System 7 simple screen saver

#1 Sat, 17 Apr 2010 - 21:52 68kMLA

Looking for the lightest weight screen saver out there.

Personally I would just as soon have it blank the screen.

Or are there any power management options to turn the screen off? I want to leave my SE/30 on all the time and want the screen saver for the literal purpose of saving the screen from burn in, I care little for decoration.

Thanks!

#2 Sun, 18 Apr 2010 - 02:51 68kMLA

Moire used to be used a lot, or possibly MacDim?

#3 Sun, 18 Apr 2010 - 23:57 68kMLA

Darkside and Pyro are two more.

#4 Wed, 21 Apr 2010 - 11:21 68kMLA

I've just updated a program I used to use and uploaded it to sourceforge:

http://minivmac.sourceforge.net/examples/blacken.html

Blacken paints the entire screen black, and stays that way until a key is pressed or the mouse is clicked. The program itself is 3k. The archive includes the source. It is trivial modification of the Mini vMac utility TestSync, and I happened to be revising the Mini vMac extras just now, so it was simple to make Blacken.

#5 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 - 22:36 68kMLA

Basic Black: I knew I'd forgotten one, and likely the best one for your needs.

It was freeware, was well regarded, and was widely distributed on magazine covers and such in the mid-90s, so it should be available on archive sites. Works in System 6 and 7.

#6 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 - 22:56 68kMLA

If you've got an SE/30, the easiest way to blank the screen without having to worry about using RAM, disk space, and resources is to simply turn the brightness knob under the Apple logo all the way down.

#7 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 - 22:57 68kMLA

But isn't it still displaying stuff on the screen? The Electrons are still being put on the screen right? or am I wrong about the workings of a CRT?

#8 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 - 23:07 68kMLA

They are being sent, yes; but the gain is so low that nearly none of them are hitting often enough to light up the phosphors.

It's the phosphors on the back of the front-glass that matter. They are what "burn in". The dimmer knob actually turns the gain down on the electron gun, so that it sends out fewer. A dimmer screen is less prone to burn-in. (And even if it does, it burns in with less intensity; which can be overcome by displaying an opposite image at higher brightness for a shorter period of time. Of course, then you're just burning in the rest of the screen to match; which results in a dimmer screen overall.)

#9 Fri, 7 May 2010 - 19:30 68kMLA

Basic Black: I knew I'd forgotten one, and likely the best one for your needs.
It was freeware, was well regarded, and was widely distributed on magazine covers and such in the mid-90s, so it should be available on archive sites. Works in System 6 and 7.

Basic Black 1.5.1 is available in MC68000.org Download Central - it uses the tiniest amount of memory possible.