Autodimming monitor after 2 seconds of inactivity. (Solution inside)

**justintime** · 01-20-2006, 08:02 PM

I figured out how to do this in response to another thread (we got off topic).I thought this was neat enough that it deserved its own thread, so I am posting it here for everyone's attention.

So, here is a way to auto-dim your monitor after just a few seconds of inactivity, and have it restore to normal brightness after touching the screen (or moving the mouse).

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1) First, you need to set timeout of Windows screensavers in 'seconds' rather than 'minutes'. This is the tricky part, because Windows control panel does not allow you to do it directly.

Here is how to do it in Windows XP Pro SP2:
Start-> RUN
Type: gpedit.msc <enter>
Go to: User Configuration>Administrative Templates>Control Panel>Display
Open Screensaver Timeout, and ENABLE it.
Set value to something like 1 or 2 seconds.

2) Now, combine this with Power Dimmer and you have one heck of a neat solution for night driving!

3) (optional) See Post #32 of this thread for a solution that will enable this for you ONLY at night....
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Oh, make sure you DISABLE 'password on resume feature' from your screensaver control panel. Otherwise it will fade to black instead of keeping the screen contents...

Hope this helps. I think this is useful for night driving.

**lifeboat** · 01-20-2006, 08:13 PM

Great find, thanks!

**Uno3whO** · 01-21-2006, 06:01 AM

I think that this is a great start to what we are all trying to accomplish.

There are a few flaws in the design at this time. As you have mentioned it would be nice if this only was activated at a certain time of day. Furthermore, I think that this would dim while watching a DVD due to inactivity.

The best soultion would be to create a plugin or direct impementation of this into a front end, that way it would be able to tell which screen is currently up and whether to be active or not.

Good Find!!!!

**Gobby** · 01-21-2006, 06:13 AM

Good find JIT. Just tested, works really well, as Uno3whO says could do with only working at certain times, would only take 5 mins to knock up a quick app. May do later if I have a bit of spare time.

**justintime** · 01-21-2006, 09:03 AM

I'd like to see something like this as part of the frontend too (RR, Centrafuse?), so it would have better app logic.

**Gobby** · 01-21-2006, 09:14 AM

I could do an RR Plugin quite easily, unfortunately I know nothing about Centrafuse, I've never used it.

**fliplap** · 01-21-2006, 10:41 AM

i'd personally like to see an RR plugin

**chronot150** · 01-21-2006, 12:37 PM

That's certainly very slick. It would add a very professional look to a carpc setup. Even better if it would fade back up, but I don't think that's possible with a screen saver(?).

Would it be possible to make a program that runs in the background that calculates sunrise/sunset times (like GammaControl does) by entering in your lat/long and then sets your screen saver accordingly? Or just have that program do the fading instead of making it into a screen saver? That way it could 1) fade back up, and 2) be universal (CF, RR, etc could all use it).

What do you think?

Dan

**justintime** · 01-21-2006, 01:40 PM

I agree with chronot150, something like this would be great to have, so that it only dimmed during the night. The fadeup however I think would be annoying. When I touch the screen I would want it to get bright immediately for instant use and gratification

Fadeout however is neat.

**Uno3whO** · 01-21-2006, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by justintime

I agree with chronot150, something like this would be great to have, so that it only dimmed during the night. The fadeup however I think would be annoying. When I touch the screen I would want it to get bright immediately for instant use and gratification

Fadeout however is neat.

I agree as well with the fadeout feature. I think that another good idea would be for the screen to essential be locked when it is completely faded (which is a normal action for a screen saver) . Activation should take a keypress anywhere on the screen to unlock it. I guess the usefulness of this would really be dependant on how dark you set it to fade.