Identical twins aren't human beings?
http://outcampaign.org/
I would only be satisfied when i could be able to
run Linux on Windows (like a screensaver.. thats ok)
then run Amiga500 emulator within the Linux
then run ZX Spectrum emulator within the Amiga500 emulator
then run my Atari Pong game emulator within the ZX Spectrum emulator
then finally spend some good time playing the only game
I have ever beed addicted to.
Back when I was in college, and we had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to the punch-card computer center, my freshman roommate was a ham radio operator, and was friends with another ham, Phil Karn, KA9Q, who you might remember from TCP/IP on DOS and other projects. Phil had a job one year as a computer operator. The computer was a mainframe that lived out near the airport, and there were a bunch of punch-card/printer computer centers around campus that needed operators to feed them. The mainframe was an IBM 370 with VM and a variety of guest operating systems on top of it, including CMS and several batch systems. Phil guessed one day that the password for the backup administrator account (a 4-character uppercase password) might be BKUP, so he was able to access a copy of VM and run it on top of the main VM. The client OS on top of that ran v...e..rrrr..yyyy s...l...ooo...wwww...llll...y, and remember that that's a definition of "slowly" that considers punchcard access to a ~1 MIPS mainframe to be "not slow" :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Someone suggests using Linux as a Windows screensaver, and nobody asks "Why?".
Really one of the best threads in weeks.
... Standards and Practices !
PenGun
Do What Now ???
... instead of making decent tools/compilers/linkers for the PS3.
What's a sig? Pete Brubaker
Running Linux as a screen saver under windows? That has to be a sin of some kind!
hard core geek-ware
Linux cannot save Windows from itself.
Linux has had windows as a screensaver for years. Its called the BSOD screensaver.
( I
Now Playing: Billy Joel - The Longest Time
emerge --update --deep --newuse world
Will it be patented? (Sorry, can't be bothered to read all the replies)
Who the hell modded this Flamebait? Cygwin isn't Linux. I can run bash on a Solaris machine, along with a bunch of other GNU tools. Does that mean my Solaris machine just became a Linux box?
I don't moderate anymore. Karma penalty for 90% fair mods? Can I mod that unfair?
Windows is going to be productive only when it is idle.
Internet-wide distcc in a screensaver?
So I start the screensaver, see the login screen, and I type 'd' ...
w00t! Where did my Linux go? I am back to Windows!
The parent referred to this software as a "computer saver", but if he had bothered to read the story at all he would have realized the title of the article says "screen saver".
Still, it's a very funny comment!
Linux becomes a Windows product! If I think of it that way, this might be a good thing. An oppurtunity to run any Operating System(Linux/Windows/Mac) from anyother OS so you can have the best of all worlds. Windows could be a screen saver on Linux too.
:)
It could prove to be a starting point for making OSs truly independent, not by letting various OSs talk to each other, but instead to run within and in concert with each other.
For those of us who use both Operating Systems and don't look condescendingly on either this would be a great way to switch - maybe without rebooting - Maybe with a hot key and not a screen saver though.
Alas, I don't think flamers and trolls would ever allow such a thing - not that they matter.
----
Sacrifice the things you like doing for the things you Love doing
Think of it -- a Windows screensaver that does email, word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing... Windows becomes just something you boot to get to the screensaver. Then eventually they figure out that they can install just the screensaver by itself and it will run faster, for free.
And can I run my pictures of Jessica Simpson on the Linux screensaver that's running in my Windows screensaver?
I18N == Intergalacticization
A screensaver, that may make your more productive than the whole rest of your OS!
So if it works as a screensaver that means that all user will only be able to work with it if they do nothing for about hum.. let's say 10 minutes...then they'll have about less that half a second to click in the window to work in linux,,,,then wait another ten minute to get back in.
;)
that's a waist of time
I'm anxious to check this out! Does anybody know where I can find MS_Windows.tar.gz?
Please can I have back the ten minutes I just wasted trying to work out what the hell this article is about.
Fuck pipes! I want to play that maze screensaver!
It's been made available for DOS in the form of Shoot the Grammar Nazis.