Getting blackbox to stop powering down the monitor

**trilarian** · 04-11-2005, 02:08 PM

Hello everyone. It's been a long time since I've browsed through these threads. I'll have to try to be more active. Anyway, at my work I am installing about 50 or so desktops to run some web-based tracking software I wrote, and I brought up the idea of using linux as the OS to save on cost of hardware/software to implement the new tracking system. Needless to say, my superiors jumped at the idea of saving thousands on window's licenses. I am almost nearing completion of the project, and have suprisingly run into a stumbling block. I was able to get everything working except that blackbox has a default setting somewhere that kicks in a blank screensaver, or cuts power to the monitor after 5 minutes. I do need to keep using blackbox, as the hardware is very old and would not run using a bloated gui. I figured I would install and run xscreensaver to hopefully override other settings.

I call xscreensaver with
~/.xinitrc

xscreensaver-command -exit
xscreensaver &

exec blackbox

I then have .xscreensaver

timeout: 12:00:00
cycle: 12:00:00
lock: False
lockTimeout: 0:20:00
passwdTimeout: 0:00:30
visualID: default
installColormap: True
verbose: False
timestamp: True
splash: True
splashDuration: 0:00:05
quad: False
demoCommand: xscreensaver-demo
prefsCommand: xscreensaver-demo -prefs
nice: 10
memoryLimit: 0
fade: True
unfade: False
fadeSeconds: 0:00:03
fadeTicks: 20
captureStderr: True
ignoreUninstalledPrograms:False
font: *-medium-r-*-140-*-m-*
dpmsEnabled: True
dpmsStandby: 24:00:00
dpmsSuspend: 24:00:00
dpmsOff: 24:00:00
grabDesktopImages: False
grabVideoFrames: False
chooseRandomImages: False
imageDirectory:

So that should cause the screensaver to kick on only if no action was taken for 24 hours. But after 5 minutes the screen goes blank. Once this is properly setup, the end user will not have access to a keyboard or mouse, only a monitor and a barcode scanner. So I need to figure out a way to make the screensaver/powersaver never come on, or atleast a really long timer(24hr+)

Thanks for any help you can provide.

**Hayl** · 04-11-2005, 02:13 PM

first of all we can safely say that blackbox isn't causing this as it only displays windows and manages them -- nothing to do with blanking the screen. it is either your xscreensaver confg (which looks correct to me) or something in your X Config.

check in your X config file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf or /etc/X11/XF86Config)

there are _usually_ dpms settings in there that may be overriding your xscreensaver stuff.

**trilarian** · 04-11-2005, 02:28 PM

Thanks for the quick response!! Yea I probally worded that wrong. The reason I was stressing blackbox, is I didnt want someone to respond with "There is the great program K-xxxx" so that I would have to install libraries for kde, gnome, etc. I have limited hd space to work with. Under XF86Config-4:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 28-49
VertRefresh 43-72
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

I don't see any timers in there. In case I'm missing something I'll post the whole config file. FYI: Running Debian Sarge(Testing) Thanks.

Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "pex5"
Load "record"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
Load "xie"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "i810"
VideoRam 8192
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 28-49
VertRefresh 43-72
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Generic Video Card"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "Generic Mouse"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

**rocketpcguy** · 04-11-2005, 02:46 PM

DPMS? you don't want that!

**IsaacKuo** · 04-11-2005, 03:49 PM

Remove or comment out the following line:

Option "DPMS"

It's in the Monitor section.

**trilarian** · 04-11-2005, 05:35 PM

I deleted the DPMS out of XF86Config-4, so that section now reads:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 28-49
VertRefresh 43-72
EndSection

I still go to black screen after about 5 minutes. Any other ideas? Thanks.

