Naturally Backlit Monitor

madmozg

madmozg Is regular DC dimming backlight cause eye strain as well?

Yes because in practice one can still measure flicker (like using very sensitive photodetector) with claimed "flicker free" products and even tiny amounts of flicker can have effects (from amplitude/modulation depth and/or flicker patterns of frequencies).

madmozg How your natural light backlight solution going to help in situations with dithering/pixel inversion ?

It's not going to help in my understanding because those are determined by the monitor electronics like control board and software, gpu, etc. on the source signal side. I measured similar pixel flicker under the microscope in the prototype compared to regular setups. Their is another theory that PWM masks pixel flicker like pixel inversion so if this the case, having truly no flicker backlight might make the dithering/FRC/inversion effects worse but I am just guessing here.

In my limited testing so far, I still get some strain even while using the incandescent light. However, in sunlight, I get less strain but this is to be determined with longer use. For example, a few days ago, I read a two hundred page e-book using sunlight outdoors and did not feel any strain (using intel igpu T480, stock linux mint 21.3). Of course various other factors like fresh air leading to better blood oxygenation to eyes might be at play.

Using f.lux "reduce eyestrain" or any of the incandescent modes can reduce the blue color frequencies but software cannot add colors present in sunlight that the led backlight hardware cannot physically reproduce. Another reason why doing these projects can be worthwhile.

nLCD

I think this is correct. The US National Science Foundation has this article about developing ones that r
"reduces" not masks the blue. We shall see if this actually solves the problem.

Now, U.S. National Science Foundation-funded researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a prototype LED that reduces -- instead of masks -- the blue component, while making colors appear just as they do in natural sunlight.

Commercial LED bulbs use blue LEDs and yellow-emitting phosphors, which appear as a cold, bright white light similar to daylight. Continual exposure to these blue-tinted lights has been linked to cataract formation and turning them on in the evening can disrupt the production of sleep-inducing hormones, such as melatonin, triggering insomnia and fatigue.

So, Jakoah Brgoch and Shruti Hariyani at the University of Houston wanted to develop a phosphor that, when used in a violet LED device, would result in a warm white light while avoiding the problematic wavelength range.

photon78s

Nice to see you made it!! but in my opinion there is no need to put f.lux, just put more bulbs and dim them, did you get inspired by the open source plans from the site?

nLCD

beautiful working prototype!!, certainly natural light is the only antidote for screen strain, incandescent light sources are inherently different than led sources, incandescent backlight is the future if you want to reduce and eliminate eye strain.