Disabling screen timeout for plasma mobile
#1
Hi everyone, I just thought I would share something I stumbled across the other day, which seems very difficult to find on the web?

How to disable the very short screen timeout for plasma on the pinephone.

-This can be an incredibly distracting issue, -maybe it needs dealing with?

I happened to long-press the desktop, and "Add Widgets" appeared
I pressed this, and tried adding the "Display Configuration" widget.
It had something called "Enable Presentation Mode", which I tried.

This seemed to work, and the screen then stayed on indefinately -Yay!

Perhaps this is helpful to someone else?

Regards.
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#2
It's not quite what I'm looking for. I'd like to just adjust the timeout value. It's nowhere to be found. One would think there'd be a power-settings, lock screen settings, or display settings section in the "Settings" app... but I guess not. Still searching....
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#3
(02-19-2021, 12:59 AM)pagesix1536 Wrote: It's not quite what I'm looking for.  I'd like to just adjust the timeout value.  It's nowhere to be found.  One would think there'd be a power-settings, lock screen settings, or display settings section in the "Settings" app... but I guess not.  Still searching....

rp3's tip has been very handy.  It seems that there are still some power management problems when the phone is on standby.  I have just left the widget on the screen and made sure presentation mode was selected.  It leaves the modem on even if you turn off the screen.

If you are having trouble finding it, just open the phone to the main screen.  Then press and hold the main screen.  An "add widgets" button will appear at the bottom.  Press that button, then select the monitor icon.  The widget will attach to the main screen and will give you the option to select Presentation Mode.
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#4
@pagesix1536
The power management config file is located here: ~/.config/powermanagementprofilesrc

There are 3 profiles: AC, Battery and LowBattery. Both the DimDisplay and the DPMSControl (Display Power Management Signaling) parameter determines the screen timeout. It appears that DPMSControl sets when the screen turn off, and DimDisplay sets when the screen will be dimmed before being turned off.

To change it, you can edit the 'idleTime=30000' lines in the config file to the value of your choice for each profile (in ms), or use the 'kwriteconfig5' command:

To set the screen timeout to 10 minutes when charging:
Code:
kwriteconfig5 --file powermanagementprofilesrc --group AC --group DimDisplay --key idleTime 600000
kwriteconfig5 --file powermanagementprofilesrc --group AC --group DPMSControl --key idleTime 600000

To set the screen timeout to 3 minutes when running on battery:
Code:
kwriteconfig5 --file powermanagementprofilesrc --group Battery --group DimDisplay --key idleTime 180000
kwriteconfig5 --file powermanagementprofilesrc --group Battery --group DPMSControl --key idleTime 180000

To set the screen timeout to 1 minute when running on low battery:
Code:
kwriteconfig5 --file powermanagementprofilesrc --group LowBattery --group DimDisplay --key idleTime 60000
kwriteconfig5 --file powermanagementprofilesrc --group LowBattery --group DPMSControl --key idleTime 60000

A quick reboot (couldn't find how to reload the config file) and enjoy your PinePhone screen finally staying on for longer than 30s!  Smile



It should also be possible to change the suspend timeout using the same procedure:

Code:
kwriteconfig5 --file powermanagementprofilesrc --group Battery --group SuspendSession --key idleTime 600000
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#5
Manually modifying the files is a nice workaround. But is not a good long term solution. A lonng term solution would need to pass the “grandma test”
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#6
(02-22-2021, 08:14 PM)jbloodwo Wrote: Manually modifying the files is a nice workaround.  But is not a good long term solution.  A lonng term solution would need to pass the “grandma test”

I absolutely agree, this was only meant to be a temporary workaround for those that can't / doesn't want to wait. It's definitely not a good long term solution.

Manjaro Plasma is still an early beta version though, so quite far from the "grandma friendly version" Wink

Joke aside, the KDE Plasma devs are apparently actively working on it: https://invent.kde.org/plasma-mobile/pla...equests/77

I'm sure the Power management options will appear in the settings sooner or later on Manjaro, we just have to be patient.

But that doesn't mean that we have to keep using our devices with the 30s timeout until then.
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#7
Well I just gave this a try manually using a text editor. I have everything shutdown for the night so ssh was not an option. I may give this another go tomorrow. With ssh. Appers to de staying on for a minuet at 57%. What is he low battery threshold.

EDIT

opp I missed a line now at 3 min or so
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#8
(01-27-2021, 05:40 AM)rp3 Wrote: Hi everyone, I just thought I would share something I stumbled across the other day, which seems very difficult to find on the web?

How to disable the very short screen timeout for plasma on the pinephone.

-This can be an incredibly distracting issue, -maybe it needs dealing with?

I happened to long-press the desktop, and "Add Widgets" appeared
I pressed this, and tried adding the "Display Configuration" widget.
It had something called "Enable Presentation Mode", which I tried.

This seemed to work, and the screen then stayed on indefinately -Yay!

Perhaps this is helpful to someone else?

Regards.
Respects; I have not used my P64 for awhile and hit the fast time out first thing. Angry Thanks to your post, I rectified it. Of course, as I followed our instructions, it started to come back to me (DOH!) but you got me going. Thanks!
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