Re: [gentoo-user] Screen-saver annoyance after recent update

["Walter Dnes" <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>]

On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 12:08:45AM +0200, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote
> On Samstag, 19. Juli 2008, Walter Dnes wrote:
> > On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 10:08:03PM +0200, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote
> >
> > > How about: not using screensavers at all?
> >
> >   Now for a stupid-sounding question... what is the screensaver called?
> > A "ps -ef" doesn't show any process with "screen" in the name.  Man x
> > and man xorg don't help.  I'm running blackbox, so I don't have a
> > gazillion settings widgets (nothing helpful in man blackbox).  How can I
> > find what program is blanking the screen?  Once I do that, I can either
> > set parameters or disable it.
> 
> so you are not using a screensaver but dpms screen blanking?
> 
> xset --help
> 
> will answer your question.

  xset doesn't recognize "--help" as an option.  And the "usage" stuff
is sent to stderr instead of stdout. So I used my "magic less" command.
The command is...

xset {any illegal parameter} > /dev/stdout 2>&1 | less"

"xset q" shows the following relevant info (much snippage)...
================================================
Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking:  yes    allow exposures:  yes
  timeout:  600    cycle:  600

DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 1200    Suspend: 1800    Off: 2400
  DPMS is Enabled
  Monitor is On
===============================================

  One additional bit of info.  If I let the system sit until the monitor
goes into DPMS standby (backlight is off) I can recover by hitting any
key.  It's the "software screensaver" that seems to be the problem.  A
bit of experimentation reveals that I can't directly invoke "dpms off"
from an "on" state.  Instead, I have to walk the monitor through the
series like so...

#!/bin/bash
sleep 3; xset dpms force standby;
sleep 3; xset dpms force suspend;
sleep 3; xset dpms force off

  So here's my plan.  In ~/.xinitrc I'll include the statements...

xset s off
xset dpms 360 365 370

  This will turn off the "software screensaver" and turn off the monitor
via dpms after 6 minutes of inactivity.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>