[CLUE-Tech] Re:"getting insanely frustrated"

[David Anselmi]

Mike Staver wrote:
> 
> 2) Made sure apmd was not running, and would not be running the next
> time I rebooted.

The reason I mentioned modules.conf is that this is where you turn off
the apm module.  If it is running and causing your problem, lsmod should
show it (apm is the name, I think, and there may be something newer
too--is it acpi?)  Even if it doesn't, you can turn it off like this:

alias apm off

I will say, even though man pages are intimidating at first everyone
should get used to reading them.  Some are better than others (don't get
me started on the one for xdm) but they frequently have the answer if
you're a little persistent. Some, like bash, are very clear and
specific--but that one is long so no one reads it, even though you can
search through it with your pager (use a /, like in vi).  See below.

> 
> 3) Run the following commands:
> setterm -powersave off
> setterm -blank 0

Does this need to be run as root?  If so it has to go in a boot script
(like rc.local).  If not it should go in your .profile (or
.bash_profile).  That is run when you log in (and .bashrc is not, unless
.profile says to).  This should not go in .bashrc, which is run for
interactive, non-login shells, as you've seen in your xterms.  Look at
bash(1) and search (or scroll) down to INVOCATION.  That's where all the
stuff Jed forgot about ksh is ;-)

Finally, you didn't say whether you tried any kernel parameters.  If you
look at the boot prompt howto, under misc. you'll see there's one for
acpi=off.  Take a look at some of the others, I just showed Mike B init=
today.  To use this, when you get the boot: prompt, do this:

boot: linux acpi=off

The boot prompt is lilo's chance for you to tell it what to do.  The
linux part is the name of the kernel you want, from your lilo.conf
(that's section 5 of the manual, hint hint).  Then come the boot
parameters.

So, between acpi and apm, I think you'll fix the problem.  If not, there
isn't much else to do in Linux.  Take a look at your monitor and
motherboard manuals.  You can bring them to the installfest next month,
too :-)

Now that I think about it, my systems do this too (even a "from scratch"
one IIRC).  But I've never worried about it.  If you find that you fix
this but break auto power off on shutdown, ask back and we can fix that.

HTH,
Dave