Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pasteur!agate!ucbvax!ucsd!rutgers!uwvax!oddjob!gargoyle!att!alberta!calgary!maloff
From: maloff@calgary.UUCP (Sheldon Maloff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: MachII and screen blankers in general
Keywords: which is better for my monitor?
Message-ID: <1753@vaxb.calgary.UUCP>
Date: 18 Jul 88 20:02:53 GMT
References: <298@cadomin.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Calgary, Calgary, Ab.
Lines: 38

In article <298@cadomin.UUCP>, filip@alberta.UUCP (Don Filipchuk) writes:
>    I leave my A500 on for weeks at a time (I frequently 
>    I have MachII and was wondering exactly what the screen blanker
>    does.  Does it shut off the signal from the Amiga to the monitor or

I use popcli2 and it does turn off the signal to the monitor, freeing up
the DMA cycles for cpu processing.  (How much this speeds up the cpu
processing speed I don't know).  Most screen blankers put up a 1 bit plane
screen in front of all others (the screen of course is black), and turn off
the mouse pointer.
>    what?  The reason I ask is this :    I shut my monitor off when I leave
>    for the day, but may check several times just before walking out the
>    door ( to see if it GURU's ... if it will crash, it does so on
>    the first 4-7 scanlines...), which involves turning the
>    monitor on and off a few times in relatively rapid sucession.
>    (ie over the space of 15 minutes ... while I'm brushing my teeth, etc.)
This is really bad on the picture tube.  The problem is much like a 
lightbulb.  The tube goes from cold to warm (or hot), then cold, then 
warm, then cold...  In a light bulb this type of thermal stress breaks 
the filament.  The picture tube undergoes the same stress, shortening 
its life.
>    Would it be better to leave the monitor ON and let the screen blanker do
>    it's thing all day (keeping me from turning the monitor on and off a
>    few times each morning...)  or does the screen blanker not really
>    save the TV.  
I leave my monitor on all the time except for long holidays (in which
case the whole system comes down).  Its been on for about 1.5 years now.
Its warm as a toaster, but it has no problems.  Here at the university
terminals are left on constantly.  Very seldom does a picture tube go
in for repair.
>        That is, is a screen blanker an acceptable substitute for having
>    the monitor turned off for 8 hours?
Yes.

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