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From: ravi@mcnc.UUCP (Ravi Subrahmanyan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Screen blanking
Message-ID: <1962@alvin.mcnc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Jan-87 17:06:40 EST
Article-I.D.: alvin.1962
Posted: Sat Jan 17 17:06:40 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Jan-87 06:37:41 EST
Organization: Microelectronics Center of NC; RTP, NC
Lines: 23
Keywords: screen blanking automatic poodles

[ What?  Another poodle? ]

	This concerns the recent spate of postings of programs that
lurk in the innards of our hapless ST's and blank the screen after a
few minutes of inactivity.  As far as my understanding goes, when the
ST blanks the screen, it cuts down the video signal going to the monitor.
Now all this would do on a monitor is suppress the beam from the
electron-gun and prevent it from striking the screen.  So, even though
one doesn't see anything on the screen, the gun is still churning out
electrons.  This therefore saves the screen phosphor, but the gun
filament still wears out.  

	Is this a consideration?  Would turning down the brightness
and contrast in addition to letting the program blank the screen be
any better (I don't think so)?  From what I remember from my 
oscilloscope days, the life of the filament is as important as that of
the phosphor, ie. picture brightness is a function of both and so
saving on one may not be helping as much as we may believe from the
blanked screen.  Or, are these just the blabberings of an outdated
education (after all, I >am< almost in my mid-twenties.. oh, those
days of youth.. gone forever! (sigh :-)

							-ravi