Replace imac brightness settings?

[kevin1st]

Hey everyone,

i got an iMac 20" c2d 2.4 ghz. i've loved it to bits expect for one part. i cannot turn off the monitor without allowing it to be easily awakened by the mouse. my parents are huge on saving energy so if they ever find the machine on without me using i they turn it off. so having them just have to hit the mouse doesn't work.

my brother has a mac book from 2 years ago and when you lower the brightness on that the last notch completely turns off the backlight. is there any program that can change the setting on my imac to ones similar to the macbook or can i copy some sort of .kext (or whatever) from the macbook to the imac to make it act in the same way?

thanks or all your help.

 

[xpipe]

Not exactly what you're looking for, but...


You can wake the display easily with the mouse, as you mentioned. But you can put it right back to sleep with the mouse, as well. In System Preferences, under Exposé & Spaces > Exposé, you have the option to set a hot corner for "Sleep Display," as well as other useful functions (each of the four corners can have a different function assigned to it, if you wish). So if someone bumps the mouse or whatever and the display goes on, just tell them to move the cursor to the corner you have selected and the display will turn off again

 

[kevin1st]

well thanks xpipe but thats what i currently do and they know its on when they bump into my desk so they will turn it off.

does anyone else have a solution?

 

[suekitch]

What mouse are you using?

It seems some Mice can let you disable themselves whilst sleeping so you cannot wake the computer using them.

Firstly - the wireless mighty mouse, or indeed any bluetooth mouse. You can go into the bluetooth preferences and make it so that bluetooth devices can't wake the computer from sleep.

USB mice are more tricky - you have to find one that has its own setting for it. I've seen a MacAlly one recommended as having this feature.

Not especially helpful (unless you do have a bluetooth mouse), but worth thinking about.

 

[suekitch]

Oh! I found an app - not used it, but worth a go for you perhaps?

http://www.splasm.com/products/productbrightness.html

 

[djc6]

This is another application:

http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades

The problem with both is that they don't really turn off the display - the backlight is still on.

I've longed for an application where I could actually put the display to sleep and only awaken it with a certain key - instead of any key or mouse movement.