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1993-02-04
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Documentation for BLANKER.EXE, a Shareware screen blanking utility.
Copyright (C) 1993 by David B. Donaldson, All Rights Reserved
Version 1.00, released January 14, 1993
BLANKER is a no-frills DOS "text" based TSR screen blanker designed for
Monochrome, EGA and VGA workstations. What makes BLANKER different - is
that it is mouse, network and Windows aware and compatible.
******************************************************************************
This program is not FREE, it is Shareware. You are granted a trial license
of 15 days to try BLANKER. If it meets your needs and you decided to use it,
please register it at the address below, under the terms at the end of this
documentation. (There's nothing worse than four pages of bull and licensing
info at the beginning of a Shareware document!)
******************************************************************************
BLANKER provides adjustable time-out and ON/OFF features from the command-
line by running the program multiple times. Only ONE command may be used
on any single command-line.
Syntax is:
BLANKER [time_out] - Sets BLANKER's time-out and installs BLANKER
The default time-out value is 600 seconds (10 min)
May be re-run to adjust the time-out value
Does NOT enable BLANKER if currently disabled
BLANKER OFF - Disables BLANKER
BLANKER ON - Enables BLANKER with current time-out setting
BLANKER does not halt video, mouse or keyboard I/O, and therefore provides
normal background operation, allowing TSR and network POP-UP screens to
perform transparently. Furthermore, BLANKER detects when Windows is
loaded and running, and disables itself until Windows is terminated. When
running DOS applications either full-screen or on the desktop in a window,
BLANKER remains disabled, allowing Windows' own screen-saver to do the job.
BLANKER detects mouse, keyboard and video I/O activity and restores the
screen (in a very similar fashion to Windows' built-in screen-saver)
whenever any of these I/O devices become active through the ROM BIOS
services. This allows text based applications to have a solid but simple
screen saver, while still serving TSRs and network based POP-UP messagers.
Why Another Screen Saver?
BLANKER was primarily developed for the Lantastic Network Operating System
in workstation installations using XTgold as a Menu and File Manager. It
should also work in Novell, PC-NFS, PC/TCP and other NetBIOS compatible
networks, although it has not been tested with any of these.
After searching through some 87 different screen savers on CompuServe,
the author was unable to locate a single blanking program which offered
all these simple but necessary features.
Criteria were:
- Had to allow TSRs and POP-UP messengers to take control of the video
and keyboard I/O without interaction, otherwise the network would
freeze (lock-up) the workstation.
- Had to be Windows aware, automatically disabling and re-enabling itself
when Windows was loaded and terminated. Did not want it to attempt to
blank when running DOS applications in a full-screen window.
- Had to allow normal operation of Windows based screen savers, including
but not limited to the one included with Windows 3.1.
- Had to have a low cost and realistic Shareware licensing policy - after
all, it's just a blanker!
- Should be a TEXT mode blanker, although this wasn't mandatory, as many
graphics mode blankers interfere with other graphics program settings
and often corrupt the color palette.
Limitations: (You just knew there had to be some!)
Applications which update time on the screen may force BLANKER not to
time-out, since the time display may write to the screen through the ROM
BIOS services (INT 10 hex). Some programs feature a configuration option
to write directly to the screen - or to disable the time display, either
of which would eliminate this. For some strange reason, XTgold apparently
writes time directly to the screen when displaying both it's menu and file
screens. Other menu systems may not be as compatible. No provision has
been made to disable the video I/O trap, since POP-UP messages almost
always write to the screen through the BIOS, and these very programs were
the primary reason why BLANKER was developed in the first place.
Currently, BLANKER has only been tested on VGA & EGA display adapters using
DOS 5.0, the Microsoft Mouse driver, Lantastic 4.1, XTgold, Windows 3.1,
Word Perfect, Quick-Basic (which in a way is an acid test all by itself),
Quicken3, QEMM386, Procomm+ and a few other sundries, all without effect.
While it works in 40 column and 43/51 line modes, it does not adjust the
blinking dot's vertical position, causing it to be invisible in 40 column
mode, and only part way down the screen in the other two modes. The
character type and position are fixed.
