This site is getting old now - you can get the latest 4.0b version here just in case of downloading problems, but all the info is out of date.
The actual screensaver is as described here, only better…
This site will be used as a base for updates, FAQs and general news about Brewster. (For those of you who just came in, Brewster is a spectacular screensaver for Windows 95, 98, or NT which simulates a real kaleidoscope. To find out more, click
here. To download it right now, click here. Or scroll down the page for a list of contents).
Hyperlinks on this page are
Green or Dark Green
UPDATE (31 August 1998) Version 3.0b is out!
This fixes a problem which one user had with multiple copies starting up. Also made it less sensitive to small mouse movements so it does not suddenly stop due to vibration etc.
The latest version of Brewster comes with a host of new features and a handy auto-installer. Download it now. Only the standard zip file is here - for a self-extracting executable version, go to our new home page:
Named after physicist David Brewster, who invented the device, this is a spectacular screensaver for Windows 95 / NT only, which simulates a kaleidoscope. It is an accurate simulation which produces symmetric mirrored images of the variously-shaped objects in view. Just like the real thing, it produces colourful patterns which slowly change as the viewpoint rotates. (You can download it here - at 420 Kb it won't take too long.)
The objects in the view can be altered at the touch of a button, and the image can be stretched or distorted to fill the screen. Objects can be animated, or change colour in rainbow patterns.
You can design and save your own patterns, or just press the Randomise button for a unique new design at any time. Patterns range from gentle snowflake-like images to brain-burning psychedelic extravaganzas. But don't take my word for it - download the shareware demo and try it for yourself! The demo is fully functional but prints a message on screen after a short time.
System requirements: Brewster will operate on any system capable of running Windows 95 / NT. Better performance will be achieved by faster processors and better graphic cards. Much depends on the screen resolution. There are some notes in the documentation about how to get the most out of your system. Brewster is designed to run in high or true colour mode (16+ bit colour).
Brewster costs $20 to register. To pay by credit card over the internet, just click on the appropriate buttons while running Brewster, and it will launch your browser and connect you to a secure web site. Or you can connect from this page to the registration site (Share-It). Other payment options are detailed in the program's documentation.
Toll-free phone ordering is now available (US only)
The images on this page were produced from the default pattern set by running Brewster in full-screen mode, grabbing the images, and re-sampling down to 256 x 192 pixels. The manual tells you how to do this. The images here are copyright of the author, but any Brewster patterns you select and process belong to you.
What's coming in the future
Well, V3.0 is out as of today, and I think it has a few significant improvements over V2.0. Email me with your suggestions for you more enhancements!
Reviews
Brewster V1.1 was released on 8th April 1998. Here are some snippets from the first reviews:
"You will never grow tired of this screen saver … I give Brewster's Kaleidoscopic Screen Saver 4 smileys. The graphics and animation combined with all the setting options make for an excellent screen saver!"
"The first-rate settings screen gives you plenty of options to design your own patterns … you'll never get bored with it."
Extermination Department
Send me your bugs! Please note any nasty behaviour by Brewster and send details to me at the email address below. Be sure to include info on your PC (esp. speed) and operating system (e.g. Win95 or NT), the version of Brewster, and anything else you may feel is relevant. The aim is to make Brewster 100% bug free. Right at the moment, there are no known bugs!
V3.0
A couple of issues which affected some users fixed.
V2.0b
No bugs found or fixed.
Bugs fixed in V2.0a
On some computers (Windows NT only, I think) the program would not run because of variations in the way different versions of Windows call it. It should run on all systems now.
Bugs fixed in V1.1b:
You could still experience the lock-up bug in rare circumstances relating to the 'Reset-Time' edit box. That should be impossible now.
Bugs fixed in V1.1a:
The 'lock-up' bug where the program was sometimes too busy to respond to mouse input has been 100% eliminated now, I think. Basically, the pattern in the preview window should now freeze when you do something that should bring up a message box. That means that the box should pop up almost instantaneously instead of being slow or never coming at all.
The 'Polite' mode option has been removed as the default. On slower machines (e.g. P60), when a random pattern was supposed to be selected every 60 secs (or whatever) sometimes it wouldn't change due to this option being set.
