How do the two screensavers work together?

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How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by JASpup »

Puppy diehards know many Puppies have two active screen savers. In the scenario below, a screen saver didn't activate (pupX disabled, SSC on). If I turn on pupX's, it does. I'm sure I've successfully used SSC in other scenarios.

Anyone know specifically how the two screen savers work and should be used together?

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Re: How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by rockedge »

lately for experimenting with different package managers working in Puppy I've been installing xscreensaver.

Which works really well if started with a little script firing it up with

Code: Select all

run-as-spot xsreensaver-demo

I even installed some extra modules for it. I can switch back and forth between the 2 but I have not tried out the 3rd (pupX) in that mix.

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Re: How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by bigpup »

Both of these are doing the same thing.
They are two different GUI to set the X screen saver.
The last one used is what made the settings that will be used.

The SSC GUI gives you a little better control.

What you do with one should make the same settings show in the other for screen saver only.
Key word should.
If properly setup and installed in the Puppy version they will.
The version of the two programs does affect this.
There have been some bug fixes.

In Fossapup64 9.5
What I do with The SSC GUI shows up in the PupX set properties of X.
What I do with PupX set properties of X shows up in SSC GuI.

The SSC GUI is suppose to make settings that will still be in affect on reboot. (if you save on shutdown)
It puts a exec script in startup that should activate the settings when computer boots.
PupX set properties of X settings are lost on computer shutdown and have to be redone on boot up.
Note:
If you make settings using the SSC GUI.
This SSC startup script is in startup and it's settings will be shown in the PupX set properties of X on reboot.

SSC GUI also is suppose to make DPMS settings that will work with a monitor that has DPMS (Display Power Management Signaling) active.
However, xset can't override the settings set with my monitor's on-screen display.
This depends on the hardware (monitor and graphics card)

Really, this is all a very basic low tech screen saver. So do not expect it to do much.

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Re: How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by JASpup »

bigpup wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:20 pm

Really, this is all a very basic low tech screen saver. So do not expect it to do much.

What about the simple idea of how they trigger and under what scenarios?

For example:

  • Do each work in solitude? Does distro matter?

  • If both are activated, should the one with the shortest time take precedence?

  • If both are activated, can the second interfere with the functioning of the first?

  • If both are off and you need one, under what latent conditions (features that are not obvious), do you choose one over the other?

I found a third cohabitating with pupX called Screener. It works alone without pupX activated and allows times below 5 min (e.g., SSC). I expect to use this more.

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Re: How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by bigpup »

Carefully read what I posted.

All of your questions are answered.

They are what they are.

Sure there are other screen savers that can be installed.

The things you do not tell us, are usually the clue to fixing the problem.
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Re: How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by JASpup »

New Experience

Notice a 1-minute delay interval in ssc:

pupX-ssc-2021-05.png
pupX-ssc-2021-05.png (125.68 KiB) Viewed 788 times

This is not possible using the ssc gui interface. It was achieved by setting the delay to 60 seconds in pupX.

Now to assume they are somehow synchronized?

Reading the same data file?

ssc alone will probably activate if I set the delay to 5 min, but in one this is not triggered.

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Re: How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by bigpup »

This is going to depend on the specific version of Puppy and the version of these two programs.
I am talking about operation in Fossapup64 9.5

SSC GUI delay button sets it, but it has minimum option of 5 minutes.
.

Screenshot(1).jpg
Screenshot(1).jpg (34.14 KiB) Viewed 782 times

.
Again I refer to my previous post about how they work.
Two different GUI programs, that give you slightly different ways to control the same thing.
SSC GUI is a little better way to do it, because it makes it a saved setting, that for sure will be used when you reboot.

They are both changing the same thing in xset, but SSC GUI gives a little more control.
xset is the x server settings running in ram.

Type in a terminal:

Code: Select all

xset q

This is what the settings are.

SSC GUI makes a saved settings file to use on reboot.
It is the ss-on or ss-off file in /root/startup/.

xset screensaver GUI does have added option to blank the screen or display patterns.
But settings are lost on shutdown, maybe.
I noticed in Fossapup64 9.5 that these settings are now saved between boots.
It seems to change the /root/.xset.sh file.
However, the ss-on or ss-off file in /root/startup/ seems to control the setting on bootup.

This may or may not apply to other Puppy versions, but they should be similar.
As I remember, older Puppy versions did not save settings that xset screensaver GUI made.
Not sure when things changed.
Always updating stuff in Woof-CE and changing core operations.

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Re: How do the two screensavers work together?

Post by JASpup »

bigpup wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 3:40 am

This is going to depend on the specific version of Puppy and the version of these two programs.

You are consistent on that line and usually right about it.

If the background isn't a dead giveaway, that is the Battleshooter XFCE Xenial 64 puplet, the most current XFCE puplet that I am aware of (i.e., I'd probably look at a newer 64 alt-desktop puplet if one existed besides LXDE or Slackware).

I'm 32-bit right now or I'd report versions.

Your SS-Control graphic details look familiar hence the version could be same.

'Course that's the one big difference between ssc and pupX, increment control.

pupX has always seemed to me like a work-in-progress or a project that's been deliberately truncated, but it works and has the increment advantage.

The problem is conjunction with other screen savers.

X-Tahr has screener which is better than both, but it's not popular enough for common knowledge.

The screener core is just a script though it requires other files. I'm going to attempt to hack it into JWM, though I've only seen it 32-bit.

Image

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175690875/

This is the contents of ss-on:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
	xset s 600 dpms 0 0 600

Does it support manual times of different increments?

I tried to do that with menu row height in JWM (only supporting increments of 8), and it blew up -- no menus with row height set to 20.

Then the other technicality: how would this setting interact with pupX?

Logically one screensaver would need to dominate or functionally reflect what both gui make for settings, e.g., if pupX is set to 60 seconds and ssc 5 minutes, the screen should blank in 60 seconds. OR, if one saver is off and the other on, EITHER on saver should work as set.

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