Xfce Forum

xris_xcess

Member

Registered: 2012-04-06

Posts: 13

screensaver at login prompt?

I have set up a computer lab in school based on an minimal ubuntu and xfce 4.8 configuration. When the machines come online in the morning, they sit at the login prompt for about 10 min before the screens go into standby.

How can I change the default timing of the screensaver at the login prompt?

I have looked and searched for several ways (xset, xinitrc files, Xresources) to do this, but I can't find a definite reference to where the defaults are or how to change them. The closest I have seen is http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? … aver+login
and I recall that when using Gnome and gnome-screensaver there was a "set as default" setting which would cover this issue.

Ideally I would like the screens to be on standby as soon as maybe two minutes.

Any clues?

secipolla

Member

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 393

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

This might help: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl= … s_l=&pbx=1

xris_xcess

Member

Registered: 2012-04-06

Posts: 13

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

Well, some of those links are useful documentation. I will have to test some of the settings they suggest, although it would seem that since its at xserver level, they will override anything that has been set for the users. This might be awkward if you are doing some reading on screen and it keeps turning off!!!

From the post I linked, would it not be able to run separate settings for the login manager, lightdm in my case?

paolo321

Member

Registered: 2011-06-26

Posts: 121

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

I tried in the past to "integrate" lightdm with xfce power management and xscreensaver , but I've not solved this. Maybe recent versions of lightdm work better ?

wtsch

Member

Registered: 2010-06-09

Posts: 27

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

2xris_xcess
Which display manager? Which screensaver? Is this screensaver or monitor blank screen? By default any screensaver not starts within display manager sesssion...

secipolla

Member

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 393

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

Exactly, the blanking of the screen is an X setting. So you basically have to disable DPMS or set it not to blank.

xris_xcess

Member

Registered: 2012-04-06

Posts: 13

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

Im using lightdm to login and xscreensaver.

Disable DPMS? But I "do" want yo switch off my monitors, it's just that I wish for them to do at 1 or 2 min, instead of 10. Do you mean to highlight the difference in between "blanking", "standby" and "off"? If thats the case, i'm only interested in "off".

If lightdm runs as a user (lightdm I presume), could I just not give it separate xscreensaver settings, kind of like in the link in my first post, but for lightdm and xscreensaver instead of gdm and gnome-screensaver?

wtsch

Member

Registered: 2010-06-09

Posts: 27

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

>Im using lightdm to login and xscreensaver.
The xscreensaver starts within xfce4-session, not within lightdm session. Also this is a monitor DPMS setting.

> If lightdm runs as a user (lightdm I presume), could I just not give it separate xscreensaver settings, kind of like in the link in my first post, but for lightdm and xscreensaver instead of gdm and gnome-screensaver?
You can try to start xscreensaver & xfce4-powermanager in lightdm session or gnome-screensaver (needs gnome-session to work) & gnome-powermanager in gdm session... But....This is too...hm...
Simple way is to set DPMS settings for all monitors

xris_xcess

Member

Registered: 2012-04-06

Posts: 13

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

OK.

Would you suggest where to set the dpms settings. I have seen a suggestion adding a xorg.conf.d/dpms_settings in X11. rc.local? xinitrc? The startup script for lightdm?

And also, if this is s X setting, my guess is that it will override any xscreensaver settings for the users?

Maybe synchronize all of the timings to say 3 min?

Thanks.

wtsch

Member

Registered: 2010-06-09

Posts: 27

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

try it: http://www.shallowsky.com/linux/x-screen-blanking.html

xris_xcess

Member

Registered: 2012-04-06

Posts: 13

Re: screensaver at login prompt?

Nope, making a file in xorg.conf.d does not seem to work. I would not know if its related or not, but the computers boot of a server and all share a common root, and not all have the same monitors (although they all support dpms). I gather that most recent distros and versions of X11 have switched to some sort of auto-setup system, so how do these values get merged into the automatic configuration?

Could I not set this through xset at some point in a boot or X11 script, while also running xscreensaver?

I found some defaults in /X11/app-defaults/XScreensaver and I changed them to what I would like, but again, no luck!