48 pointsby TheIncredibleCh5 hours ago17 comments
  • jrmgan hour ago
    This is cool - but…

    It’s an app, not a system-integrated[1] screensaver?

    > Installation

    > Drag FakeDOS.app into /Applications.

    > Double-click to launch. It installs itself as a menu-bar icon.

    > Click the menu-bar icon to configure or start manually.

    > After the configured idle time (default: 5 min), FakeDOS takes over fullscreen.

    > Type EXIT to return to your real desktop.

    > Cmd + , opens six pages of pure control: idle time, warp speed, the ghost writer, sound and more. The PC speaker can be silenced. Your co-workers cannot.

    [1]: ScreenSaver.framework: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/screensaver

    • kmoser22 minutes ago
      If they had made it as a website, anybody could use it.
    • bowsamic42 minutes ago
      I'm surprised that the LLM that was used to vibecode this didn't point it out
  • RedShift117 minutes ago
    What exactly is this? Site doesn't work for me (ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR). Gathering from the other comments, some screensaver that shows a DOS prompt?
  • Tsarbomb2 hours ago
    Maybe I'm blind, but is this closed source?
    • creatonezan hour ago
      Yup. OP wants you to download a sketchy closed source screensaver from an obnoxiously vibecoded website that looks identical to the scourge of phishing pages currently going after random open source projects in a fully automated way.
      • TheIncredibleCh35 minutes ago
        Things aren't always what they seem. Sometimes it's just for fun.
      • hollowonepl41 minutes ago
        Finally some comment that actually makes sense here! :)
  • Gormo2 hours ago
    Reminds me of the 'BSOD' module from Xscreensaver.
  • rlv-danan hour ago
    Way back I hacked together a VB6 application (don't remember what it did) but after a while it popped up a new window that faked a DOS prompt formatting the c drive. Then I send it to my best bud on April 1st with a message "Hey, check out this new program I made!" :-)
  • numpad03 hours ago
    gives me SSL_ERROR_INTERNAL_ERROR_ALERT on Firefox
    • thehamkercat3 hours ago
      same on Chrome, maybe it's real DOS
      • RedShift1an hour ago
        Doesn't work for me either.
      • tosti2 hours ago
        DOS has been DoS'd
  • 1970-01-012 hours ago
    The quantum fireball was a nice touch.
  • Bengalilol3 hours ago
    I was site visitor 0001101 (hit return).

    I will get back until counter reaches 01000110 01010010 01001101 01000001 01010100 00100000 01000011 00111010

  • 5 hours ago
    undefined
  • breakwaterlabsan hour ago
    Things not on my bingo card: Watching Hacker News denizens download, install, and run vibecoded Mac apps from sketchy vibecoded websites with TLS issues.
    • Boxxed28 minutes ago
      There is also something about this being Mac-only that feels really dumb or really fitting, I can't quite put my finger on it.
      • kmoser26 minutes ago
        The delicious irony is that it's written for a platform that never ran MS-DOS.
    • nathanaldensran hour ago
      It's time to vibedesign a new bingo card!
  • vunderba17 minutes ago
    Anyone else append something like this to AUTOEXEC.BAT as a kid at school? We were a right bunch of bastards.

      @echo off
      echo FORMAT /Q C:
      echo ALL FILES REMOVED 
      SET DIRCMD=0
    
    
    I think a lot about my poor teachers and this Calvin quote comes to mind.

    https://imgur.com/a/eX4UKLk

  • qubex3 hours ago
    You couldn’t run a format command when within the disk you were trying to format. You’d need to (for example) cd A: and then format c:.

    Deltree, on the other hand…

    • foobarian2 hours ago
      There was a secret option at one point 'FORMAT C: /AUTOTEST'
    • stuaxo2 hours ago
      The favourite of naughty kids in computer shops with Windows 95
  • jasomillan hour ago
    I'll stick with 86Box and DOSBox and try not to run FORMAT C: without backups.
  • hdgvhicv3 hours ago
    32768MB of ram?

    Yeah, that’s wrong.

    • TheIncredibleCh3 hours ago
      Thanks for the hint, and very old bug from the beginning, forgotten in space and time....

      Fixed!

    • trollbridge3 hours ago
      FP4 vs FP8 strikes again…
  • 2 hours ago
    undefined
  • fortran77an hour ago
    It amusing how Mac users yearn for the PC experience. They know they're missing out on something great, but they can't or won't leave their cult.
    • wtch98an hour ago
      Except dos isn't the PC experience. It was back in the 90s when you'd edit your config.sys and autoexec.bat to shift your himem settings so you could run a given game with your soundblaster

      That world doesn't exist any more, whether you're on a mac, linux, or any other OS.