Discussion:
Screen Saver under FreeBSD 11.1
Eduardo Lemos de Sa
2017-10-05 13:02:53 UTC
Permalink
Dear

I have used FreeBSD 11.1 (release/amd64) since some months. Everything
seems to working good, but I couldn't find a way get screensaver working. I
added into my /etc/rc.conf:

saver="blank"
blanktime="120"


rebooted several times, but simply it did not work. Under X11, I could have
xscreensaver working (and to reinforce security, I am working under X11
enviroment to have screen locked). Please, could you give some advise to
solve this?

Thanks in advance

My best regards

Eduardo
--
Eduardo Lemos de Sa
Professor Titular
Dep. Quimica da Universidade Federal do ParanĂ¡
fone: +55(41)3361-3300
fax: +55(41)3361-3186
Manish Jain
2017-10-05 13:22:21 UTC
Permalink
Post by Eduardo Lemos de Sa
Dear
I have used FreeBSD 11.1 (release/amd64) since some months. Everything
seems to working good, but I couldn't find a way get screensaver working. I
saver="blank"
blanktime="120"
rebooted several times, but simply it did not work. Under X11, I could have
xscreensaver working (and to reinforce security, I am working under X11
enviroment to have screen locked). Please, could you give some advise to
solve this?
Thanks in advance
My best regards
Eduardo
Getting the saver to work in console mode is difficult nowadays -
perhaps even impossible.

The only way you can get saver to work in console mode is to add this to
/boot/loader.conf and reboot :

kern.vty=sc

The default console driver under 11.x is vt. If you use sc, your saver
will begin to work, but then X will refuse to start (happens under
10.3/11.0). If you manage to get it to work under 11.1 - good luck !

Regards
Manish Jain
Eduardo Lemos de Sa
2017-10-05 20:28:18 UTC
Permalink
Dear Manish
Post by Eduardo Lemos de Sa
Post by Eduardo Lemos de Sa
Dear
I have used FreeBSD 11.1 (release/amd64) since some months. Everything
seems to working good, but I couldn't find a way get screensaver
working. I
Post by Eduardo Lemos de Sa
saver="blank"
blanktime="120"
rebooted several times, but simply it did not work. Under X11, I could
have
Post by Eduardo Lemos de Sa
xscreensaver working (and to reinforce security, I am working under X11
enviroment to have screen locked). Please, could you give some advise to
solve this?
Thanks in advance
My best regards
Eduardo
Getting the saver to work in console mode is difficult nowadays -
perhaps even impossible.
The only way you can get saver to work in console mode is to add this to
kern.vty=sc
The default console driver under 11.x is vt. If you use sc, your saver
will begin to work, but then X will refuse to start (happens under
10.3/11.0). If you manage to get it to work under 11.1 - good luck !
Regards
Manish Jain
Thank you for your clarifications: I saw a discussion about vt x sc
terminals, but I couldn't realize that problems could have rearch
screensaver.

My best regards

Yours

Eduardo
--
Eduardo Lemos de Sa
Professor Titular
Dep. Quimica da Universidade Federal do ParanĂ¡
fone: +55(41)3361-3300
fax: +55(41)3361-3186
Thomas Mueller
2017-10-08 08:10:25 UTC
Permalink
Post by Manish Jain
Post by Eduardo Lemos de Sa
I have used FreeBSD 11.1 (release/amd64) since some months. Everything
seems to working good, but I couldn't find a way get screensaver working. I
saver="blank"
blanktime="120"
rebooted several times, but simply it did not work. Under X11, I could have
xscreensaver working (and to reinforce security, I am working under X11
enviroment to have screen locked). Please, could you give some advise to
solve this?
Thanks in advance
My best regards
Eduardo
Getting the saver to work in console mode is difficult nowadays -
perhaps even impossible.
The only way you can get saver to work in console mode is to add this to
kern.vty=sc
The default console driver under 11.x is vt. If you use sc, your saver
will begin to work, but then X will refuse to start (happens under
10.3/11.0). If you manage to get it to work under 11.1 - good luck !
Same symptoms occur with NetBSD with DRMKMS, which is their name for vt or newcons.

I can only guess it would occur with Linux too and would not fight it.

X will not start from sc in FreeBSD or NetBSD.

I have wondered if console screensaver could be made to work with vt or DRMKMS, but then there is the danger of not being able to come back from screenblanking.

I no longer use sc in FreeBSD. In NetBSD, I like booting into 1920x1080 video mode for console and getting 67 (?) rows and 240 columns.

1920x1080 is my monitor's native mode and recommended by the manufacturer (LG).

Tom
Polytropon
2017-10-08 08:23:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Mueller
Post by Manish Jain
Post by Eduardo Lemos de Sa
I have used FreeBSD 11.1 (release/amd64) since some months. Everything
seems to working good, but I couldn't find a way get screensaver working. I
saver="blank"
blanktime="120"
rebooted several times, but simply it did not work. Under X11, I could have
xscreensaver working (and to reinforce security, I am working under X11
enviroment to have screen locked). Please, could you give some advise to
solve this?
Thanks in advance
My best regards
Eduardo
Getting the saver to work in console mode is difficult nowadays -
perhaps even impossible.
The only way you can get saver to work in console mode is to add this to
kern.vty=sc
The default console driver under 11.x is vt. If you use sc, your saver
will begin to work, but then X will refuse to start (happens under
10.3/11.0). If you manage to get it to work under 11.1 - good luck !
Same symptoms occur with NetBSD with DRMKMS, which is their name for vt or newcons.
I can only guess it would occur with Linux too and would not fight it.
I'd say it's already present in Linux for a long while, but as
Linux is already quite X-centric (at least the desktop distros,
obviously), it is not a problem over there. Hardly anyone uses
Linux in text mode. :-)
Post by Thomas Mueller
X will not start from sc in FreeBSD or NetBSD.
Exactly, that's why the traditional text mode has been lost in
FreeBSD, as soon as your system should run X.
Post by Thomas Mueller
I have wondered if console screensaver could be made to work with
vt or DRMKMS, but then there is the danger of not being able to
come back from screenblanking.
This special sympton has been occuring when using sc with X (at
a time where you could actually _start_ X from sc), but switching
back from X to sc left the screen blank.

With vt, you are always in graphics mode (there is no text mode
anymore), so I'd assume that blanking and returning is not a
problem here (no mode-switching).
Post by Thomas Mueller
I no longer use sc in FreeBSD.
It only works for systems that do not run X.
Post by Thomas Mueller
In NetBSD, I like booting into 1920x1080 video mode for console
and getting 67 (?) rows and 240 columns.
And that is exactly what I personally have problems with. The system
boots with 80x25 text mode, then 80x25 graphics mode, then blanks
for several seconds, and finally returns with tiny letters in an
unpleasant font. On the laptop's native display, it becomes unreadable.

So say goodbye to text mode, use X with xterms (or any other
terminal application), where it's far easier to get a readable
font at a terminal size you want, be it 80x25 or 132x67. And
use xlock / xlockmore / xscreensaver instead. :-)
--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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