Short: A tool that disables your screen blanker when certain tasks are running Author: Ghandi and Alexander Niven-Jenkins Uploader: Alexander Niven-Jenkins Type: util/blank Replaces: AntiBlanker.lha Why was it written? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Because the screen blanker we were using would eat up too much CPU time when we were trying to burn CDRs thus ruining them, and we kept forgetting to disable it beforehand, so we thought we would get our Amiga to do it for us. How do I run AntiBlanker from Workbench? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just double click on the AntiBlanker icon. In order to tell AntiBlanker what tasks to look out for you must setup it's ToolTypes as follows: DELAY= BLANKCODE= BLANKQUALIFIER= TASK= e.g.: DELAY=6000 BLANKCODE=0x0062 BLANKQUALIFIER=0x0004 TASK=MakeCD TASK=PalomaTV The above would disable your screen blanker when ever MakeCD or PalomaTV are running, and it will check to see if they are running every 2 minutes (6000/50/60 = 2 minutes), but How do I run AntiBlanker from the CLI? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Type the following at a CLI prompt: AntiBlanker ... Where are any number of configuration files, AntiBlanker will automatically append them all together. The format of the configuartion files are as follows: Line1 The delay between check (in 1/50ths of a second). Same as DELAY tooltype. Line2 The blank key code (see below). Same as BLANKCODE tooltype. Line3 The blank qualifier (see below). Same as BLANKQUALIFIER tooltype. Line4 .. x The task name you would like to disable your screen blanker for. Same as TASK tooltype. nb. When using multiple configuration files, AntiBlanker uses the DELAY, BLANKCODE and BLANKQUALIFIER from the last configuration file specified. What are the blank code and blank qualifier? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AntiBlanker works by putting 'fake' input events onto the input chain, thus fooling your screen blanker into thinking you've pressed a key when you haven't. Versions before 0.4 used the Control (Ctrl) key for this purpose as we thought it was least likely to cause any conflicts, unfortunately we did not fill in the input event with a single Control, but instead we accidentally set it to + <'> and this would produce 'trash' in a shell window and in some software. As of version 0.5 you can specify the blank code and blank qualifier (see above), this allows you to program AntiBlanker to 'fool' the system with any key you like. You can specify the codes as hex or decimal by copying them exactly from the tables below (the tables are not complete, but should get you started). Blank codes ~~~~~~~~~~~ Key Hex Code Decimal Code --- -------- ------------ Left Shift 0x0060 96 Right Shift 0x0061 97 Caps Lock 0x0062 98 Control 0x0063 99 Left Alt 0x0064 100 Right Alt 0x0065 101 Left Amiga 0x0066 102 Right Amiga 0x0067 103 nb. The above blank codes work on our A1200, although they may be slightly different for other Amigas (and possibly foreign keyboards), if you get 'trash' in a shell window while using AntiBlanker try a different code. Blank qualifiers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Key Hex Code Decimal Code --- -------- ------------ Left Shift 0x0001 1 Right Shift 0x0002 2 Caps Lock 0x0004 4 Control 0x0008 8 Left Alt 0x0010 16 Right Alt 0x0020 32 Left Amiga 0x0040 64 Right Amiga 0x0080 128 If you find one of the above keys conflicts with your software try another. nb. the Caps Lock codes do not appear to actually affect the status of Caps Lock. Which blankers work with AntiBlanker? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AntiBlanker has been tested and proven to work with the following screen blankers, although it should work with almost any screen blanker. If you have tested it with a blanker not listed, please let me know the results so that we can update the list. Blanker AntiBlanker version ------- ------------------- extras:tools/commodities/Blanker 0.1+ util/cdity/mcx280.lha 0.1+ util/blank/ASwarmII2_0.lha 0.2+ util/blank/Auror15a.lha 0.2+ util/blank/BeyondTheDark.lha 0.2+ util/blank/Blanker2.6.lha 0.2+ util/blank/DesktopMAGIC.lha 0.2+ util/blank/GBlanker36.lha 0.2, 0.3, 0.5+ util/blank/GBlanker36_020.lha 0.2, 0.3, 0.5+ util/blank/FlyingToasters.lha 0.2+ util/blank/ShadowMaster.lha 0.2+ util/blank/StarBlanker.lha 0.2+ util/blank/SwazBlanker240.lha 0.2+ Miscellaneous notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Task names are CASE SENSITIVE, you can find out the name of task via a tool such as Scout. To stop AntiBlanker, send it a CTRL-C signal either via the Break/BreakName programs or by a tool such as Scout. Please note that AntiBlanker will not end immediately but after it's next loop. To get the most performance out of AntiBlanker (so that it uses the least CPU time), put the tasks that you use most at the bottom of the configuration file (or tool type list). Due to the way AntiBlanker stores the task names internally it actually checks for the tasks in the reverse order to the how you specified them. Registration and contacting us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AntiBlanker is 'Email Ware', this means that if you use it then you must send us an email. As you can see this is a very small cost to pay. Also feel free to visit our website at http://www.cremlinsoftware.org it hosts all the latest versions of our software (including BETA releases). AntiBlanker history ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version Date Notes 0.1 15.06.1998 ·First public release. 0.2 15.06.1998 ·Fixed AntiBlanker so that it works with Garshneblanker. [Luca 'Hexaae' Longone] 0.3 05.09.1998 ·Fixed an Enforcer hit that was caused by our linked list class. [Luca 'Hexaae' Longone] 0.4 14.09.1998 ·Added user definable blank key. ·Altered the code so it sends a KEY_UP event instead of a KEY_DOWN. This should reduce the amount of conflicts with existing software. 0.5 BETA 15.09.1998 ·Added The BlankCodeFinder program to the AntiBlanker package. ·Changed user definable blank key so that it is specified as a CODE and QUALIFIER, instead of just a QUALIFIER. ·Altered the code so it sends a KEY_DOWN event like 0.3 did, as we had forgotten this was necessary for Garshneblanker compatibility (oops). 1.0 15.02.2000 ·Finally fixed the Enforcer hit on startup (that only took 1½ years). [Luca 'Hexaae' Longone] ·Configuration file(s) are now closed properly. ·Added CTRL-C support. ·A number of internal optimisations and recompiled with the new OS3.5 includes. 1.1 28.02.2000 ·Our linked list class has been enhanced and cleaned up for one of our other projects, so we have recompiled AntiBlanker to accomodate the new class. No real changes have been made to the program itself. ============================= Archive contents ============================= Original Packed Ratio Date Time Name -------- ------- ----- --------- -------- ------------- 7884 4727 40.0% 28-Feb-00 18:33:08 AntiBlanker 35 35 0.0% 11-Feb-00 17:47:28 AntiBlanker.cfg 580 281 51.5% 14-Feb-00 19:33:24 AntiBlanker.info 8061 3041 62.2% 28-Feb-00 19:21:42 AntiBlanker.readme -------- ------- ----- --------- -------- 16560 8084 51.1% 01-Mar-100 20:10:56 4 files