T42 15in Program for Better Screen Viewing

[Callahan]

I have three ThinkPads ... T41 14in, T42 14in and a T42 15in. This mostly deals with my T42 15in. Bought this computer some years back ... however, I have hardly used it in the years that I've had it. The main reason is the screen is too bluish white for my eyes.

I was going to post about this problem several times over the last three years and ask if others also had this problem. Well in the last week I came across a free program that softens the screen light to a more pleasing look. I was researching blue light and electronics after reading an article about the blue light coming from computers might be causing people to have some eye problems.

I found a program called f.lux that can be put on the computer to soften harsh bluish white screen light ... the problem with my 15in ThinkPad.

I am mentioning this program here in case it might be of interest to anyone else.

https://justgetflux.com/

I use it on manual and do my own adjustments. It doesn't use too many resources and it works on WinXP. One word of warning, the folder is hidden and it keeps trying to connect to the internet ... a good firewall will block all the attempts. It is still worth a try.

If there is a better way or program to reduce bluish white on my ThinkPads, I'd be interested to know about it.

thanks

[Callahan]

I had forgotten about this ThinkPad program that I came across while searching for information about 'blue light' ... this looks to be like f.lux but for a ThinkPad only.

Not for XP however: Limiting Exposure to Blue Light - Lenovo Vantage Eye Care Mode

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/blue-light/

In case some people with newer computers didn't know about it .
...

[kfzhu1229]

can't you just go ahead and turn the blue levels down inside the display calibration settings? That's how I make the yellowed IDTech IPS panels to be more useful.

[Callahan]

can't you just go ahead and turn the blue levels down inside the display calibration settings? That's how I make the yellowed IDTech IPS panels to be more useful.

I'm not familiar with what you mentioned. I found this information on Google for Windows XP ...

Change Display Settings

To take advantage of the detail of the maps in MapPoint, you should set the color and screen resolution settings at the highest possible level that your monitor supports. The minimum setting is 16-bit color; higher color settings provide optimal results.

To change display settings on Microsoft Windows XP:

Click Start.

Click Control Panel.

Double-click Display and then click the Settings tab.

Under Color quality, adjust the settings that you want.

Under Screen resolution, adjust the settings that you want.

Click OK.

I will experiment with these settings. I am not on the T42 15in at present. I also see there is an Advanced tab with some settings. This probably could have been helpful on that 15 inch ThinkPad over the last 8 years, I might have used it more.

I lowered the screen brightness on the 15 inch as much as I could. I was just curious if this was a problem for others on certain ThinkPads? My T41 and T42 ... both 14 inch, didn't bother my eyes like the 15 inch seems to do.

I see MS has added a feature for 'blue light' in Windows 10 ... found this on Google.

"Microsoft has added a blue light filter option in its Windows 10 operating system. This feature was added in Windows 10 Build 15002. To use this option, you need to go to the display settings and look for the Blue light setting. Here, you get the choice to let Windows reduce blue light automatically or choose the settings manually."

I may just keep f.lux on the 15 inch ... but I have a backup of the TP 15in with no f.lux installed, so I can easily experiment with the Display Settings mode.

Thanks for the information.

[TPFanatic]

With ATI Catalyst you can adjust color levels.

[Callahan]

I checked out ATI Catalyst Control ... I think I will just continue using f.lux since I have it already set up and it works OK. It gives me eight color controls, from Ember to Daylight, works on XP, doesn't require .NET Framework and is free for personal use.

Also easy on resources ... I've been using it for two weeks already and now fully understand all the settings. My T42-15in is a completely different computer from a month ago.

thanks all
Callahan

[kfzhu1229]

I will experiment with these settings. I am not on the T42 15in at present. I also see there is an Advanced tab with some settings. This probably could have been helpful on that 15 inch ThinkPad over the last 8 years, I might have used it more.

I lowered the screen brightness on the 15 inch as much as I could. I was just curious if this was a problem for others on certain ThinkPads? My T41 and T42 ... both 14 inch, didn't bother my eyes like the 15 inch seems to do.

I see MS has added a feature for 'blue light' in Windows 10 ... found this on Google.

"Microsoft has added a blue light filter option in its Windows 10 operating system. This feature was added in Windows 10 Build 15002. To use this option, you need to go to the display settings and look for the Blue light setting. Here, you get the choice to let Windows reduce blue light automatically or choose the settings manually."

This may be a bit off topic, but if you want to use the blue light filter thing and Windows 10 on a T4x factor, unfortunately you need a ATi Radeon version of the ThinkPad T43/p/R52 motherboard in order to install Windows 10.
And if you use Windows 8 or higher on a ThinkPad T43/p/R52 (Radeon based, ofc) with fast startup feature, you must use that windows display calibration feature in order for getting a proper display after startup due to that old driver's glitch.
I don't know why you want to use blue light filter on yours as I am basically trying to undo the "blue light filter" on my yellowed IDTech displays with Windows display calibration.
Also, what display configuration are you having right now on your 15" T42? What resolution and is it IPS? I feel like it is pointless to go and tune all that display settings if your display is not IPS, as that on itself is a problem by today's standards.