[kde-linux] Why is it so difficult to disable a screensaver?

[Robin Pedersen]

On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:02:09 +0100, Pablo Sanchez <pablo at blueoakdb.com>  
wrote:

> On Wednesday 04 February 2009 at 2:43 pm, Robin Pedersen penned
> about "Re: [kde-linux] Why is it so difficult to disable a screensaver?"
>
>> On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:39:16 +0100, Pablo Sanchez <pablo at blueoakdb.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I ended up disabling a whack of KDE stuff and wrote a little script
>> > ... if you `man xset', you'll figure out how not to turn off the
>> > screen - see -dpms flag (I think that's it).
>> >
>>
>> Thanks for the tip, but I didn't want to turn off the screen. What I  
>> want
>> is the opposite, to turn off all features that turn off the screen, so
>> that it stays on.
>
> Hi Robin,
>
> Yes, I realize you want to leave it on, that's why I mentioned:
>
>    if you `man xset', you'll figure out how not to turn off the screen
>     - see -dpms flag (I think that's it).
>
> Or alternatively, you could use the script I sent and set the `turn
> off' value to something like a-bizillion.
>
> Cheers,

OK, but you're missing my point. I'm trying to have a discussion about why  
it's so difficult. The fact that you wrote a script just proves my point.

The xorg.conf settings I had in my first post also normally work. But  
apparently, something can still cause the screen to blank out. It's  
probably either some application or service (possibly KDE) that changes  
these settings in X, or something else that provides powersaving features  
in my system.

I'm in the final term of a five year computer science programme, and I'm  
specializing in operating systems. In addition, I've been trying for years  
now to figure out how to turn off all screen powersaving features on my  
boxes, but they keep coming back. What if my mother wanted to do this? It  
must be something wrong with the design, right?

-- 
Robin Pedersen