turning off screensaver

[Jeffrey F. Bloss]

Brian Fahrlander wrote:

> > ./.gconf/apps/f-spot
> > ./.gnome2/f-spot
> > 
> > I'd wager one or both of those directories or something under them
> > holds the list of pics that screen saver would use. I'd check
> > ~/.gconf/xxx first. Don't use F-Spot myself so my configs are
> > useless. Could be you just have a buggered up graphic though. Maybe
> > clearing your "favorites" (??) if F-Spot and gradually adding files
> > back would help narrow it down???
> > 
> > *shrug* :)
> 
>     I used to set them by running xscreensaver --(something), then
> exiting that program entirely.  I suppose I still could.

A little exploration and judicious use of one of my favorite shell
scripts turned up a 'gnome-screensaver-command' command that accepts
the --exit switch as well as a couple other useful things. Try
'gnome-screensaver-command --help' for an overview. It's probably the
gnome* counterpart to the xscreensaver command you're use to. There's
also a gnome-screensaver-preferences command on this box. Haven't even
--help(ed) it yet to see. ;)

I've posted this script before I think, but I find it so useful I'll do
it again. I save it as 'howmanycommands' somewhere in the global path.
Alone it spits out a huge list of everything in your path and a
running total, but I almost always run it through grep looking for
relevant commands. The screen saver thing was 'howmanycommands | grep
screen' for example. Here's the script, stolen from some book or
something I have laying around here...

### BEGIN SCRIPT ###
#!/bin/sh

# how many commands: a simple script to count how many executable
# commands are in your current PATH.

myPATH="$(echo $PATH | sed -e 's/ /~~/g' -e 's/:/ /g')"
count=0 ; nonex=0

for dirname in $myPATH ;  do
  directory="$(echo $dirname | sed 's/~~/ /g')"
  if [ -d "$directory" ] ; then
    for command in $(ls "$directory") ; do
      if [ -x "$directory/$command" ] ; then
        echo $directory/$command
        count="$(( $count + 1 ))"
      else
        nonex="$(( $nonex + 1 ))"
      fi
    done
  fi
done

echo "$count commands : $nonex entires not executable"

exit 0
### END SCRIPT ###

>     One of the minor disappointments of Linux has been that, with all
> the power of the screensavers, no one like AfterDark ever jumped in.

I never really was into fluffy screen savers. Know After Dark by name
but that's about it. For years I just ran the Seti at Home thing at
whatever defaults it installed because I figured I might as well do
something useful with all those extra cpu cycles, but now that I've
migrated to a laptop being my "main" machine I pretty much go with the
battery savings and just blank the screen by default no matter if I'm
plugged or not. The "skyrocket" screen saver is pretty neat to watch
for a while though. Amazing what upper end graphics hardware can do. ;)

> I'd imagine all sorts of "ancient" or "retro" screensavers from their
> profitable past would be easy to port, but so far most seem to be very
> nerdly with theoretical, not visual components as part of the art.

I remember a lady bringing in a machine to be repaired one time with a
screen saver that was a bunch of smiley faces floating around. Every
time they're bump into each other they'd emit a mechanical, high
pitched "Uh-Oh!". Talk about annoying...

Of course then there was the infamous "haunted house". *shudder*

No. Give me minimalist or useful, or just turn off the display thank
you. <g>

-- 
     _?_      Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
    (o o)         Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-oOO-(_)--OOo------------------------------[ Groucho Marx ]---
                    http://wrench.homelinux.net/~jeff/
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