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From: bskendig@shine.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: CDEV Brightness in 6.0.7 Question
Message-ID: <5853@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 1 Feb 91 05:12:45 GMT
References: <5741@crystal9.UUCP>
Sender: news@idunno.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Starfleet Academy: Princeton University
Lines: 36

In article <5741@crystal9.UUCP> derosa@motcid.UUCP (John DeRosa) writes:
>What exactly is this new CDEV called Brightness in the
>system 6.0.7, Utilities Disk #2, System Folder Additions?
>
>I tried it on a IIcx and it doesn't even show up in
>the control panel.  Is it for a classic,IIsi, IIlc or
>a portable or what?

It lets you adjust the screen brightness on a Macintosh Classic, which
has no external brightness dial like the one on an SE or a Plus.  (I
guess the Apple people decided that a hardware dial was too difficult
for a user to figure out, so they moved it to the Control Panel.)

It seems to me that they probably did this because they thought the
software-controlled brightness on a NeXT was neat, but this leaves two
important questions:

(1) Why is the cdev put on my SE by the Installer?  Weird.

(2) On the NeXT, if you inadvertently bring the screen too dim to see,
you can use the brightness keys on the keyboard to lighten things back
up again.  On the Mac Classic, there *are* no such keys, so if you
bring the screen too dim to read, and you lose where the brightness
slider on the screen is in relation to your mouse...  you're out of
luck!

I guess that's how Apple is selling so many Classics: when you bring
the screen all the way dim, you have to throw out the unit and get a
new one!

     << Brian >>

| Brian S. Kendig      \ Macintosh |   Engineering,   | bskendig             |
| Computer Engineering |\ Thought  |  USS Enterprise  | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU
| Princeton University |_\ Police  | -= NCC-1701-D =- | @PUCC.BITNET         |
"It's not that I don't have the work to *do* -- I don't do the work I *have*."