SoundAndLight is an interfaces-less (except for an icon) application that resets the values for screen brightness and speaker volume to preset values set in the user defaults database. This corrects for a problem on the NeXT where you can select the settings you desire with Preferences (the values are no longer saved since the 1.0 release) the settings do not get restored on subsequent (console/Workspace) logins (even if you auto-start Preferences). INSTALLATION SoundAndLight should be installed in /LocalApps and can be launched at login a couple of different ways: Put it on your dock and use the 'Info>Preferences...' item on the Workspace application's main menu to make SoundAndLight an auto-start application. If you really care about detail, you can manually reorder the value of the LaunchThese default for Workspace (using dread/dwrite) so that SoundAndLight launches first so your screen is set to the 'proper' brightness and volume while your other auto-start applications launch. Alternatively, if you have Terminal as an auto-start application already, then you can add SoundAndLight to your '.login' file (make it conditional on whether you're owner of /dev/console to avoid annoying others). However, having it on your dock can be convenient for reseting things when you've been experimenting or after you return from an auto-dim. Set the values you want for Brightness (0 - 61), LeftVolume (0 - 43), RightVolume (0 - 43) and Mute (Yes/No) using dwrite (SoundAndLight will use its own defaults if you don't). DEFAULTS SoundAndLight uses the LeftVolume, RightVolume, and Brightness defaults registered in the user database under SoundAndLight which are no longer put there by selections in the Preferences application (stored under NeXT1 before 1.0). SoundAndLight also adds a new default, Mute, which is a boolean to indicate if you want the Mute control turned on (it defaults to 'No'). PROBLEMS The defaults database value for Mute can be 'Yes' or 'YES' but not 'yes' or 'true' (anything that does not start with 'Y' is considered 'No'). The brightness is set with no feedback to the system (no such functionality is provided) so a subsequent press of the brightness key will start adjusting from the previous setting, not the current one. This also comes up after an auto-dim. This is not true of the sound setting. FUTURE None if NeXT ever fixes this problem (restoration of user sound and brightness setttings) in a future release. - Christopher Lane(lane@sumex-aim.stanford.edu) 7/20/89 - revised for 1.0 10/9/89 - cdl - revised for 2.0 1/28/91 - cdl
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.