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Question for the Arch/Gnome users (Gnomers?) out there.
EKRboi Oct 29, 2015
I've long been an XFCE user but last weekend I decided to give Gnome a shot(again). I have tried it in the past but it annoyed me and I didn't know about extensions so I quickly gave up.

I've known about the extensions for some time now and is the reason I finally gave it another shot. I actually really like gnome now after some extensions and tweaking. I have now switched both my desktop and laptop from XFCE to Gnome3(3.18)

I have one problem on both systems.... Power management. Both systems will suspend according to my settings, but I can't figure out why it won't blank and/or dim the monitors/panel on my desktop or laptop. I've set the options to blank the screens after 5 minutes (and dim after 1min on my laptop) but it doesn't work on either system. Like they always did on my laptop the fn keys to control back lighting on the laptop work as expected so it does work just not "automagically". It worked with XFCE on both.. what am I missing? I'm sure it's something stupid! HALP! :D

Edit* on my desktop I don't use a display manager at all. It boots to the CLI login and I go from there since I use it for a plethora of things. On my laptop however it does boot to LightDM.
wolfyrion Oct 30, 2015
I had the same problem on KDE after some upgrades.
I just changed the timer values with new ones, saved them and it worked after...
EKRboi Oct 30, 2015
Quoting: wolfyrionI had the same problem on KDE after some upgrades.
I just changed the timer values with new ones, saved them and it worked after...

I've changed them a few different times. It's like a service or manager isn't running. The gnome-power-manager package isn't a default package when installing the "gnome" group with pacman, but it seems to just be information and statistics, not like xfce4-power-manager which handled the panel brightness and blanking.
StianTheDark Oct 31, 2015
I've had a lot of problems with GNOME, both design wise and functionality wise. I would not recommend moving to it, even if you like it with a lot of extensions. I've seen a lot of bug reports about instability when using extensions.
EKRboi Oct 31, 2015
So far it has been fine other than the monitor/panel power management. I'm only running two extensions that aren't part of the default gnome install(alt+tab coverflow and hide top bar). Design aside since that's entirely subjective, what functionality problems did you have?
supermonkey77 Oct 31, 2015
I have to admit that I use Gnome purely for the drop down terminal extension. It just suits my work flow perfectly. Personally I have had no problems with monitor management at all. Never changed a setting and it automatically dims and locks after 5 minutes.
EKRboi Nov 1, 2015
Oh yea.. forgot about the drop terminal extension. So I have 3 extensions not in the default gnome install. I've long used guake for that in XFCE but I've been using that extension instead since I started using gnome.

I've not had any time to really try to debug the monitor problem. I should be able to spend some time on it tomorrow.
ziabice Nov 1, 2015
Do you have GDM installed? I'm using Manjaro (an Arch-linux derivative) and I had to install GDM and remove LightDM (installed by default) to let things work as expected (read: working lock screen, screensaver, blank screen etc.).

Commands are easy, you have to work in a text console (CTRL-ALT+F1):
(this command if you have plymouth running)

$ sudo systemctl disable lightdm-plymouth 

OR 

$ sudo systemctl disable lightdm

$ sudo pacman -S gdm

$ sudo systemctl enable gdm-plymount (if you have plymouth running) 

OR 

$ sudo systemctl enable gdm


(now we stop the DM and start the new one)

$ sudo systemctl stop lightdm (OR lightdm-plymouth)

$ sudo systemctl start gdm (OR gdm-lightdm)

Hope it helps ;)
EKRboi Nov 1, 2015
I don't use a display manager at all on my main PC. It just boots to the normal CLI login and I startx, xinit or whatever depending on what I'm doing. On my laptop I use lightdm.

I hope I don't have to use GDM to get that functionality... that would be a huge drawback to gnome IMO.

EDIT* It seems that you're correct. Since Gnome 3.5.5 locking/blanking functionality has become a part of GDM. I suppose I will try switching my laptop over to GDM. I just hate how it's a PITA to configure/customize now.

My main PC however doesn't use a DM(and that's not going to change) so what I've done is added "(sleep 10s && xset dpms 120) &" to my .xinitrc right before it starts the session so that it gets ran after X is actually started which makes X blank the screen after 2 minutes. I tried using a .conf file in xorg.conf.d with settings according to the xorg.conf manpage and xorg.0.log would show them as loaded but they never worked.. OH well... luckily it's Linux so as usual there's more than one way to get things done. :P
ziabice Nov 2, 2015
Quoting: EKRboiEDIT* It seems that you're correct. Since Gnome 3.5.5 locking/blanking functionality has become a part of GDM. I suppose I will try switching my laptop over to GDM. I just hate how it's a PITA to configure/customize now.

You can't imagine how this (negatively) surprised me when I discovered it... ;)

Quoting: EKRboiMy main PC however doesn't use a DM(and that's not going to change) so what I've done is added "(sleep 10s && xset dpms 120) &" to my .xinitrc right before it starts the session so that it gets ran after X is actually started which makes X blank the screen after 2 minutes. I tried using a .conf file in xorg.conf.d with settings according to the xorg.conf manpage and xorg.0.log would show them as loaded but they never worked.. OH well... luckily it's Linux so as usual there's more than one way to get things done. :P

Using the good old xscreensaver should do the trick without too much hassle, there should be also some GUI to configure it.
slaapliedje Nov 3, 2015
Interesting, I thought I was the only one with this issue, although I'm using GDM with my Debian install, and it still doesn't auto-sleep the screen, but I must admit, I probably have a pretty weird setup though, I have two 1920x1080 and one 2560x1080, my older ultra wide screen seemed to sleep, with all three, but would randomly wake, now they don't turn off unless I manually tell them to lock. But then again Windows 10 doesn't work either... so no clue what's going on there.
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