advanced aggravation

By basd on Aug 8, 2010 | In -arghhh!!

Computers, and especially linux, keep getting better and better.

That does not eliminate aggravation. There is always something that could be improved. New issues that didn't previously exist -- because we had yet to think of them -- emerge.

...

OpSu 11.3 / KDE 4.4 on my acer aspire one solved a number of ... aggravations. But, there is always something. The old something was I for a long period of time I could not get suspend and hibernate to work correctly. After some updates it would work, after others it would not. Random. I set my computer to "do nothing" when closing the cover because I wanted it to be working when I re-opened it. Of course, this wasted battery.

I set up KDE 4.4 with some CPU / temp widgets on the screen saver. Unfortunately, getting the unlock dialog when I wanted to again use the computer became somewhat iffy. In LXDE, I have yet to fully understand where to set the suspend / hibernate settings. [Maybe it is in xscreensaver? Forgot to look there, but I now remember that it has power saver controls ...]

I shut off the KDE 4.4 screensaver widgets. I don't really care if my screen locks on sleeping or not. That did not solve the problem. I turned off the screen saver and set the screen to "shutoff" in 10 minutes. Who needs a screensaver and those other screen suspend settings anyway? Maybe those were more useful on CRT screens, I don't know. (I do use screensaver, but only on the computers where I run an active screensaver as a clock).

So ... that solved the initial problem of recovery from screensave -- screen goes off, instantly comes back on when I decide to use the computer. Also, the widget for power saver settings that is part of the battery widget in KDE 4.4 is now working, at least on this computer, including the screen brightness adjustment.

But ... when it goes into sleep mode, I still get the screen lock and the screensaver upon reawaking. I wonder why? I wonder where I control this?

At least it seems that the screen unlock is reliably showing up -- though it is not immediate. I have to stare at the screensaver for awhile before the computer is awake enough to offer the unlock dialog.

Not my preference, but apparently predictable and reliable (I hope). And, it appears the wireless reconnects without user intervention, so that is good.

Progress is made. Aggravations remain. All of it outside my control, but thank you to the programmers who keep moving forward on all this stuff.