BLANKER will not blank 132 column or other non-standard modes provided
by extended or VESA VGA specifications. It is primarily intended to blank
LOGIN prompt and menu screens in turn-key network installations.
BLANKER may be loaded into high RAM, but if so you MUST also attempt to
load it high in order to adjust any of its settings when running it again.
If you need to remove BLANKER, you should use the popular TSR utilities
MARK and RELEASE, which are available on CompuServe and many BBSs.
How BLANKER Works (if you need to know):
BLANKER traps INT 08, INT 09 and INT 10. INT 08 provides the basic timing
services (DOS's real-time clock at 18.2 ticks per second). INT 09 provides
keyboard activity trapping, and INT 10 supplies the video activity trap.
When enabled, BLANKER checks to see if the time-out value is exceeded and
if so, then checks to see if Windows is loaded. It also checks the current
video mode - which must be TEXT. If all conditions are met, it changes
the current video page, clears the screen, places a single box character
on line 25, column 1 and then resumes normal PC operation.
Every 6 timer ticks, BLANKER toggles the box character OFF and then ON.
Each timer tick, it checks to see if the mouse status has changed using
the INT 33 mouse driver call. The box character is the extended ASCII
code 254 (decimal), which produces a small, solid-filled box "■". This
character is large enough to see from across a room, and flashed to
avoid monitor burn-in.
If any of the three activities - mouse movement (or button click), keyboard
input or video output occur, BLANKER restores the original video page.
You may invoke BLANKER without any message by re-directing the output to
the DOS "nul" device, however you will tie-up a file handle by doing so.
The Details:
BLANKER consumes about 7 Kbytes of RAM, and was compiled in Microsoft
Quick-Basic 4.5 using Crescent Software's PDQ Integer Library Version 2.17
which provides both TSR and super-small sized executable support.
DOS, Lantastic, Windows, Novell, PC-NFS, PC/TCP, Word Perfect, QEMM386,
Quicken3, Procomm+, Quick-Basic and PDQ are all Registered Trademarks
of their respective manufacturers.
No Copyright is claimed by the author for the use of the BLANKER name and
such name represents only the function provided by the product, and not the
product itself. The product is referred to as BLANKER because that is its
purpose.
The author makes no claims for fittedness of the product and accepts
no liability for any damages consequential or otherwise by using it.
No warranty is expressed or implied. You may have other warranties
which vary from state to state.
******************************************************************************
The License:
BLANKER is not FREE, it is Shareware. You are granted a trial license
of 15 days to try BLANKER. If it meets your needs and you decided to use it,
please register it at the address below. You have only your conscience to
guide you, and frankly, there doesn't seem too much of that going around
these days.
The Shareware concept provides a means of trying software before you buy
it - and that's a great idea which the author agrees with. But it's simply
a marketing tool, allowing you to obtain the software through CompuServe
and BBSs instead of a retail outlet. It's not intended to be a channel
to obtain programs at no cost. If you use the product, you should pay
for it. No matter whose work it is. If it was yours, you'd certainly
feel the this way also.
BLANKER may not be modified or reverse-engineered. You may distribute
BLANKER freely, charging a maximum of $8.00 U.S. for diskette duplication
only, providing you include this documentation in unmodified form.
The registration fees are (all U.S.):
Single User - $ 15.00
Up to 5 Users on a Server - $ 25.00 minimum
Each Additional User - $ 5.00
Maximum per Server - $ 500.00
Direct sales only. Maryland residents please add 5% state sales tax.
Send check, money-order or correspondence to:
David B. Donaldson
258 Nathan Way
Millersville, Maryland 21108
CompuServe ID: 76310,173
Suggestions and bug reports are welcomed. If you have a specific need or
problem, the program can be customized. Since BLANKER is recently designed
it is anticipated that some applications will not cooperate with the screen
blanking mechanism used. If you experience problems with a specific
application but would appreciate using BLANKER, please contact the author
for assistance in updating BLANKER to remedy the problem. Users desiring
assistance must be registered.
******************************************************************************