**rocketpcguy** · 04-11-2005, 11:08 PM

did you restart the X server? ctrl+alt+backspace should do.

if that did not work, try unloading the apm/acpi modules in the kernel

**trilarian** · 04-12-2005, 10:12 AM

Heh, yea I restarted X, but yea sometimes it is the obvious things that I pass up. I did not see any apci/apm modules in modconf. Do you know where they are located? I also did a apt-get remove apmd and apci, neither were installed. Thanks.

EDIT: I tried to install apmd and acpid to see if any of these would let me change settings. Apmd seemed to be for a laptop with a battery, so I unistalled. When I installed acpid, I got a message that acpi support was not installed in my kernel. So if it is not installed in the kernel, not turned on as a module, no programs running using power management, and it is turned off in the the X config file.... where do I look next? Thanks.

EDIT2: Ran dmesg, saw APIC if that sends a flag to anyone.

Debian-Compaq-03:~# dmesg | grep APIC
Local APIC disabled by BIOS -- reenabling.
Found and enabled local APIC!
Using local APIC timer interrupts.
calibrating APIC timer ...
Debian-Compaq-03:~#

**trilarian** · 04-13-2005, 03:42 PM

Still stomped.... Anyone know where ACPI settings would be found? If I can't turn them off, maybe I can make extremely long timeouts.

Thanks.

**azambuja** · 04-13-2005, 06:45 PM

Is my being a newbie's fault or is just weird that noone asked to run
% ps ax
and
% dpkg -s powermgmt-base #never heard of this package before today
?
Also, enlighten me on something, why do you need that FontPath "unix/:7001" reference if the fonts are already locally-installed? And why is that keyboard entry there?

Sorry if made things messier
Good luck

**retsaw** · 04-13-2005, 07:23 PM

Try setting dpms manually with xset, you can try "xset dpms 0 0 0" to disable the standby/suspend/off modes or perhaps "xset -dpms", to disable dpms.

Are you sure xscreensaver is not being started when you start blackbox? Try removing it from your system so it can't be run and blank the screen.

**trilarian** · 04-20-2005, 10:46 AM

Originally posted by azambuja
Is my being a newbie's fault or is just weird that noone asked to run
% ps ax
and
% dpkg -s powermgmt-base #never heard of this package before today
?
Also, enlighten me on something, why do you need that FontPath "unix/:7001" reference if the fonts are already locally-installed? And why is that keyboard entry there?

Sorry if made things messier
Good luck

Sorry its taken so long to respond, we got slammed and this is the first chance I've had to work on this project again. I didnt see anything running when i did a ps, hence why I have been asking around for names and locations. Anytime in the past I ever wanted a screensaver I just loaded xscreensaveer and changed the config file. If I was working with a terminal only, I'd use xset to turn it off or set a time. Anyway, here is the listing from ps, maybe you'll catch something I missed.

Debian-Compaq-03:~# ps ax
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
1 ? S 0:04 init [2]
2 ? S 0:00 [keventd]
3 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd_CPU0]
4 ? S 0:01 [kswapd]
5 ? S 0:00 [bdflush]
6 ? S 0:00 [kupdated]
7 ? S 0:00 [i2oevtd]
8 ? S 0:03 [kjournald]
104 ? S 0:00 [khubd]
142 ? S 0:00 [kjournald]
223 ? Ss 0:00 /sbin/portmap
302 ? Ss 0:01 /sbin/syslogd
305 ? Ss 0:00 /sbin/klogd
317 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/inetd
330 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
340 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/X11/xfs -daemon
439 ? S 0:00 /bin/bash /etc/rc2.d/S20xprint start
442 ? S 0:00 /bin/bash /etc/rc2.d/S20xprint start
443 ? S 0:00 /bin/bash /etc/rc2.d/S20xprint start
446 ? S 0:00 /usr/X11R6/bin/Xprt -ac -pn -nolisten tcp -audit 4 -f
451 ? Ss 0:00 /sbin/rpc.statd
454 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/atd
457 ? Ss 0:01 /usr/sbin/cron
507 tty2 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
508 tty3 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
509 tty4 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
510 tty5 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
511 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/X11/xdm
513 tty6 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
1136 ? Ss 0:00 dhclient
2549 tty1 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
2555 ? S< 1:53 /usr/X11R6/bin/X vt7 -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp -auth /va
2556 ? S 0:00 -:0
2565 ? S 3:15 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
2600 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/ssh-agent sh /home/chris/.xsession
2635 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
2636 ? S 0:01 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
2637 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/mozilla/mozilla-bin
8496 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/lpd -s
13725 ? Ss 0:00 sshd: root@pts/0
13727 ? S 0:00 sshd: root@pts/0
13729 pts/0 Ss 0:00 -bash
13736 pts/0 R+ 0:00 ps ax
Debian-Compaq-03:~#

