Re: sreensaver for the console
Actually there is a built in and pretty standard utility called setterm
that accomplishes just what you want (ok it's not really that fancy but it
does "save the screen"). It will blank the screen out after a specified
time period. The default is 15 minutes the minimum is 1 and the max is
about 60 minutes or 1 hour. Since the resolution is in minutes 1 is the
smallest although you could change it in the source.
setterm -blank <n> where n is in minutes
also setterm is responsible for basic foreground and background console
colors and the like.
However one little bit of advice. From what I know modern monitors do not
require the use of screensavers. They can in fact maintain a unmoving
image or set of characters indefinately without damage to the phosphors.
The only time you really see problem with screens getting screwed are
usually older monitors (hercules monicrome, old dumb terminals using
orange or some shade of green, or old vga ones) svga monitors are probably
imune. That's why it's pretty safe to say leave your computer (in windows
or any other graphical OS) in an unchanging state for days/months/years
(assuming that it really stays up that long).
Mainly screensavers are used to provide security in case you leave and
someone wants to "borrow" your console.
In that case shell scripts work very, very well. something like the
following works well:
This is something I banged up in a hurry so it isn't perfect (It's like my
one useful unix utility).
#!/bin/sh
trap '' 1 2 3 20
stty -echo
clear
echo -n "Enter Password: "
read password1
clear
echo "Terminal now locked enter password to unlock"
password2=
until [ "$password2" = "$password1" ]
do
echo "I'm still waiting for that password"
read password2
done
stty echo
This will only lock the current vt or telnet session from casual attack.
The absolute best program that I have seen for console
locking/authentication besides some of the graphical stuff is a program
that is included in the debian distribution called vlock.
This is also included in versions of Red Hat as well. It can at your
option lock just the vt you are on or the entire console so that no one
can change consoles and do whatever. You (or root) must provide a password
to unlock the display.
Hope this helps.
On Wed, 12 Apr 2000, Joost Claessen wrote:
> Helo ppl,
>
> Does anyone know a package that provides a "screensaver" for
> the console? I looked around in dselect but only found packages
> like cmatrix (very cool) that you have to start manually.
>
> Thanx in advance.
>
> Mzzl Joost (de zoveelste)
>
>
>
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