HOW TO - Make a Strobe Out of a Monitor...

MonitormmcMatthew writes "A project I'm finishing off involves a simple little front end that I've decided to implement using some DHTML. As I was reading up on JavaScript's setTimeout method as part of my DHTML research, an interesting thought crossed my mind: would it be possible to make a strobe light out of that old archaic CRT monitor sitting on my closet floor and such a weak (as in weakly typed) language as JavaScript? Well, I decided to give it a try and it actually worked out pretty well -- although it did give me a mild headache after I had the not so keen idea to stare directly at it for a few seconds. Here's the code you need to make use of that old dust magnet." Link.

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Posted by: rbils on January 27, 2006 at 12:23 PM

What the heck does strong typing vs. weak typing have to do with whether or not you can make your screen flash?


Posted by: KyleMc on January 27, 2006 at 1:24 PM

He sort of forgot to mention you need a PC as well. A better idea would be to use a PIC to generate the video signals.


Posted by: debaser on January 27, 2006 at 2:48 PM

Isnt this essesntiall what the new Macs running PhotoBooth use? When you snap a pic in that app, the screen goes white for a split second.


Posted by: debaser on January 27, 2006 at 2:49 PM

Isnt this essesntially what the new Macs running PhotoBooth use? When you snap a pic in that app, the screen goes white for a split second thereby illuminating the subject. Pretty smart me thinks.


Posted by: ptwobrussell on January 27, 2006 at 2:50 PM

What the heck does strong typing vs. weak typing have to do with whether or not you can make your screen flash?

And the survery says....abolutely nothing. That was merely a pun (and my way of expressing some mild frustration with JavaScript)


Posted by: ptwobrussell on January 27, 2006 at 2:54 PM

He sort of forgot to mention you need a PC as well. A better idea would be to use a PIC to generate the video signals.

Cool idea...and something I'd never have thought of. But for a few lines of scripting, can you really beat it?


Posted by: cheesy on January 29, 2006 at 10:47 AM

this is lame.

hey guess what, i can make a scrolling text sign with an old CRT monitor and a weakly typed language!!! (and a computer with a browser with javascript..)

it seems the author threw in some important sounding terms for the sake of sounding important.


Posted by: smac87 on March 27, 2007 at 4:55 AM

if you want a fast strobe, go into microsoft paint and hold down ctrl and i


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