As far as the unix/:7001 in fonts, it really doesnt need to be there and can be commented out. It is simply there, because it is there by default on a fresh install, and since these are a high number of them I need to get up and running(and they only run 1 program), I havent been fine-tuning the config files... if it works, don't fix it is my attitude with these boxes.

As for powermgmt-base, I dont currently have it installed, but Ill try installing it and playing with the settings... What I think is happening, is I am turning off power controls in bios, linux sees that it is off and turns it on(why I don't know, but its in dmesg):

Debian-Compaq-03:~# dmesg | grep APIC
Local APIC disabled by BIOS -- reenabling.
Found and enabled local APIC!
Using local APIC timer interrupts.
calibrating APIC timer ...
Debian-Compaq-03:~#

So when it turns it on, it must give it a set of default values assuming another program will take over further down the line. Since I don't have any programs installed, nothing changes the settings. Only hole in this theory, is that if I install xscreensaver and configure it for a 24 hour timeout before using and power controls or screensavers, moniter still kicks off in 5mins.

Thanks.

**trilarian** · 04-20-2005, 10:53 AM

Originally posted by retsaw
Try setting dpms manually with xset, you can try "xset dpms 0 0 0" to disable the standby/suspend/off modes or perhaps "xset -dpms", to disable dpms.

Are you sure xscreensaver is not being started when you start blackbox? Try removing it from your system so it can't be run and blank the screen.

I have only used xset to set settings on a terminal, will this filter through to the X server? Xscreensaver is not on the system anymore. I only intially installed it hoping it would override whatever is causing the power settings. I'll mess around with xset some more and let you know. Thanks

**azambuja** · 04-20-2005, 12:28 PM

And
% ls /proc/apm* /proc/acpi*
doesn't return anything?

This is just weird.. if it's not a BIOS setting, then I don't know

btw: I think APIC has nothing to do with it... look at /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Configure.help and search for IOAPIC.

**trilarian** · 04-20-2005, 02:05 PM

Originally posted by azambuja
And
% ls /proc/apm* /proc/acpi*
doesn't return anything?

This is just weird.. if it's not a BIOS setting, then I don't know

btw: I think APIC has nothing to do with it... look at /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Configure.help and search for IOAPIC.

Yea this one has me perplexed... of all the problems that could of arisen... barcode scanners, writing to a windows database, runing jave...flash..coldfusion.. not a single problem. But i cant get the screen to stop blanking!!!!!

Anyway.. those directories don't exist:

Debian-Compaq-03:~# ls /proc/apm*
ls: /proc/apm*: No such file or directory
Debian-Compaq-03:~# ls /proc/acpi*
ls: /proc/acpi*: No such file or directory
Debian-Compaq-03:~#

I tried adding to .xinitrc (i know its reading this file as i have exec blackbox in there and it works)

xset -dpms

then when that didnt work

xset dpms 0 0 0

Still get a screen blanking in 5-10 mins. I double checked bios, energy saver mode is disabled, all apic and apm functions disabled across the board. I guess Ill have to hire a guy to run around the plant and move mice.... heh Thanks.

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