SOLVED XFCE I want to temporarily disable StandBy but power off screen

Elmario · 2025-12-30 09:23:56

Hello!

Sometimes I have my notebook working through the night and thus I want it to not go into hibernation or standby. But I still want the screen to turn off, so it's LEDs don't lose lifetiem, the image doesn't burn it and on top waste energy.
I don't want to have to manually do a 'sudo ..' whatever for changing the configuration each time. It should be a single click action, like by using an XFCE app starter icon.
Using presentation mode from the tray menu obviously disables ALL services, like screensaver, screen idle, and auto hibernation/standby at once, so this isn't a solution, too.

Are there ways for doing this easily and reliably? The only way I know how this possibly could work would be by starting a script which has password-less sudo allowance for whatever commands needed to achieve this, to then show a window with a text, toggling in between enabled / disabled. But this neither is very elegant nor secure, I assume - if I even can make it work.

Thank you for help!

Last edited by Elmario (2026-01-05 17:06:05)

Elmario · 2026-01-05 17:05:21

OK: I finally am done with a script for solving this issue. Comments are in German, but I think it's easy to understand and modify, in case someone likes to use it.
The script cycles through three different modes:
Normal, Film and Nightwork.
In Normal mode standby and display power are both enabled, with configurable timeout.
In Film mode simply the presentation mode is enabled, thus it won't break a movie watching experience. So there's no timeout for either the system or the displays.
In Nightwork only the screen gets switched off using dpms after a configurable timeout, so the PC can stay working on a problem without wasting energy on the display and decreasing the display's lifespan.
The notifications have been enhanced by adding some images and sounds from the Chicago95 themes, which I am using for my desktop. Of course these can be changed to any other sound and image files, too.

The script is primarily made for being run by a button in the quick launch area, but it can be run from a terminal, too. In case of terminal usage two parameters are supported:
-t for not only showing notifications when switching the profile, but also outputting info to stdout.
-g for just getting the current mode instead of switching to the next one

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# set -euo pipefail: 
# -e: Abbruch bei Fehler (wir sichern xfconf-Befehle mit || true ab)
# -u: Abbruch bei ungesetzten Variablen
# -o pipefail: Fehler in Pipes werden erkannt
set -euo pipefail

# --------------------------------------------------
# KONFIGURATION
# --------------------------------------------------
NOTIFY_TIME=5000

SND_DIR="$HOME/.local/share/sounds/Chicago95/stereo"
SOUND_NORMAL="$SND_DIR/bell-window-system.wav"
SOUND_NACHT="$SND_DIR/file-trash.wav"
SOUND_FILM="$SND_DIR/desktop-logout.wav"
SOUND_ERROR="$SND_DIR/dialog-warning.wav"

# Zeitwerte in MINUTEN
MON_NORMAL=25
SYS_NORMAL=60
MON_NACHT=5
SYS_NACHT=0

CHANNEL="xfce4-power-manager"
PROP_SLEEP="/xfce4-power-manager/inactivity-sleep-mode-on-ac"
PROP_INACTIVITY="/xfce4-power-manager/inactivity-on-ac"
PROP_DPMS_TIMER="/xfce4-power-manager/dpms-on-ac-off"
PROP_DPMS_ENABLED="/xfce4-power-manager/dpms-enabled"
PROP_PRESENTATION="/xfce4-power-manager/presentation-mode"

STATE_FILE="/tmp/nightmode.state"
INHIBIT_PID_FILE="/tmp/nightmode.inhibit.pid"

SHOW_TERMINAL=false
JUST_SHOW=false

# --------------------------------------------------
# OPTIONEN PARSEN
# --------------------------------------------------
while getopts ":tg" opt; do
  case "$opt" in
    t) SHOW_TERMINAL=true ;;
    g) JUST_SHOW=true ;;
    *) exit 1 ;;
  esac
done

# --------------------------------------------------
# HILFSFUNKTIONEN
# --------------------------------------------------

cleanup_runtime_artifacts() {
    if [[ -f "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE" ]]; then
        local pid
        pid=$(cat "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
        if [[ -n "$pid" && "$pid" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
            if ! kill -0 "$pid" 2>/dev/null; then
                rm -f "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE"
            fi
        else
            rm -f "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE"
        fi
    fi
}

start_inhibitor() {
    if [[ -f "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE" ]]; then return; fi
    systemd-inhibit \
      --what=sleep:idle \
      --who="toggle_nightmode" \
      --why="Nachtarbeitsmodus aktiv" \
      --mode=block \
      sleep infinity & echo $! > "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE"
}

stop_inhibitor() {
    if [[ -f "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE" ]]; then
        local pid
        pid=$(cat "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
        if [[ -n "$pid" && "$pid" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
            kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
        fi
        rm -f "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE"
    fi
}

