ScreenSaver and KDE Plasma 4.8?

[Martin Gräßlin]

On Saturday 01 October 2011 04:46:29 Markus Slopianka wrote:
> Is anybody aware of empiric studies for what (if at all) people use screensavers these 
> days?
> Personally I'd expect clock, news headlines, and photo slideshows to be the top answers.
> QML replacements should be available for the top uses once the xscreensaver code is 
> dropped. (IMHO at least.)
I don't have empirical studies but given the bug reports we get OpenGL screensavers seem to be quite common these 
days as well and I think that's the group which would be difficult. Those who really need the Matrix screensaver. On 
the other hand most screensavers are low quality and hardly updated.

What could help is to get some data from the distros how many users have screensavers actually installed.

Cheers
Martin
> 
> On Donnerstag 29 September 2011 22:14:59 Martin Gräßlin wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > the work on the new screen locker implementation is nearly done (I can
> > unlock again :-) and that brings me to an issue where I wanted to have
> > more opinions: screensaver.
> > 
> > What's important to see: screen locker and screen saver are two different
> > things mixed together for historic reasons. The screen locker implements
> > the security aspect of preventing someone else to use the screen. The
> > screen saver shows an animation so that the hardware is not damaged. For
> > some reasons those two things come together and also the old
> > implementation is together.
> > 
> > The new implementation is about screen locking and not saving. My idea is
> > to improve the screen locking experience which kind of looks like 1995.
> > Let's reuse the background of the splash screen and show a nice QML-ified
> > dialog for unlocking. Instead of showing the unlock dialog only when
> > someone moves the mouse, it would always be present. If the screen has
> > been locked for long time DPMS kicks in and disables the screen (yeah for
> > energy saving).
> > 
> > This means there is no more place for screen savers. It would just not be
> > visible. This also means we don't have the Plasma Screensaver any more
> > (this might be fixable by using a Plasma containment as the screen locker
> > in the first place).
> > 
> > But when compositing is turned off, you currently get the plain old
> > implementation including screen savers. And I don't want to change that
> > code.
> > 
> > So there are some solutions:
> > * drop screensaver support altogether, probably would create some troubles
> > as evil KDE removed screensavers * add Plasma widget support to new screen
> > locker implementation but drop screensaver support (same problems as first
> > option)
> > * add a fallback to legacy mode if a screen saver is configured. Means same
> > security problems are present again which were the reason for moving the
> > screen locker to KWin in the first place
> > 
> > Personally I would prefer option 1 with a later implementation of option 2
> > (if time allows even for 4.8). Option 2 needs support from Plasma hackers
> > who are all currently fixing up a tablet ;-)
> > 
> > A possible solution for the user issue could be to clearly advertise that
> > security reasons are responsible for removing screensaver support. Also an
> > improved login process I have in my mind: with only one user configured do
> > not stop at KDM but log in directly with screen locked. The unlock dialog
> > would then be shown after the complete session has been loaded, so instant
> > usage after typing in the password.
> > 
> > So looking forward to your comments on the subject.
> > 
> > Cheers
> > Martin
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