[orca-list] Another potentially usefull note...

[Hobbs Timothy <timothyhobbs seznam cz>]

It is possible to turn off the screen of your laptop using the utility xrandr(and turn it back on again 
(smileyface)).  There are several reasons you may wish to do this.  Obviously, it is usefull to a sighted 
develper wishing to "experience" blindness for testing reasons.  But it may also be usefull to non sighted 
persons.  It should improve the battery life of your laptop, which is an obvious plus, and it will prevent 
sighted people from reading over your shoulder(a plus and a minus, they can't spy on you while you're 
working, but it may be that it is harder for them to help you if you need sighted assistance).

You need to know three terminal commands to preform this operation.
xrandr -q
 will tell you the name of your laptops screen(called an output).  For me this is 
LVDS1
In the output of 
"xrandr -q" it's the word that comes before "connected" in the first line...

the command:
xset s activate ; xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
will turn off your screen.  Don't forget to use the correct output in the place of 
LVDS1.  .  The first command will set your screen  saver on(thus turning off the backlight hoperfully). The 
seccond will stop output to the dysplay thus freezing the dysplay with the backlight off.

the command:
xrandr --ouput LVDS1 --auto
will turn the screen back on.

Hope this helps.