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As most of you here, I spend a considerable time on the computer doing various things. Since I spend that much time on the computer I think I should start taking care of my eyes. I've already been eating carrots, keeping a good distance between the eyes and the monitor and having another light source besides the monitor's.

But one of the most effective ways to protect your eyes is take breaks every hour or so. What I'd like to have is some kind of program that alerts me every hour and fade the monitor to a black screen (kind of like a screensaver) which will go off after 5 minutes. During that time I will just close my eyes and do some "eye gymnastics".

This website does exactly what I'm asking and has some pretty useful information, but I want it as a native application so I don't have to keep the browser open at all times. It should be free and compatible with GNU/Linux as that's my operating system.

Any other software that somehow rests the eyes is also greatly appreciated.

A watch? Also, didn't you post this thread a few months ago?

Really though just pay attention to the time, and take a break when your eyes become sore. My eyes are already deteriorating so I don't have anything overly useful to contribute.

A destop alarm clock? Ive made one in vb a while back if you want that you can have it.

Since you're on linux a simple cron script to turn off the monitor and turn it back on after 5 mins would work. I know theres a command to turn off the monitor for power saving, meaning it comes back on if there is keyboard or mouse activity, theres probably a way to keep it off regardless.

@Scoutie44 Yeah I made a similiar thread, but not asking for this kind of program, more like general tips such as eat carrots and stuff. And honestly keeping track of time myself is definitely not an option, it just doesn't work for me. I guess I could use a real life timer/watch if nothing else is available, but until then I'm open to suggestions.

@Janota If nothing else comes up, I could use that, thank you. Not sure if it'd run in Linux though.

@-G33K- How would I do that? I'm not sure how to setup cron jobs (searching as we speak)

What OS are you using?

I have one for you, its simple. You use gnome scheduler, and just some batch commands.

@KuJoe: I'm using Xubuntu 10.10.

@Aristotle: Sure, I can try it. How does it work?

You could do this in a cronjob.

Run crontab -e and add the following line:

0	*	*	*	* 	xset -display :0 dpms force off

That blanks your screen every hour.

After using a computer for long periods of time since 2006 i have gotten a lot of Eyefloaters(info on Wiki).