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Disable screensavers

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  Disable screensavers "Ste (news)" <steve@revi11.plus.com> - 2012-09-03 21:35 +0100
    Re: Disable screensavers Martin Bazley <martin.bazley@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2012-09-03 22:23 +0100
    Re: Disable screensavers Justin Fletcher <gerph@gerph.org> - 2012-09-03 22:46 +0100
      Re: Disable screensavers "Ste (news)" <steve@revi11.plus.com> - 2012-09-05 13:01 +0100
    Re: Disable screensavers Chris Johnson <chrisjohnson+news@spamcop.net> - 2012-09-03 23:10 +0100
    Re: Disable screensavers Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp.scrap007@wingsandbeaks.org.uk> - 2012-09-03 23:12 +0100
    Re: Disable screensavers spampling <spam.pling@btinternet.com> - 2012-09-03 23:25 +0100
      Re: Disable screensavers "Ste (news)" <steve@revi11.plus.com> - 2012-09-05 12:58 +0100

#2125 — Disable screensavers

Hi,

Screensavers were great on CRT and plasma monitors. They still add a bit of
interest, but something else they do is use up CPU and RISC OS machines
don't often have a lot of that available.

Things like ROM builds and scheduled backups can take quite a bit longer to
complete if a screensaver kicks in while they are running - and it usually
does for be because these are things that often happen when I'm not at my
machine.

So, is there a way to programmatically stop the screensaver kicking in (and
stop it if it's already running) and then restore it later? As in, fully
automatic and restores back to the same configuration. I don't want to just
smash the screensaver and then leave it to the user to configure it back on
again...

Thanks,

Steve

-- 
Steve Revill @ Home
Note: All opinions expressed herein are my own.

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#2126

The following bytes were arranged on 3 Sep 2012 by Ste (news):

> Things like ROM builds and scheduled backups can take quite a bit longer to
> complete if a screensaver kicks in while they are running - and it usually
> does for be because these are things that often happen when I'm not at my
> machine.

I just configure my screensaver to DPMS and leave it there.  I decided
they were far more trouble than they were worth some time ago, mostly
for this reason.

-- 
  __<^>__
 / _   _ \         You always find something in the last place you look.
( ( |_| ) )
 \_>   <_/  ======================= Martin Bazley ==========================

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#2127

On Mon, 3 Sep 2012, Ste (news) wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Screensavers were great on CRT and plasma monitors. They still add a bit of
> interest, but something else they do is use up CPU and RISC OS machines
> don't often have a lot of that available.
>
> Things like ROM builds and scheduled backups can take quite a bit longer to
> complete if a screensaver kicks in while they are running - and it usually
> does for be because these are things that often happen when I'm not at my
> machine.
>
> So, is there a way to programmatically stop the screensaver kicking in (and
> stop it if it's already running) and then restore it later? As in, fully
> automatic and restores back to the same configuration. I don't want to just
> smash the screensaver and then leave it to the user to configure it back on
> again...

The most obvious answer is to refer to the screen saver functional 
specification, and the PRM chapter about the ScreenBlanker module.

If you're providing an installer, the solution would be to either:
   1) Preserve <ScrSaver$Dir>, and unset it, run job, restore.
   2) Preserve <ScrSaver$MinMem>, set <ScrSaver$Dir> to the size of memory,
      run job, restore.

In both cases you must ensure that an abnormal exit of your long running 
task will restore these correctly. Assume that no other task is doing the 
same - because you can't cope with everything; there is no API to do so.
Should there be a need, you may wish to incorporate this into the 
ScreenSaver module; a counter of the disables and enables would suffice.

Stopping any running task is a simple matter of issuing 
Service_ScreenRestored, or if you want to do it nicely, issue
SWI ScreenBlanker_Control, 1.

An OS upgrader would obviously do this as one of its first operations, 
otherwise the installation would fail if the files it was using were 
moved / replaced.
A build system would obviously not be configured to use a screen saver in 
the first place.

This assumes that you're concerned with the processor intensive screen 
saver tasks, rather than the DPMS/palette blanking system, which appears 
to be the goal in your post.

If you want to control the DPMS/palette blanking itself then obviously you 
want to talk to the ScreenBlanker module - SWI ScreenBlanker_Control 0 to 
blank, SWI ScreenBlanker_Control 1 to unblank.

-- 
Gerph <http://gerph.org/>
... It's amazing what a few minutes of reading the documentation can do.

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#2131

In article <alpine.DEB.1.10.1209032222450.6010@buttercup.gerph.org>,
   Justin Fletcher <gerph@gerph.org> wrote:
> The most obvious answer is to refer to the screen saver functional 
> specification, and the PRM chapter about the ScreenBlanker module.

RTFM. :)

> In both cases you must ensure that an abnormal exit of your long running
> task will restore these correctly.

Indeed.

> [snip more useful info]

Cheers, that's just the sort of thing I was after.

Ta,

Steve

-- 
Steve Revill @ Home
Note: All opinions expressed herein are my own.

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#2128

In article <52c9957508steve@revi11.plus.com>,
   Ste (news) <steve@revi11.plus.com> wrote:
> So, is there a way to programmatically stop the screensaver kicking
> in (and stop it if it's already running) and then restore it later?
> As in, fully automatic and restores back to the same configuration.
> I don't want to just smash the screensaver and then leave it to the
> user to configure it back on again...

Would simulating a key or mouse event be seen by the screen saver,
causing it to simply wake up again? If that was so, just give it a
nudge every couple of minutes.

-- 
Chris Johnson

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#2129

"Ste (news)" <steve@revi11.plus.com> wrote:

>Things like ROM builds and scheduled backups can take quite a bit longer to
>complete if a screensaver kicks in while they are running...

What criteria are used by RO to decide that the screensaver should start? 
If it's, say, keyboard or mouse activity hasn't happened for a while,
mightn't there be a way to fake some?

-- 
Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.

Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply
to newsreplyaaa@wingsandbeaks.org.uk replacing "aaa" by "284".  

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#2130

In article <52c9957508steve@revi11.plus.com>, Ste (news)
<steve@revi11.plus.com> wrote:
> So, is there a way to programmatically stop the screensaver kicking in
> (and stop it if it's already running) and then restore it later? As in,
> fully automatic and restores back to the same configuration. I don't
> want to just smash the screensaver and then leave it to the user to
> configure it back on again...

You had considered the DPMS option of course?

You know, the one that just blanks the screen (and lowers the power
consumption.

-- 

Steve Pampling

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#2132

In article <52c99f8ee7spam.pling@btinternet.com>,
   spampling <spam.pling@btinternet.com> wrote:
> You had considered the DPMS option of course?

I'm not saying this is for my personal machine! I'm asking for the generic
solution.

Ta,

Steve

-- 
Steve Revill @ Home
Note: All opinions expressed herein are my own.

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