# DPMS without X



## shuxuef (Mar 5, 2015)

I am looking for a way to turn the monitor of my laptop off without using X.

My system is a:

```
FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE-p6 #0: Tue Feb 24 18:57:59 UTC 2015
root@amd64-builder.daemonology.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386
```
Installed on an HP Compaq Presario V3700 laptop.

With X on, the monitor can be turned off, presumably by DPMS, automatically after a certain period of time when there are no keyboard events or mouse events. I can even do:
`sleep 1; xset dpms force off`
to turn off the monitor manually, without even becoming a super user.

Without X, I have no luck in doing so, even being root. I have tried setting _hw.acpi.video.lcd0.active _to 0, but the system wouldn't let me do that, insisting that it should be 1. I have also tried using `acpiconf`, but it is not possible to just turn the monitor off while keeping the system running. I have also tried sysutils/vbetool, but it doesn't seem to work on my system, even if I did `sysctl security.bsd.map_at_zero=1`.

Is there an easy way to use DPMS with console (so without X) to control my monitor, preferably without using the superuser privilege?  Thank you!

PS: I should also mention that I am still using the syscons(4) driver.


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## tingo (Mar 21, 2015)

Have you tried the blank screensaver? It doesn't actually turn the screen off, just blanks it. For some situations, that might be good enough. YMMV, and all that jazz.
See rc.conf(5) for how to set it up.


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## ondra_knezour (Mar 21, 2015)

shuxuef said:


> I have tried setting _hw.acpi.video.lcd0.active _to 0, but the system wouldn't let me do that, insisting that it should be 1


From acpi_video(4):
	
	



```
BUGS
Some systems only perform output switching via SMM even though they
export the proper information via ACPI. On such systems, the proper
hotkeys or OEM driver (for example, acpi_toshiba(4)) must be used
instead.
```


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## shuxuef (Mar 22, 2015)

tingo said:


> Have you tried the blank screensaver? It doesn't actually turn the screen off, just blanks it. For some situations, that might be good enough. YMMV, and all that jazz.
> See rc.conf(5) for how to set it up.


Yes, I have. But I think I need more than just blanking. I want to turn the screen off.


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## shuxuef (Mar 22, 2015)

ondra_knezour said:


> From acpi_video(4):
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't think there is a hotkey I can use on my laptop to turn the screen off. And after loading all the possible OEM modules, I still couldn't change the varible to 0 (so the screen stayed on).  I have been using acpi_video(4) to adjust brightness of my screen though; it has always been working; I just couldn't turn it off.


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