Need blank screen / screen saver function ONForum: Laptops Topic: Need blank screen / screen saver function ON started by: SomeGuyWithDSL Posted by SomeGuyWithDSL on July 16 2005,01:30
I found several past threads answering how to turn the screen blanking function OFF, but I need to turn it ON. I'm on an old laptop that I fear hasn't got many hours left in the backlight. I have to use framebuffer mode, I don't know if that affects anything.Anyway, I did a fairly normal frugal install and it's been running all afternoon without blanking the screen. Is there a way for me to activate such a function, or is there a package I can download to add it? Thanks. Posted by newOldUser on July 16 2005,01:59
In MyDSL under APPS there's xscreensaverGTK but that might be overkill for what you need. you add the line: xscreensaver -nosplash& before the fluxbox line in your /home/dsl/.xinitrc file to have it initialized at startup Posted by SomeGuyWithDSL on July 16 2005,17:37
Thanks for the advice. How long of a delay does this screensaver have by default? It's been about 15 minutes and it hasn't blanked yet. **EDIT** Make that about 5 hours it's been running now. Is there another parameter I need to add to that line? Posted by newOldUser on July 17 2005,12:41
After you download and install the xscreensaver and add the .xinitrc, then reboot.open a terminal and do ps -a You should see xscreensaver running. If not then something is wrong with your install or with your modification of .xinitrc Also remember that the xscreensaver.dsl must be in a location where it's picked up each time you reboot. To see if it's an installation problem. Right-click the desktop to bring up the menu system. Under myDSL you should have a XScreensaver entry if it installed OK. If you click on that it will bring up the xscreensaver configuration screens. I really don't know what the default blank-out time is. If the entry is on your menu but nothing happens when you click on it then it probably is something with your .xinitrc modification. Try this... open a terminal and enter xscreensaver Do you see the splashscreen? If you're quick you can click the middle button that says "Prefs" and set your options. If you miss it try the entry in the menu again. It should work now that xscreensaver is running. If you get a "command not found" message then the program isn't installed. You can control-c out of xscreensaver in the terminal window. When you do that your screensaver will be turned off, it will never come on. So you need to always keep it running in a terminal window or fix your entry in .xinitrc You'll need to figure out why your entry in .xinitrc isn't working. Check the spelling and make sure that permissions are set correctly and that it's owned by user DSL. Posted by hawki on July 17 2005,12:46
HiI have tried several things to try to get screen blanking to work. If at a bash prompt you type Xfbdev --help you will see that starting it with the option -s followed by a number should get it set and working. This doesn't seem to have any effect on my machine. There is also a command called xset that should be able to set the blanking timeout. It also seems to have no effect. I am starting to wonder if it was compiled with the screen blanking feature not enabled. If you do get it to work please post the procedure. Thanks Posted by SomeGuyWithDSL on July 17 2005,23:48
After checking that help screen, it would seem that it your .xserverrc contained:
then it should use a blanking screensaver after a period of 10 minutes. You didn't mention the v or -v commands, but they're listed. But ... it didn't work for me. I did get Xscreensaver working (thanks, NewOldUser) but unfortunately it doesn't include any blanking abilities. I actually need to turn my LCD panel off, and my BIOS is too old to have any power management functions of its own (with the exception of total standby which negates this machine as a web server). Any more suggestions?? Posted by newOldUser on July 18 2005,01:05
When you bring up the xscreensaver control panel, it has two tabs at the top "Graphic Demos" and "Screensaver Options". The "Screensaver Options" has a power management area that might be used to turn the monitor off.
Posted by SomeGuyWithDSL on July 18 2005,01:49
I see that now, but it's grayed out. I can't enable power management options. Is that somehow dependent on power management support in BIOS? Posted by newOldUser on July 18 2005,11:51
Mine is grayed out also until I click the Power Management Enabled button, above the entry boxes, then they become active. If your Power Management Enabled button is also unavailable then I don't know what to tell you. The next time I reboot this machine I'll try to remember to check the BIOS settings to see what it has. I don't think the two are connected.
Posted by SomeGuyWithDSL on July 18 2005,13:45
Yep, the button itself is also unavailable. I too thought that it should not have anything to do with BIOS power management support, but I can't think of another explanation. Are there any dependencies for power management that I could be missing? Posted by newOldUser on July 19 2005,00:59
I checked the bios (Phoenix bios) and found that the ACPI was enabled. I disabled it and was still able to set the power management options in xscreensaver.It wasn't until a google search found this:
Then I remembered that the machine that has the power management working is also the machine I installed xfree86.dsl on. See MyDSL....System....xfree86.dsl. So the bottom line is that the x server dsl runs doesn't look like it supports power management through xscreensaver. You could switch to xfree86 but that comes with it's own set of headaches (and some nice displays...). If you go the xfree86 route, search the forums. Plenty have done it before you. On a side note... I haven't tried this but maybe you have. The "xset" command. In a terminal window enter: xset --help "xset dpms 0 0 600" is suppose to turn off the monitor after 10 mintes (600 seconds). At least that's what a google search said.... and you know the internet is always right. My guess is that the dsl x server may not work with xset, but give it a try. |