Power options & Screensaver


sukhi2011

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Joined
Apr 26, 2011
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The pandora firmwares have missing power options where you can change plan settings with features turn off display and put the computer to sleep the other is screensaver when the computer is idle for a set period of time.


With these options pandora will be not good,these features are very important.


Does any one know where these options are and how to set it up?
 
The closest the Pandora currently has to the type of desktop OS features you are talking about was introduced in HF6, now on alpha4 version. It still isn't what you are wanting though. As there is no control of switching on a screensaver after your choice of minutes, no choice of any animated screensavers (you'd have to provide your own to lessen NAND space use by things many wouldn't want), no choice of setting the system to go into low power mode after a time of choice sat idle and no 'power plan' schemes to choose from, like say a laptop might feature. It also wont do as say an iTouch or smartphone would do and simply switch its self to lower standby useage if left idle. Though I've no idea if such behaviours are configurable on iOS / smartphone environments either.


What you can do, is either :


Use the power switch to go into low power mode when your not using it (as was always available)


Use the new 'lid close settings' (menu>settings>Lid-Close-Settings) to switch between :


Turning the screen off when you close the lid (normal behaviour and handy fi you don't want wi-fi to switch off when you quickly have to put the Pandora down/pocket it)


Go into low power mode when you close the lid (will kill wi-fi)


Shutdown the Pandora when you close the lid


Okay, for the screensaver switching the screen off, you'll need these links if you want it gone, if you haven't already removed that feature/bug.


http://boards.openpa...f4-screensaver/ (the first post to mention this issue since HF4. Also contains a cartoon of pure quality the board wont let be linked)


http://www.gp32x.de...post__p__919648 (The fix for this screenblanking issue and help for if you get it wrong and cant reboot)


Recreated below here:


sudo mousepad /etc/X11/xorg.conf from the terminal.


add the following lines to the bottom of the file but you need to copy the way the other lines are layed out already in this file. With tabbing and spacing.


Section "ServerFlags"


Option "BlankTime" "0"


EndSection


It will look more like this:


Section "ServerFlags"


Option "BlankTime" "0"


EndSection


Then save the file and exit the file.


Then reboot.


If it works, you'll reboot fine and no longer have the screen switching off after any idle time. If it fails, the Pandora will hang during the reboot just before the end of the blue progress bar completes.


It will hang here for just over 5 minutes. Dont panic.


It will then drop to a terminal like console saying ANGSTROM at the top and it will ask you for your username.


Type in your username and press enter.


It will ask for your password.


Type in your password (possibly blindly) and press enter.


Then do as Prometheus says here (from the same thread above) http://www.gp32x.de...post__p__919888


Type sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf


This will re-open the xorg.conf file you edited incorrectly earlier with nano rather than mousepad.


Attempt to alter the spacing/tabbing of the additional lines you wrote.


Then as Prometheus said :


Press CTRL+O (to "Write Out" the file)


Press ENTER (to confirm that you want to save it),


Press CTRL+X (to exit nano)


Then type :


sudo shutdown or sudo shutdown -h now (to shut the Pandora down)


Reboot it and "When it comes back up again, it will be able to boot into X normally".


Now if you also go to page 2 of the support section you'll find this recent thread http://boards.openpa...creen-blanking/ which goes over this process in even more detail.


I was certain a link to the orginal threads above about this, was already listed in the pinned Tips&Tweaks thread at the top of the support section but it no longer seems to be there, despite Disco Devil referencing it in his first post in the thread I last linked.


Is there anychance that a moderator can add one of many threads about this issue to Tips&Tweaks thread again please?


i hope that helps in someway with your questions Sukhiextreme and I agree it would be nice to have some of these powerplan options, more control over screensavers etc.


The closest other thing you can do is have your wallpapers switch about after set periods of time by following these threads/wiki page here (I haven't done this yet) :


http://boards.openpa...-automatically/


http://pandorawiki.o...llpaper_cronjob
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The closest the Pandora currently has to the type of desktop OS features you are talking about was introduced in HF6, now on alpha4 version. It still isn't what you are wanting though. As there is no control of switching on a screensaver after your choice of minutes, no choice of any animated screensavers (you'd have to provide your own to lessen NAND space use by things many wouldn't want), no choice of setting the system to go into low power mode after a time of choice sat idle and no 'power plan' schemes to choose from, like say a laptop might feature. It also wont do as say an iTouch or smartphone would do and simply switch its self to lower standby useage if left idle. Though I've no idea if such behaviours are configurable on iOS / smartphone environments either.


What you can do, is either :


Use the power switch to go into low power mode when your not using it (as was always available)


Use the new 'lid close settings' (menu>settings>Lid-Close-Settings) to switch between :


Turning the screen off when you close the lid (normal behaviour and handy fi you don't want wi-fi to switch off when you quickly have to put the Pandora down/pocket it)


Go into low power mode when you close the lid (will kill wi-fi)


Shutdown the Pandora when you close the lid


Okay, for the screensaver switching the screen off, you'll need these links if you want it gone, if you haven't already removed that feature/bug.


http://boards.openpa...f4-screensaver/ (the first post to mention this issue since HF4. Also contains a cartoon of pure quality the board wont let be linked)


http://www.gp32x.de...post__p__919648 (The fix for this screenblanking issue and help for if you get it wrong and cant reboot)


Recreated below here:


sudo mousepad /etc/X11/xorg.conf from the terminal.


add the following lines to the bottom of the file but you need to copy the way the other lines are layed out already in this file. With tabbing and spacing.


Section "ServerFlags"


Option "BlankTime" "0"


EndSection


It will look more like this:


Section "ServerFlags"


Option "BlankTime" "0"


EndSection


Then save the file and exit the file.


Then reboot.


If it works, you'll reboot fine and no longer have the screen switching off after any idle time. If it fails, the Pandora will hang during the reboot just before the end of the blue progress bar completes.


It will hang here for just over 5 minutes. Dont panic.


It will then drop to a terminal like console saying ANGSTROM at the top and it will ask you for your username.


Type in your username and press enter.


It will ask for your password.


Type in your password (possibly blindly) and press enter.


Then do as Prometheus says here (from the same thread above) http://www.gp32x.de...post__p__919888


Type sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf


This will re-open the xorg.conf file you edited incorrectly earlier with nano rather than mousepad.


Attempt to alter the spacing/tabbing of the additional lines you wrote.


Then as Prometheus said :


Press CTRL+O (to "Write Out" the file)


Press ENTER (to confirm that you want to save it),


Press CTRL+X (to exit nano)


Then type :


sudo shutdown or sudo shutdown -h now (to shut the Pandora down)


Reboot it and "When it comes back up again, it will be able to boot into X normally".


Now if you also go to page 2 of the support section you'll find this recent thread http://boards.openpa...creen-blanking/ which goes over this process in even more detail.


I was certain a link to the orginal threads above about this, was already listed in the pinned Tips&Tweaks thread at the top of the support section but it no longer seems to be there, despite Disco Devil referencing it in his first post in the thread I last linked.


Is there anychance that a moderator can add one of many threads about this issue to Tips&Tweaks thread again please?


i hope that helps in someway with your questions Sukhiextreme and I agree it would be nice to have some of these powerplan options, more control over screensavers etc.


The closest other thing you can do is have your wallpapers switch about after set periods of time by following these threads/wiki page here (I haven't done this yet) :


http://boards.openpa...-automatically/


http://pandorawiki.o...llpaper_cronjob
I wrote this through terminal sudo mousepad /etc/X11/xorg.conf from the terminal and asked for password and couldn't do through.


Just make it simplier, i just want the screen to stay on,when i'm not using it.
 
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Sorry it wasn't simple enough for you but I cant do anything about how long winded this process is. You should have been able to enter your password (blindly) and hit enter to get mousepad to open up the xorg.conf file for you to make these changes though.


You should do as Levi says in this post here


As he says :


its two tabs between each item, and one tab before Option. In other words your addition should look like this:


Section "ServerFlags"


[TAB]Option[TAB][TAB]"BlankTime"[TAB][TAB]"0"


EndSection





Hopefully they will include more control over the screenblanking (or leave it out entirely) in the next HF or Yars update of the OS.


 
To fix the screen blanking issue you're experiencing all you have to do is this:


Open Terminal from the Pandora's main menu


Type the following:


[ Don't yell at me for using a GUI text editor here =P ]


"sudo mousepad /etc/X11/xorg.conf"


^without the quotes of course ;)


This first part says write all this, is this done in the terminal then what do i do next,when i press enter in the terminal nothing happens.
 
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Its slightly strange that your terminal wont open up the mousepad program with the correct xorg.conf file for you to edit when you use that command.


I probably cant really help, as it should be doing that and allowing you to follow the rest of the instructions. All I can suggest is that you use Thunar (filemanager) to go to the same folder as the xorg.conf file and then right click there and choose to 'open terminal here'.


Goto filesystem/etc/X11 folder. (you should see xorg.conf as a text type file icon there)


Right click in the folder


Choose 'Open terminal here'


then type: sudo mousepad xorg.conf (press enter)


it should prompt for your password (enter it blindly then hit enter)


Mousepad should open xorg.conf file, with a red bar at the top saying 'warning: your are using the root account. you may harm your system'.


You should then scroll to the bottom and make the required additions with tabbed spacing.


Not sure why it isn't working for you
sad.gif
 
Is mousepad even there? I thought there were FW versions without it preinstalled.


Can't you just use any PND-packed editor and start it with sudo and pnd_run.sh?
 
Its slightly strange that your terminal wont open up the mousepad program with the correct xorg.conf file for you to edit when you use that command.


I probably cant really help, as it should be doing that and allowing you to follow the rest of the instructions. All I can suggest is that you use Thunar (filemanager) to go to the same folder as the xorg.conf file and then right click there and choose to 'open terminal here'.


Goto filesystem/etc/X11 folder. (you should see xorg.conf as a text type file icon there)


Right click in the folder


Choose 'Open terminal here'


then type: sudo mousepad xorg.conf (press enter)


it should prompt for your password (enter it blindly then hit enter)


Mousepad should open xorg.conf file, with a red bar at the top saying 'warning: your are using the root account. you may harm your system'.


You should then scroll to the bottom and make the required additions with tabbed spacing.


Not sure why it isn't working for you
sad.gif
When i try to enter password,it keeps on saying sorry try again,why isn't it accepting my password.
 
The usual cause of passwords not being accepted is typing them incorrectly. Make sure that you haven't accidentally toggled the Caps Lock on, or that you're not accidentally holding down the left shoulder button (which acts as the Shift key) whilst typing.
 
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Is there any chance that HF6 will enable us to have the screen time out to 'locked' (requiring re-input of login password)?


Or have the lid switch 'lock' the screen and turn it off?


The above talks a lot about just power-saving bits - what about security?
 
The usual cause of passwords not being accepted is typing them incorrectly. Make sure that you haven't accidentally toggled the Caps Lock on, or that you're not accidentally holding down the left shoulder button (which acts as the Shift key) whilst typing.
I'm not doing any of that,doesn't let me enter the first letter of my password.
 
In a terminal, you will never see anything displayed while typing your password. It's an old security thing. It does not mean that it's not being typed.
 
In a terminal, you will never see anything displayed while typing your password. It's an old security thing. It does not mean that it's not being typed.
you know, i wanted to say something along those lines the first time i read this thread, but then i thought.....no way, that couldnt possibly be the roblem


sidenote: you will see it if your password is unicode
 
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In a terminal, you will never see anything displayed while typing your password. It's an old security thing. It does not mean that it's not being typed.
you know, i wanted to say something along those lines the first time i read this thread, but then i thought.....no way, that couldnt possibly be the roblem


sidenote: you will see it if your password is unicode
What password is it asking for is it the one when you install new firmware then it asks to put it in new password.
 
When you first booted up your pandora the very first time, you choose a username and then a password. Its that password. If you still have a login prompt on every boot that displays your username and when you press enter it asks for your password, its that password. You can of course disable auto login via the menu>settings>startup (password prompt) enable/disable auto login, in which case it wont ask anymore. So its basically your username password.
 
When you first booted up your pandora the very first time, you choose a username and then a password. Its that password. If you still have a login prompt on every boot that displays your username and when you press enter it asks for your password, its that password. You can of course disable auto login via the menu>settings>startup (password prompt) enable/disable auto login, in which case it wont ask anymore. So its basically your username password.
I've reinstalled hf6 with new password,yes i worked finally.


The blank screen issue has been solved,the reason for not working was i inputted blank instead of blanktime.


Now the screen nver turns off,it's stays on all the time,that is impressive.
 
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