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.