set_xfce_prop() {
    local prop="$1" value="$2" type="${3:-int}"
    xfconf-query -c "$CHANNEL" -p "$prop" -n -t "$type" -s "$value" 2>/dev/null || true
}

apply_state() {
    case "$1" in
        NORMAL)
            stop_inhibitor
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_PRESENTATION" "false" "bool"
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_DPMS_ENABLED" "true" "bool"
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_DPMS_TIMER" "$MON_NORMAL"
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_SLEEP" "2" # Hibernate
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_INACTIVITY" "$SYS_NORMAL"
            ;;
        NACHT)
            start_inhibitor
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_PRESENTATION" "false" "bool"
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_DPMS_ENABLED" "true" "bool"
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_DPMS_TIMER" "$MON_NACHT"
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_SLEEP" "0" # Aus
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_INACTIVITY" "0"
            ;;
        FILM)
            stop_inhibitor
            set_xfce_prop "$PROP_PRESENTATION" "true" "bool"
            ;;
    esac
}

# --------------------------------------------------
# LOGIK
# --------------------------------------------------

cleanup_runtime_artifacts
CURRENT_STATE=$(cat "$STATE_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo "NORMAL")

if [[ "$JUST_SHOW" != true ]]; then
    case "$CURRENT_STATE" in
        NORMAL) NEXT_STATE="NACHT" ;;
        NACHT)  NEXT_STATE="FILM" ;;
        FILM)   NEXT_STATE="NORMAL" ;;
        *)      NEXT_STATE="NORMAL" ;;
    esac
    apply_state "$NEXT_STATE"
    echo "$NEXT_STATE" > "$STATE_FILE"
else
    NEXT_STATE="$CURRENT_STATE"
fi

# --------------------------------------------------
# FEEDBACK DEFINIEREN
# --------------------------------------------------

case "$NEXT_STATE" in
    NORMAL)
        TITLE="NORMAL-MODUS"
        ICON="computer"
        TEXT="Monitor: ${MON_NORMAL}m, Hibernate: ${SYS_NORMAL}m"
        SOUND="$SOUND_NORMAL"
        CUR_MON="$MON_NORMAL"
        CUR_SYS="$SYS_NORMAL"
        ;;
    NACHT)
        TITLE="NACHTARBEITS-MODUS"
        ICON="sleep"
        TEXT="Monitor: ${MON_NACHT}m, System: IMMER AN"
        SOUND="$SOUND_NACHT"
        CUR_MON="$MON_NACHT"
        CUR_SYS="0 (Immer an)"
        ;;
    FILM)
        TITLE="FILM-MODUS"
        ICON="dragonplayer"
        TEXT="Präsentationsmodus: Alles dauerhaft an"
        SOUND="$SOUND_FILM"
        CUR_MON="0 (Unendlich)"
        CUR_SYS="0 (Immer an)"
        ;;
    *)
        TITLE="FEHLER"
        ICON="dialog-warning"
        TEXT="Status unbekannt"
        SOUND="$SOUND_ERROR"
        CUR_MON="?"
        CUR_SYS="?"
        ;;
esac

# --------------------------------------------------
# FEEDBACK AUSFÜHREN
# --------------------------------------------------

# 1. Benachrichtigung
notify-send -t "$NOTIFY_TIME" -i "$ICON" "$TITLE" "$TEXT" 2>/dev/null || true

# 2. Sound abspielen
if [[ -f "$SOUND" ]]; then
    paplay "$SOUND" &
elif [[ "$SHOW_TERMINAL" == true ]]; then
    echo "Hinweis: Sounddatei nicht gefunden: $SOUND"
fi

# 3. Terminal Ausgabe (nur bei -t)
if [[ "$SHOW_TERMINAL" == true ]]; then
    echo "=========================================="
    echo " AKTIVIERTER MODUS: $NEXT_STATE"
    echo "------------------------------------------"
    echo " Aktueller Monitor-Timeout: $CUR_MON Min"
    echo " Aktueller System-Timeout:  $CUR_SYS Min"
    echo " Inhibitor-Prozess (Sleep): $([[ -f "$INHIBIT_PID_FILE" ]] && echo "AKTIV" || echo "aus")"
    echo " Präsentationsmodus:        $(xfconf-query -c "$CHANNEL" -p "$PROP_PRESENTATION" 2>/dev/null || echo "n/a")"
    echo "=========================================="
fi

Last edited by Elmario (2026-01-05 17:10:40)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-12-30 09:23:56

SOLVED XFCE I want to temporarily disable StandBy but power off screen

#2 2026-01-05 17:05:21

Re: SOLVED XFCE I want to temporarily disable StandBy but power off screen

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