[Tfug] APM mechanisms

[John Karns]

On Jan 6, 2008 1:46 PM, Bexley Hall <bexley401 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi, John,
>
> Ah, OK.  Yes, my xset supports the same syntax.
> But, that brings me back to the original question
> re: how APM is implemented.  E.g., how to shut
> off the backlight yet still let the box handle
> DNS queries, etc.

Just to reiterate, for some reason, the dpms interface mechanism in
xset is ineffective with the nVidia card in the (now ancient) laptop.


> Note that this would also have to talk directly to
> the X server on that machine -- but I don't *run*
> X there (i.e. I will have to dig through the servers
> code to see how *it* talks to the APM when it receives
> this message from xset)

I would guess that the 1st two tetters of the vbetools package name
couls well be a reference to "video bios", which would lead me to
speculate that it would be independant of X.  The fact that the
backlight in the machines LCD shuts off in response to issuing the
command from a text console screen, outside of X would seem to support
the conjecture.

A quick search for vbetools didn't bring up a URL for download for me,
and I don't have it stored on the machine I'm using at the moment to
look for hints to substantiate my speculation.  I do still have the
package archived, so that if you are unsuccessful in your search, just
let me know, and I can send an attachment off-list.

-- 
John