DIMMER.COM
Command

Douglas Boling and Jeff Prosise October 17, 1989 (Utilities)


Purpose:To provide software control of VGA monitor brightness
interactively from the keyboard, through parameters entered on the command line,
or at a specified interval after the last keystroke.

Format:DIMMER [[+|-]adj] [/D time [+|-]adj] [/V[+|-]] [/U]

Remarks:Entered without any of its optional parameters, DIMMER uses the
Alt-Up-Arrow and Alt-Down-Arrow keys to increase or decrease screen brightness.
The original intensity level can be restored at any time by pressing Alt-Home.
DIMMER is a memory-resident program (see Note); it can be uninstalled by being
run with the /U switch.

The adj parameter accepts integer values from +63 to -63. Although
relative to the intensity level in effect when the program loads, a value of -63
will completely blank the screen and +63 will wash out almost all colors. The
time parameter sets the number of minutes (up to 65,534) to allow after the last
keystroke. Used in conjunction with the optional /D switch and an adj value
(usually -63), the time parameter is normally used when it is desired to blank
the screen after a specified period of keyboard inactivity. Any subsequent
keypress will restore the screen to its original level, but as this keystroke
will be fed to the application, it is safest to hit an unaccompanied Ctrl, Alt,
or Shift key. Once active, the screen-saver option can be cancelled by entering
DIMMER /D 0.

With applications that do not write directly to the video BIOS, a
blanked screen can be automatically restored when the program attempts to
update the display. This is accomplished by using the optional /V (or V+)
switch. By default, DIMMER restores the intensity level only when a keystroke
is entered, which is equivalent to running the program with a /V- command-line
switch.