CompuServe Thread

#SCREEN SAVER

13 messages in this thread
#27005From: Roy PahnkeJul 2, 1991 3:22 PM
Isaac – How long do you leave your Amiga on for? I too, used Pryro for several months and in most cases it work perfectly, however on some days and in some cases I would look over at my computer and a Software Error Requestor would be showing in the upper lefter corner. Now my situation is a little different than most others, in that I leave my computer on 24hours a day, usually 7 days a week. (it does the computer no harm and consumes very little elect.) With Pryro running most days I would come in to the office in the morning and all would be fine, however maybe 2 out of every 10 days, I would come in and Pryro has crashed and left the Software Error Requestor. It's hard to say why the requestor would show up, and when – it just happened. I must be something to do with the length of time that pyror is actually blanking the screen and doing it's fireworks thing, cause it would always crash after and extended length on no activety on my Amy. I have recently switched back to using the Qmouse screen blanker option (which I had disabled in the .config file while using Pryro). Qmouse blanker is just a black screen but it has never crashed my system. – Roy Pahnke – Casper, Wyomin' – Crazy Mountain Software –
#27016From: Mike SchillerJul 2, 1991 4:52 PM
Roy: I don't know how much truth there is to this statement, but I was told that having a monitor on with just a blank screen is as bad, if not worse than having no screen blanker at all because it causes all the energy in the picture tube to stay in the rear section of it, causing it to die prematurely. This same person told me that any of the blankers that put some form of moving image on the screen (such as Pyro) will avoid this problem, and that they would be the optimum solution, better than turning it on and off all the time. I've used Dlineart with Dmouse, as well as StarBlanker, and now I'm using Spliner (the last 2 are 2.0 only) with no problems. -Mike Schiller In sunny Fort Lauderdale
#27074From: Don Curtis/SYSOPJul 3, 1991 2:10 AM
Mike, Whoever told you that having a blank (CRT guns turned off) screen caused the "..energy in the picture tube to stay in the rear…" hasn't the faintest idea of what he/she was talking about. While it's not an exact analogy…that'd be similar to saying your power cord is going to burn up when you turn your computer off because all the energy now has to stay in the cord. Don
#27188From: RON TROYJul 3, 1991 8:57 PM
Now Don, that's the best analogy (power in cord) that I've heard in years!!! Ron
#27226From: Roy PahnkeJul 4, 1991 1:12 AM
Thanks for the Thoughts Mike – You that person might be right. One thing is for sure, he sounds like he probably knows alot more of about that sort of stuff then I. Like I said, I was using Pryo for quite some time but finally gave in because of the 'Software Failure' requestor that would show up. Dlineart does sound interesting, and I have seen (although I don't have it) StarBlanker. Maybe I'll hunt one of those down and give them a try. Should would like to here others thoughts on the Black Blank screen issue. – Roy Pahnke – Casper, Wyomin' – Crazy Mountain Software –
#27242From: Don Curtis/SYSOPJul 4, 1991 2:40 AM
Roy, Go read my reply to Mike. IF you believe that story…you might also believe that electronic stuff runs on blue smoke…'cuz when the blue smoke leaks out…the thing quits working. Don
#27275From: Harry ManolopoulosJul 4, 1991 11:40 AM
EXCEPT microwave ovens, they run on purple smoke. 🙂 HarryM
#27297From: Steve AhlstromJul 4, 1991 1:16 PM
Don, What!? You mean electronics _dont'_ run on blue smoke!? I know that a couple of months ago when my monitor released all of its blue smoke it quit working. Sheesh, next the tooth fairy myth with be exposed. -sja
#27347From: Skip DyrdaJul 5, 1991 12:07 AM
I had a old Lafayette reciever that relesed some blue smoke and never worked again because Lafayette kept telling me that the blue smoke was back ordered. Then they went out of business. Go figure;-^…. >>>>>Skip( SKP Graphics )<<<<<
#27375From: BILL LEACHJul 5, 1991 8:48 AM
Roy; There are lots of both "old wives tails" and former truths around. Many things that used to be true in the '40s and '50s concerning CRTs are not true now. Some of the alleged "truths" were not true then either. 🙂 An Amiga message processed by Whap!, bill
#27532From: Thom GarrisonJul 6, 1991 4:19 PM
I use STARBLANK under 1.3 . It's probably the same as your STARBLANKER. It makes the screen appear as it you are going through space. I also use ABLANKER, which allows me to blank the screen at will. – via Whap!
#27612From: BILL LEACHJul 7, 1991 8:07 AM
Thom; …for want of a better place to "hang" this. I know that several have been discussing the problems with CPU intensive blankers… I sorta solved that problem for myself. I tried several tricks, none of which would work and then tried launching the blanker from User-Startup. Used Status to determine which CLI ended up with the blanker and then went back to User-Startup and added the lines: "; WARNIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "; The following two lines are sequence sensitive" "run >nil: sys:tools/commodities/blanker.hi CX_POPUP=NO" "ChangeTaskPri -1 process 3 ;This may change if other changes are made to" "; any of the startup files !!!!!!!!!!!!!!" This seems to work. Normally the StarBlanker runs normally but if there is some TCP/IP activity (or other activity) running in the background, then the StarBlanker will be a bit erratic. So far, I have not had anytrouble with any other programs. This may not be terribly elegant nor the best way to do it, but at least it seems to work. An Amiga message processed by Whap!, bill
#27786From: BILL LEACHJul 8, 1991 9:25 AM
Thom; While I'm hanging stuff on your thread… I someone (several someones) saying that they could not get Spliner to use a timeout other than the default. Did I indeed remember that correctly? Last night I tried Spliner for the first time (and it is nice), and put "timeout=300" into the info files. Spliner is now waiting 5 minutes before kicking in. An Amiga message processed by Whap!, bill