Re: [gpm] gnome-power-manager and DPMS

[Richard Hughes <hughsient gmail com>]

(adding the mailing list, I hope this is okay)

On Sun, 2006-07-30 at 00:48 +0100, William Waghorn wrote:
> I have an odd problem with my monitor (LG L1715S) which treats DPMS
> standby and off states as 'no-signal' which leaves the monitor powered
> on.  Suspend will power it down.  I don't currently know whether to
> blame the monitor or the graphics card/drivers.

I think it could be either, but it would be nice to know which. Can you
test another monitor with the same videocard and see if it does the
same?

> As I'm sure you're aware, gnome-power-manager sets all dpms values from
> a single parameter (either ac_sleep_display or battery_sleep_display). 
> I understand why this is done, but it just isn't flexible enough.

Well, it actually sets:

	standby = timeout
	suspend = timeout
	off     = timeout * 2

So the idea is we go from on -> suspend after one timeout, and suspend
-> off after another. Standby for me has never actually done much in the
way of powersaving, hence we skip it.

> I've appended a patch which resolves my problem by 'stealing' the DPMS
> configuration set by gnome-screensaver.  However, it still honours the
> ac_sleep_display value, only using the differences between
> standby/suspend/off.

Gnome-screensaver doesn't ship, or set those keys now:

2006-03-09  William Jon McCann  <mccann jhu edu>

	* data/gnome-screensaver.schemas.in: Remove
	unused DPMS keys.  Fixes #333919.

It's just gnome-power-manager that deals with power management using
dpms, and g-s concentrates on being a screensaver.

> Please feel free to use or ignore this patch as you see fit.

Well, the patch has some logical flaws (like using the missing g-s keys)
and I'm not sure how you can fix this for a general case and still have
it working for you. I think we need to work out what is broken on your
system and see if there is a more sane fix available first, like fixing
dpms off.

Thanks,

Richard.