Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
On Fri, 20 Jul 2001 14:15:27 PDT, Tony Godshall writes: >Sure does. Closed it to a tiny crack and its still on. >Doesn't seem to be any such switch on the OB. (On many >machines closing the lid autmatically suspends it, fwiw, my OB6k has a bios option for this kind of stuff. >the backlight. Yet! But after I left the OB on a console >for a while to write the other message about the showkey >results I discovered that it does turn the backlight off >when the console blanking code kicks in (is this a kernel >feature)? Cool. Thanks Linus! Thanks Heather! man setterm, and see your kernel configs: CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK governs this behaviour. >> If it has dpms features you might be able to convince X to put it in >> that mode - however, running X may itself steal juice, can't say if that >> would be a win. at least the xfree86 server (3.3.6++) for the mach rage something in my OB6k states "dpms: experimental" and does nothing whatsoever to switch off the backlight. regards az -- + Alexander Zangerl + [EMAIL PROTECTED] + www.snafu.priv.at + DSA 0x42BD645D + (RSA 0x5B586291) Unix *is* user-friendly. It is not ignorant-friendly and idiot-friendly. signature.ng
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
> ... Please
> forgive me for arguing this manini point.
manini (Hawaiian)
When used as an adjective, usually means "small" or
"stingy." The most common noun usage refers to a reef
surgeonfish. ("We're Watching")
-- http://www.islandscene.com/glossary/#M
Info about the fish at...
http://www.k12.hi.us/~kapunaha/manini.htm
--
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Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
> are you sure the back light stays on when you close the > laptop? my laptop > (ARM TS759) has a switch ... [--Craig the physicist] Sure does. Closed it to a tiny crack and its still on. Doesn't seem to be any such switch on the OB. (On many machines closing the lid autmatically suspends it, so I'm kind of glad I don't have one as I want to use the audio components with the lid closed. Ooo! Wearables anyone (watch the ebay prices of OB800's pop up! -- NOT!) > Well, if it was just an OS "feature" then you can probably chvt to an > empty console. 12 maybe. With no contents to display it may save a > *little* bit of juice. [--Heather the star] OK, chvt 12 makes the screen blank but it doesn't turn off the backlight. Yet! But after I left the OB on a console for a while to write the other message about the showkey results I discovered that it does turn the backlight off when the console blanking code kicks in (is this a kernel feature)? Cool. Thanks Linus! Thanks Heather! So when I want to travel, instead of 'xlock -blank' in X, I'll have my script 'sudo chvt 12' and let it turn itself off after a couple of minutes. And maybe when I have nothing better to do I'll poke around in the kernel code and see if I can find the console blanking stuff. > If it has dpms features you might be able to convince X to put it in > that mode - however, running X may itself steal juice, can't say if that > would be a win. I tried all the below, and they just blank the screen but leave the backlight on. xlock -blank xlock -blank -dpmsoff 0 xlock -blank -dpmssuspend 0 > For power savings purposes I long since changed my standard mode so that > I have almost no services running, and only two getty's. mingetty actually. > So the standard runlevel 2 for me is very stripped-bare. I use runlevel 5 > for "like my normal workstation" mode, in other words, more consoles, apache > running some virtual servers, etc. You might benefit from the same. I haven't gone quite so far but that's kind of like what I've done. I combined my network environment with my power environment and a little script that copies symlinks network.opts, hosts, etc., to a version for my lan environment and stops or starts some services. Since runlevels didn't really handle that kind of stuff and netenv or cardctl didn't quite to it for me either, I rolled my own. Heck, it even puts wwwoffle in -online or -offline mode for me and restarts it on any change in networking (since it gets confused when networks change). -- Tony -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
> > ... Second time, my screen goes totally blank (I assume > > it's driving the signal out the external connector.) So > > this should be using less power since it's not driving the > > LCD or the backlight, but driving external (even absent) > > devices can be a little bad for battery power too. ... > You miss the point, external monitors are expected to have their *own* > wall-power cord. Therefore the laptop is not expected to give them > enough power to run their display. > Yes, a minimal amount of power will remain in use by the video card > itself, to send its own signals in the new direction. But if your > backlight power cost is significant *at all* then using the external > mode will negate that cost; whatever gain that's worth, you will get. I think Greg's trick takes me at least 75% of the way there, but the ideal would be to tell the whole video subsystem to shut down (apm --video-off). If someone can point me to apm bios interface specs, maybe I can check if there is even a low-level interface to do this. Yes, Signal drivers are negligible compared to displays but can be significant, esp. if they conform to an old standard. For example, compare battery life when running with RS232C active (such as doing syncs with a Palm device) vs. inactive. We have to drive +12V and -12V, so a whole DC/DC power subsystem powers up. (RS232C was defined is from even before TTL!). Video-out drives an analog signal (ancient spec, but not as bad as RS232 I'm sure) for several feet, while internal video can theoretically be very low power and digital-only. But yes, compared to powering the display, this power usage is minor, and perhaps not worth worrying about. Please forgive me for arguing this manini point. Thanks Greg and Heather for your help! -- Tony -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Omnibook 800 feature fn-keys [Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending]
> > > FN+On/Off If turn-on password protection is active, > > > suspends (turns off) the OmniBook so the password is required at > > > turn-on. FN+F1 ... F12 Starts the assigned application, which you can > > > change. > > Any ideas how to capture this in Linux/X? I tried setting > > up a shortcut with bbkeys (blackbox wm's keyboard app) but > > hitting Fn-F1 just switches me to console 1. > In order to do any macro-ing on the Fn key you would need to know what > keycode it generates. When "windows keys" were new they were the same > problem, and people had to hunt up (via showkeys or otherwise) that they > weree scancode 106. (or is that the menu key. I forget.) > showkeys is a console utility. Hmmm. kbd provides console-utilities # apt-get install kbd # showkey -s : (...pressing fn-F1 through fn-F12 in turn...) : kb mode was XLATE : 0x9c (press any key (program terminates 10s after last keypress)... : 0x1d 0x38 0x3b 0x9d 0xb8 0xbb : 0x1d 0x38 0x3c 0x9d 0xb8 0xbc ... : 0x1d 0x38 0x58 0x9d 0xb8 0xd8 For comparison... # showkey -s : kb mode was XLATE : press any key (program terminates 10s after last keypress)... : 0x9c (...pressing fn-F1 through fn-F12 in turn...) : 0x3b 0xbb : 0x3c 0xbc : 0x3d 0xbd ... : 0x58 0xd8 OK, so it looks like Fn adds 0x1d 0x38 before the first F1-F12 key scan codeand 0x9d 0xb8 before the second one. So I guess if I want to pursue this further, I'll have to learn about defining XKB stuff etc. Actually, I do switch keyboards a bit, so I'm not sure I really want to customize this unless I find something laptop-specific I want to trigger. Well, maybe networking mode, Fn-F1 for mobile (no LAN), Fn-F2 for office, Fn F3 for home LAN... Thanks, Heather. > * Heather Stern * star@ many places... > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
> > Oh, that's a shame. On my laptop there's an actual separate key > > called "Fn", sitting in between "Ctrl" and "Alt". > > Yeah, mine has one too, but it's to the left of ctrl. > > > It's intended > > purely for switching on these Toshiba-specific keyboard functions (it's > > also used to switch on the numberpad overlay over the uio-jkl-etc keys). > > Alt-F1, Alt-F2 switches between consoles (the "F1", F2"... keys > > themselves are labelled as such). > > > I think that was the intent here too but apparently they didn't > implement at BIOS level. So I have to find a linux-level > solution. If you run showkeys, does pressing your Fn generate a keycode? If so it can probably be wired up to do something interesting. (easiest, to do only things that are console driver features, like magic-sysrq, but I think it can be convinced to hold macros too.) * Heather Stern * star@ many places... -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
> > On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 06:32:50PM -0700, Tony Godshall wrote: > > > Anyone know if there's a tool to turn off the backlight . . . > > ... Have you checked whether your BIOS gives you options like > > [switching to external monitor]? > Yeah. Doesn't :( > Fn-F1 to Fn-F5 are supposed to do that various things but > they just switch Linux consoles (I suspect those features > were implemented through W95- in fact the slide in card has > that prominently displayed, complete with TM. > > Thanks for the suggestions tho! Well, if it was just an OS "feature" then you can probably chvt to an empty console. 12 maybe. With no contents to display it may save a *little* bit of juice. If it has dpms features you might be able to convince X to put it in that mode - however, running X may itself steal juice, can't say if that would be a win. For power savings purposes I long since changed my standard mode so that I have almost no services running, and only two getty's. mingetty actually. So the standard runlevel 2 for me is very stripped-bare. I use runlevel 5 for "like my normal workstation" mode, in other words, more consoles, apache running some virtual servers, etc. You might benefit from the same. * Heather Stern * star@ many places... -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
are you sure the back light stays on when you close the laptop? my laptop (ARM TS759) has a switch which turns of the backlight as you close it. you can see it happen when the screen gets to by about 30 degrees from closing. Dr. Craig T. Milling [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Illinois Phone: 217/333-1930 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
On Fri, Jul 20, 2001 at 09:37:55AM -0400, Brian P. Flaherty wrote: > Could you do what you want with xset? When I type > `xset dpms force standby`, I get a blank screen, but nothing else > seems to slow down. It also looks like you could disable 'suspend' > and 'off' modes so it would stay in perpetual standby while you ride > home. Screen goes blank but backlight is still on :( Thanks -- Tony -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Omnibook 800 feature fn-keys [Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending]
On Fri, Jul 20, 2001 at 10:42:22AM +0200, Mounie G wrote: > The good point with HP is the avaibility of the manuals in PDF on Web. OK, I went looking but couldn't even get to the HP Omnibook 800 page. The choose product drop box contains only "HP HP HP" all the way down and a search for "Omnibook 800" gives only 2 (!) results!. Can you paste me a URL please? > For HP800 (in the Windows for Workgroup :-) manual, page 13), > you have > all the "magic" keys. Changing video output is > done by FN+PrintSc. Huh. First time I hit it, it blanks for a moment and comes back. Second time, my screen goes totally blank (I assume it's driving the signal out the external connector.) So this should be using less power since it's not driving the LCD or the backlight, but driving external (even absent) devices can be a little bad for battery power too. Would be nice to do it without sending the signal out, but this is a good trick. Thanks Greg. > FN+PrtSc Selects an external display, both displays simultaneously, > or the OmniBook display. OK, that's probably why I have to hit it twice to get the LCD to go blank. Greg comes through again! > FN Combination Action > > FN+ESC > Displays or hides the Status Panel. > FN+HOME, END, PgUp, PgDn > Moves the Status Panel to another corner. > > FN+UP ARROW, FN+DOWN ARROW > Increases and decreases the master volume temporarily. > > FN+SPACE > Switches the master volume off (mute) or on. Handy! (But not as handy as a volume control on your headphones) ((you know what would really be cool- music headphones with mic that double as a phone headset- take a phone call and go back to music)) > FN+LEFT ARROW, FN+RIGHT > ARROW Adjusts the beeper mix/volume temporarily. > > FN+TAB Moves a > VGA-sized image to the center or to the upper left of thedisplay, or > expands it to full size. OK, this doesn't do anything... wait, ah it affects mode but not X. Maybe it would affect X if it was running in 640x480 mode (but who would want to?) > FN+EQUAL (plus), FN+HYPHEN (minus) Increases the bus speed to normal > or decreases the > bus speed to half-speed. (Some parallel devices require the slower > bus speed.) Are we talking cardbus? Parallel adapters in the PCMCIA slots? Or does this really mean that this affects the built-in parallel port? > FN+On/Off If turn-on password protection is active, > suspends (turns off) the OmniBook so the password is required at > turn-on. FN+F1 ... F12 Starts the assigned application, which you can > change. Any ideas how to capture this in Linux/X? I tried setting up a shortcut with bbkeys (blackbox wm's keyboard app) but hitting Fn-F1 just switches me to console 1. Thanks again! This is usefull info. -- Tony -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
Could you do what you want with xset? When I type `xset dpms force standby`, I get a blank screen, but nothing else seems to slow down. It also looks like you could disable 'suspend' and 'off' modes so it would stay in perpetual standby while you ride home. Brian -- /"\ \ / ASCII RIBBON CAMPAIGN XAGAINST HTML MAIL / \ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
Hi, >> It's intended >> purely for switching on these Toshiba-specific keyboard functions (it's >> also used to switch on the numberpad overlay over the uio-jkl-etc keys). >> Alt-F1, Alt-F2 switches between consoles (the "F1", F2"... keys >> themselves are labelled as such). >I think that was the intent here too but apparently they didn't >implement at BIOS level. So I have to find a linux-level >solution. The good point with HP is the avaibility of the manuals in PDF on Web. For HP800 (in the Windows for Workgroup :-) manual, page 13), you have all the "magic" keys. Changing video output is done by FN+PrintSc. Gregory Mounie PS: I just try with Xfree 4.0.3. You need also to change resolution (Ctrl-Alt-+/-) to get again a non flickering screen at 800x600. PPS: this is the list of the all the keys FN Combination Action FN+ESC Displays or hides the Status Panel. FN+HOME, END, PgUp, PgDn Moves the Status Panel to another corner. FN+UP ARROW, FN+DOWN ARROW Increases and decreases the master volume temporarily. FN+SPACE Switches the master volume off (mute) or on. FN+LEFT ARROW, FN+RIGHT ARROW Adjusts the beeper mix/volume temporarily. FN+TAB Moves a VGA-sized image to the center or to the upper left of thedisplay, or expands it to full size. FN+PrtSc Selects an external display, both displays simultaneously, or the OmniBook display. FN+EQUAL (plus), FN+HYPHEN (minus) Increases the bus speed to normal or decreases the bus speed to half-speed. (Some parallel devices require the slower bus speed.) FN+On/Off If turn-on password protection is active, suspends (turns off) the OmniBook so the password is required at turn-on. FN+F1 ... F12 Starts the assigned application, which you can change. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
> Oh, that's a shame. On my laptop there's an actual separate key > called "Fn", sitting in between "Ctrl" and "Alt". Yeah, mine has one too, but it's to the left of ctrl. > It's intended > purely for switching on these Toshiba-specific keyboard functions (it's > also used to switch on the numberpad overlay over the uio-jkl-etc keys). > Alt-F1, Alt-F2 switches between consoles (the "F1", F2"... keys > themselves are labelled as such). I think that was the intent here too but apparently they didn't implement at BIOS level. So I have to find a linux-level solution. -- Tony -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 08:13:00PM -0700, Tony Godshall wrote: > On Fri, Jul 20, 2001 at 11:56:25AM +1000, Drew Parsons wrote: > > > Toshiba also lets you press Fn-F5 to toggle between LCD display, > > cathode tube display (it has a video-out port) or both. I could use > > > Fn-F1 to Fn-F5 are supposed to do that various things but > they just switch Linux consoles (I suspect those features > were implemented through W95- in fact the slide in card has > that prominently displayed, complete with TM. > Oh, that's a shame. On my laptop there's an actual separate key called "Fn", sitting in between "Ctrl" and "Alt". It's intended purely for switching on these Toshiba-specific keyboard functions (it's also used to switch on the numberpad overlay over the uio-jkl-etc keys). Alt-F1, Alt-F2 switches between consoles (the "F1", F2"... keys themselves are labelled as such). I hope you find the solution! Drew -- PGP public key available at http://dparsons.webjump.com/drewskey.txt Fingerprint: A110 EAE1 D7D2 8076 5FE0 EC0A B6CE 7041 6412 4E4A -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
On Fri, Jul 20, 2001 at 11:56:25AM +1000, Drew Parsons wrote: > On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 06:32:50PM -0700, Tony Godshall wrote: > > Anyone know if there's a tool to turn off the backlight ... > I've got a Toshiba laptop, not a HP, but it has various BIOS settings > ... Have you checked whether your BIOS gives you options like that? Yeah. Doesn't :( > Toshiba also lets you press Fn-F5 to toggle between LCD display, > cathode tube display (it has a video-out port) or both. I could use ... Fn-F1 to Fn-F5 are supposed to do that various things but they just switch Linux consoles (I suspect those features were implemented through W95- in fact the slide in card has that prominently displayed, complete with TM. Thanks for the suggestions tho! -- Tony -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: turning off (LCD+) backlight without suspending
On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 06:32:50PM -0700, Tony Godshall wrote: > Anyone know if there's a tool to turn off the backlight or > the video subsystem without turning putting the whole laptop. > I like to start some mp3's playing and then shut the case. > I'd like the battery to last as long as possible in this > mode and not get so warm in my backpack (biking home from > the office or walking through an airport). > > ((The computer in question is an HP Omnibook 800 with P166, > 48M RAM and a 20G hard drive running debian (woody/frozen) > and kernel 2.4.6 and XFree86 4.0.3. Thank godness it > doesn't have a case-close suspend feature or I couldn't do > this at all)) > I've got a Toshiba laptop, not a HP, but it has various BIOS settings you can choose between for setting those kinds of things. For instance, you can choose whether closing the case powers down or not (I suspect it's set to turn off the display automatically if you told it to not power down). Have you checked whether your BIOS gives you options like that? Toshiba also lets you press Fn-F5 to toggle between LCD display, cathode tube display (it has a video-out port) or both. I could use this to set to cathode tube display only, effectively switching off the LCD screen. Does your HP have that sort of capability? Drew -- PGP public key available at http://dparsons.webjump.com/drewskey.txt Fingerprint: A110 EAE1 D7D2 8076 5FE0 EC0A B6CE 7041 6412 4E4A -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
