My MagicMirror screen keeps turning off

[EhsanMomeni81]

@evroom
Sorry, but Debian buster and Debian stretch?

I have a cronjob to turn off the screen at 11 pm until 6 am, which works, but other than that I want the screen to be on. Is it possible to change 900 to 61 200 (17 h) instead?

[evroom]

@EhsanMomeni81 said in My MagicMirror screen keeps turning off:

Sorry, but Debian buster and Debian stretch?

I guess you downloaded and installed an image with Debian, like from
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
Debian Buster is the latest Debian version.

With lsb_release -ayou can find out which version you have.

If your cronjob works for turning on / off the screen, then I guess you do not need to use the @xset parameters to turn off the screen.

This is what I currently have:

For Debain Stretch (screen always on):

$ cat /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
@lxpanel --profile LXDE-pi
@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE-pi
@xscreensaver -no-splash
@point-rpi
@unclutter -display :0 -idle 3 -root -noevents
@xset s noblank
@xset s off
@xset -dpms

For Debian Buster (screen off after 900 seconds):

$ cat /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
@lxpanel --profile LXDE-pi
@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE-pi
@xscreensaver -no-splash
point-rpi
@xset s 900
@xset s blank
@xset -dpms

Not sure what the other entries do, I just appended the @xset lines to the existing entries.
Will try what happens when I remove them a bit later.

[evroom]

@evroom said in My MagicMirror screen keeps turning off:

Not sure what the other entries do

To answer myself.

lxpanel        0.10.0-2+rpt4 armhf        LXDE panel
pcmanfm        1.3.1-1+rpt7 armhf        extremely fast and lightweight file manager
point-rpi      0.20160905   armhf        Locate the mouse pointer over the menu button
xscreensaver - not installed

Using Debian Buster and a RPI 7 inch display, these settings should work for ‘screen always on’:

@point-rpi          # locate the mouse pointer over the menu button
@xset s off         # don't activate screensaver
@xset -dpms         # disable DPMS (Energy Star) features.
@xset s noblank     # don't blank the video device

I left @point-rpias it sounds useful somehow; for screensaver settings not needed though.
Will test it now.

[evroom]

@evroom

Talking to myself :-)

The settings for Buster are not working.
My display goes to sleep after 10 minutes.
Perhaps because it isn’t a HDMI connected monitor.

I found 2 interesting files though:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls -als /home/pi/.xsession-errors
4 -rw------- 1 pi pi 2426 Aug  1 12:30 /home/pi/.xsession-errors
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls -als /home/pi/.cache/lxsession/LXDE-pi/run.log
20 -rw------- 1 pi pi 17988 Aug  1 12:30 /home/pi/.cache/lxsession/LXDE-pi/run.log

Also see that this file is being used, so that seems right:

/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

[evroom]

@evroom

This works (running for 100 minutes at the moment of posting):

$ sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
@touch /home/pi/.started_etc_xdg_lxsession_LXDE-pi_autostart
@point-rpi
@xset -dpms
@xset s off
@xset s noblank

Note: the autostart file does not like comments.

Reboot:

$ sudo reboot

After reboot is finished, check:

$ ls -als /home/pi/.started_etc_xdg_lxsession_LXDE-pi_autostart

That will tell if the autostart file was used (timestamp should match reboot time).
Then check for set errors:

$ grep xset /home/pi/.cache/lxsession/LXDE-pi/run.log

It should say 3 times Launching xset, with 3 times exit 0 (for every set entry in the autostart file).

Works for Raspberry Pi 7" Touchscreen Display.

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Raspbian
Description:	Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Release:	10
Codename:	buster

[EhsanMomeni81]

@evroom said in My MagicMirror screen keeps turning off:

sleep after 10 minutes.
Perhaps because it isn’t a HDMI connected monitor.
I found 2 interesting files though:

Wow, that’s a lot to take in. Thank you so much for your help, I’m going to try this during the week.

[EhsanMomeni81]

@evroom said in My MagicMirror screen keeps turning off:

@evroom

This works (running for 100 minutes at the moment of posting):

$ sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
@touch /home/pi/.started_etc_xdg_lxsession_LXDE-pi_autostart
@point-rpi
@xset -dpms
@xset s off
@xset s noblank

I tried the code above, and it works on stretch, I screen doesn’t turn off. But my cronjob acts funny. Last night when I look at it after it was supposed to be turned off, the backlight was on but everything else was dark. Don’t really know whats going on, but I’ll take a new look tonight.

[EhsanMomeni81]

@evroom I’m stuck :(
I tried the code above, and it works, the screen doesn’t turn off, but now I can’t see the desktop, it’s black when I minimize the MM-window, and I can’t connect to my MM via VNC which I could before and that’s how I changed in the first place.

[evroom]

@EhsanMomeni81

Is here something useful ?
https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/1801/get-back-to-desktop
https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/5619/how-to-find-and-use-key-commands-in-mm-for-absolute-beginners

I personally only use VNC to “look” at the screen remotely and never use the Pi for anything else then displaying MM.
Not interested in the desktop.
I always login to the Pi using a ssh client, like for example PuTTY, or on my Mac the iTerm2.

If you use Windows, then I would recommend PuTTY.
It is small and simple.

[EhsanMomeni81]

@evroom
Thanks ever so much. I googled and found something that worked. Now everything is running as it should. Still have problems with VNC, but I installed TeamViewer, but I’m going to give ssh a shot soon. Thank you again