Arch Linux

H2R

Member

Registered: 2021-11-13

Posts: 13

Help Understanding DPMS and Screen Blanking

I have the following setup for xsecurelock:

xset s 3600 3600 -dpms

[...]
export XSECURELOCK_SAVER="saver_mpv"
export XSECURELOCK_LIST_VIDEOS_COMMAND="find ~/Videos/movies -type f"
export XSECURELOCK_BLANK_TIMEOUT=-1

xss-lock -n /usr/lib/xsecurelock/dimmer -l -- xsecurelock

The goal is to have a screensaver that never turns off, and for the screensaver (and lock) to activate after 1 hour of inactivity. The problem here is that automatic dimming after one hour doesn't work -- I have to run:

xset s activate

manually through sxhkd -- and the screen blanks after a period of running through the screensaver. I have read through the xset manual but can't seem to understand how to fix these issues. I assume the xset command I am currently using is wrong, but am unaware of a better option. I know that all the power management settings on my monitor are off.

Last edited by H2R (2021-11-13 04:42:02)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,241

Re: Help Understanding DPMS and Screen Blanking

xset q

?

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H2R

Member

Registered: 2021-11-13

Posts: 13

Re: Help Understanding DPMS and Screen Blanking

Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking:  yes    allow exposures:  yes
  timeout:  3600    cycle:  3600
[...]
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 600    Suspend: 600    Off: 600
  DPMS is Disabled

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,241

Re: Help Understanding DPMS and Screen Blanking

Looks ok, possibly something fends off the screensaver - did you try to drastically lower the timeout (5 or 10 seconds or so) and w/o anything supicious (video player, browsers, …) running?

About DPMS kicking in: possibly triggered by xsecurelock?
Did you try https://archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/slock/ instead?

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

H2R

Member

Registered: 2021-11-13

Posts: 13

Re: Help Understanding DPMS and Screen Blanking

I incorrectly assumed that xsecurelock wouldn't invoke DPMS when it was disabled, so i removed the

 export XSECURELOCK_BLANK_DPMS_STATE="on" 

option when I disabled DPMS. I'll add it again. As for the automatic dimming, I'm not sure why a longer inactive time hasn't worked but a variety of short intervals I tested (5, 60, etc.) do work.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,241

Re: Help Understanding DPMS and Screen Blanking

1h is a long time, some spurious input could happen (optical mouse juddering) or some client fakes input to prevent the screensaver from kicking in (see my previous post).
You could keep "sudo libinput debug-events" or "sudo evtest" running to see whether some device acts up.

Did that variable tame the DPMS situation?

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

H2R

Member

Registered: 2021-11-13

Posts: 13

Re: Help Understanding DPMS and Screen Blanking

The DPMS situation seems to be fixed, thank you. As for the automatic dimming, I couldn't find lingering devices after a period of inactivity (using debug-events and evtest). There could be a client that mimics input like you mentioned.