Usually, if you use the X window system, you can just do
xset dpms force off
and that will turn off the monitor. Alternatively, you can install xscreensaver and do that from the control panel too, started by
xscreensaver-demo
This method actually allows the screen to go blank after an idle period.
As I said, neither of these methods worked for me. The command runs without trouble, but there's no output, nothing. For the graphical way of setting a timer and turning it off, it just doesn't work. Instead, I found that I could use something called vbetool. It's a video bios tool, which means it sort of goes under the OS and directly turns off the screen.
I've made it into a keyboard shortcut, but from the command line/virtual terminal (while running X), do
vbetool dpms off
and it will turn off. It won't turn on again even if you move the mouse or press a button though, so instead my shortcut is mapped to
vbetool dpms off && read && vbetool dpms on
so when you press enter after it goes off, it turns back on. Otherwise, you could switch to a virtual console (Ctrl + Alt + F[1-6] in X) and switch back (Alt + F7) to activate it.
There are obviously problems with this, but it does work to turn off the monitor when I sleep and use the laptop as an alarm. The problems include:
- not synced with xscreensaver lock screen - turning the monitor off doesn't lock the screen, and if the screensaver comes up you have to type the password blind.
- doesn't turn on if a new window pops up - the "read" command to detect the enter requires the terminal to have focus. If a new window pops up (say, someone's IM), it loses focus and so I can't turn it off. I have to do it the old way, or Alt+Tab blindly around till I get the terminal back
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