Disable screen saver

[Riyaxi]

I’ve only just installed ZorinOS for the first time - lite on an old netbook - and I love it. So responsive where other distros have struggled.

My only issue so far is stopping the screen timeout so the screen stays on at all times. I have tried disabling all timeouts I can find for the screensaver and power saving but it still happens.

I found a thread on the old forum that suggested running

sudo xset s 0 0

to disable timeout on xscreensaver and that works, but it reverts back after a restart.

I tried putting the command in Session and Startup, and also putting it in /etc/rc.local and setting chmod for execute but neither of those have worked either.
Any ideas welcome, thanks!

[carmar]

Welcome, Riyaxi.
Could you please confirm that on Settings->Power, you have tried both the Blank screen set to ‘Never’ as well as the ‘Dim screen when inactive’ toggle? Just to be sure we’re on the same page.

PS - you wrote you’re using Lite, correct? The settings may be different for you (I’m using Core) but please go ahead and confirm the exact steps, similar to how I wrote.

[Riyaxi]

Hi, really sorry, I thought I set this up for notifications and missed your reply.

Under Settings > Power Manager I have tried both having “Display power management” enabled with all settings set to never, and also disabling “Display power management” completely.

For brightness reduction I have “On inactivity reduce to” set to 100% and “reduce after” set to Never.

Thanks

[Deeanna]

I just installed ZorinOS 15.2 Lite and I have the same problem. I truly hope there is a simple solution for us.

[zabadabadoo]

@Riyaxi

My only issue so far is stopping the screen timeout so the screen stays on at all times. I have tried disabling all timeouts I can find for the screensaver and power saving but it still happens.

As a workround to keep your screen live all the time you could try installing Caffeine. See this thread and my reply there:

Zorin OS 15 Lite blank screen - power/screensaver settings?

I started trying Zorin OS 15 Lite from a ‘Live CD’ (actually from a ‘Live USB’) but when I walk away for a few minutes, I come back to it being stuck in a blank screen. I tried tinkering around with the power settings to no avail. Anybody know how to leave Zorin OS 15 Lite on indefinititely without it sleeping/hibernating or the monitor stop displaying? (I can worry about Super+L to lockscreen manually later when and if I’m not working with a ‘Live CD’). As a secondary question, if one ends up …

[Aravisian]

Also, under Power Manager, ensure that Sytem tab>Security “Lock screen when system is going to sleep” is UNChecked.

You might try disabling the Screen Locker
Settings > Privacy > Screen Lock

You can check the xscreensaver settings
in terminal, paste in

xfce4-screensaver-preferences

Screen-lock tab - Adjust as needed.

[Riyaxi]

I’ll take a look, thanks. Seems odd to need an extra app though as I can get it to work as long as I don’t restart.

EDIT: Have installed Caffeine, will see how it goes!

[Riyaxi]

Hi, can confirm that “Lock screen when system is going to sleep” is unchecked.

When I run

xfce4-screensaver-preferences

the preferences open and it shows screensaver and lock screen both disabled.

[Aravisian]

Please see here, as well:

Zorin Lite will not wake from sleep/suspend

First, a quick link as both of these threads are directly related: It is a fine line to balance; between those that do not want to hear anything other than a solution - and those who prefer to hear an honest answer. I am going to shoot for an honest answer: This is a long standing and known XFCE bug. There are a great many ‘fixes’. Some work for some users but not for others. I have been stricken by this bug, too, in past days and often, an update causes the bug to just go away… Sometim…

[Riyaxi]

Thanks for the information Aravisian, it’s much appreciated.

I can confirm that, for me, Caffeine works as expected and stops the screensaver coming on/screen turning off. I haven’t found a way to activate Caffeine by default yet, so for me my options at the moment - after reboot - are:

Activate caffeine
or
Run sudo xset s 0 0 in terminal

I think I am going to keep trying to dig into why I can’t get rc.local to work as it would be great if I could run that command on startup.

[Aravisian]

Do you have this file on your PC?
/etc/xdg/autostart/caffeine.desktop

[Riyaxi]

I do, yes. I only just realized that caffeine and caffeine indicator are different apps - I was activating with indicator but maybe I just need to have caffeine start on boot.

[Deeanna]

@Aravisian @swarfendor437
Update… I gave up on Zorin 15.2 32 Bit… too many things driving me crazy. I decided I would fresh install Zorin 15.3 32 Bit over it. I accidentally installed Zorin Ultimate 15.3 64 Bit over it… lol … it works… lol

I don’t understand how that can work but it is… so I will leave it for now.

I had previously installed one of my favorite browsers on the the 15.2 32 Bit version… Vivaldi 32 BIT it said it was for Linux-DEB 32 Bit… so I thought it would work… but I was wrong. Now I have installed the 64 Bit version of Linux-Deb and it doesn’t work either. I think I need a magic wand!

Question… how do you uninstall a program???

As much as I hate to, I will delete Vivaldi. I happen to love it. I use it strictly for watching online videos, movies & tv shows. It eliminates the need to use Chrome or Edge.

Thanks!
Deeanna

PS… Will try sending you both a private message now… if you don’t get it… send me one!

[carmar]

@Deeanna

Question… how do you uninstall a program???

First, try using Synaptic: Installing packages using Synaptic Package Manager GUI

Using the terminal, you can uninstall using: sudo apt remove <package name>
If the package is a snap: sudo snap remove <package name>

[Deeanna]

Truly INCREDIBLE!

Your Reply empowered me to use the TERMINAL for the first time and it worked perfectly!

I saved your reply and the linked instructions on my computer… used them… and printed them.

Thanks to YOU… I’m not afraid of the Terminal anymore.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Deeanna

[Riyaxi]

Seems like I am having trouble with caffeine too, but that might just be user error!

sudo xset s 0 0 still definitely works so I think I will stick to just running that on logon.