Omega-TI Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 I have a question of all you programmer types out there, especially you Rasmus... Would it be possible to write a TSR type program for a F18A equipped TI that loads up a screen saver after a period of time without activity? The TI will by itself go to a blank screen after a period of time.. I was wondering if the cycle could be interrupted with a small routine that would automatically load a graphic or a small program instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Absolutely. Since the console sets the VDP "blank bit" (VR1[1]) the GPU could check that bit every VSYNC and do something with the display until the bit is changed again, then restore the display. With the 2K of private RAM that the GPU has, it could back-up the name table and part of the pattern table (26 tiles worth of patterns, or so) and then take over the screen. Scrolling is an option coupled with the palette registers and such, you could probably come up with some interesting effects. A totally non destructive effect would be to enable the BML to the full screen size and just increment the BML's base address register. This would effectively "visualize" the contents of VRAM in an animated sort of pixel way. Although it might end up just looking like static. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 (edited) I have a question of all you programmer types out there, especially you Rasmus... Would it be possible to write a TSR type program for a F18A equipped TI that loads up a screen saver after a period of time without activity? The TI will by itself go to a blank screen after a period of time.. I was wondering if the cycle could be interrupted with a small routine that would automatically load a graphic or a small program instead. Old news. Users of the 80 column version of TKGrom0 have had this nicety for about 15 years. The 9938 demo program 'LINES' kicks in right before the screen blanking timer takes effect. Pressing any key exits the screen saver and restarts the timer. Maybe another reason to upgrade the F18A to make it 9938 compatible. Gazoo Edited February 16, 2015 by Gazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I'm not convinced that a screen saver that requires a GRAM device and a modified GROM0, is a good reason for Matthew to throw out half his work, redesign his VDP, and do a whole new product release. Just my opinion though. I like the idea, though... like Matthew says, it'd be pretty trivial. No changes to the console operation would even be needed, any time the blank bit was set, the GPU could kick in the screensaver. You could do a fair bit of stuff in 2k with a 100MHz 9900. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Are screen savers even *required* in this day of LCD screens? If you're using the F18A there's a high chance that you're using a modern LCD monitor or LCD TV with VGA inputs. The chances of someone using an F18A with a VGA CRT monitor are quite low I think. In fact, I haven't even *seen* a CRT monitor for years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I saw a VGA CRT monitor a few minutes ago. There's one in my closet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I had forgotten about Tony's screen saver until I left the TI on while I was doing some work on my laptop and turned around to see LINES running on the TI. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Are screen savers even *required* in this day of LCD screens? If you're using the F18A there's a high chance that you're using a modern LCD monitor or LCD TV with VGA inputs. The chances of someone using an F18A with a VGA CRT monitor are quite low I think. In fact, I haven't even *seen* a CRT monitor for years! Maybe not necessarily required, though you can "burn" a picture into an LCD. I have seen it plenty of times, but it takes far longer than what we might expect from a cathode ray tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Even so, it's a fun idea. (Having it in GROM is cool too, don't get me wrong ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 All but one of the VGA monitors in my house is a CRT, and that one changed out over the holidays because the wife wanted a bigger monitor on her computer. . .so the screen saver is a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 As my hobby, I just thought it would be kinda neat to jazz up the built-in boring screen blanker and give our old box just one more 'subtle enhancement' to enjoy. Honestly, being practical never entered into my thoughts, after all it's a 34 year old computer. I'm just after the WOW factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 It would also be cool to issue DPMS sleep and wake commands to a monitor. http://www.epanorama.net/documents/pc/vga_bd15.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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