Jesse Off wrote:
>
> On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, R. Brock Lynn wrote:
>
> > Glynn Clements wrote:
> > >
> > > James wrote:
> > > > i want to make a text-based screensaver that has a block that moves
> > > > around the screen (saw it once on some ancient netware server), i could
> > > > write the program, but how would i make it run instead of the builtin
> > > > screen blanker?
> > >
> > > I suspect that you'll need to modify the kernel; there doesn't seem to
> > > be any simple way to determine when the screen saver should be
> > > activated.
> >
> > Not that this is directed at you personally Glynn, but rather it's directed at
> > your idea: THAT'S BULLSHIT MAN, BULL SHIT!!!
>
> Not exactly.
>
> The kernel implements its own screen saver and that is the screen blanking or
> vesa/apm blanking. I know that vesa/apm blanking is runtime configurable, but I
>don't
> think the regular screen blanking (erasing of all characters on screen) is. So
>unless
> you don't want your text mode screensaver to be active for awhile until the kernel
>screen
> blanker kicks in, you'll need to do something with the kernel.
>
> I dont know if this got into the kernel or not, but at one time I remember seeing a
>small
> patch that would send kerneld a ipc message when it wanted a screensaver to
>activate. Kerneld
> would then response by invoking the userspace program.
>
> /dev/random garbage is generated by what the kernel developers thought of as random
>events. The
> timing between keystrokes and interrupts (mouse) are used as a seed. While it does
>become active
> and spew out garbage when you hit the keyboard and mouse, I'm pretty sure thats not
>the only events
> that drive it. Besides, if you have a daemon process in the background with
>/dev/random open, I
> am not sure if another process can open it.
>
> ~Jesse Off
Hmm, and Linus wants this to become a desktop OS huh? Heh, without hooks for
even minimal screensaver capabilities in console mode, I'm starting to lose
faith.
Brock out...
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