GDM and powersave

[Mike Cloaked]

On a system I have installed clean F10 the powersave kicks in on the monitor
just fine if set in the screensaver area in gnome for a logged in user.
However if the user logs out, then the screen blanks out after some period
as expected, but the monitor does not go into powersave any any point.

Can someone tell me where the settings are for the timings for these two
features of GDM? I presume that this is something that can be set somewhere?

[Mike Cloaked]

Post by Mike Cloaked
On a system I have installed clean F10 the powersave kicks in on the
monitor just fine if set in the screensaver area in gnome for a logged in
user. However if the user logs out, then the screen blanks out after some
period as expected, but the monitor does not go into powersave any any
point.

OK I gave up - and changed to kdm - this has a nicer greeter than gdm and
does go into powersave correctly after some period which is reasonable.

[Reid Rivenburgh]

Post by Mike Cloaked

Post by Mike Cloaked
On a system I have installed clean F10 the powersave kicks in on the
monitor just fine if set in the screensaver area in gnome for a logged in
user. However if the user logs out, then the screen blanks out after some
period as expected, but the monitor does not go into powersave any any
point.

OK I gave up - and changed to kdm - this has a nicer greeter than gdm and
does go into powersave correctly after some period which is reasonable.

Well, that's one solution! I've invested a lot of time in a related
problem myself. My setup is such that I rarely logout, I just switch
back to the gdm greeter after being idle for awhile or explicitly
clicking a custom "switch" button. Both run this script:

--------
#!/bin/bash

# Switch back to gdm greeter.
gdmflexiserver

sleep 10

# Next line doesn't work.
#sudo xset dpms force off

# Try all combinations of gdm xauth files and DISPLAYs. Overkill, but
# works....
for file in $( ls /var/run/gdm );
do
for (( i=0; i<10; i++ ));
do
sudo XAUTHORITY=/var/run/gdm/$file xset -display :$i dpms force off
done
done
--------

That's pretty grisly, but it seems to work (if you have sudo set up),
turning the monitor off in about 10 seconds. You could probably put
something similar in the correct gdm script (that is, if you weren't
already using kdm). I always forget which does what when, but one of
the directories under /etc/gdm/.

It sounds like the default X dpms settings never kick in for you; does
it eventually turn off if you move the mouse or press a key at the
greeter screen? Maybe the idle timer needs to be reset by sending an
event, assuming it's not starting a fresh gdm X server.

This all feels like black magic, since I don't fully understand how
gdm/X/xauth/etc. interact. Maybe the script above will be useful to
someone. Or maybe there's a proper way to do it!

reid

[Mike Cloaked]

Post by Reid Rivenburgh
--------
#!/bin/bash
# Switch back to gdm greeter.
gdmflexiserver

OK Reid

I think switching to kdm is the easier (and prettier!) option but we are all
entitled to our opinions!

[Reid Rivenburgh]

Post by Mike Cloaked
OK Reid
I think switching to kdm is the easier (and prettier!) option but we are all
entitled to our opinions!

Heh, I don't blame you at all for just switching to kdm. I'm not sure
if that would work for me, since as you can see I use gdmflexiserver
in my situation. So I got down in the mud a bit.... Anyway, glad to
hear kdm works for you!

reid

[Reid Rivenburgh]

Post by Mike Cloaked
OK Reid
I think switching to kdm is the easier (and prettier!) option but we are all
entitled to our opinions!

Heh, I don't blame you at all for just switching to kdm. I'm not sure
if that would work for me, since as you can see I use gdmflexiserver
in my situation. So I got down in the mud a bit.... Anyway, glad to
hear kdm works for you!

reid

[Mike Cloaked]

Post by Reid Rivenburgh
--------
#!/bin/bash
# Switch back to gdm greeter.
gdmflexiserver

OK Reid

I think switching to kdm is the easier (and prettier!) option but we are all
entitled to our opinions!

[Reid Rivenburgh]

Post by Mike Cloaked

Post by Mike Cloaked
On a system I have installed clean F10 the powersave kicks in on the
monitor just fine if set in the screensaver area in gnome for a logged in
user. However if the user logs out, then the screen blanks out after some
period as expected, but the monitor does not go into powersave any any
point.

OK I gave up - and changed to kdm - this has a nicer greeter than gdm and
does go into powersave correctly after some period which is reasonable.

Well, that's one solution! I've invested a lot of time in a related
problem myself. My setup is such that I rarely logout, I just switch
back to the gdm greeter after being idle for awhile or explicitly
clicking a custom "switch" button. Both run this script:

--------
#!/bin/bash

# Switch back to gdm greeter.
gdmflexiserver

sleep 10

# Next line doesn't work.
#sudo xset dpms force off

# Try all combinations of gdm xauth files and DISPLAYs. Overkill, but
# works....
for file in $( ls /var/run/gdm );
do
for (( i=0; i<10; i++ ));
do
sudo XAUTHORITY=/var/run/gdm/$file xset -display :$i dpms force off
done
done
--------

That's pretty grisly, but it seems to work (if you have sudo set up),
turning the monitor off in about 10 seconds. You could probably put
something similar in the correct gdm script (that is, if you weren't
already using kdm). I always forget which does what when, but one of
the directories under /etc/gdm/.

It sounds like the default X dpms settings never kick in for you; does
it eventually turn off if you move the mouse or press a key at the
greeter screen? Maybe the idle timer needs to be reset by sending an
event, assuming it's not starting a fresh gdm X server.

This all feels like black magic, since I don't fully understand how
gdm/X/xauth/etc. interact. Maybe the script above will be useful to
someone. Or maybe there's a proper way to do it!

reid

[Mike Cloaked]

On a system I have installed clean F10 the powersave kicks in on the monitor
just fine if set in the screensaver area in gnome for a logged in user.
However if the user logs out, then the screen blanks out after some period
as expected, but the monitor does not go into powersave any any point.

Can someone tell me where the settings are for the timings for these two
features of GDM? I presume that this is something that can be set somewhere?

[Mike Cloaked]

Post by Mike Cloaked
On a system I have installed clean F10 the powersave kicks in on the
monitor just fine if set in the screensaver area in gnome for a logged in
user. However if the user logs out, then the screen blanks out after some
period as expected, but the monitor does not go into powersave any any
point.

OK I gave up - and changed to kdm - this has a nicer greeter than gdm and
does go into powersave correctly after some period which is reasonable.

[crispy]

There's a bugzilla bug report with a workaround here: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=484478 [1]


Links:
------
[1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=484478

[crispy]

There's a bugzilla bug report with a workaround here: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=484478 [1]


Links:
------
[1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=484478