Monitor turns off!!!!

FerBenzaa · 2009-01-30 13:35:58

Hi,

I just installed my brand new Archlinux distribution on my comp.

It is going well. The whole process thaugh me a lot of things about linux that I didnt know.

And Im sure im about to learn more.

There is one issue that I can not solve and I dont know where to find the answer.
It is related to the monitor of my laptop.

When I leave the comp without using it (for example watching a movie) the screen turns itself off.
I am using Xfce4 as my window manager and I already canceled all the power options of the laptop.

I also checked the screen saver and turned it off.

I dont know how to adjust this setting. What can I do to keep the comp screen on?

This is also happening even when Im outside Xfce. If Im working in a terminal (without calling the window manager) the computer screen turns itself off.

Could someone please teach where to adjust these settings?

dammannj · 2009-01-30 13:50:59

I don't know about the terminals, but for preventing X blanking, putting

 setterm -blank 0
 xset s off
 xset -dpms

in ~/.xinitrc did the trick for me.
I guess setterm does that for the terminal in question, but I'm not sure

bgc1954 · 2009-01-30 15:24:38

You could also check your /etc/X11/xorg.conf--if you have one--and check for any lines in the Monitor or Device sections that say Option "DPMS" "true" and comment them out or put Option "DPMS" "false" instead but if it's not there then dammannj's suggestion is probably the best solution. Funny though, most people want their screen to blank after awhile. Oh well, each to his own.

FerBenzaa · 2009-01-30 15:59:27

Well, i want to find a way to control this setting of X.

I dont like having to move the mouse or press a key everytime I am watching a movie on my laptop

Im going to try these solutions tonight at my house.

dammannj · 2009-01-30 18:27:16

The reasons I don't want the monitor to blank:

1. I loathe unasked for automation, as this imo goes against verbosity and keeping things simple
2. same as FerBenzaa I watch videos (e.g. *flash* videos, which don't disable the screensaver as for example mplayer does), and it's pretty annoying to move from the couch every 15min just to press a key

FerBenzaa · 2009-01-30 19:02:58

I tried those two options and none of them worked on my comp.

I was watching a video about some couples in second life and the comp turn the screen off.

Quite annoying since the documentary was interesting.

Any other ideas?

dammannj · 2009-01-30 19:27:54

really?
I guess I forgot to mention that those lines have to go *before* exec your_wm (or so I read)

Last edited by dammannj (2009-01-30 19:28:09)

FerBenzaa · 2009-01-31 00:11:14

I did that but it didnt work.

This time I tried while watching a walmart documentary.

Too bad I had to press a button constantly. That made the movie a bit less interesting.

Please, another idea?

Misfit138 · 2009-01-31 00:20:30

Maybe this will help.

FerBenzaa · 2009-01-31 11:46:42

Thanks Misfit138,

That helped a lot.

Could you tell me where did you get those configuration options?

I was looking for them in the X website, but I couldnt find them.

FerBenzaa · 2010-02-12 12:08:45

Just in case that someone wants to solve the same problem using the policy file for HAL.

You need to add the next lines to the 10-power-mgmt-policy.fdi in the powermanagement section

<merge key="power_management.is_powersave_set" type="bool">false</merge>
<merge key="power_management.can_hybernate" type="bool">false</merge>
<merge key="power_management.can_suspend" type="bool">false</merge>
<merge key="power_management.can_suspend_hybrid" type="bool">false</merge>

You need to check with lshal to see if the new seetings are active

I hope that helps

Last edited by FerBenzaa (2010-02-12 12:43:23)

TaylanUB · 2010-02-12 15:44:49

dammannj wrote:

really?
I guess I forgot to mention that those lines have to go *before* exec your_wm (or so I read)

Don't want to go off-topic, but it's always best to understand the full logic behind something; `~/.xinitrc` in our case.

To summarize in the shortest and simplest way:
xinitrc is a *shell script* that starts when you start X11, and ends X11 when it finishes executing.

This means a few more specific things; most importantly:
All lines are simply shell commands, and like in any other script, they get executed in order, waiting for each one to finish before moving on, except if they are backgrounded.

So if somewhere in xinitrc you have the command `xterm`, any commands after that will be executed once you exit xterm; sure not what you want. The same goes for your window manager, or any other program that interacts with the user and doesn't end itself automatically after doing something specific. (On the other hand, commands that just change a setting end themselves immediately anyway, making the script continue.) These kind of programs need to be backgrounded, except the last one, which will keep xinitrc running until you shut it explicitly.

Tip: Prefix the last command with an `exec` to have one less (useless) line in the output of `ps x` and the like (list of all running programs).

Arch Linux

#1 2009-01-30 13:35:58

Monitor turns off!!!!

#2 2009-01-30 13:50:59

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#3 2009-01-30 15:24:38

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#4 2009-01-30 15:59:27

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#5 2009-01-30 18:27:16

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#6 2009-01-30 19:02:58

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#7 2009-01-30 19:27:54

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#8 2009-01-31 00:11:14

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#9 2009-01-31 00:20:30

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#10 2009-01-31 11:46:42

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#11 2010-02-12 12:08:45

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

#12 2010-02-12 15:44:49

Re: Monitor turns off!!!!

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