Linux Mint Forums

Hello everybody!

I recently installed Mint 15 (32-bit with Mate) and I noticed that the screen is getting black while a video is playing.

I checked the screen saver settings and the box "Activate Screensaver when computer is idle" is ticked but computer shouldn't be considered as idle while it's playing a video, right ?

I checked the power settings, I didn't enable the option "Dim display when idle".

Both with Videos 3.6.3 and with VLC 2.0.8 I have this problem. In VLC, I checked the box "Disable Screensaver".

I read on a forum, that this bug might be fixed in VLC 2.1 but since the same problem occurs with other video players I guess it is not a VLC problem.

Anyone has an easy workaround for this problem? (I'm looking for an automatic solution not a way to manually disable the screensaver/modify the power settings before playing a video).

Thanks in advance !

I think this is not a bug with VLC or Totem (Videos), but rather with mate-screensaver. It seems it somehow doesn't interpret all the relevant settings correctly. When looking at the settings for org.mate.screensaver and org.mate.power-manager with the dconf-editor, things look kind of logical and clear, but still, the screensaver (and/or some related power saving mechanism) is not acting as one would expect from the settings, and completely ignores any media player's not-idle signals. This forum by now has several topics on that, yet, apparently no solution so far.

[url=http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=138069]In this thread[/url] an application called "Caffeine" is recommended to circumvent this issue, it seems to be an automatic solution, though, I haven't tried that.

Regards,
*uu

One more note: The setting that dims the screen when the session is considered idle is 'idle-delay' in org.mate.session. There's a default set of 5 minutes. This setting is not touched when changing the "Regard the computer as idle after:" setting in mate-screensaver-preferences, so whatever you set as the idle time for mate-screensaver, the screen will still be dimmed after 5 or 6 minutes.

Setting org.mate.session.idle-delay to 0 disables the screensaver completely, apparently - despite "Activate screensaver when computer is idle" being checked in mate-screensaver-preferences, so no help there. Haven't found a working setting so far, unfortunately.

Thanks for answering so fast !

I agree this is not a really important issue, but still it's annoying. I hope it will be fixed in the next release of mate (2.0 ?)

I think mate-screensaver is a simplified version of Xscreensaver, isn't it? I guess that replacing the mate screensaver with xscreensaver won't fix the problem otherwise the solution would be known already.

kyrios wrote:I think mate-screensaver is a simplified version of Xscreensaver, isn't it?

Nah, mate-screensaver is a fork of the old gnome-screensaver as it still existed in Gnome 2. Though, I guess in the transition and renaming of it, something went wrong between the old org.gnome settings and the new org.mate settings, as in Gnome 2, the screensaver's GUI did at least work as expected. Yeah, let's hope this gets fixed soon. I'll also try to file a bug report for these issues if I find some time.

Oh, xscreensaver might even work better (haven't tried with Mint 15 MATE), and though it has many more options, especially per-screensaver settings, I doubt its interface was redesigned in the recent year. And if it wasn't, well, it does look quite antiquated by now. Wouldn't really fit Mint's overall theme, in my opinion.

I'll wait then!
Thanks for the useful feedback.

Envoyé depuis mon GT-I9505 en utilisant Tapatalk 4

I added "Inhibit Applet" to my panel as a workaround for when I'm watching videos. Just click on it whenever you don't want the screen to dim. Then when you finish, click it again and your screensaver will function normally again.

cosmic madness wrote:I added "Inhibit Applet" to my panel as a workaround for when I'm watching videos.

Thank you, cosmic madness, for that hint. (Hehehe, I don't think I ever thanked the cosmic madness for anything up until now … )

For me, this already-built-in workaround is preferable to a third-party application like Caffeine. I'll give it a try 'till there is a real fix (and hope I don't forget to turn it back off after the video).

cosmic madness wrote:I added "Inhibit Applet" to my panel as a workaround for when I'm watching videos.

Nice & thanks a lot!

Dirk

Just for those who use a German version and have the same problem ("inhibit" can't be found in the list of available applets):

In der deutschen Version heißt das Panel-Applet
"Energiesparmodus-Unterdrückungsapplet".
Es hat keine Einstellungen, nur die Ein- und Ausschaltfunktion per Klick.

Zum besseren Finden ein paar Keywords:
linux vlc video bildschirmschoner screensaver dunkel dark aktiviert dim screen blanks active setting einstellung unterdrücken inhibit

mideal wrote:In der deutschen Version heißt das Panel-Applet
"Energiesparmodus-Unterdrückungsapplet".

Na, das ist doch mal ein eingängiger Name...

Thank you, Dirk.

Hello!

I'm a newbie to the mint forum and just created an account. I usually find the answers I'm looking for on forums but, if I can get a little more info I would be much obgliged.

I'm running mint 17 on an old Toshiba laptop and I would like to know HOW to "inhibit applet" to prevent the screen from dimming while playing a video particularly when I'm hooked up to a TV. I've had to touch the touchpad regularly, so as to not fade out, to share an hour and a half documentary with friends. The other option is to run something called Caffeine but, I don't find it in the package manager.

While we are on the topic of fading out, it seems there may still not be a fix for an idle screen that returns you to the login screen no matter what you do to the the power settings.

Thank you in advance for any step by step instructions anyone is willing to post.

I found the answer to my question regarding screen dimming and locking here:
http://www.linuxandlife.com/2012/06/how ... linux.html