Today I noticed that when I turn on my monitor it greets me with a smile.

When the monitor is first turned on it displays a black screen with their formatted "SCEPTRE" logo in red in the center of the screen. Then the desktop of the PC appears. I connect the monitor to a 4-way KVM switch, so it is one of two LINUX/Windows dual-boot machines, my Mac Mini, or a LINUX server I'm working on (and will eventually promote to the server area in the basement). Three of the four machines work on the preferred native resolution of the monitor, and this morning one (this one, my main machine) was selected on the KVM. Whew...lots of lead-in.

When the display settled on the desktop a monitor "message" appeared in the middle of the screen, to let me know it had found it's preferred resolution. The image is a monitor-like box filled with question marks on the left, a big arrow pointing to the right, and a monitor with a smiley-face in it on the right. Apparently the Sceptre is happy when it gets 1650x1080@60Hz.

Even better, I got a smile when I was reminded that it has built-in speakers...hoo ah. I was looking for a little photo to include in the post, you know, to brag as well as liven it up. While I at the website I noticed the "audio" input mentioned in the list of goodies. Of course, I knew about the speakers when I ordered the thing, but I'd forgotten since then. I have two of the PCs connected to the same surround-sound system (one provides the "front" and drives the base, while the other provides the "back"--but I have all of the speakers in front of me), and one (the Mini) has its own speakers. The server has none as the sound card is disabled in the BIOS, and no driver is configured in the OS. Now I have to find a longer cable so I can connect the Mini to the monitor and all of the sound will come to the front.

Even better, what I should do is find that audio mixer I wanted, so I can blend the output of all of the machines into a single set of speakers. I'd probably still go through the sub-woofer, but then use the monitor's speakers (the ones with the cheap surround system I have aren't any better) instead of cluttering the desk with the others...rainy day project? Hmmm...