The Matrix Desktop (beta 0.2)

Better than a Screensaver

Let's face it: the official Matrix Screensaver is seriously bad. It looks as if a child made it one afternoon with Disney's Screensaver Studio.
Our alternative, The Matrix Desktop, runs the animated Matrix code on your Windows desktop. It's amazingly cool and can be left running all the time since it uses virtually no processor power.
So, if you are looking for the Matrix Screensaver, Matrix Reloaded Screensaver or other Animated Matrix Code, download now (at bottom of page) and try it.

What the Stars Say

DuJour (Ada Nicodemou): "Come on, it'll be fun. I promise."
Neo (Keanu Reeves): "What are you talking about? What the hell is this? What is that thing? What does that mean? Whoa. Okie dokie. Free my mind."
Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss): "It's necessary, Neo. For our protection. We've got a fibrillation!"
Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne): "Unbelievable, isn't it?"
Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving): "Have you ever stood and stared at it, marveled at its beauty, its genius?"

Requirements

OS: Windows 98 and above (probably 95 too, but not tested).
Computer: 200MHz or above.
Graphics Card: A 3D Graphics Card which is no more than about 3 years old with at least 16MB of memory on the card.
Cards Tested ( nVidia ): TNT, GeForce 2, 3 and 4.
Cards Tested ( ATI ): Radeon 9000.
Cards Tested (Matrox G450, G550): These cards do not support features required by Matrix Desktop, therefore Matrix Desktop will not run with either of these cards.
DirectX: version 7 or above.

Neo: "Whoa, dude!...Direct what!?"
Morpheus: "Free your mind, Neo. You will need to install DirectX 7 (or a later version). Enter the construct at www.microsoft.com/directx/".
Agent Smith: "DirectX will also be installed with most 3D games and other 3D or Video applications."
Trinity: "If you run The Matrix Desktop and get the error "ddraw.dll is missing", you don't have DirectX installed."

Installation

No installation.
Simply download The Matrix Desktop (less than 100k) and run it. Copy the .exe file or a shortcut to your startup folder if you want it to run each time Windows starts.

Known Issues

PC freezes when Matrix Desktop is started
Happens when using old drivers on some graphics cards running in 32-bit colour mode. (So far has happened only on nVidia GeForce3 card.)
Solution: Install the latest drivers for your graphics card.

Falling code characters look like they are behind jarred glass
Happens when using old drivers on some graphics cards running in 32-bit colour mode.
Solution: Install the latest drivers for your graphics card.

Active Desktop
For this beta release, if you cannot see the Matrix effect, please remove or reduce the size of any full-screen Active Desktop wallpapers. E.g. use the 'center' option on the 'Background' tab, or choose a smaller picture.

All Other Issues
All other known issues are trivial.

Unknown non-trivial issue
Issues not detailed here that cause crashes should be reported.
Please report unknown issues along with a summary of your hardware.

Note

This is 'beta' software.

Before you run this beta software for the very first time, it would be advisable to have first closed all other programs you are using (as a crash may cause you to lose your work). Once the software has run once without crashing, you should be okay subsequently. If you do experience a crash, let us know.

As with most software, you use this program at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for any consequence of this software's use - whether direct or indirect.

This software won't run if you have a video, DVD or TV channel playing. Start The Matrix Desktop first and your video, DVD and TV applications should work normally after that.

The Matrix Desktop does not change your computer configuration - so, if it is not running, your computer will behave as it did before The Matrix Desktop was ever installed onto your hard drive.

The software is free to download from this site and use on your computer, but must not be re-distributed without our express permission.

This software has not been tested on a wide variety of computers, however, it has been extensively tested on a small selection of computers and a number of different graphics cards. If this software does not work with your computer and you have a fairly modern machine, let us know what graphics card you have, which operating system you are using and any error messages you receive - we will do our best to fix any problems.

With this beta version, you will need to manually change any full-size desktop pictures to smaller images or none at all. If you have a stretched or tiled background, The Matrix Desktop will center the picture for you and restore it to the previous setting when you close The Matrix Desktop.

Check back every few weeks for updates. (Link to this page, not the exe file, as the exe file location willchange from time to time.)

Welcome to the Matrix.

Download The Matrix Desktop

DOWNLOAD PROGRAM (92 k)
or
DOWNLOAD ZIP (36 k)