applet or launcher to turn off/on screensaver

[juanoleso]

Hi All,

I am looking for an applet or a launcher or a script to turn the gnome screensaver off and on with a click. The feature I would like, though, would be that the icon changes depending on whether the screensaver is on or off. I was going to try and build it, but I couldn't figure out how to change the icon picture for a toolbar launcher with a *sh script and I don't really have enough experience programming in gnome with any language...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

[Barriehie]

You can control the screensaver with gnome-screensaver-command --option, where option can be one of:


--exit Causes the screensaver to exit gracefully

-q, --query
Query the state of the screensaver

-t, --time
Query the length of time the screensaver has been active

-l, --lock
Tells the running screensaver process to lock the screen immedi-
ately

-c, --cycle
If the screensaver is active then switch to another graphics
demo

-a, --activate
Turn the screensaver on (blank the screen)

-d, --deactivate
If the screensaver is active then deactivate it (un-blank the
screen)

-p, --poke
Poke the running screensaver to simulate user activity

-i, --inhibit
Inhibit the screensaver from activating. Command blocks while
inhibit is active.

-n, --application-name
The calling application that is inhibiting the screensaver

-r, --reason
The reason for inhibiting the screensaver

-V, --version
Version of this application


Can't help you with changing the icon regarding the status though.

Barrie

[stinkeye]

Hi All,

I am looking for an applet or a launcher or a script to turn the gnome screensaver off and on with a click. The feature I would like, though, would be that the icon changes depending on whether the screensaver is on or off. I was going to try and build it, but I couldn't figure out how to change the icon picture for a toolbar launcher with a *sh script and I don't really have enough experience programming in gnome with any language...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions
This script script will toggle gnome-screensaver on/off and display a message to the notification bubble.
Changing the icon is beyond my knowledge.

#!/bin/sh

# click to start, click to stop

if pidof gnome-screensaver | grep [0-9] > /dev/null
then
exec killall gnome-screensaver &
notify-send "Screen Saver" "Disabled"
else
exec gnome-screensaver &
notify-send "Screen Saver" "Enabled"
fi
Save as whatever you like and make executable.
Link to the script in your panel custom application launcher.

[juanoleso]

Thanks both, I think that will work perfectly!

For someone who sees this:

I had to install libnotify1 and libnotify-bin on my debian Lenny box:



sudo aptitude install libnotify1 libnotify-bin

[hariks0]

I could not understand why you need the script to STOP the screensaver. I think moving your mouse will instantly stop the screensaver and if you use a password, you cannot disable screensaver without entering it in the first place. In my opinion a custom launcher with command
gnome-screensaver-command -a is enough.

[juanoleso]

sometimes we watch movies on hulu and firefox doesn't disable the screensaver. It isn't much work to go into prefs and change the screensaver, but I thought this little script would be fun to put together.

[ChadMMc]

Actually there is one already in the gnome panel applets (at least on my system)..

The screensaver inhibit applet .. works fine for me.

[jruberto]

There is also this thing: "Caffeine". Works!

http://www.liberiangeek.net/2010/07/temporary-prevent-screensaver-powersaving-mode-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx/

[henriquemaia]

There is also this thing: "Caffeine". Works!

http://www.liberiangeek.net/2010/07/temporary-prevent-screensaver-powersaving-mode-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx/

Thanks so much for this. I just looking for something that did this and you pointed me into the right direction.

[slate]

Does not work for me in Natty Narwhal. Instead:


#!/bin/sh

# click to start, click to stop

if gconftool-2 -g /apps/gnome-screensaver/idle_activation_enabled | grep true
then
gconftool-2 -s /apps/gnome-screensaver/idle_activation_enabled --type=bool false
notify-send --expire-time=50 "Screen Saver" "Disabled"
else
gconftool-2 -s /apps/gnome-screensaver/idle_activation_enabled --type=bool true
notify-send --expire-time=50 "Screen Saver" "Enabled"
fi

[Thermostaten]

Here is how it should be done - the right way *smile*

#!/bin/bash
# Toggle the gnome-screensaver on/off - Keld Norman, Aug 2012
ICON=/where/your/warning/icon/is/placed.png
SUSPENDED="`/usr/bin/pgrep -f 'xdg-screensaver suspend'|wc -l`"
if [ ${SUSPENDED:-0} -eq 0 ]; then
/usr/bin/xdg-screensaver suspend `/usr/bin/xwininfo -root -children|grep Gnome-screensaver|awk '{print $1}'`
/usr/bin/notify-send "Screen Saver" "Disabled"
/usr/bin/zenity --notification --window-icon=${ICON} --text="Your ScreenSaver is disabled" &
else
/usr/bin/xdg-screensaver resume `/usr/bin/xwininfo -root -children|grep Gnome-screensaver|awk '{print $1}'`
/usr/bin/pkill -f "Your ScreenSaver is disable[d]" # Kill the zenity taskbar info icon
/usr/bin/notify-send "Screen Saver" "Enabled" # Show a notice that the screensaver now is active
fi