How do you automatically turn monitor to low energy mode?

[student]

Hi there:

My monitor just burned out and now I bought a new one. I the past I
kept my monitor on all the time without any energy saving mode. Now I
want to protect my hardware. I am still using my old machine with
FreeBSD3.4.

(1) How do I make the monitor automatically go into low energy mode?

(2) Is it better to leave the monitor on all the time or to turn it
off when I am not using it?

Thanks a lot for any enlightenment!

vector sigma
galact...@yahoo.com

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith]

Put some lines like

saver="green"
blanktime="300"

in /etc/rc.conf

Well this works with FreeBSD 4.1, but I think also with 3.4.

--
Stephen Montgomery-Smith
ste...@math.missouri.edu
http://www.math.missouri.edu/~stephen

[Mikhail Kruk]

and if you are using X:

xset dpms 200 250 300

man dmps for details, but it's something like
standby after 200 seconds
suspend after 250 seconds
turn off aftrer 300 seconds

[Martin Kraft]

student <galact...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> (2) Is it better to leave the monitor on all the time or to turn it
> off when I am not using it?

With saver="green" your CRT will get cold after the configured time
delay, so there is no further need to protect it by switching the monitor off.

Anyway it is a question of energy consumption and protection of environment,
as with every device in "stand by" mode. Switching the monitor off physically
always saves energy and makes you a "green" person, too.

I switch my office monitor off every night or weekend.

Martin

[Norbert Papke]

[Posted and mailed]

In article <39FC6E35...@yahoo.com>,

student <galact...@yahoo.com> writes:
> (1) How do I make the monitor automatically go into low energy mode?

Provided your monitor supports DPMS and you are using X, take
a look at 'man xset'. 'xset +dpms' enables the power saver.
You can also modify default timeouts, etc. Alternatively, you can
set DPMS in your XF86Config file.

--
-- Norbert Papke.
npa...@acm.org

[vector sigma]

Thank you all who replied. I run xdm and I put these lines in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0 and it works great:

xset +dpms
xset dpms 3600 7200 10800

Now the thing is, I am less interested in protecting the environment or
saving energy than in protecting my new monitor.

Is there any research or studies that show that the life time of a
monitor is shortened if left on always than if switched to standby or
suspend or off at scheduled time?

Thank you again for any enlightenments.

vector sigma
galact...@yahoo.com

[Timothy J. Lee]

In article <39FCD9C2...@yahoo.com>,

vector sigma <galact...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Now the thing is, I am less interested in protecting the environment or
>saving energy than in protecting my new monitor.
>
> Is there any research or studies that show that the life time of a
>monitor is shortened if left on always than if switched to standby or
>suspend or off at scheduled time?

Once, a company I worked at bought a bunch of new monitors (all the same
brand and model). Three years later, those which were switched off every
night were still sharp, while those that were left on all the time were
fuzzy.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

[Sriranga Veeraraghavan]

vector sigma <galact...@yahoo.com> writes:

> Now the thing is, I am less interested in protecting the environment
> or saving energy than in protecting my new monitor.

As is the case in many things, protecting your investment often saves
more than money.

> Is there any research or studies that show that the life time of a
> monitor is shortened if left on always than if switched to standby
> or suspend or off at scheduled time?

My personal experience with several monitors seems to point to
extended monitor life if you switch it off when its not being used.

I've had about a dozen monitors since 1993 and the ones that have been
switched off at nights are still working (~ 8) while the others have
died or become quite blurry.

I know its not statistically significant, but still...

----ranga

[John Maynard Keynes]

When was this? Technology may have improved substantially since that
time.

John

--
And we're at the end of another great work by John M. Keynes.
johnk...@Xemail.com
Remove both X's to reply via e-mail.

"Timothy J. Lee" <remo...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:8tisb0$l...@bolt.sonic.net...

[Timothy J. Lee]

In article <8tjeu7$humc$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>,

John Maynard Keynes <johnk...@Xemail.com> wrote:
>"Timothy J. Lee" <remo...@sonic.net> wrote in message
>news:8tisb0$l...@bolt.sonic.net...

>> Once, a company I worked at bought a bunch of new monitors (all the same
>> brand and model). Three years later, those which were switched off every
>> night were still sharp, while those that were left on all the time were
>> fuzzy.
>

> When was this? Technology may have improved substantially since that
>time.

Monitors were bought in 1994.