Tiles were comparably slow to draw. Windows 3.1 and maybe more recent Windows had a background option called "patterns". These are 8x8 patterns of black-over-something. Second color is customizable. It could be white, but also something else. EGA/VGA hardware specific is that 8 pixel wide repeating stuff can be drawn relatively quickly. Patterns were not inside files. They are probably inside registry? Or ini files?
Whatever. The end result is that patterns are forgotten and omitted from retro background collections.
Here's someone's personal archive of weird miscellanea, including old Windows wallpapers which is what reminded me. I use unironically use the classic Packard Bell tile background on my computers because it reminds me of my grandmother's PC which is one of the first I ever used.
Packard Bell is one of those logos that really perplexes me as to what exactly it's supposed to represent. A very stylised "P B" somehow? An ear with an earphone stuck in it? An abstract vacuum tube? A crushed air-cooled engine block?
These personal collections are always neat to see. I'd like to start my own (beyond scraps in my local Pictures folder) but I'm not sure how to structure it. I might just build a grid of tagged/categorized media, like a chaotic memory palace.
When I could run Windows 3.1, I had no multimedia thing. I have found PC Speaker driver somewhere, and it could play event sounds like start-up, but could not play in ordinary player. Same WAV in player won't play because it is not "event sound". And no MIDI of course. Windows 3.1 was somewhere around, but it was nothing to do there. Graphics on EGA was slow. Windows 3.1 was telling us: if you want your programs to work fast, write them for bare metal, and we were using bare metal programs in DOS and writing bare metal programs for DOS.
First time I heard MIDI was Windows 98 already. Graphics of Windows was still slow compared to DOS, but Windows 98 offered more experience. Other developers were raising questions why do they write slow programs for Windows when they could write fast programs for DOS. From times of sound card arrival I recall that there was a bridge between CD-ROM and soundcard, and DOS Navigator could control playback of CD tracks, and that was they way we had music for ordinary activity.
Most memories about MIDI are related to custom Duke Nukem 3D maps. Custom maps sometimes included custom graphics in ART files and custom music in MIDI format. Duke Nukem 3D is the most recognized MIDI player. In Windows I could download Macromedia Flash file, observe the slide show, think "guys, when will you learn to program?" Exit Windows, run Duke Nukem 3D, wonder why can some programmers deliver real time 3D graphics, and other programmers cannot even draw 2D. Oh, and MIDI plays in the background because Duke Nukem 3D music is MIDI.
Computers were wondrous and amazing then. Every feature and capability was exciting and full of promise. Now I see node modules, IAM, surveillance, adtech. It’s more like repulsion. Very sad.
I sort of miss when my way of using GUI desktops involved the wallpaper sometimes being visible. These days It’s all quarter/half/full windows that rarely close, and certainly are never minimized.
macOS is still somewhat like this, if you avoid the "full screen" maximize just double clicking the titlebar will only grow the window to fit the content rather than have the window to fill the screen.
Its a lot like papers on a desk, and I know tons of folks here don't care for that model but I quite like it, especially in conjunction with stage manager.
I know this isnt related to the post, but does anyone remember the artist or website that had a bunch of cool textures and colorful tiled wallpaper for the early days of linux? think mid-90s.
I've been scratching my head for years and my searches have never found it, but there has to be some white beards here that can recall it.
I remember there were some really cool options available, I believe in a square format for better tiling. If anyone can remember and post a link or archive I would very much appreciate it.
Yes! This is it, thank you! I've been trying to find these for a long while. I even remember co-opting some for a Geocities page back in the day when those were kinda cool lol!
back in the 3.11/95 era when doing troubleshooting of slow PC's I would always change the bitmap wallpaper to a solid color. nothing more painful then watching a slow machine waste resources trying to render a desktop background.
Gosh, my brain just got all fuzzy going through those one after the next. Transitioning from the previous era of CGA to 16 colors was so very exciting at the time.
Funny coincidence. I was just (as in just now) looking for a graphics driver for my old Pentium laptop to get Windows 3.1 to work at the full 800x600 resolution.
It's weird that those give me nostalgia when I clearly remember our PC having a monochrome monitor. I wonder if my brain is retrofitting stuff or whether if any of those survived to Windows 98.
One of my hobbies is to install older versions of windows and play around with them a bit - at the moment I have 86Box emulating an old machine with windows 3.11 installed and Visual C++, and I'm writing a little implementaiton of DFT so I can simulate a water molecule. Mostly because I want to go back to the days of when I had a 486 in my bedroom, I finally got a graphical desktop working, and the feeling of joy with the old wallpapers, the clock running, a coding IDE, I spent hours in there learning about memory allocations, functions, OpenGL, such good memories that turned into a lifelong career.
Sigh ... boots C64 with a rather odd coax to SCART to HDMI daisy-chain video interface. I also have a QSII joystick that I didn't quite manage to ruin playing Daley Thompson decathalon.
Whatever. The end result is that patterns are forgotten and omitted from retro background collections.
https://www.dvd3000.ca/wp/extra/pb.html
[0] https://1000logos.net/packard-bell-logo/
First time I heard MIDI was Windows 98 already. Graphics of Windows was still slow compared to DOS, but Windows 98 offered more experience. Other developers were raising questions why do they write slow programs for Windows when they could write fast programs for DOS. From times of sound card arrival I recall that there was a bridge between CD-ROM and soundcard, and DOS Navigator could control playback of CD tracks, and that was they way we had music for ordinary activity.
Most memories about MIDI are related to custom Duke Nukem 3D maps. Custom maps sometimes included custom graphics in ART files and custom music in MIDI format. Duke Nukem 3D is the most recognized MIDI player. In Windows I could download Macromedia Flash file, observe the slide show, think "guys, when will you learn to program?" Exit Windows, run Duke Nukem 3D, wonder why can some programmers deliver real time 3D graphics, and other programmers cannot even draw 2D. Oh, and MIDI plays in the background because Duke Nukem 3D music is MIDI.
As an aside, that keyboard in particular had the best click I've ever experienced.
Its a lot like papers on a desk, and I know tons of folks here don't care for that model but I quite like it, especially in conjunction with stage manager.
I've been scratching my head for years and my searches have never found it, but there has to be some white beards here that can recall it.
I remember there were some really cool options available, I believe in a square format for better tiling. If anyone can remember and post a link or archive I would very much appreciate it.
https://github.com/BenjaminHCCarr/PropagandaTiles
Seems to match what's in the desktop-backgrounds RPM on this ISO (CD 1)
https://archive.org/details/red-hat-linux-6.1
one is “Mastering Windows 3.1”
it’s fun to run in the background while working
for your enjoyment, here’s a similar 3.1 tutorial video from that era uploaded to YouTube
https://youtu.be/KRi5mjMgORk?si=OFH7UhOQif5EUCtg
On CRT displays, did these not cause visual problems in the same way? I remember having no trouble looking at these years ago.
Edit: I guess the package still exists, even though many desktop refuse to tile jpg. :/
That’s long enough in tech to be considered retro in and of itself… let alone the age of these tiled backgrounds!
And the kid could be born when this upload was done, and now be downloading!
Tried it as my background for a bit as it looks good tiled, but mainly used the two tartans or just a solid blue.
Thanks for sharing